Title – “Learning How to Praise the Lord”

Scripture – Psalm 145

© Rev. Joseph Liddick

Introduction:

For the past couple months we have been looking at the life of the Old Testament character David.  We have discovered that even though he was a man who was at time flawed, he was also a man that Scripture says was “after God’s own heart.”  He learned what was important to God, how to overcome giants, how to deal with difficult people, how to own up to sin in his life, and also the source of true contentment. 

I believe that there is still one thing missing in what made David a man after his own heart.  The Bible says that our #1 calling in life is to bring glory to him, to learn to worship him in spirit and truth.  For David, that was an all-consuming passion.  He was a writer of songs from the time of his youth and his early service in the court of King Saul.  When the Ark was brought into Jerusalem, we find him dancing before the Lord, oblivious to everyone and everything else around him.  In his later years he burned with a desire to build a magnificent temple in which people would come from all over the world to worship God.  David, I believe, truly understood how to praise the Lord.

Let’s face it – a lot of people don’t ever bother to go to church at all today because they believe that worship is quite boring. I heard a good story the other day about a pastor who was being bothered as he tried to preach by two teenage girls who were giggling and passing notes in the back row of the sanctuary. He interrupted his sermon and announced sternly, “There are two of you here who have not heard a word I've said.” That quieted them down. When the service was over, he went to greet people at the front door, and three different adults apologized for going to sleep in church, promising it would never happen again.

We could really learn a lot about worship from David.  In spite of a worship revolution in recent years, there are a lot of churchgoers who still continue to miss the point.  As A. W. Tozer once remarked, “Worship is the missing jewel of the church.”  I think it still is. In the contemporary church people are so hung up on music styles, liturgies (or their lack), dress and other external trappings that they miss the real heart of why they supposedly come together.  

I believe David’s Psalm 145 embodies the true spirit of worship. Let’s look closely at it this morning, and hopefully as we do we too will be caught up in the same spirit of worship that inspired these words.

Worship is All About God

Ha Have you ever caught yourself in the trap of leaving a worship service complaining about what happened there?  Someone changed the order of service (cartoon).  They sang too many choruses.  The music was too fast, or too slow, or just not your style (cartoon).  The band was good, except the drums were too loud.  There was too much standing, or too much sitting.  The pastor had too many points in his sermon, or, God forbid, maybe he was pointless.  Sadly, our evaluation and appreciation of a worship service often depends to a large extent on what happens on the platform.  Let’s face it, we do live in an entertainment-minded world, and we are saturated with TV programs, movies, concerts, speakers and plays.  And we always seem to go away from these things assessing our enjoyment level of the program by how well the performers performed.  No wonder we don’t know how to worship!

      Soren Kierkegaard, a Danish philosopher of the 19^th century, saw even back then this tendency in our worship practices which has only been magnified in our own day.  He remarked that in spite of how the seats are arranged, we are really not supposed to be the audience.  God is!  And those on the platform are not supposed to be the performers – we all are!  So then, the minister and worship leaders are supposed to be merely prompters who enable us all to worship God as a united community of faith.  So then, Kierkegaard would say, instead of evaluating our worship by what we got out of it, we need to assess it by how well we did. 

Worship, you see, is not about you or me – what we like or don’t like.  It’s about God.  As Rick Warren said in The Purpose Driven Life, “It’s not about you.” You were planned, he said, for God’s pleasure. That’s worship. John Wimber, founder of the Vinyard movement, wrote, “Worship is not about personality, temperament, personal limitations, church background, or comfort.  It is about God.  We are called to do it for his benefit, not ours.  Yet the irony is that we do indeed benefit greatly when we give ourselves to worshiping God.  We’ve been designed to worship.  It is our destiny.”

Here’s a question – “If we are made to worship God, why do we struggle so hard at it?”  I believe the reason is because we don’t really understand who God is.  Every place in Scripture where men and women see God for who he is, they are struck with awe.  The word “worship” actually comes from the old English and means “worth-ship.”  It is the act of ascribing worth to God on the basis of who God is and what he has done.  Well, David’s Psalm that we are looking at this morning tells us that God is…

·        His name – Yahweh (v.1-2).  In ancient times, a person’s name was actually a reflection of their character.  So from the very beginning, the name of God was held in reverence.  The name of God was revealed to Moses out of a burning bush.  It revealed his infinite character.  It was, in fact, too sacred to the Jews to even pronounce.

·        Greatness/Majesty (v.3,5).  Look up at the heavens on a clear night and start to count the stars.  Realize that the closest one is millions of light years away.  Stand at the top of a mountain and look out over the countryside.  Take a microscope and begin to explore the inner-workings of the human body.  They all pale in comparison to God, their maker!

·        Righteous (v.7).  God is the source of all that is good, holy, just, and right in the world.  With all the scandals that come out of Albany and Washington you get the feeling that nobody in the public eye has clean hands or a clean heart, and that you always seem to have to choose between the lesser of two evils.  But with God there is only purity through and through

·        Gracious (v.8).  As a holy God, he requires us to be holy as he is holy.  But we are sinners by birth as well as by choice and thus are deserving of his condemnation.  Nevertheless, God provides a way that we can be forgiven and restored to his likeness through the death of his own Son.  He is love (1 John 4).

·        Compassionate (v.8,9).  The word “compassion” means “to suffer together with.”  One day a little girl was sent on an errand by her mother.  She took much too long in coming back.  Mother, therefore, demanded an explanation when she finally did return.  The little girl explained that on her way she had met a little friend who was crying because she had broken her doll.  “Oh,” said the mother, “then you stopped to help her fix her doll?”  “Oh, no,” replied the little girl.  “I stopped to help her cry.” That’s compassion! Well, God knows and feels your pain and suffering.  He became one of us.  He wept at the tomb of Lazarus.  He mourned over the lost condition of Jerusalem.  Matthew 9:36 says, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”  Mother Theresa was once asked if she ever became angry at all the causes of social injustice she saw around her in Calcutta.  Her response – “Why should I expend energy in anger that I can expend in love.”

·        Almighty (v.4,11,12).  Nothing is beyond the power of the one who created the heavens and the earth by his spoken word.  And history is a constant litany of his mighty works.  He rescued Israel by parting the Red Sea.  He gave them a new homeland by crushing the walls of Jericho.  He stopped the mouths of lions.  He calmed the storm.  He raised the dead.  And he still works in power in the lives of his people today!

·        Everlasting (v.13).  Even his name says it – Yahweh:  I am that I am.  Since becoming a home owner I have cut down dead trees, replaced rotten landscaping and deck timbers, replaced several broken garbage disposals, sump pumps, and water heaters, put on a new roof, and replaced a broken concrete driveway.  As we know all too well, nothing lasts very long.  And ever since I turned 40 I have been reminded daily of the fact that I won’t last forever, either.  In fact, everything we see around us is going to one day pass away.  But God is eternal.  He was around long before all things were created and will still be around long after everything we know disappears. He is everlasting.

·        Faithful (v.13).  In Yellowstone National Park there is a geyser known as “Old Faithful.”  It is without question one of the most popular attractions of the park.  But it is not nearly as faithful as it used to be.  In 1973 when I visited Yellowstone it erupted like clockwork every 64 minutes.  Today it is more like 80 minutes, and sometimes even 90 minutes.  And many of its eruptions, unfortunately, are a bit less than spectacular, even disappointing.  But our God is continually faithful. Like the hymn says, “Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not, as Thou hast been Thou forever will be.  Great is Thy faithfulness …”

·        Near (v.18).  The Deists of Thomas Jefferson’s day envisioned a God who wound up the universe and then backed away to let it run on its own without his interference.  They couldn’t imagine God being concerned with the mundane events of our day to day lives.  But the God of the Bible is.  David declares, “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.”  He is intimately involved in his creation.  And by his Spirit, he lives within the heart of every believer.

Worship is not only a celebration of who God is, but also a celebration of what he has done.  The actions of God are, in fact, reflections of his character or being. David knew that, because in this psalm he also speaks about God’s “mighty works.”

·        He upholds all those who fall (v.14)

·        He provides food at the proper time (v.15)

·        He satisfies the desires of those who love him (v.16,19)

·        He hears the cry and saves those who call on him (v.18,20)

·        He watches over all who love him (v.20)

·        He destroys the wicked (v.20)

Worship Must Be Expressed

Whenever people catch a glimpse of who God truly is, they feel compelled to respond to him in some way that would be appropriate.  Abraham erected an altar.  Moses took off his shoes. Daniel got down on his knees.  John lay prostrate on the ground.  David danced before the Lord.  Solomon spread out his hands toward heaven.  People commonly clapped their hands.  Worship, you see, needs to be expressed.

But more than by action, worship must be expressed with our mouths.  In this Psalm alone David says:

·        I will exalt you (v.1)

·        I will praise you (v.2)

·        I will extol your name (v.2)

·        I will commend your works… (v.4)

·        They will speak of the splendor of your majesty (v.5)

·        They will tell of the power of your works (v.6)

·        They will proclaim your great deeds (v.6)

·        They will celebrate your goodness (v.7)

·        They will joyfully sing of your righteousness (v.7)

He closes the Psalm by saying, “My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.  Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever.”

There is a direct relationship between believe in our hearts and what we confess with our mouths.  Paul said in Romans 10:9-10, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”  Both belief and confession are essential for salvation.  And Jesus even said, “If you will confess me before men, I will confess you before the Father.  But if you deny me before men, I will deny you before the Father” (Matt. 10:32-3).  Silence is equivalent with denial.

An interesting thing happens when we speak forth our praise for who God is and what he has done. Other people are then drawn to his greatness as well.  David said, “They will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, so that all men may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom” (v.11-12).  Worship leader Tommy Walker once said, “The most powerful thing non-Christians can see is people worshiping.  Worship shows people who God is… I can’t tell you how many times non-Christians have said, ‘I don’t know what this is – something’s going on inside!’  Like God’s knocking on their heart’s door!  He’s breaking down the walls.”

Conclusion:

Jesus made a very interesting statement in John 4 while speaking to the woman at the well in Sychar.  He said, “A time is coming when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.”  God is looking for men and women who will become people after his own heart, people like David.  He is looking for men and women, children and teens who will come together to lift up his name and let him know just how much they love him.  Remember, worship isn’t about you and me.  It’s about Him.  With David let’s learn to praise God with everything that is in us.