Philippians 4:4-8 NIVUK
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.
Introduction
This morning I’d like to explore praise a little more. And our reading sets the context for us. It’s Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Paul writes this letter whilst imprisoned and yet it is full of encouragement, urging us to be the best that God would have us to be. It’s a verse towards the end of this book that I, as a teenager wrote on the front of my new bible cover with a metallic silver paint pen and which has certainly somewhat faded over the years! Let me read you Philipians chapter 4 starting at verse 4.
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me- put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
And it’s verse 8, ‘Finally brothers and sisters, whatever…. Think about such things.’ that I want to take my reference of praise from. There are many references to praise in the bible and we could explore them for ages but I’m going to just look at this as it shows how praise is central to our state of mind, our approach to life and ultimately our relationship with God.
So lets run through this, what is praise?
Well it is not merely an expression of thanks, although often used to thank God, especially in song.
It’s not just a happy emotion induced by an environment or activated by a drug.
I think it’s more than all that. It is an expression of worthiness. It is our confirmation of our approval and admiration. And indeed ultimately God is the best example of someone worthy of praise.
And I believe praising God is good for you – why might you ask?
Well, praise is not dependent upon you!
You very rarely praise yourself. I guess it does happen, but that tends to end up as pride (oh and it’s very annoying when we find someone like that!). You tend to recognize something praiseworthy in someone else. This may be because of something that they have done. So for instance if you gave me a tenner I’d say thanks. It’s the specifics or the things that have been done that get the thanks. We acknowledge the 10 pounds and we are grateful for the act – that’s thanks. But the person behind that act and their motivation is the subject of our praise. Maybe a subtle difference, but I find it quite helpful.
Why would that be important? Well, let’s remind ourselves that praise is not just thanks and therefore is not triggered by a single event or even a number of those events. (As much as I may enjoy people keep giving me ten pound notes!). Praise is about recognising that someone is praise worthy. And to do praise justice, you need to have some confidence in the character you are praising. Maybe it’s not so surprising that we don’t find many of us mere mortals who have praise heaped upon them! But who better to praise than the one who made the world and saw that what he had made was good.
Also, not being dependent on us means that praise helps us to look outside of ourselves.
Our world is very self centric. And I don’t mean by this that it’s necessarily just selfish. You can be a generous soul, but our culture is very much about the individual. Just consider how much organisations spend on building the customer experience. For instance Apple have spent ‘lots’ on just how it is for you when you open the iPhone box. The ease with which it opens and how beautifully the phone is presented to you – all designed to appeal to you. And don’t get me started on the cosmetic trade! It’s not surprising that even with best of intentions I do fear that we can become somewhat self obsessed! To praise God helps to move away from that. To spend time considering someone else helps us to move from our own self review.
And praising God is consistent
And one of the good things about looking outside ourselves to praise God is that he’s consistent. The same today as he was yesterday and will be tomorrow. Of course our understanding and experience of God may well change over time, not least at that point we open our hearts and lives to him. But God, he stays the same. Not only is God worthy of our praise, but he has our best interests at heart. And God may well not even have to act in order to help us. Because:
Praising God gives you perspective
Scientists, artists, craftsmen and many others make use of reference points. A consistent set of conditions or a set point or marker that helps check whether the task concerned is progressing correctly (or even progressing at all!). God provides that reference for our lives. Without it we can easily go astray. Somethings change. As 2005 gave way to 2006 there was no written mention of the word ‘hashtag’ in our language. Now it’s commonplace. And when I checked the reference, it was not up to date enough to even recognise such phrases as Covid secure! We know this year we have a heap load of new language in use. However, through this God remains the same. That consistency allows us to check what is important. Yes, it’s annoying for us not to meet together (although to be honest Chris and Denise probably needed the break from the washing up!), but it doesn’t change that fact that we’re loved by God. It doesn’t change the fact that God’s spirit is there for us each day. I will certainly enjoy our singing when we are back together, it’s important, but not essential for me to continue in God’s life. That eternal perspective on our lives is important when we consider the pace of change around us and when key things change in our own lives.
Praising God builds your character
So God is consistent and provides an eternal perspective, then that is true every day. There are definitely days when I struggle to praise God. I have to consciously choose to praise God. It’s great that praising God is not just an emotional response, but that does mean some days you won’t want to. But as that great theological authority ‘Rend Collective’ wrote in one of their songs. ‘What is true in the light is still true in the dark’. And actually, often for me, it is that praise whilst the world around me seems very dark, that helps to lift. A key part of praising someone who is so much more praiseworthy than I could ever be is that I just don’t always get it. I don’t understand God. I guess by definition it’s actually rather stupid of me to think I ever could or should. And when I think of people that I’ve met over the years, some of those stand out people are those that also don’t understand. But, they have that conviction and assurity from knowing that God is worthy of praise today, as much as any other day, good or bad.
When God asks us to seek first the kingdom of God, to love the lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, He means for us to choose Him. We put into practice our faith when as Paul commended to the Philipians ‘whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right , whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. That conscious act to choose builds your character.
And that brings me to my last point.
Praise can be a sacrifice
The writer of Hebrews calls us to offer a sacrifice of praise. When I realise that praise of God, as sound and as simple as it might be, is a choice and some days can be quite a hard choice, I think I start to get it.
But the best illustration of this that I can find is of course Jesus. If I’m honest, one of the great mysteries of Jesus life that continues to bemuse and befuddle me is his prayer in the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus knew what was ahead and how important it was, yet he prayed for the cup of suffering to be removed from him. And God didn’t answer him. And then with the most amazing show of character the world has ever experienced he says, ‘but not my will but yours’. I don’t think Jesus was particularly in the mood for singing great songs of praise at that point, but I’m convinced that the world has never seen a greater expression of praise than that. Jesus, with the power of heaven to hand, acknowledged God in his trouble. That act of praise changed the course of human history as Jesus then went on from there to the cross.