Worship Together
Notes
Transcript
Scripture
Scripture
A psalm. A song. For the dedication of the temple. Of David.
1 I will exalt you, Lord,
for you lifted me out of the depths
and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
2 Lord my God, I called to you for help,
and you healed me.
3 You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead;
you spared me from going down to the pit.
4 Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people;
praise his holy name.
5 For his anger lasts only a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may stay for the night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning.
6 When I felt secure, I said,
“I will never be shaken.”
7 Lord, when you favored me,
you made my royal mountain stand firm;
but when you hid your face,
I was dismayed.
8 To you, Lord, I called;
to the Lord I cried for mercy:
9 “What is gained if I am silenced,
if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
10 Hear, Lord, and be merciful to me;
Lord, be my help.”
11 You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
12 that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent.
Lord my God, I will praise you forever.
Introduction
Introduction
I have experienced all types of worship
Why do we worship? And particularly why is worship an expectation, a vow, that is a part of joining the church?
God wants us to worship Him. He doesn’t need us, or He wouldn’t be self-sufficient. But God wants to be with us and inspire us and transform us through worship. When Adam and Eve sinned, they were not the ones who cried, “Where are you, God?” It was God who asked, “Where are you?” The Bible is the story of a God who pursues humanity. Worship is the proper response to God’s pursuit. Why did Christ come to earth? To make worshippers out of rebels; in order that He might restore us again to the place of worship we knew when we were first created” (Tozer, 141).
Structure of Praise
Structure of Praise
Four parts of this song that tell a narrative of praise.
Opening Praise: (1-3)
1 I will exalt you, Lord,
for you lifted me out of the depths
and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
Then Congregational Worship and I can see this as a chorus of a song (4-5):
4 Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people;
praise his holy name.
Next is a telling of the crisis (6-10):
9 “What is gained if I am silenced,
if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
Just vague enough to invite anyone into the experience of lament, specific enough to grab hold of real life struggle.
Finally, Closing Praise (11-12):
11 You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
This song is joy rooted in real life trouble. A couple of weeks ago we talked about lament and this is the response to God’s victory. This song has personal elements and communal elements. And friends, Gratitude has person consequences and communal. One one level, it is good or better for you to be grateful. On another level it is good or better for the community if you are grateful. We will see that today.
There is much to be said about spiritual practice of gratitude…I want to focus on what Psalm 30 is teaching us. 4 themes that are found her in the Psalm.
1. Praise God to locate Yourself
1. Praise God to locate Yourself
First, we praise God to locate ourselves. Here is what I mean, in praising, giving thanks, expressing gratitude we are acknowledging that we are not God. Check it out with Psalmist...
1 I will exalt you, Lord,
for you lifted me out of the depths
and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
2 Lord my God, I called to you for help,
and you healed me.
3 You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead;
you spared me from going down to the pit.
It was God that did it. You got me out of the pit, you spared me from death. There could easily be a different narrative here. Because I don’t think God dropped down his stairway to heaven into the pit soooooo David could climb out and jump off on ground level.
There is this great interview with Nick Foles, QB of Jacksonville Jaguars, Where they ask him about getting the starting position and 4 words in he is locating himself in God’s story instead of it all being about him.
We praise God to locate ourselves in His story...
2. Praise is Formational
2. Praise is Formational
When we are grateful, practice gratitude, praise God, it is formational. Praise is not some transactional thing that happens and this is gone. When we praise God we are being formed by this story that we just mentioned. We are being formed by God. Don’t believe me? Think about your favorite movie…You quote it, talk about it with your friends....dress up in costume to go to opening night…looking at you Star Wars geeks and Potter nerds…It becomes something that almost takes life. Right? or think about favorite song, food, restauraunt, book, whatever....when you worship something, when you praise something....something happens. Now consider what happens when you worship, praise, give thanks to the living God....
James K.A. Smith:
“Worship works from the top down, you might say. In worship we don’t just come to show God our devotion and give him our praise; we are called to worship because in this encounter God (re)makes and molds us top-down. Worship is the arena in which God recalibrates our hearts, reforms our desires, and rehabituates our loves. Worship isn’t just something we do; it is where God does something to us. Worship is the heart of discipleship because it is the gymnasium in which God retrains our hearts.”
― James K.A. Smith, You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit
CS Lewis:
“I had not noticed how the humblest, and at the same time most balanced and capacious, minds, praised most, while the cranks, misfits and malcontents praised least.” - C.S. Lewis
Look at the Psalm again:
6 When I felt secure, I said,
“I will never be shaken.”
7 Lord, when you favored me,
you made my royal mountain stand firm;
but when you hid your face,
I was dismayed.
Psalmist has been shaped in courage…secure in Him. Not a once and done faith but something more.
3. Praise is a Witness
3. Praise is a Witness
Look at the chorus of this song. Right in the middle of this personal journey there is congregational worship....
4 Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people;
praise his holy name.
5 For his anger lasts only a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may stay for the night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning.
Individual praise, gratitude, becomes a witness to the community about God’s power and work in the world. When you worship God in the middle of your trials and as a result of your trials, people start to see the God you are worshipping instead of you. And everything we were talking about before this is getting here, right? When we locate ourselves in God’s story then people see beyond us.
Your gratitude effects the community....and your absence removes that witness.
I was doing some reading and studying this week on the biblical concept on witness. What does this word mean, what is the connotation of it. Jehovah’s Witness came to my door Saturday. Is this witness?
The NT idea of witness is quite simple: Those that have seen the resurrected Jesus and now talk about it. Paul, Peter, John, they all say this in numerous places....
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.
Your praise, gratitude, etc, is a small way of speaking to what God has done. Witness of the resurrection. A break through of heaven. And when you come out of lament and into this place, it speaks of this resurrection.
Last one....
4. Praise Completes the Journey
4. Praise Completes the Journey
Can I tell you something....early in my walk with Christ, I struggled with this praising God. And not in the ways you think. Like not because I am a curmudgeon, which I can be, and not because I did not know what to do in worship....no. I couldnt understand why God needed me to. Why is it a should?
That’s why I resonate with CS Lewis...
When I first began to draw near to belief in God and even for some time after it had been given to me, I found a stumbling block in the demand so clamorously made by all religious people that we should ‘praise’ God; still more in the suggestion that God Himself demanded it. We all despise the man who demands continued assurance of his own virtue, intelligence or delightfulness; we despise still more the crowd of people round every dictator, every millionaire, every celebrity, who gratify that demand.
What does it mean that it is “right” that we praise him? Why does God demand this from us? Why does He deserve it? There is something counterintuitive about this line of thought...
CS Lewis continues,
Think about a work of art, it does not “deserve” admiration in this sense and neither does God...
“The sense in which the picture ‘deserves’ or ‘demands’ admiration is rather this; that admiration is the correct, adequate or appropriate, response to it, that, if paid, admiration will not be ‘thrown away’, and that if we do not admire we shall be stupid, insensible, and great losers, we shall have missed something.”
It is not that He needs it, it is in that expression that we are seeing it.
Example of the painting....I am not standing around going, oh yes what a great piece of art work to build up or appease the artwork...it is because my joy is furthered in speaking about it and meditating about it.
“I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.” -CS Lewis, Reflections of the Psalms p.95
I love that....Delight is incomplete till it is expressed
When we are tempted to believe....
You think you did it all. So you look full but you are really just empty. locate yourself in God’s story
You are thankful when you think about it, or at thanksgiving meal, but you are not shaped by it…praise is formational
Friends, you have full lives, much to be grateful for…but you are only getting half way there. You are not experiencing all that God wants to do in your life. You are eating your favorite cheeseburger but not telling anyone about it. You are not witnessing to it.
When you praise you, become a witness, you experience the fullness of joy
The Psalmist....
11 You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
12 that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent.
Lord my God, I will praise you forever.
You see it? The delight is completed in the expression.
Closing
Closing
“If you cannot worship the Lord in the midst of your responsibilities on Monday, it is not very likely that you were worshipping on Sunday! (Tozer, 114).
Let’s pray.