Markham Baptist Church Sermon - September 12, 2004

Preached in Markham Baptist Church, September 12, 2004

AN INVITATION TO WORSHIP

What a wonderful invitation this Psalm gives us! “Come let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.” It is a universal invitation; extended to everyone no matter what your age, no matter what your social standing. It is an attractive invitation for it speaks of joy, and music and song. And so it should, for it is an invitation to one of the most significant events in a human life. It is an invitation to worship God.

The reason for the invitation is clear. Come let us respond to who God is and what God has done, that’s what the Psalmist is saying. And that is the reason for all worship, isn’t it? That’s why we gather week after week and why we read our Bibles and pray, that’s why we worship – to respond to who God is and what he has done.

In verse 1 we see that He is the “Lord” – the God who keeps His promises, so let us sing for joy! He is the “Rock of our Salvation” – the one who has rescued us from death and sin and dullness and selfishness and because He has saved us, we can know that no one can take it away, or change it, He is the Rock of our salvation – so let us come and offer Him thanksgiving and praise Him with music and song.

In verse 3 He is the Great God. He is not just some puny God, He is the great God – better than all other gods, indeed above all other gods. There may be a lot of gods in this world that different people worship – but they are worshipping second best, they are not worshipping the true God who holds the earth in His hand, verse 4 and 5, and who created the sea and the dry land. So let us praise Him.

In verse 6 He is our Maker, the one who has given you life and breath. So let us bow down.

In verse 7 He is the shepherd who cares for the flock and provides for their every need so let us kneel before Him.

Worship is a response to who God is and what He has done.

Now I hope you don’t get the order wrong. There are those who try to muster up feelings for God without calling to mind who God is and what God has done. And they wonder why their worship experience is flat. Worship always is a response to God. That’s why at the beginning of our worship we have a “Call to Worship” and a “Prayer of Adoration”. The purpose of this is to call to our minds why we are here, to remind ourselves of who God is and what He has done. And then we respond to Him with praise and song and thanksgiving.

Don’t get the order wrong. First we call to mind who God is and what He has done then we can respond with feeling.

Can I just say a word about feelings here? Sometimes we get to thinking that worship is all about feeling and I think that I have to muster up feelings for God. If I don’t feel like worshipping then I don’t, and it’s the job of the worship team and the leaders of worship to create in me the feelings for worship. But worship is not about feeling. It’s about recognizing who God is, and because of who He is I have to worship Him, regardless of how I feel. There are some things we have to do regardless of how we feel.

We can thank the Lord that worship involves feeling, and needs to be offered to God with feeling. There is nothing worse than lifeless, dull worship. Worship, as the Psalmist points out, involves joy and thanksgiving and praise but it’s not about feeling. It’s about recognizing who God is and responding to Him. In fact, Eugene Peterson points out, “Worship is an act which develops feelings for God, not a feeling for God which is expressed in a act of worship.” And you know it to be true. How many times have I been at the door after worship and someone has said to me, “This morning I didn’t feel like coming to worship, my bed was so warm and it was so cold out. But I came anyway, and now I’m glad I did.”

The reason for worship is to respond to who God is and what He has done.

Now notice the focus of the invitation to worship. “Come let us sing for joy TO the Lord; let us shout aloud TO the rock of our salvation.” God is the focus of our worship.

And this is essential for us to grasp as we worship together. The focus of our worship is not the pianist, or band or preacher. God is the focus. That’s why a church sanctuary is architecturally designed the way it is. We desire to focus our attention not on the band; we put them to one side, but on God. So we have the Bible in the centre which reveals the character of God. We have the table on which we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, which reminds us that we have access to God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The baptismal tank by which we testify to the new life that He brings to us through faith in Christ. The focus must be on God.

That is why I refuse to begin a worship service with the words “Good Morning.” Those are nice words and yes, they make everyone feel welcome – but don’t take this the wrong way – but I didn’t come here for you. “Good morning, it’s nice to see you.” I didn’t come here to see you. I came here to experience God. I came to be reminded who He is and what He has done and express my thanksgiving and joy before Him.

“I’m so glad you came”. That is partially true, but my bigger concern is “Did God show up?” You are not the audience, God is the audience. And we sing not for each other or for ourselves but for God. I preach not for you, but for God. He is the great God, the great King; He is the focus of worship.

Now if this is the case this may change the way we evaluate worship. Sometimes people evaluate worship by the externals. The quality of the Powerpoint, the speed of the songs, the length and interest of the sermon. All externals, and not really the focus of worship. God is. So we may need to change how we evaluate worship, and we need to be asking ourselves:

Was God honoured?
Was Jesus Christ praised and was He given the priority that He deserves?
Did people meet with God?
Are you more of a disciple of Jesus today, than you were before you came to worship?

Those are the questions we must be asking about our worship. Those are the goals that we must be striving for.

So we see the reason for worship, because of who God is and what He has done, and we see the focus of worship – God Himself. Now notice activity of worship. What happens in worship.

First we see that worship is participatory, it’s not a spectator sport. “Let US sing…” “Let US shout aloud …” “Let US come before Him” “Let US bow down” “Let US kneel before Him.”

This speaks of everyone participating, everyone involved. Notice it doesn’t say “Let the worship team sing for joy”. No, it says, “Let us sing for joy”. The worship team only leads us, but singing for joy is not their responsibility it is ours. So having been reminded of who God is - sing for joy. To be sure there are times when life’s circumstances can be heavy and it’s difficult to sing for joy and it’s difficult to recognize God’s power and might and goodness – but some of you, my friends, some of you must be eternally caught under the cloud of doom and despair. Your faces, your body language speak not of the joy of knowing God but the drudgery of life.

O that you would sing for joy, not because of your circumstances but because of who God is in the midst of your circumstances.

And there are others, I know, who can’t sing. And you know you can’t sing, and it’s difficult for you to sing. And it can’t be forced. You might as well try to force me to like dogs. But even if you can’t sing could you at least adopt a joyful body language that responds to the truth that He is the Rock of our salvation. He is the great God.

Worship involves us all - it is to be participatory. So that when I preach “Let us” - Let us hear together from the word of God – participate in the preaching, allow your minds to be engaged, allow your spirits to be sensitive to what God may say to you. Some of you are passing notes; some of you are looking with goo-goo eyes at your girlfriend. Others of you look at me with glazed looks and you’re saying, “What kind of medication is that guy on, and what is he talking about. I don’t know but that was a really good movie I saw last night – I wish I was Spiderman”.

Let us, let us. Worship is to be participatory. We participate by engaging our spirits, in giving our attention. There is a part of me, and again understand what I’m saying, that is not offended when I’m preaching because I’m not preaching for your applause, I long for you and love you and want to be of help to you. But I’m not preaching for you, God is my audience. God is your audience, the almighty God, the King of all creation and you come week after week and sit there thinking about last night's movie. My friends, you have this precious moment to participate in worshiping the almighty God - don’t waste it.

Worship is to be participatory, and not just for this hour, but we need people to participate in planning this hour. We need people to offer their gifts of artistry, of drama, of dance and music and organization and technical skill. If you have the gift and want to offer it to God, speak to me.

Worship is to be participatory. So it follows that worship involves giving our whole selves to God. Verse 6 “Come let us bow down in worship [which here means to lie face down on the ground] let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.” These are observable external actions which speak of an internal attitude of giving myself to God.

So when you come to this worship gathering we try to include all aspects of our being in offering them to God. We offer our praise and recognize that He is God and we are not. We offer our material offerings, recognizing that He is the Master over everything that we have. We offer to Him our prayers – bringing concerns and cares to Him recognizing that we do not need to keep anything back from Him.

Essentially we offer our whole selves to God in worship and most importantly we give Him our lives, our hearts. We say we live for you – we don’t live for anything else, not our friends, or jobs or money, or fame or comfort – we live for you. That’s worship.

Now of course worship is more than just an event that happens on a particular day of the week. Worship is a lifestyle where we say God you are in control, not just Sunday morning, but every day of my life.

That’s what verses 8 through 11 are all about. The Psalmist is inviting us to worship God in 1-7 and then says, “But let your worship be sincere, let it be real. Be sure to follow up with obedience.”

You see there was a time when the people of God had a great experience of God. They knew He was their rock of salvation because He saved them from slavery in Egypt. They knew He was their Maker because He formed them into a great nation. They knew that He was their Shepherd who cared for them and lead them out of the land of Egypt.

But then they got to this place in the desert, it was known by many names among them “Meribah” and “Massah”. And at this place they ran out of water. And they started to grumble and doubt God. They “tested and tried God” says verse 9 - that is, they doubted God and didn’t trust Him, even though they had seen what He could do.

My friends, God loves it when we sing and make music before Him on Sunday morning AND seek to live for Him throughout the week by smiling at the cashier at that green grocer. When you are patient with those who are difficult, when we are generous toward the poor, forgiving of our enemies and gracious toward all we meet - that’s worship.

But when we praise Him and sing songs of joy on Sunday, then on Monday cheat on our tests, treat our employees with harshness, give the finger to the guy who cuts us off in traffic, refuse to forgive those who hurt us, God hates that.

That’s what He says in verse 10 – because of their unwillingness to give to God their full devotion, their whole life, - “for forty years I was angry with that generation; I said they are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways. So I declared on oath in my anger, they shall never enter my rest.”

We know that that generation never entered into the promised land, that’s part of what that word rest means, but it also speaks of relationship, of intimacy. They will never get close to me, says God.

Here is an invitation – to worship God – to experience His presence, to know Him closely and intimately – remember who He is and what He has done, then participate in the worship. Don’t hold anything back, give Him your attention, give Him your whole self, kneel before Him, bow down before Him and don’t let your worship end when you go through that door – for He hasn’t stopped being the great God, He hasn’t stopped being your shepherd, He hasn’t stopped being the one who provides for you – so you continue to worship Him, on Monday, on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday by the way you treat others, the way you relate to your spouse, let it all reflect the joyful spirit of worship.