Praise the Lord Part 2

On a typical week for me, usually on Tuesday or Wednesday, I will get ready for leading worship for the next Sunday’s meeting. I’ll pick songs and scripture verses and arrange them around a theme to be the main idea for our worship.

A lot of the times, that theme will end up working in concert with the sermon in a surprising way. Almost as if the whole thing was planned that way. The only thing…is that it never is. Separately, without anybody comparing notes, without preplanning, the themes of our times of worship have accompanied the opening and preaching of God’s word and these two parts of our Sunday meeting routinely fit together in amazing and unexpected ways.

I want to be absolutely clear, this happens not because of some unique or special gifting in any of us who preach or lead worship, this occurs not because every part of our meeting has been planned down to the last detail… I am completely convinced, this happens because the Spirit of God is actually at work and not just on Sunday mornings but also Monday through Saturday. This is clearly God’s church, and He has things to say for all of us. It builds my faith so much when I see this week in and week out.

This past week was no exception, however it played out in a surprisingly different and humbling way.

Last weekend, my family and I were out of town to celebrate with my sister as she got married. After a whirlwind of travel arraignments and flights and car trips… we got back into town last Sunday evening, and after unpacking the car, and putting our kids to bed, I sat down and listened to Jeffs message from last week online. Now before this while I was on the plane to California I had been putting the finishing touches on this mornings message and now was eager to listen to Jeff as he preached through Psalm 111. About 15 minutes in, to my disbelief, I came to the realization that Jeffs message last week and the one I had just finished preparing were essentially identical. Without any planning or coordination, Jeff and I had separately prepared basically the same sermon. It was bizarre…There were several parts that were almost word for word exactly the same. I just couldn’t believe it. The biggest difference being: Jeff said stuff way better than I ever could. But I got to the end of the livestream and my first thought was, “This guy just preached my message!” And immediately after having that very arrogant thought, I felt like I heard the Lord gently say, “No, that guy just preached my message.”

But I thought, “I can’t show up and preach the exact same message! What will people think? They’re gonna think I just copied Jeff! Maybe I should come up with something completely different… seven days before it was time to preach.” I was very optimistic. But optimism gave way to that familiar last minute panic of trying to start a term paper 5 minutes before it’s due.

And I felt God’s spirit gently convict my heart, as if to say to me “My praise is more important than your comfort level. Tell the church again to Praise their Lord.”

And last minute panic gave way to reluctance, as this week did not go at all how I wanted it to… with more reliance on God’s sustaining grace than in my own preparation.

As if another look into God’s word on the topic of Praising the LORD was somehow redundant or just not really worth our time?! The last 5 chapters of Psalms the term Praise is used 45 times… the psalmists clearly weren’t concerned at all about again and again and again calling God’s people to praise the LORD. The writer of psalm 149 didn’t seem to be too worried about copying the writer of Psalm 148 by opening the song with the same exact loud exclamation of “Praise the Lord!”

Evidently this is something that is important enough to be repeated and looked at, and to be reminded of… over and over again.

So this morning, I have the privilege of bringing our sermon series “Summer in the Psalms” to a close with a message newly titled “Praise the Lord. Part 2”… For the past 7 weeks, my soul has been helped, and encouraged, and served so well by our time in this book. We began with chapter 1 where we saw how someone who delights in the law of the Lord is like a tree planted next to an ever flowing stream, prospering in all that they do, but the wicked are blown away like chaff in the wind and will ultimately perish. Then in Chapter 2 we saw our first sighting of Jesus as God’s anointed one, as the nations rage and the people’s plot, God looks and laughs… The anointed Son is coming soon, and he will break the nations with a rod of iron. Psalm 13… We see how God permits our humanity as David cries out “How long o Lord? Will you forget me forever.” When it feels like God has forgotten us, or left us, we can cry out to God and express those human emotions to him. And we can preach to ourselves the steadfast love of God. Then in Psalm 51, we saw how David expressed his sorrow and remorse for his sin and how the reality is, our sin is bigger than we think, but God’s mercy in forgiving us and saving us is greater still. Psalm 27, we were helped by seeing how David sees God. And the need for us to seek God’s face first above all else.

And last week in Psalm 111 Jeff encouraged us to embrace the call to Praise the Lord. Not as just some filler phrase to say when good things happen, but to truly praise God for both who he is and what he has done.

And now we come to the final chapter in the Psalms, and be fore we get there. it’s almost like as you reach the end of this book, there is a growing crescendo of a theme in the last few chapters. There is a sense of growing excitement and building anticipation. If you read this massive book you see it’s filled with the entire spectrum of human emotion and experiences and there is this unanswered question hovering above them all, begging to be answered.

After all these songs about feeling the weight of sin, the comfort of the Lord leading us as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, the hopelessness of feeling like God has forgotten you, the joy of finding our refuge in God, our fortress, the bitterness of being betrayed by a close friend, the sorrow of the loss of a loved one…. over all of these very real, very raw, and very relatable emotions and experiences this question floats above them all:

“So now what?” “Where do we go from here?”

Look, It is freeing to know that God does not dismiss us or rebuke us for having emotions. We aren’t supposed to be stoic or consider emotions a bad thing. He created us to feel them. They are an expression of our bearing his image. And it is freeing even further to know we can take those emotions and direct those thoughts to God… but what do we do after that?

What do you do after crying out to God, “Father I’ve been waiting for so long for you bring my back my wayward son or daughter. How long do I have to wait?”

What happens after you pray, “Lord, it’s been years since I was betrayed by my close friend, I still feel my heart race and a lump forms in my throat when I simply hear their name spoken aloud. God, you feel far away from me in those moments.”

What are we supposed to do after years and years of asking God for the healing of a disease, but his answer seems to alway be. Not yet?

Whats left for us to do when the grief of losing a child is still fresh and raw in your soul? And you’ve offered that up to the LORD but you still feel it?

Like I said, It is very freeing and there is real comfort found in offering up these candid cries to our God who hears them. But even after all that, we’re left in this sort of paused moment, “ok now what?” What should we do now? Where do we go after that?

And the final 5 chapters of the Psalms, which are filled with these dramatic doxologies, accelerate one after the other into the unexpected answer to that question with increasing passion and excitement you can almost feel it. Just look at the beginning of each of these final chapters

Ps 146:1-2

Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!

I will praise the Lord as long as I live;

I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

Psalm 147:1

Praise the Lord!

For it is good to sing praises to our God;

for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.

Psalm 148:1-3

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts!

Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars!

Psalm 149:1

Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly!

These are not meant to be slogans.

These aren’t trying to get you “Fake it till you feel it.”

These psalms aren’t saying “Hey everyone, I know life can be rough sometimes, but lets put a smile on our faces and just keep on keeping on, praise the Lord.”

No.

These Psalms are meant to reorient our minds and our hearts to direct praise where it is due even while experiencing the toughness of life. That’s what we do next. We praise God.

It is precisely when, you see the ultrasound and there is no longer a life visible and you cry out to God in anguish, “You give and take away, but my heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be your name.” That’s praise.

It’s when you prayed for years for a spouse, and you do get married but it doesn’t look anything like you thought. The horrible realization that your spouse is not who they seemed, their treatment of you is despicable and wrong in the eyes of God. And you say “I didn’t pray this! God why would you have me go through this awful experience? This broke me.” And in his kindness God declares “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” And so even through tears you can boast all the more with a glad heart because of your weaknesses, so that the power of Christ rests upon you. That’s praise.

It’s when you have a bad experience with the church, you know… He’s a really great God, but some of His people are an absolute dumpster fire. And past hurt rears its ugly head and you want to run away and protect yourself, not engage with people or build deeper relationships. But even in light of all that, there is still the call to Praise the Lord.

This is meant to be perspective altering. This is meant to move the baseline from being ruled by our emotions to clinging to truth while experiencing our emotions.

These final Psalms show us: that call, to praise God, is not in spite of all the emotions and experiences we all feel deeply, but it’s through them. It’s alongside of them. It’s mixed together with them.

So why is this idea of “Praising the Lord” so important? Why is it repeated so many times? I think it is because we are so quick to forget, that this is the whole reason we were created in the first place.

I think we all at some point, to some level, grapple with the question of, “Why are we even here? What’s my purpose for existing?”

Isaiah 43:21

the people whom I formed for myself

that they might declare my praise.

Two sentences in the Book of Isaiah, you get your answer to the question of the meaning of all life and existence. Not only that, but comes directly from the one who created all things and breathed his breath of life into the human frames he formed.

That we might declare His praise.

This is why I am convinced the Lord impressed Jeff and myself separately, to both of us stir up this church with the bold call to “praise the Lord!”

And so we finally come to our text this morning: Psalm 150,

Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! 2 Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness!

3 Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! 4 Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! 5 Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! 6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

I’d like to bring our attention to three things from this passage.

- Praise begins in God’s house.

Verse 1.

Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens!

This psalm would have been used as a liturgical part of the Israelite’s temple service as a representation of the entire book of the psalms. Just like how we have here at this church: a welcome, call to worship, singing, scripture reading, prayer, sermon, baptism… Psalm 150 was one of those types of sections that happened during the temple meeting. And it was meant to remind God’s people that in God’s house whether it was in the temple on earth or high above in the heavens, God is to be praised.

It was a reminder that God’s dwelling place is to be known as a place that is marked by the praise of His name. When we think of God’s house, the thing that should come to mind is, “oh that’s the place where God’s praise takes place 24/7. It never stops.”

For the original readers… as they walked into the temple, they would’ve passed by these rooms filled with men who’s sole job was to ensure that praise of God didn’t stop.

1 Chronicles 9:33

Now these, the singers, the heads of fathers' houses of the Levites, were in the chambers of the temple free from other service, for they were on duty day and night.

Can you imagine, coming into this church each week and passing the conference room in the lobby and seeing a group of people who’s career was to live here full time, day and night, doing nothing else but praising God?

That sounds pretty extra to our ears. But God’s praise is so important, that this level of commitment to it, is so appropriate.

The same goes for the praise of God in His mighty heavens.

Revelation 4:8

And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,

who was and is and is to come!”

Now, There is something very special and unique when we all as the gathered church come into this room and lift our voices to sing praise to God. But if we think that half on hour of singing on Sunday morning is enough praise for the almighty God, King of the universe, then we aren’t very aware of how much glory surrounds him. If our praise is limited to singing on Sundays, it accounts for just under .3% of our week. The other 99.7% of my week is filled with a bunch of other stuff that I think is important. My mind is occupied with so many things not related to the praise of God. I mean, I can even get distracted while we’re in the middle of worship on Sunday morning thinking of situations happening outside this building and how I’m going to respond to them…

Look, If we could somehow visibly see the glory of God right here, right now, you think any of us would be concerned about anything else outside this room?

If the indescribable awesome pure energy of God’s unmatched glory were to manifest itself in the next blink of eye right here, do you think anyone in this room is gonna be thinking, “You know, I’m just not really happy with the direction our country is going politically these days.”

It’s almost comical to try to imagine this scene… The church roof being blown off it’s mounts by the sheer power of God’s glory, you think anyone is going go, “I’m really concerned, someone said some mean things about our church online, and I just worry how it’s gonna look.”

You kidding me?

No, do you know what we would do? Every. Single. One of us. would be on our knees, our heads bowed low and able to do nothing except to Praise the LORD! Absolutely nothing else would matter. An atomic bomb could go off and it would look like a birthday candle next to God’s glory, not even worth noticing. The Sun could explode and it wouldn’t even warrant the slightest glance. If we could only see the glory of God, There’s not a single thing, event, person or situation that could get you to take your attention off of Praising God. He is that captivating. He is that glorious. And he is that worthy of all available and possible Praise.

But if you’re like me, it’s like “Yeah that sounds great, but we can’t see the visible glory of God in this room right now. So…. What then?”

I believe God’s word, would answer us in this way.

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

2 Corinthians 5:7

for we walk by faith, not by sight.

Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

2 Corinthians 4:6

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 1:1-4a

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

We can’t and we won’t see with our veiled eyes the full glory of God until heaven, but we absolutely can see something of it with the eyes of faith in Jesus Christ. That’s why we fix ourselves on Jesus, that’s why we look to Jesus. You look at Christ, you see the radiance of the glory of God. You see the radiance of the Glory of God, and the only response is praise.

Praise begins in Gods house. For the Israelites that was the temple. But for us today, it’s not this building. God’s address isn’t 1280 N Cooper road. His address is in the very core of every believer’s soul. The dwelling place of our God is within his people. It’s you and me! Gods anointed one, his own son Jesus, has taken residence in every Christian’s heart in this room.

And if God house is there, then praise should also begin there. It like there are chambers in your soul and your mind where we have singers dedicated to praise 24/7. In the Israelite temple, those guys were freed from all other responsibilities so they could focus on Praising the Lord. All too often, we either task our own singers with singing our own praises or we kick them out of that chamber and use that room for something else. We need to free them up and let the praise of the Lord come from within our hearts, all day everyday. We need to stop filling those chambers, meant for praise, with anxiety over things we can’t control. We need to stop using those rooms as deep storage to hang on to the replays of every time someone had wronged us.

We were created to praise the LORD. Is there any room left in our souls, for us to walk out that purpose? Or maybe, like me, there’s some things we need to offer up to God to make room.

2 There is always a reason for praise

Verse 2

Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness!

Just like we heard last week, we are called to praise God for what he’s done, and for who He is. The Israelites looked back to their rescue and exodus out of slavery in Egypt with the Passover meal to make sure no one forgot God’s mighty deeds. In the same way, we as Christians must look back to our rescue and exodus from the slavery of sin. Remember your conversion story. Rehearse it in your mind. Roll it around in your memory. Write it down. Tell other people God’s mighty deed in rescuing you. Out loud. In English.

I grew up in a christian home with a loving mom and a dad. I’m a pastors kid. I’ve been in children’s ministry, jr high ministry, youth group, singles group, I’ve served on a worship team since I was 14… the whole 9 yards. I think I prayed a prayer when I was 6 or 7. But as I went through high school and college I just got tired of always doing the right thing. I got fed up and just wanted to live for me… So I did. I drank, and smoked and partied and did what I wanted to do. I dated, which, in our family we did Courtship thank you very much, so that was a problem. I lived with one pinky toe in the church on Sundays, the rest of me firmly planted in the world, Monday through Saturday. The pressure cooker of living a double life like this came to a head in one single moment. I will never forget this moment. I was in the Starbucks and Food 4 Less parking lot on Orange Grove and Fair Oaks, Pasadena California. Sitting in my car knowing a decision had to be made: if I turned right then I’d go to the airport, buy a one-way ticket to anywhere and start over. I would leave my family, my friends, my church, and my God. But If I turned left, then I’d go home, repent of my sin and foolishness and I’d completely surrender my life to God. It was time to decide.

I sat there way longer than I’d like to admit.

Praise the Lord for His mighty deed in bringing me home that day. Praise Him for obliterating my stone hardened heart and drawing me to himself. I can’t bear to think of what my life would look like now if I had turned the other way that day. I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t have married my incredible wife, I wouldn’t have my 4 amazing children, but most importantly I would still be a slave to my sin. I would still be spiritually dead. If God hadn’t arrested my heart in that moment, I wouldn’t have this amazing story to tell of Gods mighty deed in rescuing me. I wouldn’t be able to tell others of God’s excellent greatness and his infinite goodness. He saved me! He rescued me! Praise the Lord for it!

Remember your conversion. And tell it often. And let it produce praise in your heart.

Point number three:

Everyone is called to praise the Lord.

VV 3-6

Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! 4 Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! 5 Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! 6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

Ok, congregation participation time:

By a quick show of hands, anyone here play trumpet?

By a quick show of hands, who here even knows what a lute is? Ok but only the people who can actually play one can keep their hands up.

Hands up if you know how to dance?

How about everyone who can play a stringed instrument?

Ok what’s left, Pipe, let’s go with any Organ players or wind instrumentalists in the room?

What about drummers?

Ok now raise your hand if you haven’t yet raised your hand.

Ok Thank you. Do you guys feel a little left out when you read or hear verses like this that references all these instruments that you can’t play?

I read “praise him with trumpet sound” and I’m like, “can’t do that, so I’ll skip that one.”

“Praise him with Lute and harp.” “Well, I didn’t have lute lessons in high school, so skip that one too.”

“Tambourine and dance.?” “I can hold my own with a tambourine I guess, but trust me, nobody wants to see this guy dance.”

These all seem oddly specific, and exclude most people who aren’t musicians.

But if you can’t play the trumpet, then let your words be strong and clear like the trumpet sound, cutting above the noise, calling those around you to action, to engage with the Lord and to praise his name. Find ways to rouse people’s attention and affection for Jesus.

If you can’t play the lute or the harp, these instruments that are soothing to the ear, then let your words and actions bring comfort to the hurting around you…let the sweet melody of resting in the Lord during trials encourage all who will listen.

If you can’t play the tambourine or dance very well, then let your joy and celebration of your conversion story be infectious. Let your unique words of how Christ rescued you, cause others to rejoice and see how good God really is.

Can’t play the violin? Strings are the glue of an orchestra, so let your words be steadying and sure, firmly affixed to the word of God. Hold fast to your salvation and encourage others to do the same.

Can’t play a pipe organ? That’s ok, let your life be like it’s tall steel pipes and allow the spirit of God to flow through you to encourage everyone in your community. Let the air of God’s breath of life resonate within your soul to produce the loud strong tones of faith.

Not a drummer or cymbal player?

Alright then, let your praise of God be explosive and loud, let it wake up the sleepy and jolt the distracted to attention. Let the exclamation of your praise of God be shocking and true. Able to be heard a mile away.

And finally verse 6.

Let everything that has breath praise the lord.

Can your lungs oxygenate your blood? Can you at the very least take in a breath? No skill required, no music lessons needed, no years of study before you can start, here are the prerequisites:

Breathe in

Breathe out

Outstanding. You’re hired.

Now praise the Lord.

Praise begins in God’s house.

There is always a reason for praise.

Everyone is called to praise the LORD.

It can be very easy, to hear this message and then be discouraged when you evaluate your life and you find it coming up short.

and you can think, “Oh I need to go from here and just praise God more.”

And yes, there is an element of needing to just obey God’s word, we should praise him more and more each day. But the application of this isn’t to simply try harder. If you’re in a car and you need to go faster, it doesn’t matter how hard you step on the accelerator if the tank is empty. Pedal to the metal in car with no gas doesn’t mean a whole lot. As believers we need to fill up on looking to Jesus as the thing that fuels our praise. See Jesus as your savior, look at how much he loves us, remember his sacrifice for rebels like us, recount how he rescued you from eternal death, have eyes to see how he cares for us now and then floor it! Let the eyes of our heart take in Jesus who is the radiance of the glory of God, and let Him be the fuel our praise.

//if there’s time//

If the the worship team could come back to the stage, I think it would be very appropriate to finish our series in the psalms by singing. To respond to Gods word in Praise of his name.

Let’s Pray.

Spirit of God, we want to see Jesus. We want to see the name of the Lord to be lifted up above all other names here at Center Church. We want our lives to marked by continual praise of our God. LORD, You have spoken to us through your very word today, help us God, see the radiance of your glory in the face of your son. Let the joy of our salvation and rescue from the chains of sin and death explode out of this place. May our stories of your mighty deeds bring even more people to proclaim your praise in this place. God there is no one like you, and we acknowledge that you alone are worthy of all our praise.

Amen! Let’s stand and Sing.

Benediction.

Revelation 5:13

[13] And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

Amen.

You are dismissed, have a great week, and Lord willing we will see you next Sunday.