Sermon for MHBC (20 February 2022). You can watch or listen on Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, or our website. Live at 11:00am on Sundays. Also available as a podcast here or by searching “Monument Heights Baptist Church” in your favorite podcast app.
Notice first the title of this psalm: a psalm, a song for the Sabbath. Now we want to make sure we distinguish between the Sabbath practice in Judaism, which keeps the Sabbath starting on Friday at sundown to Saturday at sundown. We also want to note that we are not under Sabbath obligations because Christ has opened new possibilities of worshiping God.
But many Christians have taken the Sabbath language and applied it to Sunday, calling it the Lord’s Day. This is what Revelation 1:10 calls Sunday. In addition, throughout the NT, we see the early Christians placing special emphasis on the first day of the week—Sunday. Sunday, of course, bears special significance because Christ was raised on a Sunday.
So, we want to approach this psalm with the Christian understanding of the Lord’s Day. We want to read it as instruction for the Lord’s Day. What we want to look at this morning is how this psalm teaches us to worship. Or, put another way, how should we use our time on the Lord’s Day? To be sure, the psalm also instructs us on our general attitude through the week, but I think it’s particularly relevant to what we do on Sunday. The psalm makes three movements. Let’s look at those together.
1. The Goal of Worship
First is the goal of worship. What should we devote our attention to? In vv. 1-2, we are told three things that are good to do. Number one, the psalmist says it is good to give thanks to the Lord. Now of course we will say, “I do that. I thank God every day.” But this passage isn’t just speaking about the generic form of thanks we offer to some undefined God. No, as v. 4 shows, this thanks is to be rooted in the mighty acts of God. This is a pointed and specific type of thanks.
Consider all the stories we find in the OT. Those stories aren’t there just for historical information. They are there to tell us about God and His character. And even those mighty acts from the OT, like the exodus, are just shadows of the greater act, which is how God has worked in Christ. Jesus’s death and resurrection has conquered sin, Satan, and death, making it possible for us to be in a covenant relationship with God, making it possible for us to be freed from the slavery of sin, and making new creation our reality.
This is why it is good to give thanks to the Lord. Notice in v. 1, the psalmist says it is good to give thanks to the LORD. It’s in all caps because this is the divine name Yahweh. So we aren’t talking about a generic God. We are talking about a specific God, Yahweh, who has acted mightily for His people. So, it is good to give thanks to Him. Our time on Sundays should be devoted to this task. This is why it’s so problematic to prioritize other things over worship. Prioritizing other things amounts to failure to give God His due praise.
Number two, look at the second part of v. 1, it is good to sing praises to your name, O Most High. Again, not a generic God, but the one who is called the Most High. Singing is what we do when we are happy. Think back to some of those great stories in the OT, like when Israel is delivered from Egypt. After the Israelites are delivered from Egypt, they compose a song to celebrate what God has done (Exodus 15).
Our singing here on Sundays is not just something we do out of tradition. It’s not just something we do to take up space in our service. We do it because of what God has done for us. We desire to celebrate those things that make us joyful. One way we do that is in song. The NT repeats the commands for us to sing to the Lord together. Our congregational singing is a form of prayer and praise. And it is a central and necessary piece of our gathered worship.
Look at v. 2. Number three, it is good to declare the Lord’s steadfast love and faithfulness. These words for steadfast love and faithfulness appear frequently together in the OT. The idea is that God remains faithful to His covenant. When God makes promises, He carries those promises out. But even more than that, the words speak to God’s total dependability. They refer to His willing commitment to help those for whom He is responsible. Again, we aren’t talking about a generic God. We are talking about a God who has acted on our behalf. This is why it’s so important to recognize exactly what God has done on our behalf. In fact, this is precisely the point of v. 4. The reason to praise and sing and declare is because God has acted mightily. Notice two times we see God’s works being the reason for praise in v. 4. It is God’s mighty deeds, His powerful action on our behalf, that motivates our worship. As a final note before we move on, I should point out that these tasks of praising and singing and declaring are to be accompanied by music in v. 3. This certainly doesn’t mean that music is the only way to worship God. Rather, it shows that this isn’t meant to be an exclusively individual practice. The idea is of a gathering and a celebration is in view. Private worship of God is necessary, but it is equally necessary for God’s people to come together for worship.
2. The Challenge to Worship
In vv. 5-9, we are introduced to the challenge to worship. The challenge is this: some people won’t get it. In v. 5, the psalmist declares how great the works and how deep the thoughts of the Lord are. Then in v. 6, he tells us that God’s work makes no sense to the stupid man and the fool. He does not mean that these people are intellectually inferior. He means they are spiritually insensitive. They find God’s works to be rather dull and uninteresting. This first term translated stupid is often linked to animals. In fact, some translations have brutish. Animals are not rational creatures. They desire little more than a trouble-free life. That’s sometimes all we want as well. We figure if we have enough money, good enough health, decent relationships, and other necessities, we’ve got everything we need.
But here’s the point of this verse: a cow in a field lives a good life by that definition. That’s why the psalmist uses this word stupid. What do we want out of life? If we only wish to be carefree, that is a waste. In his Geneva Catechism, Calvin begins with the first question: What is the main purpose of human life? His answer: to know God. The stupid and foolish person is the one who wastes their life not knowing God. Ask yourself: is this a driving force in your life?
There’s more. If we fail to contemplate the mighty works of God and fail to allow such contemplation to motivate our worship, we may live decent lives, but we won’t know God. Look at vv. 7–8. Verses 7–8 speak of the wicked flourishing for a period. In other words, they are successful in life. Their lives are indeed carefree. But once more, they don’t understand the work of God, because it will not end well for them. The danger is never turning our attention to the living God.
Now because this is a worship problem, the answer to it is not rule-keeping. True worship is not a matter of keeping certain laws. That’s not the sense of wicked in these passages. Nor is true worship a matter of knowing certain bits of information. What we need is new affections. Affections are our desires, longings, and appetites. Affections are much deeper than emotions. Affections are those things that drive our behaviors. So what is the solution to this problem? The solution is grasping what Christ has accomplished for us. And this is the work of the Spirit.
3. The Motivation to Worship
This leads me to our final point: the motivation to worship. How can we avoid being the brute? By looking to Christ, by grasping what he has done. In vv. 10-11, we read about this one who has been exalted. Now we must not read ourselves into this just yet. Notice in v. 10, he speaks of his horn being exalted. It’s a strange image, but the horn is typically a reference to a military victory. So, this is likely a king. Then he talks of having oil poured on him, which brings to mind anointing, though the word anoint does not appear in this passage. Verse 11 is a strange verse, but the way the ESV has it confirms that this king is victorious.
Now here’s the thing you must understand. The Bible is about a single figure. Everything in Scripture finds its fulfillment in Christ. All the stories in the OT are just shadows of Christ. So David is a key player in the OT, but it is David’s greater son, Jesus, who is the real hero. In the same way, this psalm does not picture just any king, but it pictures king Jesus. This assertion is even stronger when we realize that in Psalm 91, the Messiah is promised deliverance. So Psalm 92 is a picture of that promised deliverance.[1] Jesus has struck down the forces of evil that oppose God. Before him the enemies scatter. His cross and his resurrection has defeated them.
And here’s the really great news: we enjoy all the benefits of Christ’s victory when we trust in Him. That is what we mean when we talk about being in Christ. It means that Christ’s victory is our victory.
Look at the results in vv. 12-15. It is a life of flourishing in vv. 12-13. Those who do not know God may flourish for a short time, but those who are in Christ flourish forever. He says they will flourish in the courts of God at the end of v. 13. That is, they enjoy God’s presence, because they know God. According to v. 14, this flourishing enriches all aspects of life, even the gray years. Notice the outcome of this flourishing in v. 15. It is to declare who the Lord is. In other words, we are back at where we began: the worship of God. The goal of the Christian life is not eternal bliss. The goal is the worship of God. The goal is to know God. And that is the path to everlasting bliss.
Why do we exist? To worship God. Why are we here on Sundays? To worship God. What is stopping us from worship? Is it faulty priorities? Is it that we are actually worshiping other things? Is it that we really are not that interested in the things of God? What is it that holds your affections? The God of the Bible is not a disinterested bearded man in the sky. The God of the Bible brings existence to all things through mere utterance. He is the ground of existence itself. He is entirely unique with no parallels in majesty, power, or goodness. He is entirely holy, set apart from all creation. And yet, He has determined to take a people for Himself. He has poured out grace on them through the work of Christ. This God deserves our total devotion. Worship is the natural response to a God who has acted mightily on our behalf. He deserves our worship.
[1] Furthermore, the eschatological nature of vv. 5-9 suggests a messianic reading.