Inspired Response

Corporate worship. Just saying those two words hopefully elicits for you warm feelings. Seeing and reconnecting with your fellow believers, gathering to sing songs of praise to Christ and to God, praying together, hearing God’s word read and preached, It is, or at least it should be, the highlight of our week, corporate worship.

But with regard to corporate worship, there is a weakening, even a debilitating habit into which we often fall. We have a tendency to just come and go through the motions. We haven’t really prepared ourselves for it. We haven’t thought much about corporate worship at all during the week. Our duty, it seems, is just to show up, to proceed through the steps of worship. And that is relatively easy. The reality is, in our hearts, we’re not truly prepared, not prepared for individual, let alone corporate worship.

We may be preoccupied with the events, good or bad, of the past week. We may be focused on the events, hopeful or fearful, of the week ahead. We may be thinking about our work, our family, our varied obligations, our many relationships, our troubled country and world. our very needy society and culture. We may even be thinking about our team.

We may be preoccupied or burdened with any or all of those things. And we may do so together with an attempt to come before God with our fellow believers to worship Him. What must he think? How pleased can God be with that kind of worship? A distracted afterthought. Just one of the many things and obligations that we seek to fulfill in the week.

Imagine trying to have a conversation with someone where the other person doesn’t even look at you. They don’t respond to statements that you make or even questions that you pose. Nothing more than an occasional grunt, which only assures you that they are at least still alive.

Ladies, please don’t listen with your elbows. I’m certain that we’ve all been on both sides of that equation. those what I would call would-be conversations because it really can’t be called that. I would suggest nonversations is what they really are. Interactions like this are unfulfilling. They’re fruitless. They’re unproductive. It’s just two people kind of going through the motions of a relationship or at least the conversation.

And sadly, corporate worship is sometimes just like one of those conversations. Several weeks ago, we met for our First Elders Council, and I, as a matter of course, put this as a prayer matter for the men, that they would pray for our worship and preaching that we would reverently bring God what is His due.

God deserves our worship. We’re there sometimes even before 9 a.m. We dress nicely, maybe as nicely as we have all week. We even rejoice to see our brothers and sisters in Christ. But our hearts are distracted. They’re elsewhere, really. And yet we sit down to begin the most important conversation that we ever have. a dialogue with God. What does he think or what, pardon me, what does or what should a readiness to worship God look like? How should we approach this important time of corporate worship? Psalm 76 offers some helpful insight into preparation for worship. Would God’s people turn there now? Psalm 76. Psalm 76 is another of the dozen or so Psalms of Asaph. The fourth one that we’ve actually considered already. We looked at Psalm 73, 74, and 75.

And it’s not clear whether an actual person named Asaph actually wrote these. It’s possible since he was one of David’s chief musicians. But it seems more likely from the data that we have that the phrase a psalm of Asaph refers to songs that were collected and gathered by him.

Either way, he directs that this song is to be led by the choir director on stringed instruments. And we can easily surmise that from these directives, this was a psalm that was to be used in corporate worship. And appropriately so. Because it prepares us for corporate worship. Well, with that, I will not attempt to sing this psalm with or without stringed instruments, but let us heed Asaf’s directive to allow this psalm to lead us in our corporate worship of God. Would God’s people follow along as I read? God is known in Judah. His name is great in Israel. His tabernacle is in Salem. His dwelling place also is in Zion. There he broke the flaming arrows, the shield, and the sword, and the weapons of war, Selah.

You are resplendent, more majestic than the mountains of prey. The stout-hearted were plundered. They sank into the deep, and none of the warriors could use his hands. At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse were cast into a dead sleep. You, even you, are to be feared.

And who may stand in your presence when once you are angry? You caused judgment to be heard from heaven. The earth feared and was still when God arose to judgment to save all the humble of the earth. Selah. For the wrath of man shall praise you with a remnant of wrath you will gird yourself. Make vows to the Lord your God and fulfill them. Let all who are around him bring gifts to him who is to be feared. He will cut off the spirit of princes he is feared by the kings of the earth.

Psalm 76 is a simple and straightforward psalm. Even if it is weighty, it breaks out into four nearly equal sections in which the writer outlines the buildup to the worship of God. Verses one through three is the psalmist’s introduction as it were, a general expression of the people’s recognition of God and his protection of them. In verses four through six, our writer takes note of the fact that God has exhibited his awesome power before the whole world, particularly in dealing with his enemies. In the third section, verses seven through 10, he shows them that at least potentially even God’s enemies might yield to him in humble worship. And all of that lays the foundation for the appropriately readied worship of God, verses 11 and 12.

What the psalmist does here in Psalm 76 is stir believers to an inspired response to God. The worship of God is not mundane. It’s not an empty-headed obligation through which his children just slog, an emotionless performance of a duty. It is the corporate worship of the living God, the highlight event of the entire week, in which his people are readied, they are active, and they are engaged in worship. He is foremost in the believer’s hearts and minds.

The psalmist walks us through the varying stages of development in the buildup to God’s worship. If you would, track back to verse one, if you would. As we begin to look at developments in the buildup to worship, first we see God’s protection acknowledged. God is known in Judah.

His name is great in Israel. His tabernacle is in Salem. His dwelling place also is in Zion. There he broke the flaming arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Our psalmist begins with a declaration of God’s reputation among his own people.

They knew what he was like. And to do this, he makes four brief but powerful statements. These four statements, as different as they all sound, essentially state the same thing. says the same thing four different ways. God’s people are very familiar with God’s ways and his deeds.

When he says that God is known in Judah, he uses the smallest part of that kingdom, Judah, to refer to the whole of God’s people, Israel. Judah, the smallest and southernmost portion of the 12 tribes of Israel. And though the smallest, Judah was the political center of the nation. And to this nation, God had indeed made himself known through a relationship that he initiated with the nation’s forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. And he made himself known as well through the law which was given through Moses.

God was to them not some austere concept, He was a God that could be known, and they knew him. The second line poetically echoes that first line, his name is great in Israel. God’s name refers to the fullness of his nature and character. God has shown himself great and faithful through countless deeds of providence, provision and protection, not the least of which was the exodus of Israel from Egypt. The name of God, as I said, refers to his character. It’s a frequent literary device in the Psalms.

Psalm 48, 10. As is your name, O God, so is your praise to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is full of righteousness. Psalm 75, verse one. We give thanks to you, O God. We give thanks for your name is near. Men declare your wondrous works. Psalm 138, verse two. I will bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your loving kindness and your truth.

For you have magnified your word according to all your name. And so the psalmist is saying the same thing in both lines. God is known, his name is great among his people. And verse two is an echo of that same point. His tabernacle is in Salem, his dwelling place also is in Zion. Salem is an abbreviated name for Jerusalem. mentioned in direct connection with Melchizedek, God’s priest and once city’s king. Zion refers as well to Israel’s capital city and in which God has his tabernacle, the dwelling place of the Ark of the Covenant, God’s earthly dwelling place, if you will. And in verse three, the writer adds specificity to that, Because he says, there he broke the flaming arrows, the shield, the sword, the weapons of war.

They have seen it. They know God. They know his protection. They know how he has conducted himself and operated on their behalf. This verse three outlines God’s defense of the nation from the attacks of the hostile foreign nations. God in his might broke their arrows, their shields, their swords, in summary, their entire armament, their weapons of war.

And this too is an oft-used metaphor in the scriptures. Psalm 46, verse 9, he breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two. Isaiah 9, 4, you shall break the yoke of burden. Jeremiah 49, behold, I’m going to break the bow of Elam. God will be victorious over his enemies. Doesn’t mean that he’s literally going to go down and physically break apart their weapons. It just means he’s going to thwart their effort to attack his people. The psalmist’s point here is that God has significantly revealed himself to his people. And so in preparation for their own corporate worship, God’s people were to come before him with this in mind.

And this presents a question for us. What do we know? What do we remember? What do we call to mind in our own approach to God’s worship? not only from His Word, not only from His deeds of providence through the centuries in the church, but especially in our individual lives. What do we come prepared to say thank you? What has God done that we can call to mind as our reason for even coming? How has he made himself known to us in our salvation, in his care of us, in his providence in our lives, and in his protection of us? In order to come prepared for worship, we should pause and give thought to that question.

Why am I even going to worship? These things should be At the forefront of our minds, they are the basis of our coming to God and worship. Well, the psalmist builds upon this thought in verses four through six, not only the preparation of, pardon me, the protection that God has provided, but the might that he has displayed in that. Glance, if you would, at verses four through six, the second development in the buildup to worship, not only the protection that God has provided, but God’s might displayed. You are resplendent, verse four says, more majestic than the mountains of prey.

The stout-hearted were plundered, they sank into sleep, and none of the warriors could use his hands. At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse were cast into a dead sleep. Very graphic imagery. Having taken a glimpse of God’s nature and character in verses one through three, the psalmist draws closer attention here to the might, the power that God has displayed in his protection of his people.

And he begins by saying that God has presented himself spectacularly. In verse four, he declares, you are resplendent, more majestic than the mountains of prey. Well, resplendent, that isn’t a word we often use, is it? Neither does scripture, only here. In its most basic sense, this word means light. And the Psalms use various forms of this word, frequently to speak of shining upon us or enlightening someone. And so we come away with a better picture of what the psalmist is saying here when he says you are resplendent. God is showing himself to us.

Paul says similarly in 1 Timothy 6.16, God alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light.

That last clause in that sentence, the mountains of prey, it points to Israel’s intimidating foes, like mountains which are filled with predators. God has displayed His exceedingly great glory in the defeat of such enemies. They’re nothing before Him. Regardless of how grand they are, pictured here as a mountain filled with Brute beasts, regardless of how grand they are, he is greater still. And this he describes more fully in verse five.

The stout-hearted were plundered. They sank into sleep. None of the warriors could use his hands. He refers here to the enemy troops as the stout-hearted, who were no match for God. He plundered them. He utterly overwhelmed them and defeated them. Isaiah, speaking of the manner in which God dealt with the Assyrians, says, I removed the boundaries and plundered their treasures. God overwhelmed them.

And in the end, they simply lay down and slept. They couldn’t even lift up their hands. Whether in offense or defense, they came to conquer but found themselves soon to conquered. Verse six provides a definitive description of their defeat. At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse were cast into a dead sleep. God didn’t have to put on battle gear. He need not himself physically engage with these enemies. With a word, a rebuke, they were overcome.

The psalmist employ this imagery of God rebuking men and nations. Psalm 9-5, you have rebuked the nations. Psalm 18-15, the foundations of the earth were laid bare by your rebuke. Psalm 104, the waters, talking about the day of creation, the waters were standing above the mountains. At your rebuke, they fled.

This idea just captures the reality that God doesn’t need to physically do anything. Just as He did in creation, all He has to do is speak the word and it’s done. The sleep, into which they fell was no mere slumber, not an afternoon nap. It was the sleep of death. God laid them all low, both rider and horse. Now, we don’t know exactly who the psalmist is referring to here, which enemy, which nation, which battle.

There were so many. from which to choose. But one of Israel’s consistent enemies, the Assyrians, seems to rise to the top as we consider passages that echo these same themes. Second Kings chapter 19 tells of an incident regarding the Assyrians. The angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead. Second Chronicles, the parallel account echoes that incident. The Lord sent an angel who destroyed every mighty warrior, commander and officer in the camp of the king of Assyria. This was a powerful expression of God’s might.

The prophet Nahum speaks of another incident involving the Assyrians. It parallels the idea of this passage. Your shepherds are sleeping, O king of Assyria. Your nobles are lying down. Your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to regather them.”

God’s people had seen God’s magnificent works in this regard. They had watched God at work, and while we may not see some dramatic miracle on the field of battle, we nevertheless have many examples of God’s might. the day and the night, the change of seasons, the sun, moon, and stars, the wonderful workings of his providence. To come prepared for worship, we have to pause long enough to recognize his mighty deeds in the world in which we live. There’s a third phase, a third development in this build up to worship, not only God’s protection acknowledged and God’s might displayed, but thirdly, God’s wrath respected.

God’s wrath respected. Verses seven through 10. You, even you, are to be feared. And who may stand in your presence when once you are angry? You cause judgment to be heard from heaven the earth feared and was still when God arose to judgment to save all the humble of the earth. For the wrath of man shall praise you. For the remnant of wrath you will gird yourself.

The psalmist continues to lay a solid foundation for the worship of God. not only an acknowledgment of the protection that God provides and the might that He displays in that protection, but thirdly, His wrath that demands the respect of all. This is what the writer insists upon when he emphasizes, you, you are to be feared. Fear is not the fear of a cowering dread Unless one’s sin is unrepented and flaunted in God’s face, this fear of which he speaks is the godly fear of reverence, worship. But for the one who disregards God, he has just cause for the fear of terror.

Once angered, who may stand in his presence, the psalmist asks. It’s a rhetorical question. The answer is no one. No one can stand against God once he has been provoked to anger. The psalmist’s subsequent statement here is encompassed in verses eight and nine.

The writer pictures God as rendering judgment from his heavenly throne. You cause judgment to be heard from heaven. It is as if God’s voice thunders through the earth. And when it does, he says, the earth feared and was still. Psalm 46 expresses this same thought. The nations made an uproar, as they often do. The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered. He raised his voice and the earth melted. Psalm 18 captures the same image. The earth shook and quaked, the foundations of the mountains were trembling and were shaken because he was angry. Nothing but dread and silence. It’s as if the whole earth at once knows that they are guilty before him and rendered speechless. But it’s important. that we consider the purpose of his judgment, as the psalmist explains it there in verse nine. The context of God’s judgment is when, he says, God arose to judgment for the purpose of saving the humble of the earth.

This is not the condemnation of all mankind, but the judgment upon the unrepentant sinner. Those who by God’s grace are humble, those who know that they are sinners in need of a savior, he has come to save. Jesus stated that same principle this way, Matthew 9, 12 and 13. It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. They are humble enough to recognize their desperate condition. Those who are willing to humbly acknowledge their sinfulness and their need of the Savior that God has provided.

There’s a gospel call here, isn’t there? There’s a call to humility and to repentance, even for these heathen enemies and nations. In that fearful and still moment, there is cause for reflection, an opportunity to consider one’s standing before such a God.

And the psalmist seems to reiterate that in verse 10, when he says that the wrath of man shall praise you. These are so many angry men who, when suddenly faced with a holy God, either they repent of their evil deeds and are saved, or they dig in their heels and they are condemned. Either way, God is glorified. And as the psalmist presented at the end of verse 10, girded with the remnant of wrath, God will carry out his justice.

And so not only do we come prepared for worship by an inventory of the protection that God has provided and the might that he has displayed in that protection, but also a fearful respect for his wrath. For the believer, there is preparation for worship in the humble recognition that Christ has taken God’s wrath for us. There is therefore now no condemnation. The fear that we now render to him is the fear of reverence and respect, not the dread of condemnation. And with that, With that foundation laid, the psalmist says we are ready to enter into worship, which he addresses in verses 11 and 12. He’s calling us to an inspired response. That’s what worship is. We’re responding to what God has done.

And in the developments of this build-up to worship, God’s protection is acknowledged, God’s might is displayed, God’s wrath is respected, and God’s worship is bestowed. Make vows to the Lord your God and fulfill them. Let all who are around him bring gifts to him who is to be feared.

Forgiveness has been secured for you and I by Christ’s atonement for our sin on the cross. That forgiveness has been extended to us and communicated to us. The most natural response in the world is that we render gratitude to God for that. This is the significance of verse 11. Make vows, the psalmist commands. Bring gifts.

Now these vows and gifts would have meant something entirely different to the original readers. They were on the other side of Christ’s sacrifice for sin, still looking forward to the Messiah and what he would accomplish. Just as they had need of consistently offering sacrifices for their sins, they were also routinely called to renewing promises. vows, and a wide variety of offering gifts. These were in response to what God had done, to what God had given.

But for us, these vows and gifts must not be confused with any kind of payment advance for our salvation. any kind of a reciprocal agreement into which we enter in order to secure our salvation. That if we present certain things to God, then He will, in the end, grant us forgiveness. That’s not at all what the psalmist is saying. These things, these vows and gifts, are in response to what God has given And as the psalmist says here, we are those who are all around him.

And we now bring the sacrifice of praise. It is the humble expression of gratitude for the salvation that God has bestowed on us. That’s the driving force of worship. It is because we love and respect God, we fear him, that we make such vows and gifts not in order to secure His mercy.

This humble expression of gratitude is the very thing that seasons, if you will, the New Testament. Listen to this. 1 Corinthians 15, 57, just listen. Thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. That’s worship. 2 Corinthians 2.14, thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ. That’s humble worship. A response to what God has done.

Ephesians 5.20, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father. Worship. Colossians 112, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Worship. And in Colossians 3, it’s practically an outline of a worship service. Just listen. Colossians 3 verse 15.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Let’s worship. So finally, to close, the psalmist’s last words in verse 12 seem to function like an overarching summary of the entire psalm.

It’s an either or. As a righteous judge, he will cut off the spirit of the princes, those lesser rulers of the world, princes as here, who defy and oppose him. He will reduce to nothing but an empty shell. and even great rulers will shudder before him in fear, whether pharaohs or kings or princes, Caesars, rulers of any other title. If they will not humble themselves before him in reverential fear, they will soon find themselves cowering before him in the fear of his wrath. He is the Lord. He is the all-glorious, all-powerful God. Let us worship him.

Our merciful God, we do thank you for these Psalms, each one different and each one nourishing our souls. And this one, Lord, catches us quite off guard because it reminds us of our need of preparation for worship. To see your care of us, the grace that you’ve bestowed, even noting the kindnesses that you grant to us throughout the week, and the power that you have extended toward that end. Lord, we so seldomly pause and note that awesome power. Lord, you are either for us or against us. If our hearts are not aligned with yours, if we are contrary to you, we have great cause to fear your wrath. Lord God, help us in our own personal preparation for corporate worship. Help us to look to you to acknowledge before you what you have done in our lives. Help us to come by your grace, with a heart of gratitude, to give you thanks for what you have done in our lives and in this world.

Father, we lay these things before you and we pray that if there are any here who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, no amount of gifts or offerings or vows are of any value before God if we have not put our faith in his son, the Lord Jesus. He came, he suffered a brutal death for sinners, and he asks us to believe in him, to put our faith in him for salvation. It is not what we do, it’s what Christ has already accomplished. Father, we thank you for these reminders. We ask your blessing on our week. Be glorified in us and through us, we pray. Amen.