WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.168 Would you take your Bible and go to the 111th Psalm, psalm 111. 00:00:06.168 --> 00:00:14.827 I'll be reading Psalm 111 from the ESV Bible and so if you don't have an ESV in front of you, you can follow along on the screen. 00:00:14.827 --> 00:00:21.989 This morning I wanna preach to you a message on going public with thanks and praise. 00:00:21.989 --> 00:00:25.708 Let us hear the word of God. 00:00:25.708 --> 00:00:29.269 Praise the Lord. 00:00:29.269 --> 00:00:38.289 I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright in the congregation. 00:00:38.289 --> 00:00:43.487 Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them. 00:00:43.487 --> 00:00:50.789 Full of splendor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever. 00:00:50.789 --> 00:00:54.069 He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered. 00:00:54.069 --> 00:00:57.209 The Lord is gracious and merciful. 00:00:57.209 --> 00:00:59.887 He provides food for those who fear him. 00:00:59.887 --> 00:01:02.406 He remembers his covenant forever. 00:01:02.406 --> 00:01:08.528 He has shown his people the power of his works in giving them the inheritance of the nations. 00:01:08.528 --> 00:01:11.608 The works of his hands are faithful and just. 00:01:11.608 --> 00:01:14.287 All his precepts are trustworthy. 00:01:14.287 --> 00:01:20.108 They are established forever and ever to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness. 00:01:20.108 --> 00:01:22.867 He sent redemption to his people. 00:01:22.867 --> 00:01:25.888 He has commanded his covenant forever. 00:01:25.888 --> 00:01:29.688 Holy and awesome is his name. 00:01:29.688 --> 00:01:33.007 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. 00:01:33.007 --> 00:01:36.528 All those who practice it have a good understanding. 00:01:36.528 --> 00:01:41.132 His praise endures forever. 00:01:41.132 --> 00:01:43.126 Can we read that last line together? 00:01:43.126 --> 00:01:44.204 His praise endures forever. 00:01:44.204 --> 00:01:47.868 His praise endures forever. 00:01:47.868 --> 00:01:49.483 That is God's word. 00:01:49.483 --> 00:01:55.661 May he have his blessing to its reading and preaching by the impowing presence of the Holy Spirit, amen. 00:01:57.099 --> 00:02:04.308 Have you ever found out some good news by accident, when you would have rather wished to have heard it on purpose? 00:02:04.308 --> 00:02:06.525 These are awkward moments. 00:02:06.525 --> 00:02:07.885 I'm sure you've experienced them. 00:02:07.885 --> 00:02:10.506 For instance, it was last year. 00:02:10.506 --> 00:02:17.147 I was visiting a church where there was a couple that I'd known for years, in fact the husband in this family. 00:02:17.147 --> 00:02:21.406 I mean, I had one-on-one discipleship with him for a long period of time. 00:02:21.406 --> 00:02:23.167 We spent a lot of time together. 00:02:23.167 --> 00:02:24.846 We knew each other very, very well. 00:02:24.846 --> 00:02:31.283 Well, here I am back at the church and I'm seeing them for the first time in about a year and a half, and I noticed the wife. 00:02:31.283 --> 00:02:38.764 She's holding this beautiful baby girl and the first thought that comes to my mind is I wonder who's baby that is. 00:02:38.764 --> 00:02:43.427 Come to find out it was theirs and I hadn't gotten the memo. 00:02:43.427 --> 00:02:46.649 It was a little awkward, but it was something to celebrate. 00:02:46.649 --> 00:02:50.390 But I celebrated something I wish I would have known before. 00:02:50.390 --> 00:02:53.909 I would have loved to have entered into that joy previously. 00:02:53.909 --> 00:02:56.407 I found out by accident. 00:02:56.407 --> 00:02:59.306 Contrast that with last weekend. 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:04.048 We had some guests here from out of town that some of you had met, our friends Aaron and Jamie. 00:03:04.048 --> 00:03:10.701 They're really dear friends of ours from one of our church plans back in Philadelphia and they were here with us and spent a long weekend with us and the praise. 00:03:10.701 --> 00:03:11.566 We had a great time. 00:03:11.566 --> 00:03:13.867 Well, I was coming back from a trip to Dallas. 00:03:13.867 --> 00:03:18.370 They got here a day before and when I got back they were still out with Rachel and Silas. 00:03:18.370 --> 00:03:22.344 They went for a day hanging out at a car mill by the sea and had just a wonderful day. 00:03:22.344 --> 00:03:26.164 Well, when they got back to the house they came in the door and they had some bags in their hands. 00:03:26.164 --> 00:03:37.164 After we kind of got reacquainted and greeted each one another, jamie reached down into one of the bags and said look what Rachel got us and it was a little baby outfit. 00:03:37.164 --> 00:03:41.187 That was their way of telling me we're having a baby. 00:03:41.187 --> 00:03:44.147 It was wonderful to be able to enter into their joy. 00:03:44.147 --> 00:03:48.370 They were so eager to let us know that good news. 00:03:49.819 --> 00:03:55.786 I'm sure there are times in your life where you find out good news by accident and you're still glad because it's good news. 00:03:55.786 --> 00:04:09.848 But there are other times where someone goes out of their way to let you know how excited they are, that they are experiencing a particular evidence of the goodness of God and we get to enter into their joy. 00:04:09.848 --> 00:04:17.101 As Christians, I think we have a little bit of a problem A lot of times. 00:04:17.101 --> 00:04:32.348 People around us who know us well, who are a part of our close circle of friends and family, even people who are a part of our congregation, our church family they tend to find out evidences of the goodness of God in our lives by accident. 00:04:32.348 --> 00:04:44.790 The goodness of God trickles out rather than us directly sharing and expressing the particular ways that we see God at work in and through our lives. 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:51.386 Christians, I honestly think that we have a public thanks and praise problem. 00:04:51.386 --> 00:04:58.269 We are much better at bringing people into our bad news than our good news. 00:04:58.269 --> 00:05:08.004 It's far more common for us to outwardly express our burdens rather than our blessings, our problems rather than our praises. 00:05:08.004 --> 00:05:16.524 It seems like it's easier to go public talking about how hard it is than to go public talking about how good God is, not only to be honest. 00:05:16.524 --> 00:05:22.206 I'm sure Pastor Bob and Pastor Royce and Pastor Ricky could probably identify with this too, as a pastor for 20-plus years. 00:05:22.206 --> 00:05:24.507 I've led multiple small group meetings. 00:05:24.507 --> 00:05:38.668 I've led multiple all-church prayer meetings and sometimes getting God's people to share praises and expressions of gratitude is like pulling teeth even from the most mature followers of Jesus. 00:05:39.310 --> 00:05:40.072 Now don't get me wrong. 00:05:40.072 --> 00:05:44.427 We definitely need to bear one another's burdens and we need to share how hard life is. 00:05:44.427 --> 00:06:02.103 We need to weep with those who weep, but we also need to hear a testimony of God's faithfulness and his goodness and how he is actively at work in each one of our lives, so that we can rejoice with those who rejoice. 00:06:02.103 --> 00:06:09.747 Probably, being imbalanced with this is unhealthy for us personally and it's also unhelpful for the church collectively. 00:06:09.747 --> 00:06:17.483 We must be a people who eagerly go public with our thanks and praise. 00:06:18.339 --> 00:06:20.045 This is not a modern observation. 00:06:20.045 --> 00:06:36.192 The great Protestant reformer, john Calvin, says it this way the person who in secret pours out his heart and grateful emotions toward God will also set forth his praises in swelling strains or in large public spaces. 00:06:36.192 --> 00:06:42.644 Otherwise, god would be deprived of one half of the honor which is due to him. 00:06:42.644 --> 00:07:17.584 If we keep thanks and praise a private matter, could it be the weird depriving God of half of the honor that he is worthy of by not going public with our praise, not to mention failing to encourage the brothers and sisters around us, who very often need current evidence that God is in our midst and he is being faithful to keep his word, to protect, provide and care for his own. 00:07:17.584 --> 00:07:28.689 My friends, pouring out our grateful emotions to God in private is only one half of our responsibility to God when it comes to expressing our thanks and praise. 00:07:28.689 --> 00:07:39.610 I would say it this way God is honored when our grateful emotions are expressed both in private and in public. 00:07:39.610 --> 00:07:44.927 This is not a personality thing, this is a Psalm 111 thing. 00:07:45.660 --> 00:07:49.951 Psalm 111 is about the public side of our thanks and praise. 00:07:49.951 --> 00:07:54.223 It's a song calling God's people to pour out their grateful emotions. 00:07:54.223 --> 00:08:08.247 In the quote unquote, swelling strains, or as David puts it in the congregation Psalm 111 is a song that invites us to be committed to going public with our thanks and praise, and that's the big idea I want us to consider this morning. 00:08:08.247 --> 00:08:10.146 This is not all that there is. 00:08:10.146 --> 00:08:19.504 There is a private side to this, but this Psalm is about the public side and that's where I want us to be exhorted and encouraged this morning, from the word of God. 00:08:19.504 --> 00:08:28.612 And here's the big idea of the song, god is glorified and the church is edified when we pour out our grateful hearts to God in public. 00:08:28.612 --> 00:08:30.677 Full disclosure here. 00:08:30.697 --> 00:08:35.145 My plan is to almost exclusively unpack the first verse of this Psalm. 00:08:35.145 --> 00:08:36.609 There's 11 verses here. 00:08:36.609 --> 00:08:45.323 I really want to take a hard look at verse one, that is the Psalm as declaration of intent that he's going to go public with his thanks and praise. 00:08:45.323 --> 00:08:56.548 And then I want to briefly mention at the conclusion of this sermon how verses two through ten unpack the broad categories of why we should be willing to do that, why we should be committed to do it. 00:08:56.548 --> 00:09:04.062 And just like all the Psalms, you find Psalms that are very, very specific to really, really personal experiences in the Psalmist's life. 00:09:04.062 --> 00:09:15.960 And then you find Psalms that are very generic and broad so that we can almost step right into those words and say them ourselves, because they're true of us, just as they're true of all of God's people. 00:09:15.960 --> 00:09:17.200 And this is that kind of Psalm. 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:23.788 David is saying I am committed to go in public with my thanks and praise, and so should you. 00:09:23.788 --> 00:09:25.158 You need some reasons why. 00:09:25.158 --> 00:09:26.102 Here they are. 00:09:26.102 --> 00:09:32.941 They're true for all of us, because this is who God is and this is how God is at work in all of his people. 00:09:32.941 --> 00:09:42.024 So we're going to look at verse one and unpack how God is glorified and the church is edified when we pour out our grateful hearts to God in public. 00:09:42.024 --> 00:09:45.625 And then I also want to note here this is just more of like an FYI tuck this away. 00:09:45.625 --> 00:09:48.643 Think about this later on as you go back and reflect on the Psalm. 00:09:49.134 --> 00:09:53.817 This Psalm it doesn't come across in our English translation, but this entire Psalm is an acrostic. 00:09:53.817 --> 00:09:59.945 Each line begins with one of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. 00:09:59.945 --> 00:10:00.696 It's the same. 00:10:00.696 --> 00:10:04.164 Psalm 111 and Psalm 112 are the same in that way. 00:10:04.164 --> 00:10:11.620 And acrostics were used in Hebrew poetry as a mnemonic device, as a way to memorize it and to personalize it. 00:10:11.620 --> 00:10:14.942 And so this is more evidence that this Psalm. 00:10:14.942 --> 00:10:24.446 It's not just for us to go back and say, ah, this is David's song, no, no, no, david wrote this song as an acrostic so that we would memorize it and it would become our song. 00:10:24.446 --> 00:10:36.946 And so this is just more evidence that this song, this call to public thanks and praise, is not a call just for some really outgoing, extroverted Christians like, like me. 00:10:36.946 --> 00:10:53.505 This is a song for every believer from all time extroverted, introverted, outgoing, not outgoing, quiet, boisterous. 00:10:53.505 --> 00:11:15.249 If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, if you are counted among the faithful covenant people of God, then this song was written in such a way that you would memorize it, utilize it and utilize it in your private and public worship of God. 00:11:15.249 --> 00:11:23.740 This song was written to memorize by heart, so that you could also capture the heart of this song of worship. 00:11:24.735 --> 00:11:30.883 So let's dive into the Psalms, psalmist declaration of intent, and, by the grace of God, let's make it ours as well. 00:11:30.883 --> 00:11:36.307 I make no apologies here, this song and the way I'm going to preach it this morning. 00:11:36.307 --> 00:11:38.038 I want to preach it as an exhortation. 00:11:38.038 --> 00:11:47.059 Let's join the Psalmist in this, let's get in on this, let's embrace this. 00:11:47.059 --> 00:11:54.807 Let's join the Psalmist in his commitment to go public with his thanks and praise. 00:11:54.807 --> 00:11:57.596 Praise the Lord, Verse one. 00:11:57.596 --> 00:12:04.788 I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright and in the congregation. 00:12:04.995 --> 00:12:06.221 Let's look at this in three parts. 00:12:06.221 --> 00:12:09.625 First, let us praise and thank our God outwardly. 00:12:09.625 --> 00:12:13.725 Second, let us praise and thank our God affectionately. 00:12:13.725 --> 00:12:17.966 And then, finally, let us praise and thank our God publicly. 00:12:17.966 --> 00:12:21.624 First, let us praise and thank our God outwardly. 00:12:22.894 --> 00:12:29.267 Praise and thanks are, by their nature, outwardly expressive activities. 00:12:29.267 --> 00:12:33.423 He exclaims praise the Lord. 00:12:33.423 --> 00:12:36.177 All one word in the Hebrew. 00:12:36.177 --> 00:12:44.818 You've heard it before Hallelujah, hallelujah, praise Yahweh, praise Yahweh. 00:12:44.818 --> 00:12:46.684 What is praise? 00:12:46.684 --> 00:12:54.957 Well, in general we could say it this way that praise is the outward expression of inward delight. 00:12:54.957 --> 00:13:06.441 Praise is the outward expression of inward delight and, let's be honest, we praise all the time. 00:13:06.441 --> 00:13:10.022 We praise our culinary experiences. 00:13:10.022 --> 00:13:29.008 If you've had some really good food, whether you do it with a nonverbal or a verbal, you know with a nonverbal, whether it's a mmm or mmm, or that's good, we have a tendency to outwardly express those things that bring us inward delight. 00:13:29.134 --> 00:13:42.607 And so Thursday's coming, and if you celebrate the American version of Thanksgiving, then you're going to have lots to praise on Thursday, lots of culinary delicacies to praise for. 00:13:42.607 --> 00:13:48.337 I mean, I'm going to smoke a turkey on Thursday and here's my hope. 00:13:48.337 --> 00:14:02.582 My hope is that I will make that turkey, I will serve that turkey to friends and family and then they will eat it and on the other side of taking a bite I will hear the praise oh, that's so good. 00:14:02.582 --> 00:14:04.461 I hope it's going to be that right. 00:14:04.461 --> 00:14:05.302 But we do that. 00:14:05.302 --> 00:14:08.423 We praise the things we enjoy. 00:14:08.423 --> 00:14:09.365 We watch a good movie. 00:14:09.365 --> 00:14:12.900 I'm going oh, you got to see that movie it was so good. 00:14:13.716 --> 00:14:16.605 Or we praise an experience out on God's creation. 00:14:16.605 --> 00:14:26.461 I may have shared this before, but man moving out here to California has been an experience of geographical delight. 00:14:26.461 --> 00:14:38.369 I mean, here we are, here I am Our family's, living in the urban context of downtown San Jose, but 15 minutes in any direction. 00:14:38.369 --> 00:14:45.120 We're experiencing the beauties and the glories of God's creation in some of the most glorious ways. 00:14:45.120 --> 00:15:02.907 I still remember it wasn't that close to San Jose, but I still remember taking our first drive down to Big Sur and coming across the Bixby Bridge and looking down at the bluest water I had seen in the longest time, just crashing up against the cliff. 00:15:02.907 --> 00:15:04.039 So how did I respond to that? 00:15:04.039 --> 00:15:04.857 I praised. 00:15:04.857 --> 00:15:12.447 I was feeling something inside and I had to get it out and I gasped. 00:15:12.447 --> 00:15:13.683 I literally gasped. 00:15:13.683 --> 00:15:17.923 It was involuntary, even I went oh, that's praise. 00:15:19.575 --> 00:15:25.386 Praise is the outward expression of inward delight. 00:15:25.386 --> 00:15:40.485 Now, to specify it to our worship experience, to specify it to the hallelujah that this Psalm starts off with, we would add to that that praise is the outward expression of inward delight in God. 00:15:40.485 --> 00:15:49.407 Praise is celebrating, boasting, making a big deal about who God is. 00:15:49.407 --> 00:15:55.547 It's a means of expressing that we are glad that God is God. 00:15:55.547 --> 00:16:02.101 God is who he is and we're glad and we have to respond to it. 00:16:02.101 --> 00:16:07.936 We have to say something about it, we have to react to it, we have to say something about it. 00:16:07.936 --> 00:16:09.094 What is that thing we say? 00:16:09.094 --> 00:16:10.619 What is that way that we respond? 00:16:10.619 --> 00:16:11.808 It's praise. 00:16:11.808 --> 00:16:18.722 See, praise is a vehicle that gets out our grateful emotions. 00:16:18.722 --> 00:16:22.660 It takes the grateful emotions that are inside and pulls them out. 00:16:22.660 --> 00:16:28.797 It takes them out If your soul is point A and out here is point B. 00:16:28.797 --> 00:16:38.751 Praise is the vehicle that takes the emotions, the grateful emotions for God, from the inside to the outside and throughout the Psalms. 00:16:38.832 --> 00:16:46.716 This outwardly expressed praise is expressed in a multitude of ways, through a multitude of means. 00:16:46.716 --> 00:16:48.913 Let me just give you some examples. 00:16:48.913 --> 00:17:00.260 Praise is outwardly expressed through singing, probably most predominantly in the Scriptures Psalm 9, verse 2, I will be glad and exult in you. 00:17:00.260 --> 00:17:05.661 I will sing praise to your name, oh most high. 00:17:05.661 --> 00:17:23.597 When we think about who God is, when we consider a particular aspect of His glory, of the multiplicity of His magnificent attributes, when we consider who God is and how he's revealed Himself, when we take it in an appropriate way to respond to that is to sing about it. 00:17:23.597 --> 00:17:29.278 So singing is a way that we outwardly express praise. 00:17:29.278 --> 00:17:33.316 Praise is also outwardly expressed through just simply declaring. 00:17:33.316 --> 00:17:43.521 Psalm 51, verse 15, oh Lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise. 00:17:43.521 --> 00:17:49.250 So we make statements, we declare God. 00:17:49.250 --> 00:17:53.810 You are awesome God. 00:17:53.810 --> 00:17:58.151 You are holy God. 00:17:58.151 --> 00:18:05.137 There is no one like you, and I am glad there's no one like you. 00:18:06.410 --> 00:18:09.740 Praise is outwardly expressed through even celebratory gestures. 00:18:09.740 --> 00:18:11.114 Some of you talk with your hands. 00:18:11.114 --> 00:18:15.817 Like me, we also praise with our hands and with our bodies. 00:18:15.817 --> 00:18:18.032 Psalm 63, verse 4,. 00:18:18.032 --> 00:18:19.316 So I will bless you. 00:18:19.316 --> 00:18:26.114 As long as I live in your name, I will lift up my hands. 00:18:26.114 --> 00:18:31.017 So we use our bodies, we use gestures to praise God. 00:18:31.150 --> 00:18:42.738 You know, what I find funny, especially in some traditional churches that we're used to being a part of, is that when kids are little in Sunday school, we teach them to use their whole body to sing songs. 00:18:42.738 --> 00:18:46.759 I still remember I became a Christian when I was 15 years old. 00:18:46.759 --> 00:18:56.471 I started going to a church very similar to many of the traditions that you're from, and I still remember learning for the first time this really whacked out song called Father Abraham. 00:18:56.471 --> 00:19:04.176 By the end of the song, man, the whole class is doing this number, I'm like I'm missing the charismatic type of problem. 00:19:04.176 --> 00:19:08.578 So we're teaching them right arm, left arm, right foot, left foot. 00:19:08.578 --> 00:19:12.778 Father Abraham, we're teaching the kids well, you're in embodied soul. 00:19:14.730 --> 00:19:19.195 Sing with your body, sing with your voice, use your gestures and that's all over the scripture. 00:19:19.195 --> 00:19:40.259 It's appropriate, it's not showy, it's not selfish, it's not like hey, look at me, especially when the whole body of Christ believes this, that we use our bodies and celebratory gestures to praise Him, to thank Him, to celebrate Him, just like we do with our bodies with anything else. 00:19:40.259 --> 00:19:50.234 And if that's not enough, check this out Praise is outwardly expressed, not only through gestures, but through playing instruments and dancing. 00:19:50.234 --> 00:19:53.296 I said dancing in church. 00:19:53.296 --> 00:19:55.695 Psalm 150, verses three through five. 00:19:55.695 --> 00:19:58.035 Praise Him with trumpet sound. 00:19:58.035 --> 00:20:00.080 Praise Him with lute and harp. 00:20:00.080 --> 00:20:02.395 Praise Him with tambourine and dance. 00:20:02.395 --> 00:20:04.580 Praise Him with strings and pipe. 00:20:04.580 --> 00:20:09.699 Praise Him with sounding cymbals, praise Him with loud clashing cymbals. 00:20:09.699 --> 00:20:13.780 I mean, if it wasn't enough to just say cymbals, how about some loud clashing cymbals? 00:20:13.780 --> 00:20:23.960 Here's the point Get all the instruments, get them going, make a joyful noise with those instruments and celebrate. 00:20:23.960 --> 00:20:25.090 Why? 00:20:25.090 --> 00:20:27.694 Because we're glad God is who he is. 00:20:27.694 --> 00:20:30.890 That's praise. 00:20:30.890 --> 00:20:36.410 Now, although praise is outwardly expressed in all these various forms and all these various ways. 00:20:36.410 --> 00:20:43.913 The one indispensable element to all genuine praise is that it's simply a heart that is glad in God. 00:20:43.913 --> 00:20:52.402 Gladness in God is the indispensable element of all genuine praise. 00:20:52.402 --> 00:21:01.443 When we are glad in God, like the Psalmist, we will want to outwardly express it in joyful praise. 00:21:01.443 --> 00:21:09.578 Let me ask you this morning, my brother, let me ask you this morning, my sister Are you glad that God is God? 00:21:09.578 --> 00:21:18.582 If you are, it's appropriate to outwardly express that gladness through praise. 00:21:18.582 --> 00:21:23.144 Next, notice that the Psalmist has resolved not only to praise the Lord. 00:21:23.144 --> 00:21:25.817 He's committed to another act of worship. 00:21:25.817 --> 00:21:30.118 He says I will give thanks to the Lord. 00:21:30.118 --> 00:21:35.859 Praise the Lord, I will give thanks to the Lord. 00:21:36.289 --> 00:21:38.778 Thanksgiving is a subcategory of praise. 00:21:38.778 --> 00:21:48.057 It's an outward expression of gratitude for something God has specifically done in our lives or the lives of others. 00:21:48.057 --> 00:21:57.638 Maybe we could say it this way that Thanksgiving is giving God credit and honor for being the source of a burden relieved or a blessing received. 00:21:57.638 --> 00:22:09.978 Thanksgiving is giving God credit and honor for being the source of a burden relieved or a blessing received. 00:22:09.978 --> 00:22:11.094 That's Thanksgiving. 00:22:11.094 --> 00:22:21.181 Now, like praise, thanksgiving is outwardly expressed in multiple ways and I won't comment as much on these as I did a few moments ago with praise, because it's the same. 00:22:21.181 --> 00:22:25.721 Psalm 28, verse seven the Lord is my strength and my shield. 00:22:25.721 --> 00:22:29.659 In Him my heart trusts and I am helped. 00:22:29.659 --> 00:22:32.678 My heart exalts with my song. 00:22:32.678 --> 00:22:34.334 I give thanks to Him. 00:22:35.410 --> 00:22:45.981 We not only sing songs to celebrate who God is that's more the denotative parameters of praise but we also use our songs to offer up to God a subcategory of praise. 00:22:45.981 --> 00:23:07.402 We say thank you for the particular ways that God has helped us, healed us, provided for us, protected us in general, has evidenced His hand of goodness in our life through a burden relieved or a blessing received, and so we sing about it. 00:23:07.402 --> 00:23:15.980 In fact, we actually sang a song today, just explicitly said thank you for this and thank you for that, and thank you for this and thank you for that. 00:23:15.980 --> 00:23:18.017 We did it this morning together. 00:23:18.017 --> 00:23:22.809 We thank the Lord with our singing Stories. 00:23:22.809 --> 00:23:26.339 Similarly to praise, thanksgiving is outwardly expressed through playing instruments. 00:23:26.339 --> 00:23:32.295 Psalm 33, verse two give thanks to the Lord with the lyre it's a guitar. 00:23:32.295 --> 00:23:35.959 Make melody to Him with the harp of ten strings. 00:23:35.959 --> 00:23:40.500 I'm so grateful for our gifted musicians. 00:23:40.500 --> 00:23:45.560 I'm so grateful for what we experienced this morning. 00:23:45.560 --> 00:24:01.957 We were able to take our words and express them through song, because Ricky and Ben, and Jordan and Sasha were leading us with instruments that allowed us to lift up our voices and melodic song to say thank you. 00:24:04.422 --> 00:24:07.151 Thanksgiving is also outwardly expressed through giving offerings. 00:24:07.151 --> 00:24:14.413 This is a particular act of worship, a particular outward expression that's unique to Thanksgiving. 00:24:14.413 --> 00:24:18.930 Psalm 54, verse 6, with a free will offering, I will sacrifice to you. 00:24:18.930 --> 00:24:22.708 I will give thanks to your name, oh Lord, for it is good. 00:24:22.708 --> 00:24:36.828 As you come to a biblical, theological overview of offerings in the Bible, basically, every offering, in some form, in some way, is the worshiper saying thank you. 00:24:36.828 --> 00:24:45.565 Everything I have comes from you, everything I am is because of you. 00:24:45.565 --> 00:25:09.853 The air I breathe, the life I live, the food I eat, the shelter in which I reside, the paycheck that I receive, the kind gifts of friendship and family, the kind gifts of earthly pleasures all of these things, lord, come to me from your kind, good and gracious hand. 00:25:09.853 --> 00:25:16.313 How can I not let you know how grateful I am by giving some of that back to you? 00:25:16.313 --> 00:25:20.923 So here's my time, here are my talents, here are my treasures. 00:25:20.923 --> 00:25:27.191 Lord, I offer them up to you as an outward expression of Thanksgiving. 00:25:28.859 --> 00:25:34.019 Now, although Thanksgiving is outwardly expressed in various forms and various ways. 00:25:34.019 --> 00:25:56.211 There's always one indispensable element of all genuine Thanksgiving it is a heart that is glad that God is good, whereas praise is a heart that's glad in God in general, thanksgiving is a heart that's grateful that God is good and that we are on the receiving end of that goodness. 00:25:56.211 --> 00:26:06.205 So if you want to grow in praise, if you want to grow in Thanksgiving, you don't need to change your personality. 00:26:06.205 --> 00:26:09.448 You don't need to suddenly become a more expressive person. 00:26:09.448 --> 00:26:14.372 Here's my advice and my counsel and my pastoral leadership for you this morning. 00:26:14.372 --> 00:26:35.106 If you find yourself as someone who struggles with being outwardly expressive, with praise and Thanksgiving, here's my suggestion to you Not the change of personality, not to be somebody that you're not, but here's my recommendation Keep track of the goodness of God, get a journal. 00:26:38.099 --> 00:26:45.122 Get a journal and keep track of the ways that you see God's hand at work when you read your Bible. 00:26:45.122 --> 00:26:57.246 I mean, chart out your own biography of God as he reveals himself to you through the pages of scripture, as he reveals himself to you in his beautiful world. 00:26:57.246 --> 00:26:58.569 Keep track of it. 00:26:58.569 --> 00:27:10.621 And then I would encourage you, regardless of your personality, regardless of your expressiveness or lack thereof, when you go back and you rehearse the goodness and the greatness of God. 00:27:10.621 --> 00:27:17.368 It will do something in your heart and it will move you to say something about it. 00:27:17.368 --> 00:27:22.579 Let us praise and thank our God outwardly. 00:27:22.579 --> 00:27:27.151 Second, let us praise and thank our God affectionately. 00:27:28.140 --> 00:27:34.625 Notice that the Psalmist is determined to outwardly express thanks and praise with his whole heart. 00:27:34.625 --> 00:27:36.430 Praise the Lord. 00:27:36.430 --> 00:27:41.471 I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. 00:27:41.471 --> 00:27:47.201 The heart is the immaterial part of you, the part of you that you may not see but you sense. 00:27:47.201 --> 00:27:52.029 It's the seed of your emotions, your passions, your affections, your desires. 00:27:52.029 --> 00:28:04.766 And so the Psalmist is saying that my thanks and praise is springing forth from heart, felt affections for God, and it's whole meaning. 00:28:04.766 --> 00:28:06.830 He's not holding anything back. 00:28:06.830 --> 00:28:11.146 He's not holding his emotions back, he's not holding his affections back. 00:28:11.146 --> 00:28:13.888 He's not holding his expressiveness back. 00:28:13.888 --> 00:28:22.284 He's going to wear his worshipful emotions on his sleeves and he's going to get it out, because God deserves to hear it. 00:28:24.059 --> 00:28:32.827 So what does it look like for you to let it all out, to praise God with your whole heart, to give thanks with your whole heart? 00:28:32.827 --> 00:28:38.905 Well, as I've already mentioned, we have different personalities and we have different ways of expressing what's inside. 00:28:38.905 --> 00:28:47.491 I think it's important for you to ask yourself this question what does it look like for you to get on the outside? 00:28:47.491 --> 00:28:49.183 What's going on on the inside? 00:28:49.183 --> 00:28:56.951 How do you express your emotions personally, individually, uniquely? 00:28:56.951 --> 00:29:04.269 And here's what I would say how you respond personally, uniquely, expressively. 00:29:04.269 --> 00:29:13.048 However, that is, whatever that looks like, I would encourage you that the apex of those expressions should be reserved for God. 00:29:13.048 --> 00:29:18.048 What are you like when you're really happy? 00:29:18.048 --> 00:29:21.707 What are you like when you're really glad? 00:29:21.707 --> 00:29:28.845 How do you talk about something that you really like or that you've really enjoyed or that you're really grateful for? 00:29:28.845 --> 00:29:34.509 However you do that, let me encourage you do that most for God. 00:29:34.509 --> 00:29:44.265 However you do that, however you express that, is you giving your wholehearted worship to God. 00:29:44.265 --> 00:29:52.292 God deserves that from you more than anything else gets it from you, and you know what. 00:29:52.292 --> 00:29:56.970 There are other things that are worthy of getting your heart's affections and your heart's desires. 00:29:58.181 --> 00:30:07.728 I'm a big fan of reading and studying a subcategory of theology called creational theology, and I love creational theology. 00:30:07.728 --> 00:30:14.708 Creational theology are those writers who love to take some time to slowly meditate and reflect on the fact that God is a gift giver. 00:30:14.708 --> 00:30:22.991 He's created a world of beauty and he's given us these five capacities for human pleasure that are mind blowing. 00:30:22.991 --> 00:30:24.344 Every single one of you has them. 00:30:24.344 --> 00:30:31.631 You can see, you can hear, you can taste, you can touch and you can smell. 00:30:31.631 --> 00:30:56.446 And God's given you these five senses and some would argue that they're more than five senses but he's at least given you these five senses that you can employ in enjoying God's world, in enjoying the pleasures of His good gifts food and drink and music and books and stories and hobbies. 00:30:56.446 --> 00:31:03.849 There are so many ways that we can employ these five God-given pleasure receivers. 00:31:03.849 --> 00:31:06.394 And here's my point. 00:31:06.394 --> 00:31:21.263 There's so much in God's world that we can enjoy with these amazing, divinely designed capacities for pleasure, and they bring our hearts to light and we love to talk about those things and we love to celebrate those things and we love to spend our money on those things. 00:31:21.263 --> 00:31:50.391 But here's my point If you want to join the psalmist in praising and thanking God with your whole heart, let nothing in this world, none of God's gifts even thrill you more than the gift giver himself Give him the apex of your affections. 00:31:51.500 --> 00:32:14.528 The bottom line in this psalm is that our praise and our thanks to God must be rooted in love and affections for God, not just some mechanical gesture of courtesy and this is no slam to Heidi, who works at Costco but you go in the Costco and you don't always treat the free sample people most kindly, do you? 00:32:14.528 --> 00:32:29.721 You kind of give them a courteous thanks and then they give you this delicious piece of meat or this delicious piece of cheese and basically you just say thanks a lot or maybe you don't say anything Sometimes. 00:32:29.721 --> 00:32:30.825 That's the way we engage with God. 00:32:30.825 --> 00:33:01.478 We just God, just he's got to provide for me, he's got to protect me, he's got to be with me, he's got to do all the things that God does, because he's God and we engage with him with our thanks and praise, more like a common courtesy for someone who's handed us a free sample than the God of the universe who loves us with fatherly affections and is willing to care for us and love us and before us for now and forever. 00:33:03.602 --> 00:33:13.230 So rather than treating God in our thanks and praise like we treat the free sample guy, I would encourage you to treat God like children treat their parents on Christmas morning. 00:33:13.230 --> 00:33:16.849 I still remember, I mean I still remember. 00:33:16.849 --> 00:33:28.393 My kids are old now, but I still remember those blessed Christmas mornings when you give that gift and your kid looks at you like you're the greatest in the entire world. 00:33:28.393 --> 00:33:41.490 They say thank you so much for those new Legos, thank you so much for my first piano Remember that, piper and they just they think you're wonderful. 00:33:41.490 --> 00:33:45.604 They don't just tell you thank you because they're supposed to, it's a kind gesture. 00:33:45.604 --> 00:33:53.929 They tell you thank you because way down in their heart they know that you've done something for them that they don't deserve, but you've delighted in doing it. 00:33:55.761 --> 00:33:58.628 And that's praising and thanking God with our whole heart. 00:33:58.628 --> 00:34:17.608 We don't deserve it, but we know he delights in loving us, he delights in caring for us and he's committed with an everlasting covenant to give us everything we need, all the days of our lives and for forever. 00:34:17.608 --> 00:34:23.831 Let us praise and thank our God affectionately. 00:34:23.831 --> 00:34:32.048 Let us praise and thank our God publicly and I always I always do a poor job looking at the clock when I get up here. 00:34:32.048 --> 00:34:34.362 This is the final point. 00:34:34.362 --> 00:34:37.186 Let us praise and thank our God publicly. 00:34:37.186 --> 00:34:42.490 Notice where he is committed to outwardly and affectionately expressing his thanks and praise. 00:34:42.490 --> 00:34:47.911 He says in the company of the upright, in the congregation. 00:34:47.911 --> 00:34:53.659 In other words, his commitment to express his heartfelt thanks and praises. 00:34:53.659 --> 00:35:08.028 Not just a private thing, it's not just that I'm grateful in my heart or I express my gratitude in my prayer closet, he says I'm going to let it out in public. 00:35:08.028 --> 00:35:15.570 I'm going to do this in the company of the upright, in the congregation. 00:35:15.570 --> 00:35:25.911 Now, company and congregation are both talking about public settings, but I believe there's enough nuance in these words to argue that the Psalmist is not repeating himself. 00:35:25.911 --> 00:35:27.706 This is not him simply repeating himself. 00:35:27.706 --> 00:35:36.184 In other translations we'll actually put the word and in between those phrases, in the company of the upright and in the congregation, and I think that's appropriate. 00:35:37.340 --> 00:35:39.967 Company is a word that refers to a group of intimate friends. 00:35:39.967 --> 00:35:42.905 It's a close circle of people. 00:35:42.905 --> 00:35:46.780 It's actually a word that talks about your confidants or your counselors. 00:35:46.780 --> 00:35:49.847 In fact, I think some translations might use the word counselor. 00:35:49.847 --> 00:35:58.726 It's a word that refers to the company that knows you best, your closest companions, your inner circle, if you will. 00:35:58.726 --> 00:36:18.266 It's talking about the people that you know well and that know you well, the ones that you eat with, possibly live with, work with, watch football games with A small group of people that know you below the surface your friends, your families, maybe your small group and they are the company of the upright. 00:36:18.286 --> 00:36:19.329 So these are talking about Christians. 00:36:19.329 --> 00:36:28.563 You're just talking about people who share your faith, so a small group of people that share your faith in Jesus, that know you and that you know well among them. 00:36:28.563 --> 00:36:34.920 Let it out Among them. 00:36:34.920 --> 00:36:40.891 Thank and praise the Lord with your whole hearts. 00:36:40.891 --> 00:36:54.588 The point is that when you are with your closest friends and family, when you are with your closest companions, when you are with other followers of Jesus in public yet intimate settings, you should let them know what God is up to in your life. 00:36:54.588 --> 00:36:58.949 You should let them know that you are glad that God is God. 00:36:58.949 --> 00:37:06.534 You should let them know how you specifically see God's gracious and good hand at work in your life. 00:37:06.534 --> 00:37:10.889 You should be eager to let them in and not allow them to find out by accident. 00:37:10.889 --> 00:37:24.987 This is the last time you looked your company in the face and said God is so good, god is so good to me. 00:37:26.860 --> 00:37:32.050 And here's how Congregation. 00:37:32.050 --> 00:37:37.490 Congregation is a word that refers to a gathering or an assembly of God's people. 00:37:37.490 --> 00:37:40.047 It's a word that could actually could be translated as assembly. 00:37:40.047 --> 00:37:44.510 It's the word that's used to describe all of Israel as they travel through the wilderness. 00:37:44.510 --> 00:37:52.268 It's also a word that's used to describe the gathering of God's people when they would come and worship at the temple or worship at the tabernacle. 00:37:52.268 --> 00:38:05.824 It's a word that was used to describe the space for public worship, and so when he says I will thank you and praise you in the congregation, he's saying that I am committed to going. 00:38:05.824 --> 00:38:12.764 I'm committed to outwardly expressing my affection, thanks and praise for God when I'm with the church. 00:38:12.764 --> 00:38:49.163 Now, although these public worship gatherings, both in the old and new covenants, were presided over by God appointed leaders, the liturgy was crafted and formed in such a way where everyone realized that they had both the privilege and the responsibility to participate, sometimes in unison, as they lifted up their voices and sang together, sometimes individually, as a particular person in the congregation would have a part to play in the public worship of Yahweh. 00:38:50.059 --> 00:38:56.385 The point is this is that the congregational worship of God's people was never meant to be a spectator event. 00:38:56.385 --> 00:39:00.827 It was never meant to be a come and get. 00:39:00.827 --> 00:39:04.985 It was always meant to be a take and give. 00:39:04.985 --> 00:39:14.784 Public worship was prescribed and designed in such a way for full participation for the entire congregation. 00:39:14.784 --> 00:39:25.259 So the Psalmist is saying that when he gathered with the congregation for worship, he's not going to be a spectator, he's not going to sit there with his arms crossed and say alright, god, you better bless me. 00:39:25.259 --> 00:39:37.001 Now he's going to participate, he's going to add his voice, he's going to pour out his heart in God's presence, with God's people, in thanks and praise to his God. 00:39:37.001 --> 00:39:50.298 And again the Psalmist is saying here, through the inclusion of this Psalm in the Psalter this shouldn't just be him, this is for all of God's people from all time. 00:39:50.298 --> 00:40:07.394 We all should enter into the congregational worship of the Triune God, eager to participate in the liturgy, eager to lift our voices in unison, eager to volunteer to do the public reading of Scripture, eager to be a part of all that's going on, both in the planned and the unplanned. 00:40:07.394 --> 00:40:12.394 When the church gathers on the Lord's Day, everyone is called to participate. 00:40:14.570 --> 00:40:20.375 The call of the public participation shows up again and again in the Psalms, for example in Psalm 22, verse 22,. 00:40:20.375 --> 00:40:24.233 I will tell of your name to my brothers In the midst of the congregation. 00:40:24.233 --> 00:40:25.195 I will praise you. 00:40:25.195 --> 00:40:28.702 From you comes my praise in the great congregation. 00:40:28.702 --> 00:40:34.293 Psalm 35, verse 18, I will thank you in the great congregation, in the mighty throng. 00:40:34.293 --> 00:40:35.938 I will praise you. 00:40:36.731 --> 00:40:41.449 Psalm 40, verses 9 and 10, I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation. 00:40:41.449 --> 00:40:44.197 Behold, I have not restrained my lips. 00:40:44.197 --> 00:40:48.139 As you know, o Lord, I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart. 00:40:48.139 --> 00:40:51.219 I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation. 00:40:51.219 --> 00:40:56.449 I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation. 00:40:56.449 --> 00:41:01.202 In other words, when we get together like this, I know something's true about you. 00:41:01.202 --> 00:41:11.896 God has been at work in your life, god has been faithful to you, god has been good to you, god has been kind to you, god has provided for you, god has protected you. 00:41:12.449 --> 00:41:26.275 In between, the last time we gathered on the Lord's Day, god has been actively at work in your life and the Psalmist is saying that when I get together with God's people, I'm not going to keep my mouth shut, I'm not going to restrain my lips. 00:41:26.275 --> 00:41:30.503 I will speak up about your faithfulness. 00:41:30.503 --> 00:41:40.242 Is this your heart attitude when we gather as a congregation on the Lord's Day? 00:41:40.242 --> 00:41:42.409 No, let me under, let me, let me, let me please. 00:41:42.409 --> 00:41:51.775 I have to make this caveat because I don't want this to come across as a brow beat, because it's not my intention Beloved at all. 00:41:51.775 --> 00:41:59.320 There are times where we barely get ourselves out of that and we barely get here because our heart is so filled with lament, and I get it. 00:41:59.320 --> 00:42:00.572 I get that. 00:42:00.572 --> 00:42:13.409 There's times where we come in here and praise is not eagerly on my lips and you're lamenting and your heart is sorrowful and you're dealing with one aspect of living life in this fallen, broken world or another. 00:42:13.409 --> 00:42:14.753 I get it. 00:42:14.753 --> 00:42:16.420 There are times for that. 00:42:16.771 --> 00:42:23.721 But the regular experience of God's people is this God has been good. 00:42:23.721 --> 00:42:40.144 If he has not withheld his very own son from you Romans, chapter 8, verse 30, then how will he not also, with him, graciously give you all things? 00:42:40.144 --> 00:42:48.021 In between Lord's days, I can tell you this You've been experiencing incremental outpourings of the all things. 00:42:48.021 --> 00:42:51.298 He's been so good to you in Jesus. 00:42:51.298 --> 00:42:53.181 He's forgiven your sin. 00:42:53.181 --> 00:42:54.449 He's washed you clean. 00:42:54.449 --> 00:42:56.409 He's declared you righteous. 00:42:56.409 --> 00:43:01.242 You stand before his presence completes with exceeding joy. 00:43:01.242 --> 00:43:03.503 There is no condemnation for you. 00:43:03.503 --> 00:43:04.449 In Christ Jesus. 00:43:04.449 --> 00:43:14.500 Your sins have been separated as far as the east is from the west and at a minimum, when we come to this table, you can say thank you, lord, for saving my soul. 00:43:16.489 --> 00:43:17.655 But I believe there's more than that. 00:43:17.655 --> 00:43:39.538 You've been experiencing the goodness of God in the land of the living and when we come together in the congregation, you might not be a pastor, you might not be a musician, you may not have an assigned role in the liturgy, but, my friends, you are here, you have a mouth to clear his praise. 00:43:39.538 --> 00:43:54.704 As we gather, we should be committed to singing, declaring giving and joyfully expressing, with our entire being, wholehearted, praise and thanksgiving to God. 00:43:54.704 --> 00:43:57.231 And I want to make a side note. 00:43:57.231 --> 00:43:59.396 This was you say, this is all. 00:43:59.396 --> 00:44:01.199 This is all psalm. 00:44:01.199 --> 00:44:01.880 This is all good. 00:44:01.880 --> 00:44:05.434 We love the psalms, but where does this show up in the New Covenant? 00:44:05.434 --> 00:44:06.137 No, it has to. 00:44:06.137 --> 00:44:08.422 It has to repeat itself, but it does. 00:44:08.971 --> 00:44:15.873 This was the Pauline expectation of what would happen when the church would gather, in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 26,. 00:44:15.873 --> 00:44:22.405 What then, brothers, when you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. 00:44:22.405 --> 00:44:24.536 Let all things be done for building up. 00:44:24.536 --> 00:44:28.518 In other words, paul is saying when you get together, participate. 00:44:28.518 --> 00:44:34.297 When you get together, be eager to be a part of what's going on, don't be a spectator. 00:44:34.297 --> 00:44:38.139 You have not shown up for a Lord's Day production. 00:44:38.139 --> 00:44:42.378 You have shown up for Lord's Day congregational worship. 00:44:42.378 --> 00:44:47.297 And so Paul gives instructions. 00:44:47.297 --> 00:44:54.429 Here's how you do it in a way that's decent, in order, so that God is glorified, so that the church is edified and so that the lost are evangelized. 00:44:54.429 --> 00:44:56.449 Do it like this. 00:44:56.449 --> 00:45:00.449