Sermon Tone Analysis

Psalm 99

 

! Introduction

            This morning I would like to begin a series of messages on the Psalms that will take us until Christmas.

Of course, since there are 150 of them, we won't look at all of them.

There are a variety of Psalms and I have chosen a number of different types of Psalms, with different themes and styles which have spoken to me.

The Psalms are wonderful because they do some very significant things.

They are poems or songs that draw our attention to God, however, they also express the full range of human experiences and do so in the presence of God.

This makes them very valuable not only to direct our worship, but also to help us think about how we live our life as people who follow God through all the experiences of life.

On Sunday, Carla and I attended the final concert of the summer series at the Lyric Theatre at Assiniboine Park.

It was a marvelous concert and at the end of it the whole crowd stood up and expressed appreciation for what they had just heard.

We had appreciated it so much that we clapped loud enough to get another song.

After that the clapping continued because we had appreciated the musicality of the musicians and the songs they had played and sung.

We were letting them know that it was good.

Psalm 99 does that for God.

The Psalmist helps us to see who God is and to acknowledge what has been experienced in relationship to God.

It invites an enthusiastic response to God.

There are three parts to the Psalm and each of them focus on a different part of who God is.

The first two verses focus on God's reign.

Verse four focuses on God who is the just judge and verses 6-8 focus on God as the one who answers prayer.

Each of the three sections ends with a call to praise God and if you look at the verses you will see the similarity between verses 3, 5 and 9.

            One theme which unites the whole Psalm is the idea that God is holy.

If you look at verses 3, 5, 9 you will notice that besides the fact that each of these three verses call us to praise God, each verse also declares God's holiness.

Holiness refers to God as one who is separated.

We used to talk about our "Sunday best" which referred to clothing that we set apart to be worn only on Sunday.

That is the major idea behind holiness.

It is something which is set apart.

When we read that God is holy, this idea is magnified.

When we speak of God as holy, we acknowledge that he is separated from everything else.

He is unique and different in every respect.

He is perfect in purity, complete in justice, absolute ruler over all other rulers and one who listens to all people at all times.

Holiness speaks of the complete and perfect separation of God from all other things and all other beings.

It is what makes Him so worthy of our worship.

As we examine God in the three respects mentioned  in this Psalm, let us remember that He is holy in each of these respects.

Waltner says, "Holy becomes the key word, directing attention to the essential nature of the reigning Lord."

!

I.       Worship the Lord Who Is King

!! A.   He Is Our Holy King

            Canada was in a somewhat unstable situation politically for a number of years because of minority governments.

Don't get me wrong, I think that sometimes minority governments are a good thing, but they also leave some question about who is really leading the country.

The majority party has to be very careful to do only those things which will be acceptable to the other parties.

As a result, they are not completely in charge.

That situation does not pertain to God.

He is the only and complete ruler over all.

The Psalm begins by declaring, the Lord is King!

This means that God is the ruler of all things.

He rules all of creation to the very farthest reaches of space.

He rules over all the nations that have ever reigned or ever will reign.

Kim Jong-un may be the president of North Korea, but God is the Lord over Kim Jong-un.

Mitt Romney may want to be president of the USA, but God reigns over Mitt Romney.

The next phrase, "He sits enthroned upon the cherubim" is an interesting one and we may wonder exactly what it means.

If you look up cherubim in the Bible, you will notice that the most frequent mention of it is in reference to the cherubim which were placed over the ark of the covenant in the temple.

They represent the glory of God in heaven according to Isaiah 37:16, "“O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth."

Their image in the holy of holies represents God's heavenly presence among the people because God was present with His people in the temple.

Expositors Bible Commentary says, "The imagery of the cherubim derives from the ark of the covenant, whose lid was a gold slab on which two cherubs with spread wings stood.

The significance of the cherubim becomes clear in the traditions of Israel, as they spoke of God’s dwelling between the cherubim…" If God sits enthroned upon the cherubim, it not only meant for the people of Israel that God was the Lord, but also that He ruled over them from among them.

Waltner says it is a "poetic way of dealing with the transcendence and presence of God…" It emphasizes God's reign, but also that His reign is among His people.

The next line affirms both of these ideas when it says, "The Lord is great in Zion."

What it meant was that God ruled over them, but also for them.

The last line of verse 2 expands God's reign and announces that He is the one who reigns over all people.

!! B.   Praise Him

            This is significant.

We can't just pass over this truth and let it fly through our brain without recognizing it.

We have a king!

But formal recognition or even personal acknowledgement cannot be where this stops.

There is something so worthy, so significant and so important here that there must be some response to this truth.

Last year we went to a football game with some friends.

It was rather funny because Carla and the other fellow's wife were quite animated in their reactions to the game.

They were cheering, jumping up and down and clapping and making lots of noise throughout the game.

On the other hand, the other fellow and I sat there quietly.

When the Bombers scored we got up and clapped for a little while, but mostly we just sat there quietly.

There is no doubt that there is a difference in personality when it comes to our feelings and how we show them, but when it comes to recognizing that God is the King over all people and the one who reigns over all, we cannot react like the other fellow and I did.

We cannot leave the truth that God is King lie in silence!

We must do more than acknowledge it in our heads as true.

Something must happen in our hearts.

We must feel something about this.

The response which is invited first of all in verse 1 is that we must tremble.

If God is the ruler over all things, that means that He is also the ruler over our life.

Whether we recognize and acknowledge God or not, the day will come when we will face Him.

Even today He is Lord.

The Bible speaks about fearing the Lord and trembling is a part of fearing.

It does not mean that we have to be scared of God, but we must feel a deep and profound awe and a recognition of His power and sovereignty.

Praise is also encouraged because of the greatness, awesomeness and holiness of God.

Praise is not just singing a song quietly without being heard.

Praise involves feeling, it involves emotion.

Many of us as Mennonites are like I and the other fellow were at the football game.

We do not like to show emotion.

I remember a fellow who had grown up in Trinidad who sometimes came to a church we were involved in.

He could never understand how we could sit still when we were singing.

It was part of his culture to be much more demonstrative.

I think we need to learn from these kind of people.

To obey the command to praise God means that we cannot just acknowledge without emotion that God, the one we call Lord, reigns over all.

It requires some feeling.

As we allow the truth of the fact that the Lord is King become real to us, let us not withhold the appropriate feelings that come with that amazing truth.

Spurgeon encourages that we should "feel a solemn yet joyful awe."

!

II.

Worship the Lord Who Is Just

!! A.   He Is A Holy Lover of Justice

            In the next verse another aspect of the holiness of God is declared.

The key word in this verse is the word righteousness.

There are four words in this verse that communicate the same concept.

Earlier I spoke a little bit about the instability of our government when we have a minority government.