Sing to Him with Joy

Good morning church. This morning we’ll be in Psalm 33. This Psalm starts with a call to worship. It starts by telling us what we ought to do… that is… worship God.

Then, the Psalm transition… it gives all reasons for why we ought to want to worship God.

It’s beautiful.

Let’s look at the first few verses together.

v.1 Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright.

v. 2 Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!

v. 3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

This Psalm is exhorting us to praise God through music and singing.

Obviously, there are many ways to worship God, but singing and music is one way we worship. And, singing happens to be a very important aspect of our corporate worship gathering.

This Psalm is calling us to sing.

But why singing? Why is singing and music so important

Well, Pastor Joe touched on this a few weeks ago—he preached at the South outdoor gathering when we were in Psalm 29.

There is great power in coming together with other believers and praising God because—as Pastor Joe told us—praising God with other believers, it re-centers us! It re-orients us in some ways.

When we come together and worship, it shapes our thinking and our mood. It informs our outlook… and reminds us of the character and nature of God. Music and singing are extremely powerful in this way.

This week, as I was preparing for this sermon, I had the chance to read chunks of two different books about music: one was called “The Power of Music” and the other was called “On Repeat.” What I learned this week from these books…

• Researchers have proven that music stimulates more parts of the brain than any other human activity.

• Researchers have proven that you are far more likely to remember lyrics of songs than facts of a events that you’ve experience—although I don’t think any of us needed researchers to tell us that.

• Researchers have proven that music has significant impact on our mental health, and may even have impacts on our physical health.

• When you examine the research, it appears that humans are literally hard-wired to respond to music.

• Listening to music and singing seems to unlock a portion of the human mind that no other activity can unlock.

In the book, “On Repeat” the author says that in her research, when people describe how music impacts them “people often talk about [how] the boundary between the music and themselves has dissolved.” They feel like they’ve become one with the music in some ways. No other activity has this type of impact on us, as humans.

So, with this in mind, it makes total sense then why this Psalm—Psalm 33—would tell us to use songs to praise God.

It makes sense why this Psalm would command us to shout for joy and to use instruments to worship God. And we see this command elsewhere in the Bible as well.

Psalm 147:1
“Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God.”

The Apostle Paul says the church in Ephesus:
“[address] one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart…”
(Ephesians 5:18b-20 ESV)

Psalm 96:1 ESV
“Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.”

Declaring the glory of God through singing is a common command in the Bible. That’s how Psalm 33 starts… it’s exhorting us to sing. But then, the Psalmist tells us why we ought to want to sing.

That’s what this Psalm is mostly about. All the reasons to sing to God. Let’s look at the next few verses… verses 4 and 5…

v. 4 For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness.

v. 5 He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.

Another English translation renders those verses like this:

“For the word of the Lord holds true, and we can trust everything he does. He loves whatever is just and good, the unfailing love of the LORD fills the earth.” (vv. 33:4-5 NLT)

Friends… why do we sing? Because God is good!

And… because he’s committed to justice and righteousness… and because he is the God of unfailing love!

Pastor Nick wrote a song last year—we sang it this morning—it’s called, “God moves in a mysterious way.” Here’s some of the lyrics:

“Oh how deep, is your wisdom, God
You’re just and true in all your ways
In every trial you prove your love
You are good always”

We can sing those lyrics with confidence. Why? Because... Our God is just and true. He is good… always.

Our God has never had a wrong thought… or had a wrong motive. He has never done a bad deed. Our God is always good… he’s reliable… he’s trustworthy.

I want to share a quick story. A few years ago, I was in India. I met a man who was a taxi driver. When I got in his taxi, on the dashboard I saw that he had three mini-bobble head dolls.

As soon as I got in the vehicle, he said, “You American?” (His English was quite good).

I said, “Yes.”

He said, “You Christian?” (In many parts of Asia, they assume that the be American is to be Christian).

I said, “Yes.”

He said, “Me too!”

I was excited about this. But the conservation was a little strange.

He started telling me about the three bobbleheads on the dash. They were the three gods he served, “Vishnu, Shiva, and Jesus.”

He went on to tell me how he only served three gods—this is unique because in India there are literally millions of different Hindu gods, so most people worship many gods—hundreds of thousands of gods. He was proud of himself that he only worshipped three gods.

He said, “People in India, they serve many gods, but me, only three.”

And he told me about the many different Hindu gods. It was obvious to me that he had a disdain for many of the gods. His biggest gripe was that many of them are too inconsistent.

By the way he described them, I got the sense that they’re moody, temperamental, they change on a whim, they’re unreliable. You don’t always know what you’re going to get… you don’t know what to expect.

Could you imagine living this way? Not knowing what to expect from the God you serve. He said that some days a certain sacrifice is sufficient, other days that exact same sacrifice isn’t good enough.

He told me how some gods are attentive to prayer some days, but those same gods don’t care at all on other days. This is why he said he could only serve reliable gods—and he could only find three there were reliable, in his opinion: Vishnu, Shiva, and Jesus.

It was a very interesting conversation.

We ended up having some great conversation… and I did challenge him only to believe in one god, not three—to believe only in Jesus… and he told me he’d consider it.

But that conversation made me think.

Our God… the one true God, Yahweh… he is different than those gods… he is categorically different from any of the gods out there. He doesn’t change. He’s not moody. He’s consistent. He’s reliable. He’s faithful.

These other gods—the false gods—they’re not like our God at all.

This is why sing lyrics to God like:

“You have no rival, You have no equal
Now and forever, Our God reigns
Yours is the Kingdom, Yours is the glory
Yours is the Name, above all names
What a powerful Name it is
The Name of Jesus Christ my King”

We sing that with confidence.

Why? Because he has no rival… there’s no one like him.

Side Note: I know it’s strange for a man to openly declare that Jesus is one of his three gods, along side two Hindu gods.

But if we’re honest, haven’t many of us done the same thing?

I mean, if we had mini-bobblehead dolls of all the things we worship as much as we worship Jesus… they wouldn’t be Shiva or Vishnu, no… but we’d certainly have some mini-bobbleheads… right?

We’d have a mini-bobblehead doll of Jesus… and then right next to that, we’d have mini-bobblehead dolls of:

• Financial security.

• Popularity.

• Other people’s opinions of us.

• Sports.

• Our kids.

• Our jobs.

• Our comfort.

You see… many of us have mini-bobbleheads of the things we worship… they’re just not on the dashboard in our car… they’re on the dashboard of our hearts.

But Jesus is the King… he has no rival… he is categorically different than all the other gods out there… and he deserves to be loved and praised above anything else in our lives.

Let’s look at the next few verses…

v. 6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.

v. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses.

v. 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!

v. 9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.

God spoke… and bam… the heavens came into existence.

God spoke… and boom… the world came into being.

God gave birth to the stars… with his breath!

That’s the God we serve. He’s the one who that told the oceans where to stop. He the one who set the planets into orbit.

Psalm 96 says:
“The gods of other nations are mere idols, but the Lord made the heavens!” (v. 96:5 NLT)

The prophet Isaiah says:
Look up into the heavens.
Who created all the stars?
He brings them out like an army, one after another,
calling each by its name. (v. 40:26 NLT)

Let’s talk about stars for a second… According to researchers at the UC-Santa Barbara there are apx. 10 billion galaxies in the observable universe. Apx. 10 billion galaxies.

The number of stars in each galaxy varies, but there’s an average of about 100 billion stars per galaxy.

10 billion galaxies… and 100 billion stars per galaxy… that’s 1 billion trillion stars in the observable universe!

And the prophet Isaiah says that God knows them each by name!

God spoke, and bam, the universe came into being.

This is why we can sing lyrics like:
“God of wonders, beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
The universe declares Your majesty
You are holy, holy
Lord of Heaven and Earth”

Why else do we sing... let’s look at what else Psalm 33 gives us…

v. 10 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples.

v. 11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.

God’s word and wisdom is far superior to our words and wisdom... his wisdom will go on forever.

v. 12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!

What a blessing it is to be a part of the group that God has chosen to be his heritage. We are a part of his family. We have been chosen by him.

The creator of the universe has invited us into his family.

I once heard Pastor John Piper say this in a sermon:

“God in eternity looked upon me and he said,
‘I want that man in my family!
I will pay for him to be in my family with my son’s life.
That’s love folks, that is mega, off the charts love!”

God saw you… chose you… and he did what it took to get you in his family! Church… that’s a reason to sing!

This is why we proclaim that…. “Jesus sought me while I was wandering from the fold of God” as the old hymn says. Friends, this is why we sing…

“He, to rescue me from danger.
Interposed His precious blood”

Let’s look at verse 13.

v. 13 The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man;

v. 14 from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth,

v. 15 he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.

God has the grander perspective. He sees way more than we can see. He is omnipotent… including the power to shape hearts.

And he is omniscient… he sees and knows everything.

Look at verse 16.

v. 16 The king is not saved by his great army;
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.

v. 17 The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue.

Think about what this Psalm is saying… A king doesn’t win a war because of the size or strength of his army. No. A king wins a war because God determined to allow that to happen.

Job 42:2 ESV
Job says, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”

Psalm 115:3 ESV
Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

Psalm 135:6 ESV
Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth.

Friends… God is in control of everything.

Church… we sing to God because he is sovereign.

I recently spoke with someone who had been in a car accident... he said “the seatbelt saved my life”

Well, that was the natural means, yes… but… God gave man the wisdom to invent the seatbelt.

God created the materials the seatbelt is made of.

He shaped your heart… so he was the one who gave you desire to want to put your seatbelt on that day. It was God who ensured that the seatbelt actually worked that day.

God made sure that when that car hit you, it hit you in a way where the seatbelt would actually make a difference.

God is the only one who could have changed all those factors.

It’s God who saved your life.

Yes, wearing your seatbelt has value... but remember, it is God who saves—it is God who governs all things.

God is in control!

This is why Lecrae sang these lyrics:

“You know what’s in my hand
Me, I just roll and trust You, You cause the dice to land
I’m in control of nothing, follow You at any cost
Some call it sovereign will, all I know is You the boss.”

God is the boss! He’s in charge… and he’s working things out.

The Apostle Paul says to the church in Corinth,
“no eye has seen,”… “no ear has heard,”… and “no human mind has conceived… the things [that] God has prepared for those who love him…” (1 Corinthians 2:9 NIV)

To the church in Rome the Apostle Paul says,
“we know that for those who love God all things work together for good.” (v. 8:28 ESV)

Not some things. All things.

Even the things that hurt... even the things that we cannot comprehend… even those things… are ultimately for your good.

In this life, we all face very real pain… and trials… and difficulties… and suffering.

But no matter what we face, we can trust that, in the end, all things will work out for our good—because God is working them out. This is why we can sing lyrics like:

“Whatever my lot.
Thou has taught me to say.
It is well
It is well with my soul.”

O God… whatever you determine to bring my way… I’m good with it.

The last thing this Psalm highlights is the fact that God loves us… look at verses 18 and 19…

v. 18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, v. 19 that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.

Believer… his eyes are on you… and he loves you!

Psalm 34:15 ESV…. “The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.”

God is attentive to you! He cares for you!

Do you trust in him?

Yes?... Well then, he’s got his eyes on you. And he loves you!

Look at the next two verses… 20 and 21.

v. 20 Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.

v. 21 For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.

Friends… he is our help.

Church… we can trust in him!

These are reasons to sing!

Psalm 33 ends with a short prayer of sorts.

22 Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.”

As we hope in him his love will rest of us. This is the type of God we serve, church. The God of steadfast love.

Psalm 103 tells us that God is the one who “crowns you with steadfast love and mercy” (v. 4 ESV).

Did you hear those words church? He crowns you with steadfast love and mercy! Later in that Psalm—Psalm 103—it says, “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” (v. 8 ESV).

Church… God is overflowing with love for you!

That’s why we sang those lyrics:

“You’re rich in love
And you’re slow to anger
Your name is great
And your heart is kind”
And church… that’s what we see at the cross… the kind heart of God!
The cross is where God’s justice and mercy are both demonstrated!

The cross... that’s the place where our sins was paid for… by Christ... the one who loved us and died for us.

Jesus Christ lived a perfect life… but was sentenced to die a brutal death, which is what you and I deserved. It should have been you on that cross… it should have been me.

But God… our God, the one true God… the God who overflows with fierce love… he made a way for us to be saved… and his mercy will be available to us forever.

John Calvin’s commentary on Psalm 33:
[If we hope in Christ, then] “we have no reason to fear that God will fail to continue his mercy towards us, without intermission, to the end.”

If we hope in Christ, then he will show mercy. We have no reason to be afraid that he won’t be merciful.

He will show mercy, “without intermission” Calvin says. God’s never going to take a break from showing you mercy. Friends… if you have trusted in Christ, if your hope is in him, then your sins have been forgiven… his love rests on you! This is why we can sing lyrics like:

“You have broken every chain
There’s salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ, my living hope.”

Or we can sing lyrics like: “Our sins, they are many, His mercy is more”

This is why we can sing lyrics like: “No guilt in life, no fear in death.”

Or lyrics like…

“See the true and better Adam,
Come to save the hell-bound man.”

We can sing with confidence… we can sing lyrics like:
“No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand”

We can sing these lyrics because of who he is and what he has done!

Friends… God’s “streams of mercy” toward us are “never ceasing…”

And, as the hymn says… they “call for songs of loudest praise.”

The mercy of God demands songs of loudest praise!

Church... My exhortation for you this morning is simple:

Sing to God.

Give thanks to him… He deserves it.

Praise him with songs… and shouts… and with joy in your heart.

He is good.

He is reliable.

He is the creator.

He is sovereign.

And… he overflows with love for you.

Sing to him, church... sing to him lyrics like these:

“Now my debt is paid
It is paid in full
By the precious blood
That my Jesus spilled
Now the curse of sin
Has no hold on me
Whom the Son sets free
Oh is free indeed
Oh that rugged cross
My salvation
Where Your love poured out over me
Now my soul cries out
Hallelujah
Praise and honor unto Thee
Praise and honor unto Thee

Church, sing to him!