Community Group Guide

the Church at Martinsburg Why We Worship: What Does God Focused Worship Look Like? Part I Psalm 113:1-6 Pastor Jacob Atchley August 16, 2015

Sermon Summary What Does God Focused Worship Look Like? Part I After making clear the purpose of God Focused Worship the next item to consider is, “What does God Focused Worship look like?” In a day when “worship” is often defined by a style of music, stage design, day of the week, or any number of other factors it’s important for us to learn from the Bible what worship actually looks like. The Scriptures are not silent here. In this 2-part message we’re going to discover what the Bible says about what worship looks like. Answering questions like, “Do I have to lift my hands in worship?” and “Is it wrong to say ‘amen’ while the pastor is preaching?” are important and at times overlooked. The Bible is clear about Why We Worship and What Worship Looks Like!

Scripture Passage Have a volunteer read the following scripture passage(s).

Psalm 150

Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

Psalm 113:1-6 Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord! Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore! From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised! The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens! Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?

1 Weekly Bible Reading Schedule Read the Bible through the week!

Sunday – Job 38:4-7 Monday – Revelation 15:2-4 Tuesday – I Timothy 2:8 Wednesday – :7-8 Thursday – Nehemiah 8:1-6 Friday – Psalm 138:1-3 Saturday –

Discussion Questions Unpack the biblical text to discover what the Scripture says or means.

1. What insight, principle, or observation from this weekend’s message did you find most helpful, eye-opening, troubling?

2. Share your background and history as it relates to the question, “What does worship look like?”

3. Read Jeremiah 2:11-13. What’s the difference between living water and a broken cistern? Where do you most frequently drink from?

4. What are the biblical examples of active expressive worship?

5. Pastor Jacob described and defined several expressions of worship today. Which are you most comfortable with? Uncomfortable with? Why?

6. Read Isaiah 40:9 and meditate on “Behold Your God!”. How does a clear focus on God free you to worship in a more biblical way?

Prayer As you pray with your group, consider praying for the following things:

• Pray that God would give you a greater vision of himself that you could worship him more fully and that from that place you could lead your group to worship more fully as well. • Any personal requests. Pray for the personal requests that may have been shared in your group. • A desire to have the Word of Christ dwelling richly in the hearts of your fellow group members (Col. 3:16).

Weekly Update (August 16-22, 2015) Remind your group of some of the important things coming up for the church.

2 1. Groups officially kick off on 9/13/15. Please be in prayer as Pastor Jacob leads the effort to coach our current group leaders as well as start several new groups! 2. Student Ministry begins on 8/16/15 at 50 Monroe. Email [email protected] for more info! 3. Camden Mission Trip: On August 21-23, our church is sending a mission team to minister with one of our sister churches in Camden, NJ. For more info or to sign up, visit martinsburgchurch.org/camden. There are 3 ways you can be involved with God’s mission in Camden: • Pray that God will open doors for the Gospel for our team and Epiphany Fellowship of Camden. • Give toward our hygiene drive or the cost of a team member’s trip. • Go with our mission team on August 21-23. For more information, check out our informational page at martinsburgchurch.org/camden.

Study Helps for the Week The Church at Martinsburg is committed to promoting and protecting God-Focused Worship!

4 COMMITMENTS 1. We’re Committed to God-Focused Worship Because Only God-Focused Worship Connects You to Your Ultimate Purpose for Living. (Isaiah 61:3) 2. We’re Committed to God-Focused Worship Because God-Focused Worship is the Most Life-Changing Worship. (Isaiah 6) 3. We’re Committed to God-Focused Worship Because of the Satisfying and Agitating affect it Has On Us. (Psalm 16:11) 4. We’re Committed to God-Focused Worship Because of How Often and How Desperately We Need to be Reminded of Who God is…and How Big God Is. (I Chron. 29:11-12)

3 CONCLUSIONS 1. God-Focused Worship Keeps You From Obsessing Over All The Wrong Stuff. 2. God-Focused Worship Changes Your Life. 3. God-Focused Worship Forces Us To See God And How Big He Is.

Worship is about being satisfied is God!

Sam Storms says, “… I must confess that I have ransacked the dictionary for words to describe what I have in mind… Here is what God had in mind when He created and fashioned your heart and stamped His indelible image upon it. I, you, we were made to be enchanted, enamored, and engrossed with God; enthralled, enraptured, and entranced with God; enravished, excited, and enticed by God; astonished, amazed, and awed by God; astounded, absorbed, and agog with God; beguiled and bedazzled; startled and staggered; smitten and stunned; stupefied and spellbound; charmed and consumed; thrilled and thunderstruck; obsessed and preoccupied; intrigued and impassioned; overwhelmed and overwrought; gripped and rapt; enthused and electrified; tantalized, mesmerized, and

3 monopolized; fascinated, captivated, and exhilarated by God; intoxicated and infatuated with God! Does that sound like your life? Do you want it to? Or is your greatest struggle in the Christian life resisting the urge to yawn from boredom and lifelessness? Do you realize how difficult it would be to sin if this were true of you? This is what God made you for. There is an ineradicable, inescapable impulse in your spirit to experience the fullness of God in precisely this way - and God put it there!”

What are some biblical examples of ACTIVE, EXPRESSIVE worship?

• SINGING Psalm 9:11 • LIFTING OF HANDS Psalm 143:6 • CLAPPING OF HANDS Psalm 47:1 • DANCING 2 Samuel 6:14

Suggestions for application for group leaders and group members: 1. READ and meditate on the Scripture verses describing different means of praising the Lord. 2. MEMORIZE some of the praise verses and use them in your personal praise and worship. 3. PRAY and ask God to renew your mind and free you from any past misconceptions about becoming more actively (physically) involved in worship. 4. TRY TO USE some expressions of praise that might be new for you (Start in your private worship and then use in your corporate worship). 5. Continue to FOCUS on God in our corporate worship rather than criticizing or evaluating what others are doing.

ESV Study Bible Notes on Psalm 96 and 113

Psalm 96 – This is a hymn celebrating how God’s kingship over all creation (see note on Psalm 93) means that all kinds of people should love and worship him. The psalm has three sections, each beginning with a command (“sing,” 96:1; “ascribe,” v. 7; “say,” v. 10), and each mentioning the Gentiles (“all the earth,” “the nations,” and “the peoples” in vv. 1–6; “families of the peoples” and “all the earth” in vv. 7–9; and “the nations,” “the peoples,” and “the world” in vv. 10–13). God called Israel to be a vehicle of blessing for all mankind, bringing them knowledge of the true God for whom all human beings yearn, and this psalm keeps this mission prominent in the Israelites’ view of the world and their role in it. Verses 8–9 even call the Gentiles to join Israel in their worship in God’s courts. The psalm looks forward to a time when the Lord will come and judge all peoples with equity, without specifying how this will take place. The term “judge” is probably not limited to sifting between the righteous and the unrighteous; the wider sense of “execute justice, rule justly” fits the context better (cf. Isa. 2:4; 11:3–4). Thus the psalm is more focused on a time in which Gentiles acknowledge the true God, and the benefits that will bring to all the earth, than it is on the final judgment. Christians sing this, knowing that God has ushered in this long- awaited epoch with the resurrection of Jesus (see note on Isa. 11:3–4). This psalm appears in 1 Chron. 16:23–33, indicating that the people sang an adaptation (or perhaps an early edition) of it when brought the ark to Jerusalem.

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96:1–6 Sing to the Lord All the Earth, for He Is Great! The psalm begins by calling the inhabitants of all the earth to sing to the LORD. The activities (sing to the LORD, bless his name, tell of his salvation; cf. praised and feared) all describe the privilege of Israelite worship in God’s sanctuary; here the Gentiles are invited to join in (see also vv. 8–9).

96:3 The declaration to the nations anticipates the spread of the gospel (Luke 24:47; Acts 1:8; see note on Ps. 22:27).

96:4–5 These verses explain to the Gentiles that there is only one God truly worthy of worship. He is to be feared above all gods (because he made the heavens, while they are powerless, indeed unreal). The words gods (Hb. ’elohim) and worthless idols (Hb. ’elilim) sound alike, providing a play on words; in English this would be close to “these mighty beings are mighty useless!”

96:6 Splendor and majesty describe royal magnificence (21:5; 45:3), which is suited to the theme of divine kingship (cf. 104:1; 111:3; 145:3; Job 40:10). These, along with strength and beauty, are attributes of God, into whose presence people come in his sanctuary.

96:7–9 All Nations, Ascribe Glory to the Lord! These verses develop the thought of v. 7, inviting the Gentiles to worship into his courts, i.e., in the temple precincts. The OT describes the future era, when the Gentiles receive the light, by picturing them coming to the Jerusalem temple (Isa. 2:2–3; even the lesser temple after the exile, Hag. 2:7–9). The Gentiles are to bring an offering and to worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness (i.e., the splendid presence of the all-holy one). Their uncleanness (cf. Isa. 52:1) can be cured by conversion, and then they too will be welcome in God’s house.

96:7–8 Ascribe … ascribe.… Ascribe. These three lines are very similar to 29:1–2, except that there the heavenly beings are called to worship, while here it is the families of the peoples (i.e., Gentiles). Strength looks back to the same word in 96:6, and glory (Hb. kabod) is a synonym of “beauty” (Hb. tip’eret). Verse 6 listed God’s attributes, and the Gentiles are called to “ascribe” (or acknowledge) these attributes. The glory due his name is the respect and honor God’s character deserves.

96:10–13 Let All Nations Know that the Lord Will Judge in Righteousness. The Gentiles addressed throughout this psalm (cf. vv. 1, 7) are to spread the news among all their fellow Gentiles (among the nations, v. 10; cf. v. 3), namely, that the LORD reigns! The universal rule of the one true God (who is above all other gods, who are worthless anyway, vv. 4–5) is good news to those who will acknowledge his kingship. These verses describe a time when God will judge (i.e., rule justly; see note on Psalm 96) the peoples with equity (v. 10; cf. v. 13). When all kinds of people gladly receive God’s rule, worshiping him according to his gracious character, the rest of the creation (the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the field with all their inhabitants, and the trees of the

5 forest) will all celebrate (be glad, rejoice, roar, exult, and sing for joy). The creation suffers from the curse upon mankind, and from God’s discipline of wayward human beings, and from the evil that people do; but when they genuinely come under the rule of the true God, the blessings will spread throughout the world. Cf. note on Rom. 8:20– 21.

96:10 the world … shall never be moved. See note on 93:1. The world is founded on secure moral principles, the unchanging character of God (cf. equity; and “righteousness” and “faithfulness,” 96:13).

Psalm 113 – This short hymn of praise celebrates the way in which the great and majestic God who rules over all takes notice of the lowly. Such a God is indeed worthy to be praised by all mankind. Verses 7–8 overlap with 1 Sam. 2:8, part of Hannah’s Song. Perhaps the psalm borrowed the words, as the reference to a “barren woman” suggests. 113–118 have been called the “Egyptian ” (Hb. hallel means “praise”; “Egyptian” because of the later connection with Passover), which came to be a regular part of the great festivals of the liturgical year (including Hanukkah, the Dedication, once it was instituted in the intertestamental period; cf. John 10:22). These psalms likely provided the hymn that Jesus and his disciples sang after their Passover meal (Matt. 26:30).

113:1–3 The Lord Is to Be Praised through All the World. The theme of the whole psalm is set by the words that open and close the psalm, Praise the LORD! (Hb. hallelu-yah). The servants of the LORD (esp. faithful Israelites; cf. 136:22, where the whole people is called God’s “servant”), who have received his covenant, should lead the way in praise; but they live in confidence that one day their God will be praised from the rising of the sun to its setting, i.e., all over the world by all kinds of people, as he deserves.

113:4–9 Though He Is on High, He Looks upon the Lowly. This section develops the universal theme of the previous section in a surprising way: the God who deserves to be praised by all mankind is seated on high (ruling over the whole world), and yet he looks far down and raises the poor from the dust. The imagery of vv. 7–8 describes a position of extreme degradation and misery (“dust” and ash heap) being transformed to one of dignity and privilege (sit with princes). For an Israelite woman to be barren (i.e., unable to bear children) was a misery, too (cf. 1 Sam. 1:2–17), and this likewise provides an image of God’s tender care for his loved ones. God’s majesty never implies his remoteness from those who look to him; it implies instead his exhaustive attention to detail, and his inexhaustible ability to care for his faithful.

113:7 Attentiveness to the needy is supremely manifested in Christ (Luke 1:48–55; 6:20).

Follow-up through the Week Midway through this week, send a follow-up email, text, etc. to your group with some or all of the following:

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• A note of encouragement, following up on any specific prayer requests mentioned during your group gathering. • Encourage individual members of your group with specific passages of scripture that deal with something they might be experiencing. • Challenge your group members to read through the entire book of Philippians this week. • A reminder to pray for the requests made during your group time.

Resource for the Week

Following up on last week’s suggested resource – Praying the Bible by Don Whitney I want to let you know that the church has copies of these available for $8 for group leaders. If you’d like a copy or multiple please let me know at [email protected].

The suggested resource for the week is Women of the Word by Jen Wilken. I realize from the outset it appears like a book just for women…and it is. After reading it I would have preferred Wilken title the book “People of the Word”. Simply, it’s fantastic for men and women. Wilken writes from a woman’s perspective, but don’t let that deter you – she does a marvelous job with the subject of studying the Bible with our heart and mind. I read it initially along with Lindsey and was personally encouraged and motivated to study the Scriptures more deeply. I can’t recommend it highly enough!

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