Sermon Psalm 95:1-2 “Worship”

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
New Covenant Presbyterian Church
Sermon Psalm 95:1-2 “Worship”
January 6, 2019

Listen to this sermon.

Today is Epiphany.   This is the day, 13 days after Christmas, when the church traditionally remembers the Magi who followed a star and visited Jesus.   Symbolizing the light of that star, our liturgical colors today are white.  By following the church calendar we shape our worship around the events of Jesus’ life. 

Today we are going to talk about worship, as a spiritual practice but first, let’s pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy Heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

We are continuing our journey through Believe, Living the Story of the Bible to Become Like Jesus.  Before the Advent season, we looked at what it is we must believe.   We talked about who God is and that God loves us.   We talked about what the Bible is and who we are.   We talked about the Church and the requirements of compassion and stewardship.   And we talked about our own salvation and the promise of eternal life.    These are all things we believe.

Today we turn to what we do to become like Jesus.  We will be looking at spiritual practices which, when built upon the foundation of what we believe, allow us to spiritually grow and become more like Jesus.   Our goal is to achieve what we talked about in Advent, hope, peace, joy, and love.  The first spiritual practice we will look at is worship.

This is a dollar bill.   It is a piece of paper with some green ink on it.   It has no intrinsic value.   A piece of paper with some ink on it is worthless.   But we attribute worth to it.   We give it value.   And so I can take this piece of paper with green ink to McDonald's and exchange it for a bag of small fries.   I am happy to receive the fries.   McDonald’s is happy to receive this piece of paper.  So we attribute worth to a piece of paper and it becomes something valuable for us.

Worship is when we attribute worth to the most valuable thing in our lives.  We worship     

God by attributing supreme worth to him.  We give God all glory and all honor.  We worship.  The psalmist put it this way.

Psalm 95:1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.

We are gathered to worship our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit who is alive and is here with us.   We glorify this God through Word and Sacrament.  Then we are sent out into the world to glorify this God in our service to others.

We are worshiping here today because the grace of God has blessed us in many ways.   God has promised to love us generation after generation.   God has blessed us with Jesus Christ who forgives our sins and promises us eternal life.  And so we have come to express our gratitude to God for these amazing blessings.

We express our gratitude for our blessings with the reading and hearing of God’s holy word and with the sacraments of baptism and communion.    We express our thanks for God equipping the church to carry on his mission for the world. 

The earliest Christians took three ordinary elements of human life, water, bread, and wine, and attributed to them great worth.    They said that water symbolized our baptism into a new life in Jesus Christ.  They said that the bread and wine symbolized the sacrifice of Christ that brings us salvation from sin and the hope of eternal life. 

In America today there are many ways that people worship God.    One of the most popular is the rock band church.  The rock band church has a praise band, and a sound system turned up to 95-100 decibels.   As the praise band sings of their love for Jesus many young people have intense spiritual experiences that bring them closer to God.

When I lived in Washington I worked at the National Cathedral School.   I loved the evensong services in the cathedral when, as the sun set, the choirs of St. Albans and National Cathedral schools would sing music from the Renaissance. 

 A service of evening prayer would be read from the Book of Common Prayer.   I was overcome by the beauty of these services and they brought me closer to God.

Just before I started at my first church, Grace and I went to Korea.  I had the privilege of preaching at her church.   Grace was my translator.   Eight hundred people gathered on a Wednesday night.   There were no musicians, so the pastor began worship by pounding rhythmically on the pulpit as people sang old hymns a capella.   The pastor pounded faster and faster until all 800 people were shouting in tongues.   When this finished I was invited forward to preach in the church where Grace began her spiritual journey of becoming closer to God.
So people worship in many different ways.   And I urge this church to try new things.   You might find that a second service with an alternate worship style may help the church grow. 

 You can worship God at any place and at any time.   All you have to do is acknowledge God’s supreme worth.   You can sing in the shower or pray before meals.  I set aside the 7 am hour every day for devotions with Grace.   We read the Bible together and pray.   Whenever I come to church I like to be here before anyone else.   So I get here early during the week and on Sundays.   I pray the intercessions I wrote down on Sunday.  I pray while looking at your pictures in the directory.  I listen to devotional podcasts.   I ask God to bless this church.  This is all worship.   I praise God for what he has done in my life and for what he is doing for this church. 

Sunday is a special time for worship because Sunday morning is when we worship together remembering the resurrection of Jesus Christ.   We use a Service for the Lord’s Day.   A Service for the Lord’s Day begins with scripture gently calling us to worship God.

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
    let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving
    and extol him with music and song.

Then we praise God in song by joining our voices with heavenly choirs as we are lifted up into the presence of God.    Since we are coming into the presence of that which we attribute supreme worth we must first humble ourselves and confess our sin.  “Merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.”

Suppose for a moment you are an army general and your king has ordered you into battle.  Suppose also that you lose this battle and your army scatters.   You are alone in the battlefield when the opposing king comes toward you.   What is going to happen to you?   The king will probably kill you so that you will never threaten him again.   But if you discard your weapons and remove your armor, and go face down in the dust as a sign of your complete devotion to the victorious king, what will happen?  Probably you will be killed.  Maybe, if the king is merciful, he will graciously spare your life and restore your honor. 

Our God is merciful.  He graciously forgives our sins.  And so we hear these wonderful words, “The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. I declare to you, in the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. May the God of mercy, who forgives you all your sins, strengthen you in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in eternal life.”  When we hear these wonderful words we respond again with a song.

As forgiven children of God, we then gather around the word of God which is read and proclaimed.  And then we respond with gifts, tithes, and offerings, with prayers for ourselves, our families, our church, our community, and the world, and with singing. And we conclude by holding hands and boldly proclaiming that Jesus is Lord. 

We worship God with a Service for the Lord’s Day every Sunday morning.    We attribute to God supreme worth because of his value in our lives. 

You are to continue worshiping throughout the week until we return to worship together next Sunday.  I urge you to take the bulletin home with you.   In the bulletin, you have the order of worship we used today, the scripture we read, and household prayers for morning and evening.   Use these throughout the week as part of your worship for every day.

In worship, we attribute supreme worth to our God.    We humbly confess our sins and remember the forgiveness we have received from our merciful God.  We acknowledge all the blessings we have received with gratitude.   We gather to hear the word of God read and proclaimed.  We respond with tithes and prayers.  We use water, bread, and wine to remember what God for us.   And we go into the world to glorify God by serving others and by bringing people to Christ.   We are a worshiping people.   Let’s pray.

Lord God thank you for this freedom to worship you.   We give you all honor and praise.   You are our Creator, our Sustainer, and our Redeemer.   You love us, forgive our sins and promise us eternal life.  And so we worship you together every Sunday and continue throughout the week.  We attribute to you supreme worth and you are the most valuable part of our lives.   Amen.