Sermon on Psalm 148:”He Has Raised Up a Horn”

The books of the Bible cry out with one voice: “Your idols are worthless! Your gods are projections of your own vain wishes! The awful proof of your pointless obstinence. It is God who is over all. And whether you recognize it or want it to be so, he reigns above and over all things!”

Chapter 1 Genesis…

In the beginning…

The Ancient Mesopotamians did not dare utter the words. Who could say when the wheels of history began to turn? The people of Israel, the couriers of God’s law were told of beginnings.

God created…

All of this came into being by the word of one God, who lives and reigns forever.

And do we not see on the streets of Brattleboro, in many storefronts, the ancient longing for it to not be true?

Does it not show up in ourselves, in our weakest moments? For who could lift even a thought of sin if they were always respectful of one Creator of it all? All sin is idolatry.

The only proper response of created things is to praise. We were made to praise. That distortion within each of us, that vacuum, that constant sense of dread, that shiftlessness of the soul, is a sign that our souls are twisted out of shape. For we were made to praise; to be the worshipers, and this we do without thinking. But worship which is directed at the created rather than the creator corrupts the soul.  We become like our idols. Contorted, unseemly, shadows. And that is the vacuum, the sense of dread-misplaced worship.

We cannot help but give ourselves to things-work, family, fun, wealth, reputation. There is nothing wrong with these things. But when we waste our worship nature on them, they destroy us.

We are worshipers by nature. If we do not worship God, it doesn’t mean we stop worshiping. Sin is nothing but wrongheaded worship that takes what the soul was made for and points it toward a finite object, and that which was designed to look to their Creator finds itself looking toward the created, and thus contorted.

There is no other understanding of Genesis 1. In the beginning was God and there was nothing else until he said so. The objects of pagan worship were subordinate to the God of Israel from day 1; the heavens, the stars, sun, and moon, the seas, the land, and even the crown of creation, humankind. Paganism is serving the servants. And it is unbecoming. From the shoot the Bible is a pointed offensive on idolatry, and it never lets up.

Psalm 148 is Genesis 1 condensed into a song.

And paganism is exposed. from verse 1 on, when the objects of the nations worship are commanded to be worshipers themselves. Simply because, “he commanded and they were created”.

It isn’t a direct parallel of Genesis 1. But it is obviously meant to make the original reader reflect on it. Angels are associated with light and we have the references to the heavens, the waters above the heavens, the stars, the sun and the moon.

Thus ends the section on the heavens.

And we have sea creatures and flying birds, and the deep seas and the land, and the power of weather which  leaves all in helpless awe, which God’s people must always attribute to him.

And included under the heavens are man and his kingdoms.

And so it all converges to make one great declaration which is the foundation of our faith. “Let everything praise the LORD, for his name alone is above all other names, the names of kings and their gods are a whole universe below the name of the Creator.

Do you think of creation this way? As that which is made to give deference and worship to God. When you marvel at a dark blue sky do you think of it as merely doing its master’s will? All that has been made is made to praise God.

So there in some form you have your six days…then what about day 7? The Sabbath?

“He has raised up a horn for his people,
praise for all his saints,
for the people of Israel who are near to him.
Praise the Lord!”

What does that mean? “Raise up a horn?”

A horn is a victory call. God has given his people a reason to praise him. To shout in victory.

Maybe we can say, he has given them the gift of Jesus, the exact representation of his person, as the human form of that object of praise their hearts were made for. Do you realize, what we do here on Sundays- we were made for this. Praising  Jesus. In Jesus we have found the final and only pure resting place of our nagging will to worship.  And in giving us Jesus,  God has given us the ultimate desire of our hearts.

Jesus is the victory over sin. And we are made new in him. And our contorted souls are turned right toward their true desire-Jesus.

The truly wonderful thing about God is that he is not just a commander, but that he starts and establishes bonds with people. God is not an absent, far away dictator, barking out angry orders from a tower, but a present and near father. What is second nature to Jewish theology is that Genesis 1 is the establishment of a bond with the people of Israel. He, the one God has revealed himself especially to them. It is not just the record of creation. It is the opening clause of a marriage vow.

God has called a particular people into a special relationship with himself whereby they can know the majesty and the rest of God. That God would have a particular people near to him is not an indication that he plays favorites, but an indication that he seeks intimacy, that he by nature, is personal as well as powerful. It is not as if he only wants the descendants of Abraham. The children of Abraham are the people chosen to show the goodness of God to the nations, that all may join in the Sabbath rest of knowing God. (The Sabbath, by the way is a separate day of creation.) So the Church are special ones of God called into the continuation of God’s mission to bring people into intimacy with him.

The horn that God has raised up is Jesus. And the eternal Sabbath rest comes through him. The one who Paul tells us is the one by whom all things exist, through whom all things consist. The eternal word that was with God and who was God from the beginning.

God created the world by and through and for Jesus. And has given to us Jesus and thus the himself, as well as the world.

So…

“Praise the LORD”

If you are here this morning, and truly one of those who is near to God, one whom he has called; whom he has lifted from the dust and made his own, there is no need to try to guilt or inspire or manipulate you to express the praise of Jesus with genuineness and fervency. For Jesus is good news to all true seekers. And you know this. You have tasted and you have seen. You have sought and you have found. He is the praise our souls were made for. And we are (re)born ready to give it to him!