The Heart of Worship 06 - Thank-full Worship

Reading: Psalm 95
Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. Psalm 95:2 (NIV)

I.   God is the King above all gods

     A.  Come to Him with Joy and Thanksgiving

           1.  We start with a call to worship together

                 a.  We can and should worship privately

                 b.  In the Bible God’s people typically worship together.

                 c.  There is simply no substitute for worshiping with God’s people.

           2.  This is a call to joyful and thankful worship

                 a.  Joy and thankfulness are the two most common attitudes for worship.

                 b.  Psalms overflow in celebration of God

                 c.  Joy and Thankfulness are twins.

           3.  This is a call to sing and make music

                 a.  The Bible calls us to sing and play musical instruments to praise Him.

                 b.  The Bible expects us to worship God with music

                 c.  See also Ephesians 5:18-20

     B.  Worship Him for His Greatness

           1.  He is the Great God (v.3a)

                 a.  Celebrate God’s greatness.

                 b.  Praise and thank God for Who He is

                 c.  No one is more worthy of our worship

           2.  He is the Great King above all gods (v.3b)

                 a.  God has competitors for His place

                 b.  He is King of them all: real or imagined.

                 c.  No god promises or delivers as God

     C.  Worship Him for His Authority

           1.  He owns everything from the earth’s core to the highest mountain peeks. (v.4)

                 a.  The extremes of human experience and discovery (and beyond) belong to him

                 b.  He owns all that competes with Him

                 c.  He is not a God who hides only in the deepest places or the highest places.

           2.  He made the ocean and the continents (v.5)

                 a.  We can’t go anywhere that He isn’t

                 b.  He made everything in which and with which we conduct our lives.

II.  He is our Maker

     A.  Humble yourselves in His presence (v.6)

           1.  Acknowledge Him as your King.

                 a.  In ancient times bowing before a king showed you considered him your king.

                 b.  This is a kind of self-humbling.

                 c.  But it’s tied to joy and thankfulness too!

           2.  Because He made us we serve Him

                 a.  He made our physical bodies, from our protoplasm to our epidermis.

                 b.  He made our souls–our very selves.

                 c.  Thank Him that He made us!

     B.  For He is Our God (v.7)

           1.  Not just God, our God

                 a.  Not someone’s god or a god, our God.

                 b.  And He’s a God Who saves us (v.1b)

                 c.  Thank Him for your salvation!

           2.  We are tied to, and tie ourselves to Him

                 a.  Not that we own God, but that we have a relationship with Him as God

                 b.  We belong together!

           3.  We have no other God but the Lord

                 a.  The God of all is all we need

                 b.  We declare Him our ultimate Sovereign

     C.  We are His People

           1.  He made us who we are too!

                 a.  None of us is a self-made man/woman

                 b.  We aren’t a self-made people either

                 c.  See 1 Peter 2:9-10 (attached)

           2.  We live in His pasture (in His kingdom)

                 a.  And so we’re under His protection too

                 b.  So, He will provide for our needs

           3.  He cares for us as a shepherd for his sheep

                 a.  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10:11.

                 b.  I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10b

                 c.  Thank Him for his care!

III. Enter His Rest (vv.1, 7c-11)

     A.  He is the Rock of our Salvation (v.1b)

           1.  Rock: unchanging, permanent, dependable

                 a.  Permanent records were engraved in rocks, or in clay that hardened to rock.

                 b.  Rocks were used as memorials since they would outlast generations.

                 c.  The wise man built his house on a Rock

           2.  Rocks were places of refuge, safety, shade

                 a.  People and animals hid in the rocks.

                 b.  Psalmists often talk about setting one’s feet on a rock, finding the higher rock

                 c.  Water came out of the rock at Meribah

           3.  Paul: the rock Moses got water out of stands for Jesus–the Rock of our Salvation

                 a.  See 1Corinthians 10:4b

                 b.  Thank Him for His reliability!

     B.  Trust His care for us

           1.  The Israelites at Meribah didn’t trust God.

                 a.  They wanted to test Him to see if He could be trusted. (See Exodus 17:1-7 attached)

                 b.  Meribah/Massah in this Psalm, stands for all the times they tested God.

           2.  Paul and Hebrews give the same warning.

                 a.  See 1Corinthians 10:5

                 b.  See Hebrews 3:16-19; 4:1-2; 9-11

           3.  We enter God’s rest (v.11) by trust (faith)

                 a.  We see that in Heb.3:19. (as above)

                 b.  Joy and Thankfulness are twins and their sister is Trust.

                 c.  See Psalm 50:23 (attached)

     C.  Thank God that He is With us!

           1.  The test of Meribah/Massah was this:

                 a.  “Is the Lord among us or not?” (Ex.17:7b)

                 b.  They had seen His salvation with their own eyes, and still. . .

                 c.  Do you still need proof of God’s love?

           2.  He is with us!

                 a.  He promises: (Matt.18:20; 28:20; Jn.14:18)

                 b.  We see His hand in our lives!

                 c.  Sometimes we sense His very presence

           3.  Thank and praise Him for His faithfulness

                 a.  He has never let us down, even when we thought He did!

                 b.  He never will let us down!

                 c.  Make your whole life a “thank-offering” to God for all He is, and all He does.

The Bottom Line:

HOP: Give Thanks ? Or B#184 Now With Joyful Exultation