Praise in Church
Bob Yandian
Praise in Church
“Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty firmament! Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to His excellent greatness! Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; praise Him with the lute and harp! Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes! Praise Him with loud cymbals; praise Him with clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!” (Psalms 150:1-6)
Why Do We Have Worship to Begin a Church Service?
I was asked to be a guest on a minister’s television show and was asked the question as a pastor, “why is worship necessary? I don’t like worship and prefer to go right into the teaching of the word?” I responded and said, “What good is plowing the ground before you plant the seed?” No wonder David told us to “enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise” (Psalm 100:4).
In Psalm 150, the last Psalm, praise is the subject and closing thought God gives. The psalms are filled with answered prayers as well as times when it seems God is silent. They are filled with times of blessings and times of trials, deliverance, and afflictions. Perhaps praise to God is the best answer to daily living. You can praise God for at least one thing. No matter how bad life gets- God will still win. I have read the end of Revelation and we will reign with God and all the redeemed forever.
Where Do We Praise God?
In the church building and outside of it. Under the firmament of His power, the stars, and planets (vs.1). God is simply saying His church building is not the only place He dwells. He lives in the building we assemble in together and in the places in this world where we are by ourselves.
What do we praise God for? We praise Him for His mighty works, and for His greatness - Who He is (vs.2). One thing you can be sure of, you can be glad you are not God. You cannot deliver yourself out of any situation, but you serve the One Who always has and will continue to do so.
How Do We Praise?
We praise Him with any instrument created (vss. 3-5). Throughout time, people have complained when a new musical instrument was brought into the church service. It is reported, when the pipe organ was introduced into the worship service centuries ago, the congregation complained the world was finding its way into the church. This type of organ was used in musicals, operas, and concerts of the world. When I was growing up, electric guitars were questionable because we were using rock and roll and country music sounds in God’s hymns and choruses. The major one I remember was the introduction of drums, the rhythms of demons, being brought into church.
God gave man creativity, not to be used by the world, but by believers. Whether it is musical or rhythm instruments, televisions, or computers, it can be used for worship to God. Or it can be used as a new means of spreading the gospel to places we cannot personally go. David spoke of the instruments of worship in his day - wind, stringed, and percussion. All could be used to bring God’s anointing into a service and bring the people into God’s presence.
What Does God Appreciate the Most?
The greatest thing we can use to praise God with is our body and our breath (vs. 6). All musical instruments are created by people using the creative ability given by God. But when all instruments are missing, our body and voice alone is all God desires.
This verse first mentions the dance, then our voice and breath. The man who instructed the Bible School I attended was the pastor in London of Smith Wigglesworth. He traveled with Smith quite often. He told of one time when he and Smith stayed in a home. He took the downstairs bedroom and Smith took the room above him on the second floor. He was awakened one morning to the sound of the chandelier shaking and the floor creaking. He went upstairs to see what was going on in Smith’s room and saw him dancing a ballet to the Lord across the bedroom floor. Smith told him later he took communion every morning, danced and sang to the Lord.
Our voices and breath were created by Him. We use them to give praise back to the One Who created us and gave us His own Holy Spirit. You may not think you sound good singing loud to God in the car or in the shower, but God thinks you sound great. No instruments are needed. Your voice is an instrument created by God to return praise to Him for all His goodness to us
Praise Unites Believers With All Creation
“Let heaven and earth praise Him. The seas and everything that moves in them” (Psalms 69:34).
“The heavens will praise Your wonders, O Lord; your faithfulness also in the assembly of the saints” (Psalm 89:5).
Romans 8:22, 23 tells us we, as God’s people, and creation are both under the curse placed on us by Adam’s transgression. Our praise, as well as the song of birds and other animals, unite in anticipation of the coming of the Lord to redeem the world from Adam’s curse. The voice of nature will one day join the voice of the believers coming from heaven and we will praise God together for His return (Romans 8:21). On that day the trees and oceans will clap their hands at the coming of the King (Psalms 98:8, Isaiah 55:12). Jesus said the rocks will cry out if we fail to praise the Lord. Why wait until that day? Let’s praise God with our dance and the breath of our mouth.
Why Praise the Lord?
Praise is beneficial to our lives - emotionally, physically, and spiritually. “Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous! For praise from the upright is beautiful” (Psalm 33:1).
Praise increases and builds up our faith. Praise is the voice of faith before the answer is seen. It settles our hearts before we pray, study the word, or go to work for the Lord. It is pleasing to God for us to willfully praise. Maybe you need to send the praises out first, ahead of the army of confessed scripture, instead of it only bringing up the rear.
What About Praise in Church?
“I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly, I will praise You” (Psalms 22:22).
“I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I will praise You among many people.” (Psalms 35:18).
Only God’s children can praise Him. And what place could be better than in our house? “The dead (unbelievers) do not praise the Lord” (Psalm 115:17).
We come to church with the problems of life, work, home, finances, and health. In church, praise unites and turns our hearts in one direction toward the Lord. One thousand people attending could have one thousand unique problems. But the first song of praise can turn them all toward one answer, the power of the Holy Spirit. Praise plows the ground to receive the seed of the word. Music opens our hearts to receive God’s answer that is about to come through the word preached and the prophetic word given.
Keys
Music is in keys (a, a flat, b, b flat, c, etc.). Why are they called keys? Do they unlock something? I was once told by a song writer, certain keys bring a presence of peace, joy, and forgiveness. Just the opening of a song on a keyboard, before the singing begins, ushers in a unique sensation, an anointing, of the Holy Spirit.
We Can Learn Doctrine and Teaching Through Singing Praise
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” (Colossians 3:16).
Songs have been written for years, sung by congregations, that have taught us of the wonders of redemption, the work of Jesus in our daily life and the power of the Holy Spirit to heal, guide and bring comfort. I really believe it is easier to remember a song than recall a sermon. Often when hearing the first verse of a hymn, you can recall all three verses and the message they delivered. As was seen in our opening verse of Psalm 150, church praise teaches us to praise in life. Songs sung in church do not need to stay in church. They belong in our everyday life, out where the problems exist. Praise should precede a sanctified life. “Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; and to him who orders his ways right I will show the salvation of God” (Psalm 50:23).
How Do I Begin to Praise the Lord?
Praise is a choice. When presented with an opportunity to gripe, complain, or praise, choose praise. The choice to praise brings you into the presence of God. Your enemies, your problems have to flee. Praise helps you to get your eyes off the problems and focus on God’s soon coming deliverance.
“Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise” (Psalms 100:4).
“You have turned for my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, to the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever” (Psalms 30:11, 12).
“Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls—Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation” (Habakkuk 3:17, 18).
