“Let the Peoples Praise You, O God” - Psalm 67
May 13, 2007
Dr. Michael C. Yarbrough

          How about these words?  “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’” (Psalm 122:1)  Are these words familiar to you?  They are part of an even older song of praise.  They are the beginning of a song the Hebrew people used to sing.  It comes from their songbook – we call it the “Book of Psalms.”

          And still yet another song from the same collection says this: “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.  Worship the Lord with gladness; come into (God’s) presence with singing.  Know that the Lord is God.  It is (God) that made us, and we are (God’s); we are (God’s) people, and the sheep of (God’s) pasture.  Enter (God’s) gates with thanksgiving, and (God’s) courts with praise.  Give thanks to (God), bless (God’s) name.  For the Lord is good; (God’s) steadfast love endures forever, and (God’s) faithfulness to all generations.” (Psalm 100)

          And there is still, yet, an older song – maybe the oldest in the Bible: “I will sing to the Lord, for (God) has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider (the Lord) has thrown into the sea.  The Lord is my strength and my might, and (the Lord) has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise (God), my father’s God, and I will exalt him.  The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is (God’s) name.” (Exodus 15: 1b-3)  These words are attributed to Moses, sung as a celebration after waters of the Red Sea parted and the Israelites passed through to safety from Pharaoh’s army.

          The Bible is a collection of many kinds of literature.  It has family trees and the historical chronology of kings.  It has a collection of ancient wisdom and a collection of letters.  It has prophetic visions, gospels, and a songbook for worship.  And woven throughout this collection of sixty-six books is a picture of how people are affected by encounters with God.

          God seems come to these people in the most amazing ways and at the most unexpected times.  There are stories of God encountering them as a burning bush in the desert, and as a pillar of smoke and a pillar of fire, and as a voice in a cloudy fog, and as a whirlwind, and in a dream, and in fantastic visions, and as flames of fire dancing over heads, and as a baby born in Bethlehem.  The stories remind me that God is everywhere – and might be revealed at any given moment.

          I have personally experienced God at church camp, in periods of solitude, in prayer meetings, in hospital rooms, on mountaintops, in my car driving westward at sunset, in beautiful music, in art museums, in quiet chapels, in worship services (sometimes spoken and sung in languages I did not understand), in the birth of my children, in caves, on Spiritual Life retreats, in the woods, in awe-inspiring cathedrals, in the desert, in the words someone spoke to me, in movies I have seen, and books that I have read.

          God is everywhere.  God is the source of life.  God is the source of all that is good.  When we experience God – or know who God is, how do we respond?  I cannot speak for you, but often I am speechless – or my heart swells in joy – or I feel a peaceful inner happiness – or I get goose bumps – or I smile – or I pray – or I feel a need to close my eyes and relish the moment.

          In ancient times, the Hebrew people acknowledged the presence and power of God in a number of ways.  Moses acknowledged that he was standing on holy ground by taking off his sandals.  Some turned their eyes and heads downward in awe and respect even as they raised their hands in supplication.  Some knelt.  Some composed and sang hymns.  Some built altars of stone, anointed them with oil to purify them, and then laid the first fruits of their fields and the best of their flocks on the rocks, and then set them on fire as burnt offerings to God.  The Hebrew people understood that all of life was an act of worship.  All of these were ways to acknowledge God’s initiative to choose them and love them.  This covenant with God was lived out by keeping the Ten Commandments with all of their thoughts, attitudes, and actions.

          The Hebrews also set aside a day every week to remember what God had given them and to honor their relationship with God.  That special day – the last day of their week – was called the Sabbath.  In the Creation stories, God created for six days and then rested on the seventh, so they observed the day by refraining from heavy labor.

          Jesus was born a Jew and the first Christians were Jews.  Because they understood themselves to be Jews, they retained a number of Jewish practices, including living by the Ten Commandments and keeping the Sabbath holy.

          Luke writes in Acts that: “Day by day, as they (that is: the first Christians) spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.” (Acts 2:46-47a)  Followers of Jesus spend time at “church” (the Jews call it “temple”), praising God.  It isn’t an option – it is a necessity!

          The primary importance of worship in the Christian life has never changed.  One thing that has changed is that the early Christians eventually began to observe the Sabbath on Sunday (the first day of the week) instead of on Saturday (the last day of the week).  They moved it primarily because Sunday was the day of Jesus’ resurrection – and therefore, all Sundays were celebrated as “little Easters.”

          The day we worship isn’t nearly as important as is the “why” we worship.  Jan Linn, in his book Reclaiming Evangelism (1998), writes: “Worship is so important because it is the most important thing a church does as a community to build itself spiritually.” (p.80)  Then, at the end of that same paragraph, he describes worship as: “God is praised, the presence of Jesus is celebrated, and the Word that comforts and afflicts is proclaimed.” (p.80)  He reminds us that worship is not a performance (p. 83) but rather an expression of faith (p.82), and that “what we are about is pleasing God, not ourselves.” (p.81)

          A Christian’s commitment to regular participation in worship is a visible action of commitment to Jesus and to God.  It is an intentional witness to the fact that our relationship with God is not just individual and private.  It is an acknowledgement that our relationship with God is also a relationship with a community of faith that gathers weekly to express Christian faith, love for Jesus, and love for the world.  As Jan Linn wrote in his book Rocking the Membership Boat (2001), “A Sunday not spent in worship with one’s own church family is a Sunday lost forever.” (p.15)

          Worshipping God in weekly community isn’t something we reserve for times when we feel like it or when everything else is done.  In fact, there will always be other things to do!  Faithful commitment to attending worship only happens when it is an intentional priority in our lives.

          Next Sunday is our Covenant Discipleship Sunday.  You will be invited to make or renew a one-year commitment to going deeper and giving more of your life to Jesus through Covenant Discipleship.  On the cards are these words: “For the next twelve (12) months, as a Covenant Disciple, I am willing to give my time in weekly worship …”

          I invite you to sign that card as a pledge that you will lift up your worshipful thanks and praise to God – and that you’ll make it a weekly priority in the coming year.  Through your participation in worship, may we, together, give life to the words of the psalmist who wrote: “Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.  Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon the earth.  Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.” (Psalm 67:3-5)

          So be it!

          Let us pray.

          How awesome are your works, O God!  The birds sing your praises – the thunder speaks of your power.  O God, may all that we do and think and say and sing become sacred acts of worship in the name of your Son, Jesus.  In his name we ask it.

Amen.