Why Do We Praise Him?
Scripture Reading: Psalm 150
1 Praise the LORD!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty firmament!
2 Praise Him for His mighty acts;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!
3 Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet;
Praise Him with the lute and harp!
4 Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
5 Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD! Hallelujah! We see those phrases a lot in the Bible. Even
unbelievers know that phrase. In fact they have a hard time understanding why it’s
so important to praise the LORD. They know that they praise their boss so they can
get a raise. They may praise their wife to stay in her good graces. They think that
it's the same with God. In their minds we praise Him to stay in His good graces.
Unfortunately, a lot of Christians think the same thing.
Do we praise God so He will know how much we love Him? It says in Psalm 44:21
Would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart. God already
knows the heart so He doesn’t need our praise for that. So why do we praise Him?
I've heard unbeliever’s say that God must be very arrogant or insecure to need so
much praise. Is that it? Is that why He tells us in His word to praise Him and offer
sacrifice? It says in Psalm 50:10-12:
10 For every beast of the forest is Mine,
And the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know all the birds of the mountains,
And the wild beasts of the field are Mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
For the world is Mine, and all its fullness.
God doesn’t need anything from us because it is all His. Our tithe is His, our offering
is His, even our very lives are His. He doesn’t need our praise. There will be a day
where even those who reject Him will bow their knees and confess with their tongues.
So why? Why do we praise Him?
I believe that this Bible is the revelation of God. I believe He reveals truth to us, His
people, through His word. I believe the revelation He gives is solely for our sakes
and not His own. So everything in here (the bible) is for us. He tells us to praise Him
for our own sakes. Why would that be? Well, it says in Genesis 6:5, Then the LORD
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Jeremiah wrote it like this (Jeremiah
17:9) The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know
it?
So, you might say what does that have to do with praising God? Our thoughts being
evil and our hearts being deceitful. Well, it has to do with the same thing that makes
it difficult to pat our head and rub our stomach at the same time. You can do it but
you have to concentrate, to focus. In the same way, it’s very difficult to let’s say be
upset that we didn’t get our way, when we’re praising God. It would be hard to be
depressed that life isn’t turning out the way you expected, if you’re praising Him.
David said in Psalm 34:1 I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. As long as His praise is on our lips we can’t get swayed into
complaining and anger and depression. Praising Him saves us…from our own
minds, our emotions. I’m going to read from Matthew chapter 14. You know the
story. The disciples are in the boat and the storm is tossing the boat. Then they see
Jesus coming to them walking on the water. I’ll start with verse 28.
28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You
on the water.”
29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked
on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he
was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”
You see in this story that Peter was able to do the impossible, walk on water, as long
as he was focused on the Lord Jesus. As soon as his attention was drawn to his
surroundings and the circumstances he was in, he began to sink. As long as we are
able to focus on the LORD and not our circumstances, we too will be able to do the
impossible. It’s really a very simple thing. So simple it’s difficult to get our minds
around sometimes. This is why Paul wrote to the Romans (Romans 12:2) And do not
be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that
you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We can not
let the world dictate who we are or what we will accomplish for the LORD. It is so
important that we renew our minds. So how do we renew our minds? We’ve been
talking for some time about how we can live for the kingdom. Today is about how we
can think for the kingdom; kingdom thinking.
The first thing we have to do to be kingdom thinkers is to stop being led around by
our emotions. Why did you do that? Because I felt like it. That’s worldly thinking.
Why did you do that? Because the Spirit led me. That’s kingdom thinking. We can
not allow our feelings to be hurt, or to get offended by this or that, or to become
angry about something. That’s the easiest way to get out of the will of God. That’s
being led by our own will and God already revealed to us our thoughts are evil and
our hearts are deceitful. That’s why Paul said that he died daily (1 Corinthians 15:
31) and I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in
me (Galatians 2:20). It’s only when we are able to truly die to our self, all our
selfishness in the flesh; that we will truly be able to renew our minds to be led
completely by the Spirit. Now, filling ourselves will the Word is a given but controlling
our emotions is what trips most people up.
So, why do we praise the LORD? We praise Him so we can focus on our blessings
and not our lack. We praise Him to stay focused on Him and not our circumstances.
We praise Him not because He needs to hear it but because we need to hear it. We
praise Him to live for the kingdom and not for the world. Let everything that has
breath praise the LORD!. Praise the LORD!
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: February 19, 2006