1Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise him in the heights! 2Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his host! 3Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars! 4Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! 5Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded and they were created. 6He established them forever and ever; he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed. 7Praise the LORD from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps, 8fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind fulfilling his command! 9Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars! 10Wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds! 11Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth! 12Young men and women alike, old and young together! 13Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his glory is above earth and heaven. 14He has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his faithful, for the people of Israel who are close to him. Praise the LORD! 1Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Psalms 148:1 - 149:1 (NRSV)
12As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. 13Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. 17And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Colossians 3:12 - 17 (NRSV)
Do you like disaster movies? Not my favorite! Give me “Meet Me in St Louis” or “It’s a Wonderful Life” –There’s already too much reality on the daily news for me to be interested in end of the world scenarios. On the other hand, I can enjoy an animated children’s movie like “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs”.
Have you ever wondered why there are so many of those “disaster movies” produced? It’s because there is so much disaster and “shaking” of this world. Frankly, underneath it all people are nervous and unsure of what’s going to happen to this old world; so much is uncertain.
Herbert O’Driscoll is a retired Anglican priest who served in Ireland. In the 1970’s he watched the terrible earthquakes in Northern Italy. Someone with a home movie camera captured an outdoor worship scene after the quake hit:
On a hillside a rough altar of stones had been assembled and an elderly priest was about to elevate the chalice when an aftershock came. The tremor rippled through the crowd until it reached the priest. He staggered but succeeded in keeping the chalice aloft with one hand while supporting himself on the altar with his other hand.
[O’Driscoll continued that he]…immediately identified with the scene. I understood my priesthood as being in such a world, a world in which foundations were being shaken but where my task was to reach for and hang on to what remained solid and lasting….Why does God shake the earth?....God shakes the earth so that what cannot be shaken may remain….To serve in an age of earthquake is to be forced to decide what it is, for each one of us, that cannot be shaken. [1]
The table before us is, for me, what cannot be shaken. This table represents the love of God, and the life Russell should lead.
For these few moments let’s focus on the solid, unshakeable ways we can praise the LORD with our lives. The Psalmist told us why – that God is creator and sustainer of all there is, and therefore entirely worthy of our praise.
Paul, in Colossians, tells us the how – living each day of our lives in a manner that is a worthy offering, a life in the character of Jesus Christ. Paul shows us about 11 characteristics of a Christlike life.
Considering we’re so close to New Year’s resolution time, let’s go over the list.
1. With Compassion
Compassion is pretty straightforward; when somebody else is hurting, you do something! It may only be a word, or it may mean sacrifice beyond what you ever could imagine – but compassionate people act!
2. With Kindness
Kindness is a matter of seeing the weakness in another person and deciding against exploiting – rather helping the other to overcome. It is the picture of lifting someone out of the pit.
3. With Humility
Humility isn’t merely a lack of “tooting your own horn” or the opposite of pride. It is more a matter of simply thinking of others before you consider your own needs or wants. That’s rare today; very rare!
4. With Meekness
Meekness is not being soft-spoken or “wimpish”. The Bible word suggests great power. Jesus was characterized as meek, but he had great strength. His prayer from the cross could have been, “Father, wipe ‘em all out and get me off this planet!” But Jesus’ meekness, his strength-under-control, was to instead say, “Father, forgive them.”
5. With Patience
Yesterday was a big day at all the department stores. Every ugly gift received in the holiday season stood in the return lines. Do you have any patience left?
For thousands of years God sent his messengers the prophets, who were, one after the other, killed by the very ones God intended to save. Finally God sent his own beloved Son – and we put him on a cross too. That is patience!
6. With Forgiveness
How are you at forgiving? Do you make others come to you, groveling, before you’ll even consider it? Do you say you forgive, and then keep bringing it up, rolling it around in conversation or just thinking about it until you unravel whatever forgiveness you might have given? Have you not learned to forget to talk about another’s wrong towards you?
7. With Harmony
Harmony is not when everybody learns to think and act alike; it is much harder to achieve harmony than uniformity. It takes, as they say, two to tango. But, is it your target, and are you committed to listening so you can understand others – so you can work together towards harmony?
8. With Christ’s Peace Ruling in Your Heart
Paul said in his letter to the church at Philippi that worry shouldn’t enter into our lives, but our prayers and needs are to be lifted to God above. When we leave our cares and needs with God, he sends the peace of Christ to guard our hearts.
9. With Thankfulness
This should be the easiest of Paul’s list of New Year’s resolutions. When you have a God who has promised an exchange, where we give Him our anxieties and tell Him our needs, He gives us his peace and supplies our needs – what more does it take to be thankful?
10. Teaching Each Other Wisdom
Wisdom is not a matter of IQ or degrees earned from colleges. Knowing God is the beginning and sum total of true wisdom. When it comes to teaching each other Godly wisdom, we are like so many beggars sharing with each other where we found bread.
A major problem these days is that too many spiritual beggars have decided not to look for bread any more. Bible Study is, of course, the implication here. We get it in many ways – worship is introductory; fellowship with other believers takes learning spiritual wisdom to a deeper level (if the topic is scripture and serving, not ball game scores). But the deepest of all is personal Bible study, so that you learn to share God’s good ways with others. Nobody learns like one preparing to teach!
11. With a Song of Praise
There is enough about which you can complain these days. The life of a believer who honors God in a worthy manner is a person whose lips are filled with praise. Unfortunately there is no shortage of people who want to constantly dwell on the negative. They can’t wait to tell you the latest bad news. They feel compelled to the down side like a junkyard dog feels called to devour a mailman.
Christian – your life is in-Christ, not in the dump! Pull up thy chin!
Amen, or “Oh Me”?
Does your life fall just a little short of all these wonderful characteristics? Do you feel like you don’t hit on all those cylinders? Perhaps you felt like you got a perfect score, 0 out of 11!
Let’s go back to Herbert O’Driscoll. It’s an earthquake kind of world. Of all that which we do today, the table is secure. No matter what your score on Paul’s list, God loves you. You can count on that!
This table is for imperfect people – you’ve just got to know that; and you come anyway. God is waiting for you to make the decision that if all else goes wrong, if an earthquake rocks the world and all that’s in it, you are going to trust Him.
God’s waiting at that table to meet you for supper; come and dine!
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ENDNOTES
1] Herbert O’Driscoll, Christian Century, December 29, 2009, page 29.
