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In 2006 (20 years ago) “You” was named Time Magazine’s “person of the year”. This unorthodox acknowledgement was to honor the numerous "individual contributors” to the internet's plethora of social media portals: Wikipedia, MySpace, YouTube, Facebook. Some of you probably haven’t even heard of MySpace. I remember when I learned that, I think I was in the process of making a video with Cort and one of the kids from church in my mom’s backyard. At least those two memories are linked. This was of course when you had to shoot it on an actual camera or camcorder and then upload it to a computer using a cable. YouTube had been on the scene for at most a year (having launched to the public in December 2005), but already it had impacted the world in some remarkable way. In tandem with Facebook which had been launched just about a year earlier, “You” now had unprecedented access to express yourself and binge on the self-expression of others.
America has always been recognized as a place for the “individual”; those self-makers, compelled by the idea of manifest destiny, and a place to carve out your space according to your terms. The individual’s opinion has always mattered in our country. “You” have freedom to be yourself and in many ways now, to make life about yourself. Influencers we call them now, people who build brands around their lifestyle, opinions, preferences. The most successful ones “influence” thousands, if not millions of people daily. All of them are trying to make your life about “you”.
Broadly speaking, broad evangelicalism has also seen a slip into a high level of concern with “you”. Some “pastors” are more recognizable as “influencers” than men who oversee and shepherd the local church. Many of these pastors work hard to craft a worship experience that has more awareness of the ratings than the theology; more about drawing crowds than feeding the soul. Many churches put a great deal of effort into crafting a premiere “worship experience” to draw you in and get you primed to experience God.
What some of these large churches with high-levels of talent get right is that: worship should be excellent—it should be as good as we can humanly get. As Daniel reminded us last week—it should be loud! The individual should come to worship God as part of the congregation. The individual should use music to worship the Lord. What they or we (if we don’t continue to be diligent and intentional) may miss in our desire to big, loud, excellent corporate worship: Worship isn’t about you. It isn’t about crafting a spiritual experience, or getting a “Jesus high”. It’s about the object of your worship—God. Any worship that is conducted with the self in mind is idolatry. This isn’t to say that the self isn’t tremendously blessed by worshiping God, and by doing it in an excellent, loud, well-curated way; but that it can’t be the objective. Our own blessing can’t be the object of worship.
This is the 7th sermon in an 8 part series: 5 discipleship classes, 3 sermons. These last three are drawing from God’s hymn book; the psalter. Each Psalm incorporates many of the different components that we’ve been discussing through the series: corporate worship—organized and structured to individual worship—personal, private, and confessional. The elders wanted to have a sermon particularly on why we believe personal worship is important—and the model for how to do it well. Our psalm today emphasizes the individual, or private worship of the Christian.
The Christian faith has always been one of belonging. The Christian belongs to Christ—hence the name. The “Christian” has also always belonged to the Church—the Body and Bride of Christ. From its birth, even as the nation of Israel, a worshiper of Yahweh belonged to him and his cohort. Our study of Church history confirms that. While many psalms have a lot of big statements about the nations, the people of God, the righteous, but Psalm 92 has a particularly high number of personal declarations: and personal declarations. These personal declarations include: “You have made me glad.” “I sing for joy.” “You have exalted my horn….” “Poured over me fresh oil….” “My eyes have seen…” “My ears have heard…” “He is my rock…”
Certainly, these declarations belong in corporate worship, but it helps us see how we as individuals who belong to a people, who belong to Almighty, apply our calling to be worshipers in the private, day-to-day context.
One may ask, what is the difference between corporate worship and “personal” worship? The simplest contrast is that which we do in private. So this would be you quiet-time or devotions. Our quiet time is often a combination of scripture reading, prayer, perhaps you fast sometimes, or meditate/memorize scripture. In a broad category all of this may be called worship; you are bowing before him in supplication, in instruction, in personal discipline that is meant to focus your attention and demonstrate sincerity.
However, I think that there are several specific things that we find in Psalm 92 that sharpen and may perhaps challenge you to grow in your personal worship.
Psalm 92 is the third song in the 4th book of Psalms. You may remember that the 150 psalms of the psalter are divided into 5 different books. Each book, or collection of psalms, has a rough order of the types of psalms that are in it.
The fourth collection has a trend of emphasis toward forward-looking promises of God’s salvation, especially those that are needing protection from enemies. It’s also a kind of ascent out of an ever deepening valley that the first three books sort of lead the soul down into. The first three psalms form a kind of set-up for the rest of the psalms of this collection. Ps 90 is a lament, written by Moses. Ps 91 is a long list of promises. Psalm 92 seems to complete these promises by rejoicing in them—especially in the light that “The Lord Reigns”.
The Psalm doesn’t have the author listed, as some do. We can discern from some of its characteristics that it is referring to “King”. The reference to the “exalted horn” in verse 10 gives us that hint. So it may have been referring to one of the kings—perhaps David himself. It certainly connects us to the davidic line, which ultimately culminates in our Lord Jesus.
Psalm 92 does have a remarkable note though—it is the only one of the 150 psalms with the heading “A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath”. This certainly tells us something about it. As we all know the Sabbath represents the day of rest. 7 is the number of perfection. It is the day that God established he was completed with his work—he rested—there was no more work to do.
For the Old Testament Jew the sabbath represented the 4th commandment—outlining for the chosen people of God why it was to be holy—set apart. The 7th day represents a fast from labor for the purpose of focusing on the completeness of God, his work, and his goodness.
Within the context of Jewish law we also find the 7th year being the year of rest. In the 50th year, after a “week” of years, (7th year times 7), was the year of Jubilee where property was returned and indentured servants were released from bondage. It seems that Jesus’s public ministry may have begun very close to or on a Jubilee year (Luke 4:1-20and of course his return will be the ultimate jubilee and rest.
For the Christian that means that we recognize that Jesus is an ultimate fulfillment to the victor in the psalm. With Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament Prophecy, certainly the Christian should look back on all the Psalms having to do with rest and recognize that they are looking forward to Jesus. So as a song for the Sabbath, we should read this as living in the present reign of Jesus and looking forward to his exalted return.
Psalm 92 seems to be a chiasm—a Hebrew literary device that builds to a central point or object and then mirrors it to reemphasize the main point. It becomes the climax, and then the first stanza and the foundation of the second.
In Psalm 92 the center line is “but you, O Lord, are on high forever.”
As Christians, we recognize that Jesus is the Lord on high forever, and because of this, we direct our worship to him. Yet, as the opening of the Psalm references Yahweh, who of course is Father, Son, and Spirit. We know that the Son reigns at the right hand of this Father.
But then the question is what does Psalm 92 teach us about how this should be done? I want this sermon to serve us with an answer in three points: 1) A personal declaration 2) A personal testimony 3) A personal promise.
We give thanks and praise for the works of YHWH. Whenever we see the “all caps” LORD in the Old Testament that is a hint God’s proper name was once used, or at least implies that is how he’s being addressed. This use of LORD is God’s proper name: “He who Is” Or “I AM, THAT I AM”. The self-existent one, it’s good to give thanks to him. It’s the name he gave us to call him because it tells us who he is. Because of who he is, it is good to sing praises to his name, the MOST HIGH.
In personal worship it’s always good to orient ourselves to “who” we are talking to. Just because of who he is, he’s worthy of your praise. Jesus instructs us to pray to our Father, with endearing reverence. Last week Daniel explained the difference between “exalt” and “exult”. To exult is to proclaim, loudly; to exclaim.” In this psalm, we see a particular word used several times—declare.
The Hebrew word “declare” here has a number of different variations: “Announce”, “Make known”, “Make record of”, “Give evidence for”.
To declare is to audibly, formally, officially, and explicitly proclaim something. When we declare the mighty works of God we are audibly, officially, and explicitly proclaiming what he has done. Even when you do this in a private or personal context. Magician’s Nephew Digory and Polly find they have no supper, and ask wouldn’t have Aslan accounted for their need. Fledge replies that he most certainly did, but that he also said that he would probably like to be asked. I think the same is true for personal worship. We are great at lifting our voices to the lord publicly; do you raise your voice to him privately?
Here are some other things that we can glean from this psalm as to when, how and what we declare.
His steadfast love in the morning. His faithfulness at night. These bookends of the day indicate both specific times we should do personal worship, but also that any time in between is also fair game.
With your voice. With music. Music invigorates our worship and brings life to our praise. Listening to music or singing is a way to stir your soul to praise. “Music is spiritual”. Music can elevate the divine or invigorate the ego. It’s one thing when someone tells you that you did nice work; it’s another thing entirely when they write a song about you doing your work and how awesome it is. (I wouldn’t know about this from personal experience, but I’m sure it would be amazing).
His “works” that make you glad. What “works” make you joyful? In verse 2 we find an answer: “it’s his steadfast love and his faithfulness” that we reflect on. Which of his works reflect his steadfast love; his faithfulness? Remember, our point is Personal Declaration. How often do you reflect on his steadfast love and faithfulness to you?
Scripture is full of the mighty works of God. He is constantly reminding his people through his prophets of the mighty things that God has done. Psalm 78 and 145 both talk about commending the mighty works of God to the next generation. Their story is an example to the church of God’s goodness. It’s obviously right and good for us even today to remember the Ten Miracles of Egypt performed against the “gods” of Egypt and to harden Pharaoh's heart. It’s good to remember the Red Sea and declare how God provided for Israel in the wilderness for 40 years. This is the personal testimony of Moses, Joshua. We also have the personal testimonies David, Isaiah, Jonah, right up to John, Luke, Paul.
These are our stories—they are our testimonies because we are now part of this people and this is what our God has done. Even more-so because we are Christians and not Jews. We recognize that the Messiah has come. The greatest works of God were demonstrated through Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Son of God and Son of Man. He is the ultimate fulfillment of this psalm. Certainly, The Works of Jesus are the greatest works we could declare: his commandments, miracles, sacrificial death, atonement, resurrection, gift of the Holy Spirit.
This leads us into our next point….but first some specific applications to this point.
Declare to yourself his love in the morning. Begin your day by reflecting and declaring his steadfast love. Use your voice to officially, specifically, proclaim the steadfast love of God. Here I submit to you an example of a dear friend and mentor and his first hour of the day with the Lord.
“I start by playing simple chords that help center my thoughts. This is when I begin my dialogue with Jesus. I allow him to speak his love for me out loud through my lips — through the impressions he gives and the Scriptures he brings to mind. Galatians 2:20 and various verses from John 15:1–17 feature prominently in this time. I intersperse this with verbal worship and gratitude.”
Reflect on his faithfulness at night. While private worship is what we have in mind here, I submit to you that family worship does fit into this category. Especially because for parents, this is where you can model private worship to your children. This doesn’t have to be complicated and deep—remember the goal is personal. Simple activities like going around the dinner table and playing “High-Low”: “How did God demonstrate his steadfast love and faithfulness to you today?” “1000 Gifts” by Ann Voskamp models for us how taking time to recount the goodness of God’s gifts to affects us. Making time to do this with your family and singing a song of praise and a simple prayer is good.
Another example of my friend’s personal worship. Again, it’s using your voice.
“I then play and sing one or more songs from my current worship repertoire — Revelation Song(Kari Jobe), The Blessing (Chris Brown, Cody Carnes, Kari Jobe, Steven Furtick), Amazing Grace (John Newton), and Star of the Morning (Leon Patillo)....”
Most of us aren’t much to listen to, but most of us can quietly (or loudly) make a joyful noise to the Lord. We want our songs to be theological rich and meaningful, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be personal. “You make me glad, I sing for joy.” “You exalted my horn, you anointed my head. You planted me…..”
As I said earlier, all the mighty works of God should be our “personal” declaration. When we are baptized into Christ, we are united with him in his death and his resurrection life. We were adopted into his people. We are bound to him and his testimony and his mighty works belong to us! In a very true sense the lines of Psalm 92 from verse 6-11 are true of us.
It may seem unnatural to say you’ve seen and heard of your enemies' downfall, but consider some of the personal worship from scripture. Some of the most powerful and amazing declarations of thanksgiving outside the Psalms (and inside of them) were recorded for us when God accomplished some mighty personal works. Personal story of his steadfast love and thankfulness—some of the most amazing works of God.
Hannah from 1 Sam 1:1-20 — “Exalted horn”
And Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation. “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.
“The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; against them, he will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”
Deborah from Judges 5
To the sound of musicians at the watering places, there they repeat the righteous triumphs of the Lord, the righteous triumphs of his villagers in Israel. “Then down to the gates marched the people of the Lord.
Mary’s Magnificat from Luke 1:46-55
And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed; He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate;”
These testimonies all have some remarkable similarities. They are all warlike. They all declare God demonstrating his strength over his enemies, and over the helpless. They are about God raising up the individual and doing something amazing—his mighty works.
Also consider how your eyes and ears have seen and heard the doom of your assailants. Jesus said that he saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Satan is bound during the millennial reign (which some of us believe is right now). Demons were scattered under his ministry and in the spread of the gospel and the growth of the church. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. You’ve heard his doom—he has been dethroned. But surely, we all have other examples of God seeing us, and we see him; like Hannah, and Deborah, and like Mary.
But there is another component that I don’t want us to miss. While the people of God’s testimonies’ is ours, and Jesus’ testimony is ours….we also have personal testimony that comes from our lived experience and developing relationship with him. Something that is only ours, or that of those very close to us.
The Man born blind was a Jew…his stories were the stories of Israel too… But then Jesus gave him his own Testimony. “Once I was blind, and now I see.”
What’s your testimony? What mighty works of God do you declare to him and about him?
We declare his mighty works that make us glad with joy. That leads me to another personal contemplation. Lots of times in the songs we sing, we say a lot of “We praise you”… ”Praise you”. That’s good and right, it’s in the Bible; it’s in our passage: “It’s good to sing praises.” I wonder, when you are singing “we praise you” do you ever just praise him. If I walked up to a gifted craftsman or musician to compliment them. You wouldn’t just say “I want to praise you; praise you!” No we’d say, “your rift is inspired”. “Your lines are transcendent” … or whatever you say to a musician. (For my band the highest compliment would be “that was real toe-tappin”!)
My point is this—We praise God because we believe that the things we say are true. They make us glad. They bMaybe you don’t feel like you have personal testimony, maybe all you have is to adopt the anthem of his people from the ages—that’s okay. Do it with gusto. Declare them.
Take a cue from Clyde and declare the love that God has spoken for his people. Remind yourself of that and in-so-doing, declare it to him! If you are in a season of anxiety, depression, hard circumstances: “Be anxious for nothing! But with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.” How do we ask with thanksgiving when things are hard and we don’t feel thankful? Personal worship is the personal preparation for that activity. If you are diligent to declare the steadfast love of the Lord in the morning and his faithfulness at night, it is much easier to offer supplications with thanksgiving.
Worship is declaring. We certainly do this type of declaration in the corporate gathering, but do you also praise God for his mighty works in your private audiences? Do you read scripture that talks about his justice, mercy, faithfulness, loving kindness, miracles, and then stop and thank him—worship him? You see all these things are meant to drive us to worship as we interact with them. Do you allow them to affect you to outward declaration?
Claim the promise and hope he has offered and don’t give into the despair of stupid men and fools. Long for righteousness. Cling to what your eyes and ears have seen and heard—then live in the hope that the Lord is on high forever.
Don’t let his mighty works go unrecognized or undeclared. Maybe even write a song about him—or to him.
When we see the term or phrase “exalted horn” in scripture it is a reference to the strength, defense, might, and security that comes with it. It also often refers to a particular person who will be that.
Psalm 148:13–14 (ESV) — Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven. He has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his saints, for the people of Israel who are near to him. Praise the LORD!
Ezekiel 29:21 (ESV) — “On that day I will cause a horn to spring up for the house of Israel, and I will open your lips among them. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”
Anointed with fresh oil references a selection and choosing of God. It is being set apart for his purposes. David was anointed with oil as God’s chosen king. Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit and declare to be “God’s beloved son in whom he was well pleased.”
In Jesus, we are both exalted and anointed, but like Hannah and Mary we recognize the specific ways that the Lord has seen us, hears us and choses us. My eyes have seen, my ears have heard the downfall and doom of my enemies and assailants.
The last stanza of this psalm are pretty neat. The righteous are compared to the Palm tree and the Cedar of Lebanon. What a unique couple of trees to use as illustration. I have a cedar tree in my backyard—not Lebonese as far as I know, but a cedar. However, the closest palm tree to me is hundreds of miles away. The same is true of our psalmists illustrations. Another way to think about this is “from the mountains to the sea”. The psalmist is contrasting the fleeting life of grass (which flowers today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire) with the endurance of a tree—and in this case, two evergreen trees. You may scratch your head at that; a palm tree is an evergreen? When was the last time you saw a palm tree without leaves: evergreen? We actually had a fake palm tree that we used as a Christmas tree one year when we were younger and poor.
The evildoer will perish and be scattered, like the clippings from your lawnmower after 3 months of drought. The righteous though; these will endure. Where? They endure in the house of the Lord, in his courts.
This is an eschatological promise—the righteous will endure forever in the carefully curated dwelling of God and it will be everywhere! From where the palm tree grows to the cedar. From “mountains to sea”.
They are like planted trees. We’re not talking about that wild (though beautiful) chaos of a roadside forest—we’re talking about the well manicured Duke Gardens. We’re talking about the garden in Eden that the Lord planted and placed man into. We see Jesus communicate this as he ascends back to the Father. He goes to prepare a place for you. He who began a good work will complete it on the last day! He returns for his Bride, retrieving us from the tribulation of the last days; bringing us home to dwell in his home.
The Righteous isn’t planted for his own benefit, though. These trees that endure and flourish in old age, full of sap and bearing fruit have a purpose.
It isn’t so they can be happy, old, fruitful trees. No, these evergreens are planted “to declare that the Lord is upright.” Just like we said earlier “Personal worship isn’t about ‘you’”. It’s about the righteousness of God. He is my rock! He is faultless. He is the Lord! He is on high forever! Jesus is on the throne. Yahweh reigns!
I appreciated the imagery that Philip gave us in his Wednesday class on The Christians Everyday Sacrifice of Praise. He said that we should treat our corporate worship experience not as the source of our personal torches, but rather as the bonfire that erupts when we all come together with our personal worship cared for and tended.
We should be like the five virgins who have extra oil. They were prepared for the long night of waiting—the long period of watching the wicked grow like grass and flourish, seeing their “enemies” prosper in their wickedness and yet not giving into despair.
We should be as the army of Gideon whose torches were lit though concealed by pots. Once smashed, even as a small band with horns blowing, they routed the assailants who invade our minds and seem to have the overwhelming strength of number. We raise a “hallelujah, in the presence of our enemies”.
Who would have known that now, 20 years from that Time magazine “Person of the Year” “You” would be in world where social media has come to be recognized of one of the greatest epidemics of loneliness, depression and suicide of any generation in history. You are not the person of the year—likely you never will be. But we know the Ancient of days. His name is Yahweh—our Heavenly Father, Jesus, “salvation of God”, Holy Spirit, Helper and Comforter and I declare that he reigns!
Almighty Yahweh, Father, Son and Spirit, we declare that you are on high forever and ever. You are above everything, O Most High. No one can rival your might, outstretched, right arm. There are many challengers to your glory, but in the end all will bow the knee to your Lordship. You raise up the downtrodden. Your mighty acts of love; providing our basic needs, clothing us, feeding us, sending rain and protection, your only-begotten Son, your Holy Spirit! We want to be evergreen trees planted in your courts. Please, Lord, continue to look upon us with compassion and favor! Fill us with sap. Plant us by living water. Make us fruitful. Cause your mighty works to fill us with joy and gladness. Cause us to be better private worshipers. Now, O Most High, please receive our thanksgiving as we declare that you reign!
Here are some other recent messages.
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