Worship: Discovering Our Purpose

The summer I turned 12, I made a life-altering decision. I decided to enter public school.

I had gone to a Christian school since the first grade. I had just finished 6th grade. But that summer, 1992, I decided to enter public school for my seventh grade year.

Now my friend Josh had always gone to public school. HAnd he said, “Look, man, it’s so cool that you and I are going to start seventh grade together. It’s going to be such a fun year.” And then he said this: “And don’t worry — I’ll teach you everything you need to know about MC Hammer. I’ll familiarize you with every major album of Kriss Kross, LL Cool J, Heavy D and the Boyz, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. I’ll get you up to speed.”

Now I’m not sure what’s more disturbing: Is it more disturbing that I didn’t know who those artists were in the summer of 1992? or is it more disturbing to you that I still can name them off one by one 30 years later?

Regardless, why was that important to us as 12 year olds? Because that was the music of 1992. If I didn’t know these artists and these songs, I risked missing the boat.

Maybe you can relate to this fear of missing the boat. Being behind while everyone else is ahead. This is such a thing for young adults today that we’ve coined a new word: FOMO. It’s an acronym: Fear Of Missing Out. Fear of missing the boat.

Alot of men feel like we’ve missed the boat if we haven’t had certain adventures before we’re too old to do them. Alot of moms who stay at home feel like they’ve missed the boat on their career. Alot of moms who work outside the home feel like they’ve missed the boat on their kids.

But zoom out beyond questions of career and parenting: what if we miss the boat on our purpose as human beings? What if we come to the end of our lives and realize not just that we missed the boat as parents our spouses or on our career; what if we discover we’ve missed the boat on the very purpose for which God made us?

Today’s Takeaway:

Worship is happening all around us as all creation glorifies its Creator. If we are not joining in, we are missing the boat on our purpose for being on this earth.

This sermon today has just one two observations from the text and one question for us. Two observations and one question.

Observation #1: Worship is happening high above us

Worship is happening high above us. That’s what we see in verses 1-4. Look with me at verse 1. First the call to worship goes out to all: “Praise the Lord” - to praise the Lord is to worship the Lord, to ascribe beauty and honor to Him, to sing about His attributes like His love, His justice, His grace, His majesty. That’s what it means to praise the Lord.

And notice who the call to worship goes out to: “Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights.” The environment of heaven is worshipful.

Worship is happening high above us (vv. 1-4)

“Praise the Lord from the heavens!”

“Praise Him in the heights!”

“Praise Him, all His angels!”

“Praise Him, all His hosts!”

“Praise Him, sun/moon/stars/waters”

The call to worship goes out to all of heaven, but also to specific heavenly beings, verse 2: “Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his host”. The picture here is the vast, innumerable heavenly army of angels and they willingly give worship to Him.

But not just the angels; the heavenly creation itself, sun and moon, shining stars, even the waters above the heavens which are most likely rain clouds — all are called upon to worship the Lord. And how do the worship the Lord? They can’t sing or speak. They can’t form thoughts. But nevertheless they worship. How is that?

Psalm 19:1 ESV

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

They worship just by existing and being what they are. Here’s what I mean. The sunset already glorifies God, it points to God. The Bible says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork” (Psalm 19:1 ESV).

How do the heavens declare the glory of God? Precisely in this way: something this beautiful could only have been designed for us by someone creative — powerful, intentional, imaginary, divine person - got that?

And if this sunset that the Creator made is this beautiful, how much more beautiful is the infinite Creator, whom we could not bear to see if He were to reveal Himself to us in all His glory? Creation worships God by pointing to the existence of an even more beautiful and glorious Creator. That is how the heavens declare the glory of God, and how the sun and moon and stars worship God.

Why do the heavens worship God? (vv. 5-6)

He created them by His mere word

He established them His decree

Why? Why is there this concert of praise that begins in the highest heaven, the inner councils of God’s throne room, and descending down to the angels and finally to the sun and moon and stars? What compels even inanimate created objects like the sun and the moon to worship?

Verse 5 tells us: “Let them praise the name of the Lord!” Why? “For he commanded and they were created. And he established them forever and ever; he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away” (Psalm 148:5-6). The Creator is worshiped by His creation because He created it by His word alone. Who but God can conceive of something completely new in His mind and then command it into existence? “‘Let there be light’; and there was light.”

Worship is happening high above us. That’s observation number one. Observation number two: Worship is happening all around us.

Observation #2: Worship is happening all around us

Notice how the worship of God in heaven now descends to earth. Verse 7: “Praise the Lord from the earth.” What happens on heaven is meant to happen here. Jesus said that we are to pray “your kingdom, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10 ESV).

Worship is happening all around us (vv. 7-10)

“Praise the Lord “from the earth!”

Sea monsters/deep oceans

Fire/hail/snow/mist

Severe weather “fulfilling his word”

Mountains/hills/trees

Beasts/livestock/bugs/birds

Sea monsters and the depths of the oceans. But also in verse 8: “fire” - which is probably lightning - and “hail” - snow and fog - those natural elements that are so feared by some and have the power to disrupt our lives and damage our property and even perhaps take our lives — everything is engaged in worship. The wind that brought down trees in downtown Shelby last week — verse 8 tells us it was merely “fulfilling His word.” From the heights of the highest heavens all the way down to the deepest recesses of the ocean, every creature owes its existence to God and therefore is engaged in the worship of God.

Worship is happening high above us; worship is happening all around us. Here’s the question for us:

Question: Is worship happening within us?

Worship is happening all around us and high above us.

The question remains: is worship happening within us?

[PAUSE]

Remember today’s takeaway:

Today’s Takeaway:

Worship is happening all around us as all creation glorifies its Creator. If we are not joining in, we are missing the boat on our purpose for being on this earth.

Are we mentioned as worshipers in Psalm 148? Did you see any mention of human beings in Psalm 148? Take 30 seconds and scan Psalm 148 in your Bibles or Bible apps that you hopefully have out in front of you. Are we there? Or is it just angels and the sun and animals and trees that worship God, according to Psalm 148.

[PAUSE]

We are in Psalm 148. Where? Not first - that was the angels. And not in the middle — that was the moon and sun and stars and the rest of creation. We’re mentioned at the end. We come last.

Look at verse 11: Remember, he’s still calling us to worship; he just didn’t mention the word “praise”. It’s understood: “[Praise the Lord,] kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth! Young men and maidens together, old men and children.”

Why does he mention us last? What do you think?

I’ll give you a moment to ponder that. The worst thing you could do right now is coast through this part of the sermon. Don’t miss this.

[PAUSE]

Here’s why: we come last in the psalm — because —we are supposed to see that worship is the environment in which we live, the air that we breathe.

We are supposed to understand that if we choose to live our life for our own glory and honor, if we choose to make something else our god, we are out of sync with the rest of the world.

...We are lagging behind.

[PAUSE]

Literally every other created being, from gross bugs to the most beautiful angels, live and exist solely for God. And we, who are made in God’s image, we who are made to be His walking, talking, breathing statutes reflecting His beauty to the rest of the world, we are the only ones who don’t get it. We’ve missed the boat.

Well, what can we do if we have missed the boat?

Let’s start with what worship is not. You can put your Bibles down and just direct your attention up here.

What worship is not:

It is not just singing at church; all of life is worship!

It is not really a solitary activity; it is corporate!

Worship is not just singing at church. Worship, church, is all of life. You are always worshiping something. We are born into this world, and the moment we are born, three things are true of us: we are naked, we are upset, and we are worshiping. That baby wants something. What is worship if not a craving for something you feel like you absolutely must have?

Listen to Psalm 63 and here the words of King David. This is a worshipful heart. Listen to the language of desire and craving. Psalm 63:1-3

Psalm 63:1–3 ESV

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.

That’s a worshipful heart for God. But notice that you could put other things in the place of God in that psalm. “O iPhone 13 Pro - you are my god; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon at the Apple store, or at apple.com, beholding your power and glory, O iPhone 13 Pro. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.”

Do you see what I mean? And here’s the thing: every person in the universe and every person in this building right now? Everything that David said about God, every one of us could say those things about something or someone and not be exaggerating at all. What is it that has your allegiance? That is what you are worshiping.

This is why worship is such a big deal. It’s not just coming to church and singing songs. To ask you what you are worshiping is to ask a question that probably makes you uncomfortable, because it gets at the things we treasure the most in our hearts, and these can be good things. But our tendency is always to take God’s good gifts and replace Him with them. Worship is all of life.

Worship is not just coming to church. Worship is all of life. But worship also not a solitary activity. Not really. Worship in the Bible is not really a solitary activity. I don’t mean there’s no place for solitary Bible reading or prayer; there is. There is a place for worshiping God privately. Those are personal devotions, quiet times, whatever you want to call them.

But overwhelmingly, the Bible, when it talks about worship, it is referring to the worship of God that takes place within the people of God, worship that characterizes their entire lives.

Whether the ancient tribes of Israel before Mt. Sinai, or the nation of Israel worshiping in the temple, or later in the synagogues, or the New Testament church. Worship in the Bible is almost always a corporate activity, not a solitary one. I’m going to spend some time on this one for obvious reasons.

“But pastor, I can worship out on the lake or the golf course” - anybody heard anybody say this? Anybody said this?

“I can worship out on the lake or on the golf course.” Everybody knows it’s a sham, even the people who say it.

Let me tell you something, friends: if you are out on the lake or the golf course between 9am and 12pm on a Sunday, and it’s not just a one-time thing, you’re worshiping something, you’re right. But not God.

Because to worship God is to make Him first place. It’s a little odd to claim that God is first place in your life at the very moment when you’re demonstrating that He isn’t. That would be like a man cheating on his wife and saying, when confronted in the moment, “don’t worry, it’s okay, my wife is first place in my heart; I’m holding my wife as first place in my heart”.

“I can worship on the lake or the golf course.” This, my friends, is an excuse whose time has run out.

If you believe this, it’s time to stop believing it. If you say this, it’s time to stop saying because it. And if other people say this to you, it’s time to stop enabling our friends and family members who keep saying it. It’s time to stop nodding politely and knowingly when we hear this, and instead, start calling it out for what it is. It is a lie.

How about worshiping at home, not at the lake or the golf course? How about watching the live stream from your couch with your coffee and donuts? Is that worshiping? I can’t say for sure.

Be the Church: Sunday Washington 9am

But I can say this: If you’re not disabled or homebound — and if you’re not living in a country where Christians risk their life to go to church — and if you have a car and are capable of driving it — you can watch church from your couch, but you are starving yourself spiritually. And you will die.

Because the thing about starving is that when you first stop eating, you’ll feel hungry for a while, but eventually the hunger will go away. But don’t let that fool you. You’re still starving to death. Your body is depleting its reserves. You feel good. But the pains will come back worse and you will die.

Remember “friends don’t let friends drive drunk”? It’s time for us to say that friends don’t let friends watch church in their pajamas from home. You will backslide if you are not already. You may be already and don’t know it. Most people who get into serious, scandalous sin or walk away from the faith — they stop going to church first. It won’t happen to you? Why are you any better than them? Remember how the hunger pains go away?

I mean, we understand this with literally everything besides church, don’t we? All of us who like football know that you can watch a Panthers game at home alone; it’s even better to watch it with friends at home; and it’s far better to watch it with friends at the Panthers Stadium.

Even so there’s a difference between worshiping at home and worshiping at church. That’s why we call it corporate worship — there is something so essential about being here together in this room with other believers, and being together in the same place is so essential to worship that you can reasonable ask whether worship anywhere else is really worship at all. The word “church” in the NT literally means an assembly of people! By that definition, watching church at home or spending Sunday on the lake or the golf course could never even claim to be the same as going to church.

Worship is not just coming to church and singing. Worship is not a solitary activity.

So what is worship? Two illustrations.

What is worship?

Worship is genuine affection for God

Worship is verbal praise of God

Worship is based upon the truth of God.

How about the first one? Worship is genuine affection for God.

Think of something you love that you see in creation. I’m not talking about just something that you think is pretty. I’m talking about what you see in the natural world that moves you, amazes you, fascinates you, sparks something within you.

You might not realize it, but that feeling inside of you, that is is a worshipful impulse. And that impulse is the first step of worship. For some of you it’s a sunset or a sunrise or maybe the mountains.

What moves me and fascinates me and ignites a spark in me is weather. The appearance of lighting in the sky — brilliant, white, light-up-the-night lightning; the sound of deep, rolling thunder; the noise that a good wind makes when it moves through a tree with no leaves on its branches. Those things make me think of the beauty, the glory, the blinding brilliance of God, His raw power, strong enough to drive a plastic straw right into the trunk of a tree and lodge it there. Those things move me. That impulse involves your affections, your emotions.

Worship begins with affection and emotion. It’s not only emotion. But worship is emotional. Involves the affections. The worship of God begins with love/affection for God.

You know how you feel about your child or your spouse or your parents — many times it’s not mere willpower alone; the affections are there driving the will forward. Worship begins with affection for God.

But worship also involves involves the verbal praise of God. We praise what we love, inevitably. It’s the whole reason romantic comedies and love songs exist. The verbal praise of God. “God, thank you for being a just God. Thank you for being a holy God. Thank for being a God of love, of grace. Like Psalm 36:5,“Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.”

In this sense, worship is like giving someone a trophy. When I was eight or nine years old, I won a trophy at the Burke County Fair. It was some kind of a lego competition. My lego house won first prize. Never expected that.

Now, the trophy — actually it might have just been a ribbon — I think it was just a ribbon. At any rate, the ribbon didn’t make my lego house the best one. The ribbon just called attention to the fact that my lego house was, in the judges’ estimation, the best lego house.

That’s what praising God is like. Our praise doesn’t make God a just God, does it? Our worship of God because He’s a God of grace — that doesn’t make God a God of grace. It just acknowledges that He’s a God of grace and it throws the spotlight on Him - Hey, God is good! He’s a God of grace! He’s the God of first and second and third chances and more. Everyone, look at Him! Do you know this God? Come to Him and find, just like we have found, that He is a God of grace.

Lastly, worship is based upon the truth of God. This one takes us back to our text.

Psalm 148 ends by telling us why the church ought to worship God. What’s our motivation? Look with me at verses 13-14: “Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven. He has raised up a horn for his people” — that’s our salvation, our deliverance, our redemption — “He has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his saints” — and then look at this, the last part of verse 14: “For the people of Israel who are near to him.” And it concludes the same way it began: “Praise the Lord!”

The worship of God by the church of God is based upon the truth of God. He has brought us near. Those who have trusted in His Son Jesus, dying and rising for us and in our place, paying the penalty for our sin — those God has brought near to Himself.

Conclusion and Call for Response

Church, Christians — you are here this morning because God found you and brought you near to Him. And that ought to be your highest reason to worship. It’s okay to worship God for what He has done for you.

Think about it: You were far from Him, dead in your sin. He made you alive with His Son the moment you trusted in Him for salvation. And He brought you near. You are not here because you sought God in your moment of need. It may feel like that’s what happened, and from your side it may have been what you did. But the part of that you couldn’t see was that God was drawing you — patiently, kindly, lovingly. He loved you too much

Worship is based upon the truth of God. The truth of God is the gospel - you were once lost, but now found. If your heart feels dry and cold, if worship feels a million miles from where your head is right now, consider this question and ask God to show you the truth of it. Where would you be now, other than here, if God had not found you, and brought you near?

Are you here this morning and you are still lost? God is drawing you too. He is seeking you. That is why you are here. He wants to bring you near. He wants to make you a worshiper. Will you respond to Him today?