“Let us always bring
praise to God as our offering, through Jesus”
Hebrews 13.15
When he arrived at
One cold night he chanced to
speak to one of the servitors who worked at the
University, he discovered that this man had only one coat and was so poor that
he had no bed to sleep on. The man seemed very happy and cheerful, and he began
to list the things he was thankful to God for. After a while, this began to get
on John Wesley’s nerves. The man paused for a moment to think.... and Wesley
said: "And what else do you thank God for?" with a touch of sarcasm.
The servitor continued:
Oh yes, "I thank Him for
the life and being He has given me, the heart He has given me to love Him, and
the real longing He has given me to serve Him!"
This made Wesley think, he was
struck by the fact that here was a man, who had almost nothing, but who knew
the meaning of true thankfulness. Later in life John Wesley himself learned how
praise God in every situation and for every situation.
Many years later, as an old man
John Wesley lay, terminally ill. Friends and family who had come to visit heard
him sing: "I'll Praise My Maker While I've Breath."
Let us always bring
praise to God as our offering says the letter to the Hebrews
Last
week, we found that the New Testament invites us to take, to look at what we do
for others in a completely new way. These ordinary things we do for others can
be an offering, according to the Bible, that we bring before God, a fragrant
offering we bring to Him, in glad thanksgiving for all
that He has done for us in our Lord Jesus Christ. We are invited to see what we
do for others not as a burden, but as an offering we bring to God...........
so that,
as life passes, our lives become rich in fragrant offerings to God,
loving
offerings flowing out of life rooted in Jesus Christ.
Now, Hebrews widens offering
beyond what we do for others. And now asks us to see praise and worship as offerings that
we bring to God.
Let us always bring
praise to God as our offering through Jesus
What does the writer to the
Hebrews mean by this:
Let us always bring
praise to God as our offering through Jesus ?
Well, lets
think about praise first..............
You know, the New Testament is
full of praise ! In the New Testament those who are to
be found praising include: angels, shepherds, children, the crowds, the disciples,
the nations, the Church.
The first song of praise
is recorded in the Old Testament, in the book of Exodus; In
the long years the people of
A song of praise,
for what God has done, His power, His victory, His
redemption that continues through
Let us always bring praise to God
A song of praise,
for what God has done, His power, His victory, His
redemption.
That’s what we see all the
way through Paul’s letters.
His letters are full of
thanksgiving and praise. He is always giving thanks.
Yet look at his life. From the moment the Lord Jesus appeared to him, on the road to
Wearied with constant journeying, his body, as he said, bore the marks of
the Lord Jesus But it is this
same man Paul who is constantly offering
praise to the living God. In his
heart is a song of praise; he looks
forward to finishing the journey of life with joy; and out of the overflowing
thankfulness of his heart he writes:
“Rejoice in the Lord: and again I say, Rejoice!”
If we look at Paul, we begin to grasp what the writer to the Hebrews
means when he says: Let us always bring praise to God
as our offering
The Bible tells us that the
ordinary things we do for others are a fragrant offering we bring before God.
Now, Hebrews widens offering beyond that, our praise and worship are also offerings
that we bring to God.
Praise we bring to God through
all the circumstances of life, in sorrow
and joy, loss and gain,
praise............ the writer to the Hebrews,
Let us always bring
praise to God as our offering
There is an old story from the Napoleonic
wars. Napoleon’s huge armies invaded
The townsfolk had no idea what
to do. Soldiers could be seen deploying on the heights above the little town.
These were clear signs that Napoleon's massive army was preparing to attack
sometime over the next two or three days. So, the town council was hastily
summoned. What should they do ? Should they try to
defend themselves or run up the white flag of surrender ?
Well, it was Easter Sunday, and the people were beginning to walk through the
streets to the service in the local church. The priest stood up in the
Council Meeting and said, "Friends, we have been counting on our own
strength, and apparently that will fail. As this is Easter Sunday the day of
the Lord's resurrection, we will ring the bells, have our service as always,
and leave the matter in God’s hands. We have not only our weakness, but the
power of God to defend us." The council accepted this plan and the
church bells rang. The French army, hearing the sudden ringing of the bells,
concluded that the Austrian army had arrived during the night to fortify the
town and within the space of two hours Napoleon’s troops broke camp and left.
Praise to God through all the
circumstances of life, in sorrow
and joy, loss and gain,
praise............ the writer to the Hebrews says,
Let us always bring
praise to God as our offering
but
notice, these two words, the most important of all,
through Jesus.............
what
does this mean...........?
Well,
the writer to the Hebrews has spent a great deal of this letter speaking about
how the people worshipped long ago in
On
one day of the year, the Day of Atonement, all the people gathered together,
round the Tent of Meeting, there in the Tent of Meeting, behind the curtain was
the Holy of Holies, where God was present. On this one day, into the Tent of
Meeting, and into its very heart - the Holy of Holies, where God was present, the
High Priest of Israel went alone, taking with him an offering for all Israel, bringing
the people and all their sins, their needs, their longings before the living
God………….
Now,
the letter to the Hebrews declares............
Jesus
is our High Priest,
offering Himself for us, He has gone into the presence of the
living God,
bringing us before God, bringing our sinfulness, our hopes, our
longing for life,
taking all these into the presence of the living God.
He leads our
worship,
through
Him we draw near to the living
God,
bringing
praise as our offering, songs of praise, hymns of praise that delight the Father,
This is what the writer to
the Hebrews means when he says:
Let us always bring
praise to God as our offering,
through Jesus
When we praise, whatever our circumstances,
when we come here to worship Sunday by Sunday, to praise, we join with that
great gathering in heaven in God’s presence,
with Jesus at the centre, through Him we draw near to the living God
He it is who
leads our worship,
He it is who lifts up our hearts and minds to
praise,
and God delights in what we bring, the hymns we sing,
and from the depths of our thankful hearts
we come to say:
Let us always bring
praise to God as our offering,
through Jesus
AMEN