NOTHING TOO GREAT...NO ONE TOO SMALL PSALM 113:1-3

INTRODUCTION

The great English Christian apologist, C.S. Lewis, once said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our consciousness, and shouts to us in our pain.”

This certainly is a true statement. No matter the circumstance of life, God communicates with His people. Such a glorious God is deserving of our worship. There is no circumstance too great and no person too small who should not give praise to His name as an act of worship.

ATTENTION

I absolutely love Vacation Bible School. I always have and I guess I always will. I loved participating in VBS as a child, a teenager, and even as an adult. I have taught VBS several times over the years. I was actually saved during VBS at the age of eleven in 1974.

This year I am excited about this year’s VBS from Answers in Genesis entitled, WONDER JUNCTION! We will learn about why Jesus is worthy to be praised. Through Bible study and memory verses, crafts, science activities, games, and even snacks, we will learn the wonder of who Jesus is and why He is worthy to be worshiped and praised.

INTEREST

Psalm 113 begins a series of psalms called the EGYPTIAN HALLEL. The term HALLEL means “praise.” Psalms 113-118 are hymns of praise to God. This series of psalms is called the EYPTIAN HALLEL because of the reference to the Exodus in Psalm 114:1 “When Israel came out of Egypt— the house of Jacob from a people who spoke a foreign language—”

This collection of praise psalms was sung during Jewish holy days, especially the Passover. Psalms 113 and 114 were sung before the Passover meal. Psalms 115-118 were sung after the meal. Jesus and His disciples would have likely sung these six psalms at the Last Supper on the night He was betrayed.

NEED ELEMENT

We need to understand what the psalmist understood. The message of Psalm 113 is very clear. God is worthy of our praise. We must understand that praise is essential to worship. Worship is more than praise. The fact that we are in a worship service does not make one a worshiper. A worship service without genuine praise is merely a sinful sit-in. Genuine praise is standing on His promises, not merely sitting on the church premises. Let us understand this as we consider the text before us today. [read text]

SERMON IDEA

The psalmist called upon the gathered assembly to give praise to God. Today, God instructs us to praise and bless His name.

I.GOD’S PEOPLE ARE COMMANDED TO PRAISE HIM SUBMISSIVELY (113:1).

A. WE OBSERVE THE OBJECT OF WORSHIP (1A).

“Praise the Lord!”

The word praise is the combination of two Hebrew words: HALLALJAH which literally means, “Praise YHWH!” We get our English word “hallelujah” from this Hebrew term. This one phrase is an exclamation of praise to God. However, it is also an exhortation in the form of an intense Hebrew command to praise God.

Notice something else about this verse. The first line of the verse reads, “Praise the Lord!” Now notice the last line of this verse. It reads, “Praise the name of the Lord!” These are two bookends that calls on us to praise the ALPHA and OMEGA, the “Beginning and the End” of this psalm-the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

The object of our worship is to be the Lord Jesus Christ because He is worthy of all praise, glory and worship. Revelation 1:8 ““I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the one who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.””

B. WE OBSERVE THE OFFERERS OF WORSHIP (1B).

“Praise, O servants of the LORD, Praise the name of the LORD!”

Who are those who are to offer praise and worship to God? We are told that the servants of the LORD are to give worship to God. The first call is to an unspecified audience. Thus, this first call is to all people in general and to God’s people specifically (Praise the LORD!). It is really a call to all people to fulfill our obligation to give worship to the Creator-Redeemer God.

Augustine: “Man’s chief work is the praise of God.”

Psalm 150:6 “Let everything that breathes praise the Lord. Hallelujah!”

The call to praise moves in this second part of the verse with a repeated double command. The word for servants many times in the Old Testament is used of the Levitical music leaders. However, in context, it is more accurately being addressed as to all the gathered assembly.

While dwelling in Egypt, the children of Israel found themselves slaves to Pharaoh. However, God intervened and in the process of time they became servants of the Most High God.

The literal slavery of God’s people in Egypt is spiritually what we once were. We were captives to our sin in the bondage of spiritual slavery. God sent His Son in the process of time to deliver us from that bondage to sin and Satan through Calvary’s cross. Now we have become the servants of the Most High God. It is the greatest privilege to belong to Him and our obligation to obey Him. One of our highest obligations is to praise Him. Who do you really serve today?

To be a servant of the Lord God is to live to praise Him.

II.GOD’S PEOPLE ARE CALLED TO PRAISE HIM CONTINUALLY (113:2-3).

A.WE OBSERVE THE “WHEN” OF WORSHIP -AT ALL TIMES (2).

“Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and forevermore!”

The name of the Lord is to be praised and the name of the Lord is to be blessed. We are called to bless and praise the name of the Lord at all times.

We are to bless the name of the Lord in the present. We are to bless Him everyday. Jesus and His disciples probably sang Psalm 113 as a song during the Last Supper. Jesus knew He would die on the cross the next day. Therefore, He announced to His disciples that He was going away. He also predicted that one of the disciples would betray Him.

Jesus blessed the name of God the Father in His most critical hour.

B. WE OBSERVE THE “WHERE” OF WORSHIP- IN ALL PLACES (3).

“From the rising of the sun to its going down the LORD’S name is to be praised.”

The Lord is to be praised by all people. He is to be praised at all times. Now observe that He is also to be praised in all places. In reference to time, God indeed is worthy to be praised from the time one rises in the morning to the last conscious thoughts before drifting off to sleep. Yet, this verse goes beyond the arena of time. This verse is more accurately read as a reference to space, not time. What we have here is the geography of praise. From the place where the sun rises (east) to the place where the sun sets (west), the name of the Lord is to be praised.

That is why the Bible states the following in Malachi 1:11

Malachi 1:11 CSB

“My name will be great among the nations, from the rising of the sun to its setting. Incense and pure offerings will be presented in my name in every place because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord of Armies.

CONCLUSION

There is no circumstance too great and there is no person too small to excuse us from giving praise and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.

REITERATION

We are commanded to praise Him submissively and we are called to praise Him continually.

VISUALIZATION

I would like to buy three dollars’ worth of God, please, not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don’t want enough of Him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation; I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy three dollars’ worth worth of God, please

INVITATION

Our praise to God is to be Christ-centered, not self-centered. Christ alone is to be the object of our praise. Praise is not a means of getting what we want from God. Praise is not treating God like the great vending machine in the sky. Praise is the means by which God receives the glory He demands, desires, and deserves. Psalm 113:5

Psalm 113:5 CSB

Who is like the Lord our God— the one enthroned on high,

The answer: Nobody

Folks, the Lord Jesus Christ deserves our very best. He deserves our worship. He deserves our praise. He deserves more than some of us are giving. Why not come to this altar and submit your lives to start giving Him what He deserves, demands, and desires. There is no circumstance too great and there is no person too small to praise the name and character of God. To God be the glory now and forever.

PRAYER