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Psalm 113
113:1 Praise the LORD!
Praise, O servants of the LORD,
praise the name of the LORD!
2 Blessed be the name of the LORD
from this time forth and forevermore!
3 From the rising of the sun to its setting,
the name of the LORD is to be praised!
4 The LORD is high above all nations,
and his glory above the heavens!
5 Who is like the LORD our God,
who is seated on high,
6 who looks far down
on the heavens and the earth?
7 He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
8 to make them sit with princes,
with the princes of his people.
9 He gives the barren woman a home,
making her the joyous mother of children.
Praise the LORD!
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Psalm 113 or open them. You can find it printed there in your worship guide. My name is Colin Hansen. I am a home group leader here at Redeemer Community Church and also an elder candidate. My wife here, Lauren and I have been members of Redeemer for about 4 years.
Collin Hansen:The 1st week I, I visited Redeemer, Joel asked me to preach. So if you're visiting this week and you're not up here, your day's off to a good start. So you got that going for you. We're gonna we're continuing a summer series in the Psalms. We're nearing the end of that.
Collin Hansen:And we're looking at the entire range of human emotions at the full expression of faith in the midst of every possible circumstance as you see it throughout the Psalter. We're gonna see that on display this morning in Psalm 113. I'll go ahead and read it and pray. Psalm 113. Praise the Lord.
Collin Hansen:Praise those servants of the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised. The Lord is high above the nations and his glory above the heavens.
Collin Hansen:Who is like the Lord our God who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people. He gives the barren woman a home making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord. Let us pray.
Collin Hansen:Heavenly father, let your name continue to be praised in this place as we continue in worship. Guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus that we might hear your word and obey it. Spirit, we invite you to come upon this place to continue to watch over us, to guide us, to comfort us, and to guide us into all truth. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Collin Hansen:The essential question I have for everybody this morning is, why praise? Why praise God? Why did you come here this morning? Why have we just been singing God's praises for the last several minutes? Why do we bother to sing these songs?
Collin Hansen:Why do we recite these Psalms? If you think about it for a second, it doesn't necessarily make that much sense. After all, if God is God, why does he need us to remind him of these things? Is God a narcissist? Does he just feed upon this praise from us?
Collin Hansen:Does he require it from us so that he feels good about himself? So you mean reminded, oh, that's who I am. Okay. Thank you for the reminder world. Why do we sing these Psalms?
Collin Hansen:Is he lonely? Does he have nothing better to do on a Sunday morning than to listen to people around the world say these things about him that he has revealed to us in his word. Or it's entirely possible that we simply sing these praises and read these psalms out of habit. What else would you do if you came to church if you didn't do these things? Read these Psalms and sing these praises.
Collin Hansen:What else would we be doing here in church? So maybe, we're just doing it out of habit, which after all, maybe that's the purpose of religion anyway. Just a habit. Just something people do because they've got nothing better to do on a Sunday morning. But I want you to see this morning that everyone praises.
Collin Hansen:That everyone praises something or someone. And one working definition you can use to understand this essence of praise is to think about that which you praise or that whom you praise is what you trust to get you through. It's what you imagine to be your source of sustenance and support and comfort in difficult times. That is what you will pray. So you can imagine then, instead of thinking about praise being stuck in this stuffy church on a hot Sunday morning, that this praise is something that all of us engage in on a regular basis.
Collin Hansen:What have we seen in the last 2 weeks in the United States of America except for praise? Praise of presidential candidates. Praise of presidential candidates in the fervent hopes of millions of people that they will deliver a deliver on their promises and make this world, this country at least a better place. This is where people invest their hope. You can imagine people invest their hope and they praise other things.
Collin Hansen:Imagine things like science. Imagine how science might prompt people to praise the amazing advances in medicine or the complexities and the mysteries of the cosmos. Just imagine just imagine what kind of praise that prompts in people. Whether or not they believe in God, they will praise science. Or certainly, you've probably seen this, people are going to praise the earth.
Collin Hansen:Give thanks to Mother Earth. This is one of the earliest praises long before Christianity ever entered the scene, long before Jesus ever entered. People were still praising, They were largely praising the earth, giving thanks, and understanding very clearly, we praise that which we trust to be able to give us life and hope. I think we've switched now toward our own era, where we're much more likely than to praise the self. We trust the self to get us through.
Collin Hansen:We trust ourselves to be able to find the answers. To find hope and peace. We teach one another that if you will only look inside yourself, you will see the secret to happiness. You will ultimately end up then praising yourself. So if you think about praise then, as a Christian, but also within this broader context, I think you then can imagine 3 different ways when you're praising of what you're imagining or what you're wanting out of this.
Collin Hansen:You praise something or somebody, somebody in particular that you want to be like. You praise somebody you want to be like. You praise someone or something that you need. You praise what you need and you praise that which you credit. That for which you give thanks, that you truly trust in to be able to deliver for you.
Collin Hansen:But I wanna suggest this morning that as we see from Psalm 113, that God is only God. God is only God if he's the only one who is worth our worship. He's the only one who is worth our ultimate praise. That is the argument that Psalm 113 is making. Not merely through didactic arguments, but in fact through this beautiful poetry of Psalm 113.
Collin Hansen:God is the only one who is truly worthy of worship. The only one who ultimately deserves all of our praise. Psalm 113 makes the claim that God deserves our praise for who he is and for what he does. You see here this special emphasis in Psalm 113 on His name. Praise the name of the Lord.
Collin Hansen:Blessed be the name of the Lord. The name of the Lord is to be praised. You see it repeated in there because his name is that which commands and demands worship. No one is exempt from this command, from this demand that all of us are called then to praise the Lord. He is not merely the Lord of some small subset of people called Christians, but he is the Lord of the heavens and the earth of all creation.
Collin Hansen:No one is exempt. So we're going to consider further in-depth here the consider the the claims of Psalm 113, but we're gonna look at three reasons. Three reasons why we don't praise God. Three reasons why we don't praise God. And so I hope will help us to draw us toward greater praise of the Lord who makes the heavens and the earth.
Collin Hansen:So number 1, we don't praise God because we imagine him in our image. We don't praise God because we imagine him in our image. Look with me again at verse 5. Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth. So you see their indication of 2 key characteristics of God.
Collin Hansen:He is the judge. He is the ruler. He is the king of all creation. Then look there at verse 6. He looks far down on that which he has created.
Collin Hansen:He is our judge. He is our king. And he is our creator. But we know from elsewhere in scripture that that's not only the way God relates to his people. He relates to us in a very special way, particularly as men and women, as human beings, because according to Genesis 127, he's made us in his image.
Collin Hansen:God has made us in his image. And that can mean any number of different things according to theologians, but there's 2 things in particular that it means for God to have made us in his image. One of them is that because God is King, because he's made us in his image, that means that we are responsible to rule this earth as his representatives. Not however we'd wish or like, but specifically as his representatives. We are called then and made in his image to rule.
Collin Hansen:But then also there's something key that is distinct about human beings that is not possible with anything else in creation. God has given us the rational ability to be able to reflect on the meaning of our existence. Something that nobody else has. This is what it means for God, the creator, the judge, the king to be able to make us in his image. We rule as his representatives and we would reflect with the reason that he's given us to reflect on on our existence.
Collin Hansen:The significance of it. So God has made us in his image but there's a problem. Because we often then project him in our image. This is something that works only one direction, it doesn't work both ways. We understand how we're made in the image of God because of how he's revealed to us.
Collin Hansen:We cannot necessarily reason backwards from what we know about ourselves to understand God. We look to places like Psalm 113 to be able to understand that. Well, why not? Why doesn't this work? Why can't we simply reason backward to be able to understand who we are?
Collin Hansen:Well, there are several reasons. Particularly, if you go start there in Genesis 1, you fast forward a couple chapters to Genesis 3, you see the fall. You see the fall of Adam and Eve when sin entered this world. Because Adam and Eve instead of ruling as God's representatives in the Garden of Eden, in fact, the reverse happened. They were ruled by this serpent.
Collin Hansen:By this serpent who came and tempted them to doubt their creator, god. They were tempted. So instead of ruling, they were ruled by God's creation. And second, they used their rational ability rather than to reflect and to praise back to God who he is. Instead, they use that to rebel.
Collin Hansen:They use that to rebel. To wonder as the serpent spoke into their ears. Did God really say if you will eat this fruit, you will become like God? That's where everything went wrong and we're continuing to live with the effects, every single one of us today. Have you ever have you ever said this or heard it said, I cannot imagine a god less compassionate than I am?
Collin Hansen:I cannot imagine a god less compassionate than I am. This has the illusion of humility. As the illusion of of simply saying, well, I'm not trying to say who God is but I I know he can't be less loving than I am because he's God. Right? Well, I want you to see though, as we're looking again through Psalm 113 and we talked today, that rather than humility, this is actually the height of arrogance.
Collin Hansen:Is in fact the essence of original sin. And the sin that we continue to deal with all of us down to today. Because the only reason you can imagine who God is and reflect on who He is is because He has made you in His image. Because He's revealed these truths about himself to you in passages like Psalm 113. But if God is God, if he is this God who looks down on the nations, then his imagination is far more powerful than yours is and that mine is.
Collin Hansen:His imagination is far more powerful than ours. I wanna read from Isaiah 55 verses 8 to 11. You don't have to turn there but you can if you'd like. Isaiah 55 verses 8 to 11. To be able to capture what this looks like.
Collin Hansen:Isaiah 55 verses 8 to 11. God says through his prophet Isaiah, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. Declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, make it bring forth and sprout giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater.
Collin Hansen:So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. Here's the key difference then when we imagine using that ability God has given us to reflect through what he's revealed about God himself. You see that he alone through his name can ensure that all things he wills and wishes come to pass. This is not an ability that you and I possess but he alone can do it.
Collin Hansen:He alone speaks in universes come into existence. He alone can do that. That is the God we praise. That is worthy of praise. A God who we praise because he's made us in his image is infinitely more wonderful, inspiring, beautiful, and ultimately worthy of praise than a God we imagine in our image.
Collin Hansen:That's what Psalm 113 wants you to see. He deserves our praise. 2nd point. We've seen already that we don't praise God because we imagine him in our image. But the second point, we don't praise God because we don't need him.
Collin Hansen:We don't praise God because we don't need him. But I want you to consider verse 7. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes with the princes of his people. Now, in one sense that's bible talk. Bible says a lot of stuff about poor people.
Collin Hansen:A lot of nice things about poor people. And these lofty thoughts about the poor being raised up and the mighty being brought down don't really sit well with Americans today. I don't imagine it doesn't sit well with me because I don't identify with it the same way. Here's the thing. This is the implication of verse 7.
Collin Hansen:You might have missed it. I missed it the several first times I I looked at it. It's not just that God lifts up the poor and needy. Those are the only people he lifts up. It's not just that he lifts up the poor and needy as well.
Collin Hansen:Those are the only people he lifts up. The ash heap here referenced is rich with biblical significance. You see it all over the place. When we celebrate Ash Wednesday, and we're reminded of ourselves from dust we have come into dust we return. We think we're using this biblical imagery of the ash heap.
Collin Hansen:In the bible, it signifies repentance but also mourning. They often go hand in hand, but it signifies repentance and mourning. So why why do we mourn? Why do we mourn? We mourn for several reasons because we've lost something precious to us.
Collin Hansen:We mourn because we hate sin but can't seem to shake it. We mourn because we've been denied something that we desire. Those are reasons that we mourn. In essence, we mourn when we need God. We mourn when we need God for all of these different reasons.
Collin Hansen:Here's the counter intuitive element of praise. If you are looking for praise, look for the mourners in your midst in our midst. If you are looking for praise, look for the mourners. Look for the poor and needy who are on the ash heap. In fact, if you're looking for good art.
Collin Hansen:After all, what is Psalm 113 except art? Poetry. If you are looking for good art, whatever kind, look for the mourners. Because good art is that which confronts personal sin, but also factors in this broken fallen world. That's what good art does.
Collin Hansen:It reaches into the soul and it enlivens you to those things that you know to be true, but that you can't quite articulate yourself. That's what good art does. If you're looking for good art and praise, you look for the mourners. We here in the American South have much to mourn. We have much to mourn.
Collin Hansen:I don't know if you ever thought about this, but the South is the only part of the country that has ever been defeated and decimated on its own soil. This is something that is so deeply ingrained.
Jeffrey Heine:This experience of the last 150 years in the American South is
Collin Hansen:so deeply ingrained experience of the last 150 years in the American South is so deeply ingrained in us that we may not even notice it. But that is something that is absolutely distinct about us in the South than the rest of the country. I think that is a major factor in why we tend to produce good art in the South. Think about those genres, country and folk music. Think about the literature that's come out of the south from Faulkner to O'Connor and on and on.
Collin Hansen:Think about especially though, what I explained to you about the experience of the south doesn't go doesn't explain the half of it because this is also a part of the country that for 100 of years subjugated and oppressed a particular group of people. African Americans. So if you wanna see especially good art, look for gospel and blues music. In fact, go back to verses 7 and 8. I want you to imagine them reading them as was a common experience in this very place, in this very city.
Collin Hansen:Imagine reading them, verses 7 and 8, as a slave or as an African American suffering under segregation. How does it sound to you now? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes with the princes of his people. That's actually the original context of Psalm 113. It was sung and recited in Israel as a as a memorial to their Passover.
Collin Hansen:To their deliverance as slaves from Egypt. That is the original context of how Psalm 113 was supposed to be understood. How unrealistic would that have sounded to you suffering in those conditions? And yet, how true it actually was and is. He lifts the poor from the ash.
Collin Hansen:He he makes them sit with princes. God's economy is not our economy. You only get beautiful poetry like the Psalms. If you need God to turn your mourning into praise. That's the only way you get the beauty of Psalm 113.
Collin Hansen:So we've seen then we don't praise God because we imagine him in our image. We don't praise God because we don't need him. Well, 3rd reason we don't praise God is because we don't credit him. We imagine him in our image. We don't need him.
Collin Hansen:We don't credit him. Look with me at verse 9. He gives the barren woman a home making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord. If you've spent much time understanding scripture, you've probably seen that this idea of a barren woman and and mothering and childbirth is absolutely, key throughout scripture.
Collin Hansen:But if you imagine here, it's not just the sort of psychological or spiritual or emotional effect of what it would have been like for a woman to struggle not being able to be a mother. This is basic survival and security for the mother. If she doesn't have children, 1, we see throughout scripture that the husband will often abandon her. We've seen that with some of the godliest men in scripture that the husband will abandon her. And second, you will also see that she has nobody to protect her in old age especially if she were to outlive her husband.
Collin Hansen:She has no one to protect her. So when it says there, he gives the barren woman a home, as literally a place of shelter and security for her. I mentioned this as a major theme in scripture. Abraham and Sarah is one of the first places, significant places that we see it from Genesis 17 and 18. When they were told in old age that they would conceive, they did not respond with praise.
Collin Hansen:They did not credit God with the ability to be able to do that. Instead, rather than offer praise, they responded with laughter. That's the very definition of Isaac, their son's name who would come, he laughs. Rather than praise, they laughed. You also then see fast forward into the New Testament with Zechariah in Luke 1.
Collin Hansen:He does not respond with praise when he, likewise, is told that in his advanced age, his wife will conceive a child. This would ultimately be John the Baptist with his mother Elizabeth. In fact, Zechariah rather than responding with praise, he doubts, therefore God makes him mute, Unable to sing his praises until John would come. Well I want us to hear what praise that God that credits God. Praise that credits God it sounds like.
Collin Hansen:And I want to then look at the biblical mothers of miracles like Psalm 113. Melissa, you can go ahead and come up. Melissa's gonna read from us here. Now she's going to read from us from 1st Samuel. We're going to be looking here at Hannah, the mother of Samuel the prophet.
Collin Hansen:Hannah's story is fascinating. I'd encourage you to read about it. Her husband actually had another wife. This was common even though it was prohibited in the Old Testament and in the New to have another wife. This other wife, even if that situation wasn't bad enough for a woman, the other wife had children.
Collin Hansen:Hannah did not. It says in fact, building on what Jeff preached about last week, some difficult text in the Psalms. It actually says that the Lord Yahweh closed Hannah's womb. It's what it says. He closed Hannah's womb.
Collin Hansen:That other wife, she was not content to enjoy her children. She mocked Hannah. She mocked Hannah. But here's what it says then. This is beautiful.
Collin Hansen:It says, then the lord remembered Hannah. Then the lord remembered Hannah, and she dedicated her son to the lord after he was weaned. Samuel, the great prophet who would anoint king David and do any number of other things. So Melissa to read from us. 1st Samuel 126 to 210.
Speaker 3:And Hannah said to Eli, oh, my lord, as you live my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord. For this child, I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore, I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord. And he worshiped the Lord there.
Speaker 3:And Hannah prayed and said, My heart exalts in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation. There is no one holy like the Lord, for there is none besides you. There is no rock like our God.
Speaker 3:Talk no more so very proudly. Let not arrogance come from your mouth. For the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him, actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.
Speaker 3:The barren has born 7, but she who has many children is forlorn. The Lord kills and brings to life. He brings down to Sheol and He raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich. He brings low and he exalts.
Speaker 3:He raises up the poor from the dust, and he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and on them he has set the world. He will guard the feet of his faithful ones. But the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces, against them He will thunder in heaven.
Speaker 3:The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed. The word of the Lord.
Collin Hansen:Thanks be to God. Thank you, Melissa. Should probably just close there. But, among the many things I hope you noticed there, Psalm 113 quotes that song. That song of Hannah.
Collin Hansen:In fact, that very passage that we're looking at here, he raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes. I'm talking about what it means to praise in our morning, or how morning leads to praise, or praise comes when we credit God. When you have no other options, you see it from these women of scripture. You see it from these women who are barren, but the lord gives life. You see it there.
Collin Hansen:They mourn. They need god and ultimately, if God is going God who is exalted above the heavens, he does not then exalt the exalted, but he lifts the needy and he lifts the poor. The ones who cry out to him with their need for a savior are the ones he hears, those who stuff their ears and blind their eyes to their need for a savior are the ones he does not hear. Those who may live here in this place in in security have no security for all eternity apart from God almighty and his salvation through Jesus Christ. And that's what we're gonna look at next.
Collin Hansen:Lauren, why don't you go ahead and come up. She's gonna read from Luke 146 to 55. The circumstances here, this is Mary the mother of Jesus. You probably know then Jesus having been conceived as we confessed with the apostles creed, conceived by the Holy spirit. But notice then, the same reversal.
Collin Hansen:The poor and needy being lifted up, the high and mighty, those whose names we remember today. Those only because of their relation to Jesus. Those Romans and those Jews who ruled having merely become footnotes to the lord and savior Jesus Christ, that little baby, that savior we read about here in Luke 146 to 55. Listen to the words of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Speaker 3:And Mary said, my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm.
Speaker 3:He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his offspring forever. The word of the Lord.
Collin Hansen:Thanks, Lord. If you're wondering why you don't praise, why you don't feel anything, you're wondering how can I be connected back to God, I want to ask, are you in the place of Hannah? Are you in the place of Mary? Maybe not their particular circumstances, but are you in a place where you need God? Or you got nothing else?
Collin Hansen:You need God. Wherever you are, do you need him? Do you desire to credit him? Not yourself, not your money, not your good planning, not the doctors, not anything but to credit God alone. If you are in that place, praise will follow.
Collin Hansen:But please do not be surprised if you are not in that place and the praise does not follow. Do not be surprised. This is what it's like to have a heart of praise. We've heard it from Hannah. We've heard it from Mary.
Collin Hansen:This sense of barrenness a sense of barrenness is the same for all of us. For all of us who have have been born into sin. Who've been born as needing that savior. All of us were were born spiritually barren. In need of a savior.
Collin Hansen:Dead in our transgressions. And for their salvation now and forevermore because God is the one who gives the barren woman a home. He is the one who defeated the enemy of death in the resurrection of Jesus and he is the one who can forgive any sin. He is the one who can give you a heart of praise. He is the one who can make you a miracle.
Collin Hansen:Can make you a miracle and deliver you from that spiritual barrenness. In fact, it's the only as I reflect on this last week here at Redeemer, it's the only way to be able to get through. We see this we see in Psalm 113 that from the rising of the setting sun, the name of the lord is to be praised. And this week here at Redeemer, we have experienced the rising and the setting sun. We have experienced the setting sun of a memorial service for a 3 day old child from one of our members and we have experienced in the same place several days later, the rising of the sun of joy of 2 of our members getting married here yesterday.
Collin Hansen:That's where the flowers are coming from. And, again, I want you to know that the only way the only way you'll be able to be sustained from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs is if you need God. If you credit him for everything, if you imagine him as he has revealed himself to you in his word, and ultimately, if you have found that hope in Jesus Christ, the one born of the Mary virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified, died and buried, but ultimately resurrected by the power of the spirit to reign now and forevermore as the fulfillment of Psalm 113. We do not praise God because we imagine him in our image, because we don't need him, because we don't credit him, but we have reasons to praise God because he has made us in his image, because he supplies our every need, because he turns our tragedies into miracles. He turns our tragedies into miracles.
Collin Hansen:There is no better example of that than the cross. No better example of that than we now partake in with the Lord's supper. God, we invite you in this place to turn our morning into praise. God reveal to us our need for you. God, let us credit you for everything because lord you alone are deserving of our all our praise.
Collin Hansen:Lord, as we have feasted upon your word preached, we ask now, God, that you would allow us to feast upon your body broken for us your blood that is shed for us. Lord Jesus, be our everything. Lord, let our voices resound in this place and forevermore with saints around the world in praise. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.