Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Joining Praise With All Creation
21 Plays1 month ago
Psalm 148
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Psalm 148 and creation's beauty
00:00:00
Speaker
Damien Herbert ah wrote these famous lyrics ah in light of Psalm 148. forty eight When I open my eyes I can see every color of the rainbow on display for me.
00:00:16
Speaker
When I'm listening hard I can hear all the noises of creation making music to my ear. And I think to myself and so I sing it aloud because I want everybody to know What a wonderful God, what a wonderful world God has made.
00:00:32
Speaker
I can't keep my soul from singing out loud, what a wonderful world God has made. Indeed, what a wonderful God we have. Those are not some fabulous lyrics.
00:00:44
Speaker
and I thought to myself, if you noticed all of the backgrounds on the displays that we have up here, this is right from my back porch here in the parsonage, right out on the lake that's right here. so What we're thinking about today as we look at Psalm 148 is indeed the wonderful world that the Lord has made.
00:01:06
Speaker
It's a celebration of creation. That's what we're looking at today. God's creation is diverse. It's colorful. It's microscopic. It's macroscopic. And it's cosmic.
00:01:19
Speaker
And whether you're a believer or not, you can find it fascinating and inspiring and awesome. Some of the best unbelievers that we know that have come up with some of the most fantastic songs are inspired by God's creation.
Why does creation praise God?
00:01:37
Speaker
They just simply don't attribute it to God. They like to use the words like grand design.
00:01:44
Speaker
But for the believers, for you and I here today, the world that we are part of, as you step out today and look up at the beautiful sun and the blue skies and the clouds that you're able to ah enjoy today is a testimony to the endless creativity that our Lord and Savior, the one who made it all, who renews it all, who sustains it all, and rules and reigns it all.
00:02:11
Speaker
It's all for Him. As we read Psalm 48 today, you'll notice the word all is all over the place, and it's on purpose. I love Psalm 148, and for various reasons, it's just beautiful in its simplicity.
00:02:28
Speaker
And it's beautiful in its literary structure. The author took time to write it, and so I put it on your outline for you. You'll see a special parallelism that this is written in. It's a certain type of writing that accentuates part of this psalm.
00:02:47
Speaker
I don't know about you, but I wrote a question to myself earlier earlier this week, And I simply put, how do I describe God's creation with human words? Because I fail all the time with words like awesome and amazing.
00:03:02
Speaker
Or he's a genius. Doesn't quite capture, really, the English words of what God's creation truly is. The scriptures help us today. As a matter of fact, Psalm 148 to helps us to rightly appreciate God's creation.
00:03:19
Speaker
And it causes something within us, an impulse, to praise Him a certain way. And we're going to see what that is. Psalm 148 is a worship psalm.
00:03:32
Speaker
It is meant to be sung. It is meant to give praise to our Creator.
Universal call to worship in Psalm 148
00:03:37
Speaker
The great Jonathan Miller once said this. He said, Fit to burst with wonder and adoration,
00:03:44
Speaker
The praising heart of one believer desires to bring in all voices together, like a music conductor, bringing in first one and then another and then another into this vast choir of angelic singing all to the one magnificent Lord and Savior.
00:04:05
Speaker
It is indeed, he says, a creation which celebrates its creator. It's important. that we distinguish these two today. I lovingly want to tell you today that you are a creature.
00:04:19
Speaker
You are created. And He is the Creator. It's important that we get this concept. You'll see as you look at your outline where we're headed today. We're going to first ask ourselves, why should or who should praise the Lord? Who should praise God for this this fabulous creation that He's given us?
00:04:41
Speaker
We'll see two sections for that. Second, we'll say ask ourselves why that those groups of people or those groups of beings should worship the Lord. And finally, we'll say, if indeed all creation is called to worship, how can you and I do that today as we leave church?
00:04:59
Speaker
Psalm 148, verses 1 through 14 in the New Living Translation reads as follows.
00:05:09
Speaker
Praise the Lord from the heavens. Let me stop. Praise the Lord. That's the very first line. It's often missed. They think it's the heading of Psalm 148. It's really the very first verb.
00:05:22
Speaker
It says hallelujah. Or as the Texans would say, y'all praise God. That's how Psalm 148 starts. So let's read it as Texans, shall we?
00:05:34
Speaker
Y'all praise the Lord. Praise Him from the heavens. Praise Him from the skies. Praise Him, all His angels. Praise Him, all the armies of heaven.
00:05:48
Speaker
Praise Him, sun and moon. Praise Him, all you twinkling stars. Praise Him, skies above. Praise Him, vapors high above the clouds.
00:06:00
Speaker
Let every created thing give praise to the Lord. For he issued his command, and they came into being. He set them in place forever and ever, and his decree will never be revoked.
00:06:16
Speaker
Praise the Lord from the earth, you creatures of the oceans deep. Fire and hail, snow and clouds, wind and weather that obey him, mountains and all the hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all the livestock.
00:06:34
Speaker
small scurrying animals and birds, kings of the earth and all people, rulers and judges of the earth, young men and young women, old men and children.
00:06:46
Speaker
Let them all praise the name of the Lord, for His name is very great. His glory towers over the earth and the heaven, and He has made His people strong, honoring His faithful ones, the people of Israel who are close to Him.
00:07:07
Speaker
Y'all praise the Lord. Amen? I should simply end just with the reading, because it's fabulous just in itself. But what the psalmist is teaching us here is that all creation, all creation,
00:07:28
Speaker
And he goes on to divvy it up in two great sections here. Verses 1 through 6 groups everything above the earth.
00:07:39
Speaker
And in verse 7 through 12, he calls on everything on the earth.
00:07:44
Speaker
He's employing not just a parallel structure that you see in your outline there. What makes this so beautiful is, he says, the heavens on one end of the bookshelf and those on the earth on the other end of the bookshelf.
00:08:01
Speaker
He's using what's called a merism here, M-E-R-I-S-M. Those of you want to write that down, Google it and check it out. He's using this technique to say all, everything is to praise the Lord.
Natural elements as divine praise
00:08:17
Speaker
When was the last time you thought to yourself the sun and the moon praise the Lord? The stars at night that shine so bright.
00:08:27
Speaker
Oh, thank you. There are some true Texans here. Those stars praise the Lord simply by their twinkling.
00:08:40
Speaker
Have you thought about that recently as you've stepped out on your porch at night?
00:08:48
Speaker
He's not just saying all creation here by saying the heavens and the earth. He's wrapping up what the native Hebrew listener would have thought, oh, he's talking about Genesis.
00:09:06
Speaker
When Psalm 148 is read out loud and everybody is to sing it, especially the Israelites when they heard this, immediately they thought of the creation story. Genesis 1-1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the and the earth.
00:09:22
Speaker
And here now the psalmist is saying, praise God, you heavens, and you earth. right It's very purposeful. It's very structured.
00:09:33
Speaker
and And I like biblical passages that that quite often we read and we go, oh, it's beautiful in just it's in the native tongue. If you read it in English, it's beautiful in English.
00:09:46
Speaker
But there's it's it's multi-layered and I think this is what makes it so beautiful. Who should praise the Lord? Everyone should praise the Lord. Everything that He has made. And if He's a Conductor, like you would see the conductor up here as the choir sings, he's pointing his baton up at the sky and saying, you heavens, you angelic beings, you heavenly hosts, take delight in your maker.
00:10:18
Speaker
The army, it says here, elsewhere in the Old Testament, right, the Lord of hosts who deploys his faithful army for his purposes to defend his people against their enemies. Here he's saying, sing your adoration to your creator.
00:10:37
Speaker
The sun, the moon, the stars, all introduced in day four in the Genesis creation story. Then the waters above the skies, there's day two from the Genesis creation story.
00:10:48
Speaker
All are summoned, it says, to take part in this magnificent concert of praise. to the only one who deserves that praise.
00:11:00
Speaker
When was the last time I put that you stepped out on a clear night and you sat out on the back porch of your farms, far, far away from the Cameron City Lights? And you gazed up at the darkness and you saw the beautiful tapestry that's in the sky, God's handiwork, the peering stars, the shining stars peering down upon you.
00:11:23
Speaker
I told Kim but when we visit our friends in Tennessee, they live in a place that's very dark. And they like to sit out at night and they like to look at all the stars up there. and And they'll say, do you see that right there?
00:11:36
Speaker
And I'm expecting them to say that's the North Star or that's some type of constellation. They'll say, no, no, do you see? It's moving really fast. That's a satellite.
00:11:49
Speaker
And they play games at how many people can count the satellites. and how many so I mean, there's there's there's so many beautiful stars out there, but when you see something like that in the sky, you just want to say at the top of your lungs, thank you, Elon Musk, for all those internet satellites that you're polluting our skies with.
00:12:10
Speaker
For what? A high download speed?
Heavens declare God's glory vs atheism
00:12:12
Speaker
I mean, come on. No, you thank the Lord, because the majesty... that's in the sky. I'll just put here, when was the last time you thanked the Lord for the stars at night?
00:12:31
Speaker
Psalm 148 is not unique in this type of praise. Psalm 19 says, The heavens declare the glory of God, and the skies proclaim His handiwork. Day after day they pour forth speech, night after night they display knowledge.
00:12:45
Speaker
Which, by the way, anytime you confront an atheist who doesn't believe in God, this is my go-to verse right here. Psalm 19. If you want to take notes, now would be a good time to write that down.
00:12:56
Speaker
Psalm 19, verse 1 and 2. Anybody who tells you, I simply don't believe God created this, you just agree with them. It's super easy.
00:13:07
Speaker
You don't challenge them. I say, I completely agree with you. However, the stars are declaring his glory every night, all by themselves, just by their twinkling.
00:13:19
Speaker
See, because what that does is that tells that person there is a creator. Those stars just didn't appear sometime by themselves. They were created.
00:13:30
Speaker
They were placed in just such a way that you and I can enjoy them high above the earth.
00:13:39
Speaker
He says, not only do the angels and the heavenly hosts and the stars and the moon and the clouds, all those together, by the way, nine times the word all is used, all are called to praise the Lord, praise the Creator.
00:13:58
Speaker
And verse 7 starts now, under the clouds, not in the heavens, but on the earth. Then the inhabitants here of the earth, the oceans, the are called to sing.
00:14:10
Speaker
Even says, i like this, your translation may may read, the the vapors in the air, right? The very weather that you and I experience, maybe not here in Texas, but the very weather praises the Lord.
00:14:26
Speaker
you ever thought about that? When a vicious tornado comes, lauraa or a torrential downpour, That weather God created, it's praising Him simply by doing what it does. We're going to get to that just a second.
00:14:44
Speaker
I put here everything above the earth, everything on the earth, everything. that the geologist studies, the botanist studies, the zoologist studies, all of these are singing together in this magnificent choir that praises the Lord. Not just the stars, not just the sun.
00:15:07
Speaker
We're singing that same song, by the way, with them, praising the Lord. I put a note to myself after listening this past Wednesday to our choir practice, by the way. They did a fabulous job.
00:15:19
Speaker
I wrote a note that night as I went home. I need to practice my eternal song. Because friends, when we get to heaven, we're all joining in this eternal song.
00:15:32
Speaker
We're all singing this song of praise to our Creator.
00:15:38
Speaker
All voices are called upon to sing. All voices are called upon to give praise. And I just put down, think about that for a second, not just here on earth right now with the diversity of people that you see around you, but imagine when we get to heaven.
00:15:52
Speaker
How many different people? Just here on earth, Google tells me, 6.8 billion of us. Is that true? Google says it is.
00:16:05
Speaker
On earth, 6.8 billion people. 13,000 linguistic people groups. 510 million square miles on this earth.
00:16:18
Speaker
All of us are called to celebrate. Those in India, those in Iran that are receiving the Bibles for the first time are called to praise the Creator.
00:16:31
Speaker
But why? Why are we called? Well, that's our next section here, verse our next section in our outline. Why should everybody praise? Well, because it says verse 5 and these two kind of cap it for us with the four statements.
00:16:49
Speaker
Why? Because He reigns. Heaven and earth are called to praise, and the reason is given at the end of each section. Look with me here real quick. At the end of verse...
00:17:05
Speaker
let Let me just read the beginning of verse 1, and I'm going to just say the first word of each of each verse. Praise, praise, praise. Praise, praise, praise, praise.
00:17:20
Speaker
Let every created thing praise. Why? For. That's why. This is our for. This is the reason why we do it. Verse 4. Because he issued a command and they came into being.
00:17:32
Speaker
He spoke it into existence and it came into being. By the way, the only function God did not give us. I want you to be very clear on
God's unique creative power
00:17:42
Speaker
that.
00:17:42
Speaker
If anybody tells you, you simply need to speak something into existence because this is a very new age philosophy that's being passed around these days. Friends, if you're sick and you need to be healthy, you simply need to speak that into existence. Have you heard that?
00:17:58
Speaker
It's the biggest lie ever. I'm here to tell you, God has not given you that function. You have no ability to speak anything into existence. That's only the Creator. You are the created.
00:18:11
Speaker
used to have a pastor a long time ago, and when he first used to tell us that we were creatures, I used to think, i don't really like the way that sounds. I like being referred to as a creature. But then when I realize there's the painter and there's the painting, right?
00:18:30
Speaker
You are the painting. Maybe that's a better, softer word than creature. He is the painter. He is the creator. He's the one who speaks it into existence and it happens just the way he wanted it to happen.
00:18:43
Speaker
You and I are the created and this is why we worship him because he creates people and He reigns over that which He creates. Praise the Lord for, verse 5 says.
00:18:58
Speaker
Praise the Lord, verse 13 says, for, and you'll interested you'll be interested to know at the end of verse 13, it also tells us, for His name is very great, and His glory towers over the earth and the heavens.
00:19:15
Speaker
Both the heavens and the earth are called to praise Him for the exact same reason. They are governed by the Lord who reigns.
00:19:26
Speaker
Both the heavens and the earth, those inhabitants in both the heavens and the earth are called to praise Him because He created them and He sustains them.
00:19:37
Speaker
Do you realize that the earth still spins today the way it spins and just the right tilt because he sustains that. Have you thought about praising him for that?
00:19:51
Speaker
It's the little things I often think we overlook.
00:19:55
Speaker
His voice of authority gives the heavens their continuing existence. He's the ruler, he's the governor, and he rules and reigns, it says, forever.
00:20:07
Speaker
From the predictable orbits of the planets, to the magnificent, unpredictable discovery of new stars that's happening all the time. By the way, do you think when we discover a new star that God's caught off guard?
00:20:20
Speaker
What? There's a new star out there? He put that star exactly where it needs to be. Verse 13 and 14, we see this same theme reemerges, the reasons why we praise him.
00:20:33
Speaker
It says because his name is the highest name. It's another way of saying that no one can match His brilliance. No one can match His glory. This is why we praise Him.
00:20:46
Speaker
And those who lavish their praise upon Him are called His saints, or His beloved ones, you'll see, depending upon your translation. What's interesting to me, friends, as I studied this again this week, of all the things that are mentioned, the angels, the the heavenly hosts, the sun, the moon, the stars.
00:21:08
Speaker
There's only one thing that's referred to as His.
00:21:14
Speaker
Do you notice that? Look me in verse 14. It says, He has made His people. Of all the things that He's created, there's a special relationship that He has with you and I.
00:21:32
Speaker
We are special above all creation.
00:21:38
Speaker
What makes it so unique, this covenant relationship, this loving relationship, that nothing else that's created has You and I are special in this regard.
Human's covenant with God and authentic praise
00:21:52
Speaker
He who reigns over you, he who's created you, he who sustains you, who loves you, who calls you his own, deserves praise.
00:22:05
Speaker
That's why when I read Psalm 158, I like to just read praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise Him. praise him Praise Him.
00:22:16
Speaker
Praise Him. Praise Him. Praise Him. Praise the Lord.
00:22:24
Speaker
Praise the Lord. Praise Him.
00:22:30
Speaker
For His name is very great. He has made his people strong, honoring his faithful ones, the holy ones, the saints, the people of Israel who are close to him. Y'all praise the Lord.
00:22:44
Speaker
Hallelujah.
00:22:46
Speaker
So how can you and I praise the Lord? This is where we're going end today. How do we praise him? Simply, the go-to answer is, well, pastor, I'm going to do it with my voice, and going to sing loud and proud and everybody at church is going to hear me and God's going to hear me because I have a fabulous voice.
00:23:04
Speaker
Right? Is that our go-to answer when we think what does it mean to praise the Lord? do you praise Him quietly in your prayer time?
00:23:13
Speaker
How do we praise the Lord? Well, according to Psalm 148 here, It's very apparent that he's created you and I and our purpose is to indeed praise him.
00:23:25
Speaker
And if that's the the demand, if that's the call, how do we praise him? Well, simply look at how everything else is praising him. It says that the stars that are at night praise him by simply being the stars.
00:23:41
Speaker
The sun, just shining like the sun, pleases God.
00:23:49
Speaker
The moon, just being the moon, pleases God.
00:23:56
Speaker
You'll notice what it doesn't say. It doesn't say the moon, who's trying to identify as the sun, pleases God. I say that half-jokingly, friends, but we live in a society now that tells you that it's okay to say, I'm not what God created me.
00:24:15
Speaker
you know what that You know what that does in ah in a very sick and twisted way? This is exactly what Satan wants to do when he accomplishes this. He wants to make you think you're the creator ah instead of being the created.
00:24:29
Speaker
Somehow the painting now becomes the painter by saying, I don't like being a painting anymore. I want to be something else. God is saying the best way that you can praise him is by being what he made you to be.
00:24:46
Speaker
You simply glorify Him by being who you are. And I just put a note, church family, God doesn't make mistakes. So if you're here today and you think somehow God put me in the wrong body, or you live with somebody that's telling you I'm not made, God made some mistake along the way, i should be a girl, instead I'm a boy, or vice versa.
00:25:11
Speaker
It's an identity problem. Make difference. assumptions about that. But they're forgetting whose they are in that picture. God is the creator. He's the one who created you just the way you are.
00:25:25
Speaker
How do we glorify Him? We glorify Him simply by being the way He made you. And second, I put by staying exactly where He placed you. You notice at night when you're looking out at the North Star, it's always the same place, right?
00:25:41
Speaker
That's the beauty of the North Star. The North Star doesn't someday wake up and go, you know, i think I want to be 15 degrees to the west.
00:25:53
Speaker
The North Star is placed exactly where God wants that star to be. And friends, the same is true for you and I. He's placed you exactly where you are at.
00:26:07
Speaker
You won't become more pleasing to God by becoming a pastor unless He's called you to be a pastor. You won't be any more pleasing to God if you're housewife or a student or a nurse or a scientist, especially a scientist today.
00:26:23
Speaker
Whether you're an introvert or an extrovert, whether you're an artsy type or an engineering type,
00:26:31
Speaker
whether you think you work in a dull place or an exciting place, all bring pleasure to God by getting on, by being who they are, exactly where God has placed you right now.
00:26:43
Speaker
You can glorify him at home if you're stay-at-home mother or a stay-at-home dad. You can glorify him as a stay-at-home student, which I loved, by the way. I watched a comedian on online the other night, and he said, I i was homeschooled my entire life.
00:27:01
Speaker
He said, it's super awkward at prom. And I thought, I never even realized that. Where y'all guys go at prom, right? Yeah. You, as a home student, can glorify God simply by by being a home student.
00:27:18
Speaker
Now, those are you going off to college, you can please him by being a college student. I'm told even at A&M. um I'm not sure. there's We need a lot of Christians at the different colleges.
00:27:31
Speaker
Be who God made you to be, where he placed you to be. And then I just what wrote down famous words by Warren Wiersbe here. He simply said, don't waste your life by waiting for it to be something else before it can glorify God.
00:27:51
Speaker
He said, caterpillars glorify God before they ever become a butterfly. How awesome is that?
00:28:05
Speaker
Friends, it's only by glorifying God in the workplace, at home, through your friends, through your relationships. Being who we are meant to be, who we were created to be, and sharing in and this lifelong song of praise to God that we truly reflect back to him his magnificence.
00:28:28
Speaker
May we be a people who performs in this grand choir that God has made and all people say, Amen.