Psalm 122: Going Up to Worship

The Journey:
Going Up to Worship
Psalm 122

Introduction: Pilgrims probably sang this group of Psalm, as they traveled to Jerusalem. We can picture Jesus singing this psalm as they prepared to go up to the temple to worship.
Excuses for not worshipping are funny things. We have all made them at one time or another and we have all accepted excuses even knowing what we know about them. “My parents forced me to go as a child.” “The church is full of hypocrites.” “Sunday is my only day to sleep in.” Even if you answer one excuse it is not difficult to find another.

On the other side it is interesting the justifications people have created for worship or church. One study found that people live longer if they are regular worshipers. This week in the Free Press was a section about the health benefits of spirituality. From these points of view I guess worship is like taking your vitamins, you do it because it is good for you.

People can come to worship because their friends are there. They can refuse to come because of some excuse. But in reality the only reason to worship is to meet God. It isn’t that God is not present with us every place and time, it is that worship whets our appetite for God.

I. Enthusiasm
The enthusiasm of the psalmist sounds strange to our ears. I mean who gets excited about going to church? And yet worship is one of the most popular voluntary activities in our nation. More people are in worship services than attend professional sports events. While there are some who come to worship because they “have to” such as children, the majority of us are here because we chose to do so. No one forced you to come today.

Worship in many ways is the foundational event of Christian community. If people are a church, they gather for worship. We might even say it is a foundational event for the individual Christian life. Those who say, “I can worship God on the golf course or on my fishing boat” have caused me to wonder whom they encourage other than the golf ball or the fish. Do they pray much or sing? The concept of solitary Christianity is not one found in scripture, Christianity is lived in community or it is not lived.

Part of the sense of this psalm may also be the excitement of starting a journey with friends to a special place, Jerusalem. But there is also the aspect of worshipping with those with whom we share the journey. The path is one that is taken with others.

II. The City
The language used here is again unusual to our ears. We are used to spread out cities; urban sprawl is a very modern problem. But the ancient city of Jerusalem, like other cities of that day, was tightly packed together. Everything was interlocked with everything else. Houses and business often formed parts of the protective wall that surrounded the city and gave safety to residents and visitors. Cities like Jerusalem were places of all kinds of people, people who dressed differently or spoke in strange languages or in odd sounding accents. Jerusalem was where the 12 tribes gathered together to honor the covenant God had made with them.
What does worship do for us? In a very real sense it brings us together. One of the great images from Revelation is found in Rev. 7:9. It is easy for us to get a wrong impression that everyone worships like we do. I’ve known some people who get upset when even the slightest change happens in worship. But God has created us with great diversity and that diversity is reflected in our worship. The unity is found in the cleansing of the Lamb of God, Jesus.

But the image of the compact, interconnected city also shows us something else; worship provides a frame, a boundary for our lives. Our world is constantly tells us we can live without rules, without boundaries, “No rules, just right” is one advertising slogan. For those who do needle work there is an important piece of equipment that makes it so much easier, the frame. To work without it is much more difficult but to work with it means the end product is going to look better. Our lives need a frame and worship, the community of faith, gives frame in which to build life. In a similar way any game people play has rules and boundaries. Without them the game could not exist. If we don’t have such a frame our lives begin to unravel and we fail to become what we desire and what God desires.

III. The Word of the Lord
We worship also because of God’s command, “to praise the name of the LORD according to the statute given to Israel.” For Israel the command to worship at the temple was a privilege and an obligation as part of the covenant between God and Israel.

Worship is something we chose to do. I want to worship but I may not necessarily feel like worshipping. Feelings are fickle things and if we only follow our feelings we will miss many good things. Last Sunday was our last Bible bowl competition of the season. I am the question reader so after preaching here we go and I read questions for an hour and a half. It makes for a long day. We got home and I had about 30 minutes to rest before we got back in the car for home group. I didn’t feel like going. I was tired. But after home group was over I realized I felt better. I had been blessed because I went.

Our worship is a blessing where we come together with other believers. Our assembly is also a place where we hear God’s word, where, “the thrones of judgment stand.” We often see judgment as a negative thing, something we want to avoid. When I hear the words, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself,” and realize that I have failed again to love my neighbor in this way I am judged. Yet as terrible as judgment is, there could be no grace, no mercy without it. Worship is a place where we are challenged to grow and change, to become more like God in our hearts, attitudes and values. Without the word of God we will never grow in the directions that God wants us to grow.

The last part of the psalm is a prayer, a prayer for the peace of Jerusalem. The concept of peace, or ‘shalom’, in the Old Testament is broad and complex. It not simply the absence of conflict but it contains the concepts of wholeness, health, prosperity and contentment.
We live in a world where peace is allusive at best and often seems nonexistent. But worship as God intends is a taste of something better, something that whets our appetite for that which cannot be found anywhere outside of God himself. It is no wonder that the psalmist says, “I rejoiced with those who said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD," Psalms 122:1. I confess I am not always rejoicing when I come to worship but often I am as I leave.
Life’s journey is always better when we can walk it with others rather than by ourselves. We invite you to join us in our journey to God.

Livonia Church of Christ: April 2, 2006