Hold Nothing Back in Your Praise (Calvary 2024)

There was once a little old church where the preacher and the worship leader were not getting along. Well, their bad relationship started to show up in the worship service.

The first week the preacher preached on commitment and how we should all dedicate ourselves to God. The worship leader led the song, “I Shall Not Be Moved.”

The second week the preacher preached on tithing and how we all should gladly give to the work of the Lord. The worship leader sang the song, “Jesus Paid It All.”

The third week the preacher preached on gossiping and how we should all watch our tongues. The worship leader led, “I Love to Tell the Story.”

With all this going on, the preacher became totally disgusted over the situation and the following Sunday told the congregation that he was considering resigning. The worship leader had the audacity to sing the old hymn, “Oh, Why Not Tonight.”

Well, that preacher did resign. The next week he informed the church that it was Jesus who led him there and it was Jesus who was taking him away.

This worship leader was inspired by the Pastors last word about Jesus leading him away which led him to sing the great hymn, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”

Now that’s not a nice worship leader. I’d say he might not had the right attitude or heart when it came the worship.

Today we are going to talk about Holding Nothing Back in our praise. This is a very important topic because have all been created to praise God. The world of God requires that all of creation praise God.

Psalm 150:6 NLT

6 Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord! Praise the Lord!

God is worthy of our praise. Praise happens when we express our gratitude, adoration, admiration, respect, reverence, and love towards God.

Praise happens regardless of the situations we face. It’s inside of us because we know WHO God is and WHAT He has done for us. We have reason to praise Him.

Psalm 34:8 NLT

8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!

God is good. He is worthy of praise.

I wonder if we hold anything back in our praises to Him?

As most of you know, I grew up in a ver conservative Nazarene church. Our praise and worship consisted of a piano, organ, and hymns. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not knocking piano, organ and hymns. In fact, that’s my favorite type of praise and worship. If we could go back to hymns I’d be just fine. But I’m also very ok with the modern music, because my heart is going to praise God no matter what it sounds like!

Well, as a kid, I wondered what would happen if I clapped at the end of one of the songs. It really bothered me that no one ever clapped or raised their hands in our worship service.

I had attended promise keepers and experienced praise and worship on a whole different level and I wanted to bring that back to our church. Well, after much inner turmoil I finally did it…I clapped after a song one Sunday.

A 17 year old kid disrupted a worship service. Guess what happened…they kicked me out! No, they didn’t, other people clapped!

And from that time on we clapped. Now, I don’t remember anyone ever raising their hands, but clapping was pretty big progress!

I tell you that story because we are all in some ways like the people in my little Nazarene church. We are holding back. Not because we don’t love God or have a desire to praise Him, but because we are either afraid or what others might think or we are just doing what we have always done.

There is something important about being free in our praise. I think God is not so concerned about what we “look” like or even “sound” like when we offer Him our praise. He is concerned about our heart.

Praise Unreserved

2 Samuel chapter 6 tells us that that King David brought the Ark of the Covenant into the capital city of Jerusalem.

David led the procession.

2 Samuel 6:14 NKJV

14 Then David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod.

A little research in the New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible reveals that the “priestly garment”.

At least one person found this inappropriate for the national leader. When David got home his wife said:

2 Samuel 6:20 (NLT)

...She said in disgust, “How distinguished the king of Israel looked today, shamelessly exposing himself to the servant girls like any vulgar person might do!”

To which David said:

2 Samuel 6:21–22 (NLT)

...“I was dancing before the Lord, who chose me above your father and all his family! He appointed me as the leader of Israel, the people of the Lord, so I celebrate before the Lord.

22 Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this, even to be humiliated in my own eyes! But those servant girls you mentioned will indeed think I am distinguished!”

Was it undignified for David to act in this way? Absolutely not!

While his specific actions are not given as examples for us to follow, we should not go to the other extreme and rule out all outward expressions of joy and praise in our worship of God!

There are probably some believers who take praise to extremes, while others may be guilty of grieving the Spirit by a false sobriety.

What I think we can learn from David dancing is that He was holding nothing back.

Why was he dancing? Well, they were wanting to return the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem. In the past if God didn’t want the ark moved people died. When the levites picked up the ark they took six paces and then paused, waiting to see if God would accept them; when no judgement came, they offered sacrifices and proceeded to Jerusalem.

David had been waiting for this day. He had great anticipation and expectation. He was dancing before the Lord as a spontaneous expression of Joy that the ark of God was restored to the people.

He was unreserved in his praise. It could not be held back.

We have so much to praise God for in our own lives. We have been saved! Translated from darkness to light. We have been set free from condemnation and sin.

2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT

17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

Question we should ask ourselves is…Is this enough? Is this really enough to offer ourselves fully unreserved in our praise?

Has God been good enough to us that we are willing to offer Him our true praise?

Praise Unashamed

One possible reason we might hold back in our praise is because we are ashamed. We don’t feel adequate. For whatever reason we don’t feel good enough.

Maybe you’ve experienced what it feels like to be broken over your own sin. Questions come to mind when you think of our own brokenness.

How can God still love me?

How can I continue in close fellowship with Him after what I’ve done.

When people hear about this, I’ll be an embarrassment to the Christian community.

Is Jesus will be ashamed of me?

Let me tell you something you might need to hear…When you come to Christ for the first time or the thousandth time He is happy to see you.

2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT

14 Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.

Or how about the good ol’ faithful verse about God’s faithfulness...

1 John 1:9 NLT

9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

Now, I have to be real with you. There have been times in my life when I was ashamed. I didn’t feel worthy to pray. I certainly didn’t feel good enough to raise my voice in praise to God.

But you know what you do when you feel this time of shame? You praise God. You lift Him up and thank Him for His grace. For His mercy. For His faithfulness to hear us and forgive us time and time again.

No person has gone too far. You can be restored today.

If you accept your restoration then you will have nothing to be ashamed of when you stand with your arms lifted high in praise.

In fact, when you trust in these promises we find in the Bible then you won’t be able to stop yourself from lifting up a song of Praise.

Sometimes to stop the cycle we need to praise Him through the shame.

When the enemy comes and tries to remind us of our past failures we need to have a little praise break because Christ has broken the chains of sin in our lives.

Maybe we need to realize who we are in Christ. I love the poetic words of Isaiah speaking truth to a people who had forgotten who they were...

Isaiah 52:2 NLT

2 Rise from the dust, O Jerusalem. Sit in a place of honor. Remove the chains of slavery from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

Can we get some praise to God this morning for our chains of slavery being broken?

We don’t need to be ashamed anymore. If we are saved by faith through the perfect work of Christ then we can stand boldly before God and praise His Holy name!

Hebrews 4:16 NLT

16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

We should be unreserved in our praise and unashamed in our praise because our Praise is Unstoppable.

Praise Unstoppable

Circumstances should not determine whether or not we are going to praise God! Our praise must be unstoppable.

I have to take us to the most incredible scene we see of people praising God in the new testament. You know it, but you’ve got to hear it again. It’s encouraging. It reminds us what to do when everything has gone wrong in our lives.

Paul and Silas were preaching and teaching about Jesus. A lady had been set free from demonic possession and the whole city was talking about what God was doing through Paul and Silas.

Acts 16:20–26 NLT

20 “The whole city is in an uproar because of these Jews!” they shouted to the city officials. 21 “They are teaching customs that are illegal for us Romans to practice.” 22 A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. 23 They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape. 24 So the jailer put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks. 25 Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. 26 Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off!

Everything was going great in this city. They were making real headway. People were listening to them. Folks were getting set free. It was a great time.

Then the unthinkable happens. Everything falls apart. They were stripped, beaten, and imprisoned.

The last thing these mean should be doing is praising God.

But that’s Exactly what they did!

They knew something that we need to know. Praise is Unstoppable when your faith in God goes beyond the physical and temporal.

We have got to get past the day to day struggles that try to stop us from praising God.

In fact those daily struggles should PUSH us into moments of praise not away from praise.

When Paul and Silas refused to allow their circumstances to rule in the moment they remembered that God was still God and worthy of their praise.

They held nothing back. With broken beaten bodies they lifted up their voices in praise not because they felt like it, but because it HAD to be done. God was too great to remain silent.

They were unreserved, unashamed, and unstoppable.

When they praised God something in their situation changed. A miracle took place.

Maybe you need a miracle today. You might need some chains to fall off this morning.