Praise: The Hikers Environment
August 11, 2002
As you may or may not know, for the last couple of months, we’ve been on a trip (figuratively at least) to Jerusalem and today we’ve
finally arrived!
The travel songs we’ve been singing aren’t “100 Bottles of Beer”
and “Father Abraham”, but what are known as the “Psalms of Ascent”
They’re found in your bibles from Ps.120-134 (if you want to turn
there) and they conclude at our destination… the temple.
Which in the O.T. were THE place of worship and praise!
See every one of these songs represents a step in the Christian
journey that we’ve been calling the “Great Adventure” And every
step of this journey has been marked by a song.
In this last “Song of Ascents” the traveling pilgrims join together in
an outburst of praise to God for bringing them safely to their
destination!
So, we’ve covered 14 “Psalm Steps” and now we’ve reached the
pinnacle, the highest point of Ascent… praise to the God who
made our lives worth living! That’s the theme of this psalm:PRAISE
Now if you can think back to June 2nd you’ll remember that
the journey began with repentance. (By way, if missed, get tape!)
In Psalm 120, we heard the call to turn away from the world and
to turn toward God. The journey began with “woe is me” , but it
concludes with “bless the Lord!”
The road of discipleship begins with repentance, throwing up our
hands and saying, “God, Help! I’m messed up! I tried to do it my way and
ran myself into a ditch… now I want to start over. I want to change
directions. I want you to change my life.”
Now, the last Psalm of Ascent concludes with Praise! Praising God
that He did what He promised He’d do. Praise that His promises
are all true!
The writer of this song, (David) starts out by telling us to “Praise the
Lord!”
Praise to the God that made it all possible and brought us through…
Praise to the God who gave us meaning and purpose!
Praise to the God who helped us to overcome ever obstacle,
every habit, every set-back.
Praise to the God who healed our marriages, who put our
lives & families back together!
What does it mean to praise God? Do you know? I believe praise
means to… “Acknowledge God with my Heart not just my Head”
The bible tells us in John 4:24 to worship the Lord “spirit
and in truth”. Truth: that speaks of worshipping God with your head.
Understanding who He is as He’s revealed Himself in His Word,
the Bible.
There’s no doubt that it’s important to have a correct
‘head knowledge’ of who God is…(that’s where the cults get off base)
but if that’s all the further that it gets… you really haven’t praised
& worshipped God!
True worship goes deeper… it reaches the heart! To the point that
you’re not only singing about God… but you’re singing TO God!
How many of you know there’s a difference between ‘having’
church and ‘HAVING CHURCH’?
There’s a big difference between rejoicing and rituals…
a big difference between live worship and and dead liturgy.
And you can tell the difference!
Now David, who like I said, wrote this psalm, practiced what He
preached. In II Sam.6 we get a glimpse of David’s worship
practices.
David had been given the task of bringing the ‘Ark of the Covenant’
back to the temple after it had been gone for a number of years. He
made some mistakes along the way, but eventually they had a huge
worship service as they brought the Ark into the city.
I want you to notice David in II Sam.6:14,15 (READ)
David was singing loudly to the Lord! And I’ll bet he had a beautiful voice, but that wasn’t the most important part… it was that he was singing with his heart… and not just his head!
Now some of you are what I would call ‘Prison Singers’… you’re always behind a few bars, and you can’t find the right key!
I’ve heard you all the way up here… but it’s not important what you sound like… what’s important is that you are singing to the Lord with all your heart!
I think probably the worst thing that can be said about some music isn’t that it’s off key, but that it’s sung to the wrong audience! True
worship is sung to an audience of one!
Again in Jn.4:24 Jesus said Jn., “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and truth.” That’s the only way it can be done!
To be true worship it has to engage both your mind and your heart!
It employs both intellect AND emotion…
It involves both your right brain and your left brain!
As David worshiped the Lord, He was totally oblivious to what others thought.
But his wife, Mical was appalled when she saw him come into the city. “This kind of thing was ‘unbecoming’ of a king. After-all, what would people say?” David’s attitude was…“Who cares what people say?”
You know, sometimes we get so worried about what other people
think, that we forget to worry about what God thinks! Our audience
is God. We’re encouraged not to hold back, but to lift up holy hands
in worship.
We can sit around and judge the sincerity of another persons worship style…(like David’s wife)… but you know what?… I’m not you’re judge… and you’re not mine! Aren’t you glad?
In the end, God was more pleased with David’s rejoicing than He was with Mical’s critisism!
God is found by those who seek Him with not only their mind… but with all their HEART! So ask yourself… Have I worshiped the Lord with all my heart this morning?
Now a lot of people think to themselves… what good is praise?
I mean, “”What’s it going to help in the real world? I mean I know some people who are so heavenly minded they’re no earthly good! Seems kind of like a form of ‘escapism’ to me! Besides, how is praise going to change my situation?”
Well, if that’s you… let me give you some positive benefits that you will experience if you’ll learn how to praise God!
BENEFIT #1…
1. Praise DE-CENTRALIZES self! (repeat)
You know, one of the greatest obstacles most people face as they go through life (especially when facing a trial)… is self-pity.
I was a psch. Major before I went into the ministry and one of the things I’ve discovered as I’ve studied psychol. over the years is that the root of all mental sickness and nervous disorders, (when you really get in and boil it all down) is… a pre-occupation with self!
Self-centeredness… (not genetics, not upbringing), self-centeredness is at the root of all the psychological problems we face in our society today.
See, when our personalities become ego-driven and self-centered… they disintegrate! Think of the problems that have their origin in self-centeredness…. Sinful anger (the way we respond to unmet needs), fear, depression, hurt feelings, revenge… and the list goes on & on.
According to secular psychiatrists… everyone of those emotions, if not dealt with will eventually lead to hospitalization.
To make yourself the center of your universe is ultimately self-destructive. Jesus understood this principle where in Luke 9:24 he said (READ)
What did Jesus say? Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it! In otherwords, if it’s all about YOU. You’ll miss what you’re searching for! But He goes on to say… But whoever loses his life… for Him… He’ll save it!
See, the way to real life isn’t by looking out for #1, it’s found in making #1… #2. It’s found in making Jesus #1.
I believe that if we’re going to experience the joyful, abundant life that God has prepared for us to live… we’re going to have to become a lot less ego-centric, and a lot more Christo-centric.
In otherwords, we’re going to have to replace ourselves with Christ at the center of our being. It’s going to have to be “more of THEE, and less of me!”
Maybe you’ve seen that bumper sticker that says, “Jesus is my co-pilot”? Well, I like the corrected version… It said, “If Jesus is your co-pilot… move over!” Listen, Jesus doesn’t want to be your co-pilot… He wants to be your Pilot!
So here’s one of the greatest values of praise. It de-centralizes self. See, in true worship, you can’t be thinking about yourself and about God at the same time.
Praising and sulking don’t go together! Praise and self-pity can’t co-exist! I don’t know if you’ve found this out yet, but there’s nothing like a good praise tape to dispel anger, defensiveness and worry.
Praise DEMANDS that we shift the center from self… to God!
So you can see how when praise becomes a way of life, and God becomes the focus of our lives, (instead of self)… what kind of difference that’s going to make!
It’s like that song we sang this morning. When our personalities begin to become properly aligned with our Creator… instead of our bankrupt self… depression and emotional stress go away.
We actually begin to resonate with His glory! We are in perfect harmony with Him.
We’ve got this tradition in our home… (my family did it when I was a kid) that whenever someone has a birthday…We sing the birthday song when the cake is brought out (just like everyone else) … but with one minor adjustment, when we sing it, we sing it in the most awful, out of tune way we possibly can. (illus.)
It was Rudonna’s 43 birthday this past Thursday. (now guys that’s terrible! I know, you can’t believe that can you? I think she’s pretty well preserved, don’t you?) Anyway, true to form, we sang our out-of-tune B-day song to her. The neighbors probably think we’re strangling the cat or something!
I tell you that to let you know that your pastor and family are a little strange… but also to say that that’s the sound you get when you try to live your life without God at the center.
I want the worship team to come forward for just a minute. Okay, now listen, because this is you life without God… (play out of tune note). A sour note!
Now listen to this… because THIS is your life, with God! (play beautiful harmony)
Praise is putting your heart in harmony with God! As a result, praise produces a forgetfulness of self… and (according to the bible) forgetfulness of self… is health!
Here’s one of my favorite sayings… “Neurotics are people who build castles in the air; Psychotics are the people who move into them… and psychiatrists are the ones who collect the rent!” HA!
Can you imagine what would happen if instead of paying some stranger $75 an hour to listen and look wise… what would happen if people would begin to spend large amounts of time (both corporately and indiv.), bringing their problems to the “Wonderful Counselor” and praising Him instead?
Know what I’d predict? I predict there’d be an awful lot of psychiatrists out of business, along with a lot of empty hospital beds in the psych. ward!
Some of you listen to that and think… He’s crazy! Don’t knock it, until you try it!
The 2nd benefit that comes from a practice of praise, is that…
2. Praise DISPELS doubt
Have you ever asked God a question and felt you never received a good answer?
I heard about a little boy who said to his father one time…
B: Dad, how many people are there in the world?
D: I don’t know, Son.
B: Well, how many stars are there in the sky?
D: Can’t say I can answer that one Son.
B: How many fish are there in the sea, Dad?
D: I can’t say I know that one either Son.
B: Dad, you don’t mind me asking you all these questions do you?
D: Why, no Son… how are you going to learn anything if you don’t
ask questions?
Sometimes it seems that way with God! He responds to our questions… “Ask all you want… but just don’t expect any answers!”
I rem. talking to a man who as a young boy had been brutally abused by his own father, while his mother laid in bed across the hall… all the while knowing what was going on.
He said he cried out to her, but she never interrupted or responded. Then he said, he would silently cry out to God… but He never seemed to answer or intervene.
To this day, he can’t understand why God didn’t stop his Dad from this abuse. That’s a tough one!
When life deals with us unfairly… it’s very hard even believe in God, let alone to praise God…. isn’t it?
“Lord, why did you allow this to happen to me?”
“Lord, why don’t you change this situation?”
“Lord, why didn’t you tell me that this was going to happen?”
And so we begin to doubt His care and concern for us…and to our doubt, we add anger, and to our anger we add guilt… and it puts a wedge between us and Him.
Praising God in the midst of our doubts is refusing to judge God prematurely. It’s admitting, “Okay, things look pretty bleak here… but God’s not through yet!”
That what God means when He says in Hab.2:4… “The righteous will live by his faith!”
Faith is believing that God can be trusted, even when I don’t see it.
Faith is believing in God, even when I don’t feel it.
Faith is taking God at His Word, knowing that God is God, and because that’s true… justice WILL win out in the end.
READ Ps.22:3 According to that vs. when we begin to praise God, in spite of the circumstances. When we begin to verbally worship Him for who He is… (not just for what He does…)
God shows up! So to answer that man… God was there… suffering with Him. God was there when you were going through your painful experience… and He’s here now!
And listen… when God shows up as a result of your praise… doubt gets out! Praise dispels doubt. It displaces it from our hearts and minds.
And then the 3rd benefit of praise…
3. Praise DEFEATS discouragement.
Ever get discouraged? Tired of the grind? Tired of the same ole problem you had last week, or last year? To the pt. you want to throw in the towel? Praising God can help! Let me tell you how…
The people who first sang this song had been traveling. Some for months. They were tired. They were hungry. They were worn out.
But this psalm is not only an invitation to praise the Lord… it’s a command! “PRAISE THE LORD… All you servants of the Lord!”
You say, “But I don’t FEEL like praising the Lord right now! I don’t want to be a hypocrite! I’ll worship God when I feel better!”
Some of you only come to church when you feel like it! And that’s the reason you miss church so much! You very rarely feel like it!
If you’re ever going to be a true worshipper of God. If you’re ever going to really walk the victorious Christian walk. If you’re ever going to experience all God wants you to experience… you’re going to have to learn to veto your feelings!
David said in Ps.34:1 (READ) Underline those words… ALL times… praise will ALWAYS be on my lips!” You say, “Does that mean even when I’m discouraged?” That means… ESPECIALLY when you’re discouraged!
Know what the biblical response to discouragement is? Here it is in vs. 2 of Ps.134… “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and praise the Lord!”
Lifting up your hands is a physical response, not an emotional one. Listen, regardless of how you feel, you can always lift up your hands… it’s a simple motor movement.
In fact, let’s try it. Everybody lift up your hands. (there, that wasn’t too difficult was it?) Now you may not be able to command your heart… but you CAN always command your hands!
The directions given in this Psalm are known in the psychological world as, “behavior modification”. That’s nothing more than a fancy way of saying that you & I will never be able to feel our way into an action, but we CAN… act our way into a feeling!
God has given us the ability to act ourselves into a new way of being.
See most of us have it all wrong… we think the way to change our behavior is to change our moods and feelings. So we turn on some music to soothe our emotions. Increasingly in our drug culture, we simply take a pill to alter whatever mood we find ourselves in.
But the bible says something entirely different. It says that the way to change our feelings is to change our behavior.
Humphrey Bogart once defined a professional as a person who, “did a better job when he didn’t feel like it” Know what? That goes for a Christian too! Feelings don’t run the show in the growing Christians life! Actions do!
Not once have I ever come into the presence of God, with my hands lifted up saying… “God, I’m really down in the dumps today” … and had Him respond… “Boy, don’t I know it! Me too!”
You never have to worry about coming before the Lord saying, “Lord, I’m really down!” Only to have Him respond… “Man, you think you have troubles? I had to lay Jesus off today! The angels are all out on strike, and I had to hock the pearly gates to pay off the note on my fiery chariot!” It’s just not going to happen!
God is in charge in heaven… and if you’ll let Him, He’ll be in charge of your emotions too!
I guarantee you, if the next time you feel discouraged. If you’ll begin to lift up your hands to God (as a personal act of surrender)… and begin to praise Him… you’ll be amazed at how quickly those feelings go away!
And when that happens… you’ll no longer be a slave to feelings of depression, or fear, or worry or whatever else you’re a slave to this morning.
In fact, why don’t we try it right now? Lets recite this vs. together.
And I really want you to get out of your comfort zone this morning… because as we recite it out loud … I want you to raise your hands!
LOUD!
