In many evangelical circles today Praising Christ involves raising your hands in a worship service and getting in tune with the band. Yet Biblically we are called to Praise God (the Triune God) in everything we do and receive. Here are just a few of the over 100 verses that tell us this: Hebrews 13:15, 1 Thessalonians 5:18, and Colossians 3:17.
As our text for today will show it is also quite possible to offer praise to God improperly or inadequately. The focus of our Praise must always be, Christ and Him Crucified.
CONTEXT:
CHAPTER 11 – Christ teacheth to pray, assuring that God will give all good things to them that ask him, 1–13. He casteth out a devil, and reproveth the blasphemy of the Pharisees, who ascribed the miracle to the power of Beelzebub, 14–26. He showeth who are the truly blessed, 27, 28; and the inexcusableness of not believing his gospel, 29–36. He reprehendeth the outward show of holiness in the Pharisees, and pronounceth woes against them and the scribes and lawyers, 37–54.
Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible, vol. 3 (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1853), 229.
The difference between pleasure and happiness (Luke 11:27–28)
Luke begins this section: ‘As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you” ’ (11:27). Unlike the other members of the crowd who had belittled and criticized Jesus, this woman sees something noble in what Jesus is doing and boldly pronounces a benediction on him. Jesus said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.’ Jesus accepted her benediction, but says that the real blessing is held in trust by God for those who hear his word and keep it.
The ultimate form of happiness is what the New Testament calls ‘blessedness’. But sometimes we get confused, for there is a similarity between real happiness and pleasure. Now the axiom of Scripture is this: sin can never bring happiness, what it brings is pleasure. That’s why we are so much in its power. We wouldn’t sin if we didn’t think it would make us happy. This is the fundamental tension that man has with God. All of us, as sinners, believe that if we obey God, we are doomed to unhappiness.
But Jesus reinforces the point, for in keeping the word of God comes the happiness or blessedness for which we were created. God has not set his law before us to make us unhappy, but to free and fulfil us, to give us joy, peace and happiness.
R. C. Sproul, A Walk with God: An Exposition of Luke (Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 1999), 245–246.
Luke 11:27 – Blessed is the womb. By this eulogium the woman intended to magnify the excellence of Christ; for she had no reference to Mary, whom, perhaps, she had never seen. And yet it tends in a high degree to illustrate the glory of Christ, that she pronounces the womb that bore him to be noble and blessed. Nor was the blessing inappropriate, but in strict accordance with the manner of Scripture; for we know that offspring, and particularly when endued with distinguished virtues, is declared to be a remarkable gift of God, preferable to all others. It cannot even be denied that God conferred the highest honour on Mary, by choosing and appointing her to be the mother of his Son. And yet Christ’s reply is so far from assenting to this female voice, that it contains an indirect reproof.
Nay, rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God. We see that Christ treats almost as a matter of indifference that point on which the woman had set a high value. And undoubtedly what she supposed to be Mary’s highest honour was far inferior to the other favours which she had received; for it was of vastly greater importance to be regenerated by the Spirit of God than to conceive Christ, according to the flesh, in her womb; to have Christ living spiritually within her than to suckle him with her breasts. In a word, the highest happiness and glory of the holy Virgin consisted in her being a member of his Son, so that the heavenly Father reckoned her in the number of new creatures.
In my opinion, however, it was for another reason, and with a view to another object, that Christ now corrected the saying of the woman. It was because men are commonly chargeable with neglecting even those gifts of God, on which they gaze with astonishment, and bestow the highest praise. This woman, in applauding Christ, had left out what was of the very highest consequence, that in him salvation is exhibited to all; and, therefore, it was a feeble commendation, that made no mention of his grace and power, which is extended to all. Christ justly claims for himself another kind of praise, not that his mother alone is reckoned blessed, but that he brings to us all perfect and eternal happiness. We never form a just estimate of the excellence of Christ, till we consider for what purpose he was given to us by the Father, and perceive the benefits which he has brought to us, so that we who are wretched in ourselves may become happy in him. But why does he say nothing about himself, and mention only the word of God? It is because in this way he opens to us all his treasures; for without the word he has no intercourse with us, nor we with him. Communicating himself to us by the word, he rightly and properly calls us to hear and keep it, that by faith he may become ours.
We now see the difference between Christ’s reply and the woman’s commendation; for the blessedness, which she had limited to his own relatives, is a favour which he offers freely to all. He shows that we ought to entertain no ordinary esteem for him, because he has all the treasures of life, blessedness, and glory, hidden in him, (Col. 2:3,) which he dispenses by the word, that they may be communicated to those who embrace the word by faith; for God’s free adoption of us, which we obtain by faith, is the key to the kingdom of heaven. The connection between the two things must also be observed. We must first hear, and then keep; for as faith cometh by hearing, (Rom. 10:17,) it is in this way that the spiritual life must be commenced. Now as the simple hearing is like a transitory looking into a mirror, as James says, (1:23,) he likewise adds, the keeping of the word, which means the effectual reception of it, when it strikes its roots deep into our hearts, and yields its fruit. The forgetful hearer, whose ears alone are struck by the outward doctrine, gains no advantage. On the other hand, they who boast that they are satisfied with the secret inspiration, and on this ground disregard the outward preaching, shut themselves out from the heavenly life. What the Son of God hath joined let not men, with wicked rashness, put asunder, (Matth. 19:6.) The Papists discover amazing stupidity by singing, in honour of Mary, those very words by which their superstition is expressly condemned, and who, in giving thanks, detach the woman’s saying, and leave out the correction. But it was proper that such a universal stupefaction should come upon those who intentionally profane, at their pleasure, the sacred word of God.
John Calvin and William Pringle, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke, vol. 2 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 87–89.
STUDY
Praise and Thanksgiving
Praising God is the activity of God’s creatures in honouring God because of the acts and the nature of God. Thanksgiving is an expression of gratitude to God for his care and concern, especially as shown through his redemptive acts.
John Frederick, “Praise and Thanksgiving,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).
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