Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Hallelujah! Praise Ye the Lord!
These are the lyrics of a fun children's song many have sung as a kid.
To sing the song, people are divided into two groups, those that sing "Hallelujah!" and those that sing "Praise Ye the Lord!"
While it was an enjoyable song, the meaning of the lyrics could be lost in the fun.
And popular music uses the term "Hallelujah" in a foreign context.
Bruno Mars sings in the song "Uptown Funk", "Girls hit your hallelujah (woo)!"
Unfortunately, Hallelujah is a term that is used to describe something that is simply great, extraordinary, or exciting.
But that is not the biblical meaning of the term.
The word has two parts "praise Yah" The hallel is a liturgical call to give audible praise.
The praise is directed to Yah (a shortened variant of the sacred name of God YHWH).
Psalm 146 is another hallel psalm like Psalm 136.
Today as we consider our own Hallelujah, we will see how we are to direct it to Jesus Christ, who is worthy of praise as the eternal God, Creator, and King.
Praise the Lord in this life
The song begins with a call to praise the Lord, give a hallelujah!
The call belongs to the community of believers.
We bear the responsibility to give loud and audible adoration.
One voice makes a limited rand of sound, but many voices multiply it.
It is appropriate to have both ranges of volume in a church gathering.
Low volume is appropriate at times, but so are times of great sound.
When we gather in the name of Jesus, let it be clear that we are praising God.
The psalm writer gives the command to others but quickly sets himself to give a hallelujah.
He must respond for himself.
He may be the leader in the call to others, but he is responsible for his response.
At the same time, He gives praise.
He recognizes that earthly life is limited.
Life is short, and our abilities decrease as we get toward the end of life.
We should not wait until "we get older" to be serious about giving God glory.
We can do that right now regardless of our age.
How do you fulfill this command to give God praise?
Do you find it a challenge to sing, to pray, to express with a word a heart of gratitude and glory to God ?
It is not very difficult to respond in praise if you truly know who God is and what He has done.
Could your lack of praise be connected to your lack of understanding of what God has done through Jesus?
Luke 7:41-43
Limit your trust in human leaders
The psalm moves to remind God’s people to avoid placing trust in human leaders.
Whether it be the ancient kings and rulers all the way to modern politicians and administration, we would do well to limit our trust in human leaders.
Whether it be the ancient kings and rulers or modern politicians and administration, we would do well to limit our trust in them to bring the solutions our society needs.
This is by no means a rejection of government or the need for law and order, but it is a sober reminder of our "weakness" and "sinful tendencies" as a fallen people.
In America, every election cycle is a chance to offer another option to the current leadership.
In some ways, it potentially keeps things in check by passing power back and forth between opposing views.
But let's be realistic, political parties and political people can not bring the solution that every soul needs, to be made right with God.
Only Jesus Christ solves that problem.
And so, it would seem that the Christian Church has the upper hand in developing good leaders because we know the truth.
Unfortunately, leadership in the church is far from being infallible.
Recent scandals in the news have shattered the confidence in Christian leadership.
We should be concerned that our leadership is rightly submitted to the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scriptures.
But their failure is no reason to abandon our faith; rather, it should remind us that our faith is in the Only One who will never fail us, the Righteous One, Jesus Christ.
It further verifies that all other ground is "sinking sand".
Failed people, failed communities, and failed leaders need the one in who salvation exists.
Every leader will pass from this earth, but Jesus Christ is the resurrected Lord.
Trust no one but Jesus.
Recognize God as Creator
The psalm directs our attention to a beatitude, a blessing, "happy is..." concerning the person who relies on the God of Jacob.
This description of God was essential to Israel, for it identified God's consistent and enduring "chesed" steadfast love.
It is a way to remind the people that God was faithful in the past and will be faithful in the future.
His past performance is a guarantee of future actions.
God is both a help and a source of hope.
And the psalm writer points to creation as God's evidence of these attributes.
Our Bible begins with the story of God, who created all things out of nothing.
He brought chaos into order through the words of His mouth.
Joke of the Scientist and God
God as Creator is one of the fundamental attributes Israel was to acknowledge.
Isaiah both warned and comforted Israel about this concept.
He pointed to His act of creation as comfort in His sovereign power.
Isaiah 51:12-14
And when we look in the New Testament, we find that Jesus is identified as the Creator.
John 1:3
The apostles often appealed to God as Creator in sharing the Gospel.
The Gospel understanding was not limited to Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection, for even when talking to the Gentiles who had another opinion of the origin of life, Paul appealed to God, "the maker of heaven and earth".
Paul and Barnabas healed a lame man in Lystra.
The gentile people immediately assumed that Paul and Barnabas were the gods Zeus and Hermes come to earth.
But Paul stated this in Acts 14:15
Why is God the Creator such an essential part of our understanding of God?
It sets us on the path to being truly human.
In the New City Catechism, question 4 asks, "How and why did God create us?"
The answer reads:
God created us male and female in His own image to know Him, love Him, live with Him, and glorify Him.
And it is right that we who were created by God should live to His glory.
If you look at some of the issues in our culture today, you can hopefully see how this fundamental concept goes against the view on abortion and sexuality.
If we fail to fully understand God's implications as Creator, we will end up in all kinds of errors.
Jesus the fulfillment
The last part of the psalm describes the power of the Creator in His vindication and justice on the earth.
The psalm lists circumstances that validate the notion that this world is a fallen and sinful place.
Life is not as God intended in his creation of the world.
Sin has corrupted all things.
As a result, people live in unjust situations, have physical issues, and experience great loss in relationships.
It would seem that God does not care for the world He created since it is plagued by such things.
But this is where we see the important supremacy of the Gospel message.
In Jesus earthly ministry, we see the fulfillment of Psalm 146.
In Luke 4:17-20, Jesus declared the following:
And later, when asked if He was the One, (another way of asking, are you the Messiah, Christ, the Anointed One, the Promised Deliverer), Jesus responded in this way: Luke 7:20-23
The Gospel's emphasis is on Jesus Christ, who took up all the infirmities, injustices, and sin and its accompanying effects upon himself.
The cross of Jesus Christ has an effect on all things, both spiritual and physical.
Look how Paul describes this in Colossians 1:19-20
As believers today, we must not waiver or wander from this important concept, that Jesus is the foundational solution for all that causes this world to be a corrupt and sinful place.
Jesus is also the continuing solution for all that causes us as Christians, as churches, and as leaders to live lives that are pleasing to God and bring healing to both the spiritual and physical ills of our world.
This is why we must think of God as the King who reigns.
In every and all situations, we look to God to be over all things.
We look to Him as our eternal solutions.
For the God of Jacob is faithful to all generations.
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