B, The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany - Psalm 147:1, 11, 20c God Pleasing Praise"
When we praise God, we do it in either of two ways. We praise him in prayer – thanksgiving
prayer. Or we praise him in song or
hymnody. But why do we praise God? What is the purpose of praise? What does singing songs or hymns of praise
do? Do we need to praise God? And how do we praise God in prayer and song –
is there a way of wisdom, a proper process for praising our Lord?
In the Psalms God gives us his words of praise and
lament. So, if God gives us praises and
laments in his Word, then it is right to give him thanks and praise, and also
to lament and express our grief before him too.
But why; what purpose does it serve?
In many of the praise Psalms the opening line reads “Praise
the Lord”, or “Hallelujah”. These
openings are the same thing, one is in English, and the other is the original
Hebrew. It’s interesting to note that
Hallelujah is a contraction of two words, Hallelu and Yah, short for
Yahweh. Hallelu means to shine or
radiate, and even to boast or brag. And
so to Praise the Lord, hallelujah, we are called to shine or radiate God, to
boast or brag of the Lord. But the question still remains, “Why; what purpose does
it serve?”
One must also be specifically clear when discussing praise;
that we are not just speaking about singing praises. Praises are sung in song and hymnody, but, in
the context of praise’s meaning “to shine”, praises can happen just as easily
through being spoken. In fact, the
praise of God goes right back through the history of humanity’s response to
God, but singing of praises became a regular response only in the days of King
David.
Psalm 147 falls in amongst the last of the Psalms, of which
are all praise Psalms. The book of
Psalms finishes with a crescendo of praise for God. In Psalm 144 we hear God is praised for being
King David’s rock in battle. In Psalm
145 David goes on to lift up the name of the Lord in praise. David praises God with the Word of God
inspired within him by the Holy Spirit.
David receives the Word of God, the Son of God, yet to be born as “the
Word made Flesh”. David in the stead of
Jesus Christ leads the congregation in this climax of praise. In Psalm 146 the repetition of praise,
hallelujahs, becomes common right to the end in Psalm 150.
In verse one of Psalm 147 the psalmist begins, Praise the
Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to
praise him! Why is it good, and
pleasant, and fitting to praise God? It
all depends on the source and content of the praise!
One of the most astounding things to occur in the bible is
that in God’s calling us to response to his Word, he also gives us his Word as
response. The Psalms are a book of
responses written by men, inspired by God the Son, for us to respond to our
Father in heaven. And even more amazing
than the Psalms of praise are the Psalms of lament. God gives humanity a vent to spew out our
anger, grief, and even out hatred towards those who refuse to submit to his
authority and the authority of his Word.
First, it’s fitting, pleasant, and good to praise God,
because he gives us praises in his Word to do just that — praise him. Jesus praises the Father, and likewise we too
praise him, as we are carried along by the Holy Spirit. We are caused to obey him and honour him, and
his Word, when we praise him with his Word.
But then notice in many of the Psalms the community context
of praise. When King David introduced
the use of Psalms in the temple worship, the Psalms functioned as responses to
the reading of the Law. So, it was
David’s job as king to lead the congregation in response to the priest’s
reading of the Torah – the Law. This is
why the 150 Psalms are broken into five books (Ps 1-41; 42-72; 73-89; 90-106;
107-150) so they parallel the five books of the Law (Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, & Deuteronomy).
God calls us to praise him in this community context for a
very important reason. When we praise
God, we join with Jesus Christ, a greater king than David, to declare who God
is and what he has done for us. The
praising of God with his Word not only radiates and shines glory back to God,
but in the community, we radiate the Triune God’s glory upon each other. And so, the second reason we sing praises in
worship response is to teach each other about God’s work and mercy, and to
admonish, or warn, each other with the Word of God.
This is best explained by Saint Paul in his letter to the
Ephesians where he says…
[E]verything exposed
by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible.
This is why it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ
will shine on you.” Be very careful,
then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every
opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but
understand what the Lord’s will is. Do
not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the
Spirit. Speak to one another with
psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing
and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the
Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for
Christ.” (Eph 5:13-21)
So, when we sing
praises, we submit to each other out of respect for Christ. We allow ourselves to be vessels through whom
God works to wake each other up. Christ
shines on those to whom we sing praises.
Also, Paul tells us to be filled with the Holy Spirit
rather than to get drunk on wine or other types of spirits. Singing praises from God’s Word, especially
in declaration of the gospel, promises sober, orderly, and wise worship and it
makes the most of every opportunity for us to hold each other up before
Christ.
Praising God does not make us delirious to the realities
around us. It doesn’t encourage us to
become debauched in the things of the world.
And nor is its function to build up God for God’s own sake. God’s divinity does not depend on how much we
build him up. However, people’s
salvation is dependent on them hearing God’s Word in all its truth and purity.
Therefore, all of us must be careful not to stray from the
truth of God’s Word to sing praises that only serve to make us feel good. Who then is the praise for? When praises are reduced to a feel-good
mantra God is not glorified or taught, but rather the praise singer is
glorified as they teach others about what they swear they will do for God.
After all, the psalmist declares…
[God’s] pleasure is
not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man; the
Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing
love. (Ps 147:10-11)
Paul also says to the Colossians…
Do not lie to each
other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put
on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its
Creator. (Col 3:9-10)
Bear with each other
and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as
the Lord forgave you. (Col 3:13)
Let the peace of
Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to
peace. And be thankful. Let the word of
Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all
wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in
your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in
the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
(Col 3:15-17)
In the church today, the saddest sight amongst the
priesthood of believers is when people sing songs deemed as praise songs where
they promise to God what they are going to do and then fail to do it once they
return to the normality of life. Whipped
into a frenzy they hide their sin and swear oaths before God, but on Monday
having realised they cannot keep their oaths they’re crushed by their
unfaithfulness and unforgiven sin.
However, praising God is meant to shine God’s light of
mercy and forgiveness, to dismiss the darkness, rather than creating by-polar
Christians, who are high one day and depressed the next.
Rather the praises Paul and all others in Scripture
encourage us to sing builds up Jesus Christ in others, exposing
the necessity of grace over sin, increasing faith, and giving a real sense of
God’s peace.
True Christ-centred praise unifies all of us as one in
Christ enabling us to do God’s will on earth and forgive each other as the Lord
has forgiven us.
Praising God then is not only something we sing, say, or
pray on Sunday, but it becomes deed as we reflect and shine the mercy of
Almighty God on those we meet in the street.
Amen.
