Our Response to Truth in the Context of Worship and Thanksgiving


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Text: Psalm 95
Theme: Our Response to Truth in the Context of Worship and Thanksgiving

Verses 1-11
As someone whose singing ability is passable, rather than solid, verse one has always been an encouragement to me. I do think it is important that we strive to sing well. There are verses that encourage musicians to strive for excellence. But for some this is easier than others and the singing of some might never get much past joyful noise.

When I was in middle school and high school, I would tell people “I can’t sing.” And I would refuse to sing. When I first became a Christian I still wouldn’t sing at first. Well, soon enough I started giving it a try because I believe that Christians are commanded to sing whether they are good at it or not. We should pray whether we are eloquent or not. We should sing whether our voices are beautiful or not.
So, I started singing to obey God, not because I was good at it. When I started I was about as quiet as you could be so that people wouldn’t hear me messing up so much. Fourteen years later and I can sing now, but I still fall flat pretty often. When I am singing along with choir Sunday nights, I am listening to other basses and working to match my tone to theirs. I’ve been working for a long time now, and I still can’t consistently and perfectly hit the right note. Sometimes I am successful and other times…

So I’m glad that this verse says “make a joyful noise” rather than “be perfectly in tune.”

But, but. I did look a little closer at the Hebrew of this verse as I was preparing for this morning, and I found out that “noise” is elsewhere used in the Bible for a battle cry, a trumpet blast, or a shout of triumph and exaltation. It does not mean ugly sound like it does in English. It doesn’t mean beautiful sound or ugly sound. It means loud sound.

So this verse is actually teaching something different than I thought it was and maybe than you thought it was too. I ended up learning something very different from this text than I thought I would.

This verse isn’t actually saying “go ahead and make ugly noises to the rock of our salvation!” That’s kind of how it sounds in English. What it is saying instead is – be loud, shout, declare it proudly and victoriously that God is the rock of our salvation. Shout it out, our God has saved us!

As someone who actively does not like loud noises, that was quite the discovery to me! I like peace. I like quiet. I don’t like loud. My default response to most excitement is “everybody calm down!”

But, you know what; some things deserve to be celebrated loudly and victoriously. That God is the rock of our salvation is one of those things. And if God says “get excited and get loud about it,” then it is not my place to say “calm down.”

Most of you have probably been to a sporting event of one kind or another before – maybe a professional sporting event, maybe amateur, maybe your kids. People get excited at those.
*Story of basketball game at ABC* Wouldn’t it have been out of place for me to be going “everybody calm down, stop shouting!”
In the same way, our salvation and the majesty of our God are things to be excited about.
*Story of tribe who collectively came to understand the Gospel, repent, and be saved – they were all jumping and shouting and ecstatic. Calm down?*

Like was mentioned last week – some songs are of a nature that when we finish them, the most appropriate response is “Selah” – pause, think about it quietly. Other songs are songs of prayer to God for a transformed life – and the best thing to do after a song like that is to say “Amen.” And then other songs are songs of joyful shouting and clapping.

You know, I don’t know what it is, but we as believers really seem to struggle with these things. Maybe it has to do with comfort and familiarity. Maybe it has to do with personality – a lot of people have bombastic personality types and others have reserved personality types. I think that has a lot to do with it. Those bombastic types tend to hear a somber song and say “too somber!” The reserved types hear an exciting song and say “too exciting!”

Well, you got some churches where every song and expression of worship is a clap and shout song. And then you got others where every song is a somber reflective song.

When you look at the psalms though, you get a much broader range of expression in worship. As I go through the psalms, what I find is that the expression of the worship matches the content of the song – not that the expression of the worship matches the personality of the worshiper.

*time in China, excited about a song, shared with friend, he said ‘why does this song sound so happy that Jesus is on the cross?,’ really changed my thinking*

Well, in the same way that it is certainly inappropriate to sound happy about the crucifixion of the Son of God, I imagine that it is also inappropriate to take on a somber tone when we sing about the fact that we are eternally saved and that God is the eternal king!

The beginning of Psalm 95 was written to be a loud and victorious. Considering its subject matter, that’s definitely appropriate: The Lord is the rock of our salvation! The Lord is a great God and King above all gods. Make a joyful noise!
Mid-psalm though, verse 6, you have a new truth and a new response. Here the truth is that the Lord is our Maker, that He is our God, and that we are His flock. The response here is no longer triumphant shouting, but instead kneeling before God in a posture of submission and worship.

He made us. He is our God. We are but lowly sheep before Him.

See it? Different message, different response. At the start, we are joyfully and loudly celebrating that God has saved us. And we are joyfully and loudly celebrating God the majestic King. The one who is greater than all other kings and all the other imagined gods of men. Our sins have been forgiven; we have been rescued from our enemies. Our King is sovereign and greater than all! How marvelous and great and worthy of celebration. It is fitting and appropriate to make a joyful noise.

But then it moves into – Ah, but God is God. He has made us by His own mighty hand. He is our leader and shepherd. We are but sheep. Now it is not a joyful noise that is appropriate; bowing down before Him is what is appropriate.

This verse was also kind of revealing and surprising to me. It shows that worshippers don’t just assume one stance and tone throughout an entire song, but might change their stance and tone as the message of the song changes. The response matches the message.

I wish we could see and hear how the Israelites did this song when they worshipped together. But taken at face value, as the Israelites sang this song together in worship they must have begun at a raised volume level. But then at verse 6 they shifted collectively into humbly bowing before the Lord.

It’s not theatrics that’s going on; it’s being engaged in worship and thanksgiving. It’s not just saying words; it’s allowing yourself to be moved by those words and responding appropriately to them.

We think about that God saves us and is the almighty king – we joyfully celebrate. We think about that God is our Maker and we are His sheep – we kneel before Him. We are engaged. Truth is given and we respond to it.

One more response is called for in this psalm, and that is to listen to the voice of God.

When God has spoken to us in some way, His expectation is that we should listen to what He has to say. And by listen I don’t just mean hear. I mean hear, care, understand, respond appropriately – listen.

The illustration that God gives of hardening your heart is of the Israelites in the wilderness. Specifically, it was an occasion where the people were upset with God because they were thirsty. Though they had seen God perform many miracles in Egypt, though they had seen Him part the Red Sea, though He personally went before and behind them in a pillar of fire, nevertheless, after all of that – they imagined that God had done all of this to leave them to die in the desert. They went up to Moses and asked, Exodus 17:3 “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” And they also said, Exodus 17:7 “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Moses ended up calling that place Meribah and Massah – meaning rebellion and despair. Rebellion was what the people were doing. Despair was how he felt about all of that.

How God felt about that He says in verse 10 – He loathed that generation. They never learned what He was trying to teach them. He constantly cared for them and all He got in return was constant testing. In anger He declared that none of them would be able to enter His rest, which is referring to the fact that none of them got to live in the Promised Land. They all wandered the desert till they passed away and then God let their children enter into the land instead.

When God speaks to us and we do not respond to Him, that is to harden your heart. God says “be thankful” and you say “what? Didn’t hear anything…” God reveals Himself to be trustworthy by providing for you constantly, and you say “Is God even there?” God points out to you that something is sin and you say “well, I’m going to do it anyway.”

God reveals Himself to you, or speaks to you in some way, as He did with the wilderness generation – but you don’t respond to that. That’s what it means to harden your heart against God.

And so, in the context of this psalm, I would say that if you are not excited and glad about the fact that God has saved you – then that is a kind of hardening of the heart. If you don’t think you need to humble yourself before your maker – that too is a kind of hardening of the heart.
Now, let’s not be legalists here. A lot of us if we were to get down on our knees we might not get back up again! Maybe age or health or whatever prevents you from doing that. And, similarly, you don’t have to shout to be excited and glad that you are saved. Shouting and kneeling are not the primary points. And you can shout and kneel and it all be just an act and theatrics.

The point is: are you responding to God or are you hardening your heart to Him? Squashing excitement about salvation – that’s hardening the heart. Refusing to humble yourself before God your Maker – that’s hardening the heart. God is trying to teach you something and you don’t learn the lesson – that’s hardening the heart.

What’s God been doing in your life lately? Are you following His leading? Are you learning the lesson He is trying to teach you? Are you excited and glad that He has saved you? Are you reverent and respectful toward Him as He is your Creator? Are you engaged and responsive or are you disconnected and ignoring?

I think it is all too easy in our worship, or in our thanksgiving, or in our hearing from God to have a hard heart toward it all. Don’t think that’s easy and common? The Israelites in the wilderness managed to have hard hearts for 40 years despite living in one of the most miraculous periods of human history. That says a lot right there how easy it is to do.

Application:

  • Respond appropriately to what God is doing and saying in your life. Have a soft and responsive heart.
  • God is our salvation and the Sovereign King? Shout for Joy! Give Thanks! Sing!
  • God is your Maker and Shepherd? Bow Down. Kneel Before Him.
  • God is Teaching You a Lesson? Do not Harden Your Heart.