Sermonette: Praise the LORD!
#FT26-07s
Hunter D. Swanson
Given 02-Oct-26; 15 minutes
description: Psalm 150 establishes a comprehensive framework for acceptable worship, defining the act as shining forth God's limitless greatness through unrestricted instrumentation and universal participation by all who have breath. This theological foundation is vividly illustrated in II Samuel 6, where David's uninhibited dancing exemplifies praise taken to its fullest expression, contrasting sharply with Michal's prideful criticism that highlights how personal judgment can distort our view of others' worship. Ultimately, believers are called to avoid quenching the Spirit through rigid preferences or discomfort, ensuring their discernment stems from God's word rather than human tradition or ego.
transcript:
As many of you know, I have a bit of a passion for music. While it certainly feels like skill can never quite catch up to that passion, it does not stop me from my love for it. Also, I think bonus points for bringing up music while being in Nashville, the Music City. And of course, the great thing about music is that it can express our innermost emotions even when words fail. We have heard so much about all the many, many, many wonderful things that we have, you know, that we have to be thankful for that come directly from God. There is been a clear inspiration throughout this feast on of relying on Him and seeing his presence and the never-ending work in our lives. Now, of course, would love to add to that, I want to address the things that God does for us from a bit of a different angle. And that is what not only we have the ability to do, but are commanded to do in return as James pointed out yesterday. And that is praise God, mainly through music. I say this because I think we can and often do hold ourselves and sometimes others back and our due to our pride and preconceptions of what is acceptable, ultimately risking quenching the spirit. And like James mentioned yesterday, most of our praise is in our prayers or singing hymns, but we cannot forget the strong emotional expression in music and that it can be one of the best ways to praise God. Now due to the nature of creativity in any form, including music, I cannot give you too much of a hard line in the sand today, but I do believe there is a valid lesson for us in adding these preconceptions to the list of our self evaluations. So with that, if you would please turn to Psalm 150. We will read it all the way through. And then we will spend some time breaking it down as we establish a description of acceptable musical praise, and I believe this final psalm is quite fitting for this. Psalm 150, we will read the whole thing. Verse 1, 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. Uh, Psalm 150 gives us a bit of five W's of sorts as a guideline for praise and no James, I brethren, I did not steal James's homework. Uh, I actually have this, this line written down like a month ago or something before this message. So clearly, God wanted it to be mentioned. We get the what to do, the where to do it, the why we should do it, the how we should do it, and the who should do it. Starting off in verse one, we get the what, what are we to do? Praise God, plain and simple. We must remember our responsibility to praise our great God. And the word for praise in Hebrew, Psalms 1984, halal, meaning to shine. We are, of course, to shine God's light as that city on a hill. Verse one also gives us an appropriate where, and that is in his sanctuary. Our mind may go to an Old Testament temple, but do not forget that we ask for God's presence during services. And of course we are at the feast where God commands us to meet at a place where He places His name and are our own bodies, not temples, a dwelling place for God's spirit. I'm not saying we do not praise God in church. We sing hymns, we have special music, but verses 3 through 5 are especially important and interesting as we consider the location. But before that, 1st 2, the why. Which reads, praise him for his mighty acts, praise him according to his excellent greatness. We have an exhaustive list of mighty acts and excellent greatness from God just in the messages we have heard from this feast, and of course there is a limitless supply of God's involvement throughout our lives, through the good and especially through the bad. His greatness is indeed beyond excellent. So of course, why would we not express our emotions in praise to him? And what do we do it with? Verses 3 through 5 tells us that, well, basically any instrument that exists, including our bodies. As they are listed, the trumpet, the loop, the harp, the timbrel, stringed instruments, flutes, and not just loud cymbals, but clashing cymbals. This list covers just about every category of instrument that would have been used at the time, and compared to what we have available today, it still does not restrict what to use. I was joking about it with Jared, and we agreed, if King David were alive today, he'd probably get out his electric guitar and his tube amp, crank that puppy up, and rip the sickest solo you've ever heard in praise to God. But before we move on to verse six, I want to make a quick mention of a memory of mine that actually inspired this message. There was a church gathering many moons ago, where I got to hear special music in a form that, at least at the time, I had not considered or was prepared for. There were a few people who performed and I do not remember the entire thing, but I do remember that one of those people brought out and played some drums, some floor drums. This added percussion to the mix and added a beat that allowed the song to resemble a more traditional structure we might hear outside of church, along with a slightly more eastern or African feeling to the sound. And unfortunately, while the music was fantastic, they got a lot of flak for going against the grain, and a lot of people talked very poorly about them behind their backs. What a shame. There was absolutely nothing wrong with what they did, but people were uncomfortable because it was not what they were traditionally used to, even though all they were trying to do was praise God the best they could with an offering of song with what he gave them. Just think of Carl's awesome tuba solo yesterday. How many of you have heard of tuba solo before, let alone for special music? I think everyone loved it, and if you did not, I ask you to reconsider your position. But imagine if he had brought some drums out. No accusations, just I think it's something worth considering. Verse 6 now though, back in Psalm 150, we get the who. The who is to praise God, and that is everything that has breath. And of course with that, I clearly do not need to add to that at all. Everything's pretty exhaustive. Now, to be fair and responsible, we must be cautious. That we operate within the lines of the narrow path to God's kingdom. But while we must exercise discernment, we can absolutely veer off and allow our carnal nature to taint our judgment as soon as we become uncomfortable. To show an extreme example and warning of how this can happen, let's move out of Psalms to arguably The most interesting and fun display of praise to God that can be found II Samuel chapter 6. If you would turn there, please. Just some brief context before we read verse one. David has been anointed king of Israel and was led into victory over the Philistines by God taking Jerusalem. So we will read verses 1 through 5 as we show David praising God. II Samuel chapter 6, verse 1. Again, David gathered all the choice men of Israel, 30,000. And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Bel Judah to bring up from there the Ark of God, whose name is called by the name the Lord of hosts, who dwells between the caravan. So they set the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of AbiNadab, which was on the hill. In Uzza and Ohio, the sons of AbiNadab drove the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of AbiNadab, which was on the hill, accompanying the Ark of God, and Ohio went before the ark. Then David and all the house of Israel played music before the Lord on all kinds of instruments of fir wood, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on cistrums, and on cymbals. Now while we were given some guidelines to praising God in Psalm 150, here in Samuel 2 Samuel, we get a bit of a practical application of praising God to the extreme, and we ought to pay attention to the fact that it was not just David, but all of Israel with him. The parallel account in I Chronicles 13:8 reads, then David and all Israel played music before God with all their might, with singing on harps, on stringed instruments, on cymbals, and with trumpets. These words paint a picture that I do not think requires too much of an imagination. Anyone who has heard a symphony or even just a drum kit at a concert knows just how loud hitting drums and cymbals can be. Imagine 3 of Carl playing tuba along with other brass instruments. Now imagine thousands of people using various instruments and many shouting. Talk about a loud and bombastic show of emotion and love and praise directly to our Father in heaven. Now back to 2 Samuel. We'll skip down to verse 12, but for context, remember that as that goes against God's explicit commands in handling the ark and as a result dies on the spot, and in fear, David leaves the ark in Obed-edom outside Jerusalem. As we read verses 12 through 15, just imagine the stress and pressure David had held onto after this moment. II Samuel 6:12. Now it was told King David saying, the Lord has blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him because of the Ark of God. So David went and brought up the Ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with gladness. And so it was when those bearing the ark of the Lord had gone 6 paces that he sacrificed oxen and fatted sheep. Imagine the tension in those 6 paces. And then maybe sprinting the final 4, like, we are good, sacrifice it. We're pumped. Let's go. I'm glad I was not there. That sounds stressful. But back to here, verse 14, arguably many people's favorite verse. Then David danced before the Lord with all his might. David was wearing a linen ephad, so David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. Now I talked about the variety in praise to God, but this is where even I myself can get a little uncomfortable and have had to take a step back and ask myself, is it wrong or am I just uncomfortable with that image? We've talked about praise as an expression of emotion, and I think we know that we all operate in our own unique ways. I could see Dr. Moss busting out every move in the book in praise to God. I do not think Richard would do the same. I'd love to be proven wrong. I just do not think that's his flavor of choice. And I'll be honest, I can't really imagine myself doing that either. Yeah, culture plays a large part in our preferences, but sometimes we are just different. And after this display, back to II Samuel of praise and glory to God, this massive party that Israel had in celebration of the ark arriving in Jerusalem. We find an example of pride that if we use wisely, we see that can likewise cloud our own judgment in the actions of others. II Samuel 6 will drop down to verse 20, and then we will read 21 and 23. 1st verse 20. Then David returned to bless his household, and Michael, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David and said, How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself in the eyes of the maids of his servants as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself. Notice how nasty Michael is here. She was at a point of bitterness that could not be returned from. We like to talk about how little clothing David had on and how those dance moves likely left little to the imagination. But do not let that cause you to overlook what Michael was saying and feeling here. The Lord chose David over her father, and she hated that. But she also likely had expectations of how a king should uphold himself and his image, feeling that he lowered himself to the positions of slaves and servants, bringing shame on her as well. Verse 21, 21 through 23. So David said to Michael, It was before the Lord who chose me instead of your father and all his house to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord over Israel. Therefore, I will play music before the Lord, and I will be even more undignified than this and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them, I will be held in honor. Therefore, Michael, the daughter of Saul, had no children to the day of her death. Uh, this response is not David's pride speaking. This is him refusing to back down from praising God, from being a vessel of his light, and from shamelessly bearing his name in excitement and praise. Michael was in an unfortunate position for many reasons, but that did not take away from her punishment as a result for being against incredible and worthy praise to God due to her pride and jealousy. As she accuses him of shamelessly uncovering himself, she is accusing him of being shameful in his actions, and I'm sorry to say, brethren, I think we can and very much do this exact same thing sometimes because we simply do not like or might be jealous of someone else. As we begin to close, if you would please join me in 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5. Or we will find a verse that I think sometimes, I know I've done this, we can use to do this very thing. I just want one verse here, the very end, towards the very end. Chapter 5 verse 22, which reads, abstain from every form of evil. Now, I, of course, do not want to devalue this at all. But I've heard many people use the saying that we should avoid the appearance of evil coming from here as a quick shoot from the hip justification to shut down something that they do not like, not because it was actually evil, they just perceived it or just wanted to use it as such. And while we of course absolutely should abstain from every form of evil, we must not forget another key scripture in our judgment, which is verse 19, which reads, do not quench the spirit, or as I prefer it, do not extinguish the spirit. This is a command that should strike us with caution. We should be scared as we realize that we have the ability to even do such a thing. God gives us the tools to do good, to work towards righteousness, to build each other up, to comfort each other, and to praise Him. Yet we also have the ability to extinguish the very spirit that allows us to even do these things by taking that judgment into our own hands. Unfortunately, our own pride and jealousy, just like Michael can come in and extinguish that very spirit that is trying to praise God, and that should be terrifying. I know we all have our differences. We have our preferences built up through lived experiences and cultures we live in, but Satan thrives in this world. Discernment is incredibly important, but in a world of twisted truths and manipulation, we must be cautious on making our judgments of what is acceptable, looking only to God for our standard. We can never forget that God is worthy of every bit of our appreciation, and music is not only one of the best ways to do so, but a commanded way. He may not always agree with how others do it, but that does not make it any less valuable if it is acceptable to him. So as we began, praise the Lord, praise God in his sanctuary, praise him in the sky, which testifies to his strength. Praise him for his mighty acts, praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the blast of the horn. Praise him with the lyre and the harp. Praise him with the tambourine and with dancing. Praise him with stringed instruments and the flute. Praise him with loud cymbals. Praise him with clanging cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.
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