Praise the Lord! - Part 5: The Gateway to praise

REVIEW
 
In this series of teachings entitled “Praise the Lord,” our goal is that before we are done, this phrase will mean much more to us than it ever has before.
 
You see, this phrase is not just there for informational purposes; it’s there telling God’s people what to do. In other words, it’s a call to action. So if I read in the Bible, “Praise the Lord!”, what should my response be? It should be to praise the Lord! Yes, if the Scriptures say, “Hallelujah”, then I should stop what I’m doing, act on it, and begin praising the Lord right then! Amen?
 
But we are learning about this subject of praise so that it becomes something that we do the way the Lord intends for us to. Yes, we are looking at some things that reveal to us what God considers true praise to be and what it will look like in our lives.
 
So what we began doing last week was looking at some of these Hebrew words for “praise” and some of the Scriptures that they are used in. And last week, we started off looking at the most common Hebrew word for praise, the word halal.
 
We learned that this word is used close to 150 times in the Old Testament and is translated “praise” the vast majority of those times. However, even though the word “praise” is obviously the primary way this Hebrew word is translated, it actually has some interesting other meanings that we can learn from …
 
We saw that the word halal literally is defined like so – "to be clear (originally of sound, but usually of color), to shine (thus to give light) – which results in to make a show, to boast, to rave, to celebrate, and to be clamorously foolish, or act like a madman."
 
So when we read these various ways that halal is being described, we don’t see a lot of this reflected in people’s praise lives, do we? No, I see very few people “shining” by acting foolish or like a crazy person during the praise time. And that’s not to condemn us, but it does need to be brought to our attention because if this is the job detail of praise, then perhaps we ought to loosen up a bit. Perhaps we’ve grown up too much.
 
Yes, the Lord desires that our praise be “clear” – that is, true, sincere, and pure. I made the point that this to me describes praising & worshipping God in truth.
This describes praise that is void of pretense and hypocrisy. He wants praise that is done in truth – that is, sincerely and without shame.
 
But the Lord also desires our praise to “shine” – that is, for it to first be displayed in how we live our lives but also by what the rest of halal’s meaning – “to make a show, to boast, to rave, to celebrate, and to be clamorously foolish, or act like a madman." This means we will stand out from the pack. We’ll be the one that seems to be in the spotlight even though that’s not necessarily our intention.
 
You know, I’ve had people try to tell me about what everyone else is doing during times of praise & worship, and I’ve told these folks – “Yeah, but what were you doing?” Well, the obvious answer was – they weren’t praising God themselves because they were obviously too busy judging how everyone else was doing it. Amen?
 
So we learned that while we don’t want to praise God to be seen of men, we also don’t want to hold our praise back because of the fear of man. We serve a God who is worthy of all the glory, and He deserves our clear and shining praise. Amen?
 
The Todah Package
 
Now another word for “praise” that I would like us to tackle today is a very appropriate one for what we are celebrating this week …
 
Let’s look first at Psalm 42 where we get our very popular song “As the deer” from. This Psalm begins with that chorus, and then when we get to Psalm 42:4, the psalmists say, “When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me; For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with the multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.”
 
So this psalm is describing how the Jewish person would take their pilgrimage to Jerusalem and to the house of God during their feast days. And I want you to notice how the psalmists said that they approached the house of God (i.e. the Temple): It was with the voice of joy and praise.
 
Now the word “praise” here is not the word halal or any other of the popular Hebrew words for praise; it is the Hebrew word todah and this word describes a different aspect of praise. In fact, it comes from the same principal root word as yadah, which we will learn more about next week, but here it is used more specifically.
 
Todah literally describes – "an extension of the hand in adoration, avowal (i.e. an open declaration or acknowledgement), or acceptance." One expositor went on to say the following: “By way of application, it is apparent in the Psalms and elsewhere that it is used for thanking God for ‘things not yet received’ as well as things already at hand.”
 
In fact, it is actually translated “thanksgiving” half the times it is used in the original King James Version. So the idea of this form of praise is more that of expressing gratitude and the giving of thanks to God.
 
So how appropriate is this for today? We are looking at the Hebrew “praise” word for thanksgiving on the week where we celebrate Thanksgiving.
 
So what I want you to see from Psalm 42:4 is that the way the psalmists describe going to the Temple on these Jewish holidays was with both the voice of joy and the voice of thanksgiving.
 
Now as I consider this, I cannot help but think of other Psalms that say the same thing. One of them is Psalm 95:2 where we are told to “come before His presence with thanksgiving” – again, the same Hebrew word todah. But probably the more well known one that also uses this same Hebrew word for praise is the 100th Psalm.
 
The 100th Psalm reads like so … First of all, its described by the Psalmist as “A Psalm of Thanksgiving (or Praise).” In fact, this word for “thanksgiving” is the Hebrew word todah. Then he said, “Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.
 
Notice Psalm 100:4. Again, it says, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.” The word for “thanksgiving” here is again the word todah.  
 
But what I wanted you to notice here is that like Psalm 42 described approaching the House of God during their feast celebrations, the Psalmist here is also obviously painting the picture of entering the Tabernacle/Temple as well. But what we see in Psalm 100:4 is describing how one truly enters the Holiest of holies, where God’s presence is. And the first step through the gate is “with thanksgiving (Heb. todah).”
 
So just like the first step into God’s presence is through the gates of God’s House, the first step through the gates of His presence is by thanksgiving. Yes, Psalm 100:4 specifically says how we are to enter through them— it’s with thanksgiving. So what we can see through this statement is the best way to approach God in praise is through the gates of thanksgiving!
 
You see, giving God thanks for things that He has done, is doing, or even what He will do in the future is what causes us to enter the presence of the Lord the right way. For one, being thankful to our Creator, Savior, etc. is just the noble thing to do, so it is both the appropriate and acceptable way to approach God. In other words, it is the spirit by which we draw near to God. So, when we look at wonderful promises like James 4:8 that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to you, we understand the first steps to drawing near to Him—and it is “with thanksgiving.” Therefore, when you and I draw near to God with thanksgiving, He will draw near to us—meaning, His presence will be manifested in our lives, and we will experience more of His joy, peace, and power. Therefore, it’s also the best way to increase our awareness of just how awesome He is!
 
How does this work, you ask? Well, one way is how King David said in Psalm 69:30 that we magnify God with thanksgiving (Hebrew word todah), and the word “magnify” means to increase the size of something (or in this case, Someone). This means that through thanksgiving we can actually make God bigger in our eyes, like a magnifying glass makes objects bigger when we look at them through it. Now, of course, we are not going to be able to make God any bigger than He already is, but what this means is that we can make our view & perspective of Him bigger! So todah is what will make the One we are praising larger, bigger, and greater in our eyes! This is what David was saying.
 
So this is exactly why the Psalmist said that we are to enter into His gates with thanksgiving – It is because when we start off by giving thanks to God, He gets bigger and greater in our sight. Then our perspective changes! All the cares of this life begin to shrink, and all that God has done becomes magnified in our sight. This stirs us up, and guess what wells up in us as a result? You guessed it… PRAISE!!! We started off traveling through the gates of thanksgiving and ended up in the courts of praise as Psalm 100:4 teaches us.  
 
The Sacrifice of Thanksgiving
 
In fact, oftentimes, this word todah is used when describing the sacrifice of thanksgiving (See Psalm 107:22, 116:17, Amos 4:5, Jonah 2:9). So I believe that one of the pictures of what it means to enter His gates with thanksgiving might be how the Jewish people would enter the House of the Lord with a sacrifice in hand.
 
You see, a lesson I feel we can take away from this is that a lot of times offering thanks to God will feel a lot like a sacrifice. In other words, you won’t always automatically feel thankful. On some days, you might be focused on some current challenges, or your emotional state might just be in a bad place. So at these times, stirring ourselves up to offer up to God thanksgiving might be more of a sacrifice.
 
So we make it a point during these times to stir ourselves up to be thankful by purposefully and intentionally recalling things the Lord has done, is doing, and has promised He will do.
 
You see, it’s important in the eyes of the Lord that we do not just praise or thank Him when He does something for us. Sure, we should certainly do it at those times too, but what about the times where things aren’t going the way we’d like them to? What about the times where we don’t “feel” very thankful? Do we at those times just cater to the feelings & emotions that we are having, or should we still praise & thank Him like we would when we feel like it? I believe that’s when this sacrifice of thanksgiving is to be offered – when it costs us something. Amen?   
 
But again, what have we learned? It’s that offering up to Him the sacrifice of thanksgiving has great reward in that it will change our perspective, help our focus, and bring His joy & power into the picture!
 
Therefore, learning to thank God when we don’t feel like it and giving that sacrifice of praise will never be left unrewarded when done right. The Lord always blesses the things we do in faith! Amen?
 
New Testament Thanksgiving
 
But that’s only half of it …
 
Thanksgiving is not just what we should start out with; the New Testament teaches us that it’s what we end with as well. You see, even though we’ve seen thanksgiving mentioned being done first in these Old Testament verses, in the New Testament, we see it mentioned as being done after we’ve approached God.
 
Let me give you three passages of Scripture that teach us this.
 
In Colossians 4:2, the apostle Paul says, “Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving.” So Paul was wanting to make sure we apply the last two words of this verse to how we approach the Lord in prayer — “with thanksgiving.”
 
We see this echoed by Paul in Philippians 4:6 when he said that “in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving we let our requests be made known unto God.” So again, we see the prayer and then the supplication followed up by “with thanksgiving.” So if the giving of thanks is left out, we do not have the complete recipe for having the peace that surpasses all understanding come through our prayer life (See Philippians 4:7).
 
And finally in First Thessalonians 5:16-18 we see yet another example of where the apostle Paul puts the giving of thanks at the end. In these verses, the apostle Paul said to the church of Thessalonica: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
 
Now in the middle verse here, we see the meat—and that is that we are to pray without ceasing. But notice how Paul starts off by saying, “Rejoice always.” But that’s just one half of the sandwich. Notice the other half in verse 18 where Paul goes on to say, “in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
 
So, now we learn that not only are we to always rejoice in our unceasing prayer & praise life, but in everything, we are to give thanks to the Lord as well. And Paul goes on to reveal to us that this three-part instruction in verses 16-18 is “the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” In other words, we see here that the will of God in Christ Jesus for us when approaching Him is one that is always enveloped in unceasing joy and thanksgiving.  
 
What an awesome way to approach God, huh? Start it off with a good attitude that is rejoicing no matter if it’s a good time or a bad time. Let joy be what prefaces everything! Then be sure that after you pray to give thanks in everything as well!
 
So based on these three passages of Scripture, not only is thanksgiving the appropriate way to enter into praise; it’s also the right way to end our time of praise as well.
 
The Thanksgiving Turkey Sandwich
 
So if we combine together the truths of the Old Testament that teach us to come before Him and enter His gates “with thanksgiving” with the truths of the New Testament that teach us to end our times before Him “with thanksgiving,” guess what we get? We get the perfect Thanksgiving turkey sandwich!  
 
I’ve spoken before about the “sandwich technique” being a wise way to handle things. Like for instance, if I was dealing with a person and needed to give them some tough to swallow criticism, it would be good to begin that conversation with something positive and then end it with another positive. This way I’m “sandwiching” the tough part with two pleasant things. So today, I want us to look at the perfect Thanksgiving turkey sandwich 😉  
 
You see, if the bread we make the sandwich on is either stale or bland, it can kind of ruin the whole sandwich, right? I mean, you can have the best quality meat, cheese, and other fixings, but if your bread is not good and fresh, you probably will not say it was the best sandwich you’ve ever eaten. Well, I believe there is a spirit / attitude that our prayers can be sandwiched in that makes our constant & continual prayers to be offered up to God more appealing to Him …
 
Church, thanksgiving is not just something we should do at the end of the year; it is what we must do in the beginning of the year and all throughout it. It is how we come before Him and draw near to Him. It is the gateway into the holy of holies where the manifested glory and presence of God is housed.
 
So, let’s incorporate this spirit of thanksgiving into our praise lives—for not only is it the right & noble thing to do towards the One who has given us so much, but it also the vehicle that leads us into His presence. Amen.