Think on Things that are Praiseworthy

It is such a great blessing to be here today, and to see everyone, and what a wonderful Lord’s Day this is. We have a special occasion today, and I’m glad that we’re going to be celebrating that a little bit later on.

It’s wonderful that we can get together to do that, and we certainly are thankful for these wonderful blessings of life. This morning, we’re going to continue our series of thoughts on Philippians chapter 4 and verse 8, which, at the conclusion of that verse, urges us to think on these things. And exactly what things have we been thinking on?

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are noble, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.

And we’ve worked our way through this list of things to think on. We’ve thought about things that are true and noble and just and pure and lovely, of good report and virtuous. And this morning, we’re going to be thinking on things that are praiseworthy. Remember, the Bible teaches us that we can control our thoughts.

Proverbs chapter 4 and verse 23 says, “…Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” How we think controls how we act. How we act controls what habits we develop and what habits we develop ends up being our life.

And so we want to think on good things. And this morning, as we think on these things, you know, we recognize there’s no shortage of good things to think about. And it makes us wonder why we think on bad things so much. But we’re not going to focus on that, but we are going to focus on thinking on things that are praiseworthy.

And this is the last item in the list, and it’s fascinating to me that there’s so many good things to think about, and here, thinking on things that are praiseworthy, as I was studying for this lesson and just looking through all of the things that the Bible lists that are praiseworthy, there’s no shortage of things here.

If we just thought on things that were praiseworthy all the time, we would be thinking on so many things, so many good things, and we would never have a shortage of things to think about. But thinking on things that are praiseworthy, and that’s the thought that we want to pursue this morning.

The word praise, if there be any praise, the Apostle Paul says, is this Greek word, epinos. And it means approbation or approval, commendation or praise. And we want to think on things that have God’s approval, that have God’s commendation. And as we search through the Bible and think about all of those things, we have a tremendous list before us.

The Hebrew word for praise is halal, and it means to shine or to boast, to praise. And so, the idea is to shine a light on something that’s good in thinking about praiseworthy things. Well, let’s get into our list this morning. It’s a long one, but I think also it is one worthy of consideration.

And so first of all, when we think of things that are praiseworthy, our mind should go to thinking about God. God is certainly worthy of our praise. In fact, this is mentioned many times in the scriptures. Deuteronomy 10 and verse 21 says, He is your praise and He is your God who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen. He is your praise. 2 Samuel 22, 4 and Psalm 18, 3 says, I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved from my enemies. God is worthy for praise.

1 Chronicles 16, 25 and Psalm 96, 4 both echo this thought, For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised. Well, we see why the Lord is great and greatly to be praised because of the many attributes that He has within His life.

For example, the power of God is something that we praise God for. Be exalted, O Lord, in your own strength. We will sing and praise your power. Psalm 106 and verse 2 says, Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can declare all His praise? Psalm 139 and verse 14, the psalmist says, I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well.

When we think about all the great things that God has done, this creation, the earth that He has made, the heavens declare the glory of God, we know, and we can’t help but see all these things and praise God for the good that He has made with His power and the strength that He has.

So much good and upholding us even at this very moment. And we thank Him and praise Him for His power. The name of God is something to be praised. Psalm 44 and verse 8, In God we boast all day long and praise Your name forever. Psalm 48 and verse 10, According to Your name, O God, so is Your praise to the ends of the earth.

Psalm 54, verse 6, “…I will freely sacrifice to you. I will praise your name, O Lord, for it is good.” The name of God, as revealed in the Old Testament, the name Yahweh, meaning I am that I am, or I am because I am, points to the eternal existence of God and His foundation, being the foundation of all things.

All good things, upholding all things that exist. What a wonderful way to praise God by praising His name. When we think about the goodness and the grace of God, we find that those things are praiseworthy. Psalm 135, verse 3, Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good. Sing praises to His name, for it is pleasant. He is good. And we want what is good within our lives. And so, as we contemplate praising God, we think about His goodness and praising Him for being the foundation of all that is right and good and moral.

Ephesians 1, 6 talks about His grace, to the praise of the glory of His grace by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. His grace, the things which God gives and that He gives freely and generously, that attribute of Him is something to be praised.

We praise God for His grace, and we see holiness is something that we find in the scriptures to be praised, and particularly the holiness of God, but then also the holiness of good things and the holiness of men when they are holy as well.

We think about the holiness of God. Look at 2 Chronicles 20 and verse 21. And when He consulted with the people, He appointed those who should sing to the Lord and who should praise the beauty of holiness as they went out before the army and were saying, praise the Lord for His mercy endures forever. Praise the beauty of holiness. God’s holiness. What is holiness? We sang holy, holy, holy this morning, Lord God Almighty.

And that is the attribute of God that makes Him separate and apart from all things. It means that He is incorruptible. It means that He is unchanging. It means that God can never be so affected by the things that we’re affected about so as to change His nature.

And God is holy, and His holiness is praiseworthy, and it means that He can be the absolute standard for what is right and wrong, and the absolute standard of all that is good, because He is, in fact, holy. Psalm 22, verse 3, “…but you are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel.”

And Psalm 99, verse 3 says, “…Let them praise your great and awesome name. He is holy.” The holiness of God is something that is praiseworthy. Righteousness is something that is praiseworthy. Righteousness is the idea of being right with God and being right with our fellow man according to the principles of justice and according to the principles of what is right and wrong.

In Psalm 7, verse 17, it says, I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High. Psalm 35, verse 28, “…My tongue shall speak of your righteousness and of your praise all the day long.” Of course, God is righteous. He is a righteous God. That means He always treats people in the right way and in the correct way. And righteousness and justice are like two sides of the same coin, so to speak.

And so when we think about righteousness, that is an attribute of God. It’s also something that God wants us to practice as well. Psalm 101, verse 1, we read, I will sing of your mercy and justice. To you, O Lord, I will sing praises. Psalm 119, verse 7, I will praise you with uprightness of heart when I learn of your righteous judgments.

In Philippians 1, verse 11, “…being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.” So, the fruits of righteousness, something that we need to see God employing and then implement within our lives. Righteousness is something that is praiseworthy.

Another thing that the scripture says is praiseworthy is the word of God. In Psalm 56, in verse 4, in verse 10, it says, In God I will praise His word. In God I have put my trust. I will not fear. What can flesh do to me? Psalm 106, in verse 12, says, Then they believed His, that is God’s, words. They sang His praise. And so God’s words are praiseworthy. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. Where did His commandments come from? His word. His praise endures forever. Psalm 111 and verse 10. And so as we think about God’s word, we see it is praiseworthy. Psalm 117 and verse 2 says, For His merciful kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord. The Word of God is truth, Jesus said, John 17 and verse 17. And so we praise the truth. My lips shall utter praise, for you teach me your statutes. Psalm 119, 171. The statutes of God are the Word of God. Psalm 138 and verse 2, I will worship toward Your holy temple and praise Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth, for You have magnified Your word above all Your name.

God’s word being enlarged or magnified above all of His name means that the word of God is worthy of praise. And we should praise the Word of God and thank God for His wonderful Word that He has given us. And so, God’s Word is praiseworthy.

All the Kings of the earth shall praise You, O Lord, when they hear the words of Your mouth. Psalm 138, verse 4. And in 2 Corinthians 8, verse 18, we see the Gospel is part of that Word of God. And in thinking about the gospel, we find that the scriptures teach it is praiseworthy.

We have sent with Him the brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches. 2 Corinthians 8, verse 18. The virtuous woman is one who is worthy of praise. When we see the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31, We find that there are multiple ways that she is praised. Proverbs 31, verse 28 says, Her children rise up and call her blessed, her husband also, and He praises her. Proverbs 31, verse 30, Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.

And then Proverbs 31, verse 31, Give her of the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her In the gate. So the virtuous woman is praiseworthy and worthy of praise. And it’s wonderful that we’ll be able to do that just after our services today in regard to one of our virtuous women here.

Here, doing good is praiseworthy. When we look at the scriptures, we find that praise is given to those who do good, specifically by those within government. Think about the purpose of government, that it’s to be a terror to evil, but not to good works.

Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. This is Romans chapter 13, and then in 1 Peter 2 and verse 14, “…or to governors as to those who are sent by Him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.” And so those who do good are to be praised, and we’re to celebrate those who do good, and that’s a good thing.

Faith and faithfulness is praised in the scriptures. When we think about praising things, we should praise faith and faithfulness. Psalm 89, verse 5, “…and the heavens will praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness also in the assembly of the saints.” And faithfulness, our faithfulness flows from God’s faithfulness.

He sets the standard for us to be faithful, and then we need to be faithful to Him. And so, we praise Him for faithfulness. Romans 2, verse 29. But He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart and the spirit, not of the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God.

And here’s the picture of one who is faithful to God, who isn’t looking for the praises of men, but rather is faithful and thereby receives the praise of God. In 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 5, Paul writes, Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts, then each one’s praise will come from God.

What’s he talking about there? When this world is done and we stand before God in judgment, then if we have within our hearts held the Lord Jesus Christ to be dear to us and followed Him, we will receive praise from God for doing so. And so faithfulness is praised.

In 1 Peter 1 and verse 7 says that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

And when Christ returns and we have been faithful to Him through our faith, we will receive praise for that faith. Faith and faithfulness are praiseworthy. And then finally, Jesus is praiseworthy. In Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 12, we read that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

And we sang that song just a few minutes ago. Worthy art thou. Worthy of praise is Christ our Redeemer. And so says the scripture when we praise God together and praise Jesus Christ. We are praising those who are worthy. Ephesians 1, verse 14. Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of His glory.

And Jesus Christ is worthy of praise. Now, just remember what we’re talking about. Think on things that are praiseworthy. I know this has been a lot, and we’ve gone through this fairly quickly, but think about all of these things that are praiseworthy.

God is praiseworthy, and all of God’s attributes are praiseworthy. His power, His glory, His name, His goodness, His grace, all of those things are praiseworthy, but then also His holiness and righteousness. And then we see God’s Word is praiseworthy. Doing good is praiseworthy. The virtuous woman is praiseworthy. Faith and faithfulness is praiseworthy. And Jesus is praiseworthy. So many things to think about.

And when the Bible says, think on these things, there’s no shortage. We can always think on something. If we just take that list from Philippians 4 and verse 8, when we have challenges, when we have struggles, when we are seeking to think on good things, just look at Philippians 4 and verse 8, pick something out of that list, and find some things that we can think about that are good.

There’s no shortage. It’s just a matter of us recognizing that we need to do that at every opportunity we have. The last thing we spoke about was that Jesus Christ was worthy of praise. And why is that? Well, we look in Revelation chapter 5 and we see the answer to why Jesus Christ is worthy And when we look there in Revelation 5, starting in verse 9, it says, And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, Why is Jesus Christ worthy? Because He went to the cross and He gave His life for the sins of mankind, the sacrifice so that we could be forgiven. And then He was resurrected from the dead to go to sit at the right hand of the throne of God. And so He is worthy.

And this morning, He is worthy of your praise and He is worthy of your allegiance. Would you become a Christian today if you are not one? You can do that by hearing His holy word, the word that is worthy of praise. Believing it. Faith is worthy of praise. Repenting of your sins. That action is a good action and goodness is worthy of praise.

Confessing Jesus Christ as the Son of God, Jesus, who is worthy of praise and being baptized for the forgiveness of sins because obedience to God’s Word is worthy of praise. Would you become a child of God this morning and thereby live your life in a way that is going to think on good things?

Why not take that step this morning while together we stand and while we sing?

End of transcript. Thank you for reading along!