Let's pray as we come to hear God speak to us.
Father God, thank you that as we hear your word
read and preached, as we sing and pray together,
we are hearing you speak to us. Thank you that
your words to us are always words that come to
us in the power of the Holy Spirit and through
your Son, the Lord Jesus. And so, Father God,
work in our hearts by your Spirit so we might
see and know more of your Son. To his glory and
our blessing. Amen. Now, I wonder when the last
time was when you got a song really stuck in
your head. It kind of depends maybe on different
stages of life. So for a big chunk of my life.
The theme song for Bob the Builder just went
round and round and round. It's one of those
songs that doesn't move from A to B. Every chorus
brings you to the verse, to the chorus, to the
verse, never seems to naturally land and come
to an end. I've now moved into a, I've moved
through the baby shark phase. I've got a tweenager,
so I'm firmly in the opalite. and um barbie girl
face but you have those different songs that
kind of go round and round in your head and and
they you kind of can't get them out one of the
difficult things about having a song in your
head is when you have one song in your head it's
almost impossible to listen to another song have
you ever done that you know like this song on
the radio and you're trying to think what is
it what is it what is it then the other song
comes on and you're like i can't now hold those
two songs in my head um And I think that experience
that we have with one song stuck in our head,
sort of squeezing out any space for any other
song. Well, that can sometimes be what our experience
can be like as Christians. It can be what our
experience is like as we gather here this morning
as students at Oak Hill. We could ask ourselves,
what is the song that's got stuck in my head?
What is the song that's taken hold of my heart?
What is the song that kind of smothers? and doesn't
really leave space for any of the others. Sometimes
it's the song of the gospel. I mean, it could
be after a lecture, after some reading you've
done, just some time you've had in God's word,
or maybe like the prayer time in those prayer
stations that we had yesterday. You can have
those moments when the volume of that song of
the gospel kind of is heard more loudly in your
heart, but pretty soon... Other songs begin to
sound louder and louder. I don't know what those
songs might be for you, those songs that just
get stuck in your head. It could be you're coming
to the end of your time here at Oak Hill and
the song is, will I get a job? Will I get a job?
Will I get a job? It could be that you do have
a job lined up and you're thinking, am I up to
the task? Am I up to the task? Am I up to the
task? It could be that study is hard, there's
work to do. Study is hard, there's work to do.
Home is hard. I feel pressures around. And it
could be that even as you went from chapel yesterday,
having heard that song of the gospel, very quickly
the other songs came in and smothered it. Well,
this psalm, Psalm 96, is here for us this afternoon
to sing for us of Jesus, to get this song kind
of stuck in our hearts. This psalm sings to us
of Jesus. Jesus, the creator and the king who's
coming again. And it calls us to give our lives
to that song, to live our lives, as it were,
to that tune. And it sort of slowly, steadily
over each of the sections turns up the volume.
It begins by singing us to the Lord Jesus and
singing and inviting us to join in and sing to
the Lord God who is the creator. And verses one
to three, I wonder if you kind of caught that
as TJ was reading. Sings to us, turns to us as
the people of God. You sing to the Lord a new
song. Sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to
the Lord, praise his name. Verse three, declare
his glory among the nations. Sing of Jesus, share
about Jesus. Why? Well, we hear the answers in
verses four to six. Sing of Jesus because. Well,
look, verse 4, he is the only true God because,
verse 5, he's the only creator God. And so, verse
6, he's the only one who deserves that celebration
and praise. He's the only true God. Verse 4,
he is to be feared above all gods. Verse 5, because
none of the others are gods at all because he
is the one. who made the heavens and so, verse
6, splendor and majesty are before him. The psalm
calls us to proclaim the Lord Jesus in all the
world because the Lord Jesus is the one who made
the world. The psalm invites us to bring this
song in our hearts and our heads wherever we
are because wherever we are is a place that has
been made by the Lord Jesus. And so if we're
going to sing, The song of verses 1 to 3. If
we're going to have the song of verses 1 to 3
stuck in our head and our hearts, then we need
to know the truth of verses 4 to 6. The truth
that Jesus is the creator God. And that truth
can give us confidence. The kind of confidence
that can melt any of the insecurity and any of
the uncertainty that would keep us from joining
in with this song. I mean, it feels like the
people who first heard this psalm felt that tension
and that sort of clash of tunes. Which one am
I going to listen to? Which one am I going to
live for? And just glance up to Psalm 95. Psalm
95 begins inviting the people to join in singing,
inviting the people to sing to this God. And
then halfway through, the psalm has to stop and
say and moves from this invitation to song to
a warning. to say, well, don't let other songs
drown out this one. Don't harden your hearts.
Don't disobey. Don't ignore. Don't let your doubts,
don't let your disobedience, don't let your discouragement
drown out this song. And so Psalm 96 picks up
where Psalm 95 left off. To hear this song. To
join in with this song, we are going to need
to know that the God of whom we sing is the creator
God. I remember, forgive me if I've told this
story before. I only have a set number of anecdotes
from our time at Chile. But when I first moved
to Chile, it was amazing. I lived in a block
of flats. And actually, unusually for Chile,
there was like an old building in front of us.
So we didn't have another building kind of blocking
our view. And so we could see out from floor
15. and look out over the city and the mountains
that surrounded it. And initially it was beautiful,
but pretty soon it became really unsettling because
there I was in this place and just looking out
the window made me feel really far from home,
made me feel really, really small, made the ministry
seem so fragile and slightly ridiculous to think
what we're doing, I can literally see over a
million people as I look out my window. How can
anything that we could do make any kind of difference
there? And you feel that uncertainty, you feel
that fragility, and you begin to feel that doubt.
Well, a couple of months after that, we had the
full chilling experience because there was a
earthquake, a good solid seven point something
earthquake. And up on the 15th floor, you really
feel it. And it's this extraordinary moment that
as you're kind of looking around, you feel that
earth around you move. But the precious truth
was that those mountains that looked so imposing,
it was this extraordinary reality that actually
those mountains themselves aren't stable. Those
mountains themselves will shake. That the mountains
shake, but the Lord cannot be moved. That the
creator who made those mountains is Lord over
those millions that I can see. That the creator
who made those mountains, who shakes the earth,
is a stronger refuge than any home that I might
have to leave or look for. And that's what this
psalm speaks to us. And that's what this psalm
offers to us. In some ways, it's as if the psalm
offers to us a loving shake, a loving earthquake.
The Lord Jesus is the one who made the whole
world. And so we can entrust ourselves to him
as he leads us to serve him in the whole world.
I mean, it might be this morning that you are
feeling that same kind of fragility, that same
sort of doubt and insecurity that I felt looking
out over Santiago. It could be that you look
ahead to ministry in the future. It could be
that you look around to the study and the challenges
that you face here and now. You might feel weak
and tired. You might struggle with temptation
and doubt. But this psalm is to be that kind
of loving earthquake. We can trust the truth
of the creator. We can trust the care of the
creator as we give our lives. and the lives of
our families into the hands of this Lord, we
are giving our lives and the lives of our families
into the hands of the one who created and cares
for the world. The Lord Jesus is the creator.
The psalm goes on in the next couple of verses
to turn up the volume that Jesus isn't just the
creator. Jesus is, well, because he's the creator,
he's the king. And in verses 1 to 6, it was like
we were being invited to join in the song. And
now, verses 7 to 10, address the whole nations
of the world. In verses 7 to 9, Jesus is to be
worshipped in the whole world because, verse
10, he is the king over the whole world. Ascribe
to the Lord, verse 7, all you families and nations.
Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Verse
10, say among the nations or let it be said among
the nations that the Lord reigns. The world is
firmly established. It cannot be moved. He will
judge the peoples with equity. Jesus is the king.
Our horizons for mission and our horizons for
ministry will be set by the borders. that we
place around Jesus' kingdom. And these verses
show us the borders of that kingdom, that there
are no borders of that kingdom, that that kingdom
is a kingdom over all nations, all places, over
the whole earth. So let it be said in the whole
earth that the Lord reigns. And I think sometimes
our struggle to join in with that, as we look
ahead to ministry, as we think about our situations
now, I wonder if one of our issues is... that
we think that living the Christian life, or we
think that living in Christian ministry is like
playing an instrument when it's actually like
singing a song. Okay, so I think when we think
about ministry like playing an instrument, I
look at the people who do this, and it's like
a superpower to me. It's like, it's baffling.
I do not understand it. They move their hands,
they do different things with different parts
of their body at the same time and make it sound
nice. And you look at that and I think we can
have that view of Christian ministry. That we're
here learning techniques that we need to practice
to do this thing that maybe only certain people
can do. I don't know if you have that sense of
kind of distance from what the people here do.
And you could have that sense of discouragement.
I'll never learn that. I could never do that.
Or it would take me so long and it would almost
be a little bit pointless if I tried. You could
feel discouragement. You could feel pride. Like,
I'm one of those people he's describing. I have
the techniques. I can master it. I can make it
play my tune. I think we sometimes think the
Christian life and Christian ministry is like
playing a musical instrument. It's just for some
people. Or if it is for me, I'll do it in a pretty
clumsy way. Whereas actually it's not like playing
a musical instrument. Instead, what we're seeking
to do is to sing a song. All of us sing. We just
need the right occasion. We just need the right
motivation. And that's what these verses give
to us. They hold up Jesus before us. They hold
up in verse 10. They show us. Jesus who reigns
and they invite us to look around us to see this
whole world over which Jesus reigns. Everywhere
we stand, everywhere we are is a place over which
and in which Jesus reigns. And sing, look at
who he is, look at where you are, join in and
call others to join in that song. It's a bit
like if you're at a birthday party, you see the
person in front of you. you look at the party
around you, you don't really worry about whether
you're hitting the right pitch. Or at a sports
event, you know, as your team is winning or needing
encouragement when it's struggling, you look
at the team, you see yourself around in that
stadium, and you don't think twice about joining
in and calling others to join you as well. Or
if you're at a concert, when the music starts,
the lights go up, the music starts. You think
nothing of kind of rushing forward and joining
in. They don't like you doing that at classical
concerts. Okay? Apparently. But, you know, when
you're at a concert, you think nothing. No one's
turning to anybody else and asking them about
their perfect pitch. You see them there. You
look around you. It's the right occasion. It's
the right motivation. You join in and you call
others to get involved as well. So we are here.
At Oak Hill, we are studying and giving ourselves
to this process of study, not in order to learn
how to master an instrument, techniques for mastering
an instrument. Instead, we are seeking to see
Jesus more clearly so that we can join in with
this song. To know that motivation so that we
can see every occasion. as an occasion to sing
of Jesus as the king. We see Jesus before us.
We see the world around us. And so with the psalm,
we know that Jesus is to be worshipped in the
whole world because he is the reigning king over
the whole world. So the psalm has been turning
up the volume on that gospel song. Looking amongst
God's people can hear it in verses 1 to 6. The
nations hear it there in 7 and 10. And then as
the psalm comes to an end, this song breaks out
and is heard in verses 11 to 13 in the whole
of creation. Jesus is the creator. Jesus is the
king. And he is coming again. As we look at verses
11 to 13, we listen from heaven to earth, from
sea and fields and forests and everything that
might be in between. The whole earth, the whole
of creation is called to join in to this joyful
song. Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be
glad. Let the sea resound and all that's in it,
the fields and everything in them. Let all the
trees of the forest sing for joy. let all creation
rejoice. The whole of creation is invited to
sing for joy in verses 11 and 12 because the
Lord is coming to judge in verse 13. Let all
creation rejoice for he comes. He comes to judge
the earth. He will judge the earth in righteousness
and the peoples in faithfulness. Jesus is coming
to fix. the brokenness of the world. Jesus is
coming to heal every hurt. Jesus is coming to
bring comfort to every pain. All who belong to
King Jesus will be brought home by King Jesus.
What a beautiful message to share. What a glorious
hope to be able to offer. What a precious perspective
in which to place our lives. See, this is the
glorious. truth that we can glimpse in these
verses because we're sat here this morning and
we might be wondering about the decisions that
led us to come and be sat here. We might be wondering
about the decisions ahead that will lead us into
the future. Might be thinking about the choices
that face us as we count the cost of serving
Jesus. But this psalm calls us to follow Jesus,
not By telling us to leave home. But by encouraging
us that we are heading home. As Christians, home
is never somewhere we leave. Because our home
always lies ahead. And this psalm calls us to
look ahead and live for that glorious heavenly
home. The home for which all creation. strains
and longs to see. I don't know about you, call
me superficial, but last Wednesday's sunshine
completely lifted my mood, like changed everything.
It was like, oh, being out on the front, sunshine,
it was like, oh, spring is coming. Now today
is a bit more cloudy, but I can face that cloudiness
with a little less grumpiness because I had that
taste of spring. on Wednesday and into the weekend.
I'm sure you guys aren't affected nearly that
much. But you feel that. In Chile, one of the
great things was that you were never more than
about two weeks away from a sunny day and 20
degrees. So you see, you always had that taste.
You always knew that that sunshine, even in the
depths of winter when it would get quite cold,
you knew that that sunshine was coming. Well,
in some ways, these last verses, verses 11 to
13 of this psalm, Well, they long for the light,
the sunlight of that future day to flood into
our lives today. They want to give us the taste
of that sunshine. They want that sunshine to
begin to burn away the fog that can confuse and
disorientate and discourage us. This psalm shows
us the certainty of spring. When all of creation
will blossom in the beauty of the glory of the
Lord Jesus. That future home when Jesus returns.
We will only be willing to let go and leave home
if we are looking ahead and heading home. The
home to which all of creation is straining and
longing to see. Jesus, the creator, is king and
will one day come again. So let's live our lives
looking for that day. longing for that loving
home. So the question we started with, when was
the last time you had a song stuck in your head?
Let's pray that this psalm would help us to hear
the gospel in all its clarity and beauty so that
we might live our lives to that tune. Let me
pray. Father God, we pray that our hearts now
might begin to join with this song of Jesus'
glory and Jesus' goodness. Would our hearts be
a place where we begin to get a taste of that
day when all of creation will rejoice before
the Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen.