A Worship Filled Life
Part 2
Pastor Jeff Seaman
The loner we live the more we learn about the way God thinks, His nature, and His character through the things and persons the Lord puts near us. For example, when Dede and I had the honor of becoming parents for the first time, our whole life changed. Children are the best teachers; when you become a parent many things are revealed to you of which you were ignorant before.
That’s one of the reasons the Lord told His disciples, "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven" (Matt. 18:3) ON another occasion, He said to the teachers, "Have you never read, ’From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise’?" (Matt. 21:16)
One of the best examples I can use to illustrate the difference between praise and worship is one I see every day when I come home. When my children hear me open the front door, a shout can be heard all throughout the house: "Daddy, Daddy…Yeah! Daddy’s home!"
Kids come running from every which way to hug my legs, to celebrate, to jump, and to shout simply because of the fact that I’m home. My wife and I have three children. When this celebration begins, I usually have all three of them on me at the same time. One will be on my shoulder, another hanging off one of my arms, and the other hugging me, kissing me, or all of the above.
These outward expressions of my children’s inner feelings of admirations, love, and rejoicing are a natural response upon seeing the one they love. No one "taught" them how to express this; it’s something that was birthed in them by God.
As I take them in my arms and tell them how much I love them, they begin telling me that they love me, and they shower me with kisses. Then something happens. Their tone of voice changes, their words, formerly of rejoicing, now become loving and intimate. They say things like: "Daddy, I love you so much… You’re the best dad in the whole world…You’re the most handsome dad." Phrases like that are music to a loving parent’s ears. Through this simple illustration we can see a basic difference between praise (celebration) and worship (Intimacy).
When our heavenly Father arrives, our natural reaction is one of rejoicing, celebration, and praise. Someone we love has arrived. Someone who means everything to us. Our reaction to Him is the same as my children’s reaction when I return home. But once we’ve drawn near to Him, had the privilege of being taken in His arms of love, and have received His caresses, the celebration changes to worship.
In worship we have the opportunity to tell Him our deepest, most intimate thoughts. To do this, one doesn’t need to make a lot of noise. On the contrary, it’s often necessary to speak softly, tenderly, and lovingly in order to make the most of the close communion we are enjoying with Him at that moment.
For many years it was thought that praise and worship were the same thing. Now the Lord has been leading us into the understanding that they are two different things. We must learn how to discern the time we spend with Him, whether in praise or in worship, so that our relationship ca be whole and complete.
The Bible speaks of the difference between these two things time and time again. Today I want to take a look at praise: the naturally festive reaction to the arrival of our Lord among us, or of our "arrival" (coming) before Him.
THREE THINGS THE BIBLE TELLS US PRAISE IS
1. PRAISE IS A PARTY
Ps. 100:1-2 "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
(CEV) v-1 " Shout praise to the Lord, everyone on the earth.
The Hebrew words used in this passage are ruwa ("shout for joy"), which means "shout, raise a sound, cry out, give a blast," and renanah (joyful song) which means "shout of joy, joyful voice, singing, triumphing and ringing cry."
It’s interesting that in this passage we are ordered to draw near to God with loud and festive rejoicing.
Praise should be more like a party than a funeral. Many of us have false thoughts that coming before the Lord with joy and celebrations is irreverence. Yet the Bible not only teaches us that this is the way to draw near to God; it orders it. As we have heard said many time, "God does not give suggestions, only commandments."
Ps. 145:3 say, "Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise." Another translation says "Great is the Lord and worthy of supreme praise"
The word supreme says a lot to me: He is worthy of my best praise; He is worthy of the highest praise. The praise we offer to the Lord should be higher than any we would offer to some person, institution.
The Bible speaks a lot about celebrations. In fact, the Lord established seven different celebrations that were observed throughout the year. Some of them were annual; others took place monthly or weekly.
In the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus shows the heart of the Father to be patient, loving, and full of mercy. There is an obvious comparison between the earthly father of this lost son and our heavenly Father.
When the son finally returns, far from rejecting him, the father receives him, dresses him, and returns to him the honor of the family name. The father puts a ring on the returning son’s finger, a sing of authority. But the icing on the cake is when the father arranges to kill the fatted calf, bringing musicians and people from near and far, throwing a huge "welcome home" party.
It wasn’t a quiet little affair, because we know the older brother could hear the racket from afar off. Even before entering the house, he knew something special was happening, and he asked what was the going on (Luke 15:25-26). The heart of this earthly father--and that of our heavenly Father--rejoices in His children, and He likes to celebrate their repentance with them.
A few weeks ago my son and I were watching the Kings play the LA Lakers in the play offs. I don’t remember details about the game, but I do know that we did a lot of yelling and cheering for the Kings. All the people in the Arco Arena were jumping to their feet, hands in the air, shouting and celebrating this group of men who had just up--set the LA Lakers in Game four.
I saw many grab each other’s hands and hug one another; many were in tears. An atmosphere of wholehearted celebration ruled in that place. The reality of what was happening came over me strongly---shaking me to the point that I almost felt as if someone had hit me. These people were praising !
I stood there watching for several minutes, and all of a sudden I didn’t feel like celebrating anymore because I realized that the people were giving better praise to the Kings players than probably would have given to God Himself.
There have only been a few times when I’ve seen people burst into praise and celebration to God the way those thousands did that night. Too many times I’ve heard all the excuses that can be imagined as to why we should not praise the Lord of heaven in that way.
I have a hard time understanding why we feel it’s justifiable to praise sports teams or sports figures with everything we have, but we believe the Son of God shouldn’t be praised with the same intensity. Something’s the matter with this picture.
Jesus made the biggest goal of all times on Calvary when He triumphed over Satan and made a public spectacle of him, showing all generations the greatness of our God (Col. 2:15). After such a great miracle, how can we not dare give Him the highest of praise. We should have a celebration every day when we remember His work of redemption on the cross and the victory He ordained for us by putting Satan beneath His feet.
Eph. 2:6 Tells us that He raised us up in the same victory. Because of that victory, we can walk and live triumphantly every day in the name of Jesus.
There is no excuse for not giving Him the best of our celebration praise. We should be the first to shout out His glory because of all the wonderful things He’s done for us. Don’t hold it back, and don’t let anyone tell you we’re not supposed to worship Him in that way.
2. PRAISE IS BOASTING
The word most used in the Old Testament to speak of praise is the word (Halal) the same root from which the word (Hallelujah) comes. On repeated occasion it is used to order praise to God. (see Ps. 22:22-23; 35:18; 56:4; 63:5; 69:30.) The Hebrew word Halal means "to shin, to show off, celebrate, make much noise and display, be jubilant."
Have you ever seen a young man take the hand of his sweetheart? Watch his face; there’s an expression there--almost of pride. Or watch a child who runs out to show off a new toy.
No one who has something good in his life about which he is happy, satisfied, and proud is going to be able to hide it. It’s in man’s very nature to want to take it out, to show it off, and to talk about it. Why, then, don’t Christians, who have such an extraordinarily wonderful God, show Him off so that the world can see His greatness?
Just as my kids don’t worry about "What will Daddy think?" when they meet me so noisily upon my arrival home, so we should be jubilant when we come into the presence of the Lord. Far from being bothered or embarrassed by our praise, hr rejoices in the praise of His people.
It’s time to make our praise a time to boast about all that He means to us. According to the original definition of Halal, we need to "make Him shine" in this darkened world. The only way the world can know Him as such is through the Halal of His children.
3. PRAISE IS WARFARE
During the Gulf War, the world became familiar with the powerful weaponry man has invented to destroy his enemies. The videos being sent back looked almost like science-fiction movies. Taken with cameras attached to the nose of the missiles, they transmitted the signal back to the base and allowed us to see, firsthand, the incredible advances in modern science. The whole world saw the now famous Patriot missile, which could detect the arrival of another missile, intercept the incoming missile, and destroy it with an 85% accuracy rate. The world has gone to great lengths to come up with weapons that can outsmart the enemy and give strategies for winning the war.
There are many parallels in the spiritual realm. The war that exists in the spiritual world also has a series of ultramodern and powerful weapons. Paul say: (2Cor. 10:4) "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds"
Our war is not carnal, so our weapons cannot be carnal either. The Bible say clearly: (Eph. 6:12) "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
Why should we use natural weapons such as machine guns, and rifles when we have access to spiritual atomic bombs of praise, worship, prayer, fasting, and intercession--as well as the Word of God, the Blood of the Lamb, and the name of Jesus.
Let me give you an explanation about these weapons.
All the missiles and rockets, the range and power is found in the warhead. If the rocket is not carrying an atomic warhead, then the rocket will only cause small damage at the most. But a missile carrying an atomic warhead becomes the carrier of enormous disaster, destroying entire cities and causing a much greater impact.
The rocket in this case is Praise. Praise is merely the carrier of the dangerous warhead. The power is not in the rocket itself, but in the warhead. The atomic warheads are the name of Jesus, the blood of the lamb, and the word of God (Rev. 12:11)
When we unite the missile of praise with the power of the Name, the Blood, and the Word, then we can cause serious damage to the enemy’s territory. When praise does not carry the atomic warhead it is only music--a simple song with no power.
When we sing, speak or declare our praise to the Lord, we are letting the opposing side know the powerful eternal truths that are found in the word. We are pointing and firing at the kingdom of our enemy, reminding him that Jesus has already triumphed over him; therefore we can enjoy the victory He obtained for us.
I firmly believe that when Satan hears this declaration coming from the mouths of a believer, he trembles.
Before Lucifer’s fall from heaven, some say that he was heaven’s worship leader. We do know with certainty that he was near the throne of God, because he was called "a guardian cherub" (Ezek. 28:14) Lucifer wanted to be like God--to sit on the throne of God so that all the worship would be directed to him. But God does not share His glory with anyone, and Lucifer was cast out of heaven.
Satan is still trying to take praise and worship for himself, doing everything in his power to get people to bow before him.
The Bible give examples of the role of praise in battle. King Jehoshaphat praised the God when he was surrounded by his enemies. As they when out to battle, his army shouted, "Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever" (2Chor. 20:22)
Joshua and his army brought down the walls of Jericho with a shout of praise.
(Josh. 6:1-21)
The next time you are in a service praising the Lord, try to remember this principle so that your praise can take on a new perspective and focus. Tell yourself, as I sing and praise, giving my heart and life to the Lord, I’m bringing more destruction to the kingdom of Satan.
Let yourself praise with even more intensity so as to see all the works of evil destroyed in the spirit. If we remember this, we will want to praise more than ever, and we will do it with more energy and purpose. No wonder the devil doesn’t like worshiper--they are bringing him to ruin.
