Focal Passage: Psalm 96:1-13
Did you and your sweetheart ever pick “our song?” You know, the song that marked a particular event in your courtship. Every time it came on the radio you thought of each other because the song was a celebration of the person you loved. You probably started singing even if you couldn’t sing! Every time I heard “You’ll Be in My Heart” by Phil Collins I went googly-eyed over the beautiful young lady that would one day become my wife. When you adore someone, your inhibitions collapse as you are swept up into their praiseworthiness.
Sadly, corporate worship sometimes sounds more like “our song” than praises to the true and living God. Emotionalism, impressionism, and plain old egocentrism sideline the glory of God in exchange for emotive songs about our struggles and a cherry-picked view of a God that exists for our glory, not His.
If we are not careful, we give the impression that God’s most praiseworthy attributes are the temporal things He has done for us. While we certainly praise God for His grace and mercy toward us, He is worthy of praise all by Himself. Everything he has done, from creating the world to sending Jesus to paying our bills, flows from His holy character. Standing in the presence of God and singing about myself makes no more sense than going to the World Series and cheering for the peanuts!
Psalm 96 was a new song for an important occasion, the arrival of the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem (1 Chron 16). While not all music that mentions the Lord can rightly be called worshipful, we should be willing to embrace new expressions of praise to our God. After all, His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:23)!
While the people of God were leading in worship, the world was being invited to join in (Psalm 96:1b,3). Have you ever realized the ultimate goal of evangelism? It is not heaven! Every sane person wants to go to some version of heaven. The most important fruit of sharing the gospel is new worshippers of God! In fact, heaven (and the New Jerusalem) are not about eternal self-indulgence, but unhindered perfect worship of a perfect God!
The psalmist reminds us that God’s character sets the tone of our worship. He is great, highly praised, feared above all gods, and marked by splendor, majesty, strength and beauty (Psalm 96:4,6). Lest we should get the idea that Yahweh is the best God among many, the psalmist defrocked the “gods of the people” as “worthless idols” (Psalm 96:5). All the others are counterfeits, powerless facsimiles of the Lord of the universe!
Because of who God is, we ascribe to Him glory and strength and bring an offering in worship to Him. Although the form is different under the new covenant, the call to worship God is changeless. We have the advantage of knowing Jesus, and worshipping the Father through the Son. Consequently, we should “worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness” (Ps 96:9a) in an even more profound way than the Old Testament saints.
The Word has been made flesh. The Lamb has been slain. Sinners have been redeemed. May our rejoicing in Christ always be marked by reverence and awe before our Triune God. B&R