"Made
for His Glory"
Psalm 96
The Lord's Day, November 5, 2000
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The ECF Pulpit |
If you would, open your Bibles to Psalm 96. We're still in our study of the "Person and Work of Christ." 78Technically, we're even still in the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Lord's Prayer. But we're going to take a little side trip this morning, so bear with me as we go into a slightly different direction. And it builds off of where we were two weeks ago, when we started to unpack the idea of what it means to pray: "Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be thy name." And I come back to that theme, since it's one that's been growing in importance for me personally over time. I dare say I just can't get it out of my head. It's kind of like one of those ugly beer commercial songs, you know? It just sticks there, and you can't get rid of it. I read a book a number of years ago that I highly recommend. We have some copies here down on the book table that Ken is kind enough to provide for us. If you want a good investment, I heartily recommend Jeremiah Burroughs' little work, "Gospel Worship." I can say that it profoundly impacted my own life as few books have. It's definitely on my top ten list, because there's one thing about those old Puritans ---they just had some sense of who God was, and that colored everything they did. I might add that certainly that should be what colors everything we do as well. Because all that we enter into as Christians ---all that we enter into in the Church, and in this congregation, and in our lives--- ultimately, should be that which goes back to God and is not focused upon us. As you well know, we're in kind of what I would term the "worship wars" in America. And the worship wars are all about style. They're all about form. They're all about: should we sing fast songs or slow songs? are electronic instruments evil, and only unplugged instruments okay? should we sing in quartets, in trios, in solos, in choirs? should we do choruses? should we only do hymns? should we only do hymns from a certain time? should we only do psalms? should we only do psalms from a certain time? should we do them in rhyme? And it goes on and on. We get into these endless discussions and completely miss what worship is all about. And yet that's exactly what Christ was driving at when we got to that original phrase. Our Father who is in heaven, we want your name to be hallowed, to be lifted up, to be exalted, to be glorified, to be worshiped. And we don't want to get caught up in the fal-de-ral of whether or not: if we tap our toes, that's alright, and if we don't tap our toes, it isn't. That isn't what worship is.
Now Jeremiah Burroughs, in the opening chapter to his little book, goes back, and he unfolds the Old Testament account of what had happened to Nadab and Abihu. You'll remember they were two sons of Aaron. They were the first two that were anointed as priests under Aaron's high priesthood. We need to look at the time which was just after that period of time where they had been set apart for the work of the priesthood. They had just gone through their ordination process, if you will, and the very next thing that entered into their minds was, "We're going to bring strange fire in before the Lord." Burroughs makes mention of the fact that the problem here was that God had just laid out for them the pattern by which He desired to be worshiped, and they took it upon themselves to invent some new thing. "Well, let's just import this. Won't this be fun!" Now it might have been fun for the people who were observing, but when they brought this strange fire in before the Lord, God struck them dead! So I think maybe it wasn't quite as much fun for Nadab and Abihu. They learned a very tragic lesson, which is: we need to go back to the God we worship to understand how to worship the God we worship, and not go back to ourselves. And if I can advance the idea, the discussion of worship in the modern church... (and I don't care if it's in this type of church, or a more traditional church, or a liturgical church, or a seeker sensitive church, or however you want to put it) ...the discussion around worship ultimately ends up focalizing on ourselves. What is it we enjoy? What is it we like? What is it which pleases our palate? In reality, that has absolutely nothing to do with true worship. The truth is - whether we worship in a manner that's pleasing to ourselves or not is irrelevant to this first cause, and that is: God is worthy of worship, and it is our responsibility to worship Him. To find out how we do that, we want to go into Psalm 96 this morning and start to unpack some things there. But the central theme is that if we are to be praying that God's name be hallowed, then maybe we need to go back to Him to get some sense of how that's accomplished. What does it mean to hallow Him, to worship Him?
Now I deal in very simplistic thoughts often. Maybe I reduce things too simply sometimes. But it seems to me that if you work through the New Testament epistles, especially Pauline epistles, you're going to come up with three repetitive ideas, (They go on all the time throughout the New Testament.) that is, that Paul deals with us on three levels. He talks about order in the Church ---which is worship in the proper sense. He talks about our walk before God ---how we are to conduct our lives. And he talks about what kind of truth is to be communicated to the world ---or our witness. All three of these, ultimately, are worship.
When we were walking through 1 Corinthians, you'll remember (those of you that were here), that we dealt with this in some detail. Then, when we got into Ephesians, that really began to unfold... This is Paul's pattern. He's continually coming back and dealing with us about these three ideas. What is it we do in the Church? What is it we do with our lives? And what is it that we communicate to the world? These are vitally important, because when it comes to worship, worship has two handmaids. We couldn't have those given to us better than it was in one of the hymns this morning; and that is: to trust and obey. Worship is not simply that activity that we gather to do on Sunday, but it is the offering up of our lives to Him in the obedience that goes on day after day. And so if we've gotten into the mindset where we can trade the one off for the other, where we've gotten the idea that somehow "I can do whatever I want to do during the week as long as I come and do my holy duty on Sunday," what I become is an idolator, because that's the core of idolatry. False religion never requires holiness from the individual, only the observance of the rites. And when we fall into that same mindset, we become idolators too. We just do the rites, and as long as we've performed the rites, then we can do whatever it is we want to do in other contexts. Untrue!
So I read this little book from Jeremiah Burroughs (I say "little" book) and as I read the first chapter, I put the book down, and I set it in a corner because I was afraid I was going to burst into flame. I was quite convinced after reading it that I had never worshiped in my entire life ---maybe for a few bare moments, but not really--- because my worship had been focused around what I want to do, what I want to think, what I want to say, what I want to experience. And worship has nothing to do with my experience. It has everything to do with the God we worship.
Let me show you why this is so important, and why we need to go in this direction this morning. Turn, if you would, to Revelation chapter four. We already had a portion of Revelation read for us, but I want to go back and examine just a few things here. We will have you hopping around a little bit more this morning than normal. But we will settle on Psalm 96 in just a minute. Revelation, chapter four, picking up in verse 8 (you're all familiar with the scene): "And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.' And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 'Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created.'" In other words, all things were expressly made for this one purpose, and that is to bring glory to the God who made them. That's why everything exists. I kind of like the King James rendering actually in this passage (and we sing it in a chorus every once in awhile), "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are, and were, created." Everything exists for that purpose.
But move on: Philippians, chapter two. What we don't often consider is that all things, whether voluntarily or not, will eventually give this glory. Look in verse 9. "For this reason also, God highly exalted Him,..." (speaking of Christ) "...and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." I don't know if you've given that much thought, but the reality is that the day will come when even the very demons in hell, and every being that has ever been created, will bow the knee and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the praise and the glory of the Father. It doesn't mean they will be redeemed; it doesn't mean they will be saved. It means that in their eternal state they will still be required to give the glory to God that they were originally created to give Him. Like it or not, they will worship. Like it or not, those consigned to an eternal hell will still have to offer to God the glory that is due His eternal name. We often think of hell more in terms of the comic books. Either it's going to be a giant cocktail party in some place where they have no air conditioning, with some guy running around in a red suit and a pitchfork hosting the party, or we have the idea that there will be a place where there will be these eternal blasphemies ascending up before God ---where sin will run rampant. It will not! But even in their unredeemed state, they will be required to worship God. Every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And that will be to the praise and the glory of the Father. They will say, "You have judged us rightly! And you are holy!" It is a most astonishing thought.
But look! There's a unique place, then, where the Church enters into this. The first is found in 1st Peter, chapter 2. (And I promise you we'll come back to our text in just a moment.) 1st Peter, chapter 2 ---when he speaks specifically of the church here--- picking up in verse 9: "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim..." (I like the translation which says, "show forth." I think that's what the King James has, which is probably better there.) "...the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." We are made, and brought into salvation uniquely, that we might show forth His glory, in a way that nothing else does. "For you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." And so we get this opportunity as Christians to show the glory of God in a way that all of the rest of creation can't. This is that thing which even the angels desire to look into and say, "Look at these people! They've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb! Oh how they can worship!" And even though the cherubim and seraphim stand in the very presence of God continually and see His face, they cannot worship the way the child of God does because the child of God has been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. And so He uniquely gives us this office of worshiping in a way they simply can't.
Look at Ephesians, chapter one. (Oh, I hate to take you there because it's so hard to get out of Ephesians chapter one. Maybe I'll just turn the timer off, and we'll just look at Ephesians chapter one. I'd better not.) Look at this three-fold adoration that's given to us in each of these places. You begin in verse 3 with something expressed to the Father: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing..." And then when you get down to verse 5, "...He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself,..." (still speaking of the Father) "...according to the kind intention of His will,..." For what purpose? "...to the praise of the glory of His grace." But it picks up again with Christ, starting in verse 7. And "In Him..." (that's in Jesus) "...we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace..." And then drop down to verse 12, "...to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be..." What? "...to the praise of His glory." And then pick it up for the Holy Spirit, which begins in verse 13. And "In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--- having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise," And what about that Spirit? He "...is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession,..." For what purpose? "...to the praise of His glory." You see that three-fold purpose, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit orchestrating, doing all things (but especially the plan of redemption!) that the glory of God's grace might be demonstrated before the whole world ---before everything.
Turn just a page or two over to chapter three. Paul summarizes a lot of this, even when he talks about his own ministry. Picking up in verse 8 of chapter three: "To me, the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the Church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord." Do you see that? Paul wraps all of this up in that one idea: "I've been given this privilege to preach the gospel because it is God's design through the redemption of lost men to show forth the glory of His eternal grace in a way that nothing else can demonstrate it." Now that's what we're called to. And how do we do that then? As I said, we do it three ways. We do it in the worship that we conduct when we're together. We do it in the way we walk before Him. We do it in the truth that we communicate to the world ---what we preach, what we teach. This is why truth becomes so important for us. We can't negotiate truth because truth offers up the reality of who God is. And it's His glory that's the end result. That's what we're after.
Well that takes us then, back to Psalm 96. (And you're saying to yourself, "It does?" Well, I'm the preacher, and if I say "it does," it does.) I do want you to look at Psalm 96, because in this wonderful Psalm, we're going to look at just four ideas that are unfolded in it. There is contained in this then (and this is a great directory for us to comprehend), how worship ought to be conducted. Again, it's not going to tell us whether or not we can tap our toes. It's going to take us to a whole other place. In verses 1 and 2, we're going to see the CALL to worship; in the second half of verse 2, the CONTEXT of our worship; in verses 3 through 10, the CONTENT of worship; and in verses 11 through 13, the CONSUMMATION of worship.
"Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be thy name." How do we do that? We'll look at this as we look at the call to worship ---three things, and it's repeated for us in the beginning here--- "sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord all the earth; sing to the Lord., bless His name." There is a call for all of us to worship. It's a three-fold call. The first is to sing unto Him a new song. But the second is a universal call: Sing to Him, all the earth. Then it gives us this great direction. What are we to sing? How are we to sing? We are to sing that which glorifies the name of the One we're worshiping. Now I know what's expressed, and believe me, there are right expressions of our love for Christ. We should be able to say that. Part of our worship is expressing back to Him the wonder of what He's done for us, and how He's changed us, and how He's placed within our hearts a love for Himself that we could never create. And while that's acceptable, and while we should be doing it (David does it often in the Psalms), I need to say that that should not be the core of our worship. The core of our worship has to do with Him ---the glory that's due His name. "Sing unto Him a new song." Yes! And he's calling for this to come up from out of us, from the inward man, to be crying out to God and saying, "Look at the marvelous things that you've done." But the end of it all is that He is to be glorified. It's His name that's worthy. It's His person that's so exalted and so high, and that makes all of this worthwhile. Sing unto the Lord a new song. There are nine times in the Scripture where that phrase "a new song" is used. Six of them are found in the Psalms, and one of them is found in Isaiah. Each time it says the same thing: "Sing to Him a new song." The last two times it's found are both in the book of Revelation.
Now there are several things that might be meant by that. Some commentators say that when we read this phrase "a new song" that the idea is that we sing a song that is fitting for the occasion. And I think that's right. Worship should be something, and we should construct it in such a way, that it's fitting the One that we're worshiping. If and when anyone here gets invited to the White House, they're going to send you a little card. I was invited to a "to-do" a little while back (it was not at the White House; nothing quite that spectacular). But I was invited to something a little while back, and on the bottom of the card, it specified how I ought to dress when I showed up. (Well, they knew me well. If they didn't put it on the card, they were in for trouble. And that "I beat anorexia" T-shirt probably wouldn't go over. I like it, but it's a family thing.) But when you go certain places, you go in a manner that's fitting the occasion. (Now I've been to a couple of weddings where everybody showed up in bowling shirts. It's okay. I have nothing against bowling; I like it. It's a good sport.) I've been to some where they've shown up pretty unkempt. And I've been to some that are just extraordinarily beautiful. And you get a sense of how they consider this occasion by the way they attire themselves for that occasion. We're to sing unto the Lord a new song, a song that's fitting Him ---not fitting us, fitting Him. It's important for us to think through. Do I know how that plays out? Can I go through the hymnal and say, "Well, this one's fitting and this one isn't"? Not necessarily. The truth, the content of truth has to be there. But it isn't a question of style. It's a question of the frame of the heart and the mind. Do I know what I'm here to do? Am I here just to come in and enjoy this and have a great time? Or am I here to honor the great King of all glory? I need to do something that's fitting for Him.
Secondly, the idea that might be in this phrase "a new song" is that we're to bring something fresh ---that it shouldn't be stale; that it shouldn't be old; that it shouldn't be something that is rote, if you will. It's one of those things that Christ is arguing against, and teaching against, when he says in His preparatory comments to the Lord's Prayer that we shouldn't be repeating our prayers verbatim, as though God's going to hear us for our much speaking. Now sometimes we can do that in music too. Do you think God will hear us if we sing it a 35th time? You know, "Just as I am..." Sooner or later you're going to throw something at the guy. Some people come down the aisle just to get them to stop singing "Just As I Am." There's no sacredness in that repetition. We need to be careful that we don't let those things creep in. It isn't the rote thing. It should be something fresh. And so that speaks to us about our hearts when we come here on a worship day, on a Sunday, or any other time that we gather in the house of God to worship. What is in our hearts? Are we coming stale and just out of routine? Are we just coming to tick it off again, or are we coming because there is within our breast a desire to glorify the God who has saved us from our sins? And yet I don't think we've really struck at the heart of the idea of "a new song."
If we look in the book of Revelation, there's a transition. (Chapter 5, if you would... I should have told you to keep your finger there. Forgive my neglect.) There's a transition in the language when we get to Revelation, chapter five. Picking up in verse 6: "And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song..." It's the first time we get them singing the new song. All the other times in the Old Testament, the six times in the Psalms, and the once in Isaiah, it's an injunction to sing the new song, but we aren't told what the song is. Here we get to hear it. Now we get to find out what the substance of it is. And so they sang the new song, and this is what the new song was: "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth." In other words, the very essence of singing the new song is that it must be the song of redemption ---that Christ has purchased me by His blood. That's what he means to sing "a new song."
So when we go back to Psalm 96, "Sing unto the Lord a new song," he's saying, "If you're going to sing, if you're going to worship God, you must first, in true worship, come as one who knows the redeeming, saving work of Christ." And that's why he can say in Proverbs that God considers the sacrifice of the wicked an abomination, but the prayers of the righteous a delight. Yes, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess' but oh, the worship that should flow from those who know the redemption of Christ ---who have been changed by the power of God. That's this great call. Sing to Him a new song, but oh boy, sing to Him all the earth! This is enjoined upon everybody. Even the unredeemed still owe God worship ---still owe Him the honor of who He is. And then, "Sing to the Lord. Bless His name." And might I say, that's the great "direction" of worship ---to the Lord. Sing to the Lord. That's what we're told three times. Not to us, not to each other ---sing to the Lord. Sing to the Lord.
Look then at the context of worship. It flows out of that first portion. It's the second half of verse 2. "Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day." If I could reduce that to a simple thought, it's just this: that worship must begin in a constant reflection upon the glorious mystery of what it means to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Just this past week, as I was on the trip, I got a chance to meet a gentleman I've corresponded with for about three years. (The exciting thing was that even after we met, he still let me preach in his church. That doesn't happen often. But he did let me come.) But we met in Chicago, we sat down, and we started to talk. And you know what happens when two preachers talk. We were finally told to leave the lobby of the hotel because we were too loud. (You know how it goes.) You get excited about the things of God! But I'll tell you the thing that was most precious. Even though we'd corresponded for the last three years, even though we've locked arms together against a number of heretics out there (who shall remain nameless until after the service), even though we've really done a lot together on the internet, we sat down, and he just started to recount the story of his conversion. And you couldn't help but just let the tears flow as you rejoiced at the goodness of God, and the amazing work of His hand in the way that He ordered the affairs of this man's life to bring him to the saving knowledge of Christ. That's the context of our worship. That's what frames everything: that we are a redeemed people, singing to our Redeemer. And we need to be reminding one another of the glory of this mysterious thing that He's done in saving us by Christ. We need to speak to one another of our redemption. It's a crowning thing. It's a glorious thing. And it brings honor and praise to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. That's why we gather here ---not because we're Protestants ---not because we're Reformed ---not because we're Calvinistic. All of those things factor into that, but we come because we are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. We need to talk to one another and revel in the glory of Christ's saving grace in each others' lives. Now I know there are some people here that are sitting next to you and you say, "If this guy's redeemed, I'm a frog." Bear with him. We all start at one place and grow. But if we share that common reality of being transformed by His Spirit, that's where worship begins. We're called to it, but it starts with recounting and reflecting upon this glorious mystery of our salvation in Christ.
The third thing we want to examine in this passage is the CONTENT of worship itself. It starts in verse 3 and works down through verse 10. And we're really given six things. We're given a Proclamation; we're given an Ascription; we're told to bring an Offering; we're told how to come Attired; we're told what our Attitude ought to be; and we're told what that means Outwardly to the world.
Just look at the Proclamation that ought to happen in our worship. And if I might say, this actually makes a place for preaching in worship. Believe it or not, preaching is part of worship. Hearing God's Word, expounding God's Word, understanding God's Word, that's part of our worship. We come to hear Him, not to hear ourselves. And so he starts in verse 3: "Tell of His glory among the nations." And then let's just work through these. I think there's a series here that's just excellent to look at. First: "His wonderful deeds among all the peoples..." We ought to tell of His common grace. We ought to speak of God's goodness to all men, even the unredeemed. The rain falls on the just and the unjust. He gives and gives and gives, even to those who hate Him. The proof of that is: you and I survived until the day that He redeemed us. Every day He goes out and He continues to bless even those who blaspheme His holy name. Tell of His goodness and His goodness as it is among the nations. He is a God who is good, and He is good even to those who are His enemies. And what else are we to tell? We're to tell that God is great (verse 4), "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised..." that He is full of power and glory, and that He is One who is worthy to be lifted up in that manner. Look what else we're to tell: that "He is to be feared above all gods." Tell of the vanity of fearing anything else in the universe but God Himself. Indeed Christ will enjoin us later in the gospels not to fear anything but God ---nothing at all. Don't fear tomorrow. Don't fear your circumstance. Don't fear your children. Don't fear your job. Don't fear the absence of your job. Fear God. He's the only One who has the power to cast the body and the soul into hell. Fear Him. If you want to fear something, fear God. Don't fear anything else. And He's to be feared above all gods, above everything else man may place his trust in. God alone is to be feared. And we're to tell them that "all the gods of the peoples are (nothing but) idols" ---that they are vain ---that they are empty ---that they are useless ---that they cannot do a thing ---that they are mute, and God speaks ---that they are powerless, and He's omnipotent ---that they don't have being, and He is omnipresent ---that they don't know a thing, and He's omniscient ---that they cannot love, and that He is all-loving ---that they have no grace, and He is gracious ---that they have no righteousness, and He is holy. "For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens." Declare that He is the creator of all things and tell of the splendor and the majesty that go before Him. And that's exactly what it says in verse 6. "Splendor and majesty are before Him..."
I don't know if you read the comic "Peanuts." I like "Peanuts." I like Pigpen. It's my life-style. I got some great theology from Pigpen once. He was walking through the snow, and the snow was getting dirty as he was walking. And they said, "Pigpen, shouldn't you shovel?" And he said, "Who am I to disturb the thing that the omnipotent God has placed here by His own providence?" Good man! Good man! Sound theology! But you know, when they draw that comic (when Charles Schulz did), that if you would watch Pigpen walking along, you'd notice there was kind of like a little mushroom cloud in front of him as well as the cloud behind him; how it was kind of like that little wave that's in front of a boat, if you will? That's the image that's given to us here. When a great king makes a procession, there are those in front of him who will announce his coming. There are those with trumpets, and there are those with various things. Then finally you go through the whole entourage, and you come to the king who's in his seat. But as God proceeds, as God moves, there is no entourage that precedes before Him. The only thing that flows before Him is His own splendor and His own majesty. Isn't that an astounding thought!
And then he says, "Tell them too, that strength and beauty are to be found in His sanctuary." In this whole earth everything is weak and undone, and everything is marred and made ugly and corrupt by sin. But in His sanctuary, and in His sanctuary alone, is there strength to be renewed and is there that beauty of God Himself. That's part of our preaching. That's what we ought to be telling one another.
I heard a sermon this week: (Forgive me; if you heard the same one, please don't tell anybody who preached it. We're not in the line of gossip.) But he went back, and the preacher went through the entire story of the battle of Jehosaphat, and all he drew out of that entire story was that there were five keys for solving problems in your life. Nothing about the glory of God! The Bible isn't made to give us five keys to solving stress or five keys to solving problems. It's meant to bring us face to face with the living God! And if it does anything less, we've lost everything that's been given to us! Splendor and majesty go before Him ---not self-help books! That's what he's calling us to: the sense of worshiping that isn't just "stuff"! It's anchored in these great eternal truths that bring us to Himself over and over and over again. In fact, then we move to that fourth one because it just bursts out. After we've begun to preach to one another of these great truths ---of His common grace ---and of His greatness ---and that He's worthy to be praised ---and of the fear that's due Him ---and of the vanity of the idols in the earth ---and of His glory as being the Creator ---and His splendor and His majesty and His strength and His sanctuary--- it's as though the psalmist can't keep back anymore. And he just says, "Listen to me! Ascribe unto Him, attribute to this God who it is that we serve and worship... Ascribe unto Him, all families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength and the glory of His name." You hear it just bubble up within him. He can't do anything else. And that is what we do when we stand together, when we say the creed, when we sing, when we pray. We're ascribing to Him who He is and the glory that is due to His name. That's worship.
Look at the third one though. It's found for us in the second half of verse 8. "Bring an offering and come into His courts." We don't think of that very much today. We think of it in terms of offerings. When we think of the word offering, all of us picture in our heads either a little basket, or a circular plate with a felt bottom, or a wood one ---all of which, when we were kids, we held up over our heads and pretended they were halos. (Obviously wrong kids.) You remember when David numbered the people, and God had become so angry with him. In fact a dreadful situation had broken out among the people. [1 Chr 21]
"And the prophet Gad came to him, and he said, "The angel of the Lord is standing out by the threshing floor of Arunah. Go out there and meet him." And he went out to him and he saw the angel of the Lord standing at the threshing floor of Arunah, and he goes to Arunah and he says, "Let me buy this threshing floor, and let me buy some oxen so that I might offer up a sacrifice to God. And Arunah, who sees the tribulation that Israel's in, he understands the trouble and that David's heart is just broken over this and he knows that it's David's sin that produced it, but he turns to David and says, "David, just take the floor. Just take the oxen. Just do it." David's reply is astounding. He turns to Arunah and he says, "I will not give unto God as an offering that which cost me nothing."
Isn't that something? I don't think we even think of offerings anymore. And yet at least twice in the New Testament we're brought face to face with the offering of the believer. The first is found in Romans [12:1] ---that we are to offer our bodies a living sacrifice unto Him, which is our reasonable and acceptable service. In other words, that we aren't our own anymore. We don't own us. We don't have the right over ourselves. Someone else owns us. Someone else has taken possession of the title of our lives. They own us in their own name, and we don't belong to us anymore. That's how we're to come, offering ourselves up to Him, again, so that we're at His disposal, not that He's at ours. And isn't that the majority of our prayer? "God do this for me," not "God, here I am. Use me as you see fit"? What is it that Isaiah does in that moment (and we've gone over Isaiah 6 so many times, but it just keeps coming back) when he's confronted with the glory of God? In that minute, he falls down and he hears this voice come out and say, "Who will go for us, and who will speak?" And he says, "Here am I, send me." He didn't come saying, "God, do this thing." He came saying, "Here I am. Use me as you see fit." That's the offering we bring.
The other is found in Hebrews [13:15], where we're told constantly to bring a sacrifice of praise and of thanksgiving to Him. I had a conversation with someone once, and they said, "Well, I don't come to church because I don't want to feel like a hypocrite." I said, "Aw, come on. Join the rest of us." And they said, "No, when I'm not feeling good, I shouldn't be saying 'Thank you' to God." Now that IS being a hypocrite. He's worthy of your thanksgiving, whether you feel it or not. What in the world makes you think that worship to God is supposed to be predicated on how you feel? How wrong we are! This is God! This is the One who has done everything for us, who has given us eternal life in His Son, and we can say, "Oh I don't feel like worshiping this morning." Like that's an option! And yet how many times do we do it? And believe me, folks, I'm not pointing a finger at you. I'm pointing the finger here too. There is a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, a bringing of an offering unto Him, simply because He's worthy ---because He is who He is.
He also speaks about the attire that we're to wear when we come to worship [Psa 96:9a]. Don't worry, it has nothing to do with whether you're wearing Levis or whether you've got a custom-made suit. Worship the Lord in holy attire. That doesn't mean that your skirt has to be three inches below your knees. It means that you come clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and that alone. We have no other clothing. Everything else is superfluous. We come to Him clothed in Christ's righteousness, or we can't come. You heard it in Matthew 22, that time when he sets the marriage supper, and he says, "Come, and I'm going to have this great wedding feast." And the ones who were invited didn't want to come, and so he starts bringing others in. And finally as the master starts walking through the feast he sees a man there, and he's not in his wedding attire. And he says, "What are you doing here?" The man didn't have a word to answer, and he [the master] said, "You bind him, hand and foot, and you cast him out. He has no right to be here." Folks, we have no right to worship unless we come clothed in the perfect, pure, holy, righteousness of Christ and have cast off all of our own soiled and filthy garments, thinking that we have anything to recommend us before Him. This is one occasion when that phrase (which has tripped off of every woman's lips who has ever lived as she stared at a full closet), "I have nothing to wear," is quite true. When it comes to coming to worship God, we can look at everything we've got in our closet, and the truth is, we've got nothing to wear ---unless we come in Christ. Does that go through your mind before you come here on a Sunday morning or a Sunday night ---before you come to worship Him? ---that you're coming because of His worthiness, because of His righteousness, because of His goodness?
Look at the attitude though that's added to that [Psa 96:9b]. "Tremble before Him, all the earth." Isn't that contrary to modern thought when it comes to worship? Tremble before Him. We don't know a God, we haven't heard a God preached, who's scary enough to make us tremble. We're to tremble! We're to catch such a knowledge of who He is that we cannot comfortably be frivolous before Him. I know, somebody's going to say, "See, I knew it. Christians are not allowed to laugh." That isn't true. That isn't true at all. We're the only ones on the planet who have anything to laugh about! We've been given all the promises of eternity. If there's anybody who ought to have a heart that's joyful, and full, and ready to laugh, it's us. But we also know the majestic glory of the One we worship, and at the same time, it makes us tremble.
Lastly, there's even an address to the lost in our worship [Psa 96:10]. He captures it in three things, and we're going to have to close. Our time's beyond us. Look at what he says. This is what we're to say to the nations. Do you ever wonder what you're supposed to tell your friends and neighbors? Worship even occupies a place there. First of all, we're to tell them that God reigns. God is sovereign. Now, your theology plays heavily into your worship. And if you don't believe in a sovereign God, I'll tell you, you can't worship. Because the first thing we're to tell the world is that we serve a God who rules over everything. Absolutely sovereign. And not only does He rule over everything. Look at the second phrase. "Say among the nations, 'The Lord reigns.'" But say also, "'Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved.'" Are they all running because the nuclear powers are going to destroy the planet? No they're not! The world is established, and it will not be moved until God has finished His purposes. Period. Period! I don't care if there is global warming. The world will not cease until God has finished His purposes. And then we say before the earth, "He will judge the peoples with equity." Wow! That's not exactly seeker friendly ---telling your lost friends and neighbors Christ is going to come and He's going to judge the world in perfect holiness. But that's what they need to hear. That's what we need to hear ---over and over.
Well, that takes us down to these last two things, and I'll have to let you unpack them on your own. In verses 11 through 13 we just get the consummation of worship, if you will. And it's wrapped up in this: that when the church worships, and when we DO worship, when worship enters where it ought to be... look what happens: "The heavens are glad, and the earth rejoices, and the sea roars and all that it contains." You know what's happening here? Everything is brought together in one thing under Christ. And that's what He was sent to do ---to subdue everything, both in heaven and on earth, and unify them, and restore them all to God the Father. That's exactly what He does. And all creation joins in that worship when we begin to worship Him aright. It can't help it. Everything is brought together. And then ultimately we see the unveiling of His holiness. For the end of all things will be when He judges all by His righteousness.
Transcribed by Roy and Sue Marriott
Copyright © 2001 Reid A. Ferguson. Permission granted to quote in context.