Sing a New Song

Psalm 96

There is something about music that captures us. I have been in nursing homes where there are residents who hardly recognize their own family members, yet they can sing every word of their old favorite hymns. Nothing melts my heart like hearing my own son singing “How Great Thou Art” – isn’t there something precious about a child singing? When we sing the old songs of the faith, many of our hearts are moved; we remember the context in which we learned the song or a particular time that song was sung. One Sunday, a family was in tears leaving church, and I was mystified. There hadn’t been anything really emotional about the service, not that I could tell, anyway. But at the back door they told me that this particular day was the anniversary of burying their son, and that the song we’d just finished singing was one that had been sung at his funeral. The song brought back all of the memories of that day and all of the emotion immediately welled back to the surface. Not all of the emotion is bad – other times a song can remind you of pleasant and happy times, good friends, and even life change.

Sadly, many churches engage in what we call “worship wars” involving (among other things) music style. Some prefer to sing only the old hymns of the faith. We love and revere the works of Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, and Fanny J. Crosby. Others prefer contemporary music, often praise and worship choruses. There is even a denomination where they sing all their songs a capella because they don’t see the use of musical instruments in the New Testament. Regardless of where your musical taste stands, it’s clear that Psalm 96 tells us to sing a new song.

I’m sure most of us would agree on the first part, that God calls his people to sing. Or, in some cases, “make a joyful noise” which is Christianese for “you can’t carry a tune in a bucket, but you should sing anyway” and which thus begs the question: can someone who is a really good singer also make a joyful noise?

Upon reading Psalm 96, we probably also agree that we should sing to the Lord. All the earth is commanded to sing to God – even the heavens, the seas, the fields, and the trees are singing. There was some truth in the musical – the hills really are alive with the sound of music – music to the Lord made by his creation! When Jesus came into Jerusalem on what we know as Palm Sunday, the crowd of disciples began to joyfully praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: They were shouting “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” and “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” (Luke 19:37-40)

It is our job, our purpose even, to praise God. It’s not just important to sing to the Lord a new song – the content of that song is important. I’m sure my generation wasn’t the first or the last who claimed that we just listened to the music and that the words didn’t influence us, meanwhile, we could sing every word…

So, what are we supposed to sing to the Lord?

If we go through the Psalm, we can find the following:

Praise his name. Now, when we think of a name, it doesn’t have to have any meaning – besides being what a mom or dad wanted for their child. We sometimes look at the meaning of names but usually after we have already settled on a few. But Bible names have great significance, and none is more significant than the name of the Lord. His name is virtually synonymous with his presence. This is why the commandment against taking God’s name in vain means much more than just prohibiting us from using God’s name as a swear word. It means acting in any way that demeans God. So any time a Christian acts inconsistently with the profession that Jesus is Lord is actually taking God’s name in vain.

So praising God’s name is not only singing his praises, but also living consistently with the proclamation that Jesus is Lord. So let every aspect of your life sing out the song of praise to God. No matter what your circumstances, God is worthy to be praised and honored, so sing it out! The quote attributed to St. Francis of Assisi “preach the Gospel at all times, if necessary, use words” has been subverted to mean “don’t use words” and honestly our society could use a little preaching, and not just from “preachers.”  As you do so, make sure that every word is consistent with having Jesus’ Lordship over your life. Do people know you’re a Christian, and is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Psalm 96 also tells us to sing songs that proclaim his salvation (day after day). If you are redeemed by God, this is a fantastic thing! Can you sing about it? Are you excited about it? Does anyone outside your immediate family know about it? Does your family even know?

I’ve found that a lot of people don’t even know how to proclaim God’s salvation. So I’ll ask two simple questions: What did God save you from? What did God save you for? Where was your life headed? Where did your story intersect with God’s? And what is God’s purpose for you? What is God doing with your life?

How do you proclaim this day after day? You live into it. God saved you to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, which, incidentally, is the purpose and the mission of the United Methodist Church, so if you are a part of this church, this is what we’re not-all-that-successfully aiming at. What are you doing, as an individual as well as part of a group, to make disciples and to transform the world?

The Psalm also calls us to declare his glory and marvelous deeds. Who is God and what has God done? I love this – while the Psalmist is in the middle of telling us how to sing to God, he breaks in and tips his hand. As we declare God’s glory and marvelous deeds, here are some we shouldn’t miss: Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. In other words, if you want to worship something else, what did your god do, because the Lord trumps it. He made the heavens.

But the Psalmist isn’t finished. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary. He’s saying that we can use words like splendor, majesty, strength, and glory for him, but he transcends these descriptions. He is bigger than them. Remember that as you describe God.

The Psalmist goes on to use one of those great Bible words that you don’t know what it means. Ascribe to the Lord… what does that mean? In this case, as God is the originator of glory and strength, so we give him the honor due him. I had to laugh as I was reading commentaries: one said that we give honor to God by acts of appointed and solemn worship in his House. That sounds good and righteous and honorable until you realize that Psalm 96 is straight ripped off from 1 Chronicles 16, the song David sang when the Ark of God was brought into Jerusalem. You probably know what happened when the Ark was brought in – how the Levites led joyful singing with all kinds of musical instruments, hundreds and thousands of people showed up and they were rejoicing and shouting, and King David was dancing with all his might in a linen ephod – not in kingly robes which would have brought attention to himself, but in the simple linen ephod worn by those who serve God.

So behind the scenes there is another hint as to what our attitudes should be as we sing our song of praise to God. The way we dress ourselves – not just in physical clothing, but in attitude – should be that of servant.

The Psalmist further tells us to bring an offering and come into his courts. What is your offering to God? Know this: God isn’t fooled by the leftovers we often give him. God commands his people to give our firstfruits, which is a concept most of us don’t understand, not being quite the agrarian society that Ancient Israel was. When a farmer harvests, the very first goes to God. You have to understand how fickle farming is. After harvest, you store what you can because you have to store up for the whole year. You can bet that the leanest time comes right before harvest; you’ve used everything else up. Now you get that harvest, and the first thing you do is give to God. Some of you kind of know what it’s like because you live paycheck to paycheck – it means as soon as you get that paycheck, the first payment you make is to God. You don’t wait to see if you have enough left over after your expenses; you pay God first. That’s what Christians do. I suggest if you are waiting to give to God that you may not truly be God’s – you haven’t given God lordship over your money and you don’t trust God to provide for you.

Let’s continue: Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth. Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.” The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.

The more you know about God, the more in awe you are. God’s creation worships him – everything in it rejoices and sings for joy.

I have addressed everything except for one word: that word is “new.” What is this new song, and why are we called to sing a new song? After all, nothing we’re saying about God is new. God hasn’t changed – so why should the song we sing be new?

Well, as I preached last week, God is forever doing new things, reaching to his people in new ways. When God does new things, why would we respond with the same-old?

Also, there are times when God reaches in despite the direst of circumstances – Psalm 40 is one of these cases. I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. (Psalm 40:1-3). While the Psalmist was waiting patiently… in a slimy pit… God intervened. Because of that intervention, David had a new song to sing: I praise God because he saved me! Something new happened to me, so I’ll sing a new song to commemorate it.

This is where I see a lot of church people having difficulty. God hasn’t done anything new in your life, so why would you have a new song? If this is you, you don’t have to settle for a stale testimony! Because a stale testimony is no testimony at all. Friends, I first learned the power of prayer when I was a little boy, praying for things and praying for people. I learned that God provides miraculously for those who trust in him, and I learned that when we pray earnestly for people, that their lives are changed. But if I just held onto those prayers and said, “God worked in 1976 and I’m good,” then I would be completely missing out on what God has for me and for those around me today. One of the reasons why I ask every week for what God is doing in your life is because I want you to be aware that God is still working! You don’t have to settle for yesterday’s miracles or for someone else’s story.

So pray that God gives you a new story of his character, and that God does remarkable things in the lives of the people you are praying to meet him.