The Purpose of Our Praise

Good morning Allons Baptist Church!

Doxology:

This is my Bible. It is God’s Holy Word. It is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words within my heart that I might not sin against God! Amen!!!

Open Bibles To: Psalm 117.

I am very excited to get into the Word of God today! Are you excited? Let’s take 10 seconds and show God how excited we are for a Word!!!

The title of the message today is, “The Purpose of My Praise”

The aim of the message today is to show how praising God can have a spiritual impact on our lives, as well as others around us.

Psalm 117 NKJV

1 Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples! 2 For His merciful kindness is great toward us, And the truth of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!

Opening Prayer:

Context

The other psalms that we have looked at so far, as well as the one we are going to look at next week, are quite a bit longer than this psalm. Psalm 117 is not only the shortest psalm of all the psalms, but it is also the shortest chapter throughout the entire Bible.

Though it may be short, it presents one of the most powerful messages in Scripture. To some degree, its two verses summarize the entire Bible: all people of all nations should praise the Lord because of His great love for humanity.

Normally, we would take a few moments to dig into the history of the text and its characters. We would provide some level of cultural, historical, or textual context to the passage at hand, but we do not know who wrote Psalm 117, nor do we know its original setting. But its purpose and message are clear: it is a purely evangelistic psalm that invites the entire human race to praise the Lord. Ultimately, It will find its fulfillment in heaven, where the redeemed of all ages and all the earth will praise God throughout eternity.

Interestingly enough, it is also the middle chapter of the Bible. I cannot think of a better message to be presented at the very heart of God’s Word than to proclaim to the world the goodness of God through our praise of His Holy Name!!!

Content

Praise Is Our Reward

We are going to spend the bulk of our time on this point, and I think it is fitting that we do so.

All throughout scripture, we are shown that creation itself praises God. It acknowledges God for who He is and shows its understanding of Him by constantly glorifying His name.

Psalm 19:1–4 NKJV

1 The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. 2 Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard. 4 Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun,

He is God!

Verse 1 begins with the cry to “Praise the Lord”. Verse 2 ends with the same plea, “Praise the Lord”.

The name of God here is “Yahweh” or “Jehovah”. It is God’s covenant name. It is the Jewish national name of God. It is the name God gave of Himself to Moses. It means the self-existent or eternal one.

All of creation was designed to praise Him. Not just with partial praise. Not just with filtered praise. All of creation was designed to offer up unbridled, pure praise to God.

This text does a fantastic job of showing us what that should look like.

“All you Gentiles”

Notice first that this Psalm is addressed directly to the Gentiles. That’s huge, especially in the OT writings.

Gentile - a foreigner

In most cases, a Gentile was considered to be anyone who was not Jewish.

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Biblical Relevance

God’s covenant with Abraham created, via Jacob, the Israelite nation (Gen 12, 15, 17). God set Israel apart from other nations as His chosen people (Deut 7:6–8), and He gave them a land to possess (Gen 15:18) and the Law to obey (Exod 19:3–6). Thus, being a Hebrew was a matter of ethnicity, politics, and religion. A Gentile referred to anyone falling outside of these delineations (e.g., Deut 15:6; 2 Sam 7:23; Psa 115:2–8).

This means that the majority of the world were Gentiles. This means that you and I are Gentiles.

If God’s covenant was with Israel, then why does the call to praise God go out to “all you Gentiles”?

Though His covenant was made with Israel,

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Biblical Relevance

The Bible does not indicate that Gentiles were outside the scope of God’s reign (Deut 10:17; Rom 3:29).

Romans 3:29 NKJV

29 Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also,

It was God’s desire to bless all nations—per His covenant with Abraham (Gen 12).

Genesis 12:1–3 NKJV

1 Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

See, the next phrase is also a call to praise God, but this time it is addressed to all nations.

That is just another way to say the same thing, but it is more specific.

The first call of praise was simply to anyone who was not Jewish, which seems to show a separation between to two groups.

The second call of praise actually includes the Jewish nation in with the Gentile nations. Doing this, the author is not separating the two people groups, but actually bringing them together as one.

This shows that He is God over all, and if He is God over all, His Godly attributes extend to all.

What a reward?

We are numbered with the mighty. We are numbered with those who have experienced the presence of the Almighty. We are numbered with those in whom God has fought many enemies from heavenly places.

What a reward?

Merciful Kindness

This word literally means “loyal love”.

It speaks of the faithfulness of God’s love. It is an unwavering love. It is a steadfast love.

How wonderful to have something loyal.

We do not see loyalty in our society anymore. Selfishness has overtaken loyalty. Pride has overtaken loyalty. Pleasure matters more than loyalty.

We hear many people say today, “Do what makes you feel good” or “Do what makes you happy”. This couldn’t be any worse advice. Many times in life you have to choose between what is right and what is easy, and most of the time what is right does not “make you happy” or “Feel good”.

The result of this is such a tragedy.

It has waged war on perseverance. It has waged war on patience.

Our younger generations have never been taught to “Dig in” or “Ride out the storm”.

The deeper results of this war is that they struggle to have true friends. They struggle because they are ready to move the first time there is an argument. They struggle because their feelings are fragile and broken so easily.

Divorce is at all time high because young couples have not been taught to persevere. They do not know what it looks like to put others first. They do not know how to work through issues, but rather to simply run from them.

But....God loves with a loyal love. It is an unconditional love, which means it is not based upon circumstance or situation, but rather upon His very nature, which is eternal. Since He is eternal, His love is eternal.

It also carries forth the meaning of “joint obligation”.

To be honest, I was a little taken back when I first read that. I didn’t really know what the significance of that might be.

As I say and pondered on the nature of God, it hit me. God is a triune God. He is one God, manifested in three persons: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.

As I understand it, it simply means that He loves us with all of Himself. He has devoted each of His distinct selves completely and wholly to loving us. He loves us as the Father, as the Son, and as the Holy Spirit.

Love cannot go deeper than that!!!

Great

This word means “To be strong”, “To Prevail”, or “To exceed”.

When this word is coupled with God’s “merciful kindness”, we can easily deduce that it means God’s loyal love is “strong”. It is strong enough to “prevail” or “exceed”.

“Prevail or exceed what”, we might ask. Prevail over the bondage of sin that holds us from birth and strong enough to exceed the guilt of sin that dooms us to hell.

God’s merciful kindness is stronger than Satan’s strongholds.

God’s loyal love prevails over our sin.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit’s “Joint Love” outweighs the weight of our sin.

Toward us

God does not love us by mistake. God does not love us simply because He has to. God loves us with purpose.

That merciful kindness that is so great is pointed directly at us.

What does this mean?

God wants to have a relationship with you.

God wants to have conversations with you.

God wants you to spend time with Him.

God wants you to hear from you.

God wants to help you in time of need.

God wants to move heaven and Earth on your behalf.

God wants to put that amazingly strong love that He has for you into action. He wants to move heaven and Earth on your behalf.

Love is proven through action. That is why the Bible says in

1 John 5:3 NKJV

3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

1 John 3:18 NKJV

18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

When you truly love someone, you will naturally pour that love out upon them “in deed and in truth”!

Noone will have to ask you to bless that individual. Noone will have to ask you to support that person. Noone will have to ask you to pray for that person. You will gladly do these things for them because you are full of love for that person.

God loves you! His amazing love is pointed right at you.

Now some will say that God has already shown His love for you by sending His only begotten Son to die on the cross of Calvary. What else could God do to show His love for you?

I agree that God has already shown us, in the greatest way possible, that He loves us fully, but I believe that God still wants to love on you some more. God is full of love for you and wants to pour that love out upon you every chance He is given.

He does do this on some level already, but the volume in which He pours that love out upon us is heavily determined by our willingness to be obedient to His Word and involve Him in our personal matters.

The more we open the door, the more love we receive from Him.

Truth

This word speaks of stability. It is something that is certain, assured, established, and therefore faithful.

My, oh my, how we need more of this in our lives. We need more stability. We need more certainty. We need to be able to have some things in our lives that we can peacefully put our trust in.

God’s truth is that thing.

God’s truth is absolute. It is nor relative.

Illustration of playing board game and changing rules.

We need absolute truth! We need a firm foundation. We need stability in our lives.

When we add all of this together, we can clearly see how praising God is a reward!

It is rewarding to me to be able to give the Almighty God of the universe my humblest attempt of praise.

I don’t have to praise Him, I get to praise Him.

Praise Is Our Response

As I get closer to God, praise becomes my natural response.

Praise

To be clear; to shine; to celebrate; to give glory.

Laud

To address in a loud tone; to pacify.

Praise Is Our Rallying Cry

We give adequate and very distinct praise unto God Almighty.

We give this praise in many ways, but one way is to tell others of how much God loves them.

We are to be the light of God and shine into dark places. If they do not have the light of God to light their own path, we must be the light for them until they come to know Him personally.

We remember and share God’s eternal nature. God will never stop loving us, and them. As children of God, we should never stop loving them either, no matter the circumstances.

Psalm 9:1 NKJV

1 I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works.

Psalm 105:1 NKJV

1 Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples!

Psalm 51:12–15 NKJV

12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You. 14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. 15 O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.

Commitment

Revelation 5:13 NKJV

13 And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: “Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”

Revelation 7:9 NKJV

9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands,