Sermon Tone Analysis

Praise

PRAISE Honor, commendation, and worship.

To Whom Praise Is Offered The one Lord who is God over all is alone worthy of praise.

Frequently, the OT stresses that the praise due him is not to be offered to other gods or to idols of any kind (e.g., Is 42:8).

Praise will prove to be an indispensable factor within a proper framework of a philosophy of worship.

Certain catechisms declare that the purpose of men is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

There can be no worship without praise.

At its heart, worship is the recognition of the greatness of God in an expressed manner.

Like love, worship is valid only to the degree that it is expressed.

A. W. Tozer, in a little booklet entitled Worship: the Missing Jewel of the Evangelical Church, says, “Man was made to worship God.

God gave to man a harp and said, ‘Here above all the creatures I have made and created I have given you the largest harp.

I put more strings on your instrument and I have given you a wider range than I have given to any other creature.

You can worship me in a manner that no other creature can.’

And when he sinned man took that instrument and threw it down in the mud and there it has lain for centuries, rusty, broken, unstrung; and man, instead of playing a harp like the angels and seeking to worship God in all of his activities, is egocentered and turns in on himself and sulks, and swears, and laughs, and sings, but it’s all without joy and without worship.”

You and I were made for praise.

In praise we are fulfilled and satisified.

It is natural for the redeemed to praise the Lord.

Once we have begun to implement praise into our personal relationship with God we will be eager to make public expressions of praise in corporate worship.

Thus the chapter preceding is the first suggestion on public praise.

Meaningful public praise will be a natural sequence of personal praise.

A proper philosophy of public worship will prove indispensable in the practice of praise.

If there are any spectators in the public worship service they are the non-Christians.

They are not required to sing since they have no song.

“Let those refuse to sing who never knew our God” is the correct instruction from the old song.

God is our audience and everything is “te Deum” (to God).

The preacher, soloists, and choir are not performing.

Thus the congregation is forever delivered from the proneness to judge, grade, or criticize.

We often hear people say, “Well, I just didn’t get much out of the worship service today.”

Who told them that this was to be gauge of a great worship service?

They should know that they are there to bless the Lord, not just to be blessed by the Lord.

We will discover to our glad surprise that when we have blessed the Lord we ourselves will be doubly blessed.

Everything should fit into the glad symphony of praise.

The atmosphere which prompts praise begins with the first note of the instrument as people gather for praise.

It will be difficult to excite people about the greatness of God if they have been greeted by a doleful dredge of draggy music as they have entered the worship place.

The musicians are not there to play the organ, piano, and other instruments, but to minister to the Lord.

The brass, the strings, and the cymbals are so much noise if they do not implement worship.

The whole music team is there, not to perform but to lead in meaningful worship.

In our own fellowship our music leader is referred to as the minister of praise.

The fact is that all the leaders are ministers of praise, leading ministers of praise in praise!

I love you, Lord

And I lift my voice

To worship You

Oh, my soul, rejoice!

Take joy my King

In what You hear

Let it be a sweet, sweet sound

In Your ear

I believe that one of the most effective means of praising the Lord in public or private is through use of the Scriptures.

THE PRAYER TIME AS A PERIOD OF PRAISE

The opening prayer is extremely important and can set the pace for praise.

If someone other than the pastor leads in this prayer he should be urged to make his prayer primarily one of praise.

Even in the offertory prayer, praise is in order, as I shall suggest later.

If there is a special time for prayer in which people are called to the altar or Lord’s Supper table (and I strongly recommend such a practice), as the pastor brings the needs represented to the Lord, he may accompany it with praise that God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that he may ask or think!

The parting prayer or song may profitably suggest that those who have worshiped corporately may continue through the hours ahead to worship and praise the Lord in private.

THE OFFERTORY AS A TIME OF PRAISE

What a remarkable opportunity for worship is provided as the offering is taken!

And most of the time we miss it.

This time should never be taken for granted.

The pastor with glad anticipation might say, “And now, with thanksgiving that the Lord has included us in his great kingdom enterprises, we come to give our offerings to the Lord.

Let everyone participate in these moments of worship through giving!

Would you hold your offering up and repeat after me, ‘Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours.

Yours, O lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head above all.

Wealth and honor come from you; you are ruler over all things.

In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.

Now, our God, we give you thanks and praise your glorious name.

But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to give as generously as this.

Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.’

” Thoughts for use in an offertory prayer should center around the mercies of God who has counted us in on his plan of economy, his provision of wisdom and energy by which our gifts have been earned; and his ability to carry that which we give him to the ends of the world in reaching people.

Many wonderful Scriptures are appropriate in the time of offering.

Some of these are: 2 Corinthians 9:6–8; Revelation 5:12–13, 7:12.

THE PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE

In the meanwhile, we can do more than commemorate and anticipate.

We can celebrate because this psalm has a personal and present implication.

Until he comes in visible glory he is with us in invisible glory.

He is prepared to distill the glory of his presence anywhere he is accorded a proper atmosphere.

That atmosphere is none other than praise.

At this precise point is the pinnacle of praise, when our praises have been thus pleasing to him and he comes in manifest presence.

In this choice environment of biblical praise he comes exactly when conditions are right.

It can happen in your personal praises and mine, as well as in the services of corporate worship—and that will be the peak, the highest point in the whole range of praise.

And into that rarified atmosphere of praise he comes in glory to consume the worshiper in joy, baptize the body in love, and anoint the body of Christ with power.

I want to break that passage down into four parts so you and I can put it into practice right where we are.

First, There Is the Invitation to Proceed.

“Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors.”

We are the gates and the doors that open and lift for the coming of the King.

Actions are demanded, detailed, and repeated.

Our praises are the opening of the doors and the lifting of the gates.

That is our primary part.

What a sobering thought to know that we can encourage and implement his coming and to manifest his presence or we can be the closed doors and unlifted gates who keep him out.

It all centers around our praises!

Second, There Is the Incoming Promised.

The underlying truth throughout all this episode was that God actually wanted in!

He is waiting to come in and wanting to reveal himself to his people.

“And the King of Glory will come in!”

That promise is good today, whether in the quiet of our personal prayer room or in the corporate worship service with other saints of God.

He is waiting, poised in all his glorious power to enter into our circumstances.

His incoming will guarantee transition.

There will be change on every hand.

The King will be in residence and will show forth the implications of his reign.

Third, There Is the Identity Pursued.

“Who is this King of Glory?”