Sermon Tone Analysis

I was just a punk kid.

21-22 years old, smarter than anyone else—you know how it is.

Most of you have been there.

There was a debate at the church I was serving.

It was a common debate at the time (and in some circles, it’s still a debate).

This was smack-dab in the middle of the “worship wars”—the recent era in church history where we fought about the songs we sing, pulling for the songs we wanted to sing, complaining about the songs we didn’t like (the Church can fight about some really stupid stuff sometimes).

In the middle of this particular battle in the worship war of 2005, Dennis Donnelly, the 4-Star General of the Hymns-Only Army, hostilely declared war against contemporary praise choruses.

Dennis hated praise songs because they were full of vain repetition.

His argument went something like this:

“Instead of just saying ‘Martha, the cows are in the corn,’ a praise song says ‘Martha, Martha, Martha, Oh, Martha, MARTHA, MARTHA, the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white cows, the black and white cows, the COWS, COWS, COWS are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, in the CORN, CORN, CORN, COOOOORRRRRNNNNN,’ and then repeat the whole thing two or three times.”

Remember, at this point I’m fresh out of college, 21-years old.

I don’t really have a dog in the fight, but, as one of the elders of the church, I’m trying to show the silliness of the whole argument.

So I asked Dennis if his main problem was repetition.

Dennis said, “Yes, that’s most of it.

It’s annoying and irreverent.”

I grabbed my Bible and opened it to Psalm 136…and I read:

“Now, Dennis, this is just one instance of Biblical repetition.

I understand your preference for hymns, but our concern has to be focused on what the Bible would have us sing.

It seems clear to me that however and whenever, by whatever Biblical means possible, we are made to worship the Lord.

I don’t think it matters if we do so with hymns or praise songs or Gregorian chants.”

I maintain that repetition is invaluable.

It is one of the great educational tools at our disposal.

“Look both ways before you cross the street” is not something you tell your children just once.

“Don’t hit your sister” was a constant refrain in my house.

We repeat what is important.

I tell my wife I love her several times each and every day.

Do you think she gets tired of hearing it?

Does it become less meaningful the more I say it?

Not at all!

Why does the psalmist say 26 times, every other line, His love endures forever?

Because it’s important.

Because we are meant to reflect upon it, to meditate upon the truth it conveys, to apply it to our hearts and our lives, to remember it on good days and bad days and in between days—His love endures forever.

Psalm 136 is called “The Great Hallel” or “The Great Psalm of Praise.”

It recounts His great love; His hesed, that is “covenant love, mercy, unfailing love, lovingkindness, steadfast love, love that never lets go, unending love.”

Psalm 136 is calling us to thoughtful, grateful worship—worship that spells out what we know or have found out about God’s glory and deeds.

Psalm 136 is all about God’s unchanging love expressed in His existence, His creation, His victory, and His grace.

Psalm 136 is summoning us to give thanks.

And then repeat.

Give thanks, give thanks, give thanks again.

Throughout history, before history, during creation and alongside His dealing with His people, all the while working on their behalf, stands the enduring love of God.

The psalmist gives thanks for the enduring love of

The Eternal God (vv.

1-3)

To give thanks to God is to confess, to acknowledge who He is and all He has given to us; to admit and recognize His many benefits.

If you stop and consider who He is and what He has given you, you will, by His grace, be overwhelmed at the sheer enormity of all He is and all He’s blessed you with.

We tend to forget that the Lord Yahweh—God of gods and Lord of lords—is eternal.

He is, He was, He will always be.

He has no beginning, no end.

He is from everlasting to everlasting.

Before the creation of the world, He was.

Eternally existing in three persons—Father, Spirit, Son.

Please remember: there was nothing deficient, nothing lacking in the Triune God.

They didn’t get bored with one another one day and think: “Well, I guess we should create some people we can love and who will love us.”

No, no, no.

The Trinity has existed for ever and has enjoyed “the intense, pure delight and love flowing between Father, Spirit and Son—an energy of joy makes an atom bomb look like a mere firecracker.”

The Triune Godhead is the one receiving praise at the beginning of this Psalm (it’s not the God of the Bible unless it’s the Trinity).

The Triune God is receiving praise for enduring love.

Since God has no beginning or end, neither does His love.

Here, friends, is an important lesson: we did not cause God’s love.

We cannot cause God to love us.

God is love.

Always has been, always will be.

God is love.

And this is gloriously good news, because there is nothing in me that would, or ever could, motivate a Holy God to love me.

As a wicked scumbag, there is within me only earth and dirt, sin and darkness.

But, God is love.

And He demonstrated His great, everlasting, eternal love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

(Romans 5:8)

“My sin—o, the bliss of this glorious thought—my sin, not in part but the whole was nailed to the cross and I bear it no more, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, o, my soul.”

We give thanks to the eternal God for His enduring love toward us.

His love endures forever.

The psalmist gives thanks for the enduring love of

The Creator God (vv.

4-9)

The book of Genesis tells the story of God’s creative work in making the universe out of nothing: creation ex nihilo.

Genesis tells the creation story.

But so does Proverbs.

The point is this: God’s creative work—His making the heavens, His spreading out the waters, His creation of the sun and moon, His putting stars in their place, His filling our planet with everything we need to breathe and to survive, His placing the earth on its axis at 23.5 degrees—all of this is an expression of His wisdom and enduring love.

It’s God alone who does this.

Notice verse 4—to Him who alone does great wonders.

I’m not sure how to say this.

This is difficult.

I’m just going to say it: You, friend, are not the center of the universe.

No matter what your parents, spouse, friends, or you yourself believe—it’s not all about you.

It’s about Him.

He is the center and the cause and the source of all this.

Give thanks.

And repeat.

Creation beckons to the Christian to delight in God, to take joy in what God has made and the reason for which He made it: to give Him glory, to make Him the focus of our lives.

Historically, the Church has spent a great deal of time and energy on cosmological theory—ideas about how and when the world was created.

Figuring out those details isn’t nearly as important as loving and praising and serving and giving thanks to the God who alone made all this to reflect His character.

Take your eyes, your focus, your thoughts off yourself and give thanks to the Creator God for His enduring love toward us.

His love endures forever.

The psalmist give thanks for the enduring love of

The Victorious God (vv.

10-22)

The story of God saving His people from slavery and the Exodus from Egypt that followed is one of the most well-known stories in history.

Disney’s DreamWorks made a movie about it, for goodness’ sake.

The story is recounted in Psalm 136, in several other psalms, and at various other points in the Bible.

It’s a great story.

It’s true.

Psalm 136 speaks about God striking down (or smiting; KJV: to Him who smote) the firstborn of Egypt, bringing His people through the Red Sea, the Red Sea swallowing Pharaoh and his army, and God leading His people through.

Why include this in a psalm about God’s never-ending love?