SERMON OF THE WEEK First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu February 14, 2010 Worship is a Valentine to God (Bible Verses Devotional Week 5) Rev. Dr. Dan Chun Memory Verse: Psalm 100:1-3 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. What was I thinking? What was I thinking when I picked Psalm 100:1-3 for us to memorize? That s basically eight lines to memorize! Eight lines! In case you are a visitor, the majority of the church right now is trying to memorize a different Bible passage every week. All of the kids and adults are trying to memorize the same verses. We even have a devotional written by our pastors, staff and Elders for each memory verse every week to help us get deeper into the passage. The devotional is called the Bible Verses Devotional, and you can pick one up at the Front Desk for a small donation. We have memorized four passages already. And now I am preaching on the fifth one. Why Psalm 110:1-3. Maybe I was thinking that Psalm 100 stands out as the most commonly recited and sung psalm in worship liturgies for both Christians and Jews around the world. Maybe I was thinking that worship is so central to our faith that we had to memorize a passage on Maybe I was thinking that this passage would teach us how to worship God with joy and enthusiasm as the believers have for centuries. Let s try to recite Psalm 100:1-3 right now together. Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. In the Westminster shorter catechism, which the Presbyterian Church has used since 1674, the very first question is, What is the chief end of man? And the answer is, Man s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Our church was founded on It was founded to glorify God in all His splendor. And this is not to be a boring worship but a worship in which we enjoy Him forever. True joyful worship is what we were made for. Worship is the stuff upon which the whole creation is made, and that is why the psalm begins with, Shout for joy to the lord, all the earth. The earth was made for The rocks, the seas, the ocean all shout out the glory of God. However, when it comes to worship, humanity feels conflicted. We don t easily shout for joy! We see this in the gospels when Jesus was in Jerusalem before He died. Luke 19:37 As Jesus was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a LOUD voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, Luke 19:38 saying, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven! Luke 19:39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, Teacher, order your disciples to stop. Luke 19:40 Jesus answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out. Some of us feel conflicted about Like the Pharisees, we may hear voices in us that say, Stop! Don t be so emotional. Don t be so passionate. Don t be so joyful. Don t praise God with a loud voice. But look at verse 37. It says that the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a LOUD VOICE! 1
They let it rip saying, Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! But the Pharisees said to them, Shut up! Be quiet! But Jesus said, Hey, I tell you, if these disciples were silent, the stones would shout out! Why would the stones cry out? Because all of the earth was made to worship God its creator. It is clear, that when it comes to worship, we should be passionate, and it s okay to be loud! Now for some of you this may seem wrong. I m a former Episcopalian. I like quiet reverence, too. But I m not talking about being an exhibitionist for exhibition sake. I am not talking about being loud just to be loud. I m not talking about applauding during worship unless it is really your way to praise God and not the singer, and sometimes it is more appropriate to let the reverent silence hang. But it seems to me that when we are truly grateful we are often loud. We shout for joy. We express gratitude from our deep down inside. If I were to give you one million dollars and you sheepishly, timidly, quietly and nonchalantly say, Golly, gee, that s nice. Such a kind and generous thing to do, that kind of response would make me think that you were not grateful. Because I think true gratitude would have a bit more volume. I would expect from you, Oh my goodness! You re giving me a million dollars? What can I say? Fantastic! Thank you! Buy your teenage kid a new car, and if he or she dismisses it with a mere That s nice, Dad, I don t think that would show true gratitude. I would hope the teenager would loudly say from his or her heart, A new car? I can t believe it! Thank you! Thank you! I don t deserve it but am so grateful. Oh my gosh!!! When Jesus healed the ten lepers in the 17 th chapter of Luke, only one said thank you. But check out this little detail. After almost a lifetime of pus, sores and fingers and toes falling off, and of being a social outcast for years, you would think all ten lepers would show a bit more gratitude after being healed by Jesus. Nine said nothing! But the one who came back showed true gratitude. Luke 17:15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a LOUD VOICE. Luke 17:16 He prostrated himself at Jesus feet and thanked him. Friends, when it comes to singing our praises to God, I dare say that complete gratitude shows in attitude an attitude that doesn t hold back. For some people, that means volume. I love it when people tell me, Dan, I can t sing well. But when it comes to worship, I sing out loud even if I m off key because I am so grateful to God and I love him so much! That s great! For others, not holding back means not so much as volume but posture so they stand up or lift their hands to God. For still others, it means freely letting their emotions show. They re not afraid to shed tears of joy. 2 I believe that when we worship, we should worship with all that we have never forced but with a freedom and completeness that expresses all that we feel inside. Studying the Bible gives us that conclusion. What does our key passage say? Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come to before Him with joyful songs! Worship is dynamic and dramatic. Look at how the Bible describes the ultimate In the last book of Revelation the author takes us to heaven where we see the true drama of Hear these words and imagine this with all the 3D technology and movement that an Avatar movie offers. Put on your 3D glasses for this one! Hear how the director of Revelation describes it: Rev. 4:2 At once I was in the spirit, and there in heaven stood a throne, with one seated on the throne! Rev. 4:3 And the one seated there looks like jasper and carnelian, and around the throne is a rainbow that looks like an emerald. Rev. 4:4 Around the throne are twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones are twentyfour elders, dressed in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads. Rev. 4:5 Coming from the throne are flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and in front of the throne burn seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God; Rev. 4:6 and in front of the throne there is something like a
sea of glass, like crystal. Around the throne, and on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: Rev. 4:7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human face, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. Rev. 4:8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing they sing, Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come. Rev. 4:9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to the one who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, Rev. 4:10 the twenty-four elders fall before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing, Rev. 4:11 You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. Man, that s action! That s movement, loud volume and celebration! You got pyrotechnics, elaborate set design, thunder, lightning, music, singing, disco ball, smoke machines and choirs all rolled into one. The word for psalms in Hebrew is tehillim, which means praises. In Greek, it s psalmoi, which means twanging, as in harp strings, thus indicating those songs that are sung to harp melodies. The book of Psalms is often referred to as the Psalter, which comes from psalterion, meaning a collection of harp songs. But we need to understand that while we all like quiet times in worship (like during congregational prayer), worship in the Jewish culture for centuries meant a lot of music and a lot of instruments, far more than just the harp and the lyre. There were bells, cymbals, castanets, trumpets made of silver, the famous shofar, which was a curved ram s horn, and a straight horn from the female mountain goat. Singing and shouting played a prominent role in the worship and the natural daily life of the Hebrew people. In addition, shouting, dancing, clapping, leaping, footstamping and playing musical instruments were common at communal gatherings of all sorts, like a village feast, a celebration of harvest or a sacrificial offering. God s praises were also sung and shouted in formal public Every occasion for the expression of corporate joy would have been accompanied by exuberant, clamorous praise. (Arch.Bible, p.897) But, as our verse says, the worship is not to draw attention to ourselves but to point to God. For as our Bible passage today says in verse three, Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us. The singing of psalms was never for entertainment; it was really an expression of praise to God. And whenever we worship it should be to praise God. It s not camp songs to make us feel good. But it is coming into His presence and having communion with Him. It s an experience of community where we stand in awe of Him to 3 bless Him, thank Him and praise Him. A few weeks ago while in California I went to a worship service where there was no preaching but mostly an hour-anda-half of singing. There were prayers and a testimony, but all the rest was singing and praising God. The 90 minutes went fast. About 1,500 people showed up for that just to praise God. Our church is going to try that this Thursday. The Young Adults are inviting everyone to meet at Honey s Restaurant downstairs beginning with optional dinner at 6 pm followed by a time of singing and praising God at 7 pm led by Cory and the band. No preaching, just singing. It s open to ANYONE who wants to come fellowship and then worship the Lord. They re calling this worship time Milk and Honey s worshipping like the Israelites who found the Promise Land. Every few years I make this point about And since we ve had more people since we moved, it s time for a review again. If we are truly honoring God in worship, that means we are the performers and He is the audience. Too often we come to worship reversing it. We think worship means God performs for us, or the preacher performs for us. Some may expect the preacher to not only teach them but to also make them laugh and entertain them. To them that means good But no, we are on stage, and God is the audience of one. It is we, not God or the pastors or the worship leaders and singers who are performing, in the best sense of the word. The pastors and worship leaders lead us in our praise. They help us cheer like cheerleaders a game.
True worship involves the 5 P s : 1) PRAISE When we praise someone at a banquet we don t make the honoree do all of the singing and dancing while we watch. No, the honoree sits and watches us give honor towards him or her. Worship is we performing for God through our prayers, preaching, singing and praises. Notice in the Revelation passage that there is only one person on the throne! It s an audience of one. 2) PERFORMANCE So if we are going to put on a banquet to honor God, then it means we come to praise the honoree -- God Almighty. It means we are the main performers, not God. And again, not performers in an entertainment sense, but in the sense of who the act is for. It s not for us. It s for God. 3) PROMPTNESS But it also means we should be prompt. It dishonors the honoree if we show up late. It s poor form to invite someone to a party and then show up late. No, we should be there before our guests arrive. Hence, if we are serious about praising God, we should show up on time. Being prompt shows that we care and also that it is not only about us. The worship leaders have spent tens of hours to prepare and design the celebration banquet and to come in late is to skip some of the entrees that have been prepared for you and God. 4) PREPAREDNESS If we are serious about praising God and are prompt, we should also be prepared for our performance. That means when we worship we should come with our hearts prepared. We should come ready to encounter the holy, living, powerful God who is worthy to be praised. Practical ways of doing this are to read the Scripture on the screen that we have for the few minutes before worship begins. Pray. Look at the worship bulletin and determine the theme through the songs and the lyrics. Psalm 100 was sung at the entrance to the temple, perhaps as an antiphonal hymn by a choir and the people. It was part of the common liturgy and was a clear call to This psalm would have been read, chanted or sung by a priest or worship leader as he called the congregation to Psalm 100 was preparation for worship, for an explosive-from-theheart The psalm presented a beautiful image of coming into God s presence with praise and rejoicing, not with heavy hearts or complaints and worries. As believers we are being called to celebrate our relationship with God. We exult, not because we necessarily feel joyful all the time, but because we realize just who God is and what this means to our lives. 5) PARTICIPATION Lastly we should participate. We should be involved in worship, participating with heart and soul by singing, praying and listening. I promise that I will try to preach as if it s my last sermon, and preach it with urgency. I will be 4 prepared and try to say clearly and with importance God s truth. Your promise is to try to listen as if it s the last sermon you will ever hear before being taken to some desert island. So try to listen in the spirit and hang on to the words. Memorize the Scripture and apply it to your life. With my promise and your promise we ll reach the Promise Land together! But more than listening, we should be participating and being interactive with your mind and soul. Some may remember famous Christian educator John Westerhoff who said that when he taught at Duke University there was what he called The Amen Corner in the back. The Amen Corner was a group of African-American students who, during Westerhoff s sermons, would often participate by saying, Amen! That s right! Uhhuh. You got it. Keep it coming! That pattern would continue throughout the whole lecture. At the end of the lecture, while the students were filing out of the class, the Amen Corner would come up to the front and shake Westerhoff s hand. If it were a good lecture, they would tell him, Hey, we really did it today, didn t we, Teacher? We really done good! And if it were a bad lecture that really didn t go over that well, they would say, Well, we didn t do too well today, did we, Professor? Westerhoff said, If they were willing to take half the blame, I was willing to give them half the credit. The Amen Corner was participating, and we should too. We re in this together.
During worship, we call this platform the chancel, not a stage, for it s the platform on which worship leaders encourage us to worship properly and orderly. Worship leaders are like cheerleaders who give permission and encouragement for us to cheer, Holy, Holy, Holy to the Almighty God. I pray that the average worship service at First Prez will be worshipful. I have story you ve heard me tell. I ve a friend whose church service I visited. And after the service she said, Well, that was boring, but isn t that what church is about? And I thought, No! Shouldn t the AVERAGE church worship be celebrative and exciting? Hence, shouldn t the average worship service at First Prez be joyful? Shouldn t the average worship at First Prez be fun? Shouldn t the average worship service be inspiring and causing us to participate? Shouldn t the average worship service be of excellence because our best efforts honor God? The average worship service should be one in which we meet God by coming 100% forward, not just half way. The best compliment you can give me is to say, Dan that was an average sermon, because then I would know that we hit the mark of excellence. And if it was above average, whoa! Then we are soaring! Worship is not about us. It s about God. It is HE who made us, And we are HIS, we are HIS people, the sheep of HIS pasture. (Psalm 100:3) And I believe that His people want a real experience with God. In the book of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar wanted someone to tell him the interpretation to his dreams. He wanted an experience of God. When people roll up to church they are like Nebuchadnezzar. Is God here? Will I experience Him today? That s why we have more people coming to our worship services. In fact, the ushers tell me that it s 13 percent higher than last year at this time. More than 300 have joined us since we moved to Ko olau. One of the reasons we have hundreds of people coming to our healing services and going to the prayer room is that they want to experience God today in a supernatural way that they can know in their gut. People don t want to just hear about God or sing about Him; they want to experience Him. One final word. Worship doesn t mean we just sing and praise God and keep it to ourselves. Again, it s not all about us. And hear this: worship is not just about Sundays or about church. Worship is about going out as part of our When we truly worship God our worship is in going out to help those who are suffering because that is where the God we worship goes. We go out to pray for healing because that is where the God we worship goes. We fight injustice and have a desire to save children from sex slavery for that is what the God we worship does. 5 When we go out to help the poor that is an act of worship because we worship a God who feeds the hungry and restores the disenfranchised. May we give our all to God by living out Psalm 100. May we shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Amen? Amen!