Psalms 120-134
Pilgrim Psalms
The Right Attitude Toward Public Worship 

I. FIRST OF ALL, THINK BRIEFLY ABOUT THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THEIR FORM OF THE REVEALED RELIGION AND OURS. 

1. In their case there were 6 festivals at which they were originally required to go up to Jerusalem. (The 7th was the weekly Sabbath and obviously they stayed home for that) The whole religion before the Babylonian Captivity -- at which time the synagogue was invented -- centered about these festivals. 

2. And the content of these "Pilgrim Psalms" shows them to be associated with these 6 "goings up" to Jerusalem. See the expectation of the magnificent view of the Holy City and God's sanctuary as the large majority of these Jews coming home came to the crest of the Mount of Olives and saw the beautiful scene at their feet. Having lived on the crest of the mount for a year while I was a student there I am impressed with what must have been their view in ancient times. Listen to this expectation in "Psalm 122 (1-4)." Imagine the spiritual anticipation of it all! 

3. Our Sunday morning is very much a parallel to these 6 yearly festivals of the O.T. Jews. It is a time that we draw near to God in the corporate sense and use the sacraments of the N.T. church as they observed the ones of the O.T. form of the religion. It was a joining with other believers and having their faith strengthened, a time of fellowship and commonality which our word "fellowship" or koinonia means.. That anticipation which we see in these Psalms should be ours week by week and it should be of such strength, that if you are not able to be in fellowship with the saints of God on a particular Sunday morning, you ought to feel a sense of loss. For corporate worship should not just be a discipline but a delight. 

I ask you this morning, do you do anything to build the anticipation as the day and hour approaches? On early Sunday morning does your heart and perhaps your voice say "Come let us sing unto the Lord, new songs of praise with one accord" as our hymn #19 translates Psalm 98? Human being are so made by God that, not only pleasure but, even spiritual fulfillment and fellowship with God is enhanced by anticipation. This would suggest the wisdom (and the benefit to your Christian life) of getting up early and being quiet before the Lord and contemplating the fact that you are going to worship the God of all Glory and the God of all grace in a few hours just as these Hebrews contemplated the worship in the temple as they came to the crest of the Mt. of Olives and said in their hearts "I was glad when they said unto me: 'Let us go to the house of the Lord." And if I may say so, it might lead you to come 5 minutes early instead of 5 minutes late for this wonderful privilege of worshipping God in fellowship with other believers. 

Imagine yourself (as is truly the case) of preparing to enter into the temple of the all-holy, omnipotent God and respond to his gracious, kindly permission for you to worship him as thousands of generations of Christians have done before you. Imagine (as is truly the case) that men and even angels reflexively fall on their faces when confronted with his presence and yet he graciously, in the Lord Jesus Christ, invites you to come into his presence and worship. And you will be better prepared to enter into worship! 

1. You may want to follow along in your Bible. I will briefly explain the primary mentality addressed by each of these Psalms and in some cases refer to a verse to illustrate my point. 

2. Psalm 120 - it was an anticipation of a time of renewal of personal piety and dedication: "vv1-2" Psalm 121 - a contemplation and thanksgiving for God's protection of the religious life. When v 1 ("1-2") asserts help comes from the Lord it does not mean, as people often say, that we gain comfort from hills, but the historical situation was that there were robbers in those hills who swooped down on individuals and robbed and sometimes killed them. -- one of the reasons they habitually traveled in company. It was a thanksgiving that God delivered them and preserved their life so that they could worship him once again. ""v.3-6" Psalm 122 - the love of the true worship of God Psalm 123 - the mentality of helpless dependence upon God. "v 1-2" Psalm 124 - Remembering the grace of God in the past. This deals with human enemies but we apply it more often to intangible enemies. "(v.2-6)" 

Psalm 125 - an expression of trust in God for the future How often do we, in confessing God's deliverance of us in the past, find strength of faith to trust our future to him also. ("v 1-2") Psalm 126 - another belief in the future based on the past. When you stand up in the exhortation time and honestly report how God has helped you we are put in a position of trusting God in all our individual situations. ("v.3") Psalm 127 - dependence solely upon the Lord ("v.1-2") Psalm 128 - concern for family ("v.3b") Psalm 130 - desire for communion with God ("v.5-6") Psalm 131 - desire for peace with God ("v. 1-3") Psalm 132 - belief in a presence of God himself in the corporate people of God ("v.13") Psalm 133 - desire for fellowship in worship with other true believers ("v.1") Psalm 134 - a longing for a personal closeness to God ("v 1-3")

1. Now, even though we follow their example, the specific and detailed content of what we do is clarified in the latter N.T. We corporately worship God with prayers of worship, perhaps confession of the creed, surely with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs -- probably the latter differing from hymns in that they do not address God but celebrate the Christian life, while hymns are directly addressed to God. We do not know in detail about the teaching of Israel before the Babylonian Captivity in 586 B.C. but in the N.T. there was formal teaching -- what we call a sermon. And there were exhortations. In big assemblies these might be only in the sense of the whole congregation singing hymns of exhortation: Fight the good fight with all thy might Christ is thy strength, Christ thy right; Lay hold on life and it shall be, Thy joy and crown eternally. That is a reasonable way to fulfill the need for exhortation for a large congregation. But we, in our church have been blessed in being able to renew the practice of exhortation by individuals that we see in the N.T. 

2. As I have said, in the N.T. times, Christians probably spent many hours each week listening to the public reading of the scrolls that the particular congregation was blessed to have in its possession or which a visiting Christian was able to provide them. Our printed Bibles have changed the strategic quality of this somewhat. 

3. In all these things I have mentioned, it is highly significant that there were other believers gathered together singing the psalms and hymns as their testimony and doing the exhorting, and listening and profiting from the teaching. The dominance of choirs for anything other than leading the congregation in singing is really counter productive, even though it is standard practice in American churches. We are here for worship not entertainment! When you leave here, I wonder if you will pick a church which is essentially a Sunday morning entertainment opportunity? When I hear and see people pick churches essentially on their entertainment value, I am deeply disappointed. 

4. I cannot stress to strongly the potential ministry you may have as the saints gather together. It means you being involved -- not passively but actively in the service that is a ministry to the whole group. One way in which the O.T. is not a guide for us is that we do not have priests. The Lord Jesus Christ is our High Priest. The only sense that there is a priest here is that you are a priest of God according to the N.T. This dictates that you should be seriously involved in the corporate worship but also that you take part in the places where he congregation has the leading or exhorting. 

Does the title "priest" have any significance as you come to worship Sunday after Sunday? As Christians, our religious practices are rooted in tradition. Much of it goes back to the early 20th or the 19th century. Some goes back to the reformation. A lot goes back to the middle ages. But the substantial pattern was set up by the N.T. church which was based on a thousand years of practice by the O.T. people. Is it not unwise, or even erroneous, to treat corporate worship as an elective in you life and to use modern T.V. programming for the content and format of worship? I want every Christian here to consider his personal involvement in the Sunday morning worship week by week? How can you increase and enhance your involvement.