Worship | That is expressive Session 4. Recap. Worship that is a lifestyle We always worship something/someone. Who/what is it that gets our devotion and affection? Worship that is sung together God’s people are a singing people. God’s command created purpose for our singing was for His glory and for our good. Not limited to, but we looked at the renewal of our mind, the rekindling of our faith, and the unity of the Spirit that singing God’s praises in spirit and truth accomplish. His glory! Our good as we worship through song together. Worship that is personal “Worship is that which magnifies the greatness of God in Christ Jesus empowered by the Holy Spirit.” God isn’t pleased first by your proficiency in rhythm, vocal skill, or musical ability. He’s pleased by the ptokos, the beggingly dependent man, woman, child, old person who by faith in the Son of God responds to God in worship. By His grace through faith. The physical responses of praise we engage in only please him as they originate from faith. This message stems from one I heard at a worship conference 5 years ago, and from a book that I highly recommend to anyone wanting to grow in their understanding of biblical worship. I’m not copying a message and re-reading it to you, but I am taking a LARGE amount of content from it, because it’s simply God’s truth. We’ll take it and unpack it in our context. So, credit goes to God for His word, first and foremost. And credit also needs to go to Darren Whitehead and Chris Tomlin for their input and incredible diligence of study and time put into this. RESOURCE: HOLY ROAR by Christ Tomlin and Darren Whitehead When we hear the word praise, what do you think of? What we say in English, PRAISE, originally in Hebrew consisted of 7 unique words, each with a different meaning regarding the PRAISE God’s people were directed to use in His worship. TEHILLAH Z MAR H LAL Y D H TÔWD H B RAK SH BACH Tehillah We talked extensively about this two weeks ago when we looked at worship that is sung together. The power of music and sung worship that God created us to participate in is simply incredible. God’s people have always been a singing people. I’ve been reading Exodus. Powerful song led by Moses and sung by God’s people in response to His deliverance of them. God always initiates the reason we worship, either by simply being God but also by His active involvement in His creation, our lives. TEHILLAH: Laudation. A Hymn. A song of praise. A new song. A spontaneous song. A few things about this. The whole Psalter, the book of psalms, in Hebrew is called the Tehillum. That should say something about it’s intended purpose. To be sung! A book encouraging God’s people to sing in all situations, and giving us voice and verbiage to do so. Psalm 22:3 [3] Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises (TEHILLAH) of Israel. (ESV) Psalm 40:1–3 [1] I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry. [2] He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. [3] He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise (TEHILLAH) to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD. (ESV) Psalm 96:1 [1] Oh sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth! (ESV) Singing is mentioned a lot in scripture. To “TEHILLAH” to the Lord is to sing a song to him! Not one that needs first be in tune sonically, but one that’s a response to His work in our hearts and lives. Tehillah is for all believers. And with that, there’s an element we often forget about. A new song. Scripture talks about singing a new song to the Lord. Does that mean we wait till we hear a new song on the radio and sing it out? Sometimes. Does it mean that we wait to sing a new song here on Sunday mornings? Sometimes. But Tehillah's new song is one that applies to all of us and doesn’t have a ‘wait till sunday morning’ phrase with it. We ended the message a few weeks ago with a statement, “The question is not do you have a voice. The question is do you have a song.” - Bob Kauflin Tehillah means singing, sure, but it also means intimately singing your individual song to the Lord. Taking the time to SING OUT the words from your heart! Privately, publicly, in the car, shower, with your family, as you work, as we gather. TEHILLAH to the Lord! From our heart to His ears. Zamar Zamar: To make music. To celebrate in song and music. To touch the strings or parts of a musical instrument. Psalm 150 [1] Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! [2] Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! [3] Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! [4] Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! [5] Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! [6] Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD! (ESV) Read the psalms. Many Psalms begin with the title “To be accompanied by this instrument or that.” Steward the skill that God’s given you, the musical craft he’s designed you for, and use it to Zamar Him! Create melody and song and accompaniment that celebrates His goodness! That honors his presence and ask him to bless it so it can be a blessing to others, calming the spirits of oppression, giving sounds to those in seasons of sadness through which they’re able to process, etc... Miriam after the Red Sea picked up her tambourine and played to the Lord! Play skillfully to the Lord! Learn and steward your craft! Do all things for the glory of God! “Music is more powerful than we even understand. It can soften our hearts, soothe our troubled souls. It opens a door to the spiritual world. It paves the road for the Spirit’s coming.” Darren Whitehead H LAL Halal: To boast. To rave. To shine. To celebrate. To be clamorously foolish. Psalm 149:3–4 [3] Let them praise (HALAL) his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre! [4] For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation. (ESV) “Halal is the primary Hebrew word for praise. It’s the word from which we drive the biblical word hallelujah. It’s an exuberant expression of celebration, a word that connotes boasting, raving, or celebrating. It carries with it the notion of acting in a way that is “clamorously foolish.” True halal contemplates laying aside your inhibitions and killing your self-consciousness.” Psalm 150:6 “Let everything that has breath praise (HALAL) the Lord. Praise the Lord.” One of the most visual examples of this in scripture is David. When the ark of the Lord was brought back to Jerusalem in 1 Chronicles, he practiced HALAL. He danced before the Lord, appearing foolish and crazy to Michal...Yet exuberant and celebratory and ecstatic at the presence of the LORD. JOY! This was his song of HALAL. And why. 1 Chronicles 16:8–13 [8] Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! [9] Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! [10] Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! [11] Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually! [12] Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles and the judgments he uttered, [13] O offspring of Israel his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones! (ESV) In 2 Samuel 6, which also accounts this, David responded to Michal’s heart-state and said he’d become even MORE undignified for His LORD. He’d make his HALAL even greater! Oh the JOY David felt as he danced about at the presence of the Lord. Our Halal is only true HALAL, true praise, if it originates from a heart laid open before the Lord, with no aim to glorify ourselves or others, but solely to glorify the LORD for what he’s done! It’s exuberant! It’s celebratory! It’s bliss! It’s Christ-centered. 1 Corinthians 13:4–7 [4] Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant [5] or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; [6] it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. [7] Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (ESV) Our HALAL, all of our praise, if it’s not done out of love for God and his people, for his glory and the benefit of His people, it’s unacceptable. The physical expressions of our worship must always be filtered through the lens of scripture and from a renewed spirit in the truth of God’s word. Y D H Y D H: To revere or worship with extended hands. To hold out the hands. To throw a stone or arrow. You may not be a hand raiser...yet. My prayer is that you get there! That you learn the freedom that comes with physically extending your hands in worship! God wired our bodies to respond certain ways to certain things. “Yadah - it’s an active posture of praise expressed by those who adore God. It’s an act of praise for all the people of God, whether charismatic, conservative, nondenominational, Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, or Presbyterian. What’s more, it’s an eternal verb, one that transcends time and place; and one day, we’ll come to see that it transcends our own corporeal bodies too. One day, we will YADAH our God forever and ever.” Some might argue that raising your hands in worship is too physical, too emotional, too distracting...I argue that scripture is clear. Scripture is our fall back. Scripture outlines our freedom, our method, our command, and our why. It gives us the permission to praise. Over 111 times in scripture this word Yadah is used in the context of our praise and worship. **But, God is patient. He wants us to learn and has the grace for us to learn. So must we as his children, as his leaders, as his worshipers, have grace for those still learning why we worship and how we can worship. Psalm 67:3 [3] Let the peoples praise (YADAH) you, O God; let all the peoples praise (YADAH) you! (ESV) Psalm 44:6–8 [6] For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me. [7] But you have saved us from our foes and have put to shame those who hate us. [8] In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks (YADAH) to your name forever. (ESV) We raise our hands in celebration of who God is and what He’s done! As a way of celebrating, and as a way of saying thank you Lord! I’m grateful Lord! TÔWD H Example of kids raising their hands up to their parents as if to say, ‘help me’. TÔWD H: An extension of the hand. Thanksgiving. A confession. A sacrifice of praise. Thanksgiving for things not yet received. A choir of worshippers. Towdah is based off of Yadah. It’s extending the hands in praise, yes, but in gratitude. In thanksgiving. In faith. Why? For what God’s done, yes. But also for what God’s going to do. It’s expressing praise in faith, with expectation of what God’s going to do. A seeking, faith filled and expectant extension of the hands. Hebrews 11:1 [1] Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (ESV) Psalm 56:1–4 [1] Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me all day long an attacker oppresses me; [2] my enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly. [3] When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. [4] In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? (ESV) Psalm 50:14 [14] Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving (TOWDAH), and perform your vows to the Most High, (ESV) Ps 56:12 Vows made to You are binding upon me, O God; I will render praises to You, (NKJV) In the darkest of circumstances, in the hardest of situations, God is still worthy of our praise. Part of my praise is Towdah. My Towdah says I know you, I thank you, I need you, I know you’re faithful to your promises, I trust you, step in, Lord! B RAK Barak: To kneel. To bless God (as an act of adoration). To praise. To salute. To thank. Worship - Shâchâh: to depress, i.e. prostrate (especially reflexive, in homage to royalty or God):—bow (self) down, crouch, fall down (flat), humbly beseech, do reverence, make to stoop, worship. The most common translation of ‘worship’ in the OT is the word Shachah. Bowing down, kneeling, is a huge element of our worship. And The word PRAISE, one of it’s translations is Barak. To bless God. To praise. To salute. To thank. In line with the definition of worship itself. Kneeling is not a topic unspoken of in scripture. All throughout the bible, cover to cover, kneeling is present. Bowing down in the presence of someone greater than you to honor, to respect, to serve, to bless. We all will bow before the Lord. Psalm 95:6 [6] Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! (ESV) Psalm 72:11, 15 Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him; All nations shall serve Him…. And He shall live; And the gold of Sheba will be given to Him; Prayer also will be made for Him continually, And daily He shall be praised. (BARAK) Romans 14:11, Isaiah 45:23. Every knee shall bow and tongue confess He is lord…. Read Revelation. Bowing, worshiping, falling down before the throne is all we can do because of the presence of God. Our PRAISE, our Barak, is us physically posturing ourselves in a statement of humility and reverence, saying You are King, I am not. It’s a physical act we can do and are free to do that physically expresses a blessing to the Lord. Honoring Him. Scholars of ancient Hebrew describe Barak as not just being a bowing down, or kneeling down, but doing so while keeping your eyes fixed on the king. To Barak is to be transfixed on the Lord. To keep our gaze fixed on Him as we bow in humility to bless Him. Psalm 103:1–2, 20-22. [1] Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! [2] Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, [20] Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! [21] Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! [22] Bless the LORD, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul! (ESV) Barak means to bless. SH BACH SH BACH: To address in a loud tone. To shout. To commend, glory, and triumph. Psalm 63:3 [3] Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise (SHABACH) you. (ESV) Psalm 117 [1] Praise the LORD, all nations! Extol him (SHABACH), all peoples! [2] For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD! (ESV) Psalm 145:4 One generation shall praise (SHABACH) Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts. (NKJV) Our praise, our Shabach, is individual, yes, but with the purpose of also being a unifying shout, a declaration, a commendation of the glory of God so that together, our shabach creates a holy roar! This element of praise is a loud shout declaring the victory of Jesus! Why, though, would we do any of these? Why would we respond with any form of praise God’s word gives us? What motivates or moves us to do so? It is not the pleasure of man. It is not pride. It is not religious. It is not an attempt to reach God or impress others. WHY we praise, WHY we worship, is to magnify the glory of God in Christ Jesus empowered by the Holy Spirit. Because Jesus gives us life! Because we were dead in our trespasses and sins in which we once walked, following satan. BUT GOD who is rich in mercy made us alive together with Christ! By grade we are saved through faith! God has saved us in Jesus Christ! What was dead is now alive! What was bound is now free! What else can I do BUT respond to Him for who he is and what he’s done in and for me! COMMIUNION