Announcements:
-Labor Day campout sign-ups
-Melody Kinsey hiring as the Children’s Ministry Coordinator
-Upcoming small groups in the fall / we will start having announcements from different group leaders and sign-ups will be available next week
-Check out the bulletin for an opportunity to be involved with InterVarsity at COS discipling college students.
Dismiss children for Kingdom Kids (4 yo-1st grade) and Club 3:16 (2nd-6th grade)
*The Psalms, also known as the Psalter, were the hymnbook for the Jewish people and the early church. The 150 psalms were written over a period of around 500 years by a variety of authors such as Moses, David, Solomon, Asaph, the Sons of Korah, Heman and Ethan.[1] They were then arranged by an unknown editor into the format that we have today which is five books: Book 1 (1-41), Book 2 (42-72), Book 3 (73-89), Book 4 (90-106), and Book 5 (107-150). *Each of these books closes with a doxology which differ slightly but all go something like “Praise be to the Lord forever. Amen and Amen.” They are often arranged by themes and genre with an example being the “Songs of Ascent” found in Psalms 120-134 which were sung as the Israelites traveled to Jerusalem for the major feasts and made the climb into the mountain city. They cover a wide range of emotions and topics and there are many categories of psalms: praise, thanksgiving, lament, wisdom, royal, messianic, and imprecatory are some of these categories. Not all the psalms fit neatly into one category as many have several types in one psalm. We are going to go through many of these categories over the next three weeks starting today with the psalms of praise and thanksgiving.
Open in prayer
*Let’s start with what is probably the most prevalent category: the psalms of praise. These psalms extol the character and nature of God and focus on glorifying Him. A common phrase found in these psalms is “Praise the Lord” which in Hebrew is Hallelujah. Hallel means praise and Jah is short for Yahweh. Let’s examine some of the praise psalms and what makes them such a blessing to us.
Psalm 147:1 says, “Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!” Praising God is a choice that we make despite our feelings. Making the choice to praise God re-orients our hearts and changes our perspective by focusing us on God’s goodness and love. *These psalms remind us over and over that God is worthy to be praised because of His character and His deeds, who He is and what He has done. The shortest of the psalms (and shortest chapter of the Bible), Psalm 117, says, “1Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. 2For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord.” Why do we praise the Lord? Because his love towards us is great and He is always faithful. *Psalm 113 says:
1Praise the Lord. Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord. 2Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore. 3From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised. 4The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. *5Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, 6who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? 7He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; 8he seats them with princes, with the princes of their people. 9He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the Lord.
We will praise the Lord forever in heaven and so we should praise him now as well. We should praise the Lord all the time (v. 2) and everywhere (v. 3). God is the supreme ruler over all the nations; over all the hosts of heavens. He is the creator of heaven and earth. Not only is He all-powerful but he cares about those who are looked at as less-than. He cares about those who are living in poverty. He acts on behalf of needy people. The barren woman, the orphan, the widow, the child with Down’s Syndrome, etc., he loves these people and watches over them. God is kind, compassionate, and merciful. Hallelujah, praise the Lord! *Psalm 66:1-7 speaks about praising the Lord for His deeds:
1Shout with joy to God, all the earth! 2Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious! 3Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. 4All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your name.” Selah *5Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man’s behalf! 6He turned the sea into dry land, they passed through the waters on foot—come, let us rejoice in him. 7He rules forever by his power, his eyes watch the nations—let not the rebellious rise up against him. Selah
We should praise the Lord because of his mighty acts. He parted the Red Sea so that the Israelites could pass through, He rained fire from heaven to demonstrate that He was the true God when Elijah faced off with the 450 prophets of Baal, He made the sun stand still for a day while Joshua’s army routed the enemies, He caused a donkey to speak to the wayward prophet Baalam, He shut the mouths of the lions so that they would not harm Daniel, He rescued Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when they were thrown into a blazing furnace, and He sent His only beloved Son into the world in the form of a human being to live, work mighty miracles, die on the cross, and then conquer death by rising again from the grave. How awesome are His deeds! Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
*Next, we see that all of creation should praise the Lord. Look at Psalm 148:
1Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights above. 2Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his heavenly hosts. 3Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars. 4Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. 5Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created. *6He set them in place for ever and ever; he gave a decree that will never pass away. 7Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, 8lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, 9you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, 10wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, 11kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers of the earth, 12young men and maidens, old men and children. *13Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his splendor above the earth and the heavens. 14He has raised up for his people a horn, the praise of all his saints, of Israel, the people close to his heart. Praise the Lord.
Everything that God has created should praise Him. Even though we often miss it, creation is praising God constantly. *The sun rising and warming the earth on a cold morning praises God. The stars painted across the canvas of the night sky on a moonless night shout out God’s greatness and power. The lightning storm that is better than any fireworks show, the softly falling snow, the rugged mountains with their snow-capped peaks, and the wild animals; all of these things praise their creator by their very existence. Whether or not we notice them or give credit to the One to whom it is due, these things praise their eternal Creator. It also says that the angels are praising the Lord; the multitudes of the heavenly host in all their splendor are praising God. If these things are praising God, should we not praise Him even more? Young and old, rich and poor (v. 11-12), we must give God the praise that He is due. It is good, and pleasant, and fitting to praise Him (147:1).
Thus far, we have seen that we should praise God for His character and nature, because of His mighty works and that all of creation should praise the Lord. How are we encouraged to praise God though? What does it look like to praise the Lord? One of the primary ways that we can praise the Lord is though singing. *Psalm 96:1-2 says, “1Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. 2Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.” Do you ever wonder why churches sing so much? I have had conversations who say, “I like the teaching but I wish we didn’t do so much singing.” Singing helps connect our hearts with the Lord as we announce His goodness and glory. It helps us memorize Scripture and doctrinal truths much easier than memorizing them without it. Do you know what the most important musical instrument in this place is today? It is your voice. It is the voices of God’s people singing God’s praises! Whether you sing like an angel or a drowning cat, God wants you to sing and not just listen to others do the singing. The primary purpose of the worship team on the stage is to facilitate and accompany the singing of the church; not to perform for them.
*Look at Psalm 98:4-6, “4Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; 5make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, 6with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn—shout for joy before the Lord, the King.” When was the last time that you shouted for joy to the Lord? When was the last time that you couldn’t contain yourself and shouted out “God, you are awesome!” or “Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!”? Are we more concerned about our reputation or God’s glory?
*Psalm 134:2 and 149:3 go even further. “2Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord.” and say, “3Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with tambourine and harp.” Maybe some of you are getting concerned that your pastor is going full-on Pentecostal here but these are not my words, they are the words of God. Listen closely, the most important thing in worship is the attitude of your heart. You can raise your hands with the wrong attitude, you can shout to God with a selfish, proud heart, doing these things does not make you spiritual or acceptable to God. However. However, when God captures our affections and our heart and we love Him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, won’t our voice, hands, and feet reflect that love? Your body should reflect the position of your heart. There are many times that the most appropriate thing to do is to sit quietly before the Lord and pray. There are other times when you need to kneel or fall on your face before Him. Still other times, it is most appropriate to stand with both arms lifted high and sing at the top of your lungs to God. We need to care more about God’s glory than our reputation.
*The last Psalm of praise I want to look at is Psalm 150 which is the benediction for the entire book of Psalms and it really sums up the message of the book. It says:
1Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. 2Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. 3Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, 4praise him with tambourine and dancing, 5praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. 6Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.
How does the book of Psalms close? By saying let everything that has breath praise God everywhere, for everything, with everything (and every instrument) that they have. So called “worship wars” have been waged in many churches where people said, “Drums are evil, that is the devil’s music, etc.” What does the book of Psalms say to those people? “You are dead wrong.” Any musical instruments that we have should be used to worship God. Stringed instruments, brass instruments, percussion instruments, dancing, all of these should be used to fix our hearts on the one who is worthy of all praise.
*Before we wrap up this morning, I want to talk about another category that is very similar to the psalms of praise: psalms of thanksgiving. Thanksgiving isn’t for one day a year in November but should be a regular practice of the people of God. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Many psalms are filled with the encouragement to thank God. Psalm 136 is the “His love endures forever psalm” as it says that phrase in every one of the 26 verses. It says, “1Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. 2Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. 3Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever…26Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.” When the Israelites sang this psalm, the Levites would sing the first part and then the congregation would echo back “His love endures forever.”[2] Can you imagine singing that 26 times? Why was it repeated so many times? Because God’s love is what drives all our praise. We love Him because He first loved us. We can never forget the great love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God. His love motivates us to praise and yet we are so quick to doubt his love. Notice that Psalm 136 is bookended with the idea of giving thanks. We thank God because His love endures forever.
*Let me close with one last psalm, Psalm 100:
1Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. 2Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues throughout all generations.
I want to call the worship team up now and we are going to wrap up today by practicing what we preached. Worship the Lord with gladness and joy because He is God. He is the Creator, our Father, our Shepherd and our Savior. Let’s thank Him and praise His glorious name. He is good and His love and faithfulness never end.
Close in prayer
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[1] The World and the Word: An Introduction to the Old Testament, Eugene Merrill et al.
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