All Creatures of Our God and King, is another of your pastor’s favorite hymns. It is not a hymn of deep theology, but like all good hymns it teaches us some significant Christian doctrine. It is an anthem that reminds us that all of the Earth’s creatures get life from God and all depend on Him for their existence. That includes you and I. It’s words remind us of the simple truth found in Psalm 145: "All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord, And Your godly ones shall bless You. 11They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom And talk of Your power," (Psalm 145:10-11, NIV).

The words to this hymn were written by one of the most interesting figures in all of church history—Giovanni Bernadone—who was better known as Francis of Assisi. He was a monk and a mystic who is best known for founding the monastic order of the Franciscans. He was one of seven children born into a wealthy merchant family. Like many wealthy young man of his era, he led a self-indulgent, and carefree life in his youth. He was constantly searching for adventure, and a good time. In 1201 he joined a military expedition against a neighboring city state. He was wounded and captured and spent a year as a prisoner of war. Upon his return to the town of a Assisi he once again returned to a carefree and self-indulgent way of life. In 1204 he became seriously ill, and it was this illness that led Francis to a spiritual crisis in his life. He began spending time in lonely places, asking God for spiritual enlightenment. His conversion to Christ was genuine and attested to when he renounced all of his worldly possessions, and his right to any inheritance from his wealthy family. He became known as the Little Poor Man.

Francis of Assisi became known as a lover of all of God’s creatures. He was even known from time-to-time to preach to the animals and birds. He had held an biding love of nature and saw God’s hand in everything. In the Catholic tradition he is the Patron Saint of animals and the environment.

The words of this hymn are based on a poem him that he wrote entitled Canticle Of the Sun. The poem reveals his passion for God’s creation, and the world’s natural wonders. The text of the hymn was written in 1225 when Francis was ill and losing his sight. It is thought to be the oldest religious poem in the Italian language. Like many hymns it has several stanzas that have not found their way into the Baptist hymnal. The original third stanza says:

Dear mother Earth, who day by day.

Unfoldest blessings on our way,

Oh Praise Him! Hallelujah!

The flowers and fruits fit in the grow,

Let them His glory also show.

The original fourth stanza reminds us that we are mortal and will one day stand before God of Creation. Listen to what Francis of Assisi writes:

And thou most kind and gentle Death,

Waiting to hush our latest breath,

O Praise Him! Hallelujah!

Thou leadest home the child of God,

And Christ our Lord the way hath trod.

The music that St. Francis’s Canticle is set to is derived from a folk tune that was popular among Roman Catholics in 17th century Germany, and the hymn first appeared in a Catholic hymnal in 1623. The tune’s revival came in 1906 when the famous British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams harmonized the tune for a new English hymnal. It’s been included in almost every English-language hymnal since. It found its way into the Baptist hymnal in 1956.

I. GOD’S PEOPLE ARE TO BE PRACTITIONERS OF PRAISE

• "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!" (Psalm 150:6, NASB95)
1. Francis of Assisi, assumes that we will be a people of praise
1. in the first stanza he invites all creatures of our God and King to lift up your voice and with us and sing
1. notice the with us
2. God’s people are to be a singing people simply because grace does not allow us to be quiet
2. this stanza echos the reality of the end of the age, when all creatures great and small will sing praises unto the Lord’s honor and glory
• "And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” 14And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped." (Revelation 5:13-14, NASB95)
2. and not only should all of God’s people, and all of God’s creatures lift their voices up in praise unto God, so should the natural world
1. in the second stanza, Francis calls upon the inanimate creation to worship God
1. the burning sun with it’s golden beam
2. the silver moon with its softer gleam
3. the rushing wind that art so strong
4. the clouds that sail in heav’n along
5. the rising morn
6. the lights of evening
2. God is greatly to be praised
• "Praise the Lord from the earth, Sea monsters and all deeps; 8Fire and hail, snow and clouds; Stormy wind, fulfilling His word; 9Mountains and all hills; Fruit trees and all cedars; 10Beasts and all cattle; Creeping things and winged fowl; 11Kings of the earth and all peoples; Princes and all judges of the earth;" (Psalm 148:7-11, NASB95)

II. GOD’S PEOPLE ARE ENCOURAGED TO PRACTICE A PROPER MEANS OF PRAISE

• "Praise Him with trumpet sound; Praise Him with harp and lyre. 4Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. 5Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with resounding cymbals."/ (Psalm 150:3-5, NASB95)
1. it is obvious from this list of instruments that the religious music of ancient Israel was both loud and rhythmic
2. it’s also obvious that the Jews used a verity of instruments, and that God approves of instrumentation in our worship of Him
1. some churches deny the use of musical instruments in their churches because they do not seem them clearly used in the New Testament (Churches of Christ and Primitive Baptists)
1. I’ve never quiet understood this
2. First, we are commanded by the Lord to receive teaching and admonish each other with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God
1. singing to God is definitely worship and to be done in churches
2. even the style of our singing is commended to us: Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs
3. in particular, the Psalms contain instructions that we worship the Lord with musical instruments
3. Second, in Eph 5:19, the phrase "making melody" is the Greek word, psallo which means,
1. to pluck or
2. to cause to vibrate by touching, or to
3. to twang
4. we can see that the making melody to the Lord involves the use of musical instruments
3. our music is meant to Praise Him – not entertain us
• ILLUS. Way back in 1761, John Wesley wrote a book entitled Rules for Singing. In it he wrote the following: "Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing God more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the in the clouds of heaven."/
1. the 150 Psalm rings with Alleluias to the Lord
2. the word alleluia simply means Praise Him
3. a more literal reading of the Psalm would sound like this:
• "Alleluia! Alleluia God in His sanctuary; Alleluia in His mighty expanse. Alleluia for His mighty deeds; Alleluia according to His excellent greatness. Alleluia with trumpet sound; Alleluia with harp and lyre. Alleluia with timbrel and dancing; Alleluia with stringed instruments and pipe. Alleluia with loud cymbals; Alleluia with resounding cymbals. 6Let everything that has breath Alleluia. Alleluia!" (Psalm 150:1-6, NASB95)
4. the Psalmist would teach us that one of the principle ways we render praise and adoration to God is through music
1. songs do so many things in life
1. they celebrate happy events like birthdays and weddings
2. they motivate athletes, soldiers, and ordinary people
3. they summarize the character and aspirations of nations
4. they tell stories that keep heroes and villains alive
5. they help people mourn
6. they help them dance (though as Baptists we don’t like to admit that)
2. songs also help us worship
1. who among us can imagine a worship service were there is no music?
• ILLUS. Some church music is so glorious that it is evangelistic in its own right. Johann Sebastian Bach composed over 300 Cantatas for weekly worship. Bach believed that music was a refreshment of spirit and that music was a powerful tool for the proclamation of the gospel. He believed that music brought glory to God. At the end of all his scores he would add the initials SDG—Soli Deo Gloria—To God alone be glory. One hundred and fifty years after his death, Swedish archbishop Nathan Söderblom referred to Bach’s Cantatas as “The Fifth Gospel.” Two hundred and fifty years after his death, Bach’s music is having a glorious revival in, of all places, Japan. And God is using Bach’s music to introduce one of the most secular cultures in the world, to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thousands of Japanese, inspired by his cantatas, have converted to Christianity. It's a testament to the power of art steeped in a biblical worldview.
5. we are to sing unto his name
• "And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name." (Romans 15:9, KJV)
1. the gospel put to music is one of the most wonderful ways we have of praising God
1. it inspires
2. it uplifts
3. it brings us into the presence of God and his angels

III. GOD’S PEOPLE ARE PROVIDED PRINCIPLES THAT GUIDE US IN OUR PRAISE

• "Praise Him for His mighty deeds; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness." (Psalm 150:2, NASB95)
1. what are we to praise God for?
1. for His mighty acts and according to His excellent greatness
2. in other words, we should praise Him for what He has done for us, and for who He is
3. but not only for His exceeding greatness—also according to His exceeding greatness
4. it is a sin to be unenthusiastic in rehearsing the excellencies of our Creator and Redeemer
2. one of the hymns on my “favorites list” that I had to weed out to get down to a dozen hymns is O Worship the King
1. the hymn begins with a simple petition: “O worship the King, all-glorious above”
2. in its simplest definition, worship means to assign worth to God
1. the term derives from an Old English word Worth-ship
2. the idea implied is that God is indeed worthy of our praise and adoration
• ILLUS. Charles H. Spurgeon, the great English preacher of the 19th century, wrote about worship: “Praise is the honey of life which a devout heart extracts from every bloom of providence and grace.”
3. Francis of Assissi said it like this: Forgiving others, take your part, O sing ye!
3. our God is a God of mighty deeds and excellent greatness and He deserves our worship
1. that worship is expressed in our praise of God through music and singing
2. it ought to be offered up as a sacrifice to God
• "Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name." (Hebrews 13:15, NASB95)

IV. GOD’S PEOPLE HAVE BEEN PROVIDED A SPECIFIC PLACE TO GIVE PRAISE

• "Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse." (Psalm 150:1, NASB95)
1. the chief end of man is to glorify God
2. but where are we to do that?
1. according to the Psalmist, we should
1. praise Him in His sanctuary, and we should ...
2. praise Him in His mighty firmament
2. which is another way of saying that there is no place where worship is out of place

Con. May we never forget that all of the Earth’s creatures get life from God and all depend on Him for their existence. As such we should lift our voices up to God and sing and shout Alleluia! Alleluia!