“We bring the sacrifice of praise, into the house of the Lord. We bring the sacrifice of praise, into the house of the Lord. And we offer up to You the sacrifices of thanksgiving. And we offer up to You the sacrifices of joy.”
I recently joined in on this song when I recognized the melody line that my Cambodian brothers and sisters were singing in their native Khmer tongue, while attending a church service. I hadn’t heard this song since I attended a Baptist church when I was young. We wore that song out, let me tell ya! The nostalgia of it all got me thinking. Why did we sing that song? What did it mean? Then all of a sudden, I was stuck… I spent the rest of my time at the service, plus an hour back home, contemplating.
What does it mean to offer up a sacrifice of praise to our God? My initial thought was different than where I now feel the needle on the compass- the Holy Spirit- is pointing me. Whether my insight lines up with the original intent of the songwriter Kirk Dearman back in 1984, I do not know. But I do find this a challenge and a word for the church.
Let’s unpack this.
“We bring the sacrifice of praise.”
Does this solely involve the volunteering of collective symphonic efforts from my diaphragm, lungs, breath, voice box, vocal chords, nose, mouth, tongue, and an assortment of involuntary muscles? If so, does that really cost me much of anything? What if I sing for a long time? God likes to hear his children sing songs to Him, right? Sure He does! And maybe He really wants more and more of that all day every day. This would make sense, because this very moment, all of Heaven is doing just that! I got to thinking that maybe I’m not just supposed to sacrifice “songs” of praise. Maybe I’m supposed to sacrifice MY PRAISE. THE PRAISE OF ME.
During His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave a word of caution to those who would follow Him.
Luke 6:24 “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.”
I would encourage you to stop, pick up a Bible, and read Matthew 6:1-21 for some context. Otherwise the rest of this blog may not make sense J
Ok. So if you actually took the time to read this passage, you can see how to behave if you want to enjoy temporal rather than eternal rewards. From my own personal experience, I can attest to the fact that you will indeed feel alive and good about yourself while basking in the praises of others. However this, like any other drug, will last only a short while before you will feel the ravenous need to feast once again upon the welfare of others. Remember that your happiness is now contingent upon whether or not you “keep up the good work.” Best of luck to ya! Your occupation is “entertainer.” And you know how much we Americans love our entertainment J. You have no days off. No vacation. You will work tirelessly to no avail and suffer from insomnia. Remember, you have exercised your own free will and have subjected yourself to this slavery. Before long your identity will be wrapped up in the approval of others. You will not know whom stares back at you while gazing into the mirror. When you try to exist underneath their mercy and they don’t feel like giving you your “fix” for the day, what will you do? To who else will you run? What happens if you have exhausted all of your options and no one wants to feed your addiction?
This is a dangerous way to live.
THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU WERE CREATED FOR!
WE WERE CREATED NOT TO BE PEOPLE PLEASERS, BUT EMBODY THE GLORY OF GOD!
BECAUSE OF GOD OUR FATHER AND HIS AMAZING GRACE, THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, WE ARE NO LONGER SLAVES! WE ARE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE KING!
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in Heaven.”
Wait for the reward that your Father who sees in secret has for you. Don’t treasure the praises of people!
Jesus said in Luke 12:2-3 “For nothing is hidden that won’t be revealed.” You can trust that it will become evident to all people where your heart is.
So I invite you to trade the praises of people in for an eternal reward. During this exchange, God gets the glory and you get His joy. You can trust that our Father who IS in secret will lay up those real treasures for you in the Kingdom of Heaven. And on that joyous day of celebration you will have the privilege of laying them down at the feet of The King, Jesus.
