How lovely is your dwelling place - First Presbyterian Church ...

HOW LOVELY IS YOUR DWELLING PLACE
Psalm 84:1-12
First Presbyterian Church of Georgetown, Texas
Dr. Michael A. Roberts February 22, 2009
Psalm 84 (Today's New International Version)
1 How lovely is your dwelling place, LORD Almighty!
2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she
may have her young— a place near your altar, LORD Almighty, my King and my God. 4
Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. 5 Blessed are
those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. 6 As they pass
through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover
it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion. 8 Hear my
prayer, LORD God Almighty; listen to me, God of Jacob 9 Look on our shield, O God;
look with favor on your anointed one.
10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a
doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. 11 For the
LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does
he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. 12 LORD Almighty, blessed are those
who trust in you.
How lovely is your dwelling place, LORD Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
Since the beginning of the year, we have been considering the psalms. We
have read psalms of praise, psalms of trust, psalms of lament. In today’s
psalm the 84 th, we witness the enthusiasm for God and the worship of God.
Reading this psalm reminds us again of the great value and importance of
worship in the Christian life.
The author of the psalm greatly desires to be in God’s presence. For people
of the time, this presence was expressed most directly at the temple in
Jerusalem. It seems as though the author is a pilgrim in route to Jerusalem.
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The psalm will be used by God’s people through the centuries making their
way to the temple, the synagogue, or the church.
“How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty.” At its most basic, a
dwelling place is somewhere to live. Throughout the Old Testament, God’s
dwelling place on earth is understood to be the temple and before that the
more portable tabernacle. Anyone who saw the temple built by King
Solomon would recognize the glory and beauty of the place. This place was
central to the Israelite’s faith. To be in the courts of the temple, to be at the
doors, to be in God’s presence was a great joy and a source of great
excitement.
To be sure, Christians see God’s dwelling place a bit differently. Rather than
at temple, Christians see the presence of God supremely in the person of
Jesus. John’s gospel tells us that “the Word became flesh and made his
dwelling among us.” It is interesting that later on in the New Testament, that
God’s dwelling place is found among the people of God. Christ’s presence is
expressed with Christ’s people. Ultimately, the body of Christian believers are
to be knit together into a dwelling place of God.
Notice how carefully the church, the people replaces the temple in these
words from Ephesians 2:19-22: “You are no longer foreigners and strangers,
but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household, 20
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself
as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and
rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being
built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”
Still, scripture understands that the full presence of God will not be
manifested until eternity. God’s presence dwells among us through Christ
and the church. Yet, the total presence of God remains to be expressed until
eternity, when time as we know it ends. In Revelation 21, which was read for
us this morning it says: “I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look!
God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.
They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.”
This psalm highlights the place and space of worship. Our understanding of
worship space has changed from these Old Testament days so let’s talk
about this a bit before we consider the value of worship.
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The Directory of Worship in our constitution has a succinct summary on
worship space:
“Christians may worship in any place, for the God who created time also
created and ordered space. The Old Testament tells us God met with people
in many different places. Yet particular locations became recognized as
places where people had special encounter with God, so they arranged
space in such a way as to remember and enhance that meeting. Whether
the stone altars of the patriarchs, the Tent of Meeting for the wandering
people of God, the Temple of the Kingdom in Jerusalem, or the housesynagogue
worship of the Dispersion, each place was ordered to invite and
express God’s presence.
Jesus’ life reflects the covenant community’s understanding of places for
worship. He regularly worshiped in the synagogue and in the Temple, in the
wilderness and on the hillsides of Galilee. Jesus especially disclaimed the
notion that God could be confined to any one place.
Because the identifying reality of Christian worship was neither the place nor
the space but the presence of God, the early Christians could worship in the
Temple, in synagogues, in homes, in catacombs, and in prisons. Wherever
Christ was present among them in the interpretation of the Word and the
breaking of bread, that space was hallowed. Yet the Church began to set
aside special places for gathering in the presence of the risen Christ and
responding in praise and service. To this day, when the Church gathers, it is
not the particular place, but the presence of the risen Lord in the midst of the
community which marks the reality of worship” (W-1.3000).
It is God’s presence among us that is the reality of our worship. But that does
not mean that God is placeless (James Mays p. 275). We exist in time and
space. God deals with us through space and time. God dwells in heaven but
God has a place on earth. For many of us if not most of us the worship
spaces we have in our church are places where God meets us. The
Sanctuary and the Worship Center are places where we focus on God week
after week.
This psalm lifts up the value and importance of our worship of God. Let’s think
on this a bit. Why do we this? Why do we worship? Why are we here? There
are at least three good reasons. Let me touch on these briefly.
First, we worship to hear and respond to God’s word. God communicates to
us in worship. Our worship is centered on the word of God- we listen for, hear,
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and appropriate the word of God for our lives. Our worship is even structured
that way. You will note in our bulletins every Sunday that we have three main
movements in our worship: we gather as God’s people, we hear the word of
God, and we respond to the word of God.
We not only hear and listen attentively to the word of God, we also respond
to it. The epistle of James says: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so
deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:22 NIV). We are to be doers of
the word. As Jesus says, the wise person is the one “who hears these words of
mine and acts on them” (Matthew 7:24).
The response to the word of God is obviously lived out from Monday to
Saturday but please note that the response to the Word begins even within
the service itself on Sunday. We respond with the prayers of the people, with
an affirmation of faith oftentimes, with the offering of our gifts and of our very
selves, with the doxology, and with a hymn of response. We worship to hear
and respond to the word of God.
Secondly, we also worship to nurture our spiritual growth. We often overlook
that worshipping together is a means of grace that God’s people have
always used to grow in their spiritual lives.
Church consultant Herb Miller has conducted numerous surveys of church
people, asking what helps them to grow spiritually. When given the
opportunity to choose from a list of factors that helped them grow spiritually,
church members and attenders checked worship more frequently than any
other item.
In what ways does worship help us to grow spiritually? How exactly does
worship help? In his book Connecting with God, Herb Miller mentions ten
ways that corporate worship helps in our spiritual growth.
Worship, he says, benefits people in at least these ten ways:
1. Worship dispels loneliness.
2. Worship brings hope.
3. Worship counters self-centeredness.
4. Worship reminds us of important values we tend to forget.
5. Worship strengthens courage.
6. Worship gives us the opportunity to express thanksgiving.
7. Worship brings us a sense of forgiveness.
8. Worship renews our faith.
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9. Worship is a transcendent experience which helps God call us out of what
we are to what we are yet to become.
10. Worship is a highly organized form of corporate prayer that brings positive
change to people.
In short, people believe corporate worship strengthens, repairs, and
refocuses their lives. By being in worship, there is the possibility that God can
reach us and transform us. Being in worship can nurture our spiritual growth.
Finally, we worship to actively participate in offering our praise and lives to
God. We approach worship as active participants not passive spectators.
Many people approach worship as if they were a spectator. They’re a fan.
If, however, we see ourselves not as the spectators but as the performers, this
changes the way we worship. I’ve shared with you before how Soren
Kierkegaard analyzed the parties of the worship service centuries ago. He
said that churches usually see worship this way: the congregation is the
audience, the pastor and the music leaders are the performers, and God
prompts the performers, that is the pastor and music leaders.
The true Christian perspective, Kierkegaard thought, is much different. In
actuality, the congregation are the performers, the pastor and the music
leaders are the prompters, and the audience, the audience is God. The
question after worship then becomes not “what did I get out of this?” or
“how did they do?” but rather “how does God think I did?” or “did I offer my
praise and my life to God?”
If we think of ourselves as performers rather than spectators, we will tend to
come to worship more prepared. Our preparation for worship may take a
variety of directions. It may mean reading and reflecting on the scriptures of
the day. It may mean praying for those who will come to worship on any
given Sunday. It may mean praying for the worship leaders. It may mean
arriving to worship early, getting quiet before the Lord, and reading over the
hymns.
Being an active participant means we will approach worship with what
Richard Foster calls, “holy expectancy.” An expectancy that we will meet
God in this hour, that we will hear from God during this time.
You see, worship, even though it benefits our growth, is ultimately not about
us. Worship is about God. We offer our praise and thanks to God. We hear
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God’s word. We sing God’s praises. We acknowledge how important God is
in our lives. We honor God. That’s why we worship. Worship is when we offer
our praise and our lives to God.
Psalm 84: “My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God…Better is one day
in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in
the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. For the LORD God
is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor.”
It is good that we here. It is good that we all made the pilgrimage to be
present for worship this morning. It is good to serve God in this place as a
doorkeeper or greeter or head deacon or choir member or teacher or bell
ringer. It is good to serve God in this place. It is good to encounter God in this
place- to hear God’s word, to nurture our spiritual lives, to praise the living
God.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
Thou art worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power,
for thou hast created all things and for Thy pleasure they were created. We
come before you this morning, as your people have done in all times and in
all places, to offer our praise for the way you have intervened in the world
and brought meaning to our lives. Our lives are not the same as they would
have been without you. You bring comfort, and strength, and wisdom. We
are your grateful people.
As your people, Loving God, we gather together not only to praise but to
also to make petition of you. We recognize that we are not masters of our
fate. Try as we might, we can not control our destiny. We give the
appearance of strength when inside we are weak. We admit this day that
we need you. We need your strength, your comfort, the courage that you
provide.
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We pray, Holy God, for the many in our congregation who are hurting. We
pray for those who are anxious about their health, provide your dear
presence and strength to them; for those for whom family life is troubled now,
provide your calm and wisdom; for those who struggle in their relationships
with children and siblings and parents, give your patience and courage; for
those seeking to discern your call for them, provide your clear guidance in
the days to come; for those who were overwhelmed by life in the past week,
provide your relief and your perspective.
We can’t fail to pray for the world you gave your life for, Lord Jesus. The world
is not the way you want it to be, not the way we want it to be. There is too
much suffering, violence, hunger, and uncertainty. We are anxious about
what lies ahead. We pray this morning for our troubled world, especially for
leaders who seek to serve your people. Give them this day your great
wisdom, bountiful compassion, courage, and deep perseverance.
Lord Jesus, you are worthy to be worshipped on this day. You were the lamb
who was slain for our benefit. Blessing and honor, glory and power be unto
him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, forever and ever. We
pray in the strong and saving name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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