Sermon – Psalm 148 – Praise the Lord

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon – Psalm 148 – Praise the Lord

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

January 1, 2012

We are now celebrating Christmas. The long wait for a messiah is over. The anointed one was born in Bethlehem. The savior of the world is lying in a manger. And we are here to praise the Lord in worship. This is what we do every Sunday. We come to church praising God for his being with us in every way possible. So this is a glorious time to think a little about what it means to praise the Lord.

The Hebrew word for praise is Halelu. A shortened form of the name of God is jah. So the way to say “praise the Lord” in Hebrew is Hallelujah. Let's say it together, halelujah. Let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

Psalm 148:1-14 ^NIV Psalm 148:1 Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD from the heavens, praise him in the heights above. ² Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his heavenly hosts. ³ Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars. ⁴ Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. ⁵ Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded and they were created. ⁶ He set them in place for ever and ever; he gave a decree that will never pass away. ⁷ Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, ⁸ lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, ⁹ you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, ¹⁰ wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, ¹¹ kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, ¹² young men and maidens, old men and children. ¹³ Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his splendor is above the earth and the heavens. ¹⁴ He 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.

According to the psalmist all of creation is to praise the Lord. Everything in heaven and on earth is called to praise God. We already know how the angels praise God. We heard them just last week praise God in a proclamation, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2: 10-11)” And the angel praise God in song, ¹⁴ "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests. (Luke 2:14)"

But its not clear how the heavenly host, the mighty army of God, might praise the Lord. And how exactly do the sun, the moon and the stars praise the Lord? And how do the water droplets in the clouds praise the Lord? Remember that every in heaven praises the Lord, but how do they do it?

These question don't go away when we consider the fact the everything on earth praise the Lord too. How do chickens praise the Lord? Certainly some of you who work in chicken houses everyday know how chickens praise the Lord. So how do they do it? Or how about potatoes, how do potatoes praise the Lord? Or corn? Or books in your library? Or dairy cows? Or the blackboards in you classrooms? How do all these things on earth praise the Lord? I have never seen a group of chickens organize a praise band. Nor have I seen dairy cows come to church. I have never seen potatoes recite a psalm responsively. How exactly does all creation praise the Lord?

The answer to this question comes from the way God created the world. In the first chapter of Genesis we read, “And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. (Genesis 1:3) So God created the world by commanding it into being. All of heaven and earth were created by the decrees of God. Everything that was created was given both existence and function. God created each thing with a purpose. And therefore each thing praised God by fulling the purpose God created it for.

So the sun praises the Lord by rising in the east each day and giving the earth light a warmth before setting in west. The moon praises the Lord by reflecting the suns light and controlling the tides. The clouds praise the Lord by dropping rain on our fields. Chickens praise the Lord by being food on our dinner tables. Dairy cows praise the Lord in ice cream and cheese. And potatoes praise the Lord every time someone opens a bag of potato chips.

So praising the Lord involves doing what we were created to do, and we do this by following God's commands. That's why we study the Bible, to find out what we can do to praise the Lord. Coming to church and singing songs of praise is only a portion of what we were created to do. We search the Bible for God's commands and learn from them what God created us to do. And we do these things not to get God to like us, or let us in heaven. We do these things because we were created to praise the Lord.

But the world stopped praising the Lord. It was caught in a cycle of sin and praises no longer reached heaven. God noticed that the praises had stopped. So he sent his son into the world to teach us how to break free from the viscous cycles of sin and live our lives in a way that praises God. Jesus taught us that it is possible to obey God's commands, once we are delivered from sin, and our praises would be heard once again in heaven.

This Wednesday evening we will begin a journey of discovery. We will be looking for practical ways that we can live our lives in obedience to God's law and offer praise to God. Our teacher will be Jesus Christ who will gather us on a mountain and teach us how to live our lives in a way that praises the Lord. Please join us on Wednesdays at 7 at Pitts Creek church when we will take a special look at Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Since the protestant reformation we have been taught the Jesus' teaching are ideal and cannot be completely achieved in our lifetimes. But Dr. Glen Stassen, professor of ethics at Fuller Seminary disagrees, He thinks that Jesus' teachings are doable if we correctly understand what Jesus is saying. In his book Living the Sermon on the Mount, Dr. Stassen will show us how Jesus' teachings are really practical ways that we can live our lives as we were created to live them. So through this Bible study we will discover what we were created for and by doing what Christ says we will praise the Lord.

So how do we praise the Lord? How do we do what we were created to do? We praise the Lord whenever we love and care for one another. We praise the Lord when we live in peace with our neighbors. We praise the Lord when we act justly. So praise the Lord all the men and women of God. Praise the Lord this pulpit that those pews. Praise the Lord the cars that will take us home. Praise the Lord our houses, and farms and schools and families. Let all the earth and all of heaven praise the Lord.

O Lord we sing psalms of adoration and praise each time we gather in your name. Send your Spirit to kindle within us new life and make us glow with the light of Christ that shines on us this day. Be with us as we learn what we were created to do and help us to do what will praise you. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah! Amen.