The Christian’s Joyful Worship - Psalm 98

[Introduction]

Good evening, CGBC! I am Pastor Roger, I am the student ministries pastor at SFBC and it truly is a joy to serve you all this Friday evening! I am grateful to Terry for reaching out to me and giving me the opportunity to serve you all, Caitlin for emceeing for us, and Zach for leading us in worship. I always enjoy the times that I get to be with CGBC friends. I wish we could have had a chance to see one another at CBM Camp this year, but God had something else in store for us this year. Lord willing, we will be able to be together in person next year!

Since we are in the month of November and this is the time when we normally think about Thanksgiving, I wanted to focus our attention on worship. Our passage this evening is Psalm 98, so please turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 98 [READ and PRAY]

Because of the unprecedented pandemic that the Lord has allowed us to experience this year, it can be easy for us to focus only on what we have lost and missed out on this year. For some of you, you were not able to finish out your last year of school and graduate with your friends. There have been missed birthdays, missed family events, and more. Many of you are home on Zoom for multiple hours a day now either in class or at work.

While we have all missed many things this year and experienced real hurts during this period of extended trial, we can forget the good things that God has given us in our lives. We can forget how there are so many things that we be thankful to God for in our lives. We have shelter, we have food, we have family, we have friends, we have technology, and most importantly, we have salvation.

The Lord has been abundantly kind to us and has provided for all our needs and because of that we ought to be thankful. Our thankfulness to God in turn fuels our worship no matter what our circumstances might be now or will be in the future. This evening, we are going to look at three reasons why worship is an important part of the Christian life. Three reasons why worship is an important part of the Christian life. The first reason why worship is an important part of the Christian life is because Worship Reminds Us of God’s Salvation.

Worship Reminds Us of God’s Salvation (v.1–3)

[READ v.1]

The psalmist begins his psalm with a command to sing – this command is not meant to be a burdensome demand on people who worship God, but one that we do out of love, joy, and thankfulness

No matter what translation you have, you’ll notice that the name “LORD” is all capitalized – English language Bible translators do this to help us recognize when God’s personal name is being used by the Hebrew author

This name is the name Yahweh – it is God’s personal name. The name that He shared with His people when He revealed Himself to them. This name is much more intimate than the title “Lord” we might give to someone who has a royal background – it signifies close relationship and knowledge with Yahweh. People who are called to sing to Yahweh know Him and experience a present relationship with Him

As a result, they are called to sing Him a new song – this doesn’t mean that we can’t sing old songs when we worship God, but emphasizes the fact that our worship of God doesn’t stay the same throughout our lives – our worship of God is dynamic

Our worship of Yahweh adjusts according to what He brings into our lives. Our love for God is not static. There is fresh praise

The second reason why worship is an important part of the Christian life is because Worship Reminds Us of God’s Worth

Worship Reminds Us of God’s Worth (v.4–6)

[READ v.4]

The third reason why worship is an important part of the Christian life is because Worship Reminds Us of God’s Promises

Worship Reminds Us of God’s Promises (v.7–9)

Conclusion

This evening