What is your praise worth?

King David knew the value of worship and had determined that he would never approach the Lord empty-handed. Worship has value. What we now understand about this covenant we have with God through the finished work of Christ is that Jesus, Himself, is the value in our praise. He is the cost. There is nothing for us to bring to the place of worship that is an acceptable offering or sacrifice unto the Lord other than our praise. To offer anything else is to be like Cain and bring a harvest of produce that he had worked so hard to raise, when the sacrifice that God required of him was not garden produce but blood. Although his offering was no doubt of great value, it was not a suitable substitute for what God required. We can offer no substitutes for what God requires. God does require the “sacrifice of praise” (Hebrews 13) from His people and will accept no replacement for it, regardless of what it may cost us.
Jesus gave His life on our behalf. He was the only sacrifice worthy to redeem sinful, broken, fallen, lost people to a right relationship with God. What gives our worship value in God’s presence is the knowledge that we could never have achieved reconciliation on our terms or merit. It was accomplished by God and God alone. Now that we have received the provision of salvation by grace through faith, let us boldly go into the presence of God and offer the required sacrifice of praise with great gratitude because we fully recognize that Jesus has done for us what we could never have done for ourselves. If you don’t know what Jesus has saved you from, your praise will have little value. If you are coming into the throne room of the Most High God under the impression that He needs to see you showcase the greatness of your own goodness and works, your praise will speak little of Him, and mostly of yourself, which is why the apostle Paul said, “We are saved by grace through faith, and not of works, lest we should boast.”
Salvation is of the Lord and not of us. Remember what Romans 3 says… “None is righteous… no one seeks God…” We contain no currency within ourselves to purchase any blessing or place of right standing with God. That is why it was done for us while we were still His enemies.
We have no standing in the presence of the Lord without the provision of Jesus’ sacrifice.
We brought nothing into relationship by our efforts. God did it for us, in spite of us. The sooner we recognize this, the sooner our praise of Him will become ignited with the fire of the Holy Spirit. I have nothing to sing about other than His great love. I have nothing to proclaim other than His mercy that is new every morning. I have no other name under heaven to exalt than Jesus. I cannot boast in God’s presence. As the prophet Isaiah said, when seeing a vision of the Lord and was immediately humbled, “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips.”
An angel took a coal from the altar and seared Isaiah’s lips so that his praise could be purified. Like Isaiah, that which our lips offer is not clean. My praise is not pure. My best efforts to offer praise full of truth and zeal is and always will be tainted by my limitations and humanity. However, as the temple worship in Israel laid the pattern in type and shadow of how it is with us today, Jesus, our High Priest, gathers the offerings (sacrifices of praise – the fruit of our lips giving thanks) of the people and offers them to the Father on our behalf. I don’t even have to worry about my praise not being “good enough” or “pure enough” or “passionate enough” for God’s standard, because Jesus receives our offerings of worship as High Priest. Our praise is offered through Him purified, cleansed and perfected for God to receive, spotless and holy. That is part of His continuous ministry as High Priest of our confession. What we offer to God… Jesus is the spokesman.
How can we take anything of ourselves, our works, our rule-keeping, fragmented attempts at law abiding, and lay them at the Throne of God as though they are of value. Our works are as filthy rags. Nothing to brag about. No value. Paul said he considered his flawless practice of Judaism and law keeping as “dung.” Yet we so often insist upon doing it to try and get God’s attention or to feel good about ourselves when a good old-fashioned round of repentance would work much better.
No… we cannot substitute anything that we have done as an offering of praise unto the Lord. God doesn’t want it. He didn’t ask for it. To do so would be no different than Cain offering his hard work in the fields, when God asked for the slaying of an animal.
God lays the parameters and establishes the boundaries.
Give God what He asks for. Is it really that hard?
It can be… if we refuse to see ourselves in the same perspective that God does. But when we see that God has leveled the playing field and called us all sinners, so that He can show mercy upon us all alike… male, female, young, old, church-goers, pagans, gays, straights, blacks, whites, yellow and red, hardened sinners, not so hardened. We’re all the same in God’s eyes and we will all bow our knee to the altogether great love of God. Love that bore our guilt and punishment upon Himself, paid the debt and let us go free.
Now that kind of love is WORTH something. Recognizing that gives my praise value.
Making Him the object of my thanks is what gives my praise a richness without measure.
Priceless…
Drink deeply.
JP