Sermon on Psalm 95. July 02, 2000
Panania-Milperra Anglican Church
G.S.Munro.
From http://www.ozemail.com.au/~gsmunro/resource.htm

Outline:

1. Let's Sing & Shout ( 1 to 5)

The Method-Shared Praise
- Neither Solo nor Boring
- More than a Church Service

The Motive-God's Greatness & Holiness
- God is Supreme Unique Creator King

2. Let's Kneel & Bow Down (6 to 7)

The Method-Shared Worship
- Together Humbling Ourselves
- More than a Ritual-a heart attitude

The Motive-God's Love
- God is our Shepherd who tends us

3. Prevent Heart Disease! (7b-11)

Hear the Truth, Act Today! v.7

Spiritual Arteriosclerosis v.8

Don't Miss out on Rest! v.11

The Decision: Choose To Worship Truly

Today's bible verses are a psalm. A psalm is a song. And the psalms are a collection of songs that made up the hymnbook that Old Testament Jews used in the Temple worship. Psalm 95 is especially about worship. It is the first in a series of Psalms, from Psalm 95 to Psalm 100, that have the praise and worship of God as their special theme.

Now the theme of worshipping God, and of Praise, is pretty popular among Christians today. But there are a lot of wrong ideas about worship, ideas that lead us in the wrong direction, so it's important that we try to look closely and understand what God teaches us in this Psalm. Because, contrary to popular belief, praise and worship of God have very little to do with feeling happy, church services with dynamic music, lots of clapping and dancing, and a good PA system. I've heard people say things like, "Worship has to be free and meaningful. And we should just let ourselves go and have no inhibitions before the Lord." Some people go the other way of course, and think that true worship has to do with being quiet and respectful, periods of sombre, silent prayer, a feeling of reverence and awe, maybe even a mystical experience. You may hear people, usually older people, say things like, "I like hymns that are worshipful," meaning ones that have a slow tempo and quiet, thoughtful music. But that is equally a wrong perception. A lot of what passes for worship today is quite far from the bible's idea of what real worship is. And when we look at Psalm 95, I think that many people only take notice of half the Psalm.

Have you noticed that Psalm 95 is a kind of lopsided Psalm? The first half has a very different feel to it to the end, doesn't it? The first bit is all about praise and thanksgiving, singing and music. The middle bit really focuses our attention on who is the one we are singing about, who is the one we are praising. But the end bit is a bit, well a bit negative, isn't it? It's a warning. But that warning has every bit as much to do with worship and praise, as does the bit about singing. Because although worship and praise can certainly include singing, that's really only a very small part of it. And the message of this Psalm is that if you have the singing bit right but ignore God's warnings about true worship of him, well, you're in trouble. The end of the Psalm shows that true worship is intensely practical. It has to do with life-obedience, not just with singing songs and playing instruments, or kneeling down in church. With that in mind, let's look at Psalm 95.

This Psalm falls naturally into three parts. And each part starts with something the Psalmist invites us to do. The first two things are positive, and the third thing is negative. Can you see what those three things are?

In verse one it says, "Come let us sing." And it goes on to tell us that this includes things like shouting aloud and thanking God, and using music and song to praise him. But the basic command is let us sing.

Then the next one is in verse 6 - it tells us to "bow down in worship," and "kneel before the Lord our maker."

But the last one is something not to do - it says in 8, "do not harden your hearts," when you hear God's command. Sing, Kneel, and do not harden your hearts. Let's look at each section in turn, and see what God teaches us.

1. Come let us Sing …

Old Testament Worship - tied to a special place.
The New Temple - Jesus. By extension, the body of believers, the church. A people not a place.

Not an individual, but a corporate experience.
Not a sombre experience, but a joyful one. When Christians get together to encourage one another by singing and telling about the Lord, it's something that should be exciting, not boring.

But!
Not a Christian equivalent of the Rave Party. Time magazine article - Rave New World - Rave party goers describing how they get their high, not from ecstasy or other drugs, but from the music and dancing, the atmosphere, whole experience, etc. Many Christians seems to feel that way about singing and music in church.

But it is not the music that gets us high, but the Lord. Sing - not for its own sake, but for joy, to the Lord, for what he has done & who he is. Too often in our corporate singing, we focus on the music. Now it's true that we need to have good music that we can sing. Having woeful music that you just can't sing to is just as distracting as having music that draws too much attention to itself. But the point is, just because we have a really great jam session during our meetings together in church, doesn't necessarily mean that is a sign that we are an alive church worshipping God in the Spirit. These verses tell us that the focus is on God, not the music and singing. Our motive is not to feel good. Our motive is to focus on who God is. And verses three to five reveal that motive.

Why do we sing and shout? Because God is Supreme. Unique. Creator. King.

Summary:
Not subdued and sombre, but joyful and vibrant praise.
Not getting a high from the music, but focussed on God. Because of our shared relationship with the great God of all creation, we tell of his praises, we sing to him with joy.

2. Come Let Us Bow Down …

Shared Worship.
An answer to those who claim they have no need of church to worship God. Let US bow down - together. By church I mean more than just our Sunday services. I mean meeting with God's people for our mutual encouragement.

Not a ritual but a heart attitude. What does bowing down before someone indicate? You've got to look at the meaning behind the actions.If you bow down before someone you are acknowleging they are greater than you. They have the authority, not you.

Submission to God's will. The only place you will find that will is in His Word. More about that later. We see here in verse 6 & 7 the motive for shared worship. That is, for getting together with others to acknowlege who God is and seek His will for our lives.

Why worship and bow down? Because God is Our Shepherd God who cares for us. Verse 7.

At first reading it seems like the end of the Psalm is just kind of tacked on, doesn't it? There's this sudden change from positive to negative, and from talking about praise and worship to talking about rebellion and punishment, and it's a really serious warning isn't it? But there is a connection, it's not just something randomly shoved on the end.

The connection - we are the flock under his care - the flock hear the voice of the shepherd. Jesus said, I am the Good Shepherd... my sheep hear my voice… they don't follow another shepherd but only me... That's the connection here with "Today if you hear his voice..." He is our shepherd, calling us to follow him, so when you hear his voice, obey it. That's what the psalmist is saying.

That takes us into the last part of the Psalm, which I've called…

3. Preventing Heart Disease …

If your doctor tells you have a potential problem with your heart, the first thing you'd better do is to listen to him! And just like physical heart disease, we need to listen to what God says about our hearts in a spiritual sense. We need to hear his word and act today.

Today - means now and it means continually. Look at how the writer to the Hebrews sees it.(Look at Hebrews 3:12-19)

Arteriosclerosis is a hardening of the arteries that leads to heart attacks. And it is possible for us to develop spiritual arteriosclerosis. We can harden our hearts. How do we do that?

By not accepting what God says about himself.
Modifying His Word. By only accepting the bits we like, for example God's love, and rejecting the bits we don't like, such as God's anger at sin. That's rebellion. That's unbelief. That's a lack of faith. The opposite of the submission of verses 6 and 7. It is unbelief - Heb 3:19.

The example of Meribah and Massah - arguing, and testing.
In the book of Numbers Moses speaks about the sins of the Israelites as beginning before they even left Egypt, and frequently recurring ("these ten times," 14:22). Again in the ninth chapter of Deuteronomy, Moses stresses the persistence of Israel's sin. He says:

"Again [at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth-hatta-avah] you provoked the Lord to wrath. And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, 'Go up and possess the land which I have given you,' then you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God; you neither believed Him nor listened to His voice. You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day I knew you" (Deut 9:22-24).

Another one of the Psalmists also wrote: "How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert! Again and again they tempted God, and pained the Holy One of Israel" (Ps. 78: 40-41).

Now these sins happened at times when God brought unpleasant circumstances into the lives of His people. But he did that in order to do them good. God's purposes for His people were always for their best interest. Deuteronomy says "In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end" (Deut. 8:16).

We are also tempted to argue with God and rebel against him, especially when things are not going our way. When life is too complicated, or when it seems to be falling apart around us, or when we can't have the things we want, or we lose the things we have. If you're going through hard times, instead of hardening your heart against God, remember that he brings these things in the end to do us good, if we choose to continue in belief and not in unbelief.

Sin is serious. Sin is blatant mutiny against God, and either sin or God's rule must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue-if sin rules in me, God's life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is nothing more fundamental than that. Our sin was what sent Jesus Christ to the cross to die. And he did that so that we would stop sinning and turn to God in faith.

God has prepared a Rest for us. The Israelites failed to enter it because of their hard hearts. Have you entered God's rest? (expand)

Hear the Truth about God, accept it and act today, while there is still time. Do not harden your hearts but enter into God's Rest. Stop striving with him and surrender to him.

The Decision - Will you worship Truly?

What have we learnt? That True Worship is not the repetition of words and phrases, or singing of songs, or kneeling to pray, but obedience to the will of God. You can have the best music in the world. You can spend hours kneeling down in prayer during church services. You can get a real buzz from what we do in our meetings together. But if you don't have the submission to his Word that this psalm talks about, then you don't have true worship. True worship is an all of life activity, and a shared activity in the company of God's people. As Hebrews says in chapter 10, let us encourage one another - that's what worship is all about.

And there is a decision to make daily. Will you worship God truly? That is, focussed on God and who he is and what he has done for us in Jesus Christ. That is, in full fellowship with God's people, not as a loner, or a rebel, but together with other Christians. That is, not in pride, but humbling yourself. That is, by hearing God's Word and being obedient to it. If we do that, then together as a saved community of God's people we can sing his praises, not just with musical instruments in church, but as we work together to tell others how they can enter his rest, receive his salvation, and worship God in Spirit and Truth.

Sermon on Psalm 95. G.S.Munro. From http://www.ozemail.com.au/~gsmunro/resource.htm