Singing a New Song

The Psalms on Worship Singing a New Song Psalm 96 Pastor Pat Damiani August 25, 2019 NOTE: This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript. We’re going to begin with an experiment this morning. Let’s see if you can complete these lines from some classic songs: • Wise men say only fools rush in But I can't help falling in love with you • Standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona • The answer my friend is blowing in the wind • Country roads take me home to the place I belong • You just call out my name and you know wherever I am, I’ll come running to see you again • Baby shark doo doo doo doo doo doo Good job. Now let’s see how many of you can tell me the main points from the sermon the last three weeks: • It’s better to go worshiping to church than to go to church to worship • Worship that goes “all in” for God is contagious • We find rest in fellowship and in worship. Not nearly as easy, right? Why is that? I think we’d all agree that those ideas are probably more important than the song lyrics from songs that in some cases are decades old that we can easily remember. I think it has a lot to do with the nature of music. Although the brain is very complex and it’s not nearly this simple, it’s helpful to think of singing as one of the few activities that engages our entire brains. The verbal language of a song engages the left side of our brain and the melody engages the right side of our brain, so singing words with a melody requires the use of both hemispheres at the same time. That is likely the reason we have a much easier time remembering song lyrics from 50 years ago than an important piece of information we may have learned only a few minutes ago. Since God designed us that way, it’s not really surprising that music plays such an important role in our worship. The Psalms that we are studying in this current sermon series are a great example of that. It is likely that every Psalm was either put to music or at least chanted with a rhythm that made it easier for the Israelites, who didn’t have their own copy of the Scriptures, to remember. We’ve already seen that singing is an important part of worship in the Psalms we’ve looked at so far, but today as we look at Psalm 96, it will take an even more significant role. [Read Psalm 96] This is another Psalm that doesn’t give us any information about its author or the conditions under which it was written. What we do know is that this Psalm contains the exact same words found in 1 Chronicles 16:23-33, which is part of David’s song of thanks after the ark was brought to Jerusalem and placed in the tent that had been prepared for it. But the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, adds a superscription that indicates the Psalm was composed after the Babylonian captivity when the people returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. So it seems likely that the author of this Psalm quoted David’s song and modified it to celebrate the rebuilding of the temple. This is one of a number of Psalms that are known as “enthronement Psalms”. Those Psalms celebrate God as king and affirm Him as Lord over all His creation. So they speak of the earth and how it rejoices over that Lordship. As I began to prepare the message this week, it became apparent quickly that there is far too much in this Psalm to cover it all in detail today. So I’m going to primarily focus on the first couple of verses and the important role of singing in our worship. So here is the main idea we’re going to develop today: Once again this morning, I’d love to take full credit for these words, but I’ve adapted them from something that one of my favorite commentators, Skip Moen, wrote about singing a new song. I’ll share that with you in a moment. You have probably already noticed that other than this main idea, there aren’t any more blanks for you to fill in in your sermon outline this morning. That’s because the message today is more about experiencing this main idea than learning some facts about it. You’re certainly welcome to take any other notes you want this morning, but once you fill in the blanks for this main idea, you can just put away your insert and watch and listen if you want. In the first two verses of this Psalm, we see three imperatives, or commands to sing to the Lord. When we see things in threes in the Bible, that’s usually an indication that we ought to pay close attention because it’s important. The verb “sing” is the Hebrew word shiyr Skip Moen shares this insight into what that verb conveys: Most of the time the word is used in connection with worship. The pictograph tells us that the word is about deeds or work that consumes the person. In other words, singing “eats” you up. It takes away what you were feeling and moves you to another experience. That idea is reinforced when the Psalmist commands us to sing a “new song”. That is a phrase that is used 9 times in the Bible: • 6 times in the Psalms • 1 time in Isaiah 42 • 2 times in Revelation The word “new” can mean “new” in the sense that the song did not exist before. But it can also mean “fresh”. And if we had time to look at all those verses, we would find that both ideas are expressed here. We see that in our own worship right here at TFC, don’t’ we? Sometimes we introduce songs that are new to us because we have never sung them before. But it’s also true that a song that we’ve sung hundreds of times in our lives can take on a fresh meaning, maybe because of something that is going on in our lives at the time or something new that we’ve learned about God as we get to know Him better. The first song recorded in the Bible is a great example of a “new song”. It is the song of Moses recorded in Deuteronomy 32. Skip Moen describes how that song testified to unspeakable sorrow that was eaten up by God’s grace: Moses and the sons of Israel just crossed the sea through a miracle of their God. The threat of extermination was over. So, Moses prayed in the first song ever recorded in the Bible. Out of all that pain, two hundred years under the task-masters, life was restored. The people were rescued. Let us sing a new song to the Lord for He is able. Just don’t forget where the song came from – sorrow unspeakable eaten up by grace. Today we still sing “new songs” because God’s grace is fresh and new each day as the prophet Jeremiah reminds us in this familiar passage: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22–23 ESV) The rest of this Psalm reveals why we can sing these new songs. As we consider the greatness of who God is and what He has done for us in the past and what He is going to do for us in the future, we sing these new songs as a testimony to the grace that we experience in fresh ways each day in the present. After the message, we’re going to apply this passage literally and sing a song that is new for us here at TFC. Interestingly, that song, titled “Raise a Hallelujah” grew out of one of those occasions where unspeakable sorrow was eaten up by God’s grace. So let’s take a few minutes to see and hear the story behind the song. [Show “Jaxon’s Story” video] One of the important takeaways for us this morning is that sometimes we need others to sing that new song on our behalf because when we’re in the middle of the storm, we just can’t do that ourselves. Joel and Janie Taylor, Jaxon’s parents came to the place where they felt like they had nothing left to pray and it was then that they had to rely on others, most of whom they didn’t even know, to do that for them. And they had to rely on Jonathan and Melissa Helser to write that new song and on others to sing it on their behalf. As Joel stated in the video: It still humbles me and baffles me, the power of global prayer, the power of community, the power of believing together. When we sing those new songs out of the overflow of our hearts as a result of the way that God’s grace has eaten up unspeakable sorrow, those songs are directed primarily to God. As the Psalmist commands here, we are to “sing to the Lord”. But sometimes, in ways that we will probably never see, we end up singing those new songs on behalf of our brothers and sisters who just can’t sing them on their own at the moment. And God uses that to minister in the lives of others in powerful ways. So when you fail to sing, not only are you robbing God of the glory He deserves, you may very well be robbing someone else of a blessing that God wants to bestow through you. At the end of the video Jonathan Helser, the songwriter, spoke these words, which I think do a great job of summing up what Psalm 96 is all about: This gospel is not haphazard. It’s not a Russian roulette. It’s not a guessing game. It is the absolute nature of God revealed through His goodness and His kindness. And what is necessary is for the people of God to rise to the occasion, to face the impossibilities of life with the confidence of God’s character, His nature and His promise. There is no other option. Every week as we gather for worship, we like to close our gathering with a few moments for each of us to consider how God might want us to respond to Him. So we encourage everyone to answer these two questions: • What is God saying to me? • What am I going to do about it? Although the answer to those questions are going to be different for each one of us, this morning, we’re going to close our time by applying what we’ve learned from this passage together as a body as we literally sing a new song. But before we do that, we’re going to give everyone a chance to respond individually. As a church, we’ve developed a tool that might be helpful in deciding how you can take your next step in your relationship with Jesus this morning. It’s our discipleship path. And this morning, I want to call your attention to the “Grow” part of that path. No matter how mature we might be in our faith, there is always room for us to grow. Even the Apostle Paul, as he neared the end of his life here on earth, wrote that He had not yet reached the finish line and that He was still striving to know and serve Jesus better. There are almost limitless ways that we might be able to grow in our relationship with Jesus, but this morning, let me just suggest four steps for you to consider: • Choose and follow a daily Bible reading plan • Stay for our Bible roundtable after this worship gathering • Be part of a small group Bible study or even just get together with someone for coffee and talk about what you’re learning from the Bible • Give of your time, talents, and treasure. We’re actually going to begin our response time with an opportunity to do that right now. Once we’ve done that, we encourage you to respond however God leads as the music continues to play softly. If you’d like to talk or pray with someone during that time, some of our Elders and their wives will be in both the front and back of the room. Discussion questions for Bible Roundtable 1. What are the two different ways a song can be a “new song”? How have you experienced both in your life? 2. Psalm 96 refers to God’s work in the past, the present and the future. Where do you see each of these in this Psalm? 3. What are some practical things I can do to see God’s mercies new and fresh each day? 4. Many of the enthronement Psalms include inanimate objects such as the sea, the fields and the trees praising God. What point is the Psalmist making there? Are there any parallels in the New Testament?