Psalm 96 - Sing, Rejoice, Praise
An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big
city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was. "Well,"
said the farmer, "It was good. They did something different, however. They
sang praise choruses instead of hymns."
"Praise choruses?" said his wife, "What are
those?"
"Oh, they're okay. They're sort of like hymns, only
different," said the farmer.
"Well, what's the difference?" asked his wife.
The farmer said, "Well it's like this - If I were to say to
you: 'Martha, the cows are in the corn,' well that would be a hymn. If, on the
other hand, I were to say to you: 'Martha Martha, Martha, Oh, Martha, MARTHA,
MARTHA, the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white cows,
the black and white cows, the COWS, COWS, COWS are in the corn, are in the
corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, the CORN, CORN, CORN' -- well, that
would be a praise chorus."
From a different point of view:
A young Christian went to his local church usually, but one
weekend attended a small town church. He came home and his wife asked him how
it was.
"Well," said the young man, "It was good. They did
something different, however. They sang hymns instead of regular songs."
"Hymns," said his wife, "What are those?"
"Oh, they're okay. They're sort of like regular songs, only
different," said the young man.
"Well, what's the difference?" asked his wife.
The young man said, "Well it's like this: If I were to say to
you, 'Martha, the cows are in the corn,' well that would be a regular
song. If, on the other hand, I were to
say to you:
Oh Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my cry
Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth.
Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear by and by
To the righteous, inimitable, glorious truth.
For the way of the animals who can explain
There in their heads is no shadow of sense,
Hearkenest they in God's sun or his rain
Unless from the mild, tempting corn they are fenced.
Yea those cows in glad bovine, rebellious delight,
Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed.
Then goaded by minions of darkness and night
They all my mild Chilliwack sweet corn have chewed.
So look to that bright shining day by and by,
Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn.
Where no vicious animal makes my soul cry
And I no longer see those foul cows in the corn.
"Then, if I were to do only verses one, three and four and do
a key change on the last verse, well that would be a hymn."
My brothers and sisters, the debate between traditional hymns and
praise choruses or Contemporary Christian Music has been going on for years and
years. And believe it or not, I am not
trying to use this Contemporary Service to argue for dismissing traditional
hymns and taking up contemporary music for all our worship. I do want to point out from these two gentlemen’s
worship perspectives that any song, be it a praise chorus or a hymn can be a
following of the Psalmists words.
The Psalmist says, “O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the
Lord, all the earth.” My friends, for many of you the songs that we are singing
this morning a new songs, even the last one we will offer up in worship at the
end of our service this morning was a new one for me. So in many ways, we are singing to the Lord a
new song. However, if you were to take a
new Christian that had only been in Contemporary Worship to a place where only
what we’d call traditional hymns were sung, what are familiar to us, songs such
as “Precious Lord, Take My Hand,” “I Surrender All,” “O For A Thousand Tongues
to Sing,” or “In The Garden,” they would be singing a new song to them. And the truth of the matter is that in 1932,
“Precious Lord, Take My Hand”, in 1913, “In The Garden,” in 1896, “I Surrender
All,” and in 1739 “O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing,” were new songs. The traditional hymns that we love at one
point were new songs at one point. In
fact, in the relative scheme of Christianity those are all from the last 273
years, there are over 1700 years of Christianity preceding what we call
traditional music.
Yet while churches debate traditional versus contemporary music,
we often miss the point…even those who would use our Psalm this morning to
argue for contemporary music over traditional miss the point. The point is not about the type of music we
use in worship…the point is worshipping God.
It is about singing…declaring…ascribing honor and glory to God…The
Psalmist is calling us to worship. He is
calling us to praise God with our whole being.
My brothers and sisters, we are called to worship.
“But preacher, you’re preaching to the choir, we are already here,
we are in worship.”
The thing is, though, the Psalmist did not tell us to go to
worship. He told us TO worship.
We can go to a baseball game, and not play baseball.
We can go to a race, and not run.
We can go to the mall and not shop.
We can go to a concert and not sing or play an instrument.
And the sad thing, is, my brothers and sisters, we can go to a
worship service, and not worship.
We are more than capable of coming in here or any other sanctuary
and sitting in the pews, singing the songs, reading the Scriptures, leading
worship, playing an instrument, and not even for the slightest moment, even one
split second, worship God.
We can sit in a worship service and spend the entire time
contemplating what we have to do the rest of the week—the project at work or
the homework that is due tomorrow, what we could be doing right at that time
getting in line at K&W or watching ESPN Classic, or simply wondering what
we are going to have for lunch.
We can come in here and people watch. We can check out the new outfits that folks
or wearing, or sit and say, “I can’t believe they are wearing that old thing
again.” We can scan to see if there are
any single members of the opposite sex we might ask out on a date, or if we are
married, that we might set up our single friend with.
We can come and sit there angry and frustrated with the pastor,
the choir, or the person sitting three rows in front of us. We can dwell on what they did to us and how
we are going to get even, plotting our revenge.
We can do all of this and go through the motions of standing and
sitting, kneeling and bowing, singing and silence, and never once worship God. And it is usually these times that we will
leave the place of worship saying, “I really did not get anything out of
worship.”
Isaiah addresses this: “…these people draw near with their mouths
and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their
worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote…”[i]
The Psalmist in another place tells us exactly what God is looking
for in worship, “The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken
and contrite heart…”[ii]
What God desires in worship is for us to come to Him from the very
core of our being and empty ourselves out before Him. He wants us to bring ourselves to Him, body,
mind, spirit, and strength…giving our all before Him.
When we pray to God, God wants us to pray with body, mind, spirit,
and strength…
When we sing or offer music to God, God wants us to sing or play
with body, mind, spirit, and strength…
When we give to God, God wants us to give with body, mind, spirit,
and strength…
When we read or listen to God’s Word read and proclaimed, God
wants us to read and listen with body, mind, spirit, and strength…
And when we offer ourselves completely to God in worship, offering
him our body, mind, spirit, and strength, we will never, ever be able to say
that “we got nothing out of worship, because when we empty ourselves before
God, God will fill us with Himself.
Why worship God anyways?
The Psalmist tells us…because “of his salvation,” because of “his
marvelous works,” because “the Lord made the heavens,” because he is coming to
make everything right as he “judges the people with equity” and “will judge the
world with righteousness and the peoples with his truth.”
Why worship God? Because
God created this earth we live on.
Why worship God? Because
God created the stars we gaze up to.
Why worship God? Because
God poured His very breath into us to give us life.
Why worship God?
Because God offered His very Son
to us that we might be forgiven of our sins and have eternal life.
Why worship God? Because
without God we would be nothing.
Why worship God? Because
all of creation worships God.
Hear the words that God speaks to Job: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of
the earth? Tell me, if you have
understanding. Who determined its
measurements—surely you know! Or who
stretched the line upon it? On what were
its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang
together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?”[iii]
My brothers and sisters, all of creation, including the stars,
worship God, and invite us to give praise to our Creator, Redeemer, and
Sustainer with them.
How Great Is Our God?
Greater than we could ever image. Let’s worship Him completely.
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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