Praiseworthy


What makes someone "praiseworthy?" What does it mean to be worthy of praise?

The dictionary defines it this way:


A person who is praiseworthy is deserving of approval and admiration. Their character or actions are worthy admiration, esteem, and commendation.

The Bible teaches that God is our Creator, and the only One truly worthy of all of our praise, approval, and admiration. As our Creator, and because of all His goodness, God deserves all of our admiration, esteem, and commendation. Why do we struggle to see it the same way?

Romans 1 teaches us about the great exchange. The Great Exchange that all humans make is that we turn and worship created things, rather than the Creator God who has brought all things into existence. It says,

Romans 1:18–25

 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Anglerfish

When we look around at the majesty and splendor of the created world, from the farthest galaxy, to the deep sea angler-fish, we are seeing the handiwork of a marvelous and beautiful Creator. The creation offers up a testimony (cf. Psalm 19:1-3) of God's eternal power and divine nature. All of us (whether we admit it or not) know deep down in our hearts that there is a God who has brought all of life, including our own, into being.

However, we do not naturally honor God as our Creator. We do not thank God. In our wisdom we become fools, because we exchange the goodness of the Creator for created things. We start to worship the things right in front of us. We give these things our praise and admiration and esteem. ALERT: This includes good things. We find ourselves worshiping food, or sex, or alcohol, or ourselves, or success, power, our country, false gods, or any other thing we can think of. Our hearts, designed by God to know and worship Him alone (since He alone is praiseworthy), worship and chase after other things that can never truly satisfy. (We never quite seem to "arrive" either).

We have to realize that everybody worships something. The situation has gotten bad when we realize that we can't help but worship idols. An idol is simply a false god in which we put our hope. We can't help but seek satisfaction and deliverance from something like politics, or sex, or success. That means we need divine intervention. We need restoration. We need redemption. We need help.

The gospel is the good news that Jesus, the Praiseworthy One, took on our flesh but never turned to false worship. Jesus, the only One truly worthy of praise entered into our world, but didn't become like we do in our world. Jesus remained a true worshiper of God, in Spirit and Truth, even up to his death on a cross. In his death on the cross, Jesus took all the sin we commit in our false worship and our rejection of the true God upon himself. Jesus did all this so that we could be redeemed from worshiping false gods and be brought back into the presence of the true God. Jesus took our sin upon himself to break down the barrier and lead us back to true worship, true praise of the true God.

What does this true worship look like?

Psalm 100 says:

1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Let's break down Psalm 100 to see why God is praiseworthy, and what worshiping the true God really looks like.

1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.

 Imagine you are dying of kidney cancer. You are on the donors list, and you are desperate, but there's not enough time and it looks like you won't be able to find a donor match in time. Then, miraculously, a nurse passing by your room sees you lying there and has compassion. She walks in and gets to know you. She sees your life as valuable and meaningful, not because you are so great, but because she simply loves you and has mercy on you. She has testing done and finds out she is a match. A few days later, she is laying beside you on her gurney, about to go under for surgery. 

 Within weeks, you are out of the hospital and restored to your normal life. However, you will never look at your life the same, because for the extra 20 years she has given you, you get to be thankful and glad that she gave of herself for your sake, so that you may truly live!

 Why are we so joyful? We get to come before God, to be in His presence because Jesus gave us more than his kidney, Jesus gave his life for ours. Our sin had created a barrier, a separation, and distance from the God we were created to know and love God. Christ breaks down that barrier by taking our sin upon himself on the cross. 

 Through Christ we find redemption and we are brought back into relationship with our Creator God. The gospel goes so far as to tell us that through faith, we become adopted sons and daughters of God. God becomes our heavenly Father as we experience the new birth of the gospel through Jesus Christ. As we come to understand how Jesus has redeemed us, our lives become marked by joy. Because of Christ, we worship the Lord with gladness. We bring songs of joy to God. 

 3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Another key aspect of true worship is the knowledge of the true God. The true God is the Creator God. We were made to know our Maker. God shaped and molded us, He knows us, and He knows that we are made for His glory. We are made to love and know our Maker. 

 The knowledge of the true God always has to penetrate the barrier of sin. The Holy Spirit comes into our lives and awakens us to know God. Because of our tendency toward false worship of created things, we need the divine intervention of God's Holy Spirit to help us come alive to God. 

 It is Jesus who makes us God's people. Jesus takes away the sin that separates us from God, and sends the Holy Spirit into the world to awaken dead hearts, lost in sin and false worship, to the reality of their Creator. 

 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." - Jesus

 I was sitting in a balcony at a church in Downtown Minneapolis when the Holy Spirit awakened me to my need for a Savior. I said "Yes!" to Jesus Christ and began the lifelong journey of turning from false worship of created things to worship of the True God. Since my conversion, I've seen God turn me slowly away from worshiping things like sex, food, success, and so much more. Those good things can be put in their proper place because I've been awakened to God. I've become one of God's people through Christ. I am a sheep in God's pasture because I've received the Holy Spirit. 

 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

 God's name is great. God is the truly praiseworthy One. God is good. God's love endures forever. God's faithfulness does not depart from Him. God is who He says He is and He always comes through. 

 God is worthy of praise because He is Good. God is worthy of praise because He is loving. God is worthy of praise because He is faithful. God is not like us. God is holy and good. God acts on our behalf even when we reject Him. 

 God's love is based on His character. He doesn't take away His love if we stop being amazing people. God sets His love on those He has redeemed in Christ and He doesn't take it away. God's love is steadfast, unchanging. 

 God is not fickle. God doesn't not change and God does not fail. God is faithful to His people, He never forsakes His people. Our faithfulness is limited, but God's faithfulness is unlimited. 

 God is praiseworthy because He is holy. God is not like us. His goodness, His love, His faithfulness are the only things that can truly satisfy longing hearts. We are all seeking something to worship, and God is the only person worthy of our worship. God alone is the truly Praiseworthy One. 

 When we worship things other than God, we are distorting ourselves, because we aren't being who we were made to be. Jesus came that we may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10), and he is leading us back to worshiping the true God. One day, that will be what our life looks like. Worshipful living in the presence of God is our future, and it can be our reality now. 

What are you worshiping?

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