the pathway of praise. - gateway church · how can it be possible to fit all these things in the...

THE PATHWAY OF PRAISE.

Don Barry 2012.

If you have been around Gateway for any length of time

you will have heard me do a talk about Gateway’s ‘Big

Rocks.’

The idea comes from a management exercise.

A person has a small glass aquarium that has to be filled

with several large rocks, a number of smaller ones, some

sand and a pitcher of water.

How can it be possible to fit all these things in the small

glass aquarium?

It is only possible if a particular order is followed.

The big rocks must be placed in the aquarium first.

This is followed by the smaller ones, the sand and finally

the water.

The point of the exercise is that one must itemize and

prioritize the important, ‘big rocks,’ of your organization

otherwise small things will take over and ensure that

your time is ‘captured’ and vital goals never met.

We have outlined our ‘Big Rocks’ here at Gateway.


Don Barry 2012.

These are the things that we are committed to see

happen.

1. The first ‘big rock here at Gateway is that we want people to develop, deepen and sustain a personal relationship with God.

2. We are called to develop a people that are convinced of, and are developing in, a responsive life of praise and worship to God.

3. We are called to develop a people who are growing in their knowledge of, and obedience to, the Word of God – The Bible.

4. We want to develop a people who are growing in their ability to recognize and respond to the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit.

5. We believe that every Christian is gifted by God for some dimension of ministry. It is our responsibility to help you identify and exercise this gifting.

This evening, and for the next couple of weeks I want to take one of these ‘big rocks,’ and ‘tease’ it out a little. We are called to develop a people that are convinced of, and are developing in, a responsive life of praise and worship to God. I want to speak about developing a lifestyle of praise.


Don Barry 2012.

I want to begin by talking about ‘The Pathway of Praise.’

In a way, this message is intended to answer the

question, “why should we praise?’

Psalm 50:23 “Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; and he who sets a way, I will show him the salvation of God.”

The Message translates it,

“It's the praising life that honors me. As soon as you set

your foot on the Way, I'll show you my salvation."

Psalm 68:4 in the Amplified reads,

“Sing unto God, sing praises to His name, cast up a

highway for Him who rides through the deserts; His

name is the Lord, be in high spirits and glory before

Him.”

These Scriptures clearly indicate the role praise plays in

creating a pathway, a platform, for the presence of God


Don Barry 2012.

to enter a situation and to begin to bring his work of

salvation and deliverance into play.

I’m sure we have all heard worship leaders or Pastors

exhort us to praise or worship God by saying that “God

inhabits the praises of His people.”

This is a quote from the psalms. {Psalm 22:3}

The word to ‘inhabit,’ in the Hebrew means ‘to dwell, to

remain, to settle, to marry.’

Praise creates a place that allows God to ‘settle down, to

rest, to make a home.’ ‘

This gives a whole new meaning to God’s question posed

through the prophet Isaiah,

Isaiah 66:1 “So says Jehovah, Heaven is My throne, and earth My footstool. Where, then, is the house that you build for Me? And where is the place of My rest?

He isn’t looking for some rebuilt temple in Jerusalem;

there is no material structure that will satisfy His

requirements.


Don Barry 2012.

He’s looking for a people, a people of praise.

In Exodus 15:2 the people sang what is called, ‘The Song

of Moses,’

“The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become

my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an

habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him.”

By praise and worship we prepare a place for God to rest

or to dwell and when He comes He will tip the scales in

our favour.

There are other passages that reiterate this truth.

Psalm 9:1-5. “I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High. When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence. For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the throne judging right. Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever.”


Don Barry 2012.

In verses 1-2 of this passage we see the determination

of David to praise God.

Four times it states, “I will.”

I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart;

I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.

I will be glad and rejoice in thee:

I will sing praise to thy name,

In Psalm 57:7 David said,

“My heart is fixed 0 God, my heart is fixed; I will sing

and give praise.”

This indicates a premeditated and predetermined habit

of praise. It depends on something more substantial than

temporary euphoria.

At the time of writing Psalm 57 David was a fugitive from

Saul’s wrath. His praise was on principle not on impulse.

It was based on something more than fluctuating

circumstances and emotional states.


Don Barry 2012.

It was a pattern of praise that had penetrated and

permeated the warp and woof of his being.

This call to praise isn’t always easy to enter into. It

doesn’t come spontaneously.

There is no real problem praising God in prosperous

times. It is not difficult to praise God when circumstances

seem favourable.

It is, in fact, natural to praise God for good things. It’s

easy to praise God when we’re enjoying success,

prosperity, good health and fame.

Here though, we find David praising God while his life is

in hanging in the balance; his future is in jeopardy.

How do you offer this kind of praise?

Hebrews 13: 15 gives us a clue,

“By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to

God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving

thanks to his name.”

Remember this letter is written to Hebrew people.


Don Barry 2012.

They were familiar with the Old Testament sacrificial

system and this verse would draw their attention to that

system.

A sacrifice calls for death. In the Old Testament ritual it

was the animal that died.

In the New Testament ‘sacrifice of praise’ it is so often

the personal ego that must be slain.

We must sacrifice our opinions, our choices, our

judgements, our feelings, our moods, our desires if we

are ever going to walk the pathway of praise.

Note too, that it says that this sacrifice is the ‘fruit of our

lips.’

It is not the fruit of our thoughts or our meditations.

This means that the sacrifice of praise is not complete

until it is expressed verbally.

Thinkfulness and thankfulness is not the same thing.

Back in Psalm 9 we notice what flows out of David’s

commitment to praise --

Psalm 9:3


Don Barry 2012.

“When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence.”

God enters into David’s situation. Whereas the enemy

had been outweighing David and he was in danger of

being overwhelmed, here we see God entering in and

adding His weight to David’s side of the scales.

Note the change in emphasis as soon as God arrives.

Whereas the first two verses had emphasised David’s

commitment to praise; “I will.”

Verses 4-5 highlight God’s response, “Thou hast....”

Thou hast maintained my right and my cause, thou satest in the throne judging right. Thou hast rebuked the heathen. Thou hast destroyed the wicked. Thou hast put out their name for ever and ever.

David’s four “I will’s” are matched by God’s four actions;

“Thou hast.”


Don Barry 2012.

People familiar with the Old Testament, as these readers

were, understood the requirement that any sacrifices

being offered to God must be ‘acceptable.’

They must be ‘well pleasing’ to God.

New Testament sacrifices must meet the same

requirement to be ‘well pleasing.’

1 Peter 2:5 “You also as living stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

Romans 12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

Philippians 4:18 “But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God.”


Don Barry 2012.

Hebrews 13:15-16 “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” Not all sacrifices are acceptable. Many times in scriptures

we read of people offering sacrifices that were not

accepted by God.

Jeremiah 6:20.

“Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.”

Think of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4:1-8.

The Bible tells us that Abel’s sacrifice was acceptable to

the Lord but of Cain it says that the Lord “did not respect

his offering.”

Why?

Cain bought an offering from the fruit of the ground that

the Lord had just cursed.


Don Barry 2012.

Abel on the other hand, following divine revelation,

bought a sacrifice of blood.

Cain offered that which he felt was reasonable. He was

certainly very disappointed with God’s assessment of his

offering.

His offering was brought out of what he valued and what

he esteemed. In doing so he ignored divine directions.

He failed to come to tens with the idea that God’s

thoughts aren’t ours.

He responded out of his natural mind not realising that

the carnal mind is at enmity with God.

When Old Testament priests approached God with their

sacrifices, they did so according to a divinely revealed

protocol.

The directions were very specific. Read the book of

Leviticus.

They were told how the animal was to be killed, how it

was to be cut up, what was to be done with the various

parts, what was to be burned and what was to be

presented to the priests or given back to the worshipper.


Don Barry 2012.

Nothing was left to chance or to human ingenuity.

They disobeyed this divine protocol of sacrifice and

approach at their own peril. [Leviticus 10 -- Nadab and

Abihu.]

Although we live in another dispensation; no longer are

animal sacrifices required, nevertheless there is still a

divine protocol in our approach to the throne of God.

Our sacrifices are still to be pleasing and acceptable in

His sight.

The basis by which we approach is still blood, only it’s no

longer the blood of bulls and goats, it is the precious

blood of Jesus God’s only Son.

The means by which we-approach is praise.

Psalm 100:2 “Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.” Psalm 100:4


Don Barry 2012.

“Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.” Psalm 95:2 “Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.”

Isaiah 60:18 “Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.”

These are the spiritual sacrifices we are to bring before

the Lord.

How do we ensure that the sacrifices that we bring are

pleasing in His sight?

It must be offered according to the divine pattern.

We aren’t free to determine what kind of praise we will

bring.


Don Barry 2012.

At times we can act like Cain, bringing an offering that we

have decided on, without reference to divinely revealed

patterns.

We approach God on the basis of our cultural dictates,

our personal preferences, our emotional moods.

While it might be difficult for us to accept, the pattern of

approach has been divinely revealed and we aren’t free

to redefine this revelation so that it fits our personal

tastes and our carnal mind.

“Well I’m just not an outgoing person and I prefer not to

praise God in this way. Surely God can understand that

and make allowances. I mean He made me this way.”

The implication of course is that it’s God’s fault all along

that I don’t praise God as He directs.

Imagine if Cain had said, “I just can’t stand the sight of

blood. It makes me squeamish. God made me like this

so I can’t see why He would be so unreasonable as to

turn me away.”


Don Barry 2012.

As much as Cain may not have liked the sight of blood,

God doesn’t like the sight of sin, and there’s only one

thing that covers it -- blood.

It’s not a matter of what you like, but of what is required.

What if a delegation of Israelites had come to Joshua in

the shadow of Jericho’s wall; and said, “Joshua, your

instructions to shout don’t take sufficient notice of our

cultural make up. We have a significant portion of

people here who are of British descent. We’re the ‘stiff

upper lip,’ never-show-your-emotions types. It’s an

unreasonable request and we ask you to reconsider.”

Or perhaps, “Joshua many of us are getting on in age

and we prefer a quieter, approach to our religion. The

idea of us older saints shouting just doesn’t appeal.”

This isn’t about cultural issues, it isn’t about personal

preference or of different generations and ages; this isn’t

an issue of Pentecostal worship, to me it’s an issue of

following divine directives.


Don Barry 2012.

The Bible is quite specific about the kind of approach we

make to God and the kind of spiritual sacrifices we are to

bring.

Come with singing, come with shouting, come with joyful

sounds, come with lifted hands, come expressively.

It’s so un-British! It confronts our personal preferences,

our likes and dislikes; it challenges our emotional moods

and our propensity to be seen to be ‘cool.’

It calls, so often, for a sacrifice that is costly on our ego’s.

Over the years there have been times when I’ve had to

challenge people about their non-response in this whole

area.

They usually get very defensive and say something after

the order of, “You don’t know what’s going on in my

heart towards the Lord. You have no right to judge me

because I’m not responding in the way you define as

appropriate.”

Firstly let me say it’s not my definition that matters.


Don Barry 2012.

It’s His, and this is how He says you should come. That’s

hard to get around!

I realise that praise and worship is firstly a heart issue.

If it’s not happening at a heart level then the bodily

actions don’t mean ‘a hill of beans.’

It is easy to become like the Pharisees who honoured

God with their lips, but whose heart was far from Him,

however that must be balanced with the thought that if

it truly is a heart Issue then it will naturally become a

bodily one.

The body is designed to express the heart.

Let me illustrate how the body’s involvement expresses

the heart.

I want you to slouch as much as is possible in the space

you have – relax, chill out.

Now, in this attitude pray with me a portion of Psalm 51

a deeply penitent Psalm of David.

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me


Don Barry 2012.

thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight.” Now let’s do it again, but this time I want you to kneel

with your hands extended out before you.

Did you notice the difference the bodily position made?

Don’t make the all to commonly made mistake of

thinking because I don’t feel like it, it would be

hypocritical of me to get involved in an expression of

praise and worship.

It isn’t about how you feel. I hate to spoil your party, but

you are not the centre of the universe.

It’s about Him. He is worthy however you feel.

“I praise God when I feel moved to.”

You need a confrontation with the fact that that is not

what the Bible says to do.

Psalm 34:1


Don Barry 2012.

“I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”

How often is ‘all times,’ and ‘continually?’

No amount of talking about praise and studying about

praise will actually produce it.

You must move from discussing it and debating about It

to doing it.

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