Praise The Lord

Praise the Lord

Psalm 150:1 Praise the LORD.

I. Corporate and personal praise.

“Praise God in his sanctuary;” [Corporate praise]

The sanctuary referred to the Temple of God in Jerusalem. One of the places the people were exhorted to praise the Lord, was in his house—the Temple. And the church is now the Temple of God. When the believers in Christ gather together, the Bible tells us that we are living stones who make up the Temple of God. Therefore, when we praise on Sunday mornings, it’s not just something to fill the time. It’s not something we do out of tradition. But we praise the Lord, because the Bible commands us to praise the Lord in his Temple.

Indeed Psalm 22:3 in the KJV says “But thou [art] holy, [O thou] that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” To inhabit means to live in. Therefore, it would seem not only that we ought to praise God in his House, but that the very reason he makes it his house is because of the praise. God does not meet us here by His Holy Spirit because there is something special about these four walls or this location. He meets us here, because he dwells in the praises of his people.

God desires us to praise him when we come together. And when we do praise him, we invite his presence, in the person of the Holy Spirit, to receive that praise.

“praise him in his mighty heavens.” [Personal praise]

Not only must we praise God when we come together as a body—in the Church—but we also must praise God throughout the entire course of our lives. The sanctuary was one small place—set apart specifically for the purpose of worship, so it’s no surprise we are expected to praise there. But with the next line saying, “in his mighty heavens,” the mighty heavens are a big place. In fact, the great expanse of the heavens is an indication of “everywhere else.” The psalmist tells us to praise the Lord in church. But then he says to praise the Lord everywhere else too.

Psalm 34:1 I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.

Just as in every other aspect of this Christian life God calls us to, praise is a complete, life commitment. What does it mean for praise to always be on our lips? Certainly it doesn’t mean that we need to be singing 24/7 or we need to literally speak out praises all the time. But what it means is that we must have a lifestyle of praise. First, we must set time apart specifically to praise the Lord—when we pray—we must take time to praise. Second, when God has done something, even something small, for us, we need to recognize him and praise him. Thirdly, we must by our actions praise him—that is, we must live a life that is praising unto God.

Philippians 1:11 [be] filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God.

When we live a holy life—that is when we live right—that is a form of praise to God. And surely, God is not interested in lip-service, that is, someone who praises him on Sunday, but then does not praise him—by living right—throughout the week. God wants both your voiced praise and your lived praise. He wants both your church praise and your home praise. He wants your praise when you are together with his people. And your praise when you’re all alone with him and nobody else is looking.

II. Praise for what he has done and praise for who he is.

Psalm 150:2 “Praise him for his acts of power;” [Praise for what he has done]

Why should we praise the Lord? Because he has done so much good for us.

Psalm 72:18 Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.

There are several types of deeds that we can praise God for. The first, I will call “general deeds.” We can praise God in general because of the great things he has done in the past. Indeed, we can read of great miracles recorded in Scripture and throughout history and praise God for them. We can hear testimonies of what God is doing throughout the earth—or even for those whom we love and cherish—and we can praise God for them. In this category, there are so many things that we can praise God for. We can praise him for creation—for giving us the gift of this earth. We can praise him for life and breath and family. We should praise him for all of these things that we take for granted—but which we know are truly gifts from God—because we know that every good thing comes from above.