Worship

Three boys are in the school yard bragging about their fathers. The first boy says, ‘My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a poem, they give him $50.’ The second boy says, ‘That’s nothing. My Dad scribbles a few words on piece of paper, he calls it a song, they give him $100.’ The third boy says, ‘I got you both beat. My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a sermon, and it takes eight people to collect all the money!’

Sermon Open:

- Music Rules The World

When your sad - Sarah Mclauphlin, or everybody hurts by R.E.M.

When your mad - I looked, no clue

When your happy - You can call me Al by Paul Simon

When your confused - Macarthur Park

- For Christians music usually stands for something different.

For Christians music usually means worship. Other than in the shower, or in the car, the only time most of us sing is when we go to church on Sunday morning. When you think of worship songs through the years we have some amazing examples of worship.

Amazing Grace - Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.

Shout to the Lord - Shout to the Lord all the earth let us sing, power and majesty praise to the king. Mountains bow down and the seas will roar at the sound of your name. I sing for joy at the work of your hands, forever I’ll love you forever Ill stand. Nothing compares to the promise I have in you.

No Longer Slaves - You split the seas so I can walk right through it. My tears are drown in perfect blood. You rescue me so I can stand and say I am a Child of God.

Chances are just by me reading those some of your hearts just wanted to yell yes. They heard the worship and wanted to be a part of it.

We have a rich history of worship songs and the songs that are true worship talk about the same thing, the amazing and wonderful being we get to call Father God.

We do this because of a simple thought. True worship means forgetting about yourself and putting all of your focus on God.

The Meat:

Even though when we think of worship we think singing., real worship is anytime we stop thinking about ourselves and take the time to tell God how amazing He is. This is not a vain thing, this is a deserved thing.

There are many great examples of worship in the Bible. The Israelites praising the father for freeing them from the Egyptians in Exodus 15. Look at verse 2!

Exodus 15:2 (ESV)

The Lord is my strength and my song,

and he has become my salvation;

this is my God, and I will praise him,

my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

The whole chapter goes that way!

We have talked about Paul and Silas in Jail in Acts 16.

David in 2 Samuel 6:12-16

2 Samuel 6:12–15 ESV

And it was told King David, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing. And when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal. And David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the horn.

David danced almost naked in front of his people. He didn’t care what anyone thought, not even his wife at that moment. He wanted to worship his God.

David:

David is possibly the best example of someone who understood worship. Today we are going to look at God through Davids eyes in Psalms 103. Look with me at 1-5

Psalm 103:1–5 LEB

Bless Yahweh, O my soul, and all within me, bless his holy name. Bless Yahweh, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits: who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with loyal love and mercies, who satisfies your life with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Psalm 103:1–5 ESV

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

:God Deserves OUR Worship:

David starts Psalms 103 by telling the reader something that everyone needs to hear. Bless the Lord with ALL that is within me. True worship of the father requires everything we have. This seems like a lot to give but we need to remember that when we give God all that we have in our soul He takes the bad with the good. He frees us even if it is for a short time from the bad. When was the last time you truly worshiped God and left feeling bad.

David then tells the reader why we should worship by showing what God does for us as individuals.

#1 God Forgives ALL our iniquity.

Not some, all. consider that. How much sin and iniquity have you built up in your life. Quite a bit. And yet we serve a God who is gracious enough to forgive ALL of it if we accept Salvation. All of it!! We have a hard time forgiving the drive through guy fro forgetting our ketchup packets. God on the other hand forgives us for ALL of our iniquities.

#2 God Heals ALL Our Diseases.

Can I get an amen here. We are in the midst of a pandemic. The flu season is coming. We have things such as cancer, aids, heart disease, need I go on? And we serve a God that can heal all of that and more. Some of you might say that you know of people that He didn’t heal. I think we all know someone like that. God can heal all. Make no mistake. But sin is real and sometimes God chooses Heaven as His answer. We just have to trust and worship God, knowing that He can Heal all but trusting Him when He doesn’t.

#3 He Redeems Our Life From the Pit.

What a statement! The pit in this verse is representing the worst possible times in our lives. The times when we have sunk so low that all we can possibly do is look up. We have all been here before and it is quite possible that some of us are in that pit right now. We worship because we serve a God that when we are at our lowest possible point, when all that we can do is look up out of that pit because we cannot possibly sink any lower He is reaching His hand in to help us out of the pit and redeem us. Life stinks sometimes. Just remember their is no pit so low that God cannot reach us. That is why God deserves our worship.

#4 He Crowns US with Steadfast Love and Mercy.

When we are weak, when we cannot go any farther our God lifts us up and carries us the rest of the way. Remember He wants only the best for us. He wants us to succeed. He wants us to not be weighed down with life and all that is trying to hold us down. He does this so we can lift up out of the garbage that surrounds us take to the sky and soar like the eagle! Look at what Isaiah says...

Isaiah 40:31 (ESV)

but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint.

Have you ever seen an eagle fly. It is magnificent! They are free. God wants that for us. Freedom from the sin and the baggage that is holding us down.

As amazing as we think that God is, as worthy as we think He is of our worship, He is that and infinatley more. Francis Chan said it best when he said.

“Many Spirit-filled authors have exhausted the thesaurus in order to describe God with the glory He deserves. His perfect holiness, by definition, assures us that our words can’t contain Him. Isn’t it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate?”—Francis Chan

David knows that we are a selfish people as the human race. We worry about us. He is saying look at the amazing things that our God does for us on a daily basis. He is worthy of our INDIVIDUAL worship!

GOD DESERVES HUMANITIES WORSHIP

After talking about the praise of the individual David goes on to show that God deserves humanities praise.:

Psalm 103:6–19 ESV

The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.

:Not only does God deserve worship from us as individuals He deserves worship from humanity as a whole . David takes this thought and tells us why in 3 ways.

#1 God delivers His people from oppression.

I think that we all can relate to the the feeling of being oppressed. God’s people have a long history of being oppressed. Here in Psalms 103 God used the example of the Israelites. The Israelites over history have found themselves under oppression many times, usually because of their own actions. and God continued to save them from it. All too often they forgot about His grace and mercy shortly after He saved them yet God still showed more. I think of September 11. If you lived through that terrible time you remember that the entire nation seemed to turn to God on the 12th only to seemingly forget Him on the 13th. Yet God continues to show us grace and mercy that we absolutely do not deserve. Whether it has been Egypt, the Romans, the holocaust, etc, God’s people have been oppressed. God who should wash His hands of us but instead gives us grace and mercy. That deserves our worship.

#2 God is a Forgiving God

Thank God this is a true statement. God often showed His rightous anger. Like any parent trying to teach their child the correct way to live God correctly taught His people. Then He forgave them. Humanity continues to spit in the face of God. Often it seems like so called Bible believing people spit in the face of God. Yet God still offers forgiveness. Look at what it says in Ezra 9:13

Ezra 9:13 (ESV)

And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this,

How many of you have gotten what you deserve? Not one of us thank God. Not just as individuals, towns, and nations and countries have deserved to be wiped clean of this planet like Sodom and Gamorah. But like Ninevah God forgives us. That Deserves worship.

#3 God’s Love Is Eternal

We are here for a relatively short time when push comes to shove. We may live to a ripe old age, we may get hit by a bus tomorrow. Nothing can change that, but though we know that we can die at any time we also know that God’s love for His children is eternal and will last Forever. That deserves worship.

The Last point that David makes here is....

GOD DESERVES HEAVEN’S WORSHIP

David finally shows us that God not only deserves our worship, he deserves and gets worship from Heaven.:

Psalm 103:20–22 ESV

Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul!

:The angels are up in heaven doing God’s will and worshipping! David is showing us that no matter who or what you are we should worship. Because He is GOD!

Just imagine the worship that we will experience in heaven! What an amazing thought. Someday everyone that has Salvation will be in Heaven, with the angels for the rest of eternity. And our one and true purpose for being will finally come to pass. We will spend eternity worshiping God.

I read some worship songs earlier. In 1988 a song came out that seemed to ignite the church as a whole. It became an anthem for worship for decades to come. Even though it has verses and what not the chorus would repeat in the church and people would worship. That simple chorus said it all when it said...

OUR GOD IS AN AN AWESOME GOD, HE REIGNS, FROM HEAVEN ABOVE WITH WISDOM, POWER, AND LOVE, OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD.

Say it with me a couple of times.

OUR GOD IS AN AN AWESOME GOD, HE REIGNS, FROM HEAVEN ABOVE WITH WISDOM, POWER, AND LOVE, OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD.

We have plenty of reasons to be down right now. Covid, people having to give up their job, the constant fight. Even though all these things are tough we cannot forget why we exist as Christians. To worship our amazing God. Remember worship is when we forget about ourselves and focus on telling God how amazing He is because He deserves it. Look at the beauty outside and worship. Hug your family and worship. Lift your voices and worship. Because God deserves it.

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