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Sing Your Thanks! Sing Your Hopes!
Psalm 98
Andy Nagahara
The coronavirus continues to spread, and we have not been able to hold Sunday services as usual for over a year now. However, this is a good opportunity given by God.
In what sense was it a good opportunity? First of all, we were able to realize that the worship services that we had gathered and offered as a matter of course were actually offered by being protected by God’s grace.
The other thing is that we realized that we can worship together even if we can’t be in the same place at the same time.
If we know the meaning of worship correctly, living a worship-centered life will never be impossible, no matter what the circumstances. God has provided everything for us to make it possible during this pandemic time.
Last week, there was news of a corona outbreak at an Easter gathering of many people at a church in the central region of Japan.
Singing together is the second most common cause of mass infection after eating together. If there are only a few of us and we don’t sing loudly enough to cause droplets to fly, there is little danger, but we want to be as careful as possible.
And depending on the situation, the staff may also be live-streaming from their homes, as they did during the initial emergency declaration, but it will still be a service that we offer together.
There are many types of songs that we sing to the Lord, but today’s text tells us about the type of songs that we sing with joy, with gratitude to God and praise to Him. This is what is called “praise”.
In most churches in Japan, the understanding is that the songs sung there = praise, but this is a sad mistake that overlooks the richness and depth of worship.
(But) Still, praise is certainly an important part of worship. Just remember that there is no need to force yourself to pretend to be happy or to express gratitude insincerely when you cannot praise God honestly.
You can bring your true feelings before the Lord and express them, even if they are not thanks or praise.
1. Sing your thanks (1-3)
0 A psalm.
1 Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.
2 The LORD has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
3 He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Israel’s trust in God is based on the original experience of the Exodus. We, too, have our own experiences of the Exodus. It is because of this that we are walking with Jesus now.
Yet, in reality, the Israelites and we do not always live a life of grateful joy. Rather, we live in doubt of God’s existence because of the reality of suffering and fear.
Nonetheless, we can recall the fact of our salvation and revive our joy, just as Israel recalled the memories of their people at every turn and sang songs of thanksgiving. It happens in worship. You don’t have to force yourself to think that way, or sing something that is not in your heart. The Spirit of God will visit the heart of such a person.
2. Sing your hopes (7-9)
Now turn your attention to verses 7-9, and I’ll talk about verses 4-6 at the end.
7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. 8 Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; 9 let them sing before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity
What is different from the first part is that instead of singing in appreciation of the past, the song is sung in anticipation of the future.
The people of this Psalm’s time do not know Jesus. Their hopes will be answered with the birth of Jesus.
What kind of future can we hope to sing about? It is the completion of the Kingdom of God.
This does not mean that the cross of Jesus was incomplete, as heretical teachings do.
Rather, God did not take away the role that He entrusted to man in the creation event, even after the cross.
The role that God has entrusted to man is described as this:
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” （Genesis 1:26)
We are encouraged to continue God’s work here on earth as Jesus’ hands and feet until the completion of the end times, which began after the event of Jesus’ crucifixion.
3. Let us sing together (4-6)
4 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; 5 make music to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, 6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn– shout for joy before the LORD, the King.
The reason why I saved this section for last is that it contains hints for expressing in worship both the past blessings and the future hopes that we discussed earlier.
I’ve already mentioned that worship can be offered by one person, but that doesn’t mean that we should take lightly the worship that those of us who have difficulties and weaknesses, but who are grateful and hopeful, offer to God by joining our voices together and playing instruments.
This is because we are one big family in Jesus.
Giving thanks to Jesus, the Lord of this great family, and expressing our love, our hopes, and our desires should be done not only individually, but as a family.
Jesus is my Lord and our Lord.
The church is the visible body of Christ. Without the foundation of our heart and voice together in worship, it is difficult for the body to move in harmony according to Jesus, the Head.
Our journey on earth still continues.
We sing a joyful song of the many blessings that God has done for us in the past, and the confidence that we are indeed on our way to the completion of the Kingdom of God.
We can sing a new song of joy as long as we are alive in the world, as descendants of those who were blessed at the beginning of Genesis.
Despite the crises that each of us faces, the church, as the body of Christ, never ceases to rejoice and praise.
(Prayer) Dear Lord, I remember and thank You for Your grace this morning.
I rejoice in anticipation of what you will do for me.
We thank you that you invite each of us to be a part of your body, to be a part of your big family.
Let our hearts remember that you are greater than all our sorrows and troubles.
We will sing to you today. Please accept our worship.
Fill our hearts with a new song, with a new peace, with a new joy. We pray in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ.
Summary
Singing to the Lord is central to our worship. Even though we face new challenges each day, we are also renewed day by day, and because we are filled with new strength, we are given a new song to sing as well. We sing about the blessings of the past and the hopes we have for the future. Let us lift our voices and the sound of many different instruments to lift our worship to God.
For Discussion
1. Why is singing to the Lord central to worship?
2. What kind of song does God want us to bring before him in worship?