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Songs of Greatness is a sermon series on the greatness of God from the Psalms. Who is Like the Lord our God? — If God is so great, what difference does that make for us? What God does with his greatness, specifically in his heart for the poor and the most vulnerable among us, should not only change how we live our lives but should also lead us to ask, “Who is like the Lord our God?” Recorded on Aug 22, 2021, on Psalm 113, by Pastor David Parks. Sermon Transcript For the next year, in our preaching ministry, we’re focusing on The Greatness of God. And this summer, we’ve been working through a sermon series from the Psalms in the Bible called Songs of Greatness. And we’ve said that the Psalms are a collection of songs/poems that the people of God have used in the worship of God for 1000’s of years. They cover the whole range of human emotion/experience, but a number of the psalms are all about the greatness of God. Today, we’ll consider Psalm 113, which is a psalm that asks, what does God do with all his greatness? If God is so great, if God is exalted, if God is supremely glorious, what difference does that make for us? Why should we care? Well, it turns out that what God does with his greatness, specifically in his heart for the poor and those who are the most vulnerable among us, not only should change how we live our lives but should also serve to only increase his glory to us and lead us to ask, “Who is like the Lord our God?” Please open your Bible/app to Psalm 113, starting with v. 1. Psalm 113:1-9, “Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, you his servants; praise the name of the Lord. 2 Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore. 3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised. 4 The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. 5 Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, 6 who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? 7 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; 8 he seats them with princes, with the princes of his people. 9 He settles the childless woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the Lord.” So Psalm 113, like so many other psalms, is a call to worship, it’s an invitation to praise the Lord. And if we read too quickly through it, we will miss what it says, its unique offering to us after all these years. The psalms, like any other great piece of music/art, need time to work their way from our senses down into our hearts as we meditate on who God is and what he has done. So let’s start back at v. 1 and work through this in three parts: 1. The Invitation 2. The Exaltation 3. The Humiliation. First, the invitation. v. 1. Psalm 113:1-3, “Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, you his servants; praise the name of the Lord. 2 Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore. 3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.” Let’s pause here. Ok! The invitation: So v. 1 of Psalm 113, in the original Hebrew language, is where we get the word/phrase/exclamation ‘hallelujah!’ If you’ve ever said, “Hallelujah!” did you realize it was a Greek transliteration, imported into the English language from an ancient Hebrew song lyric? Probably not. Anyway, in ancient Hebrew language/culture, a Hallel was a hymn of praise. And Psalms 113-118 are known as the Hallel Psalms. These particular psalms were very important in the Jewish faith before and during the time of Jesus, because they were used during the central Jewish festival that commemorated God’s saving grace in the exodus, which was the festival of the Passover. After the last supper, Matthew and Mark report that Jesus and his disciples sang a hymn. And this hymn was most likely from the Hallel Psalms. Psalm 113 and 114 were traditionally sung before the Passover meal. And Psalms 115-118 were sung after.