DUNCAN/Joy to the world
If you have your Bibles, I’d invite you to turn with me to Psalm 98 as we continue to work our way through the Fourth Book of the Psalms. Psalm 98 is another Psalm that teaches us about worship, but it also points us to Jesus’ coming. This Psalm teaches us much about the worship of God, and I want to draw your attention to three things that we learn about the worship from this Psalm. Verses 1 – 3 give us the object of worship. Verses 4 – 6 show us the passion of worship. And then, finally, verses 7 – 9 reveal the hope of worship.
I. The Object of Our Worship
The first thing I want to draw your attention to is the object of worship. We will not want to worship God if we see no beauty and desirability in Him. In verses 1 – 3 there are six reasons given for singing to the Lord a new song: He’s done marvelous things; His right hand and holy arm have worked salvation; He has made known His salvation; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations; He has remembered His people with steadfast love; and, all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of the Lord. The psalmist piles up reasons why we ought to worship God because we will not want to worship God if we do not see His beauty.
When we come to worship, it is as if we are sitting down with our spouse, or our dearest friend, to have one of those conversations to say, “I don’t say it often enough, but I want you to know how much I love and respect you, and how thankful I am for you.” When we come to worship, that is what we’re coming to declare: “Lord, I love You and respect You. And I value You above everything else in the world.” When we see the wonders of God, the fires of our passion to worship are ignited. The object of worship is God in His beauty and desirability, and we will not want to worship Him if we do not see those things in Him.
II. The Passion of Our Worship
Secondly, notice the passion of this Psalm. This Psalm is filled with the language of passion: “Sing to the Lord a new song…make a joyful noise to the Lord…break forth in joyous song and sing praises…sing praise to the Lord with the lyre and melody and trumpets and horns…make joyful noise before the King!” There is passion in this song because this psalmist has seen the salvation of God, and it has made a deep impression upon his soul.
When I was reading Isaiah 5 this week, I realized Isaiah’s woes are directed at me and you. Those are my sins that he is recounting. Those are your sins that he is recounting. And those are the same ugly sins that Jesus took upon himself; and it cannot but make us passionate about praising Him for His grace. In fact, if you have no passion in the worship of God there are only two answers to that. Either you’ve never tasted of His grace, or you’re a believer who hasn’t adequately reflected upon the magnitude and the beneficence of God’s grace. Because when we see what we deserve, and then when we see the beneficence of His grace, it stokes the fire of our passions. So, if you come to worship dispassionate, you need to respond to that gospel call, and you need to see your sin and see your Savior and avail yourself of His grace. And then you’ll be passionate about His worship. May God give us that kind of passion.
III. The Hope of Our Worship
One last thing: the hope of our worship. You see it especially in verse 9. Why are the rivers to clap their hands and the hills to sing for joy? Because the Lord is coming, and when the Lord comes, He’s coming as King. In other words, the Lord wins. It is that hope that animates true Christian worship. Our hope is not that the Lord is going to get us out of this world by the skin of our teeth to let it crumble. Our hope is not that we’re going to go off to float on some clouds somewhere. The hope of the Bible is that God wins this world. This is my Father’s world, and He’s going to take it back. The Lord will reign!
I was reading about some of the women in the Bible, and it struck me how hard the lives of some of those godly women were. Think of Sarah. Sarah was married to a polygamist. Is that what you want for your daughters, dads? My guess is it’s not you dream life for your daughter. Think of Hannah. She was married to a polygamist, too. And the other wife was having babies every time she turned around! And Hannah couldn’t have a child. And Hannah was a godly woman. And then there’s Mary, this young woman who’s going to bear the Messiah. And yet the initial response of her husband is going to be, “Well, that’s it! You’ve been unfaithful to me. I’m going to divorce you.” No doubt Mary had often thought, “Lord, I’d love to marry a godly man and live a quiet life and rear a family somewhere out of the way in this occupied land where the Romans are going crazy. I just don’t want anybody to notice us. I just want to love You and live for You, and rear godly children.” And suddenly she’s thrust in the middle of the most dramatic scene in the history of redemption, and her husband thinks she’s crazy at first. And then she thinks her son is crazy for half His ministry. And then finally she gets the privilege of watching Him hung on a Roman gibbet in writhing pain. Is that the life that you have always dreamed of?
And yet, that is the life that the Lord appointed for those godly women. And His word of encouragement to them is, “I will use your pain for My purposes, and I will win. And you will win with me. But I will not waste a drop of the pain that I’ve caused you to endure. You will win, because I will win.” This is the message of the Lord to Christians: “I will win. I’m coming to judge this world. I’m going to make My blessings flow just as far as the curse that came upon this world through Adam has gone, and I’m going to do it through My plan, and I’ve even going to do it through the pain of My people. And so, My people, My promise to you is, ‘I will win!’ You need to know it. It’s a certain hope.’’ And that’s how this Psalm teaches us how to worship.
Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III is Chancellor & CEO of Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) in Jackson.