Core Values: Responsive Worship - Psalm 100

[0:00] Thank you, Pastor Josh and worship team for leading us and responding to the glory of God in worship. It is a great privilege to sing with you each and every Sunday, and I pray that it's a joy and a blessing to you as well.

[0:14] My name is Eric, and I serve here as one of the pastors, and I get the privilege of teaching God's Word often here at Lambstand. And I want to just encourage you, if you are here and you have experienced the worship that we just went through as a body, you have experienced the grace and glory of God Himself.

[0:41] And what we're doing in this series is we're working through our core values as a church, and we're on number five now, week number five, and our fifth core value of the church is responsive worship.

[0:53] And you can go and put that definition up there. Responsive worship is one of the longer entries that we have, but it's so rich. I want to read it with you, so follow along as I read.

[1:04] Here's what we wrote about responsive worship. We believe that worship is our response to who God is, what He has done, and what He will do, all of which are most gloriously revealed to us through the gospel.

[1:17] As those who have received regenerated hearts through God's saving grace, we joyfully worship the Lord in spirit and truth. That is, in response to the true revelation of God, we respond genuinely to Him by exhibiting Christ-exalting, spirit-empowered adoration, exaltation, submission, and thanksgiving.

[1:38] Such worship includes our thoughts, words, affections, and actions. As we respond to the revelation of the saving God through Jesus Christ in every area of our lives.

[1:49] Now, for a long time in my life, I was an aquarium guy. What that means is that I like to keep fish.

[2:00] Now, I've kept all sorts of fish, all sorts of tanks, fresh water, salt water, that I've seen you get into, Mr. Ben. But here's what's one of the most memorable but most frustrating moments of my time as an aquarium holder.

[2:18] I had a saltwater tank that was so elaborately set up, and it'd take tons of time to get those tanks moving, and up to a standard where it can actually be sustainable.

[2:29] But a big part of saltwater fish keeping is the substrate or the sand that is alive, it's got bacteria, and all sorts of things needed to keep the tank going.

[2:40] But here's what frustrated me the most. I bought a fish called a diamond goby. And here's what the diamond goby would do. Didn't know this when I bought it. It literally lives to eat microorganisms in the sand.

[2:53] But how does it do that? It sucks up a bunch of the sand, sand sifts it through its gills, and spits out all the sand, but keeps all of the good stuff. But here's what the diamond goby does.

[3:03] For the entirety of the day, it continues to do this and sift through your sand. And you will wake up the next morning, and the entire section of your tank, the sand is just pushed to one side.

[3:15] Just completely disrupts the tank. So here's what I did with this diamond goby. I would take it, and I would move it to a different part of the tank, so that's your new home. I even would take it out of the tank as a timeout, and put it in a jar for the day.

[3:28] I would do everything in my power to keep the diamond goby from doing the very thing that it knows to do. In fact, I would say the very thing that it's designed to do.

[3:40] And finally, after a long fight with the diamond goby, stirring up my tank, getting everything moved around at an annoying rate, I finally accepted. This is the way that the Lord designed this little fish.

[3:55] This is all it knows in its world. This is what I do. Once I accepted that, I became much happier, because now, if you're in the tank, all the sand's pushed to one side, that's all right, because that's the way the Lord made the diamond goby.

[4:10] Secondly, this morning I want to offer to us, as we get into this topic, that we too have been designed with a duty, with a whole.

[4:23] And that whole, that has been designed with intention by God, that's in every heart of every man and woman, is the need to worship.

[4:34] Theologians of old have all talked and discussed this reality, that mankind was made with an innate need to worship.

[4:46] Back in the garden, when God first created Adam and Eve and set them aright in this beautiful paradise with all of the animals and all of creation, what was it that man needed in that time?

[4:58] God. All man needed was God. And God designed them to find their full satisfaction, meaning, and joy in Him. But because of man's sinful heart, rebellion against that God, and the pride of their will, they chose another route.

[5:18] But here's the reality of the situation. Just because mankind chose not to follow God and to choose sin instead does not remove the design. Man still has the innate need to worship.

[5:33] Therefore, just like the goby I want to offer to us this morning, that we will worship no matter where we are in life, no matter who we pursue, no matter what God we bow the knee to, no matter where we find ourselves occupationally or other, we will worship because it is what we were designed to do.

[5:56] And I want to give you right off the top before we read our psalm and get into it, I'm going to give you the big idea for this morning. There's a great 21st century theologian called J.K. Kieber, or J.L. Kieber, excuse me.

[6:12] That would be Joshua Lee Kieber, our worship pastor. He's marvelous. And I remember first hearing this, my big idea is his, I'm taking it directly from him, I think by his permission.

[6:24] I don't know, maybe he would be, I'm just kidding. I first heard this worship philosophy from Pastor Josh years ago when we first started working together at our former church and it struck me as such a concise, beautiful statement on what worship is.

[6:39] So, my big idea is Pastor Josh's very own philosophy of worship and here's what it is. Worship is a response to who God is, what he has done, and what he will do.

[6:52] So, that's what we're going to learn this morning. Would you bow your heads with me? God, we recognize this morning that we are made in your image, that you have made us good, that you've made us with a purpose, Lord.

[7:11] We also recognize this morning, even if it be painful for us, that we are worship beings. Everywhere we go, everything we do, we give allegiance.

[7:23] And we crave to worship something. Lord, I pray this morning that we would set the object of our worship aright, that we would recognize you, God, our creator, the one who loves us and has chosen us and has given us all we need for life and godliness through your gospel, that we would see you as the only acceptable object of our worship.

[7:48] Thank you for Jesus, your son, that we get to look upon and see your glory. In the name we pray.

[7:59] Amen. Would you please read with me Psalm 100 once more? It's short, but sweet. I'm going to read it real quick and then we'll kind of break it down for us together. A psalm for giving thanks.

[8:13] Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come into his presence with singing. Know that the Lord, he is God. It is he who made us and we are his.

[8:23] We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him. Bless his name. For the Lord is good.

[8:34] His steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness is to all generations. If you had to pick one psalm in the entire psalter to summarize all the rest, I think Psalm 100 would be a very good candidate.

[8:49] It contains all of the essentials of what we know the psalms to be. Now what are the psalms in the scripture? The psalms are essentially songs that help us worship and relate our feelings and our faith and our life back to God, the one who made us.

[9:08] It helps us to speak to the Lord and find out what it is that he wants for us in life. the psalms direct our heart back to the object of our ultimate praise which is God.

[9:20] And here's why I chose Psalm 100 for us this morning. It embodies that worship is a response in every way. It embodies the spirit of worship itself found throughout scripture.

[9:37] Let me read a couple verses from a few different psalms that help us grasp a picture of what the psalms really are all about. Psalm 98.1 says this, O sing to the Lord a new song for he has done marvelous things.

[9:49] His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. Psalm 41 through C says, I waited patiently for the Lord and he climbed to me and heard my cry. He drew me up out of the pit of destruction out of the miry bog and set my feet upon the rock.

[10:03] He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Psalm 68.4 says this, Sing to God, sing praises to him. Lift up a song to him who rides to the deserts.

[10:13] His name is the Lord exult before him. Psalm 28.7 says this, The Lord is my strength and my shield. In him my heart trusts and I am helped. My heart exults and with my song I give thanks to him.

[10:26] Psalm 96.1 says this, O sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord all the earth. On and on. This is the spirit of worship that we see in the psalms.

[10:40] Psalm 100 helps us understand this rightly. So as we look into this psalm here's what I'd love for us to first notice. The top of the psalm you'll often see in your Bible is what's called a superscription.

[10:55] Now you have a title above the chapter of your psalm that may be what the editors or the translators of your Bible put in. That's not what I'm talking about. Man put that in there to help us understand what the chapter's about.

[11:08] I'm talking about the superscription which is that little usually all caps statement that's right above verse 1. That is inspired scripture written by the original authors.

[11:22] And here's what Psalm 100 was the tagline the song title if you will of the psalm as it was originally written. A psalm for giving thanks. Right out of the gate we see that worship is intrinsically tied with gratitude or thanksgiving.

[11:37] And we will discuss the role of gratitude here in a moment and its role and response of worship later on but for now I want us to focus on the methods of worship in this psalm. Psalm 100 gives us some very clear ways to worship God.

[11:54] So here's what I want you to notice in verse 1 we see singing or shouting make a joyful noise is what the verse says. And here's what joyful noise means literally is to raise a triumphant shout to the king.

[12:10] As people loyal to the king would come before his presence they would often give a joyful noise to the king. Think the term long live the king or God saves the queen phrases like that.

[12:24] Those are their joyful shouts. Except for this joyful shout is not to an earthly king. Instead it's asking all of the earth to do it to the universal eternal king.

[12:39] So what is this joyful noise? Yes it can be a song. Yes it can be singing. It can be a chant or a expression of gratitude and praise to the king.

[12:51] But here's what we see right off the bat in verse 1 we see singing shouting praise. Look at verse 2 it says this another mode of worship serve the Lord with gladness.

[13:03] So service is intrinsic in our worship. Look at verse 2b the next section come into his presence with singing. Again we see singing is a way to praise the Lord.

[13:14] Look at verse 3 it says know that the Lord he is God. Knowledge knowing rightly can be a way to worship God. Then in verse 4 it says enter his gates with thanksgiving.

[13:25] So giving thanks to the Lord can be a way to worship. worship. And then it says this into his courts with praise. So again we see singing or praising the Lord with our voices in our hearts as a way to worship God.

[13:39] And then again at the end of verse 4 we see again give thanks to him. So we see thanksgiving once more as a way to worship the Lord. All in all here's what we see in Psalm 100.

[13:50] You want to worship the Lord? Here's what Psalm 100 says to you. Sing, shout praise, serve him, sing to him again, knowledge, know who he is, be thankful, give thanks to him, praise him with singing and then be thankful again.

[14:04] That's what Psalm 100 is saying is the way we worship. But back to our definition of worship. Worship is a response to who God is, what he has done and what he will do.

[14:18] You will hear that phrase over and over and over again here at Lampstead. Whether it be Josh leading us in worship, he does a great job on a Sunday morning using this phrase to remind us that worship is a response or be in your community group or your Bible study.

[14:33] This is a phrase we like a lot because we believe it is rooted in Scripture. That worship of God is a response. What does that mean? So let's outline again Psalm 100 as we work through it.

[14:46] You can put up that next slide but the outline, there it is. Let's see if this definition of worship is true. Well first, let's enter that first one.

[14:58] Worship is a response to who God is. Do we see that in Psalm 100? We do. Verse 3 says, Know that the Lord, he is God.

[15:16] The statement here is not that, hey, you guys know God. Remember him? The statement here is this, you, worshipers, people of God, know him.

[15:30] Not just that he is a God but it says this, that he is Yahweh. He is the God. The declarative statement about who God is here is staggering.

[15:43] The very revelation of God himself, his character, who he is and all of his ways leads to true worship. You cannot have worship of God that is rooted in merely an experience of God but instead here we are instructed to know God.

[16:01] Not just any God but Yahweh, the God of Israel. The name above all names. Yahweh, the God of Israel who has proven himself time and time again. We are meant by this inference and this command to know Yahweh as the one true God by recalling exactly who he is.

[16:19] How did Israel do this? When they would have read this they would have said oh there is Yahweh, that is our God and here is what the psalmist says, know him that he is the one true God.

[16:31] Israel would have done this by the Lord's command by remembering what he had done and what he promised to do which we will get to in a second but this is the main thrust behind their feasts and festivals the Lord asks them and requires them to do.

[16:44] that they would remember that he is God in all of his majesty. But then look at Psalm 100. Let's now move to okay we see who God is is contained in the psalm.

[16:58] It's part of worship. But what about what God has done? Look with me at the end of verse 3 there. It is he who made us and we are his. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

[17:10] Here's what God has done. First of all he made us. That's a marvelous act. He's created us, fashioned us wonderfully.

[17:23] But not only that, here's what else God has done according to the psalm. He has called us unto himself and he's made us his people. He's taken Israel out of all of the places and peoples of the earth and said I love you and you are my people and I will set my affection and my sights on you and you will be mine and I will be your God and I'm going to do what else?

[17:50] You're going to be the sheep of my pasture. Which points to God's protection over his people, his love for them and his care for his sheep. So what has God done? He made us and he's claimed us as his own.

[18:04] But then we see this. What will God do? The future looking worshipful heart. Well look at verse 5. It says this, for the Lord is good. There's another statement about who he is but then it says this, his steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations.

[18:23] Meaning this, that God will continue in his love and his faithfulness that he's already shown his people forever. It's a promise that the people of God are living in this psalm.

[18:37] we know he will love us forever. Despite our sin, despite our brokenness and our failure, this God will stick with us and he will be faithful to our children and our children's children forever.

[18:51] But let's look at the worshipful response that this psalm records. Verse 1 and 2. Here's in light of all those truths, who God is, what he's done, what he will do.

[19:01] Those are all the objects of the affectionate heart here. What does that lead the people of God to do? Well, make a joyful noise is the first piece. Serve the Lord. Come into his presence with singing.

[19:13] Enter his gates with thanksgiving. His courts with praise in verse 4. Give thanks to him. Bless his name. There's a little bit more of a definition of worship. But here's what I want us to see.

[19:23] There's a very, very important conjunction in this psalm. And it's in verse 5. Notice the first word. For. Okay, the whole pitch here is that worship is a response.

[19:37] We believe it so much that we would say it's a core value of our church. How? How do we know that? For. Who God is, what he's done, what he will do, that leads us to worship him.

[19:57] Why should we enter his gates for thanksgiving and his courts with praise? God is supremely good and the psalmist is teaching us that worship is a response to who God is, what he has done and what he will do.

[20:11] Here's what I want us to now consider today as we look at this psalm. Maybe you're here today and as we sang the first couple songs, like I have done so many times and all the times I've attended church throughout my life, maybe you stood today as the music started and you've, you looked at the screen, you were called to worship by Josh and you just didn't feel it.

[20:38] Happens to me quite often, I have to admit. I think it happens to all of us if we're honest. What do we do when our heart doesn't want to worship?

[20:50] Well, maybe the simple answer, but the wrong answer I would offer would be, well, just force myself to do it anyway. I've done that. I've been the person that's forced worship in my life and tried to make it work.

[21:05] But I'd actually encourage you, instead of trying to force your heart to worship, consider this. What is it that leads us to worship to begin with? Recalling who God is, what he has done for you and what he has promised he will do for you.

[21:26] Do you want to worship God with the full heart today? If you've lost that passion and that zeal for the Lord that you once had, if you're muttering through the words on the screen with a lukewarm heart like I've done countless times, if you aren't moved by the glorious gospel truths contained in the lyrics that we sing together, what's the solution according to Psalm 100, verse 3?

[21:52] Recount the glory of God. Remind yourself of his greatness. Let the truths of God wash over you and settle upon your heart. Truths like, know that the Lord, he is God.

[22:06] Verse 3, the Lord is the only one true God in existence. How about this truth? It is he who made us. You were created wonderfully and beautifully by a good God and he is your designer and your maker.

[22:18] How about this truth? And we are his, we are his people. You were chosen and claimed by the love of God. You have been adopted into his holy family, never to leave.

[22:29] Or how about this truth? You are the sheep of his pasture. You can rest peacefully in the guardianship of God over you and your life. You were made to dwell with him as his beloved flock and that's where you are today.

[22:41] These are the truths that we ought to go back to to restore that worshipful heart. If worship really is a response to who God is and what he's done and what he will do, this definition does assume an experience of sorts.

[23:01] Meaning this, that the word of God assumes that what always precedes authentic worship is an authentic experience of God rooted in truth.

[23:13] By this definition, authentic worship cannot be conjured up or forced out through effort like I said earlier. Forced worship is actually hypocrisy. Stage worship is an offense to God.

[23:24] Listen to this, these words in Amos chapter 5. God sent the prophet Amos who was a fig farmer down to Judah to speak to the corrupt people, the corrupt priests, and the false worship that was happening there.

[23:38] Here's what the Lord says through Amos to a people who thought they were worshiping God. I hate, I despise your feasts and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

[23:49] Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. And the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs.

[24:04] God, the God of all creation, the God of Israel, just told them, stop singing. It's a big deal. To the melody of your harps I will not listen, but let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

[24:23] God tells His people to stop with their rituals, stop with their songs, stop with their worship, because they weren't really worshiping. These people were living in sin and abusing God's law, taking advantage of their own people, the downtrodden and the needy in the land.

[24:41] And they thought they could worship God anyway and God would accept that worship. But God calls them out through Amos. I remember when I was in college, there was a group of us that would get together every once in a while.

[24:53] We'd get all of our music together in the dorm and we'd set up in a room and we'd play worship music. And it was one of my favorite memories of college. But I remember there was one night in particular that I showed up to this thing I did not want to worship.

[25:06] And a friend of mine, as we would play the music, looked me in the eye and said, Eric, you need to worship God. And he was doing everything he could to force me to sing.

[25:18] It was one of the most uncomfortable moments of my life and eventually I just said, I gotta go, I can't do this. Grabbed my guitar, walked all the way back to my apartment. My heart was cold and unfeeling and I walked home in apathy.

[25:31] And here's the reality, I look back on that awkward experience and know something that I didn't know then. Why was my heart cold toward the Lord because I was living in sin at that time.

[25:43] I was far from God and I had forgotten how glorious he was. I was unable to worship God rightly. What do we do to gain the soft, worshipful heart back?

[25:54] Well, we've been over this. The Bible is filled with examples of recounting who God is, what he has done for us, and what he promises to do.

[26:06] This is the solution to a heart that refuses to worship. I want to break this statement down a little bit by maybe giving us some pictures here.

[26:18] You can go to the next slide there. When we define this, you go to the next slide again, thank you. I want to define each one of these elements, who he is, what he has done, what he will do with maybe some helpful terms to help us see Scripture and recognize that this is what the people of God do.

[26:35] The pattern of worship throughout the Bible is this definition. Well, first of all, this means that God's glory is revealed to us through his character. Who he is, that's his character.

[26:46] We're seeing God's character. What about what he has done? Those are God's mighty deeds that are spoken about by Israel so often. And what about what he will do? These are God's promises.

[26:59] And he is the promise-making and promise-keeping God. So do we see characters in the Bible responding to God in these ways? Let's look at some of the big songs of the Bible quickly that demonstrate that worship is a response.

[27:15] First, Exodus 15, the first song of the Bible, if you will. Notice this. Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord. I've abbreviated it because it's a very long song.

[27:27] I will sing to the Lord for, there it is, purpose statement. Why are we singing? There's a reason we're singing. For he has triumphed gloriously, the horse and the rider he has thrown into the sea.

[27:42] The Lord is my strength, my song, and has become my salvation. They just crossed the Red Sea. The Lord just brought them out of slavery toward a land of promise in a divine, miraculous way, conquering their enemies.

[27:56] There's your deeds. There's what the Lord has done. How about his character? Verse 11, Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

[28:08] We know that you're the holy God. We know that you stand alone, that you're majestic and awesome. There's his character, who he is. And then later in the song, verse 17, You will bring them in, speaking of God's chosen people, Israel, and plant them on your mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.

[28:31] The Lord will reign forever and ever. We worship you, not just because you delivered us, which is awesome, not because you're majestic and holy, which is also awesome, but also you're going to take us and bring us forever with you and establish us in life eternal upon that mountain where you dwell.

[28:50] And you're going to reign forever and ever. That's amazing. We're going to sing. That is what we see in Moses' song. A response of Moses and the people to who God is, what he's done, what he will do.

[29:01] How about the song of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2? The same pattern. We see it. If you don't know who Hannah is, she was a faithful lady who prayed to the Lord that she could have a son.

[29:12] And if that came true, the Lord gave her a son, she would dedicate him unto the Lord. Here's what happens. The Lord gives Hannah that son. That she so desperately longed for.

[29:24] And here's what Hannah prays. And Hannah prayed and said, My heart exalts in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation. Here's God's character, who he is.

[29:35] There is none holy like the Lord. For, there it is again, there is none besides you. There's no rock like our God.

[29:47] How about his deeds? Verse 6, The Lord kills and brings to life. He brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich. He brings low and he exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust. He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit the seat of honor for the pillows of the earth of the Lord.

[30:03] And on them he has set the world. He has raised me up. That's what our God does. And then finally the promises. He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness.

[30:15] The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed. Hannah worships in the exact same threefold pattern. Two more quickly.

[30:28] How about the song of Mary called the Magnificat in church history? Mary, we all know her story. She's chosen to bear the Messiah of the world. And here's her rejoicing in that truth.

[30:41] And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord. I'm going to worship now in this moment. Why? My spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. For, there it is again. There's a reason I'm going to worship. He has looked upon my humble state of his servant.

[30:54] For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed. Character. For he who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name. Promises. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

[31:07] He will be merciful to anyone that calls upon him. But that's what I love about Mary. She goes again. Let's go back to his deeds for a second. He has shown strength with his arms. He has scattered the proud and thoughts of their hearts.

[31:18] He has brought low the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy and then finally promise again.

[31:29] As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his offspring forever. My God is amazing in character. He's amazing in what he's done.

[31:41] He's amazing in what he will do. So I'm going to sing. And then finally, let's do Revelation 5 real quick. The 24 elders assemble around the throne as the slain lamb ascends to open the scroll.

[31:53] And here's what they say. They sing a new song saying, worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals. You're holy. No one else is. You get to open the scroll. Worthy are you.

[32:04] Four. Four. Again. You were slain and by your blood you ransomed for God and from every tribe, language, and people, and nation. Promise.

[32:15] You have made them a kingdom of priests to our God and they shall reign on the earth. I'll stop with those four songs but here's what I encourage you to do. Anytime you see a song in scripture, just look for those three elements.

[32:27] You will find them. Is worship a response? First and foremost. Yes.

[32:39] I want to speak quickly about the role of gratitude in worship. What makes worship a response such a powerful concept? I don't know about you but in my life the times that I've been most moved to compassion is when someone has done something unbelievably kind to me.

[33:01] Those are the moments in my life when that person brings the meal when we needed it. When they prayed for me in my moment of anguish. When that brother or sister took time out of their day to ensure that I was okay after something hard happened.

[33:18] Those are the times when I feel overwhelming gratitude for people like that. Gratitude is an incredibly powerful motivator. And I believe that gratitude is the centerpiece of what it means to respond to God.

[33:34] I challenge you to come up with a single time in your life that you found yourself in true worship of God that wasn't motivated by a measure of gratitude. How do we know that gratitude is linked to our worship?

[33:49] In fact, the foundation of our worship. Let's look at a couple passages here. Colossians 3. There's this wonderful section about singing to the Lord, making music to Him and teaching one another with hymns and spiritual songs.

[34:05] But I want you to notice a few words. Be thankful in verse 15. And then again, connected with the singing that we are commanded to do as a body. At the end of 16, here's what it says. With thankfulness in your hearts to God.

[34:18] Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. We get it, Paul. We're supposed to be thankful three times when we're singing and worshiping.

[34:33] I love this. Paul is being redundant on purpose. Hebrews 12. Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and all for our God as a consuming fire.

[34:48] What preceded, what led up to the command to let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and all? Well, here's what it is. Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Once you recognize that you've received a kingdom that cannot be shaken, here's what the implication is from the author of Hebrews.

[35:04] You will come to God in reverence and all and acceptable worship. 1 Thessalonians 5. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of Christ Jesus for you.

[35:19] Thankfulness has a huge role in the worship of our heart. You may be asking yourself here today, but what can I be grateful for? Part of recounting who God is, what He's done, and what He will do is seeing the things that God has placed in your life to remind you of His goodness.

[35:38] Start with the basics when you're trying to be grateful and remind yourself of God's goodness in your life. Food, lodging, clothing, family, friends, start there.

[35:51] Thank God for those things. And if you don't have much of those, thank God for the breath that you're taking right now because He gave it to you. But then next, move maybe to other categories.

[36:02] Move to gratitude for His spiritual blessings, for Jesus' atoning sacrifice to redeem you, for God's love that was shown to the sending of His Son. Parents, I encourage you when teaching your young children to pray, start with the basics.

[36:18] Let them rattle off every single thing they are grateful for. This is a practice we've tried to do in our house. What are you thankful for? And some of the things that come up are downright adorable. I'm thankful for this string that was attached to my doll.

[36:32] That's great. cultivating a heart of seeing everything in light of God's goodness. That's what being grateful is. If we are to be genuinely grateful for what God has done through the good news of the gospel, finally, I want to encourage us with this with gratitude.

[36:50] There is nothing that we should ever be more grateful for or could ever be more grateful for in any of our lives than for what Jesus has done. This is why we try to encourage our children every time they pray to end their prayer with the same line, thank you, Jesus, for loving me by going to the cross to pay for my sin.

[37:14] It's the number one. It's the triumph of all gratitude. But in order to see that and be grateful for that, we have to be confronted by our own sin and brokenness.

[37:28] The greater our understanding of our sin, the greater our understanding of our need for a Savior. The greater our understanding for our need of a Savior, the greater our view of the cross. The greater our view of the cross, the greater our love for Jesus.

[37:42] And the greater our love for Jesus, the greater our gratitude. And the greater our gratitude, the greater our worship. And the greater our worship, the greater our joy. That is the flow we see in Scripture.

[37:55] So I want to encourage us to apply a few things. One, forms of worship. Each and every form of worship that we could ever engage in as God's created people are responsive in nature.

[38:09] We are always in a place where we can and should worship because we are always in a place where we have received from God great things. Worship is the ongoing song of the heart that delights in the steadfast love and presence that He gives.

[38:24] So a few things here. There are 185 songs in the Bible. 150 of these are in the Psalms. The longest continual song in the Bible, the Song of Songs or Psalm 119 are pretty similar.

[38:38] The Bible starts with the song in Exodus 15 called the Song of Moses, God's great deliverance from their enemy and into safety. And the last song in the Bible is Revelation 15 which is called what?

[38:50] The Song of Moses. The bookend of the Song of Moses which capitulates to us God's redeeming salvation over His people. Singing in the New Testament is replete.

[39:04] Matthew 26 When they had sung a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives. Acts 16 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them. 1 Corinthians 14 Therefore one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret.

[39:18] For if I pray in a tongue my spirit prays and my mind is unfruitful. What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit but I will pray with my mind also. I will sing praise with my spirit but I will sing with my mind also.

[39:31] James 5.13 Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Ephesians 5.18-19 Do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery but be filled with the Spirit addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.

[39:52] I want to hit that last one real quick. Making melody to the Lord with your heart. What is singing? Singing is just one of the many ways that we get to worship the Lord. I want to start with singing but here's what singing is.

[40:04] When the heart leaves the body the heart is the headquarters of our worship I would offer. It's the place out of which all affection and gratitude toward God flows.

[40:18] So we have to ask her a question. What is going into our heart and what is coming out of our heart? Jesus in Matthew 15 elaborates on this concept speaking about the things that come out of us are what defile us not the things that go in.

[40:37] Worship and singing are important but I do want to reiterate this point as well. Worship and singing are not one and the same. You can worship while singing but you aren't always singing when worshiping.

[40:48] Speaking to corporate worship real quickly we value corporate worship in this church a great deal. But there's three things that corporate worship corporate singing does for us.

[40:59] First it's unity. How many other times are people all singing in unison the same song in the same room? It's actually not a lot. The big one is concerts.

[41:13] Maybe you've been in a room of people that start belting out out of nowhere Sweet Caroline. I looked at the lyrics to that because I've done it a million times with a bunch of people I'd never met. I have no idea what that song is about.

[41:24] The lyrics are bizarre. Read it sometimes. I don't know what I'm singing but we're singing it together. Well how about this one YMCA? Have you ever read the lyrics to that? This is my point with corporate singing.

[41:37] It's one of the most unique and wonderful things on the earth. Because not only are we singing together in the same room corporate singing in the church is we're singing together in the same room the same song but here's the catcher we're agreeing about everything we're singing.

[41:56] I've sung YMCA in countless stadiums with countless groups a million times in unison but let me tell you what we do not agree all on that is the most important thing in our lives.

[42:08] that people would turn their life around at the YMCA as great as that is a whole stadium singing that song do we really agree on all this?

[42:20] Last few years Taylor Swift came out with one of the most popular songs of all time called Cruel Summer. It streamed 2.8 billion streams worldwide. It's a song about a short summer romance that can't last but it's fun nonetheless.

[42:34] And she went on a massive tour concerts people filled stadiums and sang this song in unbelievable unison like never seen before in music.

[42:48] But here's what I want to encourage you with there's nothing of substance to be found in that song. Crowds can get together and sing with the loudest voices louder than any church could ever sing and sing the lyrics of that song and it mean nothing.

[43:07] Nothing. But when we gather to sing the praises of Jesus Christ we are joining in on the eternal song of the myriads of myriads in Revelation 5 speaking to every person from every tongue every tribe every nation that has either died or will die and go to be in glory with Jesus we will stand in front of his throne as the myriads of myriads which is a way to say a countless number all Christians all saints of all the ages and we will sing one song and one song only and it's this worthy is the lamb and when we get together on Sunday morning and we sing songs that Josh does such a great job picking out and ensuring lead us to Jesus when we sing those songs it's not just chanting in a stadium it brings us together under the same banner of worship of our Lord the second thing corporate singing does is it edifies us

[44:10] Paul says to teach one another by singing literally we believe at this church that when you join together in the singing of the words that we put up on the screens and we dedicate to worship that you're actually teaching your brother or sister right next to you the truths about God so sing but my voice is not great the power of the truth is not in the tone and the pitch that you sing it's in the content of the words sing and teach your brothers and sisters songs of lyrics like before the throne because the sinless savior died my sinful soul is counted free but for God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me when you sing that the person next to you hears those words from your mouth and we are reminded again of how good God is and what we sing matters Josh and I often talk about a song that has lyrics that are man centered talk about looking at God and seeing myself in him that talk about asking God to burn me up with his holy fire and crowds of people will sing lyrics like this and I'm here to tell you lyrics matter truth matters

[45:26] I don't actually want to ask God to burn me up with his holy fire that's not something I want to be singing instead I want to sing this Jesus you took the wrath of God for me and because you died my sinless savior God looks upon me and pardons me third corporate singing does this it brings us joy we see all throughout the Psalms and all throughout the New Testament that joy is the byproduct of the people of God singing together let's talk about another form of worship number two generosity and giving 2 Corinthians 9 7 says that each one must give as he has decided in his heart not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver 1 Timothy 6 has the same sort of concept that we are to give and be generous with what God has given us as a response to God generosity and being free with the things God has given us is literally the definition of responding and gratitude so generosity is spoken of as worship in the Bible and finally life itself is worship

[46:33] Romans 12 says this I appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship literally what Paul is saying is here just as you have received the sacrifice of Jesus to pay for your sin to bring you before God spotless and holy now it's your turn to sacrifice your life and what Paul meaning here what he's getting at is every part of you that's what it means to present your bodies a living sacrifice it's a continual worship every word every thought every action everything I am is continually being offered up in worship to God life itself by the mercies of God gratitude my hope is that this morning you've not received a list of things that Eric is saying and if you want to worship God you have to do

[47:35] A, B, C, or D you have to do them in this way because worship of God is such a wonderfully broad and holistic topic that any and all things we do can be considered worship because it's all about responding to God and his goodness when you join with the body in singing give me Jesus and crown him many crowns in a few minutes when you partake of the Lord's supper with the body here in a moment and when you leave this building and drive back home when you go to work tomorrow when you look after and raise your kids at home tomorrow with patience you have the opportunity to worship God as Jesus says in John 4 in spirit and in truth our father is looking for people to worship him at all times and in all places with the heart continually fueled by the fires of gratitude and redemptive perspective choose to respond to the gospel every moment of every day and you will find yourself in worship

[48:39] God has sent his Holy Spirit to dwell within our hearts and to lead us to behold the glory of Jesus wherever we find ourselves and wherever we find ourselves in that moment there's an opportunity to respond to who God is what he's done and what he will do for you let's choose to do that together every time we gather in beyond church Lord thank you for this morning I pray now as we engage practically in responsive worship Lord by singing songs to you by taking of your supper that you've given to us that we might remember what you've done Lord on the cross and beyond Lord may every moment of this church as we meet together as we worship you in wholeness may it be a sweet aroma to you Lord thank you for your gospel and that it leads us to respond daily we have a thousand reasons ten thousand reasons

[49:45] Lord every day to respond to you and I pray we would choose to do so every day we love you Lord and it's in your glorious name we pray amen