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SING, PROCLAIM, DECLARE | Psalm 96
The Bible makes it very clear that God who is preexistent created the universe out of nothing and then went on to create the man, the prime of his creation. Man was created by God with the sole purpose of glorifying God. One can glorify God by worshipping him. We have all gathered here to worship and glorify God who is our creator and sustainer. For many people singing or worshipping is boring.
ILLUSTRATION
There was a little boy who asked his mother if she could remember the highest number she ever counted to. The mother didn’t know so she asked him about his highest number. He answered, “5,996.” The mother was puzzled and asked him why he stopped at that particular one. The boy responded, “Well, I was counting at church and by 5996 the church was over.”
In various surveys, when people are asked why they don’t go to church, they often reply that church is just too boring. I want to suggest this morning that true worship is not boring. The very essence of what worship is does not allow us to be bored.
Last week we looked at Psalm 95 where we saw that worship should always incorporate two elements: Rejoicing and reverence which leads us to a response. If we don’t respond, we risk having hardened hearts before God.
Today, open our bibles to Psalm 96.
Psalm 93-100 is a whole section of Psalm sung as a majestic medley. Therefore, Psalm 96 continues from the warning of Psalm 95:11
Psalm 96:1-13
1Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
3Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
4For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
5For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
6Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
7Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
8Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come into his courts.
9Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth.
10Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.
11Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let the sea resound, and all that is in it.
12Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;
let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
13Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes,
he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in his faithfulness.
This song of worship is based upon David’s anthem of adoration as found in 1 Chronicles 16, when the Ark of the Covenant was brought to its resting place. In fact, if you compare the two songs, you will find a lot of repeated phrases. However, the context of Psalm 96, however, covers the period of time when the exiles returned from captivity.
This psalm is really a grand missionary hymn. The psalmist reminds the Israelites that the blessings of God were never intended for only one group of people, it is for all people.
The call to sing, proclaim and declare is given in the context of Christ’s Second Coming and glorious reign.
Who should be worshipped?
The Lord God.
He alone is to be worshipped. ‘The Lord’ is mentioned by name in every stanza but verses 11-12. Jesus said: Matthew 4:10 Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.
What is worship? Fall on your face or bow down.
Worship means to “fall on your face or bow down” before the Lord.
This concept is found more than 170 times in the Bible. We recognize our place before God and acknowledge His position before us.
When are we to worship? Day-after-day.
Psalm 96:2
Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
How should we worship?
1. Sing.
Psalm 96:1
Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2. Proclaim.
Psalm 96:2
Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
3. Declare.
Give or declare to God the Glory. Psalm 96:8a Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name.
4. Bring an offering.
Psalm 96:8b bring an offering and come into his courts.
5. Live holy lives.
Psalm 96:9 a Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.
6. Witness about God.
Psalm 96:10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
Last week we saw worship involves shout and music.
Why should we worship God?
1. He saved us.
Psalm 96:2
Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
2. He is great.
Psalm 96:4
For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
3. He is magnificent.
Psalm 96:6
Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
4. He is coming back.
Psalm 96:13
3Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes,
he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in his faithfulness.
Now, let us look at this worship Psalm as a passage.
We can see four imperatives or commands of worship here
1. EXALT HIS NAME
Psalm 96:1-2
1Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
We’re called in this passage to sing to the Lord three different times. When something’s repeated in triplicate its done to get our attention much like the “Holy, Holy, Holy” of Isaiah 6.
Singing out to our triune God started way back at creation in Job:
Job 38:7
while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?
The morning stars are another name for angles in the book of job. There has been singing and shouting from the beginning of time even before the creation of man and there will be more singing at the end of the age.
Revelation 15:3
They held harps given them by God and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb:
“Great and marvelous are your deeds,
Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
King of the nations.
There was worship before man’s creation. There will be worship after Lord’s return. Therefore, we are called to sing to the Lord in the meantime.
Notice that we are to sing a “new song” to the Lord. New hymns and new praise songs are essential to express God’s love and character. This expression “new song” occurs several times in the Psalms indicating that fresh outbursts of rejoicing and reverence are important to God and helpful to us.
ILLUSTRATION
Cricket world cup is coming in May-June. Now, imagine you are watching a match in 2011 world cup. India is playing the semifinals with Pakistan at Mohali. India batted first and hit 260/9 and Pakistan is about to bat. The moment their batting started, there is a power cut. By the time the power comes back the match is over. You switch on the TV; the match is over, the presentation is over and now they are replaying the match. You go to the news channel to know who won. Can you imagine what would happen if I open the newscasts and the news is a repeat of that morning news. It wouldn’t be very interesting, would it?
I wonder if some of us are still reading “old news” in our spiritual lives. It’s been so long since we’ve experienced anything fresh with the Lord that we’re just living on the fumes of what we used to have in our relationship with Christ.
Martin Luther has said, “Christ is now as fresh unto me as if He had shed His blood but this very hour.” When we walk with Him daily and experience new ways of encountering Him we can’t help but break out into joyful praise and new songs.
Revelation 14:1-3
1Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. 2And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. 3And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.
Psalm 96:1
Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
This call to sing was not limited to Israel but is intended for the whole earth.
Revelation 15:4
All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous Acts have been revealed. That brings me great hope and wants me to be involved in what God is doing around the world.
2. EXTEND HIS KINGDOM
That leads us to the second imperative of worship: Extend His Kingdom.
Psalm 95:2-3
2Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
3Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
We’re told how to extend His kingdom: How? We’re to proclaim His salvation.
Doing it, day after day.
And, we’re told where to do it, among the nations.
Our message is the gospel, our method is to share the Good News daily, and our mandate is to take it to all peoples.
The only message that we really have today is that Jesus saves. Our friends and family members need to hear from us what salvation is all about.
ILLUSTRATION
In July of 2018, twelve boys and their football coach went to celebrate the birthday of one of the members in the caves in Thailand. The boys and the coach went missing. They were lost inside the cave due to sudden flooding. With no contact to the outside world and no clue of the whereabouts, rescue was a challenging task. A search team of more than 1000 members from international agencies were doing the search operation. On the 9th day, two British divers found them way inside the cave. They went back brought another set of rescuers and rescued all of them.
Aren’t you thankful that Jesus has provided a way out for you? Instead of being trapped below an cave of sin and landslide, unable to rescue ourselves, Jesus came to us and gave His very life in order to rescue you from certain destruction.
Because of what we’ve received, we are to proclaim His salvation on a daily basis to those around us who are in the cave. When you fall in love with the Lord Jesus, you will want to tell everyone.
Our mandate as believers is to make sure this gospel message is not just shared with people we know, but that it goes out to “the nations” and “all peoples.” In short, we are called to become “world Christians” who focus and pray for world evangelization. Just as the nation of Israel was called to think beyond its borders, so too, we need to think beyond our ethnocentric parameters to see an entire world in need of Christ. Jesus clarified this mandate when He said in Matthew 28:19: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…”
As we Exalt His Name and look for ways to Extend His Kingdom, we will be drawn into the third worship command – Express His Greatness.
3. EXPRESS HIS GREATNESS
Psalm 96:4-9
4For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
5For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
6Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
7Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
8Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come into his courts.
9Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth.
God is not just a tribal god, but is King over all the nations. He is most worthy of praise. While some people worship idols, only the Creator God is worthy of praise.
ILLUSTRATION
I remember going to a meeting where the chief guest was one of the present ministers of the Karnataka Assembly. I was fascinated by the minister’s walk from his car, down the hallway as he prepared to enter the center stage. People were welcoming him all over. You could feel the energy growing and his power flowing. People started clapping to exalt the minister and he was lifting his hands and receiving the cheering of people.
As I watched all this, I couldn’t help but think of how much we like to praise people. Whether it’s a sports star or the minister of the Assembly or a servant of God, we love to applaud the attributes of others. And yet, this psalm brings us back to what’s most important: Only God Himself is great and most worthy of praise. He is to be feared and honored above everyone and everything else.
God has no rivals. God has no equal because He is the creator. We should worship Him with all that we have.
In verse 6, four attributes are personified as if they were attendants surrounding the throne:
Psalm 96:6
Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
God is not horrifying to look but is instead beautiful, arrayed in splendor, clothed with majesty, and armed with power and glory that is brighter than the sun.
The psalmist has renewed urgency in proclaiming the Lord:
Psalm 96:7-9
7Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
8Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come into his courts.
9Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth.
Three times in a row he challenges us to “ascribe,” or give, to the Lord what is due His name. Because we recognize His greatness, majesty and strength, we will want to honor Him.
It’s interesting that even though “the nations” are called to worship the Lord, it is the “families” of the nations that are singled out to ascribe glory and strength to the Lord. God has ordained the family unit as a special and unique creation of His. As parents, we must do all we can to make sure our families are honoring God through our times of family worship and family life.
The last part of verse 8 gives us a practical way to do that. When this psalm was written people would take offerings to the Temple. This specific word refers to “thank offerings,” or those things that people would give out of gratitude to the Lord for all that He has done. Offerings are mentioned some 689 times in the Bible. We’re to “ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering and come into his courts.” I can think of at least three ways that we can bring an offering to the Lord today.
Three ways we can bring offering to God
1. Offer our bodies to the Lord.
Romans 12:1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
When we surrender fully to Him, we will worship Him through the offering of our lives.
2. Offer praises to the Lord.
Hebrews 13:15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.
3. Offer our resources to the Lord and His kingdom purposes.
We bring our tithes and offerings because we have a deep need to express something important to God. Malachi 3 teaches that when we hold back in our giving, we end up robbing God and missing out on His blessings.
When we surrender our lives to Him, when we offer a sacrifice of praise, and when we give financially, we are declaring that He is worthy.
As we exalt His name, we will eagerly look for ways to extend His kingdom. This then motivates us to express His greatness and finally expect God’s coming.
4. EXPECT HIS COMING
Psalm 96:10-13
10Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.
11Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let the sea resound, and all that is in it.
12Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;
let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
13Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes,
he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in his faithfulness.
Here we read of the reign of the Lord and His coming judgment. C.S. Lewis points out that this psalm looks upon divine judgment as an occasion for rejoicing.
The word “judge” in verse 10 carries with it the idea that God sovereignly rules over the nations, and will judge everyone with fairness and equity. In verses 11-12 we see that the whole creation, when pondering God’s rule, breaks out into joyful praise. The heavens will rejoice, the earth will be glad, the sea will resound, the fields (the rice plantation and wheat) will be jubilant, and all the trees of the forest will sing for joy.
When Adam sinned, creation went out of harmony. When the second Adam returns, he will deliver all of creation from bondage.
Romans 8:20-22
20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. 22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
The last stanza of this hymn gives us great hope that Jesus is coming again. And when He does, He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in truth. He will dispense justice, will vindicate believers, and will establish truth forever. His kingdom will have no end.
Meanwhile, we actively await and worship. We have the task of spreading the glorious gospel to others before it becomes too late.
Jude 14-15
14“See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
We also need to be ready ourselves so that we do not shrink away in shame when He suddenly appears.
Jesus is coming again. You can be sure of that.
Action Steps to Sing, Proclaim, and Declare or to worship God.
As we wrap up this morning let me give you some action steps.
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Read a Psalm every day.
If you start today morning with Psalm 1 and read a Psalm every day, , you will finish the Book of Psalms by July. By august 2019 you have 175 days. This will help increase your passion for worship. You might even want to read them out loud or sing them if you’re able.
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Listen to worship music every day.
I want to encourage you to incorporate praise songs and Christian music into your lifestyle. Some of you listen to other kinds of music or talk radio when you’re in the car. Try to listen to a Christian station or play a tape or CD that draws you into worship
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Pray for 5 neighbors for 5 minutes for 5 days a week.
As we’ve discovered in this psalm, singing leads to sowing. When we praise Him we will want to proclaim Him. We are praying for 5 of our neighbors on different nights of the week. On Mondays we pray for one family, on Tuesdays we pray for another. As you pray, look for opportunities to care and to share. This will help prepare your neighbors for the Christmas time invitation for a meal or a meeting.
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Invest in the Kingdom.
Invest our India missions and world missions. Sow into missions. Adopt a RACE home resident.
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Prepare to meet the Lord.
If you don’t have a relationship with Jesus yet, you need to ask Him to rescue you from your sins. Make sure you, as a believer, walk with Him, ensuring that nothing is happening that would cause you embarrassment if He were to come back tonight.
CONCLUSION
Let’s commit ourselves to worship this morning.