Sermon by Donald R. Hart – Antioch Christian Church, Pittsburg, Missouri – March 11, 2007
(All Scripture quoted is from the NIV unless otherwise noted)
PRAISE DEFINED
Text: Psalm 150:1-6
INTRODUCTION
Recently I preached upon Grace Defined and Peace Defined and now I want to talk about Praise Defined. That is exactly what is outlined in the 150th Psalm – it gives us a complete definition of the kind of praise that glorifies Almighty God. It outlines for us the what, why, how and who of praise. The one thing it doesn’t tell us is the “when” to praise and I believe that the writer just assumes that praise for the Lord will be a continual part of our life.
It is obvious that praise is not to be a one time endeavor. That would be like the woman who asked her husband why he doesn’t tell her that he loves her. To which he responds, “Well I told you I loved you when we got married and if anything changes I’ll let you know.” We understand that in a loving relationship people express their love for one another on a regular basis.
Furthermore, we know that praising God is not to be reserved only for special occasions, such as Christmas and Easter. Both of those events are certainly a time of celebration and an opportunity for thanking God for what He has done for us. We are very much aware that God is blessing us every day of our lives for He gives us life, strength, joys and provisions too numerous to count and thus is worthy of our praise every day.
The really neat thing is that we do not have to praise the Lord in order to get the blessings we receive – they just come to us on a regular basis. And they come to us even when we do not deserve to receive anything from Him.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:45 that “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
PROPOSITION
Some scholars have compared this Psalm with the Doxology which we sing each Sunday at the conclusion of our offering time. It is well to note that at both the beginning and the end it gives the exhortation “Praise the Lord”. Today in this message I want to talk about praising the Lord from the ideas found in this 150th Psalm. Please understand that I will in no way really be able to define it as it should be defined, but let us look at some things about praising God.
I. WHAT IS PRAISE?
There are some people who believe that praise is the same thing as flattery, but they are two different things entirely. Flattery is usually done in order to receive some kind of a reciprocal response. Praise is in reality the expression of appreciation for an attribute or an action by someone. Webster says “praise” is “To express approval of or admiration for…” or “To extol or glorify (e.g. a deity or hero)”. He also gives some synonyms for “praise” such as “Acclaim, Applaud, Commend, and Laud”.
In our culture we often use the terms “Worship Leader”, “Praise Team”, or “You will be led in worship by…” Let me tell you that no one can lead you into worship – they may lead a service or a segment of praise songs and/or choruses, but true praise only comes from within an individual himself. What they do in such a service may be an aid to your praise and help direct your praise, but it cannot generate your worship for you. Your worship is the response from what you are feeling within your own heart and spirit.
I hate to admit this, but I have been in praise services and I was NOT praising. Singing the words, yes, but enjoying God, no! It may have been resistance from the way the worship was being led or it may have been from my own troubling thoughts at the time or sometimes a combination of both.
On the other hand, I have been in services when during a certain song or chorus, tears of gratitude began flowing from my eyes and I became oblivious of any distractions around me – my focus was upon the majesty of the Heavenly Father and of Him alone.
To boil it down, praise is the expression of gratitude to God by word or deed from within an individual.
II. WHERE ARE WE TO PRAISE?
The psalmist gives us two locations – His sanctuary and in His mighty heavens – let’s talk about these.
A. IN HIS SANCTUARY
Some may think that this is referring to the time when we come to church. It does certainly include that time and location, but the Lord’s sanctuary far more vast than any single church building or church buildings.
The Israelites tended to isolate God to the temple and to the temple alone. They forgot the God who led them in the wilderness, who opened the Red Sea and who thundered on Mount Sinai. If they had looked around they would have seen that God was all around them. We know from Scripture that He is everywhere – you cannot run or hide from Him. Also, we know that as His children, we are always in His presence.
In Acts 7:48-50, Stephen in his sermon just before he was stoned to death quotes from Isaiah 66:1-2 which says:
48 "However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says:
49 “’Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool .
What kind of house will you build for me?
says the Lord.
Or where will my resting place be?
50 Has not my hand made all these things?’”
In Psalm 99:5 we are exhorted to -
5 Exalt the Lord our God
and worship at his footstool ;
he is holy.
I therefore conclude that if the earth is His footstool and we are to worship at it, then the whole earth is really in essence His sanctuary. In other words, worship or praise is not to be in an exclusive building or edifice someplace, but is to be a part of our lives wherever we may be.
And I will add here if you find yourself in a location in which you do not feel comfortable or feel right about praising God, then you are probably in the wrong place and need to flee from there. Now I did not say it had to be an ideal situation – Paul and Silas worshipped in a jail in Philippi.
B. IN HIS MIGHTY HEAVEN
Psalms 103:19-21 says -
19 The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.
20 Praise the Lord, you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.
21 Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.
We are not in the heavenly places therefore we cannot now praise him as the angels can and are doing even as we speak.
Isaiah describes the heavenly scene from a vision he experienced and he tells us about it in Isaiah 6:1-4
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory."
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
Here is what I want us to consider – we are to be praising God at all times as we roam this earth and when we leave here we will be ushered into heaven where we will continue our praise forever in the presence of the Lord. So there is the answer for the child of God – we should be praising here and we will be praising there.
III. WHY OR FOR WHAT SHOULD WE PRAISE HIM?
Again we are given some guidelines in this Psalm.
A. WE ARE TO PRAISE HIM FOR HIS ACTS OF POWER
We might ask, “What are His acts of power?” I think first of all we would have to acknowledge His creation. As one views the intricacies of the universe one has to conclude there was an intelligent designer – one worthy of praise. You may think that it all came about by happen chance, but for me to think so is a stretch of faith far greater than in believing in a mighty creator. The universe is just too orderly to be a product of accidental evolving.
The psalmist says in Psalm 19:1-2
1The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
And in addition to creation one has to consider the mighty acts of power He performed and performs in our world around us. His miraculous interventions on behalf of His people show forth his power. Even today we see His working as people share the gospel message and lives are changed through His power.
B. WE ARE TO PRAISE HIM FOR HIS SURPASSING
GREATNESS
There was no greater act on the part of God then the sending of His son to this earth – not to conquer, but to die for humanity and then to rise victorious over our enemy, the devil.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9:15 – “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” referring to Jesus Christ.
The writer of Hebrews exhorts “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise — the fruit of lips that confess his name.” (Hebrews 13:15)
And all of this is given freely to us and if we acknowledge His wonderful gift, we become recipients of His grace. We read about this in Romans 5:15 – “But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!”
In order to really appreciate the gift of Jesus Christ, one must first realize the desperateness of his lost condition. You must understand that without Jesus as your savior you are heading for an eternal devastation. But you do not have to because of God’s wonderful grace.
Ephesians 2:4-9 says -
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Not only do we have the gift of the savior, but God is the giver of all good gifts – James tells us that in James 1:16-17 -
16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Everyday words of praise should be falling from our lips as we experience the wonderful daily blessings from the Lord.
IV. HOW ARE WE TO EXPRESS OUR PRAISE?
It is interesting that the psalmist takes three verses to express the mediums of our praise. We understand our part in vocally expressing our praise, but here we have a list of instruments that can be used in praising plus the expression of dance.
Singing is a natural expression of praise. In a sermon by Michael Gibney, he shares a story from George Sweeting’s book, “Psalms of the Heart” about two Moody Bible Institute graduates, John and Elaine Beekman. They were called by God to missionary work among the Chol Indians of southern Mexico. Sweeting reports that they rode mules and traveled by dugout canoes to reach this tribe. They labored 25 years with other missionaries to translate the New Testament into the language of the Chol Indians.
Today the Chol Church is thriving. More than 12,000 Christians make up the Chol Christian community, which is financially self-supporting. What’s interesting is that when the missionaries came, the Chol Indians didn’t know how to sing. With the coming of the gospel, however, the believers in the tribe became known as "the singers". "They love to sing now," Sweeting commented, "because they have something to sing about."
The Christian has something to sing about that is real and genuine and not like the frivolous and/or sensual themes of the world.
Now we come to the hard part – what about all these instruments? The psalmist says that they are fit for praising the Almighty. It was interesting that when the Temple was built, the glory of the Lord filled it after the singing and playing of the instruments – 2 Chronicles 5:13-14.
In essence we are to praise God in any way possible – a variety of instruments and even in dancing. We understand that the dance of praise is not one of lust or sensuality, but rather a pure expression of God’s goodness, choreographed in such a way as to bring honor to Him.
I know many are uncomfortable with some of these types of expressions of praise because of their traditional religious background, but using these things are not sinful – rather it is a case of background and personal preference. Churches have been split because of music, but it should not be so. The whole purpose of praise is to honor our Lord and not to promote our likes and dislikes in what medium to use.
The King James Version and the American Standard Version translate Psalms 66:1 as “Make a joyful noise unto God, all the earth…”
V. WHO IS TO PRAISE THE LORD?
Verse 6 says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”
In speaking of the future Revelation 5:13 reveals:
13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
"To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!"
CONCLUSION
Our praise is not about how much talent we may or may not have. That is not the criteria for praise. Praise is to be the expression of how we feel inside – our gratitude and appreciation for the Lord God Almighty. And praise will only flow naturally from those who are in close relationship with Him.
Lowell Ogden tells the story of a little boy who lived out in the country around the turn of the century. He had never seen a traveling circus, and one was coming to his town on Saturday. The lad asked his father for permission to go and his dad said that he could, providing his chores were done early. Saturday morning came. Chores finished, the little boy asked his father for some money so he could go to the circus. His dad reached down in his overalls and pulled out a dollar bill, the most money the boy had ever seen at one time. Off the little wide-eyed fellow went. As he approached the town, he saw people lining the streets. Peering through the line at one point, he got his first glimpse of the parade. There were animals in cages and marching bands. Finally, a clown was seen bringing up the rear of the parade. The little boy was so excited that when the clown passed, he reached in his pocket and handed him the precious dollar bill. Thinking he had seen the circus when he had only seen the parade, the little boy turned around and went home.
The observation is made as to how sad it is that some people come to church like this little boy who went to the circus? They may come with the intent to worship God, but all they see is the parade – the parade of hymn singing, prayers, communion and preaching. They peer through their pews at all the activity and then turn to go home at 12:00 noon; thinking they have been to God’s house, but yet they missed the main event – a personal encounter with Jesus Christ! (Autoillustrator.com, "WORSHIP")
Let me ask you as we close today – do you need to come to the savior so that you can have the grace of God in your life? Believe on the Lord, commit your life to Him, confess His name before men and be baptized for the remission of your sins.
Our closing song today is not really a decision type of song, but it is an expression of praise – “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee”.
I hope you can adore the Lord, joyfully today and everyday of your life so that you can slip into eternity still praising Him who has saved you by His grace.
