Choosing Hallelujah

Well good morning everybody. It is great to see you here whether you are here with us in the auditorium, whether you're over in venue, good morning venue people, whether you're watching us on Facebook live. We're just glad that you are with us on this Labor Day weekend. My name is Valerie, I'm one of the pastors here on staff and I'm excited to be wrapping up our Songs of Summer series because after all Labor Day, we all know what it means, summer's over everybody.

Now even though we are officially on the fall straight into Christmas Hill, the good news for us around here, oh I know you're like oh come on. Yes I use the C word. Christmas. We get the best weather right now though so there's something to look forward to for all of us. You know I don't know if you remember back in the old days which by the way I'm allowed to say old days because it says so on my AARP card but I don't know if you remember back in the old days when school started on the Tuesday after Labor Day. How many of you remember that beautiful all 31 days of August? All to yourself. It was such a glorious thing.

I remember when but nevertheless here we are wrapping up our summer series which has been in the biblical book of Psalms and today we're gonna be looking at Psalm 146. You know years ago we had a guy in our church, the sweetest little old man named Charlie. Charlie worked at Mount Herman. He was a painter up at Mount Herman. I don't know how many times he painted Mount Herman Conference Center and if you happen to run into Charlie at the door and you said hey good morning Charlie how are you doing? His answer was always praise in the Lord without fail. I'm praising the Lord and when I was a younger punk I would listen to Charlie and I'd be like I don't know Charlie. I think that's kind of the Sunday school answer. How are you really doing Charlie?

Well year after year after year of saying hey Charlie how are you doing? Praise in the Lord. Guess what? That's how Charlie was doing. He was praising the Lord. It was deep in him this joy and his life wasn't perfect or easy but Charlie was praising the Lord. How do you get that? How do you turn in to Charlie? Well that's what our Psalm is going to show us today. That's what we're going to learn today and I want to give you a little context for this Psalm. There are 150 chapters in the book of Psalms. This could have been our songs of like three years series if we wanted it to and all of those chapters are divided into five books and within the final book the fifth book Psalm 146 where we are today through 150 are called the hallelujah Psalms and hallelujah simply means praise the Lord.

You will notice that Lord is in all caps and that's not because God's yelling at us like you would in a text message today it's because this is a clue for us as Sarah said a few weeks ago as René's told us in the Psalm 23 series excuse me that this is the most precious name for God Yahweh. This is the name that God calls himself when he meets Moses in the burning bush and Moses says who shall I say sent me? This is the name God gives himself and it just simply means he always has been and he always will be so when the psalmist says hallelujah praise the Lord he is pointing us to the all-powerful all-present always been always will be who God who is with us so it's important to know who he means when he says that.

So with all that context in mind let's dive into this psalm and I see in this psalm three reminders that happen for each one of us when we choose hallelujah when we choose praise the Lord and first I see that when we choose hallelujah we are reminded who to worship we are reminded who to worship. You know in life we worship all kinds of silly things you know when I was a little girl my mom was raised in Nebraska and in Nebraska they worship something called the Nebraska corn huskers it's their football team and I tell you I was raised from a young age to love Jesus and love the corn huskers and not always in that order it was and hate Oklahoma by the way who are the corn huskers archrival that anyway and so we can worship all kinds of silly things.

Some of us try to worship beauty, yeah one of the most fleeting things on the planet but in this chapter we find who to worship and as psalmist begins with first one praise the Lord that's the hallelujah word praise the Lord my soul I will praise the Lord all my life I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. We start with hallelujah and that is frankly the short and simple answer to who we worship we worship the Lord praise the Lord and while the answer may be simple the reality of putting this into practice is a little harder for us.

We are all tempted to put things in place of God to put something ahead of God for me personally I struggle with worshiping work. I have a bent to hard work I come from a long line of hard workers my mom's a Swede my dad's a marine you do the math we work but for me when I worship work when I put what I do above God you know what produces in me it produces in me this slow burn of bitterness and weariness because I am expecting from work things that work is not designed to give me but when I choose to focus my worship on the one true God my bent is still to hard work that's just how I'm wired but in my work I find a joy in my work I find opportunity to serve the God that I worship and the God that I love.

You know maybe worshiping work isn't your thing maybe you are tempted to worship financial security. I know people who really worship knowledge they worship gaining more knowledge so they know more. I know people who frankly just worship the next thing like what's coming next and they just worship the pursuit of what's next what can I do next but no matter what it is when we choose hallelujah when we choose to worship the Lord we are immediately putting ourselves in our right place and we are putting God in his right place.

Perspective falls across all of those things perspective on our money perspective on our work perspective on what's around the corner it all falls into place when we worship God and then the next phrase in verse 1 is a repeat almost it's praise the Lord my soul it's as though that first praise the Lord is a corporate call to worship everybody praise the Lord and then the psalmist makes it personal and says no take that praise deep praise the Lord my soul and I tell you when the hallelujah goes deep what comes out of your lips will be a lot more words like Charlie I'm praising the Lord because the Bible tells us that out of the overflow of our hearts our mouths speak.

And so when the psalmist calls us to this challenge to worship it's a slow reveal but the second verse reminds us that this is actually a choice that we have to make every day it's not like a one time like hey I decided in church I'm gonna worship the Lord no this is a daily choice verse 2 says I will praise the Lord I will praise I will praise the Lord all my life I will sing praise to my God as long as I live I will praise I will sing a daily deliberate choice and it says it's every day all of our lives as long as we live we face this choice.

And one day that choice might look like a circumstance that you're standing in front of maybe another day you're standing in front of a person or you're standing in front of a doctor's report or you're standing in front of a bank account but every single day in some way you and I will face the hallelujah choice who will we worship who will we decide is in charge and when we say praise the Lord when we say hallelujah we are acknowledging we are admitting we are confessing that God is on the throne and we are not.

And I love how the psalmist logically progresses here because he's called us to worship and then the next two reminders I see help us on that journey because the second thing I see in this psalm is that when we choose hallelujah we are reminded who to trust we are reminded who to trust we do not have a great and powerful and awesome God who just demands our worship but won't reveal anything of his character to us.

Now God tells us that he is trustworthy that he can be known but the psalmist begins this section by telling us who not to trust first and that's in verses 3 & 4 he says do not put your trust in princes in human beings who cannot save when their spirit departs they return to the ground and on that very day their plans come to nothing and I'm willing to bet that most of us in this room nod and go absolutely don't trust in human leaders don't trust in politicians don't put all your trust in religious leaders you're absolutely right psalmist you're absolutely right Valerie.

But again in reality this gets a little difficult and what I see happening so frequently is just that chaos that ensues when we decide to trust humans instead of God that's where division comes from because you're going no I trust this person no I trust that person no this pastor has got it going that no it's this pastor this politician this party it's just divisive all over the place when we trust in humans.

But when we together trust in God choose to trust in God you know what the cool thing is is that we become unified by our hallelujah we become unified by our praise the Lord so we can gather as a group of 800 900 people in a room and you know what it doesn't really matter who you voted for or who you voted for it doesn't really matter what your skin color is what your financial status is what your immigration status is what your sin status is because we're unified in our praise the Lord and we're acknowledging that the ground is level at the foot of the cross and that's actually how we change the world.

Because the world does not have a unifying trust but we do we do we have a God in whom we can put all our trust but it's so hard down here sometimes to trust and I I get that because we want to look in God's eyes kind of go are you trustworthy like we look in people's eyes when we're interacting but we can't see him and so the temptation is to take our gaze from the heavens and put it down to people and it's the sad truth of life you know what no human can save you no spouse can save you no child can save you no pastor can save you no politician can save you and you might be thinking right now oh wow Valerie has really been burned by somebody because she's really cynical about the humans right now.

No I want to be clear about something I am NOT saying don't trust in leaders because they're evil they're just not God they cannot save you you know René just stood up here and said trust us absolutely find trustworthy leaders vote for trustworthy people be trustworthy but do not put your trust in those people to do for you things that only God can do and this is so freeing actually in your relationships so free because when we keep the humans in the human category it just goes better because people sense the weight of what we're putting on them.

And if we're putting on somebody a responsibility that they cannot bear that they should not have that only belongs to God it is a recipe for disaster in your relationships it's a recipe for broken trust but when we put our trust in God we can just let the humans be the humans in our life they can just be the blessing that God intends the other people in our lives to be and they're still going to be disappointment because it is humans after all but it doesn't go quite as deep your foundation isn't shaken because your foundational trust is in God not in the humans.

I love saying the humans it's just fun one translation actually said the earthlings and I briefly consider that because that sounded even more fun but the psalmist doesn't leave us here with a don't don't trust this he goes on to describe the character of the God we worship in verses 5 through 9 says blessed and that just simply means happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob and this is just return referring to the eternal nature of God who's been with Jacob who was gracious to Jacob who was patient with Jacob blessed be this the one whose help is the God of Jacob whose hope is in the Lord God he is the maker of heaven and earth the sea and everything in them he remains faithful forever as opposed to the humans whose plans come to nothing.

God remains faithful forever and then we hear that he upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry and then the psalmist just goes on this riff using that sacred name for God again and again and again saying the Lord sets the prisoners free the Lord gives sight to the blind the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down the Lord loves the righteous the Lord watches over the foreigners and sustains the fatherless and the widow but he frustrates the way of the wicked.

What a contrast between humans and Yahweh you would think that it wouldn't even be a contest in our hearts of who we trust but it is and so the psalmist here is helping us with our trust issues and he's pulling back the veil on the Almighty God and telling us a little bit about who he is he is for the oppressed he is for the one that everyone else is trampling and abusing and ignoring and he supplies for the hungry and that just means he cares about our smallest most basic needs he is the one who sets us free he is the freedom-bringer he is the one who opens the gates and lets us out of our prisons of pride or prisons of disappointment or prisons of anger or prisons of bitterness Yahweh sets the captive free and the Lord heals.

This is a hard one the Lord heals sometimes he heals immediately and we see his power just land in a situation and that person goes from sick to well sometimes he heals through the medicine that he has enabled us that he's given us the brains to invent and to use and sometimes he heals in an ultimate healing way and he takes us home and that's a hard healing because that doesn't always feel like healing on this side of heaven that feels like loss and it feels like pain and it feels like emptiness and it feels like hurt and I tell you as pastors we sit in those rooms a lot and it's sometimes hard to believe in that ultimate healing but the all-powerful God says you know what every single one of you I will ultimately heal you one day but that ultimate healing means that you go to heaven and that you're with me but no matter what he heals and he lifts the head of the crushed.

I love the way it says it that he lifts those who are bowed down and I know that there are people who walked in this room upright but in their hearts they are just bowed to the ground the weight of life is just crushing them but God says I am the lifter of your head I am the one who picks you up he lifts us up when we are crushed and he loves righteousness our world does not love righteousness we all have moments where we laugh and do focus on something that is not righteous but Yahweh loves the righteous he honors the righteous he loves righteousness he will always act in ways consistent with righteousness and he cares for the refugee for the widow for the orphan again he is for the most vulnerable people the people on the lowest rungs of our social ladder.

Look at this list this is our God this is our God who we trust and you know it's interesting to me this list when I read it it reminds me of the way Jesus actually describes his own ministry in Luke chapter 4 where he says that he's been anointed to proclaim good news to the poor he's been set to proclaim freedom to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind to set the oppressed free to proclaim the year of the Lord's good favor and this is a list that we see in Psalms that happens throughout the Bible in Isaiah it happens in Jeremiah here in Psalms and when Jesus reads this scroll that he's reading in Luke chapter 4 he looks up and he says I'm the fulfillment of this Jesus is the one sent from God to be in the flesh the character of God to show us the heart of God and who God is he died on the cross to make the way to have a relationship with the great Yahweh the great God.

But the psalmist ends this section in his description of God's character with little phrase saying he frustrates the way of the wicked now in my experience he does not always frustrate the way of the wicked as quickly as I would like him to I have offered up names suggestions methods so far the Lord has not needed my help on this issue but this is part of the trust this is the deep part of the trust trusting that God absolutely will in his time and his way bring the wicked to ruin absolute ruin and I have to trust that when I don't see wickedness immediately stopped that God is in that situation sustaining and strengthening in ways that I cannot see.

And you know I've had this experience when I've been in Jordan and I've sat in rooms with refugees and the refugee problem I say this whenever I talk about it it is an absolute abyss of need I cannot even describe the chaos but I've sat in rooms with refugees who are finding God to be faithful and sustaining and strengthening in ways that I cannot imagine and so I have to trust that when wickedness is not immediately stopped that God is still at work and he is ministering to those people who are suffering in ways I can't see.

But you know what we can also still be part of the solution it doesn't mean we just sit back and go okay go God you go how to that we can still be part of the solution we can still act in ways that match the character of our God and care about the same things that God cares about but when we choose hallelujah when we choose praise the Lord every day we're reminding ourselves in little ways and big ways who we trust so this hallelujah focuses our worship and then it settles our trust and finally when we choose hallelujah the last thing I see we're reminded of and this might be my favorite actually right now is that we are reminded who to thank.

We are reminded who to thank this whole song the psalmist has been pointing us to the great God the one that we thank and he concludes here in verse 10 by saying the Lord reigns forever your God Oh Zion and that's the worshippers for all generations praise the Lord we start and we end with our hallelujah praise the Lord the Lord this great God is the one we thank the character that we've just heard about he's the God that we thank.

One day recently I was walking in Capitola and I was up above Capitola looking it was just one of those great days you know the sky's blue the waters blue there's just a right amount of sailboats out there and I was up above on depot Hill right near the stairs of death and destruction as I call them hate those stairs but anyway waiting for an escalator to be installed down there but I was up there and it was you know I could even hear people laughing down at the beach I could smell the waffle cones wafting up from the ice cream store at the base of the stairs of destruction and I just thought thank you God thank you.

And in the middle of saying thank you it just struck me like a ton of bricks what a joy it is to know who to thank because if you don't know God who do you think we all know looking at a scene like that we didn't conjure it up but what a joy to be able to lift our head up and to know who to thank to know the character of the God who has provided all this for our good pleasure to know who to thank.

I love doing that because when we say thank you there's so many things we're reminding ourselves up we're reminding ourselves that this is not about us that this is not the work of our hands that this is a gift that God has put in our hands and I don't know about you but I find thankful people I find grateful people to be compelling I don't think I have ever once in my life I need to complain more like that person does because you know what they seem to just enjoy hating on everyone and everything and it seems to be working for them I need to complain more I have never said anything like that.

But when I am around grateful people when I'm around thankful people you know what it's contagious you catch it when I was younger and that's also a phrase on the AARP card by the way when I was younger I lived for two years in southern China and I was a missionary teaching English to factory workers and to students it's funny I was pulling this picture out and looking at it and I realized I made jello for that meal I was giving him an American meal I have not made jello in a hundred years why did I decide that I'm gonna teach you what Americans eat and we're eating jello so there's six people in China who think Americans eat jello with all their meals but anyway I was teaching English to these folks and while I was there I met art and Leona and this is a picture of Leona and I trying desperately to stay warm in the winter in China.

Art and Leona have an amazing story they have been missionaries in China for years they actually first went to China back in the days when you took a boat to get to China they were in China before Mao they were bounced out of China by Mao when he took over in 49 they went to Taiwan they served their entire lives in Taiwan serving the Lord they have lived their entire lives serving God and you know what art and Leona love Jesus and they love people they're just the most amazing couple their lives have not been easy I mean I could spend a whole service just telling you the story of their lives Leona was in a car accident in Taiwan that absolutely should have killed her she was seconds from death but she's alive it's a miracle they lost their oldest son to cancer they have had a lot of twists and turns in life and I recently sent them a letter because art just turned 90 Leona's 89 and I received a classic art and Leona letter in return and it reads in part I feel this is Leona writing I feel very blessed for all God's blessings these 66 years that's how long they've been married I'll be 90 in April so art and I will be birthday twins God's love and promises keep us rejoicing daily praise his name.

It's like I got it's like the end of a letter from the Apostle Paul or something you know there's such rejoicing there's such gratitude and they have got all kinds of health problems I mean this whole first page is the list of their health problems you know there's all kinds of chaos going on but this is how they lived this is how they live and did you notice what she said there it's not just icky-sticky praise Jesus automaton stuff they're rejoicing their thankfulness Leona says is based in God's love and God's promises and they know his promises because they read the book they read the Bible they read about God's promises.

This is how they start and end every single day in their lives and you know what it is so much easier to choose to worship to choose to trust to choose to think when you remind yourselves every day of the promises of God it is so much easier to live that life when every day you were reminding yourself that God's Word said his love for you endures forever that he says he is faithful to all he has made but he says as far as the east is from the west so far has he removed your sins from you and it is so much easier to live this life when you believe to the core of your being that nothing in all creation can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus your Lord.

And it is so much easier to say with the Apostle Paul I can give thanks in all circumstances when you are daily reminding yourself of the great God who you worship who you trust and who you love and you think and you know I know it's hard down here I get that I totally get that but this kind of life this kind of give thanks in all circumstances can be the way you live and that's really my big idea for everybody today and that's in our lives we need to choose hallelujah in it all and through it all we need to choose hallelujah in the midst of our lives in the dailiness of our lives in the highs and the lows of our lives and we need to let hallelujah praise the Lord be the through line that runs through our entire lives.

So whether we think the circumstances are above the line or below the line the through line of our lives is praise the Lord and you know again this is a choice God does not force you or me to say hallelujah he does not force us to praise the Lord but here's the great news he makes a way for us to do that through Jesus Christ he has cleared the path for us to trust him to be in relationship with him and he has given us through Jesus and his resurrection power the strength to sustain the hallelujah even when life is hard and it's an amazing thing because the Bible says that this sacrifice that Jesus made to clear the way to give us his strength is so complete and so thorough that the Bible says all who simply call on the name of the Lord will be saved and that is the greatest reason I know of for hallelujah.

Let's pray heavenly father we come before you today as your children we come before you as people that need you thank you that you love us God thank you that you are safe and loving and eternal and powerful God my heart today is for each person who hears me that you would be the focus of the worship that you would be the one they trust that you would be the one they thank daily for all the days of our lives God please be our strength when hallelujah is hard when our trust is wobbly God turn our gaze to you when we're tempted to look at other things around us and shift our focus to the things that don't last Lord thank you for sending your son Jesus to make a way to clear the path for the hallelujah.

Lord I pray for the person who's maybe never taken that first step of step of trust I pray that today they would just look to you and say God I surrender I give up I can't manage my life and I accept I accept what your son Jesus did for me on the cross and for those of us who have made that step God I also pray that we would say I surrender God I surrender the things I'm trying to worship instead of you I surrender the things I'm trusting instead of you and I accept who you are in my life I accept that you are the one to worship you are the one to trust God I accept you as Lord over all my life thank you for being the all-powerful maker of heaven and earth who also walks with us each step of the way in Jesus name.