Christmas Psalms: Sing to the Lord (Part 2)

Good morning.

My name is Matthew Capone, and I'm the pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church,

and it's my joy to bring God's word to you this morning.

A special welcome if you are visiting or new with us.

We're glad you're here.

And as I say every week, we're glad you're here not because you are filling a seat,

but because we are following Jesus together as one community.

And as we follow him together as one community,

we are convinced that there is no one so good that they don't need God's grace,

and no one so bad that they can't have it.

And so everyone needs to hear what God has to say to us in his word.

If you've been with us this month, you know that we're in the season of Advent.

Advent is an English word that comes from a Latin word, and it simply means to come or to arrive.

And so the Advent season is when we celebrate what Jesus has done in the past,

what God has done by sending his son, that he came and arrived here in this world in real space,

in real time as a baby.

But we also have the task not just of celebrating what happened in the past,

but looking forward to what will happen in the future.

We have Jesus' first coming that we celebrate at Christmas,

but also his second coming that we look forward to.

And as we do that, we've been going through the Psalms.

And the Psalms are simply 150 different models of ways to talk to God, to talk about God.

And now we're at the very end.

We're in the last of our four Psalms that we're going through.

If you remember, we started with Psalm 13,

which talked about the struggle that we have when we feel the presence of sin and evil in this world,

but we don't see the presence of God.

It seems like he's absent, that his blessings have left us.

And so we sing our sorrow, but also our hope.

We don't get caught in one or the other.

We looked then at Psalm 72.

We talked about our longing for good leaders,

our longing for leaders who love justice and righteousness,

even as we live under, at worst, evil, at best, imperfect leaders.

And the Psalms there showed us that we continue to praise and pray to God

because he is coming as the perfect king.

He's coming as the ultimate ruler, the ultimate king,

the leader who will give us the justice and the righteousness that we long for.

And then last week we looked at Psalm 96, which was a hymn of praise.

And so we asked the question,

why do we praise God when we don't feel like it?

Why do we praise him?

Why do we praise him?

What makes him more excellent than other things that we praise?

What makes him worthy and worth it?

And so we talked about different places that we see praise.

I mentioned to you the great Capone family tradition of Amazon.com reviews

and the need to find things that are worthy of praise.

Not just worthy of praise,

but people who are willing to tell us all the reasons that something is praiseworthy.

And so that's what Psalm 96 showed us.

It showed us the things that are praiseworthy about God.

And we're going to continue to talk about praise this morning.

We're going to be in Psalm 148.

And praise is something that we see all around us.

It's not just something that we see in Amazon.com reviews.

And as I mentioned before,

there are things in the Psalms that overlap with each other.

There's redundancies.

And so we were not able to talk about everything that was in Psalm 96 last week.

And we're not going to be able to talk about everything that's in Psalm 148.

So I'm going to jump back a little bit to 196 at points.

And we're going to look at 148 as well.

One thing we did not talk about last week,

we talked about praise in general,

but we did not talk about singing specifically.

Now the Psalms are not just a model of 150 different ways to talk to God,

but they were actually sung by God's people in the Old Testament.

And if you remember from the beginning of Psalm 96,

the very first thing we're told is not just to praise God,

but to sing to Him, to sing a new song.

And so while praise is something that we see all around us,

singing is something that is around us as well.

If you believe that singing praise is something that is limited to church,

that it's strange, that it's unusual,

then I would submit to you that you have never, ever,

once in your life seen a Disney movie.

Because half of the point of Disney movies

is that something or someone would be praised.

If you've watched Frozen,

you know that Elsa praises and celebrates individualism

and the freedom that she feels

when she casts off society's expectations for her.

If you've seen Aladdin,

you know that Aladdin and Jasmine in a whole new world

sing about and celebrate

the wonders of going on new adventures,

experiencing novelty,

seeing things for the first time.

If you have watched my favorite,

The Jungle Book,

you know that Baloo the Bear and Mowgli

sing the bear necessities

and they praise all the glorious things

that happen when you celebrate

the freedom and the happiness

and the peace that come from minimalism

and living off of nature.

And so praise and singing

are things that are all around us,

whether we want to believe it or not.

Last week we asked the big question

of why is God worthy of praise?

And now we're going to focus in

even more specifically,

why do we sing to God?

We saw in Psalm 96

that there are many reasons we praise God.

First and foremost,

his salvation for us,

that he has saved us

from the penalty and power of sin.

Secondly, we praise him as the creator.

He's made the heavens and the earth.

And then third,

we praise him as the sustainer.

He's the one who keeps the world moving and going.

And so those were our answers.

That was how we were supposed

to stir up our emotions

if we did not feel like praising God.

But what if even that

is not enough for us?

What if we're at the beginning

of Psalm 13, for example,

and we don't see any of those things,

we can't feel them or experience them?

How and why do we continue

to sing to God nevertheless?

What if we are unmoved?

What if we're still stuck,

as we've talked about before,

stuck with cynicism,

unable to see hope?

That's the question

we're going to take with us

to Psalm 148.

I'm going to read Psalm 148 for us now.

And remember that this is God's word.

And God tells us

that his word is more precious than gold,

even the finest gold,

and that it is sweeter than honey,

even honey that comes straight

from the honeycomb.

And so I'm reading now,

starting with verse one.

Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord from the heavens.

Praise him in the heights.

Praise him, all his angels.

Praise him, all his hosts.

Praise him, sun and moon.

Praise him, all you shining stars.

Praise him, you highest heavens,

and you waters above the heavens.

Verse five.

Let them praise the name of the Lord,

for he commanded and they were created.

And he established them forever and ever.

He gave a decree,

and it shall not pass away.

Praise the Lord from the earth.

You great sea creatures in all deeps,

fire and hail, snow and mist,

stormy wind fulfilling his word.

Verse nine.

Mountains and all hills,

fruit trees and all cedars,

beasts and all livestock,

creeping things and flying birds.

Verse 11.

Kings of the earth and all peoples,

princes and all rulers of the earth,

young men and maidens together,

old men and children.

Let them praise the name of the Lord,

for his name alone is exalted.

His majesty is above earth and heaven.

He has raised up a horn for his people.

Praise for all his saints,

for the people of Israel who are near to him.

Praise the Lord.

Lord,

please pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word.

Dear Father in heaven,

we thank you

that you've given us your word,

first and foremost,

that you have not left us

wondering about what we should do

or how we should do it,

but you've instructed us like a good father.

Father,

we thank you that you have provided for us

in such a way that you are worthy of praise,

and so we ask that you would help us.

You would help us understand your word,

that you'd help us to know you better,

and you'd help us to do what you call us to do,

what you command us to do,

that you would help us to praise you.

We ask all these things in the name of your son.

Amen.

Now,

if I were to summarize this psalm,

it's pretty simple.

There's a picture that's being given for us

in Psalm 148,

and it's this.

There is a choir.

There's a choir that is singing,

and they're singing in different sections.

They're responding to each other.

First,

there's the heavenly portion of the choir.

That's the part that starts out,

so not every part of the choir is singing at once,

but we have the heavenly portion singing at first,

and they have their reasons,

the reasons that they're singing.

These are things that we talked about last week,

verses 5 and 6.

They're praising because God created them.

So that's the reason that part of the choir is singing.

And then the other part of the choir,

the earthly part of the choir,

responds in song.

So you can imagine there's the heavenly choir up high,

and they sing out God's praise.

Then there's the earthly choir down below,

and they answer in praise.

But it's not just that.

They're then joined,

not just by the heavens and the earth,

but then by the people who live in it.

And these people are not just one section.

It's not just some people,

but everyone,

kings of the earth and all peoples,

young men and maidens,

old men and children.

So the powerful are praising God,

but also those without power.

The old are praising God,

but also the young.

Men are praising God,

but women are praising him as well.

And they're praising them again

for what we talked about in Psalm 96.

They're praising him for his salvation.

And so we're seeing here the repetition

of what we've already seen,

that God is praised.

He's praised for his salvation.

He's praised for his creation.

He's praised for his ruling

over everything in the world.

There's also a bookend.

If you have listened to me teach before,

especially in the book of Matthew,

you know that I'm a huge fan of bookends.

Whenever we're reading the Bible,

if we see something that appears

both at the beginning and at the end,

we know that it is incredibly important.

In fact, often it is the primary point

of the passage.

And here our bookend

is what is also repeated

over and over and over again.

Praise the Lord.

And so it's not just something

that is good for us.

God is not just something

that might move our emotions

as we see what he's done

to recognize that he's worthy of our praise,

but it is something

that God has told us to do.

He has commanded it.

And so God telling us,

in and of itself,

should be enough for us to praise him.

But C.S. Lewis tells us

that when he became a Christian,

one of the things

that was most challenging for him

as he read the Psalms

was seeing the command to praise

over and over.

Because he thought,

who is this God

who just needs our praise?

This seems like something that's petty,

something that's needy.

And then as he began to think about it,

he realized what we've already talked about,

that this is something

that permeates all of our lives.

And so C.S. Lewis realized

that people who do not praise,

people who do not glory in God,

are the same as people

who've never been in love.

He compares it to people

who've never been in love

or people who have never read a good book,

people who are deaf

and are unable to hear music.

And then he realizes and recognizes

that praise is what we do

for anything that we find good.

When we see a movie that we appreciate,

when we read a book that we love,

it's the natural response of humans

to praise the source of it.

And so if we are not praising,

then we're like someone who's deaf

and can't hear music.

We're like someone who's unable to read

and cannot appreciate a wonderful book.

We're like someone who's blind

and is not able to see the glory

that God has given us in this world.

And so God's command to praise here

is God telling us to do

what we would naturally do

for anything else.

And so first of all, we praise God.

We obey his command to us

because he tells us.

But we praise him

because we're doing and recognizing

what we would do

with everything else in this world.

And so as we struggle at times

with the idea of praise,

the concept,

when we hit up against the fact

that we often don't feel like praising,

Psalm 148 first and foremost

reminds us that this is God's command for us.

He wants us to praise him

because it is for our good.

This praise that comes from the choir, though,

is not just praise in general,

but it is praise that comes

from every portion of God's creation.

Everything is praising God.

It is the entire earth.

It's not just God's people,

but his animals that are praising.

It's the heavens.

And if you think this is strange,

I would also submit

that you haven't seen a Disney movie

to see animals and creation praising.

But I would also remind you

of Jesus' words in Luke 19.

If you remember the story of Jesus' death,

he begins by entering Jerusalem.

And as he enters Jerusalem,

many people come and are praising him.

They're laying down palm branches.

And so some leaders come to Jesus

and tell him to stop it.

They want him to stop all the praise

that's going on

because they find it inappropriate.

Do you remember what Jesus says to them?

He essentially says,

yes, I could do that.

But if they didn't praise me,

the rocks would cry out.

In other words,

God's praise is so necessary.

It is such an obligation

and a duty for the people that he's made

that if we fail in it,

the creation itself

will have to step in to fill our place.

But these parts of creation,

everything praising God at once

reminds us of a second thing about praise.

Not just that it's God's command to us,

but this full-bodied,

whole creation praise

that happens in Psalm 148

shows us a picture

of what happens to us as well.

That when we praise,

when we sing to God,

singing is something more than anything else

that engages every single part of our body.

When I preached on Psalm 13,

I mentioned a quote by a man named Andy Crouch

talking about the people in Haiti who sang.

He also says this about singing.

Singing may be the one human activity

that most perfectly combines heart,

mind, soul,

and strength.

Almost everything we do

requires at least one of these fundamental human faculties.

But singing,

and only singing,

combines them all.

In other words,

just as all of creation

is combined in praising God in Psalm 148,

so when we obey God's commands in Psalm 96

to sing a new song,

and His command here in Psalm 148

to praise Him,

we are also doing the one thing

that allows us to give our whole person to Him.

And not only are we giving our whole person to Him,

but we are engaging our whole person.

And so if we find ourselves

like someone who's deaf and can't hear music,

or someone who's blind

and can't see the world that God's created,

singing is the instrument,

it is the tool that God has given us

to be able to begin to see again,

to be able to begin to hear again.

It's an activity that God has created

and He's given to us for our good.

That if we find ourselves stuck,

when we find ourselves numb or cynical,

when we find ourselves grieving or hopeless,

if we're unmoved by all the things

that were listed in the review of God in Psalm 96,

this is our way out.

God has given us singing as the tool.

And so He commands us to do this,

first because He is worthy of praise.

He's more excellent than anything else

that we would give praise to.

But second of all, it's commanded here

as it is in all of the Bible,

because this is the thing

that allows us to grow more and more

in our love for God.

And so if you are burnt out,

if you need Jesus and His grace,

if you feel the darkness of this world

creeping in on you little by little,

if you're not looking forward to conversations

on Christmas Day,

if you're afraid of the division in your family,

if you find your world slowly shrinking,

God has given us this

as His way to care for us,

that we would praise the Lord

along with the rest of creation.

As I mentioned last week,

this is how we actually come back in tune

with what is real.

When we praise God,

we are doing what the rest of creation

has already done before us.

We're reconnecting with reality.

And so the application is simple.

Praise God.

Praise God by being with us here

on a Sunday morning.

Praise God by singing loud,

even if it annoys your neighbor.

Praise God by singing loud

because you know that this is what's going

to re-energize and reorient

your mind and your heart.

And so sing with us,

not because we need you to,

but because you need it.

Knowing that this is the way

that you cultivate your love for God.

What we praise, we end up loving.

There are lots of different ways

to figure out, diagnose our health

as a culture or a society.

I know one pastor who says

that he can quickly tell

the health of a congregation

by the quality of their singing,

but we could also tell

the health of a culture.

I recently listened to someone

who made the observation

that more and more in our culture,

and he was speaking especially

of North America,

we are not a people that sing.

There are not many places left

in our society

where there are people

who don't just sing alone

in their cars to the radio,

but people who come together

and sing as one body.

And so if we want to be healthy

as a church,

if we want to be healthy

as a culture,

then we have to be people

who sing together.

Singing not because

we are trying to do

what's excellent,

not because we want to

be on tune,

but singing because

that is how we join with God

with all of our heart

and soul and mind

and strength.

And this isn't just something

in the Psalms.

In the book of James,

the author asks,

he says,

is anyone cheerful?

And then he says,

let him sing praise.

And so this is what we do.

This is how we bring ourselves

to God.

This is how we express

our love for him,

but it's also how we grow

our love for him.

And so come and sing with us.

Sing when you're here

on Sunday morning with us.

Sing as loud as you can.

Name God's praise

throughout the week.

When you're at the

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo,

remember that these are

the animals that God made.

When you're driving

and you see the mountains,

remember those are the mountains

that God made.

When you see your own growth,

as we talked about last week,

in holiness,

loving more and more

the things that God loves,

and seeing the presence

of evil diminish

more and more.

Praise God.

Name the fact that God

is the one who has done

that in your life.

And then we can truly do

what we're commanded here

in Psalm 148,

to praise the Lord.

this psalm, however,

doesn't just show us

a choir that's singing to God.

It also shows us

a destination.

You may have noticed

that as we've gone

through the psalms,

we have gone through them

in chronological order.

In other words,

we started with Psalm 13.

We did not start

with Psalm 148.

We're doing them in order.

We went from Psalm 13

to Psalm 72

and then Psalm 96

and now Psalm 148.

And there's a reason for that

because the psalm's structure

itself teaches us something.

When we get to the very end

of the psalter,

many people have observed

that there is no psalm

of lament here.

In fact,

the last six psalms

of the book

are all psalms of praise.

And they become more

and more ecstatic

as it goes on

until we end

with Psalm 150.

And not just ecstatic,

but saying the same thing

over and over

and over again.

And so the point

that the psalmist

is making is this.

As we live

the Christian life,

as we sing

the psalm of lament

in Psalm 13,

as we look to God

as our great king

in Psalm 72,

what will happen

more and more

is what happens

in the psalter,

that we will more

and more

grow in our praise.

And not only that,

but as we look forward

to Jesus' second coming,

as we look forward

to that end,

that will be the same end

as the psalter,

that it will be

an end of praise.

And so praise

is not just

how we stir up

our love for God.

It's not just

the tool that God

has given to us.

It is not just

a strategy,

but it is our destination.

That we're moving

closer and closer

to God

and His praise.

That the trajectory,

the path of the psalms

is our path

as well.

That we move

in and out

of various situations

and trials

and griefs.

But at the end,

when we make it

to the end,

what we're left with

is praise.

And so what happens

in the last six psalms

here in this book

are what are going

to happen to us

this life,

in this life,

more and more

as we follow after God

and we see Him

and His provision.

But it's also

what's going to happen

to us at the end,

at Jesus' second coming.

When we look

at the book of Revelation,

what we see

at the end of time

is everyone

around the throne of God

praising Him

and singing.

And this is not

some boring activity,

but this is people

finally recognizing

and seeing

what is most beautiful

more clearly

than they've ever

seen it before.

There was a

time in my life,

probably a three-year period

where I had a stint

of running half marathons.

And this was mainly

with my dad.

There was only one time

I ran one with friends.

I refused to run one

by myself.

So it was a social activity.

But one thing

that you'll know

if you run enough

half marathons,

this will be true

for marathons as well,

is that when you start out,

things are very exciting.

There's loud music playing,

just pump up,

work out songs.

And then there will be

other places along the route

depending on which one you run.

This is more true

of ones that happen in cities.

But there will be other places

along the route

where there will be bands

there for you playing.

And so there are many times

as you're running,

you'll come across

someone cheering you on

or a band playing out loud

to encourage you,

to lift your spirits,

to help you keep going

when things are hard.

But then there's times

where there's no music.

And you're just plodding away

one foot after the other

on your race.

And that's much like

the Christian life.

That there are times

in our lives

where we feel

the presence of God.

We can see

and experience praise.

things are exciting.

Maybe it's the beginning

of our new family.

Maybe it's a new chapter

at a church.

Maybe it's the excitement

of being in a certain period

in our lives

where we feel like

we're growing

and learning so much.

But then there's other times

where there's no music at all.

Times where we're filled

with grief.

Times where we're filled

with doubts.

We're not sure

if this is the right race

that we're running.

Times we're filled

with discouragement.

And yet we know

when we get to the end.

When you're at the end

of the race,

at the end of the half marathon,

all the best music

is saved for that.

That's where the biggest band is.

No one puts their biggest band

at the beginning of the race.

And no one puts it

at the middle.

It's always the greatest

and largest band

that is waiting for you

at the end

that when you've finished

your race,

then you can celebrate.

And so first of all,

that is the future

that's put forward

for us here.

That as we go along

in the Christian life,

we go along

looking at music

in the past

that has cheered us on.

When we find ourselves

alone

with no music playing

one foot after the other,

we look forward

to the great praise

that awaits us

in the future.

But there's another trick

as well.

I've only run

half marathons,

but my father

has become

an avid marathoner

and just finished

a multi-year journey,

multi-year struggle

to qualify

for the Boston Marathon.

And if you know

anything about running,

you know this is

the great goal

of many runners.

It's competitive.

It's hard to achieve.

You have to reach

a certain time.

You have to keep

making your miles

faster and faster

to be able to meet

the qualifying time

to run

in the Boston Marathon.

And my dad's finally

going to be able

to do it this spring,

so we're excited for him.

But there are many times

that my father

is on the race

and there is no music playing.

So do you know

what he does?

My dad has figured out

which songs

have the right rhythm

for him to keep going.

And so when he is

on the race

and there is no music playing,

he sings the songs

in his head.

He picks songs

that have three-quarter time

or six-eight time

because he says

those are the best

to keep his breathing

under control.

He'll sing

my favorite things

from the sound of music

in his head

to make sure

he's going

in the right pace.

He told me

another one

is 10 minutes ago

from Cinderella.

He and my mom

watched that recently

so now that's one of his.

But as he finds himself

in a place

where there's no music playing,

as he's going along

in this great struggle

to make it all the way

past 26 miles,

when the music

is not playing around him,

he plays it

in his own head.

Because that is how

we know

and pace ourselves

even when the finish line

is so far away.

And so as we finish

our series on the Advent,

as we come to the end

of Psalms,

we on the one hand

are celebrating

what has happened

in the past,

looking back

to Jesus' first coming.

And we are looking forward

to what he will do

in the future

and yet right now

we're just running.

We're just putting

one foot

in front of the other

in faith,

knowing

and hoping

and looking forward

to what God has

for us in the future.

And so how do we make it?

How do we make it

through the in-between time,

the tension

of not living

in the past

when Jesus came

and not living

in the future

when he's coming again?

The answer's here

for us

in Psalm 148

and it's this.

Praise the Lord.

When we can't hear

or see the music,

God has given it to us.

And so we keep on praising,

we keep on running,

pursuing everything

that God has given for us.

Please pray with me.

Dear Father in heaven,

we thank you

that you're worthy of praise.

Thank you that you've given us

a race to run,

a race of faith

that involves your praise

and will end in your praise.

We ask that you would help us now

as we live in between

everything that you have for us.

That we would keep praising you

even when we can't see,

even when we feel stuck.

That we would understand

our need for your grace,

but we would also see you

meeting us

at that very same point of need.

We ask all these things

in the name of your Son.

Amen.

Amen.