What I Know About Worship
Psalms 135
August 7, 2022
Tonight we study a Psalm that is often referred to as a MOSAIC.
That is because it is either the source of so many other Psalms
Or it is a conglomerate of so many others.
Nearly every verse of this Psalm can be found elsewhere in Scripture.
FOR EXAMPLE:
Verse 1, “Praise the LORD! Praise the name of the LORD; Praise Him, O servants of the LORD,”
Psalms 113:1 “Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD, Praise the name of the LORD.”
Verse 2, “You who stand in the house of the LORD, In the courts of the house of our God!”
Psalms 116:19 “In the courts of the LORD’S house, In the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!”
Verse 5, “For I know that the LORD is great And that our Lord is above all gods.”
Psalms 95:3 “For the LORD is a great God And a great King above all gods,”
Verse 6, “Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, In heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.”
Psalms 115:3 “But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.”
Verse 7, “He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; Who makes lightnings for the rain, Who brings forth the wind from His treasuries.”
Jeremiah 10:13 “When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings out the wind from His storehouses.”
I think you get the idea.
• Verse 8 is found in Psalms 136:10
• Verses 10-11 are found in Psalms 136:18-22
• Verse 14 is found in Deuteronomy 32:36
• Verses 15-18 are found in Psalms 115:4-8
• Verses 19-21 are found in Psalms 115:9-11
Our Psalmist has broken out into song
And it is a song inspired by his study of Scripture.
As our Psalmist studied the word it is clear that his thoughts
Kept returning to one continual truth: GOD MUST BE PRAISED
I’ve called the study of this Psalm: “What I Know About Worship”
That comes primarily from verse 5
“For I know that the LORD is great And that our Lord is above all gods.”
The Psalmist says, “For I know…”
• This Psalm is his statement of faith.
• This Psalm is his declaration of truth.
• This Psalm is his song of theology.
• This Psalm is his dissertation.
• This Psalm is his thesis.
It is a song of scriptural passages meant to inspire the congregation
To join him in blessing God.
It is a song that calls us to worship and it is not short on reasons.
5 times in the Psalm we are given the reason we should worship God.
You see the word “for” given 5 times and each time it explains why God is worthy.
• (3) “for the LORD is good;”
• (3) “Sing praises to His name, for it is lovely”
• (4) “For the LORD has chosen Jacob…”
• (5) “For I know that the LORD is great…”
• (14) “For the LORD will judge His people…”
It is clearly a Psalm with one driving purpose.
It is to remind Israel that they are a people assembled for worship.
And what an important reminder to each of us.
The church can become easily distracted.
• We get sucked in to business related matters…
• We get preoccupied with ministry…
• We are burdened by logistics and budgets and buildings…
• We think of sermons and lessons and times of teaching…
And certainly all of those things have their place
And hold a certain amount of priority among God’s people.
But we should never forget that when we assemble,
We assemble for the purpose of worship.
John 4:23-24 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Never let it stray from your mind that God seeks worshipers.
And this makes sense to us.
• After all we call what we are doing here a “Worship Service”
• This auditorium was built so God’s people would have a place to worship.
It would be a shame if the priority of worship was somehow forgotten.
Well, with a Bible in one hand and a harp in the other,
Our Psalmist is here to remind us again of the importance of worship.
Here we see 4 things I know about worship.
#1 GOD EXPECTS IT
Psalms 135:1-4
The Psalm begins as we said quoting from Psalms 113:1
“Praise the LORD!”
“Praise” is the word HAW-LAL in the Hebrew.
It’s where we get our word “hallelujah”
It can be defined as “praise” even “boast”
Here it is in the imperative.
• It is an adamant command.
• It condemns a stagnant spirit.
• It condemns a silent witness.
• It demands singing.
• It demands proclamation.
It commands God’s people to open their mouth
And boast about the greatness of their God.
And in case God’s people are at a loss as to what they are to boast about,
The Psalmist gets specific.
“Praise the name of the LORD;”
Why His “name”?
Because His “name” is the full aspect of who He is.
The attributes of God are tied up in His name.
To praise His name is to focus on His attributes.
So the Psalmist tells you to boast about God
And when you say, “like what?” He says:
• Well, how about His holiness?
• Or how about His mercy?
• How about His power or His grace or His justice?
• You could boast in His jealousy or His vengeance or His love
• You could boast about His omnipotence or omniscience
• You could boast about His creation or His providence or His faithfulness
• You could boast about His Son or His Spirit or His word or His plan
The point is that God’s people must consider who God is
And then boast about Him.
They must “Praise the name of the LORD”
WHO MUST?
“Praise Him, O servants of the LORD, You who stand in the house of the LORD, In the courts of the house of our God!”
It is those who have entered His courts.
It is those who have entered these doors.
It is certainly a regrettable thing that so many would skip worship altogether in favor of worldly attractions,
But equally regrettable is people who would enter the courts of the Lord
And then not participate in the praise.
“I’ll go, but I’m not about to boast about God”
This is a worship service and we have come here to worship.
And the Psalmist is RALLYING THE SAINTS to join him.
It’s as if he feels inadequate to worship alone.
• God deserves much more.
• He deserves a powerful choir!
• He deserves a mighty roar!
• If everyone would sing and if everyone would raise their voice and if we all joined together what a song we could raise to God!
What a boast we could proclaim if we all joined together.
AND THIS IS WHAT THE PSALMIST WANTS.
WHY?
(3) “Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good;”
There’s that simple word again.
• That word that is way overused in our lives.
• It is the word that describes creation before sin entered.
• It is the word that Jesus rebuked the Rich Young Ruler for applying to himself.
• It is a word which Paul said describes no man.
But it describes God to a “T”
He is “good”
He stands out, He stands above, He stands beyond.
THERE IS NONE LIKE HIM.
I watched a short video clip this week of a Paul Washer sermon in which he recounted preaching at a university and an atheist took issue with his assertion of the substitutionary atonement.
The young atheist asked How it is possible for 1 man over a course of a few hours to pay the sin debt of millions?
Washer replied, “I’m glad you asked. You meant it for evil, but God will use it for good. It is because that one Man is worth more than all others put together.”
The glory and perfection and worth of Jesus in the sight of God is so far above that of any other man that to punish Jesus for 3 hours is the equivalent of punishing every sinner who ever existed for all eternity in hell.
There was none good like Him.
There is none good like God.
Praise Him because He is so far superior to us in every way.
Praise Him because He is beyond compare.
HOW SHOULD I PRAISE HIM?
“Sing praises to His name, for it is lovely.”
Have you ever wondered why singing is the method we use in the church?
• Why not some other form?
• Why not something that a little less flamboyant?
Oh, I know there are some who sing well and so it’s not a big deal to them,
But for the rest of us it can be a little humiliating to sing out loud.
• Why not just meditate?
• Why not just send grateful thoughts up to God?
• Why not just read the lyrics of the song and ponder them?
Why do we have to sing out our boasts about God?
BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT GOD TOLD US TO DO.
• If God had required cartwheels we’d be flipping down the aisle…
• If God had required baked goods we’d have 200 ovens…
• If God had required paintings the whole wall would be a canvas…
But God required singing.
He requires His people to stand and boast in song.
He requires people to sing of His lovely name.
In fact, GOD EXPECTS IT.
(4) “For the LORD has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His own possession.”
You see there the glories of God’s sovereign and gracious ELECTION.
We are drawn to the message of Paul who reminded us:
Romans 9:10-13 “And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, “THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.” Just as it is written, “JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.”
• There was nothing in Jacob that warranted his choosing…
• There was no intrinsic worth…
• There was certainly no record of good works…
God, according to His own sovereign prerogative chose Jacob.
Just as God, by His own sovereign prerogative chose you.
The million dollar question that is often asked and rarely considered is this.
WHY DID GOD CHOOSE ME?
And the answer is simple.
“for Himself…for His own possession”
He didn’t choose you for you, He chose you for Him.
And He chose you that you might worship Him for all eternity.
1 Peter 2:9-10 “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.”
You were chosen…
You received mercy…
You became His people…
“so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;”
It would be a tragic mistake to be one of God’s elect
Who has totally missed the main purpose for your election.
Would you really be the one whom God rescues who refuses to sing?
Would you really be the one whom God chooses who refuses to boast?
You were chosen for this.
Do you remember what Jesus prayed for you the night before He was crucified?
Revelation 17:24 “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”
And when the church is finally with Him and finally sees His glory, do you know what they do?
Revelation 5:8-12 “When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.” Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”
We are the bride of Christ.
We were chosen by the Father as a gift to the Son.
That He might have an adoring bride for all eternity.
It is the expectation that we will be worshipers.
• God expects that as people of grace…
• As people who were chosen…
• As sinners who were pardoned…
That will gather together and in one accord raise our voices in song
To boast about His goodness.
God expects His people to worship Him.
