Come let us worship

Sermon on Psalm 95

Introduction
The psalm invites people of God to worship God. In short 11 verses, it gives the reasons for why we worship God, and how. What worship is pleasing and acceptable to God?

The psalm was written and sung by the ancient Israelites more than 2000 years ago. Yet the message remains urgently relevant to us gathered here today who profess to be God’s people. Particularly if it is our sincere desire to live out a worshipful life that pleases God.

Inevitably, some words would sound strange and alien to us, since this psalm was written so long ago. For example, (v8) where on earth was Meribah and Massah? What happened there and what do these terms imply? V11 talks about “God’s rest”, where and what is that? I hope that some clarifications, as we go through the Psalm, will help us better appreciate the God’s message for us this morning.

The Psalm divides into 2 major sections:
1. An invitation to worship God (vv1-7a)
2. A stern warning from God (7b-11)

I. The INVITATION
The invitation is written in such a way to portray repeated or multiple calls to worship. The impact is to emphasize that it is the predominant responsibility of God’s people to worship Him. To be God’s people, God’s child, is to worship God. There are 3 action words:

V1: Come! More accurately, the word in Hebrew is “walk!” It is an action word that initiates movement. Move your legs! Turn toward the direction of God and head toward Him. This walking toward God is accompanied by an attitude and act of joyous praise.
See v1a Let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation!
V2b Let us sing out, raise our voices to Him!
The descriptions reveal a noisy celebration: make a loud din as your come! In short, praise God jubilantly and loudly as you approach to worship Him!

V2: Encounter. With this word, the worshipper has drawn closer to God, and is invited to meet God. As we draw near to God, the psalmist says that a grateful attitude is appropriate: come into God’s presence with a thankful heart.
V2: Encounter His presence with thanksgiving.

V6: Enter. The third action word is “enter”. The worshipper has drawn even closer to God. If you were an ancient Israelite reader, you will have the background of the tabernacle and the Jerusalem Temple. These were Israel’s worship centers during the early days. They have similar architectural structures built to God’s commands. There is the outer courtyard for the people to slaughter and offer animal sacrifices. Then the sanctuary itself, only the Levite priests can enter this to offer incense. And finally what is called the “Most Holy” chamber: only the Great High Priest can enter this and once a year. On behalf of the people, he enters meets God and represents the people to worship God.

This time, up close in God’s presence, the psalmist says our attitude must be that of reverent fear.
See verse 6: Bend the knee! Kneel and pay homage! Bow low; prostrate!
These key words emphasize the sense of humbling oneself; and are words commonly used to describe coming before a Great King.

To sum up: there are multiple calls or summons to come and worship God. Come! Encounter! Enter in! They also emphasize the different aspects and attitudes of worship:
• Celebrate and praise God for who He is
• Thank God wholeheartedly for what He has done – remember His past and present care
• Have a heart of Humility – recognize man’s rightful status before God. Acknowledge His Kingship; accept that He is the Lord of my life.

II. REASON TO WORSHIP
Vv 3and 7 give the reasons for worship. Both verses begin with the word “because”.
First reason: v3-5. We celebrate God’s absolute kingship over all creation. He is described here as “supreme above all other gods.”

Now, this does not saying that there are other gods in this world. During ancient Israel’s time, their neighboring countries were polytheistic i.e. they worship many gods. The pagans believed the different gods control different spheres of life on earth: e.g. fertility god (for abundant offspring) or god of harvest (wealth and prosperity) These gods generally have power only within their own spheres. Not unlike today’s context: people who want good marriage will not go to Cai-Shen. During Israel’s time, when different people groups go to war over to fight over territory, they bring out their gods too. If your side loses the battle, it implies that your god is less powerful than the enemy’s and not able to protect your people. Often, items representing the loser god is destroyed, e.g. altars, statues, temples. The god is chased out or exiled to another place. Or it could mean that the god has earlier deserted his people for some reason. They lost the battle because their god has abandoned them.

Israel was radically different from their pagan neighbors in one critical worldview. Israel was monotheistic. In their belief system, Yahweh alone is God. Yahweh created everything and rules over all these. There are no other deities. Those are at best counterfeit powers claiming to be gods. In their worship, Israel would loudly proclaim: Our God is more powerful than your so-called gods. We share Israel’s belief that Yahweh is not merely “one god amongst many”, but the only true God who is Lord over the whole creation. For this reason, we worship Him.

To a certain extent, we live in a polytheistic worldview today too. There are many ‘gods’ in our lives. These ‘gods’ are clothed in the form of passion for greater prosperity, power, pleasure, acceptance and recognition by others etc. Unknowingly, we may already be slaves of them. We worship them. They become the focus of our lives. We devote entire time chasing after these. We readily yield principles to attain some measure of these rather than follow God’s ways.

We are reminded this morning that God is the supreme Creator of all things. His lordship extends over every single sphere, including your life. There is absolutely nothing that is not under His control. If you truly profess to trust in such a god, your priorities will change. You will start to live in a different manner.

The Second reason is found in vv 6-7. “For He is our God; we are the people of His pasture; a flock under His care.” The key word is our God. The Israelite worshippers honors Yahweh because He is not just an aloof transcendent deity who merely created everything, then abandoned it to run its own course. This is what some people today believe too. They acknowledge that a Creator made all these. But it is difficult for them to accept that this Creator somehow is concerned about them in a personal way. They do not feel connected to God, great as He is.

Israel is different from her pagans. The worshippers affirm a special relationship between God and them. They are God’s people because Yahweh has made a unique covenant with them. In this covenant, God commits never to abandon His people. No matter what happens, even when the people do not uphold their side of commitment, God promises never to leave them. He may discipline them for their own good. But never will He desert them.

In this psalm, this covenantal bond is described in terms of a shepherd and his flock. The nomadic Israelites would be familiar with the imagery. The good shepherd is one who passionately protects and takes care of his flock, even risking his life to save them if they are in danger. He knows each one intimately and gets involved in every individual’s wellbeing. We are privileged to be God’s sheep. As His flock, we are fully dependent on His provision and guidance.

Israel has her personal story and testimony about how God has been so faithful to care for them. Be it good or bad times, He is there for them. What about you and I? Each of us will also have our own story of how we experience God’s strange ways in dealing with us personally. Whenever we approach to worship God, let us spend some time recalling and reflecting upon those moments. Then come, with praise and thanksgiving. This is the God we worship.

In sum, the first pole of worship is a life of jubilant adoration and gratitude, celebrating God’s faithfulness and goodness to us.

III. The WARNING
There is a second aspect of worship: OBEDIENCE. From verse 7b onwards, the tone changes and becomes somber. With regards to rightful worship of God, a warning is served. As long as the worshippers confess Yahweh’s lordship over the creation and over their personal lives, they must follow His commands for conduct.

In this second half, the key word is TODAY. (Read together below v7b till last verse)
TODAY, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.” Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”

The word “today” indicates this is an urgent warning. It also links the past to the present. In other words, history serves as a guide and warning to how we may make major decisions for today.

The Psalm mentions a past incident that happened at Meribah and Massah (in v9).
Meribah means contention or quarrelling
Massah means testing
So what does it mean to say the people quarrelled with or tested God? To the extent they invoked God’s anger. To know this incident in detail, you may read Exodus 17, and also Numbers 20.

Briefly, what happened was this: by God’s great power, Moses has just led the people to escape from Egypt. Egypt has been ruling over the Israelites for decades, treating them oppressively like slaves. As God delivered them from this bondage, the people witnessed many signs and wonders, including God defeating the Egyptian magicians as well as overcoming Egypt’s strong military power. There was also the breathtaking parting of the Red Sea as they crossed over it to escape.

After this was the start of a new journey for Israel as they make their way toward Canaan, the territory that God promised to give to them to settle down. God promises that this would be a place where they would experience rest. They would enjoy peace from toil, from enemy threats, from harm.

It is important for us to take note that although the people was saved, it was not an instant transposition from Egypt to the anticipated and desired Promised Land. There is a journey to embark on. It will be a process as the saved person moves towards the destination that God wants him or her to be. The journey will not be always smooth-sailing. There will challenges; obstacles to overcome. Many of these may not even be physical, but psychological and spiritual. It is God’s purpose to mould His people, mould us, to be ready to do His work and establish His Kingdom on earth. Like Israel, many of us often do not welcome the challenges. God never said the journey was easy. But He promises that He will be with us till we get there.

The issue at Meribah and Massah was the people started to grumble and complain. They quickly forgot all that God had done for them. Like Singaporeans, they complained of slow service and lousy food. They started to rebel against God’s servant – Moses, and said they wished they had never left Egypt. In other words, if given a choice, they would rather go back to their old lifestyle then stay on this journey with God. Behind such thoughts stems one fundamental attitude that particularly angers God.

Let me read Exodus 17:7
And Moses called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the fault-finding of God’s people, and because they put the Lord by to the test saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

In other words, the children of God questioned the reality of God’s presence. God has promised to be with them throughout the journey until they reach the final destination. To doubt God’s presence with them is to call God a liar. This angered God greatly.

The message for us today remains the same: Do NOT question God’s presence in our world and in our personal lives. Israel’s forefathers foolishly did that and had to bear the consequences of their decisions. No one from that generation made it to the Promised Land (except Joshua and Caleb). Nevertheless, God did not forsake them, but continued to be with them and cared for them during those decades of circling in the wilderness.

Today emphasizes the urgency of the warning for present hearers. It links the past generation to the current people of God. The covenant that God made with the first generation is renewed with each and every generation hereafter, including ours. Read Duet 5:2-3,
The Lord our God made this covenant with us in Horeb. Not only with our forefathers with the Lord make this covenant, but with us who are all of us here alive today.

So, every generation is accountable for its choices and actions. Indeed, every individual is accountable to God when we meet Him at the final destination. This morning, we hear the same warning again. The manner we conduct our lives reflects our choice and response.

The Psalm lists down some descriptions of those who live as if God is not truly present in their lives:
• There is no praise and thanksgiving. In its place is complaints and grumbling.
• There is lack of trust that God can and will delivers us from our present troubles
• There is hardening of hearts, says v8. Hardened hearts refer wayward hearts that stray from God’s designated path. It refers to the stubborn and rebellious will of those who follow their own will rather than commit to learn and live out God’s principles (v10). In short, these are signs of disobedience. Deep within, the person no longer believes it really matters that one sticks to doing things God’s ways. Hardening of hearts is not just a description of the Israelite forefathers. It could happen to us today.
In sum, the psalmist lays down for us the two sides of right worship: (1) Jubilant celebration; (2) Total obedience to God.

IV. GOD’S REST
The warning of those who hardened their hearts and rebelled against God is laid out in v11: “They will never enter God’s rest.” Let me spend the last few minutes on what God’s Rest implies.
In the NT, Psalm 95 is used to encourage Christians not to fall away from commitment to God. The New Testament Christians during the Early Church times were not having a smooth time being believers. Whoever profess to be follower of Jesus will have to face violent persecutions. Hebrew 4:11-13,
Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

This Old Testament Psalm was written centuries before the birth of Christ. The early Israelites had thought that this rest refers to conquering the land of Canaan (today’s Palestine) and residing there. But Jesus Christ’s entry into human history has now enabled believers today have a more comprehensive understanding of what God’s rest encompasses.

The first mention of God’s rest is found in the first of the Bible. In Genesis chapter 2, we read that after God created the world, God rested. Verse 2-3:
And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

In other words, God’s creation is His abode. Our world is God’s dwelling place where God rests. To put it in another way, God’s presence permeates throughout His creation. Before man and woman failed to obey God’s instruction, they enjoyed living in God’s presence in an intimate and intense way. At that point in human history, Adam and Eve’s experience of God’s presence was wonderful. They enjoyed shalom. There was true rest: love, peace and harmony with God, with self, with each other, and with the rest of creation. While they took care of the garden, the land in return was fruitful. It yielded not just food, but also joy and pleasure. Life and work was not dreary, but instead productive and satisfying, not merely a means of provision but also a source of joy. Eden represented that experience of rest in God’s intimate and wonderful presence.

After sin was introduced due to man’s stubborn rebellion, Adam and Eve’s experience of God’s presence changed to that of guilt and shame. There was fear of God’s judgment. Instead of coming to God to enjoy His company, they hid from God. Eventually, they forfeited the privilege of Eden experience. Nevertheless, even as they went out of Eden, God’s presence never abandoned them. God continued to be with them

Adam and Eve’s plight is representative of the universal human plight today. As the history of their descendents unfolds, we read in Scriptures that human wickedness and rebellion worsen. The experience of God was affected consequently. Cain, for example, experienced God’s judgment, though wondrously also God’s mercy. God’s presence continues to permeate His creation, but as we go through the pages of Scripture, human experience of God’s presence becomes gradually less intensified. There are less visible and physical experiences like those of Moses and Elijah, who saw something of God’s presence.

Rather, as Israel’s history and relationship with God unfolds, God’s presence was mediated to a greater extent through God’s Word. God would speak to His chosen prophets, who would relay His purpose and instructions to the people. Gradually, possessing God’s Commandments was tantamount to having God’s presence in their midst. Obeying God’s Word was tantamount to living in God’s presence.

When Jesus Christ entered human history, He not only fully obeyed and fulfilled God’s Word. The Gospel of John describes Jesus as God’s Word itself. John 1:1 reads, “The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst men.” In the person of Jesus, the being of God is fully manifested. In Jesus, God’s presence intensely embodied has come to dwell in our world.

We now have a better appreciation of what God’s rest comprises. God has instituted His rest or Sabbath as part of His creation. To enter God’s rest is to dwell in God’s favorable presence.
The Good News is this. We do not and cannot do anything at all to win God’s favor. Jesus has already accomplished that by His own life of faithful obedience, obedience even unto death. The powerful message of the Gospel is that our salvation rests in the completed work of Christ, who for us has fulfilled every necessary prerequisite. The Gospel is not a “do” message but a “done” message. In Jesus, we no longer struggle hard to be good and win God’s approval. When we invite Jesus to be the Savior and Lord over us, we have God’s presence in our lives. God’s spirit works in us in a very wondrous way to transform and empower us to love His will. Paradoxically, it is as we obey and do God’s will in our daily routines that we experience God’s rest. Life is no longer a dreary mundane routine. It becomes possible to experience anew the power of God’s indwelling presence anytime, anywhere, in any circumstances good or bad.

V. CONCLUSION
Let me conclude. Psalm 95 invites God’s people to come and worship God for who He is and what He has done. It also issues a stern warning for us not to repeat the mistakes of past forefathers who were stubbornly rebellious. Jesus came more than 2000 years ago and accomplished God’s will to save us. Jesus is the living example of a life dedicated to do God’s will. Such a life brings hope. It has the power to impact and transform others. As we await Jesus’ coming again, let us continually offer ourselves anew as living sacrifices unto God. To seek God and do His will. We will surely experience God’s presence and blessing in ways we do not expect, and in return become a channel of His blessing flowing unto others.