Rev. David Holwick V (very well received)
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
June 17, 2012
Psalm 47:1-9
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I. A little honor can go a long way.
A. Flash mob at Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington, D.C.
A flash mob is a creation of the internet age.
Someone sends a message to others they know through email or
cell phones, to gather at a certain place.
Seemingly out of nowhere, a mob of people assembles at the
chosen spot and begins to dance, or sing, or do something.
Some flash mobs are even more spontaneous.
Chris Muller was waiting for a flight at Washington's airport
back in May.
At 9:30 a.m. a US Airways gate attendant announced that an
Honor Flight of World War II veterans would be arriving soon.
He asked for others in the area to help greet them.
Chris walked over to the gate to add his presence, and noticed
a small welcoming committee of around 5.
Then something happened he didn't expect - all over the terminal,
people left their gates and walked over.
The first old vet walked through the door.
He was frail and needed help walking.
Every person in the terminal stood and applauded.
And it didn't stop.
For a full 20 minutes, as veteran after veteran stepped through
the gate, people thundered their appreciation.
Many shook their hands and others held back tears.
Chris concluded that honor may be difficult to describe, but
now he knows what it looks like.
#63627
B. Today we honor our fathers.
1) I bought mine a card. (you open it and it plays a humorous
song - I go all-out)
2) Many will call their dads today, or take them out to eat.
3) How will you honor your Heavenly Father?
C. God wants honor like any other father.
1) The essence of worship is our giving praise to God.
2) Do we just go through the motions, or is it genuine?
II. Praise is at the heart of worship.
A. Everyone likes to be praised.
1) We appreciate compliments and being honored.
2) So does God.
B. Why we should praise God.
1) For who God is.
2) For what he has done.
3) For what he has promised to do.
C. What is the best way to praise God?
1) Praise can come in many forms:
a) Words.
b) Gestures or movements of the body.
c) Songs.
2) People have definite ideas about how to do it right.
a) Sometimes we think our way is the right way, and other
ways are wrong.
b) You probably don't think much about it until you find
yourself in a different kind of church.
1> Put a Presbyterian in a Pentecostal church.
2> Or a Baptist in a Catholic church, and vice-versa.
c) The way people worship God can be very different.
III. Is there a wrong way to praise?
A. Ongoing discussion among our deacons.
1) Should people applaud after special music or a choir piece?
a) Should you even shout "Amen!"?
2) Should you raise their hands during the prayer, or while
singing?
3) Should you talk during the organ prelude?
4) Should you go to the restroom during a prayer?
a) Some of these are in the realm of public etiquette but
others focus on praise styles.
B. There is more than one way to give glory to God.
1) The Bible supports the solemn approach. (Presbyterian style)
a) Silence is appropriate behavior in God's presence.
Habakkuk 2:20
"The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be
silent before him."
b) A quiet, meditative mode can help you focus on God.
2) There is also a more festive approach. (Pentecostal style)
a) Loud music, with percussion.
1> Psalm 150 includes trumpets, tambourines, and
cymbals - "resounding" cymbals.
b) Dancing is mentioned on occasion.
c) Raising your hands in holy praise.
1 Timothy 2:8
"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer."
d) Even clapping and shouting.
Psalm 47:1
"Clap your hands...shout to God with cries of joy."
In one of her books, Joyce Meyer writes:
"I remember a very dignified woman who had been a
member of a traditional church most of her life.
She often spoke of the noise and confusion in charismatic
churches (although she had not been to one).
Then she visited one of the services where I spoke and
was transformed.
"I couldn't believe that God would ask me to do something
like clap my hands or sing loudly or even shout.
But when I saw the joy on the faces of those in the
congregation and heard you quote the Bible verse that
says, 'Oh clap your hands all you people, shout unto
God with a voice of triumph' what else could I
do?" [1]
C. Different traditions have their preferences.
1) Neither loud nor quiet is wrong.
a) However, it can be incongruous to combine both in one
service.
2) A truly Christian approach is to let everyone worship as
they feel led.
a) If you don't feel led to respond the same way, don't.
IV. Praise has been a target of criticism for a long time.
A. King David got zinged by his wife. 2 Samuel 6
12 ... David went down and brought up the ark of God from
the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with
rejoicing.
13 When those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had
taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened
calf.
14 David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD
with all his might,
15 while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the
ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.
16 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David,
Michal daughter of Saul [also, David's wife] watched
from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and
dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.
20 When David returned home to bless his household, Michal
daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, "How
the king of Israel has distinguished himself today,
disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his
servants as any vulgar fellow would!"
21 David said to Michal, "It was before the LORD, who chose
me rather than your father or anyone from his house
when he appointed me ruler over the LORD'S people
Israel -- I will celebrate before the LORD.
22 I will become even more undignified than this, and I
will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave
girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor."
23 And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day
of her death.
B. The crowds praising Jesus during the triumphal entry into
Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Luke 19:37
1) Religious leaders criticized this outburst, but Jesus
said the rocks would praise God if the people were
not allowed to.
2) I think Jesus tended to take the festive approach to praise.
V. The only praise that God criticizes.
A. Hypocrisy - raising your hands but having a dirty heart.
Isaiah 1:15-16
"When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my
eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will
not listen. Your hands are full of blood; wash and make
yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight!"
B. Half-hearted worship.
1) Much of our praise is pretty limp.
a) We go through the motions with no thought or passion.
b) It's like a discount Father's Day card with no message,
no gift card, no cash, just a scribbled name.
2) Real praise comes from real experience.
a) If you are not born-again, a typical church service
is lame.
b) There has to be something inside you that connects with
it.
I arrived early Clinton Drymon's mother's funeral
yesterday.
The organist and saxophonist were practicing their
pieces, followed by the prelude music.
One of the selections was the hymn "Abide With Me."
I love that hymn.
But it is slow and kind of draggy to most people.
What grabbed me is that I can relate to it - I know
that in difficult times, God WILL be there for me.
If you don't have the experience, the promise means
nothing.
3) Worship has to have a reason.
Evangelist Baily Smith tells of a school system in East
Texas that consolidated with a larger school nearby.
The football team of the smaller school was disbanded, but
the cheerleaders still had their new uniforms,
megaphones and pom-poms.
They asked the principal of the school into which they had
been consolidated if they could hold their own pep
rallies on Thursday afternoons since the regular pep
rallies were on Friday.
The principal approved it so on Thursday afternoons the
students of the old school gathered in the auditorium
and their cheerleaders led them in rousing cheers.
The only problem was that their team never played a single
game.
In fact they didn't even have a football team.
The church is the place where we have our pep rally for God.
If he is not in your life, all this is pretty pointless.
-Until you discover what it's all about.
#5990
C. Keep the focus on God.
1) Even lively worship can actually be human-centered.
a) This is why the choir would prefer we not clap.
1> Clapping draws attention to the performance.
2> They want to draw attention to God.
b) You might say that their performance is the choir's
applause for God.
2) In everything we do here, remember who we are singing about,
who we are praying to.
a) It is about HIM, not us.
b) Do you know Him?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] “Start Your New Life Today: An Exciting New Beginning With God,”
Joyce Meyer (FaithWords, Hachette Book Group USA, New York, NY,
2008)
# 5990 “Cheerleaders Without A Team,” by Bailey Smith, from his book
“Real Evangelism,” p. 49. Roddy Chestnut Collection, entered
July 25, 1993.
#63627 “What Honor Looks Like,” by Chris Muller, May 23, 2012.
<http://www.mullerover.com/2012/05/23/what-honor-looks-like-
the-flash-mob-at-gate-38-of-reagan-national-airport/>.
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