“The Doxology of Discipleship”
Psalm 150:1-6
1Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
2 Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.
First: "PRAISE THE LORD" AND "AMEN"
Story has it that there was a preacher that was trying to sell his horse. One day a potential buyer came to the church for a test ride. The preacher said, "Before you start, you should know that this horse only responds to church talk." Go is 'praise the lord' and stop is 'amen.'" So the man gets on the horse and 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."
Introduction: First…Probably one of the most misunderstood teachings of the church is the question, “What does it mean to praise the Lord?”
There are multiple words in Hebrew and Greek translated as “praise” in our English Bibles. In essence, to praise is to express adoration or approval. We praise the Lord for His traits, His works, and His character. Praise includes the acts of blessing, commending, honoring, thanking, celebrating, and rejoicing. We praise the Lord because He is worthy of all our praise. He is worthy of all adoration and approval.
David wrote this part of scripture to lead us in lifting high the name of our King. He calls every one of us to recognize the Lord’s splendor that outshines anything we know. Praising Him never gets old because there’s always more to discover about His mighty acts and steadfast love. The very same verse stirs hearts today just as it did for C.H. Spurgeon who promised to honor God forevermore.
It invites us into a lifetime journey of awe, where each step unearths more reasons to voice our thanksgiving for the King above all kings’ boundless excellence.
I. The Object of Our Praise v 1-2
a. The Person of Praise – The Lord
Whom do we praise? Psalm 148:13 Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.
b. The Places of Praise – Sanctuary & firmament
Psalm 149:1
"Praise the LORD. Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of his faithful people."
Psalm 100:4
"Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name."
c. The Parameters of Praise – His mighty works & His excellent greatness.
1. His actions – mighty works
2. His attributes – excellent greatness
1 Chronicles 29:11
"Yours, LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all."
II. The Operation of Our Praise vs 3-4
Psalm 95:1-2
"Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song."
a. The essence of Praise
PRAISE AND GRATITUDE
After one of the terrible battles of the Civil War, a dying Confederate soldier asked to see the chaplain. When the chaplain arrived, he supposed the young man would wish him to ask God for his recovery; but it was very different.
First the soldier asked him to cut off a lock of his hair for is mother, and then he asked him to kneel down and thank God.
"What for?" asked the surprised chaplain.
"For giving me such a mother. Thank God that I am a Christian. And thank God for giving me grace to die with. And thank God for the home He has promised me over there."
And so the chaplain knelt down by the dying man, and in his prayer he had not a single petition to offer, but only praise and gratitude.
Source: Christian Herald
b. The expressions of Praise
How do we praise Him? With singing (Psalm 149:1), with dancing (verse 2), with musical instruments (Psalm 150:3), with our words (Psalm 35:28), with our actions (Colossians 3:17), with our uprightness (Psalm 119:7), and with all our hearts (Psalm 86:12). When should we praise the Lord? All the time (Psalm 34:1). We should express our adoration, approval, thanksgiving, and celebration to the One who created and redeemed us. “How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!” (Psalm 147:1).
www.gotquestions.org
c. The effects of Praise
SING PRAISE
We can get victory over hardships by singing praise to the Lord.
"My mouth is filled with Your praise...all day long." Ps. 71:8 NAS
Roger Bennett, from Strawberry, Arkansas and a Southern Gospel pianist and songwriter died in 2007. Prior to his death he wrote on his website:
Our enemy stalks us exactly the way the Bible describes, as a roaring lion. He hides in the bushes waiting for any sign of weakness. Then he strikes. He didn't strike me physically. He struck a more critical part -- my joy...confidence...and hope. Every thought turned towards heaven bounced back like it was made of brass. Every time I tried to look on the bright side, I ended up imagining a dark future. Then he threw his most effective dart -- doubt. "You call yourself a Christian. What a hypocrite! You're more afraid than ever...more filled with despair. So much for your faith, Mr. Gospel Singer!" I believed everything he said. I tried everything I knew to pull out of it...I thought if I dozed off it would pass...but the clock seemed to move in slow motion. Sleep was nowhere near. I tried to lose myself in the Bible, but the words blurred and I couldn't make sense of them."
Then Bennett had an epiphany, as he thought about Paul and Silas in prison. "They didn't despair," he wrote: "They sang praises and that became their weapon. One after another...old songs came to me and I sang them to my empty room. It wasn't a great performance, but it may be the most powerful blessing I've received." The Palmist wrote, "My mouth is filled with Your praise...all day long.
Songs in the night works wonders. Songs bring the joy of the Lord. Thanksgiving -- anticipate Joy.
III. The Outcome of Our Praise
a. Our Worship
Praising the Lord involves remembering the things He has done. We praise God for His miracles as well as for His judgments. His mercy and His justice are both deserving of praise. Praising the Lord also involves remembering His faithfulness and His promises. We praise Him that He will keep all the promises He has made. We praise the Lord that His love is everlasting.
www.gotquestions.org
A SACRIFICE OF PRAISE HURTS!
Several years ago, there was a song on Christian radio that said, "We bring a sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord." It had a happy, upbeat tune. Listening to it, I had the feeling that the singers were intrigued by the words but had not personally experienced the message.
A sacrifice hurts. The original readers of Hebrews 13:15, on which the song is based, were on the verge of shedding their own blood to remain faithful. They were suffering. Hebrews 13:12 refers to Jesus suffering outside the gate and shedding His blood. Hebrews 13:13 encourages the readers to share His reproach. Sometimes we hurt while praising God.
Messengers one after another told Job that his livestock, his crops, his riches were gone, that his servants and children were dead. Job replied, [read slowly] "The Lord gives... the Lord has taken away... Blessed be the name of the Lord."
When you've heard that before, you've probably heard it as I just read it, with a slow, thoughtful attitude. Can you imagine someone reading it with a happy, upbeat attitude? [read quickly] "The Lord gives, the Lord has taken away. WOO HOO! Blessed be the name of the Lord." You would think the person did not understand or, worse, did not care. Sometimes we hurt while praising God.
b. Our Witness
Our praise for God helps make Him known among the nations.
Poem: Praise The Lord
Praise Him when the sun is shining,
When the winds of trouble blow,
When you see no silver lining,
On the clouds that hand so low.
Praise illumines clouds of sorrow,
Turns the gray skies into gold,
Giving promise of a ‘morrow
Bright with blessings manifold.
Praise Him when the load is heavy,
And the day no comfort brings.
Then your burden God will carry,
Bear you as on eagle’s wings.
God delights to have us praise Him;
And believe His Holy Word
And He knoweth them that trust Him,
For they always praise the Lord.
c. Our Walk
All people, everywhere, should see that God is worthy of praise, based on who He is. Even nature is called upon to praise the Lord and proclaim that He reigns. We call upon God for salvation because only He can rescue us, and our response to His deliverance is to praise Him. God is to be praised “from everlasting to everlasting”; praising the Lord is not a one-time event but something we continually do.
www.gotquestions.org
In Ephesians 1 Paul writes, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 3). He then proceeds to give us many reasons to praise the Lord “who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” Reasons for praising God include God’s election and sanctification (verse 4), His adoption (verse 5), His glorious grace (verse 6), His redemption through the blood of Christ (verse 7), His forgiveness (verse 7), His gifts of wisdom and understanding (verse 8), and His plan for the future (verse 10).
When our lives are filled with the righteousness of Christ, it redounds to the praise of the Lord. In Philippians 1:9–11 Paul prayed, “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” James 3:9–10 warns that we cannot both praise God and curse others. If we are to genuinely praise God, then our actions (and our words) should be in line with His righteous character.
Our praise of the Lord is to be ongoing: “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name” (Hebrews 13:15). We “declare the praises of him who called [us] out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9).
www.gotquestions.org
Praise Him for the incarnation,
for the word made flesh.
I will not sing of shepherds
watching flocks on frosty nights,
or angel choristers.
I will not sing of a stable bare in Bethlehem,
or lowing oxen,
wise men trailing star with gold,
frankincense, and myrrh.
Tonight I will sing praise to the Father
who stood on heaven’s threshold
and said farewell to his Son
as he stepped across the stars
to Bethlehem and Jerusalem.
And I will sing praise to the infinite, eternal Son,
who became most finite, a baby
who would one day be executed for my crime.
Praise him in the heavens,
Praise him in the stable,
Praise him in my heart.
Joseph Bayly.
Conclusion: Three things happen when we start praising the Lord, personally and corporately.
1. Praise is transformative – It doesn’t change God but it does changes us. Our up look determines our outlook.
2. Praise is transcendent. Did you know? The Latin verb scandere means "to climb", so transcend has the basic meaning of climbing so high that you cross some boundary. A transcendent experience is one that takes you out of yourself and convinces you of a larger life or existence; in this sense, it means something close to "spiritual". Praise doesn’t disconnect us from this world that we live in but it does help us to focus on the things that really matter; the spiritual and the eternal.
3. Praise is transitional. Praise here prepares us for praise there. If you and I don’t praise Him in the here and now we will not be prepared to praise Him in the hereafter.
