Praising God
Psalm 150
August 26, 2018
Since today is the last Sunday I’m preaching on the Psalms, I thought we would look at the last of the Psalms, Psalm 150. This psalm is all about praising God. It’s all about recognizing who God is in our lives so that we can praise Him.
It’s all about corporate worship, what we do in here on Sunday mornings, but it’s also all about what we do when we leave here on Sunday mornings. Praising God is a state of being. It’s not something you turn on and off like a light switch, and it’s not something that someone else does for you. You are the one who must be active in worship . . . praising God is not a passive, inactive activity.
Of course, it doesn’t mean you have to jump up and down and clap your hands, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t jump up and down and clap your hands. There is so much that goes into praising God and worshiping Him, that it can be super complicated. But ultimately, it’s really more about our heart, spirit, mind and body.
It’s about what we bring to this building on Sunday mornings. Even if we’re struggling with physical issues, or dealing with loss, with mental issues, with family drama, with work or school issues - - - yet we come into this building for the express purpose to worship the Lord. What does that mean for us when we’re really not happy with life? How do we worship in those moments? How easy or difficult is it to praise God when we want to yell and scream at God for our situation in life?
Those are loaded questions, and I’m not sure I’ll get to all of that today, but I want to. I want to touch on these because it’s vital!
So, let me read Psalm 150 for you, it’s only 6 verses ~
1 Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens!
2 Praise Him for his mighty deeds; praise Him according to his excellent greatness!
3 Praise Him with trumpet sound; praise Him with lute and harp!
4 Praise Him with tambourine and dance; praise Him with strings and pipe!
5 Praise Him with sounding cymbals; praise Him with loud clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
What’s interesting about the Psalms is that Psalm 1 starts out with God blessing us. Psalm 1:1 starts with ~ 1 Blessed is the man . . . Now, the book of Psalms ends with you and I blessing and praising God.
As we read through the Psalms, we’ve seen Psalms of celebration and victory, Psalms of despair and lament, Psalms of forgiveness and need. As you read through the Psalms, they touch our hearts because there is a sense of realism and vulnerability by the writers and by God. Now, we come to the end. In a sense we come to the end of the symphony. And the music builds as we prepare for the climactic end.
In verse 1, the psalmist proclaims ~
1 Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens!
When the psalmist says Praise the Lord, it’s the Hebrew word Hallelujah! Hallelujah is really 2 words . . . Hallelu meaning praise and Jah which means the Lord. So, when we say this word, it’s an exclamation to praise the Lord. What I find interesting is that in Hebrew, the word hallelu - - not only means praise, but also means to boast or to rave, or to act like a mad man!
Literally it does, only a couple times though. But in a sense, that’s what worship is about. That’s what praising God is about. It’s about boasting back to God His glory and splendor. It’s raving about God’s goodness and maybe on occasion acting like a mad man, but in a good way!
The psalmist tells us we are to praise God in His sanctuary. That’s where we’re at. For the Jewish people, the temple was the focal point of worship. That’s where they traveled to so they could meet God in that place.
In our world, it’s changed. The church building for so many people is no longer the focal point of worship. In fact, for so many people, worship does not occur at all. Because we believe, and correctly believe that God is always with us, that if we believe in Jesus, we receive the Holy Spirit and wherever we go, the Spirit of God is with us . . . which is all true, so some people, in fact, many people do not believe they need to go to church to worship. They believe they can do it in isolation - - if they do it at all. But that is far from being true and healthy.
People will make excuses and I’m not going to get into the excuses, but you can think of some of them.
The point of coming here is to give praise and adoration to God. But Pastor, this week they only had hymns. Oh Pastor, this week they had too many contemporary songs. Oh Pastor, this week they only played southern gospel. But Pastor, this week they only played Led Zeppelin praise songs.
I’m not getting into worship wars! Too many churches split on this issue. My point is we call come with what we want and with what we like. I get it. I do it too!!
But in reality this is not a biblical war, it’s really not a moral issue. It’s not a right or wrong issue. Just because you might cheer for the Bears doesn’t necessarily make you wrong . . . or maybe it does.
In the end, what happens is that we set ourselves up for disappointment when we don’t hear our music. Psalm 104:33 tells us ~
33 I will sing to the LORD as long as I live. I will sing praise to my God while I have being. – Psalm 104:33
We are to praise God in His sanctuary. When we are here, God is calling us to be open to the various ways we can worship Him. We should be preparing ourselves for worship long before we walk into these doors. It starts at home. It starts with our preparation for worship, so we’re walking in the door ready!!
I’ve said it before, only one aspect of worship may really touch you today. It may be the music, it may be the message, it may be the announcements, it may be the prayer, it may be the welcome. I’m not sure what it is, but let me tell you this. I’ve never heard anyone tell me ‘Pastor, I’m sorry I slept through the singing this morning.’ I’ve had people tell me ‘Pastor, I’m sorry I slept through the sermon.’ We joke about getting your best nap of the week during my message. I get it, but nobody ever says they slept through the singing.
So, maybe there’s something to the music! Be open to experience the power of God at work when you come in here to worship. God has already promised us He will be here. He will be ready to meet you where you are, you just need to open yourself to Him and meet Him. He’s knocking on your heart, will you open the door to let God in?
In the second part of verse 1, the psalmist looks to heaven and reminds us of the awesomeness of God. We are to praise God in His mighty heavens. Some versions will say to praise God in His firmament. Which really means to Praise God for the spreading out of His strength. It reminds me of God’s limitless power and presence in all places. There is not a place in which we are hidden or the world’s events are hidden from God’s sight. We see how God’s power reaches beyond time and space. Nothing . . . absolutely nothing can contain God.
We are reminded of God’s awesomeness in the Christ hymn from Philippians 2, when Paul wrote ~
10 at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Philippians 2:10-11
Jesus is to be praised at all times and in all places, without end. One commentator refered to this passage as the “spacious auditorium above.” And in that spacious auditorium above, which we call heaven, we will also find our loved ones. As they praise God, their singing and worship, amazingly blends with our worship and our singing, making a great symphony to God almighty, as our hallelujahs join with theirs. And for that we give amazing thanks!!
In verse 2, the psalmist proclaimed ~
2 Praise Him for His mighty deeds; praise Him according to His excellent greatness!
The Israelites would remember God for all of His mighty works. Without going into detail, the psalmist could have recalled all of the victories of God over the enemy. The exodus from Egypt, the victories over the surrounding nations, the return from exile, the rebuilding of the temple. And modern day Israelites would use this passage to remind themselves of God’s mighty works in securing many of their victories as well.
Even today, we can read this passage and give thanks to God for His mighty deeds in our lives. We can praise God for His presence in our lives, for the blessings we have received. Ultimately, we praise God for the gift of salvation. For the coming of Jesus, our Christ, our Lord, our Savior and Redeemer. It’s the mighty deed of the Father sending His Son into the world on our behalf, knowing what would happen to Jesus. It’s giving thanks for the gift of hope we have through the resurrection, knowing death was defeated.
And in the same way, we thank God for His awesomeness. For His excellent greatness! God’s mighty acts demonstrate His excellent greatness.
So, on those days, weeks, months, for those seasons when we are struggling in whatever manner . . . can we take the time in prayer to give God praise? What we often do is remember what God did in the past, and we stop there. Or we remember the past and hope for the future, but we leave out the present situation.
Can you in those moments, stop, be still . . . and call out to God . . . cry out to God . . . scream out if you need to . . . as you pour your heart out to God. He hears you, He knows your hurts and your heart before you do. He’s ready for you to approach His throne of grace. Lay out before Him, copy some of the Psalms and ask and pray. But don’t get stuck . . . be open to experiencing His power, His strength, His courage and compassion and love.
God has promised us that He will never fail us nor forsake us. He will always be with us, not to condemn us, but to love us and give us hope. That’s part of the praise we can give to God.
As the psalmist continues, he describes ways we can worship God. He specifies musical instruments.
3 Praise Him with trumpet sound; praise Him with lute and harp!
4 Praise Him with tambourine and dance; praise Him with strings and pipe!
We are to demonstrate to God our praise in many ways. One of them is through music, and again, we can’t get hung up on the medium being used. It’s the point of the psalmist . . . PRAISE GOD!
It doesn’t say if you should have 1, 2 or 6 worship songs. We don’t hear that worship should only last 1 hour. But we are instructed to worship the Lord. And one of the ways to worship the Lord is through praising him musically.
The psalmist tells us ~
5 Praise Him with sounding cymbals; praise Him with loud clashing cymbals!
As the psalmist is moving towards the end - - the music is playing, the people are praising God. Now to get to the final climactic point of praise, the psalmist adds the cymbals.
As I studied for this message, I learned there were 2 types of cymbals. There were the cymbals of hearing, or what some Bibles refer to as loud cymbals. These were most likely more like castanets. These would produce a sharp and clear sound. They would add to the melody of the symphony of praise.
The 2nd type of cymbals were the loud clashing cymbals. The word for loud means to shout or alarm, to make a loud noise. These cymbals would lead to the culmination of the praise and worship of God.
It’s as if the volume would increase to the point where the loud cymbals would clang. And with that the music would stop.
There would be a sudden silence by all of the people, then possibly a soloist would lead the people in singing, then maybe the choir would join in, then the people and orchestra as well. It would lead to the culmination of worshiping God.
Finally, the psalmist ends with ~
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
It’s a final call for all of us to praise the Lord, to praise the Lord with our heart, our spirit, our mind and with our whole being. If you have breath, can you praise the Lord?
Sometimes, yes, we know, I know, we’ve all been there. Life can be rough, people can be mean and cruel, life can be pretty brutal at times. Illnesses, death, unemployment, school issues, family issues . . .
Yet, God has promised to walk in this life with us. He loves you, even in the dark times, He loves you. Even when you’ve moved away from Him, He loves you! There’s not a moment when He doesn’t love you!
He wants to give you Himself. It’s the greatest gift you can receive . . . the gift of the love and power of God, through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Because of the power of His love, can you turn to God and praise Him for a moment. Can you stop during the week when you’re struggling with something . . . and pray to God . . .
Pray for your spirit to be open to His Spirit
Pray for peace through Him
Pray for power, strength, encouragement.
Pray . . . but as you pray
can you then praise God for your blessings. You don’t need an instrument, but you can. You don’t have to sing, but you can, you can use words, or you can just groan, and talk . . .
But dear friends, never doubt the love of God. He calls you His child. He died for you. Praise Him, all you His people . . . praise the Lord!
