Hallelu - jah!
I love hearing the scriptures read aloud in Hebrew, especially the Psalms! When I came across that recording made in the 1970’s by Father Abraham Shmuelof - I listened to it over and over again! I love the musicality of that refrain ‘Hal’luhu’- It gets repeated 9 times in Psalm 150. Hal’luhu just means ‘Praise Him.’
And that’s Psalm 150 in a nutshell.
Praise the Lord!
Hallelu - jah!
Praise God everywhere
Praise God for everything
Praise God with everything
Praise God, everyone and everything everywhere
HALLELUJAH!
Psalm 150, as short as it is, is the grand finale of all grand finales. It is a brief but extravagant call to worship, and a fitting close to the entire book of Psalms.
For the past few weeks we’ve been talking about worship. The series began when our founding pastor Dave Rodriguez described worship as a ‘thin space’ between heaven and earth in which you are as close to God as you can possibly be in this life. He stressed the importance of learning to worship with our whole brain - the left and the right sides of our brain. When we worship, we present our whole selves to God - all of who we are. This is true worship.
And Barry taught us last week that true worship flows out of a reflective heart. He said that when we worship, we present our gifts or offerings to the Lord:
The gift of our praise
The gift of our resources - our time, our money our energy
And the gift of our attention and our focus
We bring all of what we have to the Lord.
Living a lifestyle of worship means bringing to God all of what we have and all of who we are - this is true worship.
Worship is action! It is the act of showing honor, devotion, and respect to God. We worship when we offer our whole selves to Him in praise and adoration.
Sadly, in our culture, the word ‘worship’ has been largely relegated to mean “the music portion of a church service.” But in reality, the entire service is worship! From prayer at the cross at the close of service, to the benediction, to the message, on up through the songs of praise and adoration that we sing together as we enter this space - with our coffee in hand.
In fact, I would argue that even that coffee in hand is an outpouring of somebody’s worship.
These folks on the hospitality team who get here early to brew fresh coffee and make sure that it’s hot and ready and in abundance by the time you arrive, that’s absolutely an act of worship!
Because worship is more than a service we attend on the weekend. That’s the noun - the thing, right? The ‘worship service.’
But worship is a verb, as much as it is a noun. It’s really both/and. It’s the thing we attend AND the things that we DO!
Worship is action! It is the act of showing honor, devotion, and respect to God. We worship when we offer our whole selves to Him in praise and adoration.
Getting up early to make coffee for all of us church goers on a Sunday morning is an act of devotion. It is worship.
And I would say the same of your Sunday morning ritual. I would argue that your worship begins even before you enter this space - or before you tune-in online. By the way, welcome to those of you joining us online. We’re glad you are able to join us in worship today!
Worship begins the moment we take action! The act of waking up and putting on clothes and choosing to drive ourselves here on a Sunday morning, that’s an act of worship. Or the act of choosing to tune in online, and set aside an hour to focus in on God - that’s an act of worship! It is action that comes from an outflow of devotion to God.
I’ll say it again:
Worship is action! It is the act of showing honor, devotion, and respect to God.
We honor God by gathering each week to make Him the central focus of our communion.
***
The word Communion is another beautiful ‘both/and.’ Communion is both the thing - the ritual that we share when we receive the symbols that represent Christ’s body and blood - the piece of bread and the sip of wine. We will be sharing communion, the Lord’s supper, at the end of service today. ***
But there’s another definition of communion. It comes from the latin word Communio - which means fellowship. Mutual participation. A sharing.
Communion is the thing we do and the things we share!
communion - the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially when the exchange is on a mental or spiritual level.
This is the communion we share every time we come together. When we pray for each other. When we encourage one another. We share our lives with one another, especially on a spiritual level! It’s the common participation that we actively live out together, week by week, and day by day.
And in this series, when we’re talking about communing with God, we’re talking about that week to week, day by day communication with God.
We are sharing and exchanging our intimate thoughts and feelings on a spiritual level WITH our creator GOD - 24/7! We’re always communing with God!
It’s like breathing. Your breath is personal. Your breath is close to you. Your breathing mechanism, your lungs are internal. But they’re always in motion, and as long as you are living, that motion never stops.
That’s what communion with God is like. *** Scripture tells us that in Him we live and move and have our being!
We exist in Him! And we don’t just exist on Sunday mornings! 24/7 we live in Him, we move in Him - we have our very being in Him. We breathe in, we breathe out - in Him.
Psalm 150:6
“Let everything that breathes sing praises to the LORD!”
EVERYTHING.
A closer look at Psalm 150 takes this tiny, 6 verse Psalm, and blows it up to the size of the cosmos.
So turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 150.
Psalm 150 opens with a Hallelujah! In fact, the last 5 chapters of the book of Psalms all begin and end in the same way, with a resounding HALLELU - JAH! Which translates in English to ‘Praise the Lord!’ These 5 Hallelujah chapters are the joyous conclusion to the massive collection of Hebrew songs, poems, and prayers that is the Psalter, or as we know it ‘the book of Psalms.’
Psalms begins with an introduction in chapter 1. You can read the whole chapter later on, but I’ll summarize it here - Psalm 1 is a picture of what it looks like to live a godly and blessed life. And by contrast, it also depicts what it looks like to lead a wicked and ungodly life. The godly are blessed. But the path of the wicked will lead to destruction.
The book of Psalms begins by showing us that there is a path that leads to life -
if you meditate on God’s teaching -
if you keep His ways,
if you are obedient to Him - your life will be blessed. You will be favored by God. For ‘the Lord watches over the way of the righteous.’
Psalm 1 promises a blessing. Blessed is the one who delights in the law of the Lord.
Psalm 150 is the joyous fulfillment of that promise! What is the outcome of delighting in the law of the Lord? What is the outcome of walking in His ways? Where is all of this going? Is life about obedience for obedience sake? Obeying the law, the Torah, God’s law, in order to avoid being punished like the wicked? What is the outcome of a righteous life?
Theologian Walter Brueggemann said:
Torah-keeping does arrive at obedience, yet obedience is not the goal of torah-keeping.
Finally, such a life arrives at unencumbered praise.
As Israel (and the world) is obedient to torah, it becomes free for praise, which is its proper vocation, destiny, and purpose.
In this light the expectation of the Old Testament is not finally obedience, but adoration.
The Psalter intends to lead and nurture people to such a freedom that finds its proper life in happy communion that knows no restraint of convention or propriety. That is the hope for Israel and for all creation.
(Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary, 167)
The outcome of a righteous life is happy communion. Worship without restraint. Unencumbered praise! Freedom to linger in that ‘thin space’ between heaven and earth in which you are as close to God as you can possibly be!”
Closeness. Communion with God. Happy communion.
Psalm 150 is the outcome of a life lived in obedience to God and his ways. A person who delights in God’s ways, and follows His path - is blessed.
And a blessed person can Praise God everywhere
A blessed person can Praise God for everything
A blessed person will Praise God with everything
And a blessed person will declare without restraint:
Praise God, everyone and everything everywhere
Praise the Lord.
HALLELUJAH!
PSALM 150 BEGINS WITH A ‘HALLELUJAH’!
Psalm 150
1
Praise the LORD!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heaven!
The Psalmist is saying Praise Him - WHEREVER! Praise him on Earth, praise him in the Heavens. Praise Him everywhere, high and low and inbetween, let the Hallelujahs ring out! Angels and human beings alike, the chorus above and the chorus here below, sing Hallelujah! Praise the Lord. Verse 2:
2
Praise him for his mighty works;
praise his unequaled greatness!
This verse, verse 2, has 2 parts. Praise him for what He does - and for who He is!!
Praise Him for what He does - He is the creator God!
Psalm 146, the first of the final 5 chapters in the book of Psalms, the one that kicks off this grand finale of hallelujahs says this:
Psalm 146:5-9
5
But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper,
whose hope is in the LORD their God.
6
He made heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them.
He keeps every promise forever.
7
He gives justice to the oppressed
and food to the hungry.
The LORD frees the prisoners.
8
The LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
The LORD lifts up those who are weighed down.
The LORD loves the godly.
9
The LORD protects the foreigners among us.
He cares for the orphans and widows,
but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.
This is what He does! Praise Him for what He does!
He helps, He provides, He keeps his promises, He gives justice, He feeds, He frees, He enlightens, He uplifts, He loves, He protects, He cares.
Praise Him for what he does! Praise Him for his mighty works!
And
Praise His unequaled greatness!
Praise Him for who and what He is. He is the Almighty God. He is supreme. Glory to God in the high-EST! He is the high - est! He is above all.
Psalm 113
“The LORD is high above all nations,
His glory above the heavens.
Who is like the LORD our God,
Who dwells on high?”
We praise Him for who He is! Who is like our God?! Praise him according to His excellent greatness!
And - praise Him with everything you have!
Psalm 150:3-5
3
Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn;
praise him with the lyre and harp!
4
Praise him with the tambourine and dancing;
praise him with strings and flutes!
5
Praise him with a clash of cymbals;
praise him with loud clanging cymbals.
What do you have on hand? You got a ram’s horn or a trumpet? USE IT!! You got a harp or guitar, something with strings - USE IT! Got 2 pieces of metal you can clang together? GO AHEAD AND USE THAT, TOO! And - make it loud!! Loud clanging cymbals, it says in verse 5! (I know all my drummers just said Amen to that!) Praise him with a clash of cymbals, with LOUD clanging cymbals! PRAISE HIM! Hal’luhu! Praise Him! Praise the Lord! Hallelu - jah!
One of the things I found interesting about this passage - the part that made me say AMEN - Is that part about the tambourine and the flutes in verse 4. Those instruments were not typically associated with temple worship. They weren’t ‘churchy’ instruments if you know what I mean. The tambourine wasn’t sanctified!
The horn was. And the stringed instruments and cymbals all had clearly defined roles in temple worship.
But the flute and the tambourine were more closely associated with secular celebrations that took place outside the temple. In fact one commentary I read said that it appears that tambourines were restricted to use outside the temple, because they were associated with Baal worship! To some, the tambourine would’ve been nothing shy of “devil music!” - not fit for the worship of our God - not fit for the temple. Tambourines were like the electric guitars of their day!
But not so with Psalm 150! In this grand finale of the book of Psalms we see the secular being employed in worship right there alongside the sacred.
Use the sacred horn, and go ahead and use the tambourine too!! Use it all to praise Him! Use it all to make his praise loud, and glorious! Use everything you have!
Don’t have instruments,
Clap your hands, all you nations! Psalm 47:1a
Hands not available?
Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises! Psalm 47:6
Not a great singer! No matter! Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!
Shout to God with joyful praise! Psalm 47:1b
Use everything you have! Use your body! Clap your hands! Shout with your voice!
Praise Him with the tambourine and - DANCING!
Now, I’m no dancer - I know some of ya’ll are, but that is not a gift that I possess. However, when I am worshiping, that is when I take action to show my honor and devotion to God - when I am offering my whole self to God in praise and adoration - my body can’t help but follow suit. Because
Worship is action!
Often, when I am worshiping - my hands will raise. Either that, or they’ll gesture, as though they’re directly connected to the outpouring of my heart! It’s like an overflow of worship. My lips move as I sing, or sometimes they just whisper softly in adoration - I love you. I love you.
Psalm 63 says
Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips shall praise You.
Thus I will bless You while I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
Pay attention to the physical postures of worship we see described all throughout the Bible! Lifting up of hands, bowing, leaping, shouting! Fasting! Fasting is a way we use our bodies to show our devotion to God, to give Him our undivided attention.
Dancing, kneeling, standing, worship is action! He moves us to action! Even if that action is a command to be still! How many of you know that stillness takes work!
Sometimes it takes more work and more intentionality to be still than it does to move!
Don’t believe me? Go home and try to hold a plank posture for 60 seconds.
And no, that is not me. You can tell that’s not me because that woman is smiling. I don’t smile when I’m holding a plank! Stillness is not passive! I’ll say it again. Stillness is not passive! It’s active! And being still sometimes requires every muscle to be firing at once, and demands every ounce of your will power and focus!
The Hebrew word that means ‘to be silent’ often gets translated in our Bibles to the phrase ‘be still’. How many of you know it takes effort to be silent sometimes! It takes effort to bite your tongue. Stillness is not passive! Being still, even being silent before God takes effort.
And I think this is important to recognize. Because the outward manifestations of worship - raising your hands, shouting and singing aloud - that stuff is easy to recognize.
But Ecclesiastes tells us there’s a time to dance and a time to mourn. A time to laugh and a time to weep.
And I know that there are just as many people here weeping, internally, as there are rejoicing externally.
If we are to truly offer our whole selves to God, then sometimes weeping and mourning will be all we have to bring to him. We bring to him our broken hearts.
For the grieving and the broken hearted, those of you who are wrestling - just being here is an act of worship. You’re doing what you can to keep seeking after God. You’re showing up. And that is worship.
Ten years ago, it took everything in me to drag myself to church. And when I got there, my hands were fixed firmly in my pockets because my heart was so heavy! I wasn’t going to pretend like I had some kind of joyous overflowing heart. That’s not where I was. And I wasn’t going to fake it - not even when the pastor put his hands on my shoulders and told me to raise my hands! I looked at him with tears in my eyes and said, ‘No.’
Because there is a time to weep AND a time to laugh. And this was my time to weep. I was hurting. But I was there - offering all of me, even my pain, as a sacrifice to God. And a decade later, He has turned my mourning into dancing! Hallelujah!
We worship when we offer our whole selves, joys and sorrows, to God. We honor Him when we seek after him, even and especially in dark times.
Acts 17 says
Acts 17:27 - 28
“His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and exist.
Maybe you’re in a dark season today, and for you worshiping with your body looks more like ‘feeling your way toward him, and finding him.’
If that’s you today, please know that He is not far from any one of us - because In Him we live and MOVE, and exist. As our breath exists within us, we exist IN HIM. He is that close. As close to us as our own breath.
As I mentioned earlier, The book of Psalms begins with an admonishment to live a life that adheres to God’s Torah - to His law.
I came across a quote from a Jewish writer that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about. Miriam Goldmann was answering the question “Why do some Jews rock back and forth when they pray?” They move their bodies when they pray. Her answer was captivating. She said, “Every time a Jew engages with the Torah, the light of his or her soul ignites, which is why he or she moves like the flame of a candle.”
Miriam Goldmann, Curator of the Special Exhibition “The Whole Truth”
Hebrews 12:29 …”Our God is a consuming fire.”
When the wick of my heart encounters the brilliance, the glory, the heat of His presence, my soul ignites and I can’t help but move and be moved - like the flame of a candle. Have you ever wondered why the Holy Spirit appeared as flames of fire on the day of Pentecost? Tongues of fire that rested above each person, like the flame of a candle?
Our God is a consuming fire.
Don’t be afraid to use your whole self in worship and adoration of our God who is a consuming fire! Our souls and our bodies are intrinsically connected.
Like the flame that flickers and dances when the wick is lit, our bodies are moved to action when the light of our souls ignite.
Psalm 150:6
Let everything that breathes sing praises to the LORD!
Our souls and our bodies are intrinsically connected.
Sprinter and olympic gold medalist Ericl Liddell said
“God made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure”
Our souls and our bodies are intrinsically connected.
Are you a runner? When you run, do you feel His pleasure? Or what about playing an instrument?
My son practically came out of the womb playing drums. I know that when he is drumming, he senses God’s pleasure.
I know when my friend Jesus programs lights for our worship services, he is engaging his whole self, body and mind, in an act of worship. He says, he enjoys being able to make the lights dance! That is his act of praise! It’s how he uses his body in worship - and he feels God’s pleasure!
The same goes for his little Sister Daniella, when she is singing! You can see it in her passion as she sings praises to her Father!
What is the thing that you do that connects your soul and body and mind? That thing, whatever it may be, when it is offered in thanks and praise to the one who created you - that thing becomes an act of worship!
So what is it for you? What ignites your soul?
Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way. - Colossians 3:17 MSG
Every detail in your lives… Did he really mean every detail? I wanted to see how far this could go.
I was doing laundry last week. And I wondered to myself as I got down low to reach for that last sock that was stuck to the back of the washing machine, I wondered “LORD, EVEN THIS?” CAN THIS MUNDANE CHORE SOMEHOW BE SEEN AS AN ACT OF WORSHIP?” Could I ever say “And when I do laundry, I feel His pleasure.” Will I ever say that?! Because if I want to live a lifestyle of worship, and if doing laundry is a regular part of my life - can laundry be an occasion for communion with God?
God and I were having a conversation about laundry.
And I sensed that His thoughts on the matter were: “yes… any chore can be turned into a moment of worship when it flows from a heart of gratitude.”
And then, He showed me how, as He filled my heart with gratitude!
Lord, I thank you!
There was a time not long ago, when I didn’t even have my own washing machine, much less my own home - so thank you!! And yes Lord, this sock that I just peeled from the wall of the washing machine belongs to my husband - whom I love, and am so grateful for. Thank you for my family. Thank you for the loved ones who wear these clothes I’m washing!
And thank you for clothes to wash! You have blessed me exceedingly and abundantly! You truly have! You are providing for all of my needs. You are Jehovah Jireh, my provider. You are my good Father, and I feel your pleasure even now, wet sock in hand! I know you are taking care of me. And my heart overflows with gratitude.
That is how the simple act of laundry became an act of worship.
Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way. - Colossians 3:17 MSG
Every detail. Challenge yourself! What mundane task, what moment in your life can be reframed as an opportunity to worship God?
From singing songs of praise in your hearts, to dancing, to running, to laundry, to making coffee on a Sunday morning, to standing still in His presence, to showing up even when your heart is heavy - every detail of our lives, when done in the name of our Master, Jesus - all of it is worship. All of it is communion with God.
Worship is action! It is the act of showing honor, devotion, and respect to God. We worship when we offer our whole selves to Him in praise and adoration.
In a moment, we’re going to share the Lord’s Supper together. If you are at home, take this time now to gather something that represents Christ’s blood, and something that can represent His body. If you’re in the room and you missed it on your way in, feel free to go to the communion tables and get what you need.
We do this in obedience, as a time of remembrance. And yes, it is a way for us to involve our bodies in our worship, and have communion with God.
Remember, communion is a word that means common participation! Communion, the Lord’s Supper, is something we do together.
We receive the body and blood of Christ together, as a unifying act of remembrance. We remember that his body and blood was sacrificed for all of us.
We remember, we worship together with all of God’s redeemed ones. We receive, collectively, in a posture of humility, the Grace, the forgiveness, and the hope of Christ Jesus. We accept the mercy He has offered us, while we acknowledge that His mercy is not just being offered to us as individuals - but to all of us - to everyone who would so humbly bow beneath the shadow of the cross of mercy.
And so with that in mind, let us share communion together.
23 For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread 24 and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it into pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
We receive the bread, the symbol of the body of Christ who gave his life on the cross, was buried, resurrected, and is now seated in power forevermore.
We share the bread together!