VIDEO: MADE

2 weeks ago we started a new sermon series titled “MADE” Everything is made for a purpose! When the purpose is lost, it could lead to frustration. Our overarching verse for the series comes from Revelation 4:11

REVELATION 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. You and I were made for a purpose!

WE ARE MADE FOR A PURPOSE OUR PURPOSE IS FOUND IN GOD OUR PURPOSE IS TO PLEASE GOD BRINGING PLEASURE TO GOD IS WORSHIP Our purpose can only be found in God, our Maker, Creator of ALL THINGS including you and me. We were created for His pleasure! Bringing enjoyment to God, living for His pleasure is the purpose why we’re made! Do you know that we were not made just for a function but for God’s pleasure? Not everything created by human is for our enjoyment, some things are created because of necessity, for instance, a sewer line is created out of necessity not for enjoyment. He didn’t create us out of necessity but for His enjoyment! He wants to enjoy you and I. Worship is a relationship with the Living God! God is not looking for the “worship” but the worshippers. He wants to have an enjoyable relationship with you. Last week we learned the model of Old Testament worship in the Tabernacle of Moses. I think we all can agree that worship in the OT was not a simple matter.

WORSHIP IS INCLUSIVE NOT EXCLUSIVE WORSHIP IS EXPRESSIVE NOT PASSIVE WORSHIP IN OT WAS NOT A SIMPLE MATTER WORSHIP IS INCLUSIVE NOT EXCLUSIVE WORSHIP IS EXPRESSIVE NOT PASSIVE WORSHIP IS PERSONAL NOT A RITUAL WORSHIP IS A PRIVILEGE NOT AN OBLIGATION It was really really difficult to worship and to experience the presence of the Lord which was represented by the Ark of The Covenant. If the process and the timing are not done properly, you’re dead! First of all, it was on one person that can go into the Holy of Holies, which was the High Priest. And he can only do it once a year. Not the he looked forward to it, considering the consequence of making just a small mistake is death! Not the mention, the high priest’s elaborate clothing requirements, the consecration process and the ceremonies were so detailed and were to be followed to the T. Otherwise, the consequence of failing to adhere to the instructions of the Law was DEATH! In addition, the positioning of the Ark and plus the fact that there’s a veil separating the “presence of the HOLY God” and the rest of the world seems so UNFRIENDLY and UNWELCOMING! The law is a glimpse of the Holy nature of God and was given to the Israelites so they can better understand God’s holiness and mankind’s sinfulness. So the people understand that God is holy, just and UNCHANGING! The purpose of the Law and all of the ceremonies, offerings and requirements were to show people that it is impossible to come to God under our own term. But in the Tabernacle of David we learned the model of worship in the New Testament church given to David through a revelation from God. That because of Jesus, and His complete work on the cross, the veil was torn and everyone is welcome to worship and experience the presence of God. In the Tabernacle of David we learned that Worship is INCLUSIVE not exclusive EXPRESSIVE not passive PERSONAL not a ritual A PRIVILEGE not an obligation We learned in the Tabernacle of David that worship became personal! Worship in the Tabernacle of David required ALL Israel’s participation. The people didn’t rely on the High Priest to perform worship for them. They got to participate in worship. Martin Luther calls the Christians “The Priesthood of All Believers”

“THE PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS” MARTIN LUTHER We are all priests. 1 Peter 2:9 says But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. As members of His Royal Priesthood we are to declare Praises to exalt Jesus. There’s no more Aaronic Priesthood, Levitical Priesthood nor High Priesthood. There is only one priesthood, you and me, the Priesthood of All Believers with Jesus as the Great High Priest. Worship in the Tabernacle of David required ALL Israel’s participation. There was NO SPECTATOR! It was true in the Tabernacle of Moses. Only the High Priest came to the Holiest of All and performed the rituals! But Jesus the GREAT HIGH PRIEST has come to the Holy of Holies and brought His own blood for the atonement of the sins of all mankind once and for all so we all can come and personally experience God’s presence. Prior to Jesus, the people relied on the perfection and holiness of the High Priest once a year! Now because of Jesus’ once-for-all sacrifice we all can come boldly into his holy presence just like the High Priest. Which means now we all get to participate in worship! We don’t need to rely on the pastor or the worship leader! The pastor or the worship leader or the worship band doesn’t do the worship for us! We do! The worship leader doesn’t sing for us. It’s not a show or a performance or a sing-along (with Barney). It’s us together with the pastor and with the worship leader and the worship band, worshipping to an AUDIENCE OF ONE!   Now that we understand that we are called to personally participate in worship, let’s turn with me to Psalm 103

PSALM 103:1-5 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; 3 Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; 4 Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; 5 Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle. Psalm 103 is written by King David himself, the man the Tabernacle is named after. In the bible, he’s famously known as a man after God’s heart. He’s known for writing praises to God and psalms. We are called and welcomed to personally worship and experience the presence of God. We learned last week that God created every detail of our lives with much intentionality. Our person consists of spirit, soul and body. For those who are in Christ, our spirit is perfect. That’s why the Bible says, “our spirit (lower cap “S”) is willing but our flesh is weak. Our spirit is 100% in agreement with the Holy Spirit because of Jesus’ complete work. We are the Righteousness of God because Christ lives in us through His Spirit. Our body is basically our casing, our temporary home or tent. It is interesting that both Tabernacle of Moses and David were in a form of a tent which was temporary, while the Tabernacle of Solomon which was The Solomon Temple, was a permanent building. This is a prophetic picture of the tents that represent our bodies, which are temporary. 2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. The Tabernacle of Solomon is a prophetic picture of Heaven where all who are in Christ will forever worship God in eternity. But our body is very much influenced by what going on within our soul. That’s why King David didn’t really say, “Bless the Lord O my body!” or “Bless the Lord O my mouth!” Instead he said “Bless the Lord O my soul” Why is that? Because our soul controls our body. Our body is a temporary casing for the soul.

SOUL: NEPHESH (HEB) OR PSUCHE (GR) LIFE OR INNER LIFE PSYCHOLOGICAL STATE OF A PERSON TOTAL PERSON In the Hebrew OT the word generally translated “soul” is nephesh. The word occurs over 750 times, and it means primarily “life” or “possessing life.” The word sometimes indicates the whole person, as for instance in Gen. 2:7 where God breathes breath (neshamah) into the dust and thus makes a “soul” (nephesh) The word is also used in the OT to refer to the inner life, psychological or spiritual states of the human person. Greek word psuche (=psyche) carries many of the same meanings as the Hebrew nephesh. Often the soul is equated with the total person. The soul consists of MIND, EMOTIONS and WILL

OUR SOUL CONSISTS OF: MIND EMOTIONS WILL So going back to the verses we just read, “Bless the Lord O My soul” the bible teaches us to worship with our mind, emotions and will. In Psalm 103 King David is addressing himself. “Bless the Lord”, he exclaims, “Bless the Lord, O my soul”. Do you ever talk to yourself? I don’t mean when you’re wrestling through your taxes or walking through your to-do list. But do you talk yourself, really? When you are fearful, do you command your soul to trust in the Lord? When your affections are low, do you command your heart to bless the Lord? As Paul Tripp is fond of saying, “no one is more influential in your life than you are because no one talks to you more than you do.” In the particularly difficult moments of the day, how do you talk to yourself? David understood how easy it was for him to forget God’s graciousness and mercy. It was easy for him too focus on circumstances in his life that were not going his way. He’s not just feeling it! Maybe he was discouraged! But he chose to worship God because worship is a choice! It doesn’t depends on our mood or feelings or circumstances or situations. We worship with our will!

WORSHIP WITH OUR WILL There were many moments in David’s life where he was on the run, he became a fugitive, not because he committed a serious crime, but because the current ruler of Israel at the time was jealous of him. There were about less than 20 chapters in the books of 1st and 2nd Samuel from the time David was anointed King of Israel, to the point when he finally became king of Israel. As we are reading those 20 chapters, we probably didn’t think that it took 17 years for David until he finally became King of all Israel. When David wrote the Psalms, many times he was not sitting on the beach drinking Pina Colada somewhere on the beach in Hawaii or having a family winter vacation in a ski resort somewhere in Vail, Colorado. Many times the Psalms were written when he was in the midst of chaos, trouble and affliction. Not a very ideal situation to praise and worship the Lord. But he told his own soul to praise God. Just take Psalm 34 for instance…

PSALM 34:1-2 I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul will make its boast in the Lord; The humble will hear it and rejoice. Did you see that? I WILL bless the Lord at ALL TIMES! I will bless the Lord in GOOD TIMES! And I will bless the Lord in BAD TIMES! This Psalm especially was not written when David was having a good time. It was written when David pretended to be insane in front of King Achis of Gath which is the territory of the Philistine, the archenemy of Israel. He had to pretend to be insane because the officers of King Achis recognized David. Gath is the city where Goliath, the giant Philistine who was defeated by David, was from. Of course David could easily be recognized! I could imagine they probably had “WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE” posters with David’s picture all over the city. So David pretended to be a madman. He was scratching on doors and drooling down his beard. It was really sad and almost ironic. David, the hero of Israel, almost got captured in the city where Goliath, the giant he killed, came from. David would definitely have been killed should he got captured by the people in Gath. However, despite of his circumstance, he made a conscious decision to worship God. It’s not a matter of emotion or feelings. Considering his situation, he could have said “I am not in the mood! Not a good time to praise God!” But David worshiped God with his will. I WILL bless! My soul WILL boast in the Lord! There are many more psalms where you’d see statements David made with “I will”

PSALM 108:1-3 1 My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing, I will sing praises, even with my soul. 2 Awake, harp and lyre; I will awaken the dawn! 3 I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples, And I will sing praises to You among the nations. He said “I WILL” 5 times just on these first 3 verses. It started with “My heart is steadfast!” I don’t care whether my situation is good or bad, whether I’m in the mood or not, I will sing praises EVEN with my soul! Wait! That means it’s possible for us to be physically opening our mouth and making audible sounds but not bringing worship that is coming from the soul. Singing and worshipping is not necessarily the same thing. Sometimes people just sing worship songs but not necessarily worshipping. Isaiah 29:13 The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. We may no longer be doing rituals or ceremonies with animal sacrifices anymore, but, it is possible for us to be presenting a dead worship when we sing worship songs only with our mouths and not with our heart and soul. Singing worship songs could just be another form of religious ritual. Then verse 2 says, I will awaken THE DAWN. That means David was praising God while he was in the darkest moment of his life. Because the night is the darkest just before the dawn. My situation my be dark, it seems that I have no reason for praising God, but my heart is steadfast, I will sing my heart out to praise God in spite of my situation. I will give thanks to God because I know that even though my situation is seemingly bad, but I trust that God works in all things for the good of those who love Him. I trust that God is going to turn my mourning into dancing and my sorrow into joy. Therefore, I will let the whole world that God is GOOD! David chose to worship despite of his situations. He worshipped with his will. Not only David worships God with his will, he also worships God with his mind.

WORSHIP WITH OUR MIND Sin, pain, or sorrow can blind us to God’s present working and, occasionally, even the miraculous ways he's worked in our lives in the past. And while we might argue with our journal or with our memory, God’s work in redemptive history is unassailable. David helps us by reminding himself (and us) of God’s miraculous work for his people in history. Let’s go back to our text from Psalm 103….

PSALM 103:2-5 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; 3 Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; 4 Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; 5 Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle. When you’re talking to yourself like David did, are you reminding yourself of what God has done for you in Christ Jesus? Many times we tend to forget the benefits God has given us in the past especially when things are going seemingly bad from our point of view. Maybe you just got laid off from work. Maybe you’ve been out of job for almost a year with no sign that you’d be getting a job anytime soon. The job market is soft. Maybe your business is struggling. You just lost a loyal customer which brought 30% of your business. Maybe you are going through a tough time in your marriage or maybe in dealing with your rebellious teenage kid. I got laid off in 2001 due to economic recession caused by the dot-com bubble burst. I was unemployed for 6 months and God led me to a job that became the cornerstone of my future career. When I got laid off for the second time in 2008 due to the Worst Recession since the Great Depression, I reminded myself how God had been faithful when I was previously unemployed. It was a very difficult period in my life, but I learned to remember how God had been my Provider in the past and that He would always be my Provider. But even if our circumstance has not changed, King David reminded us to remember the many blessings that are much more important and valuable than getting a job, a promotion or salary increase, getting a business deal, becoming successful and wealthy. The greatest blessing that we have received is the blessing given to us through the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross to pardon our sins, which is the blessing of salvation, the blessing of being in a relationship with the living God.

REMEMBER HIS BENEFITS: SALVATION HEALING PURPOSE PROVISION GRACE & MERCY Jesus paid such an expensive price so our relationship with the Father that was broken due to our sins can be restored. Even if God doesn’t bless us with other things, we will still come up ahead. Life here on earth is like a vapor that appears for a little than vanishes away. It’s nothing compares to eternity. Not only He gave us the blessing of salvation, but also healing from our sicknesses. On the way to Calvary, he was wounded and afflicted so by His stripes we are healed. He took upon Himself, our sickness, sorrow and our shame. In Jesus we have a new beginning that redeem us from the pit of life with no purpose! 1 peter 1:18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, In Jesus we find His mercy and compassion so we can come boldly into His throne of grace where we can find help in times of need. In Jesus we find that He is our Good Shepherd as David described in Psalm 23. The Good Shepherd who takes us, His sheep, to green pasture and still water. We have no need or want because He satisfies us with His goodness. In Jesus we find that His grace is always sufficient! 1 Cor 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. You’d find it time and again, David on his Psalms to remind himself of what God has done in the past…

PSALM 77:11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. PSALM 105:5 Remember the wonders he has performed, his miracles, and the rulings he has given PSALM 143:5 I remember the days of old. I ponder all your great works and think about what you have done Why do we need reminders? According to Clifford Nass, a professor of communication at Stanford University: “Some people do have a more positive outlook, but almost everyone remembers negative things more strongly and in more detail. The brain handles positive and negative information in different hemispheres,” Negative emotions generally involve more thinking, and the information is processed more thoroughly than positive ones, he said. Thus, we tend to ruminate more about unpleasant events — and use stronger words to describe them — than happy ones. According to Roy F. Baumeister, a professor of social psychology at Florida State University: “Bad emotions, bad parents and bad feedback have more impact than good ones. Bad impressions and bad stereotypes are quicker to form and more resistant to disconfirmation than good ones.” In an experiment in which participants gained or lost the same amount of money, for instance, the distress participants expressed over losing the money was greater than the joy that accompanied the gain. “Put another way, you are more upset about losing $50 than you are happy about gaining $50.” That’s why it is important for us to remember what God has done cause we forget so easily! We worship with our WILL, with our MIND and lastly we worship with our EMOTIONS

WORSHIP WITH OUR EMOTIONS We were made as emotional beings, which means that emotional life is one of God’s creations. Emotions are part of who and what we are. In Genesis 2, Adam’s disappointment with not finding a helpmate is almost palpable, and we get a sense of overwhelming joy when he wakes from sleep and exclaims, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” Since human emotions are an aspect of God’s creation, they are good. Only after creating humanity did God look at all He had made and pronounce it very good. However, even good things can provide an avenue for sin when unchecked. The fall clearly impacted our interaction with our emotions, for in Genesis 4 we read the account of Cain’s anger at his brother. As emotional beings we were made to worship God with our emotions. There are many appropriate emotions for worship. Joy is certainly one, but there are others: reverence in the presence of our Creator and Redeemer; sorrow for sin and fear of our Judge; love for God and for one another; peace in our reconciliation, and anticipation of God’s promises fulfilled. While worship is not music, but music is an important component of worship because music has the power to change our hearts, our emotions, our feelings. Any emotion can be expressed through music. That is the reason why in the new order of worship in tabernacle of worship involved all kinds of musical instruments, singings, shouting and dancing! David in Psalm 150 says it clearly…

PSALM 150:3-6 3 Praise Him with trumpet sound; Praise Him with harp and lyre. 4 Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. 5 Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with resounding cymbals. 6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord! Scientists have discovered that music helps cows give more milk and hens to lay more eggs. Even plant life growth and development is affected by good or bad music. Music is vitally connected in its power to the emotions. It’s an expression of human emotions. The basic law of human nature is that emotions seek expressions. For instance, the infant expresses joy by clapping or beating hands. Most people express impatience by tapping the foot. Anger or temper often expresses in shouting wildly at someone or something. Joy and pleasure find expression in laughter or in tears. The great composers and musicians have been practically without exception, highly temperamental and intensely emotional. There is nothing wrong with having emotion, it is when emotions control us instead of by controlled by us that problems arise. Emotion directed into proper channels and under proper control are part of human makeup that God intended from the beginning. Psalm 150 shows how celebratory worship in the Tabernacle of David was. There was singing, loud music and dancing! And really, how can you be quiet when you know that you sins have been washed away and you are forgiven and it’s all because of Jesus’s finished work on the cross? You’d be singing “OH HAPPY DAY! HAPPY DAY! YOU WASHED MY SINS AWAY!” so loud! Unless you don’t get it! You don’t get how amazing it is to be forgiven! How amazing it is to be able to be in a relationship with the God who created the universe! That’s why back to Psalm 103…

PSALM 103:2-3 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; 3 Who pardons all your iniquities, … David told himself. Bless the Lord, no matter what your circumstances are, praise Him. Don’t forget what He has done, especially the part where He pardoned all your sins. If you just won 10 million dollars lottery, are you gonna be quiet? I would be LOUDLY CELEBRATING! YESSSS! I AM FILTHY RICH! WOOHOOO! Getting our sins washed away and now we look forward to spending eternity in Heaven instead of in hell with the devil is 10 million times better than winning a lottery. Heaven can’t be bought! Whether it be with 10 millions, 10 billions, or 10 trillion US dollars, Heaven can’t be purchased. But we get to go to Heaven because somebody paid the price for our entrance fee! He paid it with a very expensive price, His own blood, His own life! No one needs to teach you how to express yourself when you’re happy! You’ll be celebrating loudly! And the truth that now because of Jesus, we got access to worship the living God! It’s worth celebrating!! Emotions are expressions of our hearts, but mere emotion without will and mind is simply tinkling brass or a clanging gong. In James 5:13, he gave an instruction for worship: “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone among you cheerful? Let him sing praise.” Notice the way James equates feeling with doing. Both he and Paul point out that emotions should motivate us to action in worshiping and praising God. The actions discussed here are, as all legitimate worship, directed toward God. These acts of emotional worship are not for self but for God, and in their viewing, for the edification of all believers. There is no room for individualism in corporate worship.