Sermon Tone Analysis

The need to find a book to settle in (I’m not Spurgeon)

That book will be Psalms

Introduction: My Pastoral Shtick

Every pastor has a shtick

a person's special talent, interest, or area of activity.

While a pastor’s teaching should not be one dimensional, usually his teaching will have a certain emphasis

Hopefully one that magnifies the gospel in one way or the other

What I thought my shtick would be

As I began to grow in my Christian walk, I got into doctrine (Schaeffer)

As I looked around the broad evangelical landscape around me, and saw how fluffy and destitute it was of theological mental exercise

I thought perhaps my shtick would be deep theological inquiry

But as I grew in my theological understanding, I knew something was off as I had no habit of prayer, and even singing songs of praise was more of a chore to me than anything

Introduced to The Book of Psalms

After I expressed my concern of a lack of prayer life, my pastor in Michigan pointed me to the book of Psalms especially in the area of learning to pray

And as I prayed through the Psalms my Christianity changed in the most profound ways

I can honestly say the book of Psalms is what God has used the most to grow me in my Christian life

For my Christianity to go from one dimensional of simply a mental exercise, to something profoundly more.

A life of tenacious worship to our God and king

My Pastoral Shtick is to get the people of God to have blessed, life filled worship

If there is one thing I hope you get tempted to get annoyed with me over is me telling you not to have boring worship

Ultimately, last week, one person could have won the lottery and another found out about a bad cancer diagnosis

The one who goes through the circumstance in lively worship to our God is the one who is better off

Worship: The Reason for Everything

God’s purpose in all he does is to be marvelled at (worshipped)

The Purpose of all God’s creation then is to worship the Creator

Creation:

Simply creation functioning as God created it is it worshipping God

Angels with Creation

Humans

God places man in this creation he made

Gives him a law to obey to show his worship (worship is happy obedience)

And instead of worship, Adam disobeys

Our hope today is that 2000 years ago Jesus came and enabled worship once more by his righteous life, death, and resurrection

The whole purpose of the Christian’s life here on earth is to be a living sacrifice of worship to our God who has created, and recreated for his glory

Our worship is in light of creation and recreation

Every action of yours (thought and deed) is to be in happy obedience or worship to God—enabled by the work of Christ

Your life is to be full of meaningful worship

Any problem you are facing right now is because there is a lack in this fundamental purpose to your life

THE WHOLE PURPOSE TO EVERYTHING IS FOR WORSHIP TO THE CREATOR GOD

Deceiving Ourselves into Less than Blessed, Life filled Worship

As we live in this cursed world with our left over sinful flesh, one thing is for certain worship as we should do it, IS HARD

It is possible for the People of God to have a show of worship but for it to be non existent on the inside

It is possible for us to do the things we do for God as if he needs it

God has never nor will ever need our worship—it is for our greatest good to do so

We do the things we do for God out of sheer thanksgiving

Taking Inventory of your present Worship

On a Corporate Level

Have you all gathered together with the saints with an aim to truly worship

A heart full of thanksgiving for creation and recreation

Or is there a tendency to come here as if it is a favor we are bestowing upon God?

Here at LBC we fellowship into the afternoon!

Do we ever come with complaining hearts with such activity?

Those of you who are heavily involved here, it started with worship, but is it maintained with worship?

On an Individual Level

Not a one and done belief, but an abiding belief

You wake up in the morning and your heart is filled with grumbling or indifference and not thanksgiving

This is unbelief, not belief

That’s why we must proclaim the gospel to ourselves and tell our soul to believe

And all the good we do in Christ’s kingdom comes from the overflow of this worship

Husbands be the overflow to your wife

Parents be the overflow to your children

My wife and I thought we needed to exchanged our kids for better ones, but as it turned out, there was something wrong with our worship in light of raising depraved children

Complainers at Church…I can show you where your individual worship is lacking

God is Eternally Good and Thus Worthy of Eternally Good Worship

Even on our best day we do not give all God deserves (it is our worship then to grow)

Not one of us can ever say my worship is now perfect!

Worship is Vital but Hard—The Psalms are Here to Help

When Christ does his justifying work in you, he sets you on a path of eternal worship now

Having such right worship is the hardest thing you will ever do—the Psalms is here to help

The Book of Psalms

A Book of (Raw) Prayers

Nothing kills your worship more than when you are hanging by a thread because of a certain issue, and your prayer consist of thanking God for the weather asking that Billy’s root canal would go well

(Go through first several and see the raw prayers at work)

4-7 negative

8-9 positive

A Book of (Raw) Songs

These are songs and are full of poetry and warm gospel worship

One thing to say “Hey come over here and let’s worship God”

Another to sing: Behold our God, seating on his throne, come let us adore him!

Behold our King, nothing can compare come let us adore him!

The Psalms will train your heart to sing out joyfully to our God and king

Here in the Psalms You Will See Yourself

Victories, set backs

Depression, overjoyed

Anger, sadness, happiness

John Calvin: The book of Psalms is an anatomy of all the parts of the soul.

For there is not an emotion of which any one can be conscious that is not here represented as in a mirror.”

A life of worship includes all the emotions God has given you

Here in the Psalms You Will See your Christ

Christ As...The Suffering Servant

Ends with Triumph in light of this suffering:

Which enables what we get next:

Christ As...The Shepherd of our Sinful Souls

Christ As...The Conquering King

Here in the Psalms, seeing yourself and the Christ, You Will Find Your True Worship

John Gill The whole book is a rich mine of grace and evangelical truths, and a large fund of spiritual experience; and is abundantly suited to every case, state, and condition, that the church of Christ, or particular believers, are in at any time.

Conclusion

A Sign of a Mature Christian

Is not one who appears to have no problems

But one who is growing more and more amazed of this grace found in Jesus