Corporate Worship: Starting the New Year on the Right Foot

Psalm 95 NASB95

O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God And a great King above all gods, In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The peaks of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for it was He who made it, And His hands formed the dry land. Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, “When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. “For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways. “Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.”

INTRO: Happy New Year! There is just something about the start of a new calendar year sparks in us a fresh opportunity; An opportunity to better ourselves, to right past wrongs, and to take a first step in a better direction. Some of you are starting diets today- you skipped Ms. Kathy’s cookies and are looking forward to a nice salad for lunch. Perhaps you have resolved to exercise more or be on social media less.

These are all admirable goals for the new year. All resolutions must begin with a single step.

As Christians, there is not better first step or resolution than to realign our hearts with God in worship.

We talk about worship a fair amount at LRBC. In fact, you’ve probably become accustomed to hearing us say things like “worship in song, through giving, in prayer, and in study of God’s Word”

Worship is an expression of our reverence and honor to God. Thus, in every action of our lives, we have the opportunity to give glory to God. As Paul said in

1 Corinthians 10:31 NASB95

Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Let me ask, “Do you think God is pleased with your worship?” I’ll let you ponder that for a while.

Still, we get the privilege of gathering as a church and worshiping together each week. We call this ‘corporate worship’ which just means that we are offering worship to God in unity. It’s not just that one person is giving God glory and honor, but we join together in various expressions of worship.

The picture of corporate worship is like candles. On Christmas Eve, we had all the lights off, and each of us held a candle. And as the flame was passed from one to another, the sanctuary was filled with light: A symbol of our testimony.

It was Jesus who first gave us this image: He said, in

Matthew 5:14–16 NASB95

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

So it is on this first day of 2023 that we turn our eyes to the instructive and sanctifying Word of God in order to start the year off on the right foot. This morning we are looking at Psalm 95 in a message I’ve titled “Corporate Worship: Starting the New Year on the Right Foot.”

This psalm points us specifically to corporate worship. You can scan it and see the phrase “Let us” occurs 6 times! So LET US Begin.

So, if you picked up a bulletin, I invite you to make use of the enclosed sermon guide and follow along as we learn together. I will present 3 questions about corporate worship and we will look to answer them in the text. My hope is that we will leave here with both a desire and freedom to express corporately the worship that God so deserves.

We begin by asking:

What Does Corporate Worship Sound Like? (1-5)

There seems to be a bit of discussion surrounding this question. Does it sound like a choir or a praise team? Does it sound like A Capella or a full band/ orchestra? Is it musical at all?

Well, we can see lots of instruction throughout the bible, but I want to focus on what the psalmist focuses on here. Let’s read v. 1-2 again. (READ)

There are 3 key descriptors that I want to pull from these verses. The first is

Corporate Worship is JOYFUL!

This word is used 3 times in these 2 verses. Joyful is a compound word meaning full of joy. Note: it’s not simply joyous or joy-like. Corporate Worship should be joy-FULL!

As the old song goes, “I’ve got the joy joy joy, down in my heart...”

The Next is: Corporate worship is LOUD!

The psalmist directs his hearers to shout, which also means sing loud as he is instructing us to shout psalms or songs.

In OT worship, the songs were intended to echo through the land as a testimony of the supreme name of Yahweh. IN 2 Chron 29:25-30, we see how the worship was filled with all kinds of instruments and the voices of all the Levites.

When we sing, we should sing loud! Now, look, I understand the hesitation. You are probably sitting there thinking, “If I sing loud, I’m going to feel like a schmuck. People are gonna look at me funny…I’d feel like a complete fool.”

And you know what? You probably will feel like a fool - at first. But let me remind you of the Apostle Paul’s conviction. He said in 1 Cor. 4:10, “We are fools for Christ’s sake…” If we are too ashamed to lift our voices to worship God in here, what does that say about our testimony out in the world?

Lastly, Corporate Worship is SINCERE!

The attitude of worship is one of gratitude and honesty. Now, I am aware that you didn’t write the songs that we sing. But the idea of worship is that we share in the truth of our salvation and the worthiness of our Lord. Thus, we can offer our song in sincerity. Do you mean the words we sing?

And you may ask, WHY? Why loud, joyful, and sincere?

Look with me to v. 3-5 (READ) (These should sound familiar)

These are verses we hope to memorize as a church. Essentially, the psalmist gives us the WHY to our worship.

Our God is greater, our God is stronger - There is NONE like Him!!

No king or idol can ever compare to His greatness! He is powerful above all things! He reigns in the deepest, uttermost parts of the earth and on the highest mountains. He rules in the seas and dry land! He created the world and holds it together.

Now, just think with me: We have come to a place in our culture where we are loud and proud at sporting events, but silent in regards to our faith. Why do we consider hooping and hollering appropriate at a stadium, but singing loudly in church to be silly or over-the-top?

ILL: This past week, I took my family to see a professional basketball game. And all night, that announcer guy would say “Make some noise!” and people were all screaming and waving their arms around… And you know what? They lost. But even if they won, what would be the eternal consequence? Nada.

You know, when these teams disappoint us, we feel a bit silly for screaming and such… we might even avoid wearing our team’s tee shirt. All of that loudness might be a little over-the-top for any sports team.

BUT - Because God is eternally holy and perfect, our worship will never be over-the-top. We can never shout too loudly our praises to Him! He will never disappoint us and we will never regret worshiping “too hard”.

In fact, just once I’d love to hear about someone going into work on a Monday with no voice because they worshipped loud, joyful, and sincerely in church the day before.

Discuss: What does your expression of worship sound like in the gathered church?

Corporate Worship sounds joyful, loud, and sincere. Next we ask:

What Does Corporate Worship Look Like? (6-7a)

I’m probably scaring some of you. But, that’s ok.

Let’s read 6 again (READ)

Here we have a call to bow down and kneel before our God.

Now, I know that physical responses are hard for some of us to get on board with. Can I ask a simple question: Why is that?

In the OT times, and truly in monarchs still, rulers would expect that their subject demonstrate their submission by kneeling. Some kings demanded even more- they demanded worship- we saw this in the book of Daniel.

But these earthly kings are flawed people. It would be reasonable for us to see why we would resist submitting to a wicked or even inept king. But, our God is perfect - holy, righteous, merciful… what’s the hold-up?

In fact, more than just a sovereign ruler, Yahweh is OUR God. Let’s read v 7 (READ)

We confess Him as our Lord - He formed us in the wombs of our mothers, we are His people. We say these things with our mouths.. maybe not as loudly as we should, but we nod along and yet we resist the physical action of submission to our Lord.

I think that this is indicative of a major issue in the church today. We are largely unwilling to put actions to our words. Do we mean it when we pray that God would be glorified in us? Do we mean it when we pray that God would send a revival?

The act of kneeling or bowing down was a physical demonstration that one is at the will of another. When we bow before God, we are saying- I’m yours. Here am I Lord, send me. Use me. Not my will, but yours.

But what does that look like in the church today? Well, I think it looks much the same. We bow our heads in prayer, sometimes we kneel at the altar in order to signal our willingness to be moved for the cause of Christ. And it is here that we await the marching orders of our King. What is God calling us to do? How are we being used for the Kingdom?

When the church kneels together, we demonstrate a physical submission to the will of God. We say in our first step toward the altar that our desire is the desire of our Lord… to follow Him. Further, we demonstrate to those in the body the courage of stepping out in faith to hear from God.

Courage is contagious; How will we ever be courageously used by God in the world if we cannot muster the courage to even get out of our pew among fellow believers?

Corporate Worships Sounds Joyful, loud, and sincere and it looks like a people submitting their will to God’s will.

Discuss: What are ways you can physically express worship?

Finally, the psalmist points to one final question:

Will You Worship the Lord Today? (7b-11)

Let me read v. 7b-8 (READ)

It is tempting to simply issue a couple challenges in regards to worship and leave it at that. That’d be easy and comfortable enough. But, there is a necessary call to action in these final verses that you and I must consider.

TODAY, if you would hear His voice...

We cannot put this off to another time. We cannot pretend there is no necessary response… all that is left is whether or not we will hear His voice.

We must choose whether we will worship God according to His direction or if we will choose our comfort instead. The psalmist cries, Do not harden your hearts!! Do not be like the errant generations before you who suffered the wrath of God for their rebellion!

Folks, I don’t know what we will face in this upcoming year. I don’t know what challenges are ahead or what opportunities we will have. But, I am confident that God holds our future in His hands.

I believe if we are going to start this year off on the right foot, then we must hear from God. And in order to hear from God, we must choose not to harden our hearts.

So this morning, I am going to ask you to respond physically and vocally.

The first thing I ask is that you will join me in kneeling at the altar before the Lord. Let us demonstrate that we are willing to be used by God as we physically place ourselves under His authority. Let us cry out for revival - let us submit to the will of God.

I want to encourage our deacons, our SS teachers, our ministry teams to lead the way - to set the example.

We want to hear from God- so let us ask God to direct our steps. Let us ask God to guide our plans and our missions- to align our hearts with His. Will you join me?

[Pray]

Amen, as we prepare to leave this place, I’d now like to ask you to sing loud. Sing so loud that you feel like a fool for Jesus!

Discuss: Have you heard the voice of God through His Word? Through the teaching of His Word?