Lesson 1
WORD AND WORKS
Selected Scriptures: Psalm 33:1–9
THEME: TRUST, ADVOCACY, AND BOLDNESS
INTRODUCTION
Many churches include in their Sunday services what we typically call “praise and worship.” It may include prayer and Scripture reading, but we primarily think of it as a time when we sing, clap, and shout with joy to God for the great things He has done, both throughout history and in our personal lives. God’s people have been offering times of praise and worship to God for as long as creation.
BIBLICAL TEACHING EMPHASES
I. Offer Him Reverence and Praise
II. God’s Work Expresses His Nature
I. OFFER HIM REVERENCE AND PRAISE
Psalm 33 illustrates praise and worship in the life of the people of Israel at approximately the time of David’s kingship. A quick reading of the psalm presents us with the words “sing” (v. 1, NIV), “make music” (v. 2, NIV) and “shout” (v. 3, NIV). They are familiar words even today, and they show that what we do in contemporary worship is very similar to what the Israelites did in about 900 BC. We can learn much about how we should approach praise and worship by studying why and how Israel rendered appropriate praise to the Creator. Psalm 33 is an obedient response to the call for rejoicing. Reasons for rejoicing are a theme seen throughout the Psalms. These include God’s faithful work, His commitment to righteousness and justice, and His continued care for creation. Righteousness is itself a theme within this poem. The psalm doesn’t call just anyone to worship God. Only the righteous and upright can fully rejoice in God because they have come to acknowledge Him as the Almighty Creator and Lord of heaven and earth. They have given God the proper place in their lives, and have come to trust in Him as their Sustainer and Redeemer.
KEY VERSE: By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth. (Psalm 33:6, NRSV)
II. GOD’S WORK EXPRESSES HIS NATURE
What God says is upright because He loves doing right and practicing justice. His work is seen in His abiding love for the entire creation. God’s love for the earth is seen throughout the Bible, but the combination of God’s Word and His steadfast love directs the reader’s mind to the days of creation. When God spoke, light came into being, and the sun and moon, and the waters were separated into distinct bodies, and so on, until the creation of people. God’s words create and sustain life. Because His words are upright, one can expect that true life comes only when one also lives an upright life.
#AnAbidingTrust Discuss what it means to trust God. Are there times when we should withhold our trust? Tag us @rhboydco and use #rhboydco.
We often speak of the revelation of God that creation represents. The word revelation means “an unveiling.” Paul described how Moses hid his face behind a veil so the people could not see that the glory of God, which had shone on his face following his meeting God on the mountain (see 2 Cor. 3:12–13).
God created in order to unveil His nature to both the angelic hosts who watched in awe and to His created image-bearers, people. We know about God in part because we see His handiwork all around us. We see the immensity of the heavens, and we know the immensity of the power of God to which those heavens bear witness. We see the daily rising of the sun, sometimes obscured by clouds, but nevertheless visible by the coming of daytime, and we know that God is faithful. We see that the birds of the air and the beasts of the field are clothed in delicate feather and rich fur, and we know the extravagance of God’s grace.
WHEN WAS A TIME IN YOUR LIFE WHEN YOU WERE MOST MOVED BY THE GLORY OF GOD’S CREATION TO GIVE PRAISE TO GOD?
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God has unveiled His nature to us in part through His creation. The writer of Hebrews said, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (1:3, NIV). Jesus is the ultimate unveiling of the nature of God, but we can also see the handiwork of the Son in what God has created.
III. GOD SPOKE
There are two words in verse six that are very instructive: “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth” (Ps. 33:6, NIV; emphasis added). The first is the Hebrew dabar, meaning “word” or “proclamation.” In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the very familiar Greek word logos is used instead of the Hebrew dabar. This logos is, of course, the word that John used repeatedly to refer to Jesus. Jesus, the Word of God, is the One by whom the heavens and the earth were made (see John 1:1–5, 14).
The other word, also familiar to many Christians, is the Hebrew word ruach meaning “breath” or “spirit.” The Septuagint uses, in place of this Hebrew word, the word pneuma which is the word used when speaking of God’s Spirit. Just as Jesus was present at and instrumental in creation, so was the Spirit of God.
We can see the full disclosure of the Trinity in the description of the creative process provided in Psalm 33. The Father willed, the Son (the Word) acted, and the Spirit sustained the creative work of the triune God. We see this same relationship described in the very first verses of Genesis. Genesis 1:1–3 informs