The Substance of Praise

Scripture Passage: Psalm 135

When we enter into a church worship service, we are prompted to join with others in praising the LORD. What is this praise and what does it mean or do?

Is praise only appropriate when you are in church and in a worship service?

Let's explore this topic as we look at Psalm 135 - a work that starts and ends with praise.

1. What is Praise?

1 Praise the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord; praise him, you servants of the Lord, 2 you who minister in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God. (Psalm 135:1-2, NIV)

Praise the LORD - this appears to be the title for this psalm. It certainly introduces the topic.
The word translated "praise" means "to make shine"
When you work on cleaning up your car, one of the things you do last is to put wax on it and buff it out.

There was a movie called The Karate Kid where this Japanese man agreed to train a young man in karate. The young man was new to the area and was constantly being threatened by school bullies. The young man was forced to paint his fence and then wax his cars. "Wax on (left hand), Wax off (right hand)" he would tell him. He had to work at it until the cars literally shined. He became quite frustrated with all this work (and quite sore). After all, he thought he was going to learn karate techniques. What he did not realize is that this work was an integral part of his karate training. As he worked to make the cars shine, his arms and shoulders became stronger. And the movements he learned in "Wax on, wax off" were used in specific karate techniques.

Similarly we are commanded to "praise the LORD" - to make Him shine.

Q: How do we make the LORD shine - after all He is invisible?

We put words into motion by speaking of His greatness - when we are alone and when we are with others.
We particularly need to praise the LORD before others.
This becomes our own "training" in life as we learn to reflect God's glory day after day - in good times and in bad.
As John the Baptist declared of the LORD Jesus: "He must become greater; I must become less" (John 3:30, NIV).
When we learn to praise the LORD, we learn to give Him the proper place in our own minds. Instead of constantly puffing up ourselves, making our own agenda the most important thing to us - the LORD becomes number one.
We praise the LORD Himself as well as "the name of the LORD" (Psalm 135:1, NIV). His "name" is His reputation - something that is hard to earn but very easy to lose. The LORD is never in danger of losing His reputation.

3 Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant. (Psalm 135:3, NIV)

The LORD is good in the very core of His being. Everything He is and does is good. He is good to us and good for us.
There are many churches where the phrase "God is good - all the time!" is randomly expressed in worship services. I went to one church where periodically someone would hear something about God that gave them joy and that person would shout loudly, "God is good!" Instantly a chorus of others in the congregation would shout in return, "All the time!" Even when the preacher was in the middle of his sermon, he would be interrupted by these shouts. He would just say with a chuckle, "You guys!" and then continue with His sermon.

Q: Is it OK to interrupt a worship service with a genuine expression of praise to the LORD?

I cannot think of a better time.

4 For the Lord has chosen Jacob to be his own, Israel to be his treasured possession. (Psalm 135:4, NIV)

Israel used the Psalms as their hymn book - or perhaps today we should say, their flat screen projection of the word to the praise songs.
The descendents of Abraham, the Jewish people, hold a unique place in the LORD's family.

For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. (Deuteronomy 7:6, NIV)

If you are not Jewish, you do not need to feel "left out."

9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10, NIV)

It is "pleasant" (v3) to praise the LORD because we belong to Him - He has adopted us in Christ to be a part of His family (Eph. 1:5; Rom. 8:15-17).

Q: Have you ever been in a situation where a family member was being criticized or put down in any way? How did you respond?

Q: What if the family member was one of your parents - how did you react to it?

When it come to family - we may complain internally about our quirks and irritating habits, but we do not allow other people to criticize them. We take up for them because they are family.
When it comes to God's family, we should be quick to praise Him and quicker to defend His name. The LORD is good - all the time.

Praise is how we make the LORD shine in this world. We make His light visible to people around us so they too can praise Him. Praise is contagious when we are sincere in it.

2. Why Do We Praise the LORD?

5 I know that the Lord is great, that our Lord is greater than all gods. 6 The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths. 7 He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses. (Psalm 135:5-7, NIV)

We praise the LORD for who He is and what He does.

Q: Who has praise today for a football team?

On Saturday many colleges battle it out on the football field. One emerges as the victor.
We praise our favorite college team for their accomplishments on the football field.

Q: Why do we like to praise people when they win a football game?

C. S. Lewis once said:

I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. ¹

In other words, we praise because it completes the enjoyment we feel inside. The joy just has to get out and be expressed to be complete.
Think of the joy Israel felt when they were delivered from slavery in Egypt:

8 He struck down the firstborn of Egypt, the firstborn of men and animals. 9 He sent his signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants. (Psalm 135:8-9, NIV)

The mightiest nation on Earth at this time was Egypt. The Hebrew people (they were not yet called Israel at that time) had nothing - they were slaves.
They were at the complete mercy of their Egyptian masters. Their days were marked by long hot hours working in the desert making bricks and serving the Pharaoh.
"What are we doing today?" - making bricks. "What about tomorrow?" - making bricks.
It was like the movie "Groundhog Day" where the man was stuck in an endless loop, repeating the same day over and over and over again.
But one day, God sent Moses to Pharaoh with a message: Let My people go! At that point, everything changed.
For a while, things got worse - the Egyptian masters made it even harder on them.
Then God intervened with ten devastating plagues that forced Pharaoh to release the people. Remember the plagues affected the Egyptians but steered clear of where the Hebrew people stayed.
The Hebrew people were delivered from Egypt by God's own hand and the Egyptians gave them great wealth to take with them.
Praise the LORD!
Over and over in the Psalms, the story of this great deliverance is remembered.
Praising God for the great things He has done not only expresses our joy, but completes the enjoyment for us.

The psalmist remembers another time after the great deliverance from Egypt:

10 He struck down many nations and killed mighty kings — 11 Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan and all the kings of Canaan — 12 and he gave their land as an inheritance, an inheritance to his people Israel. (Psalm 135:10-12, NIV)

The Israelites were wandering through the desert on their way to the Promised Land. They had been condemned to 40 years of wandering because of their rebellion against God and longing to go back to Egypt.
During this time they were trying to make it through the land of the Amorites. King Sihon refused to let them pass and brought out his army against them.
God sent Israel - a group of slaves with no military training - up against a standing, trained army of Amorites.
God gave Israel an incredible, decisive victory - Praise the LORD!
Then Og,King of Bashan stood against Israel - in effect, standing against Almighty God.
Again, God sent Israel - a ragtag bunch of unlikely heroes - against a standing, trained army.
God gave Israel another incredible, decisive victory - Praise the LORD!

I know that the Lord is great, that our Lord is greater than all gods. (Psalm 135:5, NIV)

Q: What do you look back on in your life that reveals the greatness of God?

Q: Do you count all the sunrises and sunsets, the wind, the rain, the friends along the way, food on the table -- a million simple but needful things that God made sure He provided for you?

That is why we praise the LORD!

3. Should We Praise Man-Made Things?

His nickname was "The Greatest" - who was he?

He was born in 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky.

He won six state golden glove boxing championships, two national titles, and a gold medal in the 1960 light heavyweight Olympic boxing.

After this, he went professional and in four years, fought and won the title fight against Sonny Liston for heavyweight champion of the world.

He taunted his opponents that he would "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" - "Your hands can't hit what your eyes can't see"

He refused to be drafted for the Vietnam War as a conscientious objector. As a result he was stripped of his boxing title.

Through a Supreme Court decision, he was allowed to box again and regained the heavyweight title against George Foreman. He used a strategy called "Rope-a-dope."

There have been many greater boxers through the years. One could argue that Muhammad Ali was "The Greatest" boxer of all. However you can be sure that someone will overshadow Ali. Even the greatest sports records will be broken eventually.

Q: Is it wrong to idolize people who are great in sports or famous in Hollywood?

Genuine talent and accomplishment should be praised.
The worker deserves his wages. (1 Timothy 5:18, NIV) Sometimes recognition is the only "wage" you receive.
But earthly success or popularity is fleeting at best.
It's one thing to really like a popular figure.
It's another to be more enamored with them than you are with the LORD Jesus.

There is One who is absolutely the greatest:

13 Your name, O Lord, endures forever, your renown, O Lord, through all generations. 14 For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants. 15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. 16 They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; 17 they have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. 18 Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them. (Psalm 135:13-18, NIV)

Things we idolize will pass away but God remains forever.

Q: How will you pass on the knowledge of the greatness of God to the next generation?

While God endures through all generations and His name (reputation) endures as well, any given nation is only one generation away from becoming a godless nation.

It is crucial that we actively teach our children about the magnificent God we serve.

4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9, NIV)

Conclusion

If you want to know what real praise is like, you will have to take a look at Heaven. Heavenly praise sounds like this:

1 After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting:
"Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
2 for true and just are his judgments.
He has condemned the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth by her adulteries.
He has avenged on her the blood of his servants."

3 And again they shouted:
"Hallelujah!
The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever."
4 The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried:
"Amen, Hallelujah!"

5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying:
"Praise our God,
all you his servants,
you who fear him,
both small and great!"

6 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:
"Hallelujah!
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
8 Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear." (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)
(Revelation 19:1-8, NIV)

Relax and enjoy your relationship with the LORD Jesus. This will free you to praise God as He and He alone deserves.

A conference at a Presbyterian church in Omaha. People were given helium-filled balloons and told to release them at some point in the service when they felt like expressing the joy in their hearts. Since they were Presbyterians, they weren't free to say 'Hallelujah, Praise the Lord." All through the service balloons ascended, but when it was over one-third of the balloons were unreleased. Let your balloon go.²

End Notes

1. Lewis, C. S. Retrieved 9/26/2009 from http://www.crosswalk.com/pastors/illustrations/

2. Bruce Larson. Luke. p. 43. Retrieved 9/26/2009 from http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/p/praise.htm