Understanding Biblical Praise

Introduction:

We are continuing our mini series in the Psalms.

Last week, Matt preached on Biblical Lamenting:

He said, “We must first learn how to biblically be sad, grieve and lament if we are then to learn how to biblically rejoice and celebrate.”

We are called to worship God in Spirit and in truth. If we are to do this, we cannot just push our emotions to the side. Our praise would not be authentic, it would not be true.

To worship God in Spirit and in Truth, we must learn how to move through our emotions--lament and grieve. So, Matt gave us 5 helpful steps on Biblical Lamentation:

Engage your emotions:

Faithful living is not opposed to emotion, but engages them. “Our emotions are a gauge on the dashboard of our soul. Emotions are God’s gracious gift to reveal to us what we truly love, value, and worship.”

In the Psalms we see the freedom of God’s people to be honest about emotions, both with themselves and with God.

Take your emotions to God: pray through our emotions and confess how we truly feel.

Process the “why” of your emotions:

What are you treasuring in your heart?

Idolatry—>Repent

Pure Motive—>Rejoice

We probably have a mixer of Godly sorrow and worldly sorrow.

Remember the character of God and the promises of God:

Rehearse these over and over.

Respond with action; especially PRAISE:

I hope you were able to spend sometime this past week doing your “homework”—practicing some of these steps.

Today, we are going to zoom in on steps 4 and 5. Our end goal is on Praise.

“Martin Luther said that all of the Christian Life is Repentance and Faith...”

Well, I think this goes hand and hand with Lamenting and Praise.

Last week was Lamenting—this week we are diving into Praise.

Working Biblical Definition of Praise:

“Biblical praise is the expression and completion of our Joy, Reverence, and Confidence in Who God is, What God has done, and God’s promises to come.”

Who God is, what God has done, and His promises to come are the foundation and the Roots that support and produce our Joy, Reverence, and Confidence that is expressed and made complete through Praise.

Outline Psalm 66

As we read Psalm 66, we’ll notice that it is broken up in 4 sections that will help us see how this definition of Praise is worked out

I. v1-4 Invitation to Praise “The Glory of God’s Name”

II. v5-12 Citation of God’s “Awe-Inspiring Works”

III. v13-15 The Psalmist’s Response

IV. v16-20 A Celebration of Grace

READ PSALM 66

Invitation to Praise “The Glory of God’s Name”

Praising God’s Name is Praising Who God is:

When you build a name for yourself in business, your name includes, but is more than a reputation of the work you do. You build a reputation of how you conduct yourself—your “name” reflects your character.

Praising God’s Name is Praising God’s Character—His Characteristics—The Attributes of God.

Disclaimer: We will not even scratch the surface this morning on expounding on God’s Character. But I want to highlight three that we find in the Psalm:

God is Glorious

What does God’s Glory Mean?

Weightiness/Importance

Splendor (an aesthetic dimension)—His Glory is Beautiful

Sovereignty over everything: God is absolutely JUST!

Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands.

Have you ever looked up at the Heavens and thought about how we are on a tiny rock flying through space around a burning ball of gas in a solar system that is in a galaxy that is part of a universe that we actually know very little about?

Think of the vastness of what we do know of this universe and all the questions still left unanswered—this was spoken into existence and is held together by God.

And it was created to Put God on Display---For His Glory

God’s Glory is hands down the most important, the most weightiness, most infinite, most perfect, most majestic, most splendid Glory there ever was or ever will be.

If we knew nothing else of God, His Glory that is plain to see demands our praise!

As it were, God has also revealed His Glory through His Word:

The Bible (God’s Written Word):

Isaiah 55:8–9 CSB

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration. 9 “For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Martin Luther wrote to Erasmus in a letter, “Your thoughts of God are too human.”

We know from God’s revelation of His Glory through His Word that we cannot think of God in human terms.

“Likening God’s Glory and Supremacy to that of petty presidents and popes is like comparing the splendor of a candle to the splendor of the sun.”

Jesus (The Word of God Incarnate):

Colossians 1:15–19 ESV

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

The Glory of God is so big, every other characteristic of God is incapsulated by His Glory.

We are commanded to sing of the Glory of His Name — The Glory of his Characteristics — The Glory of His Attributes.

Every other attribute of the Lord’s Character accentuates God’s Glory; Including God’s Grace:

God is Gracious

Ephesians 1:5–6 CSB

5 He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One.

God’s Grace does not nullify or down play His Glory—God is both Just and the Justifier in His grace toward His elect.

The Supremacy and the Perfection of God is manifest in His law, but no one is righteous—all sin and fall short of the glory of God. Grace is not the bending of the law or the wiggle room around it.

God is not some expensive lawyer that finds a loop hole in the law. Jesus Christ, who was with God in the beginning, who is fully God born of a virgin, perfectly fulfilled the law—lived a sinless life. But instead of receiving the glory due Him immediately, He endured the penalty of sin—God’s unfiltered wrath poured out on Him in our stead.

God is just because our sin was paid in full and our righteousness was declared before the Glorious Throne of God earned by Jesus, God’s perfect Son. God is the Justifier because He has created a union for His elect with Jesus Christ. For those who are in Christ, there is now no condemnation.

What does this mean?

God is Faithful

Citation of God’s “Awe-Inspiring Works”

Deliverance:

Testing and Refining

not just looking on the bright side, having a positive mindset, or putting in a silver lining…what is happening here is the Power of God working for redemption!

The Psalmist’s Response

Thomas Brooks “Now [God’s Elect] shall hear best news from heaven when they hear worst from earth. God loves to smile most upon his people when the world frowns most. When the world puts its iron chain upon their legs, then God puts his golden chains about their necks; when the world puts a bitter cup into their hands, then God drops some of his honey, some of his goodness and sweetness into it…When Paul and Silas were in prison for the gospel’s sake, then God fills them with such unspeakable joy, that they cannot but be singing when others are sleeping (Acts 16). God turns their prison into a palace, a paradise, and they turn His mercies into praise.

A Celebration of Grace