Praise Him
Griffith Baptist Church – 3/1/09
P.M. Service
Text: Psalm 47
Key verse: Psalms 47:1 - O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.
Premise: True praise to God is more than a formal exercise; it is a heartfelt way of living that expresses itself in exultation to God.
The Introduction
1. The Sovereignty of the King – 47:1-4
2. The Song to the King – 47:5-7
3. The Supremacy of the King – 47:8-9
A Baptist minister was continually bragging to his other minister friends about the greatness of his church. No matter what they said, he always found a way to claim that the Baptists were better. Eventually his friends got tired of this, and decided to play a prank on the Baptist. One day, they dropped a tablet in his coffee - and soon the Baptist preacher nodded off to sleep. Then they took him down to the cemetery, and laid him in a borrowed coffin, next to a freshly dug grave. They hid behind the bushes to see what would happen. Half an hour later, the Baptist began to wake up. Yawning and looking around him, he began to notice the coffin, the tombstones, and the open grave. Then he shouted: "Amen! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! The day of resurrection has come and the Baptists are the first ones out!"
praise, to glorify, or the act of glorifying God, frequently in communal worship (Ps. 113; Luke 1:64; Acts 2:47; Rev. 19:5).
We have a lot to praise God for.
There are 5 basic distinctives of praise that we need to consider:
Body
1. True Praise Begins in the Heart
A. There is a terrible story about a man who went out to play golf early one Saturday morning. His wife became concerned when he had not returned home by dinner time. It wasn’t until about midnight when he came through the front door, exhausted. “Where have you been?” she demanded “I’ve been playing golf” came the reply. “But that was 18 hours ago. What happened?” “I was having the best game of my life. I was two under par when on the seventh tee Harry had a heart attack and died.” His wife still didn’t understand. “After that it was hit the ball, drag Harry - hit the ball drag Harry . . .”
B. We ought to have a heart of praise - Psalms 86:12 – I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore.
i. Our hearts can be easily influenced
ii. Praise from the heart is one way of guarding it, because praise preoccupies the heart
a. Our desire to please God
b. Our desire to live for God
C. We never want to be guilty of hypocritical praise - Matthew 15:8 - 8This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
D. The heart is the last stopping point before exiting the mouth - Matthew 12:34 - . . . for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
i. The heart builds up whatever is put into it:
ii. The process goes something like this:
a. Our senses (eyes and ears especially) are exposed to messages constantly. Some of these messages are good and some bad.
b. Our sin nature goes into battle with our spiritual nature via temptation
c. Our minds begin to go to work. We either begin to:
• Resist temptation and obey God
• Cave into temptation and justify our actions
d. Whatever course of actions we decide to take sends a message to the heart
• If we cave into the temptation, we harden our conscience and our heart is corrupted
• If we obey God, our conscience is clear and the Holy Spirit works to strengthen it
e. Either way, build up enough of the influence, and it will eventually come out in the actions we take.
iii. This is why loving God invites the whole being - Mark 12:30 - And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
2. True Praise Cannot Be Contained
A. We ought to be a people that cannot contain our praise - 1, 6-7 – 1O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph. 6Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises. 7For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.
B. We ought to be a people of encouraging praise
i. There is an old story about a pastor leaving a church. At his farewell dinner, he tried to encourage one of the pillar members, “Don’t be so sad. The next pastor might be better than me.” She replied, “That’s what they said last time, but it keeps getting worse.” (Source: John Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted, p. 159).
ii. This is the identity of God’s children - Ephesians 5:19 - Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
iii. Praise lifts our spirits
iv. Praise refocuses our thinking – Philippians 4:8 - Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
3. True Praise Comes From a Right Relationship With Christ
A. We need to develop our relationship with Christ - In the “Peanuts” comic strip Charlie Brown tells Linus, “My grandpa and grandma have been married for 50 years.” Linus says, “They’re lucky aren’t they.” But Charlie brown responds saying, “Grandma says it isn’t luck—it’s skill.”
B. There is ownership in praise, He is OUR King - 6b - sing praises unto our King, sing praises.
i. The world cannot say that because their king is different
ii. We are His and that is relationship - Psalms 100:3 - Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
C. When a person meets Christ and has a relationship with Him, praise should be automatic - Luke 24:49-53 - 49And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. 50And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. 51And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. 52And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: 53And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
D. The more you get to know Christ, the more you want to:
i. Please Him
ii. Imitate Him
iii. Praise Him
4. True Praise Is Expressive
A. Praise involves more than just words - 1 - O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.
i. Some feel they are praising God when they are just singing or praying.
ii. These can be and are forms of praise
iii. If that is all there is to praise than we run the danger of it becoming orthodox, formal and just the thing to do because that is what is expected
iv. We ought to register, at least on our faces, that God is important enough to praise - Psalms 147:1 - Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.
B. Praise should involve:
i. The expression on our faces (happy or death warmed over)
ii. The tone of our voice (excited or flat)
iii. Our emotions:
a. Happiness puts a smile on our face
b. Tears from what God has done for us
iv. WORD OF WARNING: We need to be careful how far we take this and never allow our praise to get out of hand – 1 Corinthians 14:40 - Let all things be done decently and in order.
5. True Praise Is Lived
A. Praise is a 24/7 occupation - Hebrews 13:15 – By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
i. We should never take a vacation from praise
ii. By living in a state of praise we shut out that which would otherwise corrupt our walk with God.
B. We should praise God in our speech:
i. They should be words our Father would approve of - Psalms 19:14 – Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
ii. They should be words that, as much as possible, are grace-infused - Ephesians 4:29 – Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
C. We should praise God in our walk in the world
i. Our walk is our reflection of our relationship with and representation of Christ - Ephesians 5:15 – See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
ii. We need to let the world see and hear praise
iii. We need to lift others when they are down with Christ
iv. People don’t care how much we know until they know and see how much we care
Conclusion:
Where does your praise come from?
Is it in you all the time and does God see it?
Do others see genuine praise coming from you?
