Practicing Praise: Finding Perspective and God's Presence

We know that there is a god who has gone through lament. There is a god who has gone through suffering. There is a god who has gone through pain. There is a god who has sung the songs of lament in order that we may both sing songs of lament, but also bring praise to a god who has saved us. And here's the good news. As we've been looking at throughout this series, when we enter into the practice of praise, not only does it reveal god's perspective through the lens of Jesus Christ, it also reveals his presence because of Jesus Christ. Yes. God is here. We don't need to praise god for his presence to be amongst us. That's the good news of the cross. That's the good news of Jesus. [01:18:39] (49 seconds)  #PraiseRevealsPresence

What's powerful about Psalm 22? Psalm 22 is the song that Jesus grabs. Where does he grab this song? When he's hanging on the cross. He takes the words of David, and he's and he cries out as he hangs, bleeding, beaten, broken, gasping for for breath, dying. My god. My god. Why have you forsaken me? Jesus sings a song of lament on the cross, but he goes to the cross so that when we bring our songs of lament, we can say, but I will trust in you, God, because you have saved me. See, when we come to worship, when we come with our songs of lament, we know that the story isn't over. [01:17:45] (54 seconds)  #LamentIntoTrust

We we bring who we are and the challenges of our world of our life, the worries or whatever's going on, the joys, the hopes, the fears, whatever it is. And then when we come and we worship, our hearts and our minds are lifted up to see through the lens of God, the God who is great, who is wonderful, who is powerful, who is above all. And it doesn't mean that our circumstances necessarily change, but we see our circumstances in a new way. I love the story of Paul and Silas in Acts chapter 16. And the story is is that they are proclaiming the good news in the city of Philippi, and they are arrested, and they are beaten up. [01:12:06] (49 seconds)  #PraiseTransformsPerspective

So they've been beaten up for preaching the gospel, been thrown in jail, and they decided to have a praise party. Come on, guys. Let's go. Come on, Silas. Let's get up. Let's dance. Let's praise the Lord, and let's and let's pray so much so. And I love that Luke puts it in here that the other the other the other people in the prison are kinda leaning leaning in, and they're being blessed by their singing and their praise. I reckon what's going on there is that Paul and Silas are singing into their hearts a fresh perspective. They're locked up. They're out of control, and they're worshiping the god who they know is in control. [01:13:52] (40 seconds)  #PrisonPraiseParty

You ever walked into church with a whole bunch of question marks? Are you here today with a whole bunch of question marks? God invites us to worship, to fix our eyes on him, and come to him with our questions. Your questions are okay. You see this in David's psalms almost entirely. In the last part of that psalm, there's a a but, but I. And often there is this turn, but I trust in your unfailing love. My heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord's praise for he has been good to me. We bring our questions. But we also say, god, you have been good to me. [01:16:13] (66 seconds)  #BringYourQuestionsToGod

Our songs shape us. Our songs form us. They speak to who we are and the story that we're part of. They orient our hearts and our minds and our loves. Theologian James Smith, in his book, you are what you love, which is a book ultimately on worship, says this as he observes our culture today. If you are what you love and if you and if love is a virtue, then love is a habit. This means that our most fundamental orientation to the world, the longings, and the desires that orient us towards some version of the good life is shaped by imitation and practice. That has important implications for how we approach Christian formation and worship. [00:55:18] (57 seconds)  #SongsShapeUs

Sometimes we feel it, sometimes it's amazing, and sometimes it's not so much. I don't know how it all works, but I do know that the spirit of God is with us and moves amongst us. We live in a an age of the presence of God with us, but there is a not yet. And there is a day coming when we will praise God, And there will be no more pain. There will be no more songs of lament. There will be no more crying, and we will find ourselves in the praise of God living in freedom and life for eternity. And this is the gift of gathering here as we come and sing. We remind ourselves of what is to come. [01:22:23] (47 seconds)  #NoMoreLamentComing

What you put your trust in, what you put your focus on matters. It matters. The gift of praise. The practice of praise orients our hearts. It fix fixes our eyes on him. And when we fix our eyes on him, he reveals perspective and he reveals presence. Firstly, he reveals perspective. You know, we live as humans with a longing for wonder. There is something deep in our hearts that longs for the transcendent. We long to be part of something bigger. One of the issues and the challenges in our secular world today is that we have removed the transcendent. We are functional. We live as functional atheists. And in doing so, we've removed the supernatural. [01:09:43] (59 seconds)  #PraiseRestoresWonder