Committed to Worship

The Point: God Deserves Our Worship and Praise

Introduction:

Big topic. Too big for 30 minutes, but an important part of us being “All In” and committed.

There are lots of passages to consider when it comes to worship. The one that’s in our study that we are going to focus on today is Psa 99:1-9.

The Hebrew word, “worship”, literally means to bow down. In bowing down, we are ascribing worth to something or someone.

Simple definition of worship may be -- “Worship is honor and adoration directed to God.” Good or bad, people know how to worship. What they worship may be something other than God: sports team, money, success, material possessions. However, true worship is about God and not about us as the worshipers.

Today we’re going to be looking at one of the 6 Enthronement Psalms (47, 93, 96-99) that emphasize the Kingship of the Lord, not just over Israel but over the whole world.

The holiness and sovereignty of God are the key themes in Psalm 99 which declares that God deserves our worship and praise. God has made Himself known in the scriptures and from His revelation, we respond in worship.

Psalm 99:1–3 ESV

The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake! The Lord is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples. Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy is he!

God alone reigns! He alone sits on the throne surrounded by angelic attendants. He reigns with absolute authority. He has created the universe and He sustains it (Col 1:16-17).

The people tremble before the Lord not because they are terrorized by Him like some who worshipped ancient gods, but with reverence and a healthy sense of fear that God is to be respected and honored--our lives are in His hands, He is sovereign over everything (Heb 12:28)! It is with that attitude of reverence and awe that the Lord wants us to come before Him boldly in our time of need (Heb 4:16).

Isaiah tells us who it is that God looks to and dwells with -- Isa 57:15, 66:2

Even the earth quakes in the presence of God as it did at Mt Sinai when the Lord revealed Himself (Ex 19:16-19).

He is enthroned in heaven and in the Psalmist’s day, He was also enthroned on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant between the cherubims in the Holy of Holies of the sanctuary on Mount Zion (1 Sam. 4:4; 2 Sam. 6:2; 2 Kings 19:15). It was from the mercy seat that God’s glory rested, and from there God spoke to Moses and ruled the nation of Israel (Num. 7:89).

God chose the Jews to be His vehicle for telling the Gentile nations about the true and living God (Isa 42:6, 49:6; 144,000 Jewish witness in the tribulation -- Rev 14:1) and God chose Mount Zion at the time to be His dwelling place.

We are to praise His great and awesome name. Ex 20:7 -- God’s name represents all that He is! Worship is open to all peoples everywhere!

When have you been awed by who God is or what He has done?

When God has shown you a truth in His word and you see how that truth is connected to other portions of Scripture. Realize more and more that

When God works to bring the Gospel into people’s lives

When God answers prayer

We are going to be looking at this passage in 3 sections. Each section ends in a common theme -- He is Holy!

He is set apart and separate from all His creation, no one is like Him (Isa 43:10, 44:6-8). He is perfect, pure, uncontaminated, sinless, flawless and incapable of doing wrong or evil.

Psalm 99:4–5 ESV

The King in his might loves justice. You have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt the Lord our God; worship at his footstool! Holy is he!

Again God reigns, He is the mighty King of kings and Lord of lords (1 Tim 6:15; Rev 17:14, 19:16).

Although God has absolute authority, can and does do anything He wants, His power is guided by His character, His equity (fairness, straightness, not deviating from a standard), by justice (a judgement involved in the determination of rights and the assignments of rewards and punishment) and by His righteousness.

Deut 10:17 - A just King and LORD.

We all value justice and it’s likely we have all been on the receiving end of injustice. Injustice happens far too often in a fallen and sinful world. We see that in our society and in our lives. People can be selfish, spiteful and sometimes downright mean. When you put power in the hands of sinful people, it can be used in ways that hurt others.

We are not to think we can get away with sin -- Jer 5:12-14; Gal 6:7

God hates injustice -- Jer 5:26-29!

God’s equity, justice and righteousness is based on His word and is not a matter of outward show, but a matter of the heart -- Jer 6:19-20, 8:9

God’s justice is righteous -- Jer 11:20

Because of God’s holy character and actions, He, the LORD (Yaweh), is to be exalted -- to raise in rank, character or status, to be high above.

And we are to bow at His footstool. Different things in scripture are described as God’s footstool -- the earth (Isa 66:1), the temple (1 Chron 28:2; Psa 132:7). This idea of a footstool is a symbol of God’s rulership, His Sovereign dominance and authority. That is where we are to come and worship. We are to be in complete subjection to Him.

To some God is an egotist that needs to be worshipped and made over. God desires the best for us and in Him comes the best -- Jer 13:25; John 8:44-45. Living w/o God leads to disaster which we’re seeing today!

Psalm 99:6–9 ESV

Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among those who called upon his name. They called to the Lord, and he answered them. In the pillar of the cloud he spoke to them; they kept his testimonies and the statute that he gave them. O Lord our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings. Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the Lord our God is holy!

God is God who hears and answers prayer like He did from Moses, Aaron and Samuel.

God hears us when we seek Him with all of our heart and will act in response to our prayer out of His goodness -- Jer 29:13-14; Matt 7:7-11

He is God that guides and directs. This was done supernaturally thru the pillar of cloud, and more pertinent to us, through His Word, testimonies (witness) and statutes (law, ordinances). Sin came into the world because Adam and Eve abandoned pure worship when they listened to Satan over God.

Despite our sin, and fortunately for us, God is also a forgiving. And in fact He went to the most extreme measure to take the payment for your sin and my sin - He died in my place to suffer the punishment I deserved. He uses His Holy Spirit to convict us of our sin and to show us we are in need of a Savior (John 16:8).

We’re approaching the Christmas season that focuses on the fact that God saw our need for salvation and stepped into this world as a baby boy. He lived among sinners, meeting their spiritual and physical needs, prove Who He was. He become the one and only Savior for anyone who believes. That is what we remembered today around the Lord’s Table.

Listen to the priesthood of believers from 1 Pet 2:9. We proclaim the greatness of God! Even our good works are not about us but of God -- Matt 5:16.

Again we are to exalt and bow in worship for God is holy!

Conclusion:

There are lots of others places we can go to find out about worship. One of my favorite places is John 4:20-24:

Not one place to worship, not Jerusalem (God allowed the temple to be destroyed) nor Mt. Gerizim. We can worship God anywhere at any time.

Not free to worship God as we want Him to be or “think” He is, but in the truth He has revealed to us about Himself. Genuine worship is a response to divine truth.

We must worship Him in spirit. Jesus’ point here is that a person must worship not simply external conformity to religious rituals and places (outwardly) but inwardly (“in spirit”) with the proper heart attitude. The things of God must be spiritual discerned (1 Cor 2:14). Therefore, a true worshipper must be a born-again believer (Phil 3:3).

In the midst of what we are going thru with COVID, as a church, as families and as individuals, it is easy to lose focus on worship. The focus can easily become inward and concentrated on all that’s happening in my life.

LIVE IT OUT

Evaluate -- What are the things I focus on doing during the week and how do I spend my time. Does the Lord reign in my life? Has there become anything that has replaced God as an idol, an object of worship?

Worship is not only words or music, but is a way of life:

Giving of ourselves - Treat a weaker brother (Rom 14:16), evangelism (Rom 15:16), our life (Rom 12:1-2)

Giving of our attitudes - Personal behavior (Eph 5:8-10, 1 Tim 2:2-3)

Giving of our possessions - giving to those in need (Phil 4:18)

Worship is to be central in our life with good works flowing out from that. I would say we can not just equate activity with worship.

Why would I say that?

Works are done because we know and love God, and we want others to know Him and grow in Him!

God saved us for the purpose of worship.

J Vernon McGee - “This is another great psalm of praise to God, the Mighty One. If you haven’t formed the habit of praising God, you should. If you are going to heaven, you had better tune up, because you are going to spend a lot of time praising Him in heaven and the best place to tune up is down here .... Do you know why we should praise Him? Because He is wonderful, He is faithful, and His loving-kindness endures forever. He will always be good to me, and He will always be good to you. Doesn’t this do something for you?”