Are you praising?

Are you praising?

 
If you looked down deep into your soul, and asked yourself how you feel about your life up to this point, and how you feel about the situation that you are in now, what would your answer be? What is the attitude of your inner-self? If you were to tell me what your attitude is towards God, who sovereignly ordained your life, what would I hear? Would it be sorrow? Would it be anger? Would it be joy?

A passage in the bible says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice.” Can you say that you are rejoicing right now in what God has planned for you?

The subject of our message today is the same as our song…Praise. Praise is an offering of gratitude towards God, boasting or admiring him. It is an act of worship. When we think of praise, we normally don’t think of being forced to give it, nor do we think of being upset or sad while we do it. We think more in the lines of a free giving of thanksgiving to God for who He is, really rejoicing in Him.

Yet, God tells us that we are to constantly offer up to God our praise. How can we do this with all the pain and trouble in our lives?

 
Praise Him! Praise Him! was one of over 8,000 song texts that Fanny Crosby wrote in her lifetime of 95 years. Fanny Crosby was blinded at the tender age of 1 and a half months old by an improperly done medical treatment. Though she was physically blind and could have complained, instead she used her talents to honor God for all that he is and has done. This is an attitude that seeks to praise God. This attitude of praise resounds throughout this song.

Well, Psalm 146 is very helpful for this. We will look at this Psalm in order to determine how we can come to praise God throughout this life.

Ps. 146

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. Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord!

Praising (boasting) in the Lord (146:1)

This Psalm starts with a command to “Praise the Lord!” and ends with the same command, “Praise the Lord!” The first command to praise the Lord causes the writer of the psalm to give his very soul, the heart of his being, the same command. The psalmist is stirring himself up to give praise to the Lord.

But what does this mean? It means that we must boast to ourselves and to others about who God is and what he has done not only for me, but also for others. This can be challenging, especially when things aren’t going to well for us. So when should we praise/boast in God, and for how long.

With every breath until we can’t breathe anymore (146:2)

The psalmist tells himself that he will praise/boast in the Lord until the day that he dies. He will make music or sing praise to God until the day that he breathes his very last breath.

Where people shouldn’t boast (146:3-4)

We shouldn’t put our confidence or boast in any people, because people will eventually die, no matter how rich or powerful they are. No matter how strong they are, or what they plan to do, eventually they will turn back to dust. Man cannot give help or save us, they just aren’t strong enough, and cannot win the fight against the final enemy, death. Only God can save, only God can help.

Where people should boast (146:5-9)

We should put our confidence or boast in God, and when we do, we will be rewarded with the happiness or blessedness that comes from it. But with all the trouble and difficulty in life, how can I say this?

Because God is our helper and our provider (146:5-7a)

We will have happiness, because God, the God of Jacob, is our help. Imagine you, a full grown person, were drowning in a swimming pool. How confident would you be if the person that was going to help you was a four-year-old? Not very, you would probably drown. But our God is the one who was with Jacob, who prospered, protected and provided for him throughout his life. Because he is our God, the covenant-keeping, faithful God, and our help, we can hope in him with complete confidence. We may not be able to trust a child to save us, but certainly the Maker of heaven, earth, the sea and everything in all of these.

This is someone what you can depend on, this is someone who you can have hope in, this is someone who will help you, this is a great reason to be happy.

But we will also have happiness, because God keeps faith forever. This means that he is trustworthy, that whatever he says he will do. If he promises you something, you don’t have to worry, he will keep his word. All his promises are sure and true.

But we will also have happiness, because God performs justice for those who are oppressed. God gives food to the hungry. God doesn’t turn a blind eye to all the sufferings that you have experienced in oppression. God doesn’t ignore all those who hurt you and seemed to have gotten away with it. No, God will eventually bring justice to all of the situations in the earth that need to be cleaned up. He will right all the wrongs.

But God will also provide for your needs. You don’t have to fear, if you are God’s child, he will take care of you. He gives food to the birds and the plants, he certainly will feed you.

So here is the first set of things that we can praise God for, or boast about him (God as helper and provider): he is our help; he is our hope; he is the Maker of everything; he keeps his promises; he brings about justice; he feeds the hungry.

Because God is our redeemer (146:7b-9)

Next we see the ultimate reason why we should have confidence and happiness in God. God is our redeemer.

Our covenant faithful God is one who gives freedom to those who are in bondage. He set the Israelites free from slavery in Egypt, and he sets us free from slavery to Satan. God redeems us from slavery.

But he also gives us sight, he opens the eyes of the blind, to those who cannot see. Not only does God bring healing to many who are sick and troubled, like Jesus did in his earthly ministry, but God removes our spiritual blindness and gives us eyes to see him. God redeems us from our blindness.

But he also exalts the humble, he lifts up those who are bowed down. God loves those who are righteous in his sight. He loves those who are in Jesus Christ, have been saved by him and have been given the righteousness of Christ.  Those who have been saved by God recognize that we are sinful and we live lives of humility. These lives of humility are pleasing to God. God lifts up the lowly.

But he also cares greatly for the marginalized. Quite often, wanders who have no home are mistreated and neglected. Those who are travelling and wandering are lost and have no one to take care of them, but God watches over them. The widow who has no one to take care of her, and the children without fathers are held up by God. God has a special eye on the marginalized.

But we can be confident that God will not allow the evil to go unpunished. God will bring the wicked people to their proper end. Whether that be in this life, or in eternal punishment, God will bring justice to those who oppress, to those who are evil.

All of this is fantastic, and we can boast in and praise God in all this, but we have even more to boast about when we can actually see these things accomplished in the Son of God. Listen to what Jesus said about himself and his ministry in Luke 4:18-19:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Don’t forget that Jesus Christ is the Word of God, and that he created the world and all that is in it. Don’t forget that Jesus Christ is the true promise of God who died so that everyone who believes, from Adam, to Noah, to Abraham, to David, to us could be saved. Jesus is the true faith-keeping of God.

But here is Luke 4, Jesus says that he proclaims liberty to the captives, the prisoners, he sets at liberty the oppressed, he brings recovery of sight to the blind, and he brings in favor. This is the one who gives food to the hungry, fed the 5,000, and is himself the bread of life.

You see, Jesus is the fulfillment of this Psalm. Jesus is the reason we can praise God, Jesus is the reason that we can boast in God. Jesus is our God, our friend, our brother, and our King.

We can praise and boast in God, even when our lives our troubled, because it is God who brings us blessing or happiness. Don’t simply look at the present, or isolated events in the past, look to the overall course of redemption, and what God has truly done for you in Christ, and Praise the Lord!

Because God will never stop being in control (146:10)

If these weren’t enough reasons to boast in God, we are given one more. That God will never stop being in control. God will always be King, from times past, to present, to forever, God will rule and reign over all. We can have confidence that our God is on the throne ruling, protecting, providing for, defending us, and conquering all his and our enemies. Jesus Christ rose from the dead and ascended to heaven, where he sits at the right hand of God, reigning until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

Therefore, let us boast in the Lord! Praise the Lord!

True freedom is not where we think

Are you really free?

Those who have been redeemed by Christ are the most free people in the world. Why are we free? Because we are free to live in holiness, loving God and others.

Being able to do, watch, and say whatever you want is not freedom, but bondage to sin and self. Being able to love and pour your life out for God and others is true freedom, for it is what we were designed to do.

Is a roller coaster more free on the track, or sitting on the ground off the track?

Christ requires us to die to self and live to him. Living this new life where sin is attacked and righteousness is pursued is the most freedom that we can experience in this life.

I know from personal experience that when I am fighting against the world, flesh and Devil who try to control me, and I am actively engaged in acts of holiness and righteousness, that I am the freest, and happiest. I have lived for sin and worldly freedom and I can tell you that it is misery compared to the freedom of living for righteousness and bounded love.

Romans 6:4-14:

"We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace."

God - My Liberator

Psalm 45:1-2

Beautiful words stir my heart.

    I will recite a lovely poem about the king,

    for my tongue is like the pen of a skillful poet.

You are the most handsome of all.

    Gracious words stream from your lips.

What does work, being overloaded and overwhelmed by three M.Div classes, a book on preaching, three or four comments on Twitter, an early Saturday morning prayer walk in nature, a loving Father, a merciful Savior, and a living Spirit have to do with each other? A recipe for liberation!


Work is the one place where you can see yourself as you truly are if you look closely. The way you interact with others, what frustrates you, what you are seeking, all come out in words and actions. If used reflectively, it can show you what idols you are holding onto.


Overloaded and overwhelmed with school, and the thought of assignments, papers, tests, etc. can be a deep look into your soul. If you look close enough you can see what you are seeking, striving for. It can also show you your idols.

A book on preaching, taken from Keller and Clowney's class, Preaching Christ in a Postmodern World, that addresses preaching Christ, upholding his beauty and the way to preach to expose the idolatry that is in our hearts, that keeps us from the freedom that Christ has for us, is a great tool to actual expose you for what you are deep down.

Three or four comments on Twitter. They hit you like a brick, making you see your own covetousness, and show you what really lies behind that dark heart. It exposes you for who you really are, an idolater in bondage to others.

A Saturday morning prayer walk allows you to have all distractions gone. No Facebook, no Twitter, no electronics, no music, just you and God. There in a quiet place by a bubbling brook an open mind, open ears, and an open heart are ready for conviction.

A loving Father, a merciful Savior, and a living Spirit, God the Great Three in One came to meet me this morning. God, My Liberator, laid bear my heart right in front of me. He exposed my heart for what it was...a tangled mess held captive by idolatry. A desire for glory, an inherent pride, and a deep longing for beauty all amiss. All focused upon one person, me. Held captive by what others think, and what I am or am not.

As the Lord laid bear my heart, He also let me see the handsomeness of Christ, and hear the gracious words that stream from his lips. The beauty of the cross of Christ gripped me so deeply that my chains fell off and I was free! The sight of Christ, the Great Liberator, coming in His splendor, arrayed with clothes of white, scars in His hands and feet, and a countenance so gracious and wonderful, yet at the same time bloodied by my sins and hurt by my desire for things other than Him captured me. It caught me in my foolishness and drove me to repent and rest in Him.

I heard Him reading from Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” and then say, “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”(Luke 4:18-19, 21)


Christ came this morning and brought Good News to this poor man. He released me from my captivity and bondage to myself and others. He opened my eyes, and let me see His beauty and wonder. He set free this man who was oppressed by the world, flesh and Devil. He truly gave me His favor.


Freedom from the bondage to sin as a Christian when you are first saved is wonderful and liberating. Freedom from yourself and others after years of being held captive by these two tyrants is exhilarating, because it takes you back to that place of wonder and freedom of when you "first saw the light."


You see, Christ did not die to liberate us only from the slavery of our big sins before we were converted. Christ came to give us liberation for now and eternity.


The hymn by Charles Wesley best captures my thoughts on this matter.

Charles Wesley wrote this hymn (repeated lines omitted):

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain—
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

’Tis mystery all: th’Immortal dies:
Who can explore His strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
To sound the depths of love divine.
’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore,
Let angel minds inquire no more.

He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace—
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

Still the small inward voice I hear,
That whispers all my sins forgiven;
Still the atoning blood is near,
That quenched the wrath of hostile Heaven.
I feel the life His wounds impart;
I feel the Savior in my heart.

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.