THE PLACE OF PRAISE. Neh 12:27-47. WBC 27/2/5am
Chance for testimonies, later.
"monday & friday- going to work on a monday" and "coming home on a Friday" .wmv video clips of a sluggish polar bear (Monday!) and a hoppy penguin (Friday!)
THE FEASTING AND THE FASTING
Need to start by saying ‘this is part I of a 2 part sermon’
- part 2 on Palm Sunday morning-
- if you get just one sermon/part- you’re not getting the whole package
o if you LIVE or expect just one part- you’re not getting the full package
I’m not preparing you for the Christian life
• Presenting you mature
… you may not make it through
Need to understand that the Christian highway is littered with fallout/casualties who have not understood the balance, here
- who have lived.. preached… expecting the Xian life to be one big ‘high’
o like in ch 12
o always praising, celebrating, ‘victorious’
o and then have been shocked by a life event or the ‘dark night of the soul’ (that has lasted for years)
o or those times where there are few answers: mystery
o * basically, we’ve failed them by not telling the whole story… preaching chapter 13
- equally- folks don’t make it if they live only in Ch 13 (the fasting)
o where only joy is ‘solemn joy’
o don’t want to get too excited about anything or ‘go for it’ in case
it’s emotionalism
I fall
This chapter is unmistakably about celebration… praise- its power and place. Our need for it. God’s need for it. The rightness of it
- and we should unashamedly DO IT. Unreservedly
The Bible says:
Rom 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
There is a time to mourn- and there is a time to praise. When it’s time to praise- you MUST, to be healthy
And here the order of the day is singing
- 2 choirs were ordered up on the wall to process around and with others sing the praises of God
- the singers and musicians were called in from the villages to do it
This, too, is there centrally in scripture:
Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Eph 5:9 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is not like the KFC ad! “Susie it must be hard being married to a slap head!”
- this is what God wants us to do. For His good and ours!
THE PLACE OF PRAISE
The wall had been rebuilt. In 52 days. Under attack.
But the job wasn’t finished… complete… until God had been praised and thanked
- that was the crowning capstone!
I wonder how often we forget to praise and thank God
- for our lives…. Salvation… families… marriages… money… businesses
o seriously!
o It’s not until things go wrong that we notice how good they HAVE been. And then we can be quick to moan
o But we haven’t recognised, praised or thanked while we had the chance
Hence have missed the chance to
• Practice the incarnational life- where every part is sacred and blessed
• Build up some praise credit
Of course- it’s not too late to praise God. In fact we are told (1 Thess 5:18) to ‘give thanks in all circumstances’
- but it’s hard to SUDDENLY praise God in church… brilliant circumstances.. tough circumstances…. When we haven’t got in the practice of it
o Illustr: the Spirit of the disciplines, Dallas Willard. Can’t expect to act like the SOM suddenly when we haven’t been living like Jesus ALL the time. (as a carpenter, even!). We want to do what is right, but avoid living the life that would make it so. We’re like the athlete that wants to win the race but never trains… lives the life for it.
Part of the right Christian walk is thanking and praising God for the GOOD.
- take time to reflect, on what they are, now.
And without the praise, the job is incomplete.
Lk 17:12 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"
LK 17:14 When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed.
LK 17:15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him--and he was a Samaritan.
LK 17:17 Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" 19 Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."
Ten were cleansed, but only one was healed and whole- because only one came back to finish the job and thank Him
Now- you may think: “I haven’t got much to thank Him for!”
- in Winchester??!!
- And the story of the lepers and the wall of Jerusalem is a good parallel of our lives if ever we needed encouragement to thank God for something:
o Because of our sins, we’re lepers. But God has pronounced us clean!
o The walls of our lives were in ruins. As a consequence of our deeds or the deeds of others. Wrecked.
(maybe you’ve forgotten!! Been too long!)
God and we started rebuilding
There was opposition… and a cost!
A new life was built… worth celebrating! The stability. Security. Walls
Creator is worth praising
SO- who wants to thank God? Testimony? If only for main and plain things.
******
And it’s right to sing!
- that was the order of the day, here! I’ll explain why, in part 3
- people were set apart as singers… musicians.
o Whole tribe: Korahites (cf psalms) and Kohathites
So, let’s sing, now:
*****
Now- there’s nothing wrong with a knees up
- -as long as that’s not all you think life… Christian life is
- but this was not an ‘on the spur of the moment’ sing
o came out of 52 days of building/labour
o was accompanied by a lifestyle of worship
note: v44. They responded in service and giving. Brought tithes.
If all you have for God is praise, it’s pretty poor praise. (can you have ‘nothing but praise for’ God?)
• It needs to affect what you HAVE as well
Actually. I don’t want to go on. Let me quickly come to my third point.
THE POWER OF PRAISE
We praise mainly because it is right and is our ‘chief end’
- Westminster Shorter Catechism : ‘the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever’
o I.e. God deserves it. We were made for it
But there’s more
- it has power in the heavenlies. Jehoshaphat under attack
2CH 20:18 Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the LORD. 19 Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the LORD, the God of Israel, with very loud voice.
2CH 20:20 Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful." 21 After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:
"Give thanks to the LORD,
for his love endures forever."
2CH 20:22 As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. 23 The men of Ammon and Moab rose up against the men from Mount Seir to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped to destroy one another.
There was so much plunder that it took three days to collect it.
Praise releases spiritual power
Praise is also repeating truths about God and there is power in this
- I AM not talking about psychosis. Denial. “everything in the garden is rosy” songs
- I am talking about TRUTH about GOD
o And where else do you get that, now?
o The world is filled with negativeness and lies
- … come and sing truths about the God who loves you!
o In fact: this is why we need doctrine in songs. It’s the main way we retain it
This truth not only has spiritual power but psychological power as well
- don’t pooh-pooh or underestimate that!
o The ‘world’ doesn’t. It (USA!) recognises the power of positive words and truth
o Sometimes Christians are loath to accept it (“because I want God to work supernaturally in me!”)- but this is a principle that God has built into the world and Christians should be aware of it and use it in its right TRUTHFUL context
“I’m singing songs, saying truths about my maker… and it does ME good as well”
• gets eyes off self onto The Greater
• programmes unconscious mind
• CBT!
• Illustr: Lilly Hale?
Stop repeating a whole load of junk about life and self and start listening to and singing the truth!
I’d like to ask- do you sing enough to sustain the ‘joy of your salvation’?
- do you sing enough to give God the honour and appreciation He is due?
And there’s something else praise does
- of course it is destined and designed for God
- but a spin off is the affect it has on others
o not if you’re inhibited
o not if you’re a loony (have to think of others!)….
…. But haven’t you felt the power of uninhibited praise? Heaven touching earth and earth responding? Open heaven.
- people cry. Illustr: Sandra cried through the whole service. For the first time saw Pam’s faith in a new light….
…. Well, here, the ‘sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away’
- it had power for the unconverted as well!
o they despise praise that is not real. Laugh at it. Know better in our football stadia!
o Those with open hearts are attracted to REAL praise. It’s a magnet
Illustr: Welsh & Hebredean Revival. People who had the grounding of knowledge in RELIGION converted by open heaven… praise.
