Praise the Lord, Psalm 150
Eric A. Snyder, Minister, Farwell Church of Christ
September 1, 2002
An older woman was well-known for her faith and she talked about it a lot. She would go out on the front porch and yell,
"Praise the Lord!" Her next door neighbor would shout back,
"There ain’t no God!"
During those days, she was very poor, so the neighbor decided to prove his point by buying a large bag of groceries and placing it at her door.
The next morning, the woman went to the porch
and, seeing the groceries, said,
"Praise the Lord!"
The neighbor stepped out from behind a tree and said, "I brought those groceries, and there ain’t no God."
the woman replied,
"Lord, you not only sent me food
but you made the devil pay for it."
How many of you really believe that God is good?
But for some the concept of worship has gotten them into trouble
There was a preacher that was trying to sell his horse. A potential buyer came to the church for a test ride. "Before you start," the preacher said, "you should know that this horse only responds to church talk. Go is: Praise the Lord, and Stop is: Amen."
So the man on the horse says, "Praise the Lord," and the horse starts to trot. The man again says, "Praise the Lord," and the horse starts to gallop. Suddenly there is a cliff right in front of the horse and the man yells, "Amen!"
The horse stops just at the edge of the cliff.
The man wipes the sweat from his brow and says, "Praise the Lord!"...
Today we are talking about worship and pouring ourselves out before God. Our text today is one of the most popular worship texts in the bible
Today we are in Psalm 150
150:1 Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. 2 Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. 3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, 4 praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, 5 praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. 6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.
Prayer
The focus of this Psalm is that God summons us to worship. This is essential to the Christian life, because before God calls us to anything else, he calls us to worship him. Ephesians 1 suggests that the reason God has called us, redeemed us, and gave us his Spirit is to worship him.
Listen to what Ephesians 1 says 4-6 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
Verse 6 is the reason God sent Jesus. So that we can praise Him.
Unfortunately we have defined worship by our consumer tastes.
When someone decides to go church many people treat it like test driving a car which is fine to find where you fit, but after a few years your maturity level should have grown to a point where you know where your home is. Walmart style works well for seekers who only want God at an arms length apart, but for the person who desires to grow and learn a more committed stance is required.
All of that means we are going to have to get incredibly honest as a church. We have to really open ourselves up and do what David did when he said search my heart God. The best worship you will ever experience has an honest relationship at its core. Some of us need to ask God to look into our heart and reveal our weaknesses. Some need to say “God I have a problem with selfishness” or God I don’t know what my problem is but I want you to find it reveal it to me and help me beat it.
One of my favorite church leaders was a man named Soren Kirkegaard. He was in that whole time period of reformation and would have been alive at the same time as Martin Luther. The reason that I like him so well is because he was a “no nonsense” kind of guy. He was always looking at what the church had to do to be more pleasing to God. He was a bit rude and incredibly outspoken and he was always in trouble. He was a prophet of the modern church.
There are a few people who could do what he did and make the statements he made. I mean his whole life was thinking about church and how to make it better. During that term of excellence he faced a lot of opposition, and a lot of people who disagreed with him and mad his life frustrating but through it all he stayed true to what he knew was God’s leading.
The most famous story he tells is this "I went into church and sat on the velvet pew. I watched as the sun came shining through the stained glass windows. The minister dressed in a velvet robe opened the golden gilded Bible, marked it with a silk bookmark and said, "If any man will be my disciple, said Jesus, let him deny himself, take up his cross, sell what he has, give it to the poor, and follow me." Then he said and I looked around and nobody was laughing”
But there is also another famous view that he held that is still controversial to this day.
But before I tell you about that view I want to ask a question. And I don’t know how we get this way but when the preacher asks a question we always think he’s talking to someone else. So whey you hear this question today I want you to say this question is for me. Cause nobody grows if the point is for my sister or somebody that should have been here. You will not get it today if you don’t ask this question of yourself. If you do not give this question consideration you will walk out of here today more confused and frustrated than you were when you came in.
This is a tough question but God has convinced me that you are all mature enough to handle it.
Here it is. When you come to worship is it more important that you are entertained or is it more important that God is entertained.
You know what folks. I hate housework. Probably the thing I hate the most is loading the dishwasher. Food particles, slimy baby food, it’s all disgusting. But I also know part of being a good husband is helping with things around the house. So there are a lot of times I have to do something that is not my favorite thing so that we can maintain harmony in the house.
I want to ask you another question today. While you’re thinking about the first one. What do you think is the most important part of worship to God?
Does God prefer one type of music over another? Does God prefer any kind of instrument over another? Does God prefer that we sit or that we stand or dance around in reverence to him?
Well I want to share with you the most important element in worship. It’s simply this, The harmony of God’s people coming together in a selfless spirit of truthfulness.
Soren Kirkegaard said that when most people come to church they come expecting to be entertained. That the instrument players, the leaders, the minister were simply there to put on a performance for the people. You may have come in today expecting to see something interesting. But the biblical concept of worship is not at all like that understanding of worship.
I think everyone has that mentality at some point. That worship is for us, Even the most dedicated people sometimes forget that We come to pour ourselves out and not to take in a show. So here’s a clip from a show
(Clip from everybody loves Raymond)
For some worship makes us feel better it gives us meaning for life, for others worship is boring and does nothing for us.
The difference id how we approach it. Are we willing to offer praise to almighty God. Are we willing to miss the pre game stuff, are we willing to get up earlier than noon.
The biblical understanding of worship is that we have come together for the purpose of blessing God. That the instrument players, the leaders, the minister are all people who help us perform in our worship to God.
Do we sing any songs her that I don’t like? Yes. I’m not to keen on that “I oh I song but you know what, it’s not about me and That song blesses God just like faith of our fathers does.
This is such a basic concept to Christian faith if we meet for us this is a club. But when we meet here to bless God, we are a church. Do you know what Jesus said about the church? He said “I pray that they are one” God knows the strength of a united church.
A church that says we refuse to be selfish, we refuse to tolerate wickedness, we refuse to spew venomous gossip that only threatens to divide us. But we will come together in worship. There are some who say that they are innocently sharing their opinion. But the innocence of opinions become destructive sin when they cause someone to stumble, when they drive people away from Christ, when they begin dividing the body.
I challenge this congregation to identify divisive gossip and restore a right relationship with God. But let me say this. It will not happen because of one sermon or bible study. It happens when Wholehearted worshipers identify and confront those who are spreading division.
I don’t want to get a bunch of hate mail this week but I have to say this. We are in an under churched area. 10 percent of the people in this area come to worship in any given church. Nationally on Sunday morning 30 percent of people are in church. We have just a handful of churches and there are people in our area that need to hear about Jesus. If they do, It’s our fault for not doing more. This church has stood on the edge of really being a high impact place in this community. And here’s where it starts.
In worship. We are not here to check out that cute girl, We are not here to make a business contact, we are here to worship.
Then out of our worship experience comes the flow of so many other great things. Out of our worship experience we should find hope and comfort for our daily lives. Out of our worship experience we find that our children are growing, out of worship we find we grow. Through the worship time we find that we want to find areas to serve and become involved in areas of the church. Hopefully if you are seeking a godly relationship you will find that here as well.
When we serve and then worship we eventually go dry and become stale, frustrated and we eventually drop out. If you are serving here and do not worship regularly you probably have or will become tired of it all. But when you come in with an attitude of worship then everything you do is an outflow of your worship. That’s why I really believe that if you will come to worship for 2 solid months with an attitude of “I’m here to bring God a blessing” you will experience a life change in a dramatic way.
Some of you might say “I’ve been here for a long time and I feel drained, I don’t feel the springs of living water welling up in my soul.” If that’s you, you need to ask, am I really worshiping with all that I have regardless of preference? The second thing you need to ask is “am I worshiping enough to bring that water back to the surface”
Many years ago, a weary traveler hiked for miles across the desert with the hot sun beating down on his back. His water supply was gone, and he knew that if he didn’t find water soon to quench his thirst, he would surely die.
In the distance, he spotted a deserted cabin which brought hope that maybe water was to be found there. He made his way to the cabin and discovered an old well. He frantically pumped the handle of the well to draw water, but all that came from the pump was dust.
The he noticed a tin can tied to the pump, with note inside. The note said:
Dear Stranger:
This pump is all right as of June 1932. I put a new sucker washer in it, and it should last for quite a few years. But the washer dries out and the pump needs to be primed. Under the white rock, I buried a jar of water, out of the sun and corked. Pour about 1/4 of the water into the pump and let her soak for a minute to wet the leather washer. Then pour the rest medium fast and pump hard. You’ll get water. Have faith. This well has never run dry.
When you get watered up, fill the bottle and put it back as you found it for the next stranger who comes this way.
Pete.
In worship you have to pour it all out before God. How many people participate in everything that goes on in worship? One great example to me is Phil Steele. Now I know that Phil does not like every song we sing but Phil sings them anyway.
Only after we have poured it all into worship will God begin to pour out his freshness onto those who are so thirsty.
We are all thirsty.
