Praying J.I. Packer and Carolyn Nystrom Objectives Understand and apply key scripture passages related to prayer Chapter 4: Praising Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. (Col. 4:2) Friends and Fellowship McLean Bible Church Paul Dorosh July 27, 2014 Pray more Adoration (praise), confession, thanksgiving, supplication (requests) More regular devotions (for example, reading through the Psalms regularly) 2 Praying 1: The God We Pray To 2: The Path and the By-Paths 3: Brooding (Meditating on God s Word) 4: Praising 5: Prayer Checkup 6: Asking 7: Complaining 8: Hanging on 9: Joining in 10: With My Whole Heart 3 The Lord s Prayer Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Mt. 6:9-13 4 Praying : Chapter 4 (Praising) Why Praise God? ACTS: Why praise? (burdensome flattery?) The Praise Dilemma Praise as declaring and distancing Praise as discipline and diet Praise as duty and delight All Together Now Praise as Preparation (for heaven!) ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication) Why is adoration (praise) necessary? Is this burdensome flattery? Read Packer and Nystrom, p. 99 par. 2 and p. 100, par. 1. Small group discussion Psalm 103: 5 6 1
Appreciation of Art: An Analogy by C.S. Lewis What does it mean that a work of art demands appreciation? Admiration is the correct, adequate or appropriate response to it if we do not admire we shall be stupid, insensible, and great losers, we shall have missed something. [God] is that Object to admire [appreciate] which is simply to be awake, to have entered the real world; not to appreciate which is to have lost the greatest experience Appreciation of Art: An Analogy by C.S. Lewis I thought of [praise] in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honor. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise I had not noticed how the humblest, and at the same time most balanced and capacious, minds, praised most, while the cranks, misfits and malcontents praised least. I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment. The delight is incomplete until it is expressed. p. 100 (quoting C.S. Lewis) p. 100 (quoting C.S. Lewis) 7 8 Two Observations on Praise What looked like bargaining with God is simply honest anticipation of glorifying him through active enjoyment of a renewed display of his active love. it is in the process of being worshipped that God communicates His presence to men. It is not of course the only way. But for many people at many times the fair beauty of the Lord is reveled chiefly or only while they Praise as Declaring and Distancing One function of praise prayer is that our spoken words declare who God is and our relationship to Him He is God and we are not praise from our own lips helps us to recognize our distance from God. Yet, paradoxically, these prayers of praise also take us into his presence. As we proclaim both to God and to each other how far He is above us and beyond us in his wisdom, power and purity, a sense of this closeness to us is repeatedly given. worship Him together. p. 100, 101 9 10 p. 101, par.3 Psalm 95: 1-3, 6-7 Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. Praise as Discipline and Diet We need to praise to be spiritually healthy. The discipline and proper diet of praise are easier when you realize that praise from angels, from glorified saints, and from all creation is going on all around you. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; For He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy Psalm 96:11-12 11 12 the flock under His care. 2
Praise as Duty and Delight Why is praise often more of a duty than a delight? Read p. 108, par. 1, line 4 to the end And since, in Christians, sin through dethroned is not yet destroyed and still leaves its finger marks more or less obtrusively on everything that we think, wish, plan and do, it is understandable that the thought of praise as both duty and delight hardly seems Praise as Duty and Delight (2) But Christians, believers in Jesus Christ, are regenerate born again, new creatures, dead and risen with Christ, alive to God in Christ original sin will hit back and fight the new heart, producing conflict, tension and lessthan-perfect performance But for all that, the desires of the renewed heart are now dominant within, and that means that the duty of praise will increasingly real at first. 13 14 become a delight pp. 108-109 All Together Now: Corporate Worship Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Praise as Preparation Since I am coming to that Holy room Where, with thy [Choir] of Saints for evermore, I shall be made thy Music; As I come I tune the Instrument here at the door, And what I must do then, think here before. John Donne Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness Donne s thought is that the music will all be praise for God s pleasure and that he himself is the instrument that will be playing that praise. Psalm 96:1-6 15 p. 116, par. 1, lines 4-6. 16 Praise as Preparation (2) Is heaven like an eternal church service? Read p.116, par. 2 If we were perfected, prayer would not be a duty, it would be delight. C.S. Lewis Read p. 117, par. 2. we are rehearsing for heaven, nothing less, every time we give ourselves to praise. p. 117, par 2, lines 10-11 17 Praise as Preparation (3) Read p. 117, par. 3. Read p. 118, pars. 2 and 3: Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come! Rev 4:8b They lay their crowns before the throne, and say: You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being Rev 4:10b-11 18 3
Saved by Grace, through Faith For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith --- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Small Group Discussion Psalm 103 1. According to this psalm, what things has God done that make Him praiseworthy? 2. What words are used to describe God s character and his mercy? 3. How are people described? (v. 13, 15, 16) 4. What good things has God done in your life that reflect his love and give you reasons to thank and praise Him? Eph. 2:8-10 19 20 Psalm 103:1-5 Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle s. 21 Psalm 103:6-10 The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel. The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. 22 Psalm 103:11-14 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; For he knows how we are formed, Psalm 103:15-18 As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children s children With those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. he remembers that we are dust. 23 24 4
Psalm 103:19-22 The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts, you servants who do his will. Praise the LORD, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Homework(!) Read Psalm 42 and 43. Note the repeated phrases and the poetic structure of the psalm. Pray the words of the psalm. Pray according to Psalm 139:23-24. Then, listen (see p. 298). Read Chapter 5: Prayer Checkup Praise the LORD, O my soul. 25 26 5