Introduction:

Scottsdale-Bridport Presbyterian Ch= urch Nov 12, 2006

Introduction:

Today we look at Psalm 96, which = is the second in a series of Psalms, from Psalm 95 to Psalm 100, that have the pra= ise and worship of God as their special theme. Psalm 96 takes up the message of Psalm 95 about praising and worshipping God, and expands on it. And it continues the theme at the end of Psalm 95 about not hardening your hearts against God. We saw recently when I preached on the topic of worship, that = true praise has to do not just with singing hymns in church, but with proclaiming God’s name by our words and actions outside of church in our everyday lives. We saw that true worship has to do not just with kneeling and prayin= g in church, but with humbling ourselves before God in our lives. It is a heart attitude of submission to God’s will.

That idea of worship and submission= is taken up again here. In this Psalm, Psalm 96, we see the right response to = God. I want us to look first in verses 1 to 6 at the right response of God’= ;s people to his salvation, and the reasons for responding that way. Then in verses 7 to 10 I want us to see the right response of the rest of the world= to the message about God that comes out from his people. And then in verses 11= to 13 we see the response of the whole of creation to the salvation that God h= as promised.

&= nbsp;

1. &n= bsp; = ; The right response of God’s people to God’s salvat= ion (1-6):

Sing. Praise. Proclaim. Declare

We see in these verses four respons= es which are essentially just different aspects of the one appropriate response of God’s people to his character and nature and the salvation he has giv= en us. How should we respond? We should sing, we should praise, we should proclaim, and we should declare. All of these are things we do with our mou= ths.

We are left in no doubt that the co= mmand is not just to proclaim God’s salvation to fellow believers, but to take= the message to those outside. There is no doubt that this Psalm was a song mean= t to be sung joyfully in the Temple by the Old Covenant community of Israel. But that ‘inside performance’ if you like, that ‘preachin= g to the converted’ was only meant to be a kind of sacrament, or symbol, of the reality that Israel were meant to take the news about God to the nations around them.

So, although this Psalm talks abo= ut singing and praising God together in the company of His people, the emphasi= s is not on the ‘in house’ worship services, or the music we use and= the songs we sing, but on the content of the message we proclaim about the God = of all the earth.

What does the Psalmist mention of= this message?

Sing t= o the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.

We are to proclaim his salvation, a= nd we are to do it not once or twice, but day after day. Now the salvation that t= he Psalmist had in mind is things like the Exodus from Egypt, when Israel were saved= from slavery and given a land of their own, or the return from exile in Babylon, when after 70 years God brought them back i= nto the land of Promise and they rebuilt Jerusalem and the Temple. But of co= urse we have the fullness of God’s salvation to declare. We have Jesus, who h= as saved us not from human slavery, but from slavery to sin, and from death and hell. He has done this freely and graciously, just like he freely and graciously saved Isr= ael.

God showed his glory to Israel,= and he dwelt among them in the sanctuary. His glory filled the temple. In the New Testament we find Jesus described in terms of glory. It says that his disci= ples beheld his glory. And so when the Psalmist says in verse 3: “Declare = his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples,” we c= an do that too, by pointing people to the eyewitness accounts of scripture whi= ch tell how God’s glory is shown in the marvellous deeds of Jesus Christ. But to do that you need to be totally convinced that our God is unique, tha= t he is holy, that he is willing to give freely the wonderful salvation you have received, to others as well.

How you habitually talk about your = friend, or your wife, or your husband or your father or mother, will show how you really feel about them. Watch how proud newly weds are of each other. Or ev= en just people going out together. I remember when Catherine and I had been go= ing out for a while I wrote her some poetry. It wasn’t very good poetry, = but she liked it, and she asked me if she could share it with her best friend, = who was our matron of honour at our wedding. She wanted her friend to see what a wonderful caring husband she had! Now that we’ve been married a few y= ears she might have qualified her opinion on that somewhat, but the point is, lo= vers want to talk about how wonderful their love is. Do you love God? Do you love what he has done for you at the cross? Then won’t you naturally desir= e to talk about Him? You’ll want to declare his glory among the nations, h= is marvellous deeds among all peoples. Why not start with your own family and neighbours?

But I said that to do this we must = be convinced that God is unique. Look at verse 4:

^{4 =
; &n=
bsp;}For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be f= eared above all gods.

^{5 =
; &n=
bsp;}For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made t= he heavens.

^{6 =
; &n=
bsp;}Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in= his sanctuary.

Over 70% of Australians believe the= re is a god of some kind. But the god they believe in is so vague and broadly defin= ed, that they don't see any difference between worshipping god as a muslim or a= s a hindu. “Many paths, one heaven,” is a slogan that has been arou= nd for decades, and is implicitly believed by most Australians. Here is an example. A well known fashion designer had this to say about her belief in = God in an article I read. She says, "All religions are the same in essence= but we have moved away from that in the case of churches. That's why men are getting so lost because we're forgetting where we come from. It's the most powerfully important thing now to realise that all religions are part of looking after this earth of ours." Interesting comment. Did you notice what she said - all religions are the same, except for the churches. Why? Because the churches don't accept that all religions are the same. They're = too exclusive. We can tolerate anything but intolerance.

Christians have been affected by th= is philosophy too. For several centuries now, some Christian theologians have = put forward the idea that Christianity is just one among many equally valid way= s to worship the creator. Both Protestant and Roman Catholic scholars have pushed this.

The ecumenical movement, in its more extreme forms, has encouraged things like "interfaith services," = in which believers of various religions participate in worshipping some kind of greater power. Books have been written, sermons preached, and radio and TV = have made their contribution. We are bombarded, both overtly and covertly, by th= e message of pluralism, sometimes even from within the Christian church. The nominal = head of the Anglican Church in Australia some years ago refused to state clearly that he believes Christ to be the o= nly way of salvation. And many other church leaders, including Presbyterians & Uniting Church ministers & moderators, soft-peddle the uniqueness of the God of the bi= ble, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

There are two results of this. The = first is that we have lost our confidence in the Truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The second is that we no longer believe that those who are without Christ a= re lost. And that is why, I believe, gospel and missionary work around the wor= ld has declined. If hindus in India are really worshipping God already by their sincere belief in their own religious system, then why bother to send people to tell them the gospel? If Christianity is just one among many truths, then we have nothing to say to = the world.

But this Psalm is quite clear that = there is only one true God. It says the gods of the nations are merely idols. People= in western society today are increasingly impressed by idols. I mean real idols – figures of gods and so on. They see a Buddhist kneeling before a pr= ayer wheel, or a hindu burning incense to a statue, and they think, how impressi= ve, what faith, what devotion! Or perhaps more patronisingly, how quaint and colourful. But the bible’s view of idol worship is that it is stupid = and degrading to the one who practices it, since they are created in the image = of God and yet they are bowing down to things lower in the created order than humanity. And more seriously, they are ignoring and denying the one true creator God in favour of some man-made philosophy or religion.

…all the gods of the nations = are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.

2. &n= bsp; = ; The right response of ‘the nations’ to the message= of God’s people (7-10)

Giving God the glory v.7-8

Ascrib= e to the LORD, O families of nations, &n= bsp; ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

^{8 =
; &n=
bsp;}Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering = and come into his courts.

^{9 =
; &n=
bsp;}Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness; tremble befo= re him, all the earth.

What do people ascribe to you? To y= our personality and character? We ascribe certain attributes to certain people = we know don’t we? And we tell others, every time we gossip about them, w= hat we think everyone should ascribe to them. Don’t trust that person, th= ey don’t give back what they borrow. Or she’s always generous and helpful. The psalm writer tells Israel they ought to be gossiping the gospel about the Lord of all the Earth, so t= he nations can ascribe certain things to Him. What we are talking about here is the reputation of the Lord. He is great, worthy of praise, Real, to be fear= ed.

All are invited to come into his te= mple and worship, no matter what nation they are from. But they must come and can on= ly come, on the Lord’s terms. And those terms include sacrifice for sin.= For the gentiles in Old Testament times, and up to the days of Jesus, of course that meant going to the temple at Jerusalem.

-&nb= sp; only allowed into court of Gentiles

-&nb= sp; in Christ, we now have fu= ll access to God on same basis as Jews, through his blood

They are told to “Worship the= Lord in the splendour of his holiness” – that is he is absolutely diffe= rent from any other being and we must treat him that way. God says he will not s= hare his glory with another god. Jesus said you cannot serve two masters. It is = the one true God or nothing. To worship Jesus plus other gods, or to worship hi= m as less than God, is not to worship at all.

The natural state of all humanity, regardless of colour, race, or creed, is not to give God the glory due to h= im. That is why they are told this is what they must do.

Romans 1:20-21: For since the creat= ion of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been ma= de, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futi= le and their foolish hearts were darkened.

An invitation to worship v8-9, acco= rding to God’s way of getting right with himself – sacrifice

Recognition of God’s sovereignty as the one who controls the destiny of the world= and its judge v10

His holiness. v.10

Say among the nations, “The L= ORD reigns.”

&nb= sp; The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples = with equity.

Back in the 17^th century= there was a totally unnecessary controversy over this verse, which the Roman Cath= olic church took to mean that the earth was immovable – it couldn’t = move through space like Coppernicus and Galileo maintained. There are even some = way out fundamentalist sects that still believe this: that the earth is station= ery in space and does not revolve around the sun. But that of course is not what this verse is saying. When it talks about the world, it is talking about the inhabited world of human beings, not the mass of the physical earth moving = in space. It is talking about God ordering creation. Part of that order is of course that the earth moves around the sun. But it’s talking here especially of God’s superintendence of world history, of boundaries between nations, of how and when who owns what, and so on. In the seventeen= th chapter of Acts, the Apostle Paul I think gives us a clue to how to interpr= et this verse. He said to the philosophers of Athens: (Acts 17:26) From one ma= n he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should li= ve. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28‘For in him we = live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, &#= 8216;We are his offspring.’

29“Therefore since we are God= ’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver= or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill. 30In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to rep= ent. 31For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man= he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”

Now as well as the present aspect o= f verse 10, there is a future aspect also. And we see this coming out in verses 11-= 13 too. Those verses are talking in an ideal and poetic language, but they look forward to a real event – judgement day. And they show us…

3. &n= bsp; = ; The response of Creation to the Creator God 11-13

Creation affected by Adam’s sin

Now in Romans 8: 19 we read: “= ;The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For= the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the wi= ll of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liber= ated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the chil= dren of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for o= ur adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were sa= ved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?= But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

The Cosmic Scale of God’s Salvation

All of this shows us the cosmic sca= le of Adam’s sin and its effect on the universe. And in verses 11 to 13 we = see the cosmic scale of present and future rejoicing in God’s Salvation.<= /span>

Let th= e heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it;=

^{12 &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp;}let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.

&nb= sp; Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;

^{13 &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp;}they will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judg= e the earth.

&nb= sp; He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth.<= /p>

Are you singing a new song to the L= ord day after day? Or is the old song getting a bit jaded?