SERMON "LET US ALWAYS PRAISE THE LORD IN PSALMS"

Shalom,

Normal parents will undeniably care for their children and try their best to meet their needs. The problem is, are parents also concerned with their children’s spiritual growth so that they can face their tomorrow with its trials and temptations as King David wrote his experience in the book of Psalms?

The book of Psalms is actuallly a collection of poems mostly written by David to express praise, worship and acknowledgment to God. That’s why, instead of reading, the Jews sang the psalms in this book.

How did David confess his spiritual growth? Psalm 22: 10-12 say, “Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb; You made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts. Upon You I was cast from birth; You have been my God from my mother’s womb.”

Undoubtedly, human birth is not something ordinary like the animal’s. It is God’s sovereign will regardless of the cause (marriage, out-of-marriage pregnancy due to pre-marital sex, rape, and so on).

King David recalled his faith in the Lord since he was in her mother’s womb. That is to say his parents were so faithful to the Lord that the fruit of their marriage was blessed. From the mouth of their baby came praise and honor to the Creator.

It is far different from the godless whom King David observed and said, “....The wicked are estranged from the womb, these who speak lies go astray from birth.” (Psalms 58: 1-6)

The hard fact is that parents play a key role in their children’s spiritual growth. Parents should first be taught by the Word of God to have faith, trust and count on Him. And then children will imitate their parents’ spiritual life.

The greatest stumbling block for children to know the Lord is their quarreling parents who tell lies everytime. Discipline your children, not with violence or emotions, but with God’s Word instead. Love your children without spoiling them.

Past religious figures like Martin Luther said that by reading Psalms we could reveal someone’s heart. His speech showed whether he was near or far from the Lord. Remember, the mouth speaks from what fills the heart  (Matthew 12:34). Calvin also said that  Psalms was like a mirror that reflected our true self, and so on.

King David had long died but the echos of his Psalms were still heard. In fact, King Hezekiah did what was right before the Lord as David, his ancestor, did. He offered the burnt offering on the altar accompanied by the song of the Levites playing the instruments of David and the priests blowing their trumpets. This was conducted according to the command of the Lord through His prophets (2 Chronicles 29: 25-30).

Application: songs and music in our service should not be only liturgical to please man. On the contrary, they should please the Lord. Since they are in accordance with His command and will. Note well, there is music that provokes God’s anger. Therefore, let us not easily get attracted to any top hits without paying attention to the lyrics even if they are written by religious song writers.

In fact, it just so happens that a song writer only takes certain verses in the Bible to emotionally excite the listeners. He does not pore over the verses before and after. Hence the song written is no longer related to salvation but material blessings only. 

Watch out for the songs we sing. Even if a song is based on some verses in the Bible, find out who the song writer is, why he wrote it and who he composed it for. Thay way, we will become good and well-balanced Christians.

What did King Hezekiah do to provide the music during the burnt offering ceremony? He placed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals,harps and lyres, as commanded by David, Gad the King’s seer, and Nathan the prophet for the command was from the Lord (2 Chronicles 29: 25).

Implication: musicians and their leaders should concecrate themselves to please the Lord. They should not focus on their performance only. Instead, they are to practice seriously and keep order as well as disciplines to show their obedience to His command.

Take note, the 150-chapter book of Psalms comprises five parts as follows:

Psalms 1 – 41: 14,

“Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, He always was, and He always will be. Amen and Amen.” It starts with,” How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!” (Psalms 1: 1)

This means that if we do not follow the path of the wicked, we will give praise to the Lord.

Psalms 42-72: 19, “ Praise His glorious name forever! Let His glory fill the whole world. Amen and Amen!” Though the psalmist was spiritually depressed and opressed, all his psalms ended up with praise to the Lord.

Under any cirumstances - fear, tremble, sadness, etc - do not cease praising the Lord for all things happen according to His will. He knows what is best for us. As a matter of fact, we are the one who turn good into bad. Just like Adam and Eve when they ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3: 4-5).

Psalms 73-89: 53, “Praise the Lord forever! Amen and Amen!”

The psalmist’s struggles and hope ended up with praise to the Lord forever and ever.

Psalms 90- 106: 48,

“Praise the Lord, the God of Israel! He always was and will always be worthy of praise.
Let all the people say, “Amen!”Praise the Lord!”

God is as an eternal refuge and all His people say, “Amen” to this fact.

The Bible does not tell us the exact time when David learnt music and who his teacher was. But it does say that David played music to calm Saul down who was terrorized by an evil spirit (1 Samuel 16: 14-18, 23).    

It was not because of his musical talent that David was selected to play music before Saul but rather because of God’s annointing upon Him. Likewise, Samson was great and strong since the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him. He defeated many enemies (Judges 14: 6, 19; 15: 14-16). But as soon as the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him, he suffered a total loss and humiliation by his enemies (Judges 16: 19-21).

Application:

so do not be proud of your great skills. Without the Lord’s annointing and the Holy Spirit upon us, all our knowledge, appearance and strength mean nothing to Him. Skills together with discipline, practice and His annointing is beyond doubt pleasing to the Lord. For example, Moses had been educated for 40 years in Egypt and had been a shepherd for another 40 years in Midian before the Lord used him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

Psalms 107-150: 6, “ Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!”

This is a song of thanksgiving from the redeemed so that everything that has breath praises the Lord.

All creatures that have breath should praise the Lord like the trees in the field that clap their hands for God’s greatness (Isaiah 55:12), and the diligent ant that likes partnership (Proverbs 6:6) also praises the Lord. Using a parable of the ant, King Salomon exhorts us to work diligently and think of others.

Application:

as heavenly citizens, we should not rejoice on our own but invite our family and friends to join us praising the Lord together.

Now the question is, are we able to praise the Lord and have peace in our heart if we have a serious disease,  or our debts pile up while we are down and out? / ... in times of severe sickness or finacial crisis while ... (?)

The Lord, without a doubt, wants us to praise Him from sunrise to sunset no matter what we are facing - joyf or grief, good or poor health, you name it. Trust Him and sing praises to His greatness with full enthusiasm. Have faith! Whatever happens, it is all in His sovereign will for our own sake. Amen. 

LET US ALWAYS PRAISE THE LORD IN PSALMS!

Rev. Paulus Budiono

Lemah Putro, Sunday, April 30, 2017

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