Sermon on Musical Worship

I was as usual at David’s Tent worship gathering in the Wiltshire countryside- in the south of England- last week. David’s Tent as many of you might remember me talking about before is 72 hours of nonstop praise and worship. The bands rotate maybe every hour and they play worship music to the Lord round the clock day and night, day and night for 3 days and nights. I would guess the tent held close to a couple of thousand people. 

Many people come and camp on site and when the night falls, the volume of the worship in the big tent is lowered so everyone can get a peaceful night’s sleep! Which I do, as long as there isn’t someone sleeping in a nearby tent who snores, which can be a problem and make it a long night! 

This year someone from our church came- Joe Kuk who helps with the youth came down with me, which was great!

It’s called David’s Tent because it was inspired by King David of the Bible, who grasped something very important about God and our interaction with God and who put what he learned into practice. He realised that not only does the Lord deserve musical praise from his people, the Lord also appreciates heartfelt musical praise from his people, He really appreciates it. 

And so David did something new, it hadn’t been done before. He set up a tent in Jerusalem and he took the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord into Jerusalem, and he brought it to this new tent in Jerusalem and he appointed musicians from among the tribe of Levi, the Levites, to thank God and to praise God with song and musical instruments at this new tent he had set up. 

The Levites were given a new calling. 

They were doing something they had never done before. It was a new thing for them. For hundreds of years there had been animals sacrifices and other offerings made at the tent or tabernacle which housed the Ark of the Covenant. And for hundreds of years the Levites had worked in facilitating the worship in that original tent, they had carried the Ark of the Covenant and the tent from place to place when it was moved, they had looked after the running of the tent and helped the priests with the sacrifices. 

But now God was changing the Levites’ call. God was calling them, through King David, to do a new thing in their life and ministry. He was calling them no longer to carry the ark and the tent and the furnishings, for it was now going to remain in one place, but instead they were to begin to offer musical praise and worship. 

You know sometimes God calls us to do new things. He calls us to let go of some of the old things- old ways of worship, old ways of service, old careers and jobs and do something new. This was such a moment for the Levites. And they rose to the challenge David put before them, they adjusted. 

JG McConville says; ’It is a mistake to think that a Christian’s calling or ministry or lifestyle is fixed once for all by some early experience of God…. Rather the Christian must listen to what God is saying today, and let him challenge every aspect of life- pattern, so that he lives each day in the light of a fresh vision of God’s purposes for him.’

We must remain open to God telling us to do something different. The Levites didn’t allow themselves to get stuck in a rut, and neither should we, when God says move on to something new, we should hear that and move.

McConville writes that the failure to hear when God changes our call ‘can result in years wasted in irrelevancy, while new and exhilarating fields might have been explored and vital services rendered to God.’

The kind of worship that the Levites were to make to the Lord was joyful worship. 1 Chronicles 15:16 says these words- ‘David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brothers as singers to sing joyful songs, accompanied by musical instruments; lyres harps and cymbals.’

Why joyful songs? Well the worship of the God of Israel is a joyful thing. We are called to enjoy the Lord and thus sing with joy. 

Our God is a God of joy, joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit- joy is something God gives us by his Holy Spirit. Not seriousness, not depression, but joy. When the Holy Spirit is moving in his church, in our lives He brings joy, he is bringing what comes out of the heart of God. God’s heart is full of joy as well as love and peace and the other fruit of the Spirit.

And so it makes sense to share in God’s joy by singing to him with joy.

Have you noticed that when you are happy, you are much more likely to sing or make music. I notice about myself that when I am in a good mood, I start whistling. But when I’m a bit down, I go silent. 

Joy results in music.

It is natural for God’s people when they are filled with God’s joy to sing to him. 

As David writes ‘ Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, sing to him, sing praise to him, tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name, let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.’

Why were they praising him? Because of all his wonderful acts. They were thanking him for his good deeds. God deserves thanks

And they were glorifying God, honouring him. Thanking him but also honouring him. Verse 1 Chronicles 16:28- ‘Ascribe to the Lord O families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength, ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name.’

God deserves honour. Honour, glory is his due, it’s his right to receive it.

And David’s heart, his desire was to glorify God through music and through song. 

And they praised God so as to remind one another of what God had done. And that is what musical praise does also- David says ‘remember the wonders he has done, his miracles and the judgements he pronounced’

So musical praise is a way of giving thanks to God, of honouring God and of reminding us of what God has done. 

When the ark was being carried into Jerusalem, carried by the Levites, we read that King David danced and he celebrated.

You know joy results in song, but it also results in dancing. We are more likely to dance when we are happy! We talk in the English language of ‘jumping for joy’. Well David worshipped God in the dance. 

It’s good to express our celebration of what the Lord is doing through physical expression. Through waving palm branches in the air, remember they did that for Jesus, through throwing cloaks on the ground, as they did for Jesus, through dancing. Have you ever danced before God, maybe on your own in the house?

1 Corinthians 6:19-20: "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies" 

David was honouring God with his body when he danced.

Romans 12:1: "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship"

David dancing was a living sacrifice of his body, holy and pleasing to God.

One of the sets at David’s Tent, on the Sunday afternoon, was a guy called Mr McClottey, who mixes Christian Dance music. A totally different style to what we are used to in church. And some people loved it, folks in their 40s and 50s who remembered the Dance scene in the 1980s and 1990s got out their dance moves and yes they danced before the Lord. It wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea but for some it really allowed them to express through their body their devotion to God.

But we don’t need to dance to worship the Lord with our bodies. Just bowing down communicates something. Kneeling. Clapping your hands, shouting even. 

Psalm 95:6 says, "Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker" . Psalm 47:1 declares, "Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout unto God with a voice of triumph".

Lifting hands

Psalm 134:2 – “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord” emphasizes raising hands as an act of worship in God’s presence

Psalm 63:4 – “So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands” shows personal devotion and ongoing praise

If you go to a football match and your team scores a goal. What do you do? You don’t just shout, you lift your hands and shout with a voice of triumph. And you clap your hands and you get excited and your rejoice.

If we were watching the World Cup and praise a goal in that way, why not praise God at least in the same way or even more passionately! 

I think I said once that raising my hands in worship was to begin with a hard thing for me to do! I went to CLAN Gathering which was a Christian festival in St Andrews and I went with my friend and mentor Jim and in the praise everyone seemed to have their hand in the air- and I wasn’t used to seeing that. I was brought up in a traditional church which didn’t go in for that. No one raised their hands. But here I was in this big crowd of singing Christians and loads of people had their hands in the air. And there was no hymn book to hold- there was a screen at the front with the lyrics. And so I didn’t know what to do with my hands. 

I didn’t know that Jim had been seeing this and was quietly praying that God would release my hands. And at the end of the conference I finally managed to lift my hands in praise. It was a step of freedom. And it’s great because raising the hands expresses something in the heart, it is an expression of adoration, of praise, of surrender. 

Let’s try raising our hands- put your hands up like this!

Let’s sing a song, it’s called:  ‘Lord Make Me An Instrument’

And it’s got a line which it keeps repeating that says ‘we lift up our hands in your name’ . And what I’m going to suggest is that as we sing the song, when we come to that line, we lift up our hands. Now you don’t have to if you don’t want to. It is an exercise, for us to feel what it’s like for us to lift up our hands in worship to God. It might feel strange, because it’s new, but let’s try something new and see how we feel.

Lets stand to sing ‘Lord make me an instrument’. [https://youtu.be/uUmy9Y9QZS8?list=RDuUmy9Y9QZS8]

Don’t get me wrong, if you don’t feel comfortable lifting your hands in worship that’s ok, this is not a legalistic demand. You are not any less of a Christian by keeping your hands down- we are all different and there is room for difference in our way of worship. But I would encourage you all to consider lifting your hands sometimes in our church worship and see how you feel, see if it helps. You might find actually find it liberating and you might find it helps you express something to the Lord. 

Using our bodies more in worship might just help us better praise the Lord.

The Ark of the Covenant which is where the presence of God was focussed in the Old Testament was welcomed into the city of Jerusalem with joy, and physical expression of dance, at least by David and by musical worship. 

When Jesus, God made man, came into the city for the final time, just the same thing happened, physical expression of worship by the crowd and musical worship. They sang with joy- again the joy- the whole crowd of disciples sang and they praised God for the miracles they had seen. They sang ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.’

When the Pharisees said it wasn’t right. Jesus replied to them ‘I tell you, if they keep quiet the stones will cry out.’ 

Jesus is saying –it is absolutely appropriate and right, to sing praise. It needs to happen!

I can’t help but notice that with both Jesus’ coming into Jerusalem and the Ark of the Covenant coming into Jerusalem- both Jesus and the Ark carried the presence of God. Jesus is God. And above the ark the shining light, the Shekinah, the glory shone. And both Jesus and the ark, were welcomed by song. The presence of God was welcomed in joyful, musical praise.

I notice that reading about revivals, when the Spirit comes to a church in revival power, the praise in that church goes to a new level. God’s coming in revival is celebrated with joyful music. 

Joyful praise is not just a response to God, but it is, I believe, a way of inviting and bringing in God’s presence. Psalm 22:3 says Yet You are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. The phrase enthroned on the praises of Israel indicates that God is present wherever His people offer sincere worship.

I picture the praise of Israel going up and God’s throne coming down from heaven. 

God responds to his people’s praise.

Praise ushers in the presence of God, just like it did when Jesus entered Jerusalem and the ark entered Jerusalem. Praise is wonderful.

I believe God really values our praise. I was speaking to a guy at David’s tent and he is a real worshipper- he spent 14 hours one day in David’s Tent worshipping! 

And he was saying that one day he was in a Christian conference worshipping and he had a vision of thousands and thousands of rose petals falling around him as he worshipped God. And he enquired of the Lord as to what the rose petals were and God said, each petal symbolised a time he had worshipped the Lord in his life. God had stored up all his songs and hymns, the Lord had remembered each time, each moment of worship. 

You might praise God and thank God in your home, on your own, no one hears you but him. Your praise is precious to him. The Lord values our devotion to him, our acts of devotion. He has stored up every rose petal. 

It was interesting to me how God speaks and really reveals his presence at David’s Tent. 

There was an American singer called Jon Thurlow up on stage on the Saturday afternoon singing his song called- ‘Storm all around you.’  It goes: 

‘I know there are creatures all around You
I know there are lightnings and thunderings
I know there's a storm all around You
Holy, Holy, Holy’

And then outside the tent the heavens opened and the rain came bucketing down and the thunder started and the lightning. Right on time! And the leader of David’s Tent, John Kyle, immediately came on and made an announcement that for health and safety reasons, they would have to switch off all the electrical power in the tent and everyone had to leave the tent. It wasn’t safe because of the lightning. So we all got out into the heavy rain! With the thunder and the lightning! What a demonstration of God’s power! 

But you know folks went into some of the smaller tents, and they just kept on worshiping and praising God, unplugged, acoustic without any mics or anything. 

And eventually the storm cleared and the sun came out and the big tent could get powered up again and we went back in – after a couple of hours. 

But the timing of the song ‘a Storm all around you’ and the arrival of the lightning storm outside could not have been better. The audio visual effects were provided directly by the Lord with the lightning flashing and thunder rumbling. Fantastic! A bit scary but fantastic!

And afterwards John Kyle congratulated folks on continuing to worship, even when the electrical power was off. And I think God decided to test us on that one. Because right at the end of Davids Tent at 2pm on Monday, just as the event was closing, the power in the tent went off. It wasn’t a controlled switch off this time, it just switched itself off. It was like God said ‘ok lets see if you will really keep worshipping when the power is off’ and everyone did. 

Some people would call these things co-incidences, but I prefer to call them God incidences- when God starts to interact with his people in different ways. Fun ways actually! God does the unpredictable. Church can be very predictable, but when God is moving, it becomes much more spontaneous and unpredictable.  

I go to Davids Tent to praise God, but I also go because I know God turns up, he speaks. God is enthroned on the praises of his people and He demonstrates his kingdom, his reign in the midst of the devotion of his people. Let’s develop our praise, our musical devotion to the Lord on our own and as a church. Jesus is worthy of our praise. He really is. Let’s give him what He deserves. He really values our acts of heartfelt worship.