The Priority of Praise
Psalm 150
July 9, 2006
Morning Worship
Introduction
Mike Ditka is one of those sports personalities who seem larger than life. Now coach of the New Orleans Saints, he recently shocked his coaching staff when he announced that he would not use profanity anymore. According to those who have known him through the years, Ditka was in the habit of introducing colorful words in virtually every conversation, using them as nouns, verbs, and adjectives. After eight months he has kept that promise and this season told his players, "I have done a lot of stupid things in my life that I probably won’t do again and using profanity is one of them. There is no room for it on the field. It might slip out every now and then, but I don’t want to hear it. Now when you feel like swearing, I want you to say, ’Praise the Lord.’"
Why is it so important to praise God? Why is important to worship God? What does it accomplish for us?
"Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world? It is not he who prays most or fasts most; it is not he who gives most alms, or is most eminent for temperance, chastity, or justice, but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God willeth, who received everything as an instance of God’s goodness, and has a heart always ready to praise God for it." William Law
Worship is the act that we offer ourselves over to reveal our love for God. It is an essential aspect of being a Christian, offering your praise, love and your life to God. Worship is not just an act that happens in church on Sunday mornings. It is a lifestyle that drives us to desire becoming more like Jesus.
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. Psalm 150
The Call to Praise (1)
Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.
The first verse of this psalm litterally is formed from just two Hebrew words Hallelu Yah which combine to make hallelujah - praise the Lord. We have been called to praise the LORD but what does that mean in a practical sense.
PRAISE = “to commend, to applaud or magnify” - For the Christian,
praise to God is an expression of Worship, Lifting-up & Glorifying the Lord.
WORSHIP = in English, to ascribe worth, to pay homage, to reverence.
- in Hebrew, the word most commonly translated “worship” in the OT means “to
prostrate (oneself)”
PROSTRATE = in Websters, stretched out with face on the ground in adoration or submission, bow down, fall down flat, do reverence
- in Greek, the word most commonly used in the NT (for worship)
means “to kiss the hand, to prostrate oneself
Hebrews 13:15 - Through Jesus, therefore, let us CONTINUALLY offer to God a
sacrifice of praise -- the fruit of lips that confess His Name.
We have been called to lift up the name of God, to humble ourselves and adore Him. The problem is that we come to worship with other concerns that have nothing to do with genuine worship.
Often, we get centered on what we like or what we want from the worship service. We want certain songs or specific types of music. we like certain instruments or certain things.
Matthew 15:7-8 - 7 “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you; 8 ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
It is not enough to just show up to worship and sit through a service. Jesus wants more than that, He wants genuine worship from your heart.
Praise God in his sanctuary
We are to applaud or lift up the name of God in His sanctuary. This means more than just being in church. It means that any and every time that we are in the presence of God, we have reason to offer Him praise. Every place that we are is a sanctuary because we are never out of the presence of God.
Praise him in his mighty heavens
Many translations interchange two other words for heavens: firmament and expanse. In essence, all three are attempting to describe the foundational formation of the universe which is the firmament. The firmament was a great expanse that held the fabric of the heavens together. It is the power that stretches across the entire universe.
The psalmist is not just saying that God is to be praised in heaven but in all of the cosmos. Every square inch of the universe has reason to resound with the praise of God almighty.
The Cause of Praise (2)
Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.
God has proven Himself over and over and over again that He is worthy of our praise. We see throughout history the evidence that God is worthy because He is faithful in His actions. Remember for just a moment something that God has blessed you with over this last week. Did you thank Him for it? Did you return His blessing with praise?
When was the last time that you praised God for the blessings in your life?
• Your family - spouse, children, grandchildren
• Your home - car, furniture, appliances
• Your job - the ability to work, the place that you work at, your co-workers
• Your life - the air that you breathe, food that you eat, the ability to walk
Most of the time we take the basic things that God does for us for granted. If I honestly sit and think about all that God has done for me, I have to give Him praise. My life is no more valuable than anyone else’s and that makes me an ordinary person. If God brings His touch, His grace, His mercy, His love into my life, it is worthy of praising Him.
Think about the history of Israel - God proved Himself mighty
• God poured out ten plagues on Egypt
• God parted the waters of the Red Sea
• God supplied manna, the bread of heaven, each day for His people
• God caused the walls of Jericho to fall with a shout
• God came to earth in human flesh through Jesus and died our death
• God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day
Praise Him for His surpassing greatness
What is it that makes something great? The greatness of God is found first in the understanding of surpassing. The Hebrew word literally means to have in a multitude, abundance or to be great.
The word great means to have in overwhelming magnitude. The greatness of God is so far above and beyond anything that we can comprehend that we cannot grasp it.
I am sure that many of you are familiar with the Google web site, it is one of the most widely used internet search engine. A google however, is a massively outrageous number. It is a 1 followed by 1,000 zeros. This number is used to measure the dstance between galaxies. However, I think it applies to God. Imagine one google, 1 followed by 1,000 zeros, multiplied by a million and then you will be able to barely scratch the surface of the greatness of God.
The psalmist is literally saying that we need to praise God because even His greatness is great.
The Concert of Praise (3-5)
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.
The reality is that music is part of worship but not because music is needed to worship God. Music represents a concerted effort to praise God.
Martin Luther once asked, "How has it happened that in the secular field there are so many fine poems and so many beautiful songs, while in the religious field we have such rotten lifeless stuff." He said, "We must read, sing, preach, write and compose verse, and whenever it was helpful and beneficial I would let all the bells peal, all the organs thunder, and everything sound that could sound.
Notice all of the things that the psalmist meantions here that were a part of the worship
Trumpet
Used for signaling the start of the worship services and may have refered to a special kind of ram’s horn
Harp & Lyre
Harps and lyres are instruments that require skillful hands to play them properly. Our praise of God is not confined to words but should also come through the skill of our hands.
Tambourine and dancing
This reveals the issue of worship being an active experience and not something that we encounter passively. We are far too passive in our worship because we worry about what other people might think about us. The true issue here is being lost in theworship of God. Getting to the point that nothing and no one else matters because in that moment it is just you and God.
Strings & Flute
This gives us a picture of a large group of instruments, much like an orchestra. My knowledge of music is rather basic but I know that an orchestra is not made up of one kind of instrument but of many kinds. Therefore, our worship is to be diversified with many different ways and kinds of music.
The most important part is this: you have a part to play in worship. What would happen to the orchestra if the pianist played the wrong song? What would happen if the violin section didn’t show up? What would happen if the bass players decided not to play?
You are a part of this church. You are a part of the worship that happens here. it is not enough to just show up once in a while. When you come and don’t participate or don’t come at all - you are robbing God. You are stealing from God the praise He deserves. You are stealing a more abundant worship experience from the church. You are stealing from yourself the opportunity to get lost in the praise of God
Cymbals
The issue hear is one of intensity. That we are meant to worship God with all ther intensity that we can muster.
This list of instruments represented every one that there was available to be used. The psalmist is saying that we need to praise God in any and every possible way that we can.
The Crescendo of Praise (6)
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.
Crescendo is a musical term that refers to the building of a musical piece to its climax or it’s finale. This seems to fit the purpose of this psalm. It is the last of the book and calls the whole earth to give praise to God. It calls every living thing in the universe to worship the one true God.
It calls the world to a choice - worship God or worship self. is that not the problem in the church of America? We have become to busy worshiping ourselves to truly be focused on God.
The psalmist closes out the entire book of psalms with one final call to praise with the cry of hallelujah.
Conclusion
What is worship all about?
The Heart of Worship
I’ll bring you more than a song for a song in itself is not what you have required. You search much deeper within through the way things appear You’re looking into my heart I’m coming back to the heart of worship And it’s all about you, it’s all about you Jesus I’m sorry Lord for the thing I’ve made it When it’s all about you, it’s all about you Jesus
True worship is not about you, it’s about Jesus. True worship is centered, focused and intent on revealing Jesus. This morning before you leave this sanctuary, come back to the heart of worship. Come back to the personal intimacy with God you have been missing. Come back to worship with an audience of one. Come back to genuinely seeking something deeper with Jesus.
