The Impact of Worship
I’m thankful for the staff we have at PBC. Our church secretary, Barb, has really done a super job with our weekly bulletin, don’t you think? On the rare occasion that we have a typo, it’s usually my fault for not catching it when I proof it. Other churches are not as fortunate as we are when it comes to their bulletins. These are actual announcements that I’ve compiled from churches around the country:
Ushers will eat latecomers.
Miss Charlene Mason sang “I Will Not Pass This Way Again,” giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.
Ladies, don’t forget the rummage sale. It’s a good chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.
The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict.
Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.
Barbara remains in the hospital and needs blood donors for more transfusions. She is also having trouble sleeping and requests tapes of Pastor Jack’s sermons.
Don’t let worry kill you. Let the Church help.
Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church and community.
A missionary from Africa named Bertha Belch is speaking at Calvary Memorial in Racine. Come tonight and hear Bertha Belch all the way from Africa.
These “bulletin bloopers” are funny and they show the importance of words. Language is so powerful, isn’t it? A misplaced letter or word can make us laugh or make us cry. Words can communicate humor or holiness, sorrow or singing. As we continue in our series on worship from the Book of Psalms, we’ve focused on some pretty weighty words. From Psalm 95 we learned that biblical worship involves both Rejoicing and Reverence and is always followed by a Response. Additionally, as we discovered last week from Psalm 96, true worship is never boring when we Exalt His Name, Extend His Kingdom, Express His Greatness and Expect His Coming. This morning, as we take a look at Psalm 145, we will see that worship is designed to radically impact our very lives.
Background
Before we jump into the text, I want to give you some background.
1. This Psalm is an alphabetical acrostic. What this means is that David begins each verse with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Sometimes preachers are made fun of for their acrostics or alliteration actually, we’re just trying to be like David! If you’ve ever tried to write poetry, you know that it takes a lot of thought and attention to detail to express what is on your heart. I can’t imagine how long this took David to do but I’m sure he tackled it with vigor. By the way, these kind of literary devices enable the listener or reader to remember the content a bit more easily. That’s the goal when I use four words that begin with “e” or why we designed our church vision statement using the acrostic IMPACT. If you can remember that one word, it should trigger your mind to think of Instruction, Ministry, Prayer, Adoration, Caring, and Telling. When somebody asks what PBC is all about, you can tell them when you think about the word IMPACT.
I should mention that David’s attempt to use all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet didn’t quite work out there’s one missing. Maybe he did it on purpose so that we don’t focus so much on the structure that we miss the content, or maybe he just couldn’t find an appropriate word that started with that letter. That takes some pressure off me when I can’t make that last point of a sermon start with the letter “X”!
2. This psalm could be considered the “new song” of Psalm 96:1. As we learned last week, we are to break out into fresh expressions of God’s creative beauty and awesome character: “Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.” This psalm does that. It’s bright and dazzling in its structure and message.
3. This is really David’s crown jewel of praise. This is the last psalm that has David’s name associated with it and the title, “A psalm of praise” is used only of this one. This holy hymn is characterized by praise not thanksgiving or even prayer. It’s set apart for a specific purpose, much like Psalm 86 is referred to as “A prayer of David.” It is magnificent in its beauty and almost breathtaking in its grandeur.
4. This psalm has a special blessing associated with it. According to the ancient Israelites, who recited this psalm twice in the morning and once in the evening, a person who sang this psalm out loud three different times during the day would be “happy.” Perhaps we should follow this same suggestion today. I don’t doubt that we’d become much more joyful if we read this psalm three times a day for a month. Any takers?
While I’m not going to use an alphabetical acrostic this morning, I am going to use an alliterated outline. I see 7 different truths, or doctrinal certainties in this psalm. As we go through each one, I want to also give an application related to each point. It will work like this: Because of this truth…I will therefore do this.
1 God’s Position
Let’s begin by looking at verses 1-2: “I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever.” The first truth is God’s Position. David as God’s king adores Almighty God as his king above all kings. To “exalt” is to set on high above all others, it’s the expression of the greatest possible admiration. The phrase “for ever” means that David’s praise has no end, but when he adds another “ever” to it he forbids all idea of a close to his praise. Our praise of God shall be as eternal as the God we praise.
Praise is the only activity that we’re called to do now that we’ll continue doing in eternity. We pray now, but there will be a time when our prayers will no longer be needed. We believe, but there shall be a time when our faith will be lost in sight when we see Him face to face. We hope but a time is coming when what we hope for will come to glorious fruition. But, praise is with us now and will continue in heaven.
We are to praise Him “every day” regardless of how our day looks. When we’re up and everything looks good, we’re to praise Him. And, when we’re down and things look dark, we’re still to praise Him. Every day is a new opportunity to praise Him.
C.S. Lewis says, “We praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.”
And so, because of God’s Position, we are to Praise Him daily.
2 God’s Power
The second truth that rocks David is God’s Power. We see this in verses 3-6: “Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom. One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds.”
Our worship should be in some ways like the object of our worship great praise for a great God. There is no part of God’s greatness which is not worthy of great praise. Spurgeon has said, “Praise may said to be great when the song contains great matter, when the hearts producing it are intensely fervent, and when large numbers unite in the grand acclaim.” No chorus or hymn is too loud, no band or orchestra too large, no psalm too lofty for the lauding of the Lord of Hosts.
While God is great, David recognizes that “no one can fathom” his great power completely. When we contemplate the immensity of our Triune God, we find ourselves surrounded by unknowable wonders. Paul put it this way in Romans 11:33: “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out.”
When we understand what we can, we’re challenged to pass along what we know to the next generation. Specifically, we’re to tell those who are younger about God’s works and mighty acts. As parents we are to praise God before our children and remind them of the ways that we’ve seen God at work in the past. Each generation is to catch the praises from the last, echo them, and pass them along to the next.
It is the biblical duty of every generation of Christians to see to it that the next generation hears about the mighty acts of God. God does not just drop a Bible from heaven on every generation. He intends for the older saints to teach the newer ones to think and trust and obey and rejoice. I want you to notice that verse 4 does not say that we are to merely “teach” his works. It says, “Commend your works to another.” That means that we pass along our praise to them by commending the attractiveness of God. We must not only aim at education, but also focus on exaltation. If teachers and parents do not exult God in their teaching, they cannot pass it along to the next generation. Dry, unemotional, indifferent teaching about God whether at home or at church does damage to our kids. It says one thing about God and portrays another. It’s inconsistent because it says that God is great but teaches as if He’s not.
The aim of all education is exultation. I shared this with the staff of Pontiac Christian School this past week and I want to pass it along to parents, grandparents, AWANA staff, Sunday School teachers, youth leaders, and anyone who influences kids in any number of ways. My passion is that all of our young people would be radically surrendered to Jesus and radically committed to His cause of world evangelization. What we want from the next generation are not just heads filled with the right facts about the works of God; we want heads full biblical truths and hearts that burn with the fire of love and intensity of full devotion to Christ which explodes into unbridled and ecstatic praise.
I want to personally thank those of you who influence and impact kids for Christ. Whether it’s in your home, in a class setting, or in a youth activity, you are a difference maker for Christ and His kingdom. And, I might add, if you are looking for a way to serve and make a difference in the spiritual trajectory of the next generation, may I encourage you to check out AWANA, our children’s ministry, or our student ministry?
Verse 5 gives us one way to make sure we stay fresh in our walk with Christ so that we can commend God’s works to the next generation it’s through meditating on all of God’s wonderful works. In a recent editorial published on the web, the author writes this: “The constant buzz of TV, movies, magazines, videos, CDs, the radio, and the Internet is like a million tractor beams hitting me all at once, so that my little starship can never escape to some silent part of the galaxy where I could ponder the stars and the One who made them.” Biblical meditation has three main objectives to think about what God is like, to remember what He has done, and to contemplate what He has said. Meditation will renew your mind so that you can think and act more like Christ.
Here’s the application of point #2: Because of God’s Power, we are to disciple our kids.
3 God’s Personality
The third truth is God’s Personality and is found in verses 7-9 and verse 17: “They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made…The Lord is righteous in all His ways and loving toward all He has made.”
In this section of the Psalm, David describes the multi-faceted beauty of God’s personality. Listen to the words he uses: “goodness,” “righteousness,” “gracious,” “compassionate,” “slow to anger,” “rich in love,” “good to all,” “righteous,” and “loving.” These attributes help us see what kind of God He is and how He deals with people.
The most jarring TV commercial I’ve seen in a long time first came out a year ago. It simply shows a series of people who have one thing in common a nasty injury or scar. There’s a cowboy with a huge scar around his eye; a young man with a cauliflower ear; another with horribly calloused feet. There’s no explanation at all, simply the Nike swoosh and the words, “Just Do It.”
The ad has been analyzed and criticized by a lot of people as being incomprehensible and extreme. But the key to the controversial commercial lies in its background music. Joe Cocker sings, “You are so beautiful…to me.”
To these athletes the wrestler with the bad ear, the surfer with a shark bite, the bull rider with one eye their injuries are beauty marks. And to their fans, these athletes are beautiful because of their scars. God’s grace and goodness and righteousness and love and compassion are jarring and controversial as well. Our beauty is found not in us, but in Him. He looks down at us injured, blind, and scarred and sings, “You are so beautiful…to me.”
Friends, because this is how God deals with us, verse 7 tells us to celebrate and joyfully sing praise to Him because of who He is.
Because of God’s Personality, we are to celebrate His attributes.
4 God’s Preeminence
The fourth element is God’s preeminence from verses 10-13: “All you have made will praise you, O Lord; your saints will extol you. They will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, so that all men may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made.”
The main point in this section is not that God is important or even prominent it’s that He’s preeminent. He’s over all because He made everything. All of creation will praise Him and His saints that’s you and I will extol Him as number one in our lives. God has no rivals. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and we should live in light of this fact. As we praise Him for His works around us, we will go on to bless Him for his works within us.
And, much like what we discovered in Psalm 96, once we praise Him for His preeminence in our lives, we will want to tell others about the glory of His kingdom. When we speak freely of God’s might, “all men may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.”
David is saying that there is a direct link between our heart and our tongue. We speak about what is in our heart. Some people really love to talk about sports, others talk a lot about their family, some talk about parties, some talk about their lawn or cars or houses, and still others focus their words on money or the weather. If you want to know what someone holds dear, just listen to what they talk about. Proverbs 16:23 puts it this way: “A wise man’s heart guides his mouth, and his lips promote instruction.” If our hearts are set on wisdom and praise, our mouths will speak accordingly; if our hearts are set on other things that will come out as well. That’s why Proverbs 4:23 challenges us to “guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”
Listen. If our hearts were full of God, then our tongues wouldn’t be able to stop talking about Him to others. That’s why my favorite definition of evangelism is this: “Evangelism is what spills over when you bump into someone.” If we truly want verse 12 to be fulfilled and “have all men know of His mighty acts,” then it’s imperative that we cultivate a lifestyle of protracted praise and devoted adoration. Then, when we bump into others, our words will flow and our hearts will spill over with His love and grace. Someone has said, “If Christians praised God more, the world would doubt Him less.”
Here’s the application to point #4: Because of God’s preeminence, we will tell others about Him.
5 God’s Provision
The next facet of this psalm is God’s Provision from verses 14-16: “The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.”
This section follows the unlimited power and preeminence of God with its emphasis upon His provision. While God is extremely powerful and awesome, He is also tender and locked into the needs of His people. Have you fallen recently? Are you bowed down with the weight of problems and difficulties? If so, turn you eyes to Jesus and He will provide what you need. He will uphold you when you fall and lift you up when you’re overwhelmed. The key is to look up. I love the word picture in Matthew 12:20 when Jesus, referring to how he deals with hurting people, quotes from Isaiah and says, “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.”
God does not willingly withhold any good thing from His children. David praises Him for His open hand that satisfies the desires of every living thing. This is also a wonderful picture, isn’t it? Instead of giving grudgingly or a little at a time, God takes his hand and opens it completely to us. The other day I was feeding Megan some hotdogs and was giving her one small piece at a time. When she saw that I had a whole hand full of this culinary delight, she started jumping up and down in her chair and pointing at the hot dogs. I closed my hand to hide them and she didn’t like that. I then opened my hand and let her take every one of them out. She was thrilled to have them all on her tray. I wish she had been this happy when we went camping!
Friends, God has His hands full of good things for us and they’re much better than hot dogs. When we’re wiped out, stressed out, or maxed out, He wants us to look to Him. He won’t stomp on us when we’re down but will instead treat us tenderly and give us exactly what we need. Will you give your problems and yourself to Him right now?
Because of God’s Provision, we can trust Him with our problems.
6 God’s Presence
The next anchor we can hold on to is God’s Presence in verses 18-19: “The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.”
While God is the King of the Universe, He is also very near to us. When you’re feeling alone, David reminds you that you are never alone. Notice that He is near to “all,” not just to a special few. Some of you may feel that God is mad at you or that you’ve been disqualified from His grace and presence because of your sins. That’s not true. He is near to all with one qualifier, however. He’s near to all who call on Him in truth.
To call on Him in truth is to recognize that the only way to God the Father is through His Son. If you have been born again, you have called on Him in truth. If you are a member of the family of God through conversion, you enjoy the privileges of that relationship with a loving Father who will always be near to you. As Steven Curtis Chapman says: “In the gospel we discover we are far worse off than we thought and far more loved than we ever dreamed.” In addition, to call on Him in truth means that you are willing to be honest and open with Him. It means that you’re not living a lie or just going through the motions in your spiritual life.
When you call on Him in truth, He will fulfill your desires and hear your cries for help. No one has ever cried out to Jesus and not been heard or delivered. John Calvin once said, “Oppressions and afflictions make man cry, and cries and supplications make God hear.”
Because of God’s Presence, we can pray to Him.
7 God’s Preservation
The final truth that impacts David from this psalm of praise is God’s Preservation. We see this in the last two verses: “The Lord watches over all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy. My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord. Let every creature praise His holy name for ever and ever.”
God preserves those who are saved and will judge those who are not. This is both comforting and frightening, isn’t it? If you have been saved from your sins, if you are a born again believer, you can have the confidence that God will watch over you and usher you into His presence when you die. You can be assured of your salvation as 1 John 5:13 states: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
I think Beth and I must be one of the only people in America who never watched the wildly popular Survivor show on CBS. I understand that of all those who tried to survive on the island, only Richard made it. He did it through his cunning and I read that he had a well-developed strategy. Friends, when it comes to making it to heaven, it will have nothing to do with our cleverness or creativity. If we are saved, we will survive and live with Him forever not based on what we do but based on what Jesus did for us.
It’s upsetting to me that while God watches over believers, He will destroy those who insist on going their own way. That gives me great motivation to tell people about Jesus. And, if you’re here this morning, and have never received the gift of forgiveness and salvation, then this verse is a warning to you. Don’t leave this service without getting right with God.
The final verse of this canticle of praise repeats the opening chorus: Let every creature praise His holy name for ever and ever.” David does not have a monopoly on praise he longs for every living person to praise his holy name always.
Because of God’s Preservation, we are therefore called to cultivate a lifestyle of praise.
Summary and Application
Now, let me summarize these seven points. As I go through them, I want you to pick one and make it your action step for this week.
• Because of God’s Position, I will praise Him daily.
• Because of God’s Power, I will disciple my kids.
• Because of God’s Personality, I will celebrate His attributes.
• Because of God’s Preeminence, I will tell others about Him.
• Because of God’s Provision, I will trust Him with my problems.
• Because of God’s Presence, I will pray on a regular basis.
• Because of God’s Preservation, I will cultivate a lifestyle of praise.
Our words are important. We have the opportunity to use them in praise to God or we can be careless and end up doing far more damage than a bulletin blooper. The overriding message of this series is this: Praise God with everything you have whether you feel like it or not.
I read recently about a Christian conference that was held at a church in Omaha, Nebraska. People were given helium-filled balloons and told to release them at some point in the service when they felt like expressing the joy in their hearts. All during the service balloons ascended, but when the service was over, 1/3 of the people were still holding on to their balloons! Friends, don’t hold back let’s let our praise rise up to God!
“Let every creature praise His holy name for ever and ever!” Amen.
