Come, Let us Worship and Bow Down

December 25th, 2024

Come, Let us Worship and Bow Down

Psalm 95

1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3 For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.

6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your fathers put me to the test
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
and they have not known my ways.”
11 Therefore I swore in my wrath,
“They shall not enter my rest.”

An Invitation for Everyone

Home from college one year, my family wanted to attend a Christmas Eve church service. We wound up at a local Lutheran congregation. For a low-brow Baptist like me, the service was more formal than I was used to, but also richer: loaded with Scripture, hymns, and reflection on the meaning of Christ’s birth. It also involved a lot of work! We stood, we knelt, we confessed our sins, we joined responsive readings, we listened to the homily, and went out singing carols by candlelight. I also remember how it drew so many different people in. The only Lutheran I knew in my hometown was Mrs. Inga, a first-generation German immigrant who had kept my baby brother in our church’s nursery. In that wonderful German accent, she welcomed us to sit by her, and quietly guided us through the service. I also recognized a homeless man who often rode his bicycle through our town. When he came forward to receive communion, I heard the minister call him by name, “the body of Christ given for you, Sylvester.” And I knew it was true. This Christmas gospel was for everyone.

A Call to Worship

I think of that experience today as I read Psalm 95. Christmas is an invitation to whole-hearted, whole-body, whole-life worship. Unlike the “Royal Psalms,” which focus on the human king in David’s line, Psalm 95 is an “Enthronement Psalm,” celebrating God as the King of the universe. It is one of the Bible’s great calls to worship: “Oh come, let us sing to Yahweh! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving!”

It summons us to recognize his grandeur—“For Yahweh is a great God and the great King above all gods!”—and his grace—“we are the people of his his pasture and the sheep of his hand.” It rouses us to respond to God: in loud songs, reverent kneeling, and obedient listening. And it sends us out in a sober warning. It is possible to come near this God, yet never really “know his ways.” We can hear his voice and see his mighty works, yet “harden our hearts” against him, grumbling at his leadership, putting him to the test. That’s why God swore in his wrath that the Exodus generation “shall not enter my rest.”

Grace Upon Grace

On Christmas Day, we read Psalm 95 with new eyes. In Christ, the great King above all gods came down to us. The God whose hands formed the dry land and hold the depths of the sea became a baby, small enough for Mary and Joseph’s hands. He came for us, who heard his voice so many times and hardened our hearts. We had experienced his faithfulness, yet grumbled and went astray in our hearts after lesser gods. We had invited his wrath, disqualifying ourselves from ever entering his rest. But at Christmas, God the King came down to overcome our hardened hearts, to forgive our grumbling spirits, and to restore our wandering. He came to remove his own wrath by his cross, and to bring us into his rest. These are his ways! Grace upon grace!

Born for You

The only right response is worship. My friend Pastor Jeremy Isbell often reads Psalm 95 as our Call to Worship at Christmas. It makes me think of the shepherds, bowled over by loud angelic songs, leaving behind their sheep, racing to the manger, falling before the baby. Maybe one murmured to another, “Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our God our Maker!” Born for them, born for us.

Christmas is no day for thankless, wandering, hardened hearts; it is a day for worship! We have heard his voice, preaching the Christmas gospel to us. Christ was born for you. He has called you by name. There is room here for the far-from-home and the homeless. For the complainers, the apathetic, the distracted, and the weary. The body of Christ was given for sinners like us. By his blood, we may enter his rest!

Listen to him. Believe on him. Worship him. And may God rest ye merry!

FOR THE NEXT INSTALLMENT, SEE:

A King with Integrity