Who is like unto the Lord our God

Psalm 113 (KJV 1900)

1 Praise ye the Lord. Praise, O ye servants of the Lord, Praise the name of the Lord.

2 Blessed be the name of the Lord From this time forth and for evermore.

3 From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same The Lord’s name is to be praised.

4 The Lord is high above all nations, And his glory above the heavens.

5 Who is like unto the Lord our God, Who dwelleth on high,

6 Who humbleth himself to behold The things that are in heaven, and in the earth!

7 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, And lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;

8 That he may set him with princes, Even with the princes of his people.

9 He maketh the barren woman to keep house, And to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord.

Introduction

Matthew 26:30 “30 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.”

Matthew 26:30 KJV 1900

30 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.

“This group is necessarily of special interest to us because in all probability, these psalms were sung by our Lord and His disciples on that dark night in which He was betrayed.” (G. Campbell Morgan)

Psalm 113 is a great exercise in Inductive Bible study, especially the use of the 5W/H questions...

Who is to praise God?: Servants of the Lord Ps 113:1. When is God to be praised?: From this time forth and for evermore Ps 113:2. Where is He to be praised?: “From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same” Ps 113:3. Why is God to be praised?: because of His supremacy, Ps 113:4–5, His humility, Ps 113:6; His mercy, Ps 113:7–8; His pity, Ps 113:9. How should this change the way I think about God?

What does it mean to worship the Lord?

Psalm 113:1 “1 Praise ye the Lord. Praise, O ye servants of the Lord, Praise the name of the Lord.”

Praise ye the Lord

This is the third consecutive psalm to begin with the exclamation, Hallelujah!

It is how this Psalm starts and ends. [I love listening to the difference between the first and last song we sing in a service]

So what we have here is an exhortation to worship..

an exhortation to declare God's work (reference to us being servants)

an exhortation to praise the Lord (praise the Lord)

an exhortation to give the Lord the glory due His name (praise His name)

an exhortation to ascribe to the Lord glory, to declare the worth of the Lord. (nature of worship)

Worship is about stating value

This building is not a worship center. Your life should be a worship center.

Simply, worship is valuing God. It is treasuring God more than anything.

From the book Wired for a Life of Worship “Think of it this way, worship is simply about value. The simplest definition I can give is this: worship is our response to what we value the most. That is why worship is something that we all do. We’re all about it on any given day. Worship is about saying this person, this thing, this experience, this whatever is what matters most to me. It's the thing of highest value in my life. That thing might be a relationship, a dream, a position, a status, something you own, a name, a job, some kind of pleasure — whatever name you put on it, that thing is what you have concluded in your heart is worth most to you, and whatever is worth most to you, you guessed it, what you worship. Worship is in essence declaring what we value most. As a result, worship fuels our actions and becomes the driving force of all that we do. And we're not just talking about the religious crowd, the Christian, the church-goer among us. We’re talking about everybody on planet Earth, a multitude of souls proclaiming with every breath what is worthy of their affection, their attention, their allegiance, proclaiming with every step what it is that they worship.

Some of us attend the church on the corner professing to worship the living God above all. Others who rarely darken the church doors would say that worship isn't a part of their lives because they’re not religious. But everybody has an altar and everybody has a throne. So how do you know where and what you worship? Its’ easy. You follow the trail of your time, your affection, your energy, your money, and your allegiance, and at the end of that trail you’ll find a throne. And whatever or whoever is on that throne is of what is of highest value to you. In other words, on that throne is what you worship. Sure, not too many of us walk around saying, ‘I worship my stuff,’ or ‘I worship my job’ or ‘I worship this pleasure’ or ‘I worship her’ or ‘I worship my body’ or ‘I worship me,’ but the trail never lies. We may say that we value this thing or that thing more than any other, but the volume of our actions speaks louder than our words.”

Servants of the Lord

God’s servants have special reason to praise Him.

What are servants? Servants are people who are devoted to the master's will.

Find identity as a servant of the most high God

Great response to the world when asked “who do you think you are”

Ezra 5:10-11 “10 We asked their names also, to certify thee, that we might write the names of the men that were the chief of them. 11 And thus they returned us answer, saying, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and build the house that was builded these many years ago, which a great king of Israel builded and set up.”

Great description of who we are and the work we should do.

Acts 16:17 “17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.”

“Worship is the loving homage of the committed to the Revealed.”

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Sometimes I get tongue tied when asking people to “bless the food - I mean ask God to bless the food”

Expression of gratitude.

When God blesses us we are made stronger or better off.

We can not make God better off. Deut 8:10 “10 When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.”

This is to give praise to Him. Psalm 34:1 “1 I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.”

What is involved in worship?

Psalm 113:2-4 “2 Blessed be the name of the Lord From this time forth and for evermore. 3 From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same The Lord’s name is to be praised. 4 The Lord is high above all nations, And his glory above the heavens.”

Continual Praise

Malachi looked around and he didn't see very many people in his own land who were really worshipping God

Malachi pointed out that the priests brought blind animals and crippled and diseased animals as sacrifices (cf. v. 13).

Malachi suggested, Try offering them to your governor!

Malachi suggests they don’t even bother lighitng the altars.

Malachi dreamt of a day when God would be worshiped from this time forth and forevermore and from the rising to the setting of the sun. Malachi 1:10-11 “10 Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? Neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, Neither will I accept an offering at your hand. 11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same My name shall be great among the Gentiles; And in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: For my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.”

High above all nations

Reminded of this as I struggle to connect with the Ewings. As they are 11 hours ahead.

This reminds of “Where God should be worshipped.”

Why does the Lord deserve our praise?

Psalm 113:5-9 “5 Who is like unto the Lord our God, Who dwelleth on high, 6 Who humbleth himself to behold The things that are in heaven, and in the earth! 7 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, And lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; 8 That he may set him with princes, Even with the princes of his people. 9 He maketh the barren woman to keep house, And to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord.”

Who is like our God?

Going to pause and let you answer. You will be unable. No one has or ever will be able to answer this?

God must stoop to reach us on earth.

Earth is massive.

Our God stoops to see our earth and Heavens.

He is much bigger than the biggest things we understand.

God who lifts up the needy

Psalm 113:7-8 “7 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, And lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; 8 That he may set him with princes, Even with the princes of his people.”

This God who has to stoop to see the earth and the heavens cares about poor, weak, marginalized, barren people and He delights to exalt them.

Hannah’s Prayer - 1 Sam 2:1-2 “1 And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, Mine horn is exalted in the Lord: My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; Because I rejoice in thy salvation. 2 There is none holy as the Lord: For there is none beside thee: Neither is there any rock like our God.”

God who hears the prayers of the needy.

Psalm 113:9 “9 He maketh the barren woman to keep house, And to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord.”

This is an evident reference to Hannah’s psalm of thanksgiving,

God of the nations sees the poor and barren and meets their needs.

Psalm 113:5 “5 Who is like unto the Lord our God, Who dwelleth on high,”

‘God is that than which a greater cannot be conceived.’ To me, Jesus Christ is exactly that, a greater cannot be conceived. He is great in the glory of His person as the God-Man, that marvelous combination of transcendence and elevation on the one hand and compassion and sympathy on the other. He is great in His teaching, great in His work, great in His promises. Where would I improve Him? Where would I alter Him? Where is His equal? Where is His superior? If I couldn't worship Jesus Christ, I would worship the man who created Him. Anselm

We are the poor and barren

Psalm 40:17 “17 But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: Thou art my help and my deliverer; Make no tarrying, O my God.”

Luke 5:31-32 “31 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. 32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

God did not only stoop but He sent His only begotten Son to meet us in the dirt

He didn’t simply call out from afar, giving us commands and regulations to follow.

He humbled himself to look down. He became a man—a human—to die for our sins and reconcile us back to himself.

Conclusion

Going to pause, one more time, and let you answer. You will be unable. No one has or ever will be able to answer this?

prov 2:5 “5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God.”