The Prerequisites to Praise

We, as a church, are on a journey, and that journey we've entitled the pathway to praise. It's a unique journey because not everybody wants to be on that pathway. Unbelievers do not.

They refuse the pathway to praise. But the believer relishes the pathway to praise. In fact, the Bible says in Isaiah 43:21 that the people that I have formed for myself, they will declare my praise.

And so, the believer is on this unique journey to praise and honor his God. It's like the journey leads to a great grand crescendo in heaven because that's where we're going. And when we get there, the praise will be enormous.

But while we're here on earth, we're on this pathway to praise. And while the unbeliever refuses the pathway, we truly relish the pathway. We seek to live for the glory and honor of God, and we truly want to praise His name.

The Bible gives commands. And the most frequently repeated command in the Bible is the command to praise the Lord or give thanks to the Lord. And yet, as often as it's repeated, we so infrequently obey it.

And you would think that as often as the Lord says that we are to rejoice in the Lord, we are to give thanks to His name, we are to praise His name, that we would be the people that would want to do that all the time. But we find ourselves, at times, reluctant to praise the name of the Lord. The phrase, hallelujah, is a great phrase, great word.

It's from two Hebrew words, hallel, which means to praise or to celebrate or to boast, and Yah, Yahweh, Yahweh, God. Hallelujah means we are to celebrate God. We are to boast in God. We are to praise God. And that's why the unbeliever refuses the pathway to praise because they refuse to boast in the Lord. They refuse to praise the Lord.

But the believer relishes to do that. They've been created for that, they've been formed for that, and therefore, they engage in praise to their God. That's why the Bible says, let not the rich man boast or praise or celebrate his riches, and neither let the mighty man celebrate or boast in his riches, or the wise man boast or glory or celebrate or praise his wisdom.

But let him who celebrates or let him who boasts or let him who praises, praise this way, that he boasts in the Lord, who exercises loving kindness and justice and mercy on the face of the earth. The unbeliever doesn't want to do that. They glory in their riches and their wisdom and their might, and they want to boast all about those things.

But the believer, no, they boast in the Lord, they give hallelujahs to the Lord, they praise His name. And that's why the journey is so unique, and at the same time, it can be perplexing, but it's a great journey. And as you travel along this journey, we've looked at the privilege of praise, we looked at the profit of praise.

Last week, it was the people of praise. And yet, it's true that we find ourselves, even though we're on this pathway, at times, reluctant to praise and to boast and to celebrate the Christ. The question comes, why is that? Why is it, if I'm formed by God and those who are formed by God, created by Him, they will declare my praise, why is it then that I have trouble doing that? Why is it that sometimes as I journey along this pathway, I find myself opposed to boasting in the Lord or celebrating His name? Well, that's why today's title is called, The Prerequisites to Praise.

There are certain prerequisites that if not a part of your life will keep you from praising the Lord, boasting in the Lord, celebrating the Lord, giving thanks at His name, rejoicing in who He is. And so, I thought that we could look at the prerequisites of praise today, and in doing so, help you understand why at times I don't praise the Lord or celebrate His name when I should. The Bible says in Psalm 33, verse number 1, that praise is beautifying, fitting to the people of God.

It's that which fits us the best. Praise is that which beautifies our life more than anything else. But yet at times, we are reluctant to be that beautiful.

The question is why? Why does that happen? And it centers, I believe, around the prerequisites to praise. And the prerequisites fall into four categories. There are four legs in which you stand on the pathway to praise.

And as you journey along this pathway, these legs keep you moving in the right direction. One is the peace of Christ. Second is the word of Christ.

Third is the name of Christ. And fourth is the fear of Christ. So, if the peace of Christ does not rule in your heart, you will not be thankful.

If the word of Christ does not reside in your heart, you will not give thanks to the Lord.

If the name of Christ does not radiate from your heart, you will not give praise and celebrate the Christ.

And if the fear of Christ does not reign supreme in your heart, you won't rejoice with trembling.

There are your four principles. If you've got your Bible, turn to Colossians 3. Colossians 3, and we will show you how these all come together. It reads this way, verse 15.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Then, whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Those are the first three. The peace of Christ, the word of Christ, and the name of Christ. The peace of Christ must rule in your heart.

That's what it says. Paul said, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, for you've been called into one body, and be thankful. So if the peace of Christ does not rule in your heart, you will not give thanks to the Lord.

So what does that mean? Well, the word rule means to call the shots. It's a word where we get our English word umpire. And umpires, they call balls and strikes.

They call fair or foul. They call out or safe. They make the call.

They're the determining factor in whether or not you are safe or out. It's a strike or a ball or whatever the case may be. They call shots.

Unfortunately, now they have instant replay to make sure that the umpire got a ride. But when the peace of Christ rules in your heart, it means that the very fact that you're on God's side, let him be the governing factor in every decision that you make. In other words, the Bible says in Romans 5, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God.

Before you were saved, you were at war with God. You were the enemy of God. But now that you've been justified by faith, you're at peace with God.

So now that you're at peace with God, let that very fact be that which determines every decision that you make in life. Let the fact that you're on God's side determine which decision that you make. How many times have you heard me say over the years that the decision you make today will determine your destiny tomorrow? Make a bad decision today, it affects your tomorrow.

Make a good decision today, it affects your tomorrow. Whatever decision you make today will determine your destiny tomorrow. So whatever decision you're going to make today, let the very fact that you're at peace with God determine every decision that you make.

Let the peace of Christ be the ruling factor in whatever decision you're going to make today. When you do that, you'll be thankful. And the reason you're not thankful is because you're making the decisions.

And then you don't like your decision, because then you've got to live with the consequences, and you're not thankful. But when you let the peace of Christ rule in your heart, because you're at peace with God, and you have the peace of God in you, you let Him make that decision. So when you decide to date someone, you let the peace of Christ make that decision.

In other words, you let the very fact that you're on God's side determine who it is you date or you don't date, what job you take or what job you don't take, what clothes you wear versus what clothes you don't wear. This morning, you let the peace of Christ make the deciding factor in whether or not you came to church. You're here, right? There are those who are not here because they didn't let the peace of Christ rule in their heart.

They let something else rule in their heart. And that's what made their decision not to come to church. And the decision they make today will determine their destiny tomorrow, just like your decision today determines your destiny tomorrow.

Isn't it interesting that when you think of the armor of God in Ephesians chapter 6, and we know about the armor of God. We think about all those different instruments that are a part of the armor. We think of the helmet of salvation. We think of the sword of the Spirit. We think of the shield of faith, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth. But very few people ever think about the gospel of peace in which our feet are furnished with.

Paul says that our feet are to be shod with the gospel of peace or fitted with the gospel of peace or furnished with the gospel of peace. That does not mean that your armor is about talking to people about Jesus and the gospel of peace. That's not what that means.

It does mean that the very fact that you're at peace with God because the gospel that was preached to you solidifies your stance as you go to war because you're on God's side. And isn't it interesting that those feet that are fitted with the gospel of peace determine how you engage in battle? For instance, the Bible says flee immorality. Flee idolatry. Flee the love of money. Flee youthful lusts. Well, how do you do that? You do it because you have the right shoes on.

You have the gospel of peace that fits you perfectly so that when it's time to run, you can run. When it's time to stand, you stand. But you're at peace with God, and because you're at peace with God, the decision you make to run rules in your heart.

He moves you away from temptation. That's why Paul would say there is no temptation taking you but such is the coming of man. But God always provides a way of escape.

Well, how does he provide the way of escape? Because he's fitted you with the gospel of peace. That's the shoes you wear. Remember growing up when you used to buy new shoes? How excited you were about new shoes? And your mom would say, okay, just run down the aisle and see how fast you run.

And you'd take off running down the aisle of the store, and then, whoa, man, I run faster now. And you were convinced that you could run faster because you had new shoes. Well, when you're born again, you're at peace with God.

And part of the armor you're fitted with is the gospel of peace. They're the shoes you wear that are furnished specifically for you so that you can make the decision to run when it's necessary to run and flee immorality and idolatry and youthful lusts or to stand firm against the wiles of the devil and be armored with those things that are fitted for you in Ephesians 6. But when you let the peace of Christ make the decision in your life, you're always thankful, always. But when you make the decision, not so much.

So when you're not thankful as you travel down the pathway of praise, ask yourself, did the peace of Christ decide what it is I was supposed to do today, tomorrow, and forever? When the gospel of peace rules in your heart, you will be thankful. Now, the Bible says in Isaiah 26:3 that God will keep you in perfect peace whose mind is stayed, fixed, focused on thee. And the Bible says in Psalm 119 and 165 that great peace have those who love your commandments and nothing causes them to stumble. Great peace. Great peace. That's where the second point comes in.

And that is the word of Christ must reside in your heart. The word of Christ must reside in your heart. This is how Paul says it.

He says, let the word of Christ richly dwell within you. Abundantly dwell. The word dwell is the word that means to be at home.

Let the word of Christ be at home abundantly in your heart. When the word of Christ resides within you, is at home within you, you will teach and admonish one another, and you will sing to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and you will give thanks. That's the byproduct of the word of Christ richly dwelling in you.

So on your journey down the pathway to praise, and you are reluctant to giving thanks and praise and hallelujahs to God, you must ask yourself, is the word of Christ residing within my heart? Is it overwhelmingly at home in my heart? Or is God's word a stranger to you? You see, we like to snack on the word of God instead of scarf the word of God. There's a big difference there. You know, snacks are great in between meals, but you need to scarf on the word of God, devour the word of God.

Every opportunity you get to hear the word of God, to read the word of God, to listen to the word of God, to be in the word of God must consume you because you want the word of Christ to be at home in your heart. In other words, it's shed all over your insides. And when the word of Christ resides within you, when it richly dwells within your heart, there'll be instruction, admonition, and expression.

You'll teach one another. That's instruction. You'll admonish one another. That's admonition. And look what Paul says. He says, with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness, where? In your church, in your hearts, to the Lord.

That there's a certain song you sing in your heart to the Lord. That there is an expression of praise to God because the word of Christ dwells in me richly. And that expression is I sing to one another with psalms, which are the Old Testament psalms.

Hymns, which simply are the expressions of praise to God. Spiritual songs are personal testimonial songs, such as the new song or Mary's song in Luke 1 or Zachariah's song. Those are personal testimonies of songs in the Scripture.

And it says, singing with grace. In other words, the songs you sing are prompted by the grace that's within you, in your hearts, to the Lord. There's a certain expression of praise you give to the Lord in your heart.

In other words, your heart matches the praise on your lips. Sometimes we come to church and we sing songs of praise, but they're not really matching what's on the inside of our heart, are they? We're doing all the outward motions, but our hearts are really someplace else, in another direction, affection for something else other than God. We're to sing in our hearts to the Lord.

And that's the expression of the word of Christ that resides within your heart. When the peace of Christ rules in your heart, you give thanks. When the word of Christ resides in your heart, you give thanks.

And you do it in song and praise to God. And then there's the name of Christ. It says in verse 17, Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

The name of Christ. The name of Christ simply is who he is. It's his character.

It's his nature. And the name of Christ needs to radiate in our hearts. So, whatever you do in word or deed, whatever you say today, tomorrow, for the rest of your life, whatever you do today or tomorrow or the rest of your life, whatever you do in word or deed, do all in line with the attributes and character of God.

In other words, what you say today should reflect, should radiate, that your heart is right with God and you know God. What you do today should reflect that you know God and you honor God and serve God. So, whatever you do in word or deed, do all, not some, all in the name or in line with the character and nature of the Lord Jesus. And you will be thankful. But if what you're doing in word or deed is not in line with the character and attributes of God, you will not be thankful. You'll be miserable. You'll be unthankful. You will not be delightful.

So you got to ask yourself, what am I doing today? What am I saying today that's in line with the character and nature of the Lord I say I serve? Are my words radiating the truth that I know Christ? Are my words radiating the fact that I, the places I go radiating the fact that I know Christ? That is just so incredibly important.

My kids will tell you that when they were growing up, I used to always use this phrase with them, don't defame the name. Whatever you do, when you leave the house, don't defame the name. So they always thought it was the name of Sparks.

No, it's not my name. It's God's name. Don't defame, don't profane, don't bring a reproach upon the name of Christ.

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of Christ. If you're a parent today, I would challenge you to adopt that with your children. When they get ready to go to school, they get ready to leave the door and say, hey, remember, don't defame the name. See ya. That should be the last words they hear from you as they leave their house. Don't defame the name.

Let those words ring in their ears all throughout the day. They go to school, they go to work, they go on a date. Don't defame the name.

Why? Because whatever you do in word or deed, do all in line with the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and be thankful. Give thanks through him. See, you can't give thanks through him if you're opposed to him and living not in line with who he is.

Aren't you glad you came today? This is just so basic but yet so beneficial. Such a blessing for all of us because we go through life and some days are just bad days. And we don't give thanks to God. We don't praise him. Things go bad. Things go haywire.

Things don't go the way I want them to go. Well, did you live according to the peace of Christ? Was he ruling in your heart when you made that decision as to what you did that day? And is the word of Christ residing in your heart? Is it all throughout you? Are you richly indwelt with the word of Christ? Because you hear it. You hear it correctly.

You heed it constantly. You honor it entirely. You hide it inwardly because it's all about who you are, the word of Christ.

And it resides within your heart. In the name of Christ. Is it radiating all throughout your being each and every day so that when you speak, you speak Christ's words? When you go places, you go where Christ's name is not defamed or profaned but glorified and honored.

Number four. The term is Psalm 2. Psalm 2 centers around the fear of Christ. If you want to live in peace, if you want to love his word, if you want to lift his name, you must fear the Christ.

So the Bible says in Psalm 2, worship the Lord, verse 11, with fear and rejoice with trembling. Rejoice with trembling. How do you do that? What does that mean? Worship the Lord in fear. Maybe your text says reverence. That's an okay word because you want to revere the Lord. Those who fear him do revere him.

The unbeliever has no fear of God before his eyes. The unbeliever does not fear God. Only the believer fears him.

Psalm 130, verse number 4, there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. Why does God forgive you? So that you'll fear him. Because the unbeliever doesn't fear God.

Only the believer does. So God wants you to worship him in fear. He wants you to rejoice with trembling.

So he forgives you so you will do that. Because the unforgiven don't do that. That's important to understand.

But isn't it interesting? Psalm 100, verse 2 says, worship the Lord with gladness or serve the Lord with gladness. Psalm 2 says, worship the Lord with fear. Serve the Lord with fear.

So which is it? Do I serve him with fear or with gladness? Well, if there is no fear, there is no gladness. Because there is no peace. Remember the Christmas story? Peace on earth with those with whom God is pleased.

Peace does not come on earth to those with whom God is not pleased. Only with those with whom he is pleased. So who is God pleased with? Psalm 147, verse 11 says, God is pleased with those who fear his name.

See that? So only those who fear his name please God. Those who fear his name receive the peace of God. Therefore, we are to worship the Lord, fear the Lord, serve the Lord in fear so that we can rejoice with trembling.

To this man will I look, Isaiah 66, verse 2. To this man will I look, to him who is broken and of a contrite heart and who trembles at my word, who shakes uncontrollably under the authority of what I say. They live in the fear of the Lord all day long. We don't like to use that word because we want to candy coat it and say, well, it just means to reverence and be in awe of the Lord, which is good, but that's not what it means.

It means you fear the Lord. What does that mean? Exactly what it says it means. You fear the Lord because the unbeliever does not.

They're not afraid of the Lord because they don't know him. But when you come to know him, it strikes fear in your heart. Not because you'll ever be condemned because perfect love casts out fear, right? The love of Christ casts out fear.

So there's not the fear of condemnation. There's not the fear of judgment. We don't have that kind of fear. Why? Because we know that the love of Christ casts all that out. I will never be judged or condemned by God because of what he's done for me at Calvary.

But I do fear, fear that I would displease him, dishonor his name, profane his name.

So the psalmist says, fear the name of Christ. Let it be that which reigns supreme in your heart so you can rejoice with trembling. It's interesting that the Christmas story is more about fear than anything else.

When the angels would have the glory of the Lord shine all around the shepherds, they were terrified. They were in fear. So what did the angels say? Fear not.

Fear not. Why? Because he'd bring you good news of great joy. When the angel appeared to Mary, he said, don't be afraid, Mary, because she was terrified.

Look at the people who encounter the Christ in the Scriptures, absolutely terrified. Why? Because he's a consuming fire. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

But yet the Lord, his grace and mercy, reaches out to save the lost. And those who are saved, they understand him. They get him.

And they fear him. That's why the Bible says these words, Proverbs 23:17, live in the fear of God always. That's what Solomon said as he wrote to his son.

He said in Proverbs 28:14, blessed is the man who fears all day long. That's the blessed man. The Bible says in Proverbs 31:30, that charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but the woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.

The Bible says over in the book of Isaiah, the eighth chapter, Isaiah chapter 8, verse number 13, it is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy, perfect, sinless, absolute perfection. It's the Lord of hosts, the Lord of armies, Yahweh, is the one you should regard as holy. When you do, he shall be your fear and he shall be your dread.

And then, and only then, will he become your sanctuary, your place of refuge, your place of safety. The Bible says in Psalm 128, blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walk in his ways. When you shall eat of the fruit of your hands, you will be happy and it will be well with you. Your wife should be like a fruitful vine within your house. Your children, like olive plants around your table, behold, for thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.

Do you fear the Lord? Just look at your wife. Does she climb like a vine all over you? Maybe you don't fear the Lord. Maybe you fear her more than you fear the Lord. Could be.

How about your children? Like olive plants around your table, symbol of great blessing and joy. Are your children a heartache to you? Ask yourself, do you fear the Lord or do you fear the reaction of your children to your decisions? When you fear the Lord, you fear no man. You fear no woman. You fear nothing else. You only fear the Lord. If you fear something else or someone else, you do not fear the Lord.

It's just that simple. In fact, listen to this. Psalm 112.

How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments. His descendants will be mighty on the earth. Are your descendants mighty on the earth? The generation of the upright will be blessed.

Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. Are there wealth and riches in your house? It's not talking about money. It's not talking about diamonds and jewelry.

It's talking about, as Solomon would say in Proverbs 24, that by wisdom a house is built, by understanding it is established, and by knowledge all the rooms are filled with precious and pleasant riches. In other words, it's the richness of character. It's the richness of Christ-likeness.

It's the beauty of Christianity and all that it entails. He goes on to say in verse 6, this man who fears the Lord will never be shaken. Never. Never shaken. The righteous will be remembered forever. He will not fear evil tidings. Not fear evil tidings, because his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.

Do you think we fear the evil tidings that come through the election process? Of course not. We don't trust in politics. We don't trust in the election process. We trust in the Lord. That's where our trust is.

And the man who fears God does not fear evil tidings, and his heart is upheld. He will not fear. In other words, there is stability, security, and strength in those who fear the Lord.

And those who fear the Christ have the Christ reigning supreme in their hearts, and they rejoice with trembling. The four prerequisites to praise, the peace of Christ, it must rule in your heart, and you'll be thankful. The word of Christ, it must reside in your heart, and you will teach and admonish one another, and you will sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and you'll sing in your heart to the Lord, and you will give thanks.

The name of Christ, it must radiate in your being, in your heart. So, whatever you do in word or in deed, it's all done in accordance with the character and nature of God, and you will be thankful. And when you fear the Christ, you fear his name because of the great holiness that's within him that makes him who he is.

You are the person who has that fear reigning supreme above all else so that you fear nothing else or no one else because you only fear the Christ. Those are the four legs, the four prerequisites to praise. If you ever wonder why you've gone through a day or a week or a month, God forbid, without ever praising God, singing hallelujah to God, giving thanks to God, it's because one of those four elements are not true in your life.

Because once they're true, you'll be thankful. You'll be grateful. You'll sing the hallelujah chorus. You'll boast in the Lord. Let's pray.

Father, thank you for today.

Thank you for the chance to look into your word, answer a question that many of us have on why is it there are days I am reluctant to praise you instead of relish the opportunity to praise you. Our prayer, Father, is that we would understand the peace of Christ, the word of Christ, the name of Christ, and the fear of Christ. Basically, Lord, we just need to understand the Christ, who you are.

That's the basis for all we do because we give thanks continually through your name, through you, based on who you are. So I pray for everyone in the room today you'd encourage their hearts, strengthen their souls, help them to look at their lives in light of the scriptures and ask themselves the question, am I living a hallelujah life, boasting in the Lord, praising, celebrating his name? And then ask the question, if not, why not? Go back and look at the text in Colossians and Psalms and measure their life against what the Bible says. God, go before the people of our church, this church, Christ's community.

Use them to radiate the beauty of your name. Thank you in Jesus' name, amen.