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The Purpose of Praise · CCC West Covina

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Most of us probably have never heard of the man by the name of
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Martin Rinkard, but he was the son of a coppersmith and he was
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raised in a very poor family. But he decided one day to make
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sure he furthered his education, especially in the realm of
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theology. Upon his graduation, he became a
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pastor in his his hometown of Eidenberg, Germany in the year
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1617. The interesting thing about that
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is in the year 1618 the 30 years war in Europe broke out and
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Martin Rinkert only only pastored for 32 years.
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So 30 of the 32 years he was engulfed in war and conflict.
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In the year 1637, a massive plague began to sweep through
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all of Europe. And then once it reached his
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town of Eidenberg, people began to die in droves.
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They say that 50 people a day died.
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A total of 8000 people died in that town alone, and Martin was
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the man who ended up burying most of them because all of his
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pastor friends died in the plague.
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Another person who died in the plague was his very own wife, so
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he buried her as well. In all, over the 30 years war, 8
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million people were killed. And so 30 of the 32 years of his
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pastoral ministry, he embarked on war and conflict.
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Loss, plague, disease, pain. He spent his whole ministry
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comforting those who had lost loved ones.
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He spent his whole ministry trying to help bury those who
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had died. He spent his ministry trying to
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help people understand the the sovereignty of God and the
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presence of God in their lives. And during that time, he he
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wrote a hymn, A hymn that is in our hymn book even today.
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And he wrote that hymn specifically because he wanted
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the people of Eilenberg to understand that the only way
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through their adversity was through Thanksgiving.
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So he wrote this hymn called Now we Think We All are God.
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This is how it goes. Now we think we all are God with
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heart and hands and voices, who wondrous things hath done, in
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whom his world rejoices, who from our Mother's arms hath
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blessed us on our way with countless gifts of love, and
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still is ours today. O May, this bounty is God
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through all our life, be near us with ever joyful hearts and
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blessed peace to cheer us and keep us in His grace, and guide
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us when perplexed, and free us from all ills in this world and
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the next. All praise and thanks to God the
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Father now be given the Son and Him who reigns with them in
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highest heaven, the one eternal God, whom earth and heaven
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adore, For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.
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He wrote that Him in the midst of all the pain that He himself
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had experienced, but knew that the only way to make it through
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the hardship of his life was to give thanks and to rejoice in
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his God. A lesson that He understood
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because He, like us, was on the pathway to praise, a pathway
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that would take Him one day into glory.
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But He understood Isaiah 43 verse #21 that the, the people
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who are called by My name, they, they will declare my praise.
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He understood that. He also understood Psalm 147
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verse #1 which says for it is good to sing praises to God, for
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it is pleasant, and praise is becoming or beautiful or
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fitting. He understood that when when we
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neglect to give joy and praise to God, life loses its luster,
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our soul loses its song. And Martin Rinkert wasn't about
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to lose the luster of the beauty of his life by not giving praise
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to God, but simply to thank him and to honor his blessed name.
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And that's what he did. Thus, all these years later, we
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sing this hymn, and yet very few of us understand that in the
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midst of whatever it is we're going through, the only way
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through it and the only way out of it is through hymns of
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Thanksgiving and praise to our God.
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And so to better understand that, we've embarked on this
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journey called The Pathway to Praise.
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We began several weeks ago looking at the privilege of
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praise. Then we looked at the profit of
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praise, then the people of praise, then the prerequisites,
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the praise. Last week it was the priority of
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praise. This week, it's the purpose of
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praise. What is the purpose of praise?
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Well, we're going to give you 4 then this morning.
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The first one you will readily recognize.
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The next three, maybe not so much.
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But in all reality, they build 1 upon the other.
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And when you understand the purpose of praise, the pathway
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to praise becomes a whole lot smoother.
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So point #1 is this that the purpose of praise primarily is
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to fulfill a command from God. You understand that praise
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fulfills the command from God. I've told you the last couple of
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weeks that the most frequently repeated command that all of
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Scripture is to either rejoice always or to praise the Lord or
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to give thanks to His name. The Bible records that command
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to give thanks 85 different times.
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It it commands us to praise the Lord 250 times, and it commands
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us to rejoice 300 times. So well over 600 times in the
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Bible we are commanded to to give praise to God, to rejoice
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always, to give thanks to his name.
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It's a command that we obey. Paul would know that.
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And so when he wrote to those in Thessalonica, he said, for he
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simply this rejoice always, pray without ceasing in everything.
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Give thanks. For this is the will of God in
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Christ Jesus concerning you. It is God's will for you to be
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joyful, prayerful, and thankful. These are commands that God has
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given to us and we are to obey them.
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We are to follow them, the Bible says in First Timothy chapter 2
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verse #1 First of all then, I urge that entreaties and prayers
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and petitions and Thanksgiving be made on behalf of all men for
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kings and all who are in authority.
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God says, I command you to not just pray for your kings, not
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just petition me about those in authority, but I want you to
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give thanks for all your kings and all those in authority.
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I'm sure that you pray for our governor, but do you thank the
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Lord for our governor? I'm sure you pray for our
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president, but do you thank the Lord for your president?
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I'm sure you pray for your spouse, but do you thank the
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Lord for your spouse? I'm sure you pray for your boss
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at work. You should, but do you give
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thanks to God for your boss at work?
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Someone has said this. When a person prays without
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Thanksgiving, he has clipped the wings of prayer so that it
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cannot rise. So you pray for your governor,
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but you don't thank the Lord for your governor, so your prayers
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do not rise. You petition the Lord on behalf
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of your boss, but you don't give thanks to God for your boss, and
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therefore your prayers refuse to rise.
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We forget that Thanksgiving and praise and prayer go hand in
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hand. You can't have one without the
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other. It's imperative that we we
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understand this. We, we are to be anxious for
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nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
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Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.
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So the reason we don't rid ourselves of anxiety is not
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because we don't pray. We do, but we don't pray with
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Thanksgiving. And therefore our anxiousness
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resides within us still because we refuse to praise the Lord and
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therefore clip the wings of prayer so they do not rise
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praise. Thanksgiving fulfills a command
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from God. It says in John chapter 14,
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these words verse #15 If you love me, you will keep my
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commandments. So put it into today's message.
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If you love me, you will praise me.
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You will give thanks to me, You will rejoice in me if you love
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me, He says down in verse #23 If anyone loves me, he will keep my
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word. What's my word?
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My command to give thanks and to praise me.
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And my Father will love him, and we will make our abode with Him.
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He who does not love me does not keep my words, and the word
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which you here is not mine, but the fathers who sent me.
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If you love me, you'll praise me.
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If you love me, you'll give thanks to me.
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Because it's a command that God has given.
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And He made it very clear that if you love me, you'll keep my
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commandments. Excuse me.
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So he says this in verse 21 of John 14.
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He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves
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me, who loves me, will be loved by my Father, and I will love
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him and will disclose myself to him.
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In other words, if you love me, you will praise me.
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If you praise me, I will manifest myself to you.
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I will disclose myself to you if you praise me, if you give
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thanks, if you obey the most frequently repeated command in
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the Scriptures, I will manifest myself to you in such a way that
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you will understand me. And one of the reasons we have a
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hard time comprehending God is because we refuse to obey the
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command to give thanks to Him, to praise Him, or to rejoice in
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Him. And so #2 point #2 is this.
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If praise fulfills the commandment from God, then
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praise is that which furthers my consciousness of God.
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Praise furthers my consciousness of God.
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A thankful spirit is the single greatest act of personal worship
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because it recognizes God for who he is.
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So if I give praise to God, if I obey the command of God to
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rejoice always, then what God does is He manifests Himself to
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me. He furthers my consciousness of
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His existence, of His presence, of who He is.
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For example, He furthers my consciousness of His Holiness.
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The Bible says in Psalm 30 verse #4 Give thanks at the
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remembrance of His holy name. Give thanks at the remembrance
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of His holy name. In Psalm 99, God three times
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says that He is holy, that we are to give thanks to Him.
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For the Lord your God is a holy God.
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Stephen Charnock has written voluminously about the
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attributes of God. In it he says this is about
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God's holiness. He says God's holiness is the
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crown of all His attributes, the life of all His decrees, the
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brightness of all of his actions.
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Nothing is decreed by Him, nothing is acted by Him, but
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what is worthy of the dignity and becoming the honor of this
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attribute. In other words, God is a God of
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grace, and that grace is a holy grace.
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God is a God of love, and that God is a holy love.
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Our God is a God of wrath, and that wrath is a holy wrath.
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Our God is a God of justice, and it's a holy justice.
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Our God is a God of righteousness.
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It's a holy righteousness. The law of the Lord is holy.
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He's given us His Spirit. It's called the Holy Spirit.
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So in other words, when we fulfill a command given to us by
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God, it furthers our consciousness of God by helping
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us to understand not just His Holiness, but even His nearness.
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Listen to what the Bible says over in Psalm 75 verse #1 Unto
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thee, O God, do we give thanks, for thy name is near.
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I give thanks because Lord, you are near, You are present.
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Paul would say in Philippians chapter 4 verse #4 Rejoice in
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the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice.
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Why does he say that verse 5 for the Lord is near and because the
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Lord is near be anxious for nothing but in everything my
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prayer and suffocation with Thanksgiving.
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Let your requests be made note unto God.
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So there's this rejoice always. Then there's this prayer with
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Thanksgiving, but right in between there is the Lord is
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near. So when I fulfill A commandment
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from God to give praise to His name, it furthers my
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consciousness of God. Not just His Holiness, but His
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nearness. And not just His nearness, but
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His willingness. Listen to what the Bible says.
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The Bible says this in 2nd Corinthians 915.
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Thanks being to God for His indescribable gift.
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What's the gift? The gift of the eternal life.
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How did we receive the gift of eternal life?
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Because of His willingness to come and die, right?
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He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made
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the righteousness of God in Him. He willingly did that.
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He did not think equality with God something to be grasped, but
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He willingly took on the form of a servant, became a man and
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died. The Bible says, For you know the
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grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that although he was rich, yet
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for your sake he became poor. That youth through his poverty
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might become rich. He did that willingly.
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And when you fulfill a command to to God to rejoice always, to
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to give thanks to Him, to praise His glorious name, it
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automatically furthers your consciousness of who God is by
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understanding His Holiness. By understanding his nearness,
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by understanding his willingness, by understanding
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his forgiveness, Paul would say in First Timothy 112, I thank
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Christ Jesus my Lord for he because of him I was shown
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mercy, Mercy. I was forgiven, the Bible says
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in Nehemiah 917 Thou art a God of forgiveness.
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Ephesians 432 God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us.
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That's what our Lord has done. And whenever I fulfill A
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commandment by God to obey Him because I love him, He discloses
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himself to me. It furthers my consciousness of
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God that I might understand who he is and what He's done.
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If you go through the through the Bible, you can understand
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more about his greatness, more about his goodness, more about
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his loving kindness, more about his graciousness, more about his
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uniqueness as God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy
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Spirit. All that is just open up to me
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because I've obeyed the commandment of God, because I
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love him so. So the Bible teaches that when I
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give thanks to God and praise his glorious name, it fulfills A
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commandment from God. And once it fulfills the
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commandment from God, it furthers my consciousness of
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God. And then it forges my
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convictions about God. It forges my convictions.
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It solidifies my convictions. It strengthens my convictions.
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It shapes my convictions about God.
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Think of Martin Rinkert when he would fulfill A commandment by
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God to give thanks. It helped him understand and see
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God for who he is and only shaped and solidified his
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convictions about God. You can see that in the life of
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Jonah as he sat in the belly of the fish, his convictions about
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God were forged. Or Job after you'd lost
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everything in Job 121. The Lord gives and the Lord
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takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
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His convictions were only forged all the more through his adverse
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circumstances. Or even Habakkuk looked at him
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last week. Habakkuk chapter 3.
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His convictions were forged all the more when he became
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conscious about his God and his sovereignty and his wisdom.
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But how about Daniel the prophet?
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Turn back with me, if you would, to Daniel chapter 6.
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Daniel chapter 6. Daniel is the one man who led in
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two world empires. Daniel was taken off into
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captivity when he was around 16 years of age.
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He was taken from his family. He was taken from his town.
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He was hauled off into captivity for 70 years and yet all the
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while Daniel was one who fulfilled A commandment from God
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by giving thanks to the Lord, and it only furthered his
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consciousness of God and only forged his convictions about
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God. And he was one who would pray
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and give Thanksgiving to God every single day.
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When you come to Daniel chapter 6, he overseas the 120 different
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state traps and commissioners in the land.
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He's put in charge. And those who did not know the
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Lord, we're not happy that Daniel was put in charge.
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And so they came against him, trying to defame the man's name
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and to get him removed from his position of authority.
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Understand that that Daniel was there primarily because of the
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sovereignty of God. God placed him there.
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God put him there. God was going to use him there.
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But there was something about the person humanly that was
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unique because the Bible says in Daniel 6 verse #4 that he had an
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extraordinary spirit. It wasn't what everybody else
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had. He his character was, was
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unique. And it goes on to say in verse
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number #5 and six that he was faithful to his God.
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He was committed to his God. And so from the divine
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standpoint, God placed him there.
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But from the human standpoint, he was a man of great character
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who honored his God. And so the efforts of those he
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oversaw to discredit him, they could find nothing about the
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man. They could find nothing in the
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man because he was of supreme integrity.
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And so they decided to have the king, King Darius, sign a decree
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that you could not bow down and worship or pray to any other God
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than the great king himself. So Darius did, and this is
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Daniel's response in verse #10 Now when Daniel knew that the
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document was signed, he entered his house.
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Now, in his roof chamber he had windows open towards Jerusalem.
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He continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying
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and giving thanks before his God as he had been previously doing.
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He did the same thing he always did.
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He prayed and he praised his God.
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You see, we we get so wrapped up in preserving and protecting our
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lives that we forget to pray and to praise the God who truly is
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the protector and preserver of our life.
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So because we forget to pray and praise the God who protects and
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preserves, we set out a journey to protect and to preserve our
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own lives as if we are God of our lives and the true God of
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the universe is not. But Daniel knew that the only
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way to be protected and preserved was to pray and to
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praise. So we did.
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He knew the outcome. He knew what was going to
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happen. But his convictions were forged
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in conflict. His convictions were shaped and
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molded in conflict because he had fulfilled the command from
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God that furthered his consciousness of God, that
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forged his convictions about his God.
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He wasn't afraid, wasn't scared. He distrusted Darius, was a
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strong because he loved Daniel, but he knew there was no way out
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of the document that he signed. So Daniel was thrown into the
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lion's den. Of course, you know the story.
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Almost everybody knows the story.
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But in the very next day, Darius wakes up at dawn, verse 19, at
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the break of day, and went in haste to the lion's den.
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When he had come near the den to Daniel, he cried out with a
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troubled voice. The king spoke and said to
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Daniel, Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom
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you constantly serve, been able to deliver you from the lions?
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Then Daniel spoke to the king. O king, live forever.
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My God sent his Angel and shut the lion's mouths.
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They have not harmed me it as much as I was found innocent
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before him. And also towards you, O King, I
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have committed no crying. Incredible narrative the Lord
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gives us about Daniel. My God was able to do exactly
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what he said He would do. The Bible says in Ephesians
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chapter 3 that our God is able to do exceeding abundantly above
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all that we can ever ask or think according to the power
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that works within us. Our God's able to do that.
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He's able to go way beyond what we can ever ask or think because
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he's equipped us with his power. And I wonder if, if if you have,
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you have seen that in your life and in your family that your God
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is able to do way beyond what you can ever imagine, what you
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can ever conjure up in your mind.
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Because of the power that works within us, our God is able to do
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incredible things. But if we disobey a command
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which says we are to give thanks in everything, we are to rejoice
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always, we are to praise His glorious name.
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And God gives us that command repeatedly all throughout the
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Scriptures. If we don't do that, then we
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will not receive a further understanding of who God is, and
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therefore our convictions about Him will become very, very weak.
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But not Daniel, not Job, not Paul, not those heroes of faith
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in Hebrews Chapter 11. No, their convictions were
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shaped and strengthened and solidified because they were
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people of praise. So what is the purpose of praise
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Number one? It fulfills a command from God
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#2 it furthers our consciousness of God #3 it forges our
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convictions about God. And once it does that, it just
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fuels our commitment to God. It fuels our commitment to God.
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It's almost like our commitment is set ablaze with passion, with
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drive. And so our commitment to God
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never wavers, never goes by the wayside simply because we
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understand who our God is. We shared with you Acts 16 about
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Paul and Silas when they're in prison.
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Paul and Silas were men of praise.
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They fulfilled the commandment from God, thus further in their
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consciousness of God, thus forging their convictions about
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this God they served only fueled their commitment while they were
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in prison to praise and to pray to their God without ever
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knowing they would be set free from the shackles that
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enraptured them. Same is true with the apostles
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of Acts chapter 5. They were men of praise.
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Read Acts 2. The early church gathered
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together and they praised God daily.
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They were a people of praise. They understood that they were
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on this this pathway that it was all about praise and they
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understood the the priority of praise and they understood the
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prerequisites to praise. And, and they completely
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understood that they were a people of praise that had been
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formed by God for his glory and for his honor that they would
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declare his praise. They understood that they they
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understood that praise was befitting, becoming, beautifying
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their lives. They understood that they praise
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God daily, so when they were flogged and and beaten, all they
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did was rejoice because their convictions had already been
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forged and just fuel their commitment, all of them more to
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keep on preaching the Word even though they were beaten because
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they did. What a great testimony.
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If you got your Bible, turn me for a moment to John's Gospel,
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the 6th chapter. Giving thanks to God truly fuels
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your commitment. And we're going to use Jesus as
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the illustration because he was committed to doing the Father's
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will, was he not? And in John chapter 6, you had
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you had the feeding of the 5000. It's the only miracle in the
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Bible outside of the resurrection that's recorded at
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all four Gospels. And so there's, there's a reason
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why Matthew, Mark, Luke and John recorded this miracle.
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Yes, it's because they were under the inspiration of God and
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yes, they were obedient to God. But yet if it's repeated 4 times
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and the only miracle that is it must be significant, it must be
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important to understand, we, we must grasp the meaning of this
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marvelous meal that was beyond anything we could ever
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understand. Because he only counted to the
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men in those days. So it's 5000 men not counting
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their wives and not counting their children.
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And Jewish families tended to be large families, not small
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families. So you think of somewhere
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between 20 to 25,000 people, a lot of people.
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And they come to the end of the day and Christ asks the
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question. He asked a question to all the
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men, but he specifically asked Philip because Philip is from
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Beseda and the feeding of the 5000 takes place in Beseda.
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And he asked a question, not because the Lord is looking for
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information. Our Lord doesn't need any
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information. There's nothing He doesn't know.
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So when the Lord asks a question, it's not for His
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information, it's for your illumination.
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So you want to understand, so you will grasp what it is God is
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doing. And He asked the question for
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the purpose of examination, because he was going to test his
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men. They had been with him and seen
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him perform many, many miracles. So when he asked the question,
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verse #5 where are we to buy bread so that these may eat?
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He, he's thinking now that they're, they, they, they've
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seen the miracles. There's no reason to doubt that
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God can do whatever he wants to do.
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But instead, they begin to think through things logically,
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rationally, humanly. He asked Phillip because he's
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from Beseda, and maybe he knows about all the restaurants in
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Beseda. Maybe he knows about fast food
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places that are open after dark in Beseda.
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Maybe Phillip knows the place, the location where there will be
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enough food to feed 25,000 people.
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But the answer Give him my Phillip is 200 anari worth of
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bread is not sufficient for them for everyone to receive even a
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little anari was one day's wage. 200 days wages is not nearly
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enough to defeat all the people they're they're thinking in
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terms of. Of pennies.
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But they're not thinking in terms of power, they're thinking
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from a logical perspective. None of them money.
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And you finds a lad with a couple of fishes and a few
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loaves of bread, brings them to the Lord.
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That's all we got. Don't have anything else.
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So listen to what the Lord says in verse #6 this He was saying
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to test Him, for He himself knew what He was intending to do.
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That little phrase is enormous. He test them, He gives them an
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examination because he wants to know where they are with their
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perception of God. He wants to know what they're
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thinking about what God can do. But they're not thinking about
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what God can do. They're thinking about what they
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can do. And yet that little phrase
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speaks volumes as to our relationship with the Lord,
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because the Lord always knows what He intends to do with your
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situation. He's got a plan.
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He knows what he's going to, what he's going to do.
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And miss your difficulty, miss your pain, because he has a
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plan. But He also knew not just what
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he he intended to do at that moment, but He knew what He
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intended to do for the salvation of lost souls.
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He knew what He intended to do because if you read go down to
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verse #11 it says Jesus then took the loaves and having given
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thanks, I would have loved to have been there to hear the
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prayer of Thanksgiving that God would give there on the northern
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shores of the Sea of Galilee, the little village called Beseda
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with 25,000 people around. I wonder what the prayer of
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Thanksgiving sounded like coming from the lips of the Son of God.
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Bob didn't tell us. It's just that he took the bread
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and he gave thanks. I really truly believe that it
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fueled his commitment to fulfill the Father's will because later
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on in John Six, he, he would end up talking about bread from
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heaven. That he was the manner that came
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down out of heaven, that he that he was actually the bread of
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life. Knowing that he would sacrifice
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his life. And then on the eve of the
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crucifixion, he would take the bread, He would break the bread.
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He would give thanks for the bread, which was representative
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of his body and said this bread is my body which is given for
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you. Do this in remembrance of me.
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So you go back to John chapter 6.
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And this prayer of giving thanks goes way beyond thanking the
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Lord for some fishes and some bread that He was going to
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multiply over and over again. I mean, actually, just think
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about it. He could have just said bread
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for everyone and they all would have had bread, fish for
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everyone and they all could have had fish.
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But that's not what he did. He, he gave this instruction for
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his men to set them down into groups of 50 and 100.
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And then they would come back to him.
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They would receive fish and bread.
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They would take it to those groups, come back, receive more
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fish and bread, take it to the next group, come back, receive
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more fish and bread. And they just kept doing it over
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and over and over again. And they only had just a few
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fishes and bread to begin with. But God was using these men in
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an exercise that would help fuel their faith and their commitment
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to God to give thanks for all that He does and how He provides
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because He's a great provider of man.
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It was all said and done. They had 12 baskets full of
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bread and fish and the word for basket in John Sixes cofinos,
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which were a little coffin like baskets that would keep their
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food for the day. And God was showing them that
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they would have food for their meal on the next day.
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And God was giving thanks because he was doing something
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miraculous among them, but he was giving thanks because it
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just fueled more his commitment to God to be the bread of life
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for the souls of lost men and women.
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That was his aspiration. That was his passion, that was
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his dream. That's what he wanted to do.
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And this miracle, which is, which is huge in terms of its
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numbers, was a small way of he exemplifying the fact that he
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was the bread of life and that he would supply the needs for
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man way beyond what he could ever imagine.
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Because he was a God who truly cares for his people, took the
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bread, He gave thanks. And what he said in that prayer
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of Thanksgiving is not recorded, but the implications of that
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prayer are absolutely huge because in all reality, He was
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teaching his men a very marvelous lesson in praise and
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Thanksgiving. Because the very next scene, the
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scene where Christ would send His men out in the boat and He
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himself would go up into a mountain to pray, and they would
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find themselves fearing for their lives amidst a huge and
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great storm. And Christ would begin walking
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on the water to meet His men. And having gotten into the boat,
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He would calm the waters. And Mark's account tells us that
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the disciples were astonished, but it also tells us this Mark 6
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verse #51 it says, or excuse me, verse #52 they were utterly
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astonished, for they had not gained any insight from the
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incident of the loaves, but their hearts were hardened, cold
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and calloused. You see, it's imperative that
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you learn from the feeding of the 5000.
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There's a reason it's in every gospel, and it's the only
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miracle repeated in all the Gospels that Christ himself
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performed. Because if you don't learn about
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the incident from the loaves, you're not going to make it when
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tough times come. Because if you don't trust God
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for your daily provisions, you will not be able to trust God
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amidst difficult situations. In other words, you must learn
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to give praise and Thanksgiving to God no matter what the
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situation, even in the midst of a boat on the sea when it looks
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like you're about to lose your life.
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They struggled at the oars. They try to protect and preserve
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their life instead of pray and praise to the One who was the
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protector and preserver of their lives.
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So important, the purpose of praise.
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It truly fulfills A commandment from God.
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It helps us understand who God is.
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Once we understand who God is, we are truly convicted about
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living for Him. That conviction leads to a
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lifelong commitment that's unreserved in serving our God.
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As you journey, as we journey on the pathway of praise, may we
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understand the purpose of praise for each of us.
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Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you for today and
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all that you do. Lord, you are a great God.
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You go way beyond we can ever imagine.
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You truly, truly want us to see who you are.
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You just simply say obey me. I will disclose myself to you.
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You'll be able to see me and all of my splendor and all of my
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glory. Once you see me.
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You'll be convicted like never before, and your commitment will
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never wane in your service of the King or go before us.
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You know what's happening in each person's life personally.
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You know what's going on in their family, at work, at
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school. You know what they're facing on
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this day. May they on their journey along
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this pathway learn to praise you all the more, more so now than
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ever before, because you are the one who protects and preserves
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your lives in Jesus name, Amen.