Where Worship Leads

Psalm 100:1-5 New King James Version

Psalm 100:1 Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

Psalm 100:2 Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.

Psalm 100:4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

Ways to Praise – shout (v.1), singing (v.2), etc.

Why We Praise

· Psalm 100:3 Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

· Psalm 100:5 For the Lordis good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.

What is the Difference between Praise and Worship

· Praise is about God – what He has done

o Psalm 100:3 Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

· Worship is to God – who He is

o Psalm 100:5 For the Lordis good;

Where Worship Leads Us

· Psalm 100:5 And His truth endures to all generations.

Every generation experiences God in a fresh new way which is frequently expressed in music.

Music has changed through the years.

Evolution of Worship Music - A Cappella Medley https://youtu.be/2SaBhN2idbM

Music is very powerful and profound; our musical tastes is set by our teen or early twenties.

New music is not always our preferred style.

There have been complaints about new music

Letter #1

I am no music scholar, but I feel I know appropriate church music when I hear it. Last Sunday’s new hymn –if you can call it that –sounded like a sentimental love ballad one would expect to hear crooned in a saloon. If you insist on exposing us to rubbish like this –in God’s house! –don’t be surprised if many of the faithful look for a new place to worship. The hymns we grew up with are all we need.

Letter #2

What is wrong with the inspiring hymns with which we grew up? When I go to church, it is to worship God, not to be distracted with learning a new hymn. Last Sunday’s was particularly unnerving. The tune was un-singable and the new harmonies were quite distorting.

The first letter was written in 1863 about the hymn “Just As I Am.”

The second letter was written in 1890 about the hymn “What A Friend We Have In Jesus.”

Nine times in the Bible (OT & NT) we are instructed to sing a new song (Psalm 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1; Isaiah 42:10; Revelation 5:9; 14:3).

Psalm 96:1 Oh, sing to the Lord a new song! Sing to the Lord, all the earth.

Let me encourage you to learn new worship songs as you grow in your relationship with the Lord.

The ultimate goal of worship is not new music, but to prepare our hearts to receive the truth of God’s Word.

Psalm 100:5 And His truth endures to all generations.

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Take Colossians 3:16 in reverse order.

Hosea 10:11 Ephraim is a trained heifer That loves to thresh grain; But I harnessed her fair neck, I will make Ephraim pull a plow. Judah shall plow; Jacob shall break his clods.”

Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.

1. Judah – praise

2. Fallow ground - unplowed ground, i.e., land broken up in a past season, but not plowed this season for maximum yields[1]

3. Sow – the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:18-23)

a. Matthew 13:18 “Therefore hear the parable of the sower:

b. Matthew 13:19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.

c. Matthew 13:20 But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;

d. Matthew 13:21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

e. Matthew 13:22 Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

f. Matthew 13:23 But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

4. The rain of righteousness – the Holy Spirit

2 Kings 3:15 But now bring me [Elisha] a musician.” Then it happened, when the musician played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him.

2 Kings 3:16 And he said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Make this valley full of ditches.’

Psalm 138:2 I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name For Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.

John 4:23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.

John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

[1] James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament)(Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).