PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO PSALM 95.
Brother Scott pointed out Sunday evening that the reason we are having 5 lessons in February is because 2004 is a unique year in that it has 5 Sundays. He promised this would not occur again for about another 35 years. So I suppose we should take advantage of this rare phenomena.
Throughout the centuries since the birth of Christ, Christians have practiced certain activities that are often referred to as spiritual disciplines. The purpose of this month’s study theme is to help us understand the importance of spiritual disciplines and to make specific plans to practice them in our daily lives.
What are spiritual disciplines? They are means by which believers regulate their activities so they can become more like Christ. (1 Tim. 4:7-8) The five disciplines in this study theme are channels through which a believer may grow in holiness and godliness. Believers do not do the disciplines in order to earn God’s grace. Rather, the disciplines are means God has given to us whereby we might seek Him and pursue growth in His likeness. Faithfulness in the practice of each discipline will put us in a position to be used by God to do His work in our lives and mature us to be more like Christ.
Cultivating spiritual disciplines involves struggle, perseverance, the work of the Holy Spirit, and the encouragement of other believers. However, the benefits from developing these disciplines make ever effort worthwhile. Not only are Christians strengthened for daily living, but they also enjoy a closer relationship and walk with the Savior.
This five-session study focuses on the five spiritual disciplines in Matthew’s account of an experience in the life of Jesus and from some of Paul’s counsel to the Roman Christians. Today’s lesson is about worship and is designed to help us develop the discipline of personal and corporate worship.
These disciplines are habits all Christians should form. The rules for forming any good habit, therefore, apply. (1) Make a good start. This involves making a commitment and doing it on a regular basis. (2) Allow no exceptions, especially in the early stage of developing the habit. This is an important step in forming the habit. (3) Obey any reminder of the habit. (4) Forming a new habit should be done whatever the cost.
William Temple defined worship this way, “Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of the conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of the mind with His truth; the purifying of the imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of our will to His purpose---and all of this gathered up in adoration. The most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable.” We should worship as though God were present. If my mind is not engaged in my worship, it is as though I have not worshipped.
It is for the sake of man, not of God, that worship and prayers are required in that man may be made better. What greater calamity can fall upon a nation, than the loss of worship?
Worship is our response to the sovereign creator God, and it should be a regular part of our lives. But why? Today’s lesson addresses that question.
PLEASE READ PSALM 95: 1-2.
The author of this psalm is unknown. It was written as an invitation to worship after the return from exile
We are looking at the discipline of worship first because it is the foundation to all the others. The entire Bible calls people to worship God. This is especially true of Psalms and the Letter to the Hebrews. Psalm 95:1-2 is a clear call to worship God. Two different words are translated come. The Hebrew word in Vs. 1 means “to come”, or “to walk.” It is thus an invitation to make worship a part of one’s walk or way of life. The word in vs.2 means, “to come before.” Thus it can be translated “enter.” His presence shows that worship is a personal encounter with God.
The Hebrew word translated worship in Vs. 6 means to “bow down.,” This word is common in the O.T. and in certain forms can mean “to prostrate oneself.” The verb carries the idea of becoming low in an humble sense. The word pictures someone who rids himself of arrogance and who bows before someone else until the forehead touches the ground. The Christian worshiper bows down before God in worship, which expresses the attitude of humility, wonder, and submissiveness. The attitude of the heart is one of honor, reverence, and a desire to pay appropriate homage to God.
“Let us” occurs in Psalm 95:1,2,6 and in Hebrews 10: 22,23, 24. This is a key to these passages. One implication is that the invitation was to meet with others in worship. Another implication is that people are free to worship or not to worship.
True worship is voluntary. As some times in history, civil laws required people to attend church. In other situations the state has forbidden Christian worship. During periods of the early Christian centuries, believers put their lives at risk in meeting together to worship.
In
some lands today Christian worship is under tight government control.
We who live in a land of religious freedom should be grateful for
this great blessing. Religious freedom matches the kind of freedom
that God gives us. We are free to worship or not to worship.
Each person makes his or her own choice. People who practice the discipline of public worship have chosen to do so. Those who do not worship have also made a choice---a choice not to worship God.
Some people claim that they do not attend church as adults because they had to go as children. Most of us who were taken to Sunday School as we grew up are grateful that our parents had the habit of faithfully going as a family. Yet at some point in each of our lives we made a commitment of our own to worship God when the choice was our own.
One of our church members was sharing that his son, who is now over 50 years of age, complained when he was 15 that he was the only boy attending Church Training. He didn’t want to go to church. The father agreed that the boy was old enough to make his choice. He said the boy had never attended church since. He wonders now if the boy was mature enough to make such a choice at age 15.
This 95th Psalm, of course, relates to corporate worship. The tone of a particular worship service may vary. For example, if the focus is on repentance for disobedience in carrying out God’s purposes, the mood tends to be somber. When the focus shifts to the Lord’s greatness, forgiveness, and achievements through His people, the tone become celebratory.
All services of worship should be marked by reverence, but reverence is not to be equated with quiet formality. The worship described in Ps. 95 is characterized by grateful exuberance. “Sing” in the Psalms often means “shout joyfully.” A joy which runs beyond all words. One can almost hear the voices rising to acknowledge the Lord’s greatness as seen in His creation and care for His people.
God is also described as the rock of our salvation. These words depict an impregnable fortress in a rocky high mountain in which one can find refuge and rest. God is the One in whom our deliverance is secure. The Bible uses the term salvation to refer to God’s deliverance from the hands of enemies. The term also can describe spiritual salvation. Through His Son, Jesus Christ, the Lord has provided the one and only Rock to whom we can look for salvation.
In vs. 2 God’s people are invited to enter His presence. When people approach a king, they came before him in ways that acknowledge his authority and power. In worship, the believer is coming before the Lord in His throne room, bowing in submission to His sovereign majesty.
One would not come before a king empty-handed but with a gift that indicated respect. God’s Word calls on us to approach the throne of God with thanksgiving. The word literally pictures an extension of the hand, a way of expressing a public commitment as well as adoration. We should always come to the Lord in a spirit of gratitude for all the blessings He brings to us. God is God! Good all the time!
Practicing the discipline of worship means making a commitment to join your church in every worship opportunity you possibly can. One of the keys to God’s working effectively through the Jerusalem church was the believers’ faithfulness in corporate worship. Believers, who regularly meet together, hear and heed God’s revealed truth, and serve the Lord make a united and fruitful church. Practicing the discipline of worship also means to worship privately, experiencing God’s speaking to us through reading His Word and praying for His guidance and help in becoming what He wants us to be in His world.
People who choose to worship are able to experience the joy of God’s presence. Both of the first two verses refer to a joyful noise. That certainly describes our worship service at Immanuel. The Hebrew word often refers to shouting. Such words express the exuberance of true worship. The full-throated cries urged in the verbs of Vs. 1 and 2 suggest an acclamation fit for a king who is the savior of his people. Like most of the verbs of this psalm, they are urged upon us as worshippers, indeed we address one another, to make sure that we rise to the occasion, not drifting into His courts preoccupied and apathetic.
Sing can be translated “sing with joy.” Music and singing have always been ways of expressing worship to the Lord. Notice that we are to sing unto the Lord. He is the audience in true worship. The congregation and worship leaders praise Him. The language of faith is addressing God, not addressing others about God. One writer said this of Psalms: “God is a being, not of whom, but unto whom the psalmist speaks.” Many of the psalms address their praises directly to God. Other psalms, such as Psalm 95, call people to genuine worship.
Some people try to excuse their failure to worship by claiming that they don’t get anything out of going to worship services at church. These people usually sit in the same congregation with people for whom church worship brings deep joy and meaning. How can two people sit side-by-side in church and one finds joy while the other is bored? The writer of Ps. 95:1-2 was anything but bored. The same eagerness is expressed in Ps. 122: 1: “I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord.”
How different was the attitude of those who said in Mal. 1:13, of worship in the temple, “What a weariness is it!” In public worship, as in most activities, we get out of something what we put into it. Those who prepare their hearts and come eagerly and expectantly are glad to go to worship. Those who are reluctant or half-hearted often are bored.
A big difference between these contrasting attitudes is whether a person comes to participate in worship or comes as a spectator. The participants enter into the full joy and deep meaning of worship unto the Lord. Spectators often come as critics who observe what others do and point to the faults in it. They critique the music and the sermon. Ps. 95: 1-2 invites all people to worship God as participants, not as spectators.
PLEASE READ PSALM 95: 3-7a.
Human beings are inherently religious. Because we were created in God’s image, we have an emptiness that can be filled only by God. The Bible tells how sin led humanity to seek to fill that emptiness with all manner of false gods. Rom. 1:25 says, “they changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped, and served the creature more than the Creator.” The revelation of the one true God was distorted or ignored, and people worshipped gods that were no gods. The words a great King above all gods does not mean that the psalmist believed in the reality of other gods. It was a way of showing the folly of worshipping anything other than the one true God. Isa. 45:5 says, “I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God besides me.”
This applies not only to the false gods of primitive peoples but also to the false gods of people today. To worship God is to ascribe the proper worth to God, to magnify His worthiness of praise, or better, to approach and address God, as he is worthy. As the Holy and Almighty God: the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe, the Sovereign Judge to whom we must give an account. He is worthy of all the praise and honor we can give Him and then infinitely more.
If we worship whatever is worth most to us, the gods of today include money, fame, business, and pleasure. True worship is based on a confidence that only God is of supreme worth. Rev. 4: 11 says it for us: “thou are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”
The child prays, “God is great, and God is good.” This simple prayer sums up the heart of the God of the Bible. He is a great God, and a great King. He is the Creator, Owner, and Sustainer of all things. Notice Vs. 4-5. When I read these verses, I think of the old Negro spiritual “He’s Got the Whole Worlds in His Hands.” Ps. 95: begins with the words in His hand. He controls everything from the deepest depths and the highest peaks, in the sea and on dry land.
How can anyone respond to such a great God in any way other than the way described in vs. 6? Awe, reverence, and humility are marks of true worship. Each of the three main verbs of vs. 6 (worship…bow down…knee) is concerned with getting low before God, since the standard word for worship in Scripture means to prostrate oneself.
But keep in mind that the Great God is also the Good God. Vs. 1 calls Him the Rock of our Salvation. Vs 7. refers to our relation with Him as that of sheep to our shepherd. “We are the people of His pasture, the sheep under His care.” Ps.23 majors on this theme. Many Bible passages use the same analogy. Isa. 40:11, magnifies the tender loving care of the Shepherd. “He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” Not only does God have the whole world in His hand, but He also has you and me in His hands.
Some people do not worship God because they doubt that God is all-powerful and all-loving. They say that the suffering and evil of this world makes such trust impossible for them. They claim that if God has all power, He could end suffering and evil, and if He loved people, He would do just that. Often such people will cite some trouble of their own or of a loved one. They asked God to remove it; they think He ignored their prayer.
People of faith have also experienced pain and distress. They too have prayed, but in many cases the request had gone unanswered. The people of the O.T. asked God why these things happened and why He did not remove them. God seldom answers the why question, at least not the way we want. Yet people of faith believe revelations of God’s greatness and goodness. They continue to trust and to worship God. O.T. examples include Job, Asaph, and Habakkuk. In many ways Habakkuk’s response is especially impressive. After describing a situation in which the worst happened, he said in Habakkuk 3: 18, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”
Who can consider the glory of the King, who is over all, without taking up the psalmist on his invitation to join him in worshiping the one who made it all and yet relates as a loving shepherd to all people in this world? Because He saved us, we can go from our experiences of worship to serve Him in the world.
PLEASE TURN IN YOUR BIBLE TO HEBREWS 10.
3. PLEASE READ HEBREWS 10: 19-23.
The Bible deals with the question, “How can sinners come to the Holy God? Heb. 10 shows the superiority of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for sin over the sacrifices required under the old covenant law. During O.T. times, God provided a system of sacrifices for sin, priests to offer them, and a holy of holies to signify His holy presence. The Book of Hebrews shows how Jesus fulfilled the O.T. system, and it also contains exhortations about how this applies to believers. Therefore vs. 19 points back to a detailed exposition of the doctrinal aspects of this truth and introduces three exhortations based on the work of God in Christ.
Jesus is the once for all, all-sufficient sacrifice for human sin. The blood of Jesus did what animal sacrifice could never do. Jesus was also the great High Priest, who offered Himself as the Sacrifice. The new and living way that Jesus opened through the veil probably refers to the tearing of the temple veil from top to bottom when Jesus died in Matt 17:51. The veil signified the difficulty of sinners coming to the holy God. The temple curtain had separated even the priests from the special presence of God in the Holy of Holies.
The tearing of the veil signified God’s opening the way for sinners to draw near to God. Sinners who repent, and trust Jesus as Savior, can come to God with boldness. This is not because of human merit but only on the basis of God’s love in sending His Son to die for sinners. As God’s innocent, sacrificial lamb, Jesus paid the penalty of our sin and made it possible for God to maintain His holiness and express His mercy by forgiving us.
The last part of Vs. 22 calls for some comment. Herschel Hobbs wrote, “Like Aaron under the old covenant sprinkling animal blood, their hearts have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood. And they have been cleansed with pure water as Aaron had cleansed his body….Some see this as a reference to Christian baptism. However the point here is cleansing of the body, not the soul. It makes better sense to see it as referring to Aaron’s washing before entering the Holy of Holies with the blood to be sprinkled on the mercy seat.
Jere Phillips, writing in the Teachers Quarterly, wrote “The meaning of bodies washed in pure water has nothing to do with baptism. Nowhere in Scripture is baptism presented as a precondition for worship or salvation. Under the old covenant, ceremonially washing one’s body symbolized moral cleansing. Believers must approach God having experienced the cleansing that comes through Christ. The person who comes into God’s present to worship must first come in confession for forgiveness.
As believers our hearts have been cleansed by the blood of Christ. Nevertheless, we cannot worship properly if we have an evil conscience. Genuine worship requires an attitude of repentance in which we acknowledge any unconfessed sins and claim the forgiveness and cleansing we have in Christ.
Many people excuse not attending church by saying, “I can live a good life without regular church going.” They often mean by this that they believe they can live a good enough life for God to accept them. Paul pointed out in Gal 2:21 that if people could have saved themselves, Christ died for no reason. Regular churchgoing testifies to our awareness of and confession of sins.
We come to God through Christ when we are first saved. We continue to come to Him as we confess our sins. The most familiar exhortation on boldness is Hebrews 4: 16, is a powerful call to worship: “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” What a wonderful picture of the reason to worship God. Who does not need to receive mercy? Who does not need grace to help in times of need?
Vs. 23 is an example of the doctrine of perseverance of the saints. The writer had just written of assurance. Then he exhorted his readers, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith.” The paradox is that those who are held fast are also the ones who hold fast. The basis for both is that he is faithful that promised. Our assurance in John 10:27-29 is that we are held fast in the Father’s hand. Such assurance does not lead to presumption but to perseverance. Church worship reminds us that we who are held fast by God are to hold fast to Him.
Remember, the author of Hebrews was writing to some Jewish believers who were being tempted to turn from Christianity and go back into Judaism. They had confessed Christ, which means they agreed with the gospel message that Christ died for their sins and that He is the only way to God. However, persecution was turning some of them away from the gospel and back to bondage under the law.
They needed to hold on to their hope in Christ because God’s promise of life in Him is true and God is faithful to His promises. That hope is the basis and motivation for worship. If they turned from full confidence in Christ, they turned from the opportunity of worshiping God through His new and living way.
PLEASE READ HEBREWS 10: 24-25.
Believers are admonished in Vs. 22 to draw near to God in worship. In Vs. 23 they are urged to hold on to their confession of hope. In the two verses in this final section of the lesson, believers are challenged to be concerned about one another. Each Christian needs to be challenged regularly to promote love and good works. They need to love God, not the world: they also need to love each other, not themselves. Corporate worship (worshipping together with other Christians) focuses on God, who is love. Worship also focuses on Jesus, who demonstrated God’s love.
Believes need to be challenged to do good works. Good works do not save; they are evidences of salvation. Satan and the flesh will seek to continue leading Christians to do evil and selfish things. Christians need encouragement to yield their bodies to do good works for Christ.
Some Christians had started staying away from the public meetings of the church. The reasons might have included persecution by unbelievers, a waning fervency about follow Christ, the love of the things of the world, or the lack of discipline about corporate worship. By staying away, they missed receiving the challenge to grow in love to God and service for God. By continuing in corporate worship, the experience of public worship would encourage each other in the things of the Lord.
Faithfulness in fulfilling church responsibilities was the more urgent because they saw the day drawing near. Some interpret that statement to mean the end of the world and the fearful judgment of God. Others believe it is a reference to the joyful second coming of Christ. Both are probably in view. Believers must be ready and found faithful when Jesus returns. Regular worship helps them do that.
Scripture commands Christians to participate regularly in corporate worship. The best way to ensure regular participation is to cultivate the discipline of regularly assembling with other believers in worship and service. Some of the Christians addressed in the Book of Hebrews had decided to stay away from the regular times of assembly and habitually did so. Scripture challenges believers to assemble themselves together and do so regularly. Consistent participation in meeting with other believers promotes mutual ministry through the church and enables them to serve God and others.
James T. Draper, Jr. said, “There is a very subtle heresy in our world today. It teaches that we may believe in God and give our hearts to Jesus, but that we do not need the church. It assumes that we do not need the church because the only thing that is important is what is in our hearts. It is a matter between each one of us and God….If that is the way we feel, then we must be much wiser than God, because God declared that we need one another. God instructed us to keep on considering one another, to exhort one another, and to join one another in fellowship and worship.
It is written of Jesus in Luke 4; 16, “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.” The example of Jesus is for regular worship with others. Paul said of Jesus in Eph. 5:25, “Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.” Jesus gathered his disciples about him, and just before he left, He told them in John 13:34-35 to love one another. What do you think the Lord Jesus wants us to do about that for which He gave His life?
NEXT SUNDAY WE WILL SEEK THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION, “HOW CAN I IMPROVE MY DAILY PRAYER LIFE?” A.V. DAUGHERTY 2-01-04
altav@swbell.net http://www.theweeks.org/av/