Worship Devotional XVIII

Originally posted to the Facebook group on 3/27/2020.

Worship Devotional 

Psalm 145:1-7:

"I exalt You, my God the King, and praise Your name forever and ever. I will praise You every day; I will honor Your name forever and ever. 

Yahweh is great and is highly praised; His greatness is unsearchable. One generation will declare Your works to the next and will proclaim Your mighty acts. I will speak of Your splendor and glorious majesty and Your wonderful works. They will proclaim the power of Your awe-inspiring acts, and I will declare Your greatness. They will give a testimony of Your great goodness and will joyfully sing of Your righteousness."  

Last week we sang about God's power and sovereignty, and how we are satisfied in Him alone through Jesus Christ. Because of the greatness of our God, we have hope no matter what may come our way. So, as believers who live with such a hope in this world, what are we called to do? What is our mission and purpose? 

This is what worship is really about, and the reason we sing: to glorify God with all that we are. We see in psalm 145 — a psalm about God's greatness — that we praise God so that He may be made known more and more throughout the earth. This includes our singing as well as speaking about what He has done. Psalm 145 tells us to declare the great works, mighty acts, and wonderful deeds of God. So what is it that He has done? We cannot even comprehend, let alone tell, the entirety of God's work. However, we can speak and sing about what we have heard and come to believe and know. God has revealed great things about Himself and His good plans for us in this: the work of the cross. 

The cross is where Jesus shed His blood to pay the price for our sins; where God's love and justice are harmoniously displayed; where sinners find forgiveness and rebirth into new life; where death brings life, losing brings finding, and suffering brings glory; and where a world of lost and broken people, undeserving of anything good, can be saved from wrath and reconciled to the God who created them. 

This week's set contains five songs — one based on psalm 145 and four about the work of the cross: 

  1) Psalm 145 by Dustin Kensrue  

We are starting with this psalm — a Davidic hymn — for an intro to the set because it exhorts us to speak and sing of His works. As we praise God for what He has done, we reflect on the meaning of the work of the cross. God's unfailing love and great compassion are proven and given freely to those who believe because of what Jesus accomplished at the cross. Through the cross, we have been redeemed so that we now belong to God, and therefore His promises are ours to hold onto. 

Psalm 145:21:

"My mouth will declare Yahweh's praise; let every living thing praise His holy name forever and ever."

See also: Psalm 103; Isaiah 40; Romans 11:33-36 

  2) Lead Me To The Cross by Hillsong  

This song is a prayer for God to lead us to the cross so that we may be made completely His, being rid of ourselves and filled with His Spirit. Because of what Jesus has won for us, we can be led to the very heart of God. We must first, however, be led to the cross. 

See also: John 1:14; Philippians 3; Hebrews 4:14-16 

  3) The Power Of The Cross by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend  

This is a modern hymn about the power of Jesus' suffering. The symbol of the cross is one of suffering. We have great promises from God, such as the forgiveness of our sins, the unfailing love of a perfect Father, and the hope and joy of eternal life in Him. These promises have been won for us, however, through the sufferings of Christ. We have a beautiful inheritance, but we must first share in His suffering in this life so that we may also share in His glory in the end (Rom. 8:17). 

See also: Isaiah 53; Matthew 27; Mark 15; Luke 23; John 19; 2 Corinthians 5:21 

  4) Sweetly Broken by Jeremey Riddle  

We need God to lead us to the cross so that we might break free of our sin and selves. At the cross, we must be broken first so that God can make us whole in Jesus. Although this breaking down of our selves can be painful, it is also sweet, because God is replacing the worldly and fleshly things that can never satisfy with the holy and eternal things of His Spirit which will ultimately satisfy forever. Therefore, we rejoice as we take up our cross to follow Jesus. 

See also: Matthew 20:20-28; Romans 5:1-11; Galatians 2:20 

  5) Nailed To The Cross by Rend Collective  

Colossians 2:13-14:

"And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive with Him and forgave us all our trespasses. He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross."  

Finally, we sing this song to remind us that even when we feel unworthy and perhaps too far gone because of our sin and shame, the truth remains that Jesus has nailed our sin to the cross once and for all, and by His blood and His work, we are saved and we are His. 

See also: Colossians 2:6-15; 1 Peter 2:24-25; Revelation 5, 7:9-12 

As we head toward Easter, we are preparing our hearts to rejoice in and declare the work of God. Through the work of the cross, God has made a way for sinners to be saved from the wrath and punishment we all deserve and to be reconciled to Him and given new life in Jesus Christ, who suffered and died and was raised to life again. This week we sing about the cross. Next week we sing about Christ's suffering and His death. Then on Easter Sunday, we sing about His glorious resurrection and life. Let's sing with joy as we meditate on and declare the mighty works of our great God!