We've covered some of the foundation of worship, but what is it in worship that others will see. I think primarily, Psalms brings out three things that we do in worship:

• Sing
• Pray
• Speak to others
• Meditation??

Singing

The first five verses I've selected all begin with the same concept, singing a new song to God. I wanted to discuss these together, and at the same time communicate a few more things about worship through song.

Psalm 33:3 Sing to Him a new song; Play skillfully with a shout of joy.

This verse is very short, and yet very loaded. We can find at least the following concepts in it; we are to sing, we are to sing to Him, we are to sing a new song, we are to play, we are to play skillfully, we are to shout, and we are to shout with joy. Six significant concepts out of a very short verse. Let's look at them one at a time.

First, we are to sing. This concept occurs about 85 times in the book of Psalms. Sometimes, we are commanded, at other times, David is simply providing an example. But throughout, the concept of singing is there, in worship.

The Psalms were all written to be sung. While we have none of the original music, God has clearly indicated that He wants to be worshiped with song.

The second concept is that we are to sing to Him. I was amazed, while watching the movie 'Sister Act' (a non-Christian movie) to hear one of the actresses say, "You're singing to God!!" It changed the way they sang immediately. It should change the way we sing too.

I use to lead on Sunday mornings, and we might have close to 400 people there, between the two services. Now I lead singing Sunday nights. There are usually only 40 or so people there. Is it worth it? Sometimes I ask myself. But if we are singing to God, whether there are 40 or 4000 people, my audience ought to be God.

'Sing to God' says David.

Psalm 96:1 Sing to the Lord a new song; Sing to the Lord, all the earth.

We're to sing a new song to Him. This doesn't mean that every song we sing has to be new. But we should be singing new songs to Him. I'll be honest, I don't understand the reasoning behind this command. It may be because we tend to stop listening to the words ourselves when the songs become too familiar. It may be because God wants us to continually have new thoughts about Him. It may be because God chooses to speak through songs, and there will be new songs as long as God continues to speak to us.

I don't understand His reasoning, but I believe we should obey.

Psalm 98:1 O sing to the Lord a new song, For He has done wonderful things, His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him.

The problem with new songs is that they are sometimes hard to learn. My older concept of worship was that worship was God's gift to us. Great worship was something that we left with a good feeling about.

The truth about worship is that it is our gift to Him. The first form of worship I can find in the Bible is sacrifice. And the concept of sacrifice is very strong throughout the Bible, especially as it relates to worship. The concept of feeling good is much more rare.

However, getting back to this verse, note the motivation behind singing a new song. 'O sing to the Lord a new song, For He has done wonderful things...' God has done wonderful things for us, and our reaction should be to sing to Him.

Psalm 149:1 Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, And His praise in the congregation of the godly ones.

This verse also brings out the concept of singing to God, and singing a new song. But it also adds the idea of singing in a group. David probably developed as a singer while shepherding the flock, but one of his desires was to sing with other worshipers, godly ones. This also gets back to the idea of what kind of people we have to be to worship, and who we should choose to worship with. David didn't say he wanted to sing His praise among highly talented ones, but among godly ones.

Of course, there is more to singing in the book of Psalms than just singing new songs. We can probably split up singing into the following categories.

First, of course not all of the topics of singing are mentioned here. Everything written in the book of Psalms was intended to be sung, so there are far more topics than shown here. But the thing that stood out to me is that we praise God for a number of things. There are different types of singing, (praises, thanksgiving, with Psalms, etc.) But there is only one emotion that we are commanded to sing with - joy. At least 16 times we are told to sing with joy, or David says that he sang with joy.

That means that our attitudes during worship are important, and that our chief attitude ought to be joy. I didn't make that up, it's right before our eyes.

And I'd never seen that before.

Our Prayers

While all of the book of Psalms are songs to God, many of them are also prayers to God. That's why when we are commanded to sing in Psalms, the command is often, 'sing to the Lord...' The object of much of our singing is to be God.

It's just my opinion, but I think that is the primary purpose of a choir. Not to sing songs for the congregation, but to sing songs for God, in the presence of the congregation.

Psalm 105:1 Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples.

This verse combines the two concepts of praying to God, and speaking about Him. Related to prayer, David says we are to be giving Him thanks, and calling on His name. Giving thanks, for the many things God has done for us, and praising Him for His great works seem to be two twin concepts in worship. We thank Him for Who He Is, (His character and some of His roles) and works of grace, mercy and love. And we praise Him for Who He Is, (His attributes and some of His roles) and His works of power and wisdom.

Psalm 116:2 Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live.

God listened to David's prayers, and David knew it. His response was to call out to God for the rest of his life.

Speaking to God is a natural reaction to His good works towards us.

Have you ever heard an explanation of why Jesus spent time in prayer? Two of the answers I've heard in the past are that He was human like us, and therefore needed to pray, and that He wanted to be an example to us. The first answer says that Jesus did not internally have the power He had before He became a man. The second answer says that Jesus had the power, and didn't need to pray at all. He wasn't doing it out of His own need, but out of ours.

While Jesus probably spent a great deal of time in prayer, we really don't know that much of what He said. He did, however, give us a window into His prayer life in the Lord's prayer.

Matthew 6:9-13 "Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]'

If we break down this prayer into a couple of components, this is what we can see.

• Worship - Who He Is - 'Our Father
• Worship - Where He Is - 'who is in heaven
• Worship - blessing God - 'Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.
• Worship - submission - 'your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven
• Request - physical needs - 'give us this day our daily bread
• Request - spiritual needs - And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
• Worship - His possessions - For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

First, most of the prayer is worship. One physical request for food, and two spiritual requests, one of which Jesus would not have had (the need for forgiveness)

While this prayer was a lesson for the disciples, (and for us) most of the prayer is worship. There are a couple of topics not included in this study. Where He Is, submission, His possessions. Yet these topics are a part of worship in the book of Psalms. Where He Is, '...our God is in the heavens...' His possessions - He owns the heavens and the earth, etc. David's claims of submission to God, 'I delight to do Your will...'

These are a part of worship, but this study is a little larger than what I can really handle.

But Jesus prayer here was primarily worship. His reason for prayer often may have simply been to spend time with His Father, to worship.

What We Say To Others

David and the other Psalmists also encouraged us to talk about God. They spoke about it often enough that I finally began to see that also as a part of worship. If you and I are talking, and you begin to tell me what God is doing in your life, or what He is telling you through His word, that's worship.

As we look at the life of Christ, we don't often see Him singing. He probably did sing in the synagogues, but I could only find one time, at the last supper, when He sang. If worship is important, wouldn't He have sung more?

While it's possible that singing was simply omitted, the Scripture primarily talks about Jesus praying, and Jesus talking about His Father. We discussed that a little in the study on the importance of worship. Most of the Kingdom Parables are really stories about God the Father.

Psalm 105:2 Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders.

God has done wonderful things for us, and we are to be speaking about them. I'm still trying to learn how to do this, both around Christians, and non-Christians.

Around Christians, we tend to do two things. First, we do the normal chit-chat thing. 'How's the weather? Boy, our team sure played well last Friday, didn't they?...' The other thing we tend to do is talk about ministry. 'Service was great wasn't it? The Kids program is doing okay, but our women's ministry just doesn't seem to .....'

Neither of these is talking about God.

David, however, was different. We're probably familiar with the story of David and Goliath. But David's words before he went to face Goliath reveal a lot about David's life.

1 Samuel 17:33-37 Then Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth." But David said to Saul, "Your servant was tending his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. "Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God." And David said, "The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go, and may the Lord be with you.

At this time, David was just a boy. His knowledge of God had to be limited, but his experiences with God weren't. David knew that God had protected him, and in fact worked through him in the past. And David expected God to do the same in the future.

But what is especially significant here is that David chose to say that to King Saul. Later, David would write that we should speak to others, but in this passage, David was practicing it.

Of course, David here put up his walls (what he said) on the foundation of What God Had Done, and What God Would Do.

David also said this:

Psalm 119:46 I will also speak of Your testimonies before kings And shall not be ashamed.

David chose to speak not just about God, but about His words to other kings. I'd never thought before about David spending time with other kings before. What would he talk about? His power versus theirs? Agreements for trade, treaties, taxes? While he may have talked about those things, what he chose to talk about was God's testimonies.

While somehow I can't picture that today, I think of how God honoring it would be. Perhaps there are some heads of state out there who are like that. What this also brings out is that David didn't simply talk about God among those who were believers in God already, he also spoke about God to people who didn't believe in God.

I have a tendency to share a plan, an illustration, a simplified gospel when I do share. David didn't talk about a plan, he talked about God. An act of worship among nonbelievers.

He also said,

Psalm 145:6 Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts, And I will tell of Your greatness.

David recognized that others would speak about God's power and works. David also chose to be a part of that. Again, David brought out the link of Who God Is, (his power) and His works. David didn't set one above the other. He simply said they both would be talked about.

In the story of David and Goliath, David talked about God's works. In this verse, David will tell about Who God Is, His greatness.

This chapter is primarily about the walls of worship, our actions of worship that others can see. But our thoughts are also a part of worship. They are really like the 2 X 4 framing of a house; part of the walls, supporting the visible portions. They are part of the walls, and yet not visible.

Psalm 104:34 Let my meditation be pleasing to Him; As for me, I shall be glad in the Lord.

David wanted his meditation (his constant, deeper thoughts) to be pleasing to God. And he wanted His emotions to be pleasing to God. He would be glad in the Lord.

David also realized that not everything we say or think is good, yet he wanted to be pleasing in God's sight.

Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

David drew a connection between what he thought and what he said. He realized God can look a lot deeper than simply at our external level, what we say and do. God can look directly into our minds, and understands our meditation. And David wanted God to look at him, and see something good. In fact sometimes, David asked God to look into himself.

Psalm 26:2 Examine me, O Lord, and try me; Test my mind and my heart.

Effectively, David said, 'God, I want you to open up my inner self, and see whatever you don't like. I want to be tested, I want to know where I come up short. Check me out thoroughly.'

David wanted his worship to be more than skin deep.

Psalm 48:9 We have thought on Your loving kindness, O God, In the midst of Your temple.

Our outer actions are what everyone else can see in worship. Do we seem to be singing with our hearts or not? Are we smiling or crying? Did he just yawn? Yet our thoughts are also significant. It is not an either or situation. We do not have a choice of thinking well of God, but choosing to disobey Him. But neither do we have the option of physically obeying Him, without thinking, and then being found pleasing to Him.

So their thoughts went to God's love, and acts of love. And these were David's thoughts while in the temple (or tabernacle)

The temple itself was an amazing building. Much of it covered with gold and weaving, candle sticks, lamps, altars. Woven symbols and beings. It would have been really easy to think about all of that neat stuff. But David said, 'We've thought on Your loving kindness...'

The thought life counts too.

In this chapter, I've tried to do two things. First, bring out that there are four primary actions we take in worship. Secondly, to bring out that these actions are based on the foundation of worship, Who God Is, His Actions and His Word.

Introduction  The Importance of Worship    The House of Worship- An Analogy    The Door - The Man of Worship 
The Foundation of Worship - Who God Is, His Works and His Word    The Walls of Worship- Prayers, Songs and Words
The Roof of the House of Worship - Adoration    Repentance - The Forgotten Act of Worship
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