The Christian's Ode to Joy

That was Michael Bowen's, or part of Michael Bowen's, paraphrase of Psalm 98,

and to a very appropriate tune, I think, Beethoven's Ode to Joy.

Now, I'm aware Beethoven's Ode to Joy at the moment is quite political,

as the anthem of the European Union. Please forget that.

It is a great tune and a great expression of joy.

And I was thinking this morning that Psalm 98 we could describe as the Christian's Ode to Joy.

Perhaps more accurately, the Christian's Ode to Joy in the Lord,

because joy in itself is a great thing, but really what matters is what our joy is in,

and we find our joy and our strength in God.

And the psalmist says when we have a real joy in the Lord,

then we're going to want to sing about it.

That is the great thrust of Psalm 98.

Sing for joy. Sing a new song. Sing for joy to the Lord.

And I hope this morning we can get some feel of the joy that we can have

as we sing together, as we praise God.

If there's one thing to take away, perhaps, it would be this.

God wants us to find joy in singing his praises.

God wants us to find joy in singing his praises.

During the course of what I have to say, I'm going to refer very frequently to songs.

Many of them songs written specifically, thinking about Psalm 98.

Some not.

But just to remind ourselves of some of the great songs that we have,

that we can sing, and that we can use to rejoice in our God.

Now before we go into that, perhaps it's worth saying a couple of things.

One is that for some of you, perhaps, joy is the last thing on your minds this morning.

Perhaps because of personal illness or of circumstances,

you find it very difficult to rejoice in God.

Perhaps you even find it quite difficult to sing some of the songs

that we've been singing this morning.

And for a speaker to get up and say, let's all rejoice and be glad,

that could actually be the worst thing for you if you don't feel like it.

So I'm not doing that.

I recognise that many people are going through hard times.

And it's very understandable if you don't feel great joy this morning.

Our prayer would be, and your prayer perhaps,

that God, even in your circumstances, or perhaps by changing your circumstances,

would be able to give you a real joy in him.

The thing I want to say is that not all the songs and hymns we sing are in themselves joyful.

Quite a lot of what we sing focuses on our sin or on the suffering of the Lord Jesus.

And if we sing them with a cheesy grin on our faces,

that suggests we're not really thinking about the words of what we're singing at all.

And yet, even as we sing songs like that or hymns like that,

there is an underlying joy if we know the Lord Jesus.

A joy that our sins are forgiven.

A joy that Christ suffered and died, but that he's risen again and he is now triumphant.

So even in the solemnity, we can also have a joy in the Lord.

So we're thinking about singing, we're thinking about joy as we look at Psalm 98.

If you've got the psalm in front of you, you'll see that it is devised fairly naturally

into three groups of three verses.

And what I want to do is go twice through each of these three groups

and think about two different things.

First of all, I want to think about how we should sing.

What does the psalmist tell us about how we should sing God's praises?

And then I want to think about the why.

Why does the psalmist tell us that we should sing and that we should rejoice?

And we will try to cover the whole psalm in these two passes at it.

Some sections will be covered more in one than in the other.

So first of all, how does the psalmist say that we should sing?

Can I go forward rather than backwards?

There we are.

So he says we should sing freshly, we should sing enthusiastically,

and we should sing inclusively.

So verses 1 to 3, particularly verse 1,

the psalmist says that we should be fresh in our worship of God.

Sing to the Lord a new song.

Now what the psalmist probably principally means here

is that we should sing to the Lord in praise of the new things that he is doing among us,

of the evidences that we have of his grace and of his power.

This psalm is possibly the least helpful of all the headings of all the psalms in our Bible.

It just says a psalm.

So we don't know anything about the background to it.

The psalmist might have been talking about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt

as he thinks about God's great work of salvation.

He might be thinking of David and his battle with Goliath

and how that freed the Israelites from the tyranny of the Philistines.

Or he might have been writing much later

and be thinking of how God brought his people back from the exile in Babylon,

how he worked in the hearts of the Persian rulers who took over

and allowed the Jews to go back.

We don't know.

But the psalmist is saying,

God has done something wonderful about it.

What are we about us?

What are we going to do?

We're going to sing and we're going to rejoice in him.

I think the lesson for us is that our singing does need to be fresh.

Many of our songs we sing very regularly and they're great songs,

but if we get to the stage where we know the words

and we just sing them almost without thinking,

then they're not new songs.

They're not in any way fresh to us.

I think the principle lesson I would take from singing a new song

is when we sing even old songs,

we should sing them thinking carefully about what they say

and what they teach us about God

and rejoicing in all that he is and all that he has done for us.

It's good to sing new songs as well.

Old songs, old hymns are wonderful and we want to keep singing them.

Let's never lose the great wealth of Christian music

that we have in our heritage,

but good to have new songs as well.

Many new songs are based on old ones.

So the psalm, Psalm 98, there were many, many paraphrases

that I was able to find as I prepared for this morning.

All the psalms and other portions of scripture,

they have been refreshed and revised,

given new tunes to make them relevant

or make them more relevant and more accessible,

perhaps is the right word, to new generations.

And even some of our old hymns,

some of the modern songwriters have been really good

at taking them and at refreshing them.

So for example, Graham Kendrick,

Before the Throne of God Above,

an old hymn which in many ways was almost forgotten

by many people and has now been brought with a new tune

to be really meaningful to many.

Or Chris Tomlin's version of Amazing Grace,

which again brings a freshness to it.

I'm good to have new new songs as well.

We're really privileged in this church.

We've got some great musicians, some Christian songwriters,

and they write really good Christian songs.

Let's rejoice in that and enjoy the new songs

as we would sing them together.

But even if it's old songs we're singing,

even if it's very familiar songs,

don't let them become stale.

We need to keep them fresh.

We need to keep praising God through them

and thinking about what we're singing.

So we are to sing freshly.

Timothy Dudley Smith did a paraphrase of Psalm 19,

and perhaps this can sum up what I've said.

In this section, he writes,

Sing a new song to the Lord.

He to whom wonders belong,

rejoice in his triumph,

and tell of his power.

Oh, sing to the Lord a new song.

Secondly, we're to sing enthusiastically.

Now, I've got a bit of a confession to make here.

When I first typed up in my notes for this,

I wrote exuberantly.

And then I thought,

no, we're conservative evangelicals.

We live in Scotland.

We don't do exuberant very well.

If we were in Africa or Latin America, we might.

But all of us can be enthusiastic

in our praise for God.

And in verses four to six,

that really is what the psalmist is saying.

Be enthusiastic as you come in song to God.

Shout for joy to the Lord all the air.

Shout for joy before the Lord, your King.

And then there is the music that will accompany us,

the music of the harp,

the beauty of the harp's music,

the music of the trumpets and the ram's horn,

great majesty perhaps in them,

enthusiasm, noise as well.

They didn't have guitars and keyboards in that day.

But I'm sure the psalmist would have included them as well

if he had known about them.

But let me say,

and this is no disrespect to our wonderful band

and the way they serve us and the Lord so well,

the most important thing is not the music from the instruments.

It's not even the sound that comes from our mouth,

although that is really, really important.

It's what is in our hearts as we sing.

And as we sing, as we worship God together,

are we doing it with hearts that are bubbling over with love

and with praise for him?

Or do we at times just go through the motions?

John Wesley, the great preacher of a couple of hundred years ago,

said to his followers,

Sing lustily and with a good courage.

Beware of singing as if you were half dead or half asleep.

Beware of singing as if you're half dead or half asleep.

And sometimes perhaps some of our singing

has some of that character to it.

We need to sing out.

We need to sing with joy and with conviction

and not just be going through the motions.

John Wesley's brother, of course,

was Charles Wesley, the great hymn writer.

And Charles Wesley wrote,

Rejoice, the Lord is King, your Lord and King adore.

Mortals give thanks and sing and triumph evermore.

Lift up your heart.

Lift up your voice.

Rejoice.

Again I say, rejoice.

We need to sing enthusiastically.

And then finally, we need to sing inclusively.

And that's in verses seven to nine.

And we have this wonderful picture

that Paul paints for us of creation singing.

It's not just that we sing as individuals

or sing as a church

or even join with all the human beings around the world

in singing God's praises.

The psalmist says,

actually nature itself sings to God.

Creation itself is an evidence of praise to God.

The seas, the fish, they're praising him,

resounding for him.

The rivers, they're clapping their hands,

metaphorically, of course.

The mountains are singing for joy.

Sometimes we can almost hear that.

We're out on the mountains

and we hear the wind blowing through,

perhaps a gentle wind.

There's real musical quality

or the waves lapping on the shore or whatever.

But actually it's also as we look out,

as we see the wonder of God's creation,

does it not at times seem to be singing to us

and put a song in our hearts?

Creation itself teaches us

that we should sing

and that we should praise God.

It was David Crowder who wrote,

the flowers of the field are crying to be heard.

The trees of the forest are singing

and all of the mountains with one voice

are joining the chorus of this world

and I will not be silent.

I will not be quiet anymore.

As we see the beauty,

the wonder of what God has done

in his creation

and how it testifies to his greatness

and to his love for us.

We too shouldn't be silent.

We should be joining in

that great chorus of praise and worship.

So we sing freshly,

we sing enthusiastically

and we sing inclusively,

not with other humans

but with creation itself.

But we don't sing thoughtlessly.

We don't sing for the sake of singing

or because singing just makes us feel good,

feel worshipful.

We sing because of who our God is

and what he has done.

And so as well as the how,

the psalmist talks to us about the why.

And says three things in that.

He says God saves,

God reigns,

and God judges.

God saves.

The psalmist talks a lot about that

in verses one to three.

The Lord has done marvellous things

with his right hand

and his holy arm

have worked salvation for him.

The Lord has made his salvation known

and revealed his righteousness

to the nations.

Let's stop there and pause for a second.

Because in these verses,

there is definitely

two complementary things

the psalmist is talking about.

He's talking about the God

who saves, certainly.

But he's talking about the God

who is holy,

his holy arm.

And he's talking about the God

who is righteous.

He's revealed his righteousness

to the nations.

And we can't talk about the God

who saves

without talking about

why God needs to save.

If our sin,

if our failure,

if all things were wrong in our life,

didn't matter,

and God could just overlook them,

then there would be no need

for his salvation.

If he didn't care about how we live

or what we do,

then he wouldn't have needed

to send his son

to die for us on the cross.

It is because God is holy

and is righteous

that he needs to judge those

who don't meet his standard.

And it was because of that

that the Lord Jesus

had to come into the world

to live as a man among us

to die our death

on the cross at Calvary

so that if we trust in him,

we can be forgiven

and we can come into

a relationship with God.

We're thinking in our earlier service

this morning

of the wonderful relationship

we have with God

as our heavenly father

who cares about everything

in our lives.

That is only possible

because of his salvation.

And his salvation is necessary

because we don't come up

to the standard

that God has set for us.

So God's salvation,

God's great work

through the Lord Jesus

is needed because God is righteous,

because God is holy,

and because we need

to have our sins dealt with

before we can have

a relationship with him.

God's salvation.

And then the last verse

in the first section

talks about how God's salvation

spreads around the world.

He's remembered his love

and his faithfulness

to the house of Israel.

All the ends of the earth

have seen the salvation

of our God.

In the Old Testament,

we largely read about

God's dealings

with his people, Israel.

We read about how he chose them

to be his own,

how they time and time again

failed him,

and when they turned back to him,

how he restored them.

to himself.

It was God

with his people, Israel.

In the New Testament,

as foreshadowed in Psalms

like this,

another part of the Old Testament,

we read about how God's salvation

extended from his people, Israel,

to the whole world.

And his faithfulness to Israel,

his love to Israel,

that the psalmist records for us here,

has been seen throughout the world.

And it's not just the Jews

to whom God's message

of salvation comes today.

It's all those

who believe in the Lord Jesus

and choose to follow him.

The love,

the faithfulness of God

is now universal

to all who put their trust

in Christ.

He is the God

who saves.

And as we think about that God,

mustn't we sing about him

and mustn't we talk about him

to others

we were thinking about earlier,

particularly in the children's talk.

Stuart Townsend writes,

you know this one.

So with every breath

that I am given,

I will sing salvation song

and I'll join the chorus of creation

giving praise to Christ alone.

Our God saves

and we should sing

and rejoice about that

and we should go and tell others

that he can be their saviour as well.

Verses four to six now

and they tell us

that God reigns.

Mainly just at the end,

most of that is about the exuberance,

the enthusiasm

of our saying,

but at the end

it tells us

the reason for that,

shout for joy

before the Lord,

the King.

The psalmist says

we rejoice in God

because he saves us.

We rejoice in God

because he is our Lord.

He is our King.

He is the one

who is in control of everything.

He is the one

who ultimately will be seen

to be King of Kings

and Lord of Lords.

And because of that,

we want to shout

and rejoice in him.

What does that mean

for us in practice?

Well, on one hand,

it would talk to us

about the devotion,

the obedience

that we should show

to the one

who is our Lord

and our King

that having been saved by him,

then we would want

to do what he commands us to

and be obedient to him.

But it also talks

and perhaps this is more

what's in the psalmist's mind,

it also talks about the fact

that the Lord cares for his people

and as he oversees the universe,

as he rules over everything.

He is able to be with us

even through these hard times,

these difficult times,

and to give us the assurance

that he is in control

and that with him in control,

his will will be done

for our good.

God reigns.

He reigns in power

and he reigns

to give us that confidence

that we can trust him

for everything.

Our Lord Jesus

is with us

through his spirit

if we know him

and love him

at all times

and his reign

is in our heart,

but we can also see

his reign

around us

in the world,

even as we pray

with the Lord's prayer,

your kingdom come.

Robert Lowry

in one of the great times,

I think more often

sings a solo now

in than collected,

but he says this,

thinking about God's reign,

no storm can shake

my inmost calm

while to that refuge

clinging,

since Christ is Lord

of heaven and earth,

how can I keep

from singing?

How can I keep

from singing

when I have a great

and a wonderful king

who is in control

of all things?

And then finally,

in the closing verses

of the psalm,

the psalmist talks about

how God judges.

So he talks about

the seas

and the rivers

and the mountains

and he says,

let them sing

before the Lord

for he comes

to judge the earth,

he will judge

the people

in righteousness,

the world in righteousness

and the peoples

with equity.

We look around

our world today

and we see

an awful lot

of injustice.

We see that

the world

is not what

it should be,

it is not what

we would want it to be,

it is certainly

what God

would want it to be

and perhaps we ask

why,

what is going on?

Well this psalm

would tell us,

this whole scripture

would tell us

that one day

all that

will change.

One day

the Lord Jesus

will return

and he will return

to rule

and he will return

in righteousness

to judge

the world.

And all of us

will have to face him

whether it is those

who know him

and are called

to account

for the things

we did

in his service

but know that

we have salvation

through him

or those who have

chosen not to follow him,

not to trust him

when they will be

subject to his

ultimate judgment

and to the consequences

of their sin.

But we can look forward

if we know

the Lord Jesus

with confidence

to that time

when he will return

and we know

he will judge

rightly

and with

equity.

Job wasn't

as he said,

will not the Lord

of all the earth

do right?

We know that

the Lord Jesus

is coming back

and that when

he comes back

he will judge

justly

and fairly.

And we need

to make sure

that our lies

before him

that we have

our trust in him

that our sins

are forgiven

because we have

trusted in him

and know that

his death

has been sufficient

for our forgiveness.

If we don't

we will face him

as judge.

The oldest

hymn based on

Psalm 98

that I came across

and perhaps the greatest

of them all

is Isaac Watts

great hymn

Joy to the World

which Watts

took a lot of the Psalms

and applied

Christian thought

to them

and he did it

with this one

and in that

song he says

he rose the world

with truth and grace

and makes the nations

prove

the glories

of his righteousness

the wonders

of his love.

It's these two

together isn't it

that make God

the great judge.

On the one hand

he is righteous

he must maintain

his standards

he must punish

sin.

On the other hand

he has a great love

and he has made provision

for us

if we trust in him

to have our sins

forgiven.

Let's all this morning

make sure that we are

among those who know

and are following

the Lord Jesus

and that our sins

are forgiven

and we can truly

sing this great

psalm

and sing great songs

together

with joy.

God saves

God reigns

God judges.

In a few minutes

we'll have the opportunity

together

to take communion.

When we take communion

we do a number of things

as we think about

the Lord Jesus.

We look back

we look back

to the cross

where he died

and to the fact

that he took

the punishment

for our sins

that he is

our saviour.

He is the God

who saves.

We look up

we look up

and we recognise

that in heaven today

he is crowned

with glory

and honour

and we seek

also to crown him

in our hearts

with glory

and honour

to express

our love for him

and our devotion

to him

because he is

the God

who reigns.

And we look forward

we only take communion

until the Lord Jesus

returns.

And we look forward

to the day

when he will come back

and he will be

the righteous judge

and he will restore

the world

to the condition

that it should be in

and he will judge

the living

and the dead

with righteousness.

As we take communion

this morning

let's rejoice

in what he has done

even as we have

sadness about

what it cost

the Lord

to take our sins

let's rejoice

in him

and let's go into

the week

with a song

on our lips

singing about

the Lord

with freshness

with enthusiasm

and recognising

we're joining

with the whole

of creation

in praising him.

Let's pray together now.

Our Father

we thank you

for this wonderful psalm

we thank you

for what it teaches us

about how we should

be able to praise you

to sing your praises

with real joy

not just words

not just something

that makes us feel good

but something

that brings glory

to your name

and brings joy

to our hearts

and indeed

to your heart

as you see

your people

appreciating

all that you have

done for them.

Help us all

to be able

to praise

in that way.

For any who don't

yet know the Lord

Jesus

help them to come

to put their trust

in him

and be able to sing

that new song.

For those who are

going through hard times

we pray that even

in them

you will give a joy

in the Lord

and a recognition

that ultimately

you are in control

and you know

what is best.

And for all of us

as in a few minutes

we've come to

share communion together

we pray that you

will help us

to be drawn out

in a real appreciation

of the Lord Jesus

and to enjoy

his presence

as we remember

all that he has

done for us.

We give you thanks

and commit ourselves

to you

in the name

of the Lord Jesus.

Amen.