Skip to main content

One One One

One hundred eleven is a cool number. Very simple. Though it doesn't make a good age. Its too old. It does, however, make a great song.

What? The “One One One” song? You've never heard of it? Then you been lookin in the wrong song book. You need to look in the heavenly hymnal. You can find it when you open your Bible right down the middle. If you don't have one of those big study Bibles that is. A regular Bible with no notes and no dictionary or encyclopedia, split right down the middle will land you near the “One One One” song. It is a beauty.

This song starts and ends like all praise songs should, with praise. Praise these days seem all about some fancy dancy “praise team” swinging and swaying to bass guitar, drums and mic-swallowing lead singers who look more like Madonna or Willie Nelson than someone who should be offering praise to Holy God. Not that the aforementioned won't offer praise someday. They will but it will be a forced praise.

The One One One song starts with praise and even tells us how and why to praise. The unknow author says simply: Praise the LORD! That sounds easy. So why all of the confusion in so many churches? I think that everyone might have forgotten to read the rest of this song.

Lyrics are important you know. The music might grab you but if it does you need to do what Joseph did when Potiphar's wife called him to her bed. Run like the Dickens!

Praising the LORD should come naturally to a child of God. But most of the time it doesn't. It should come from the heart but many times it comes only from the hip or the lip. The whole heart is involved in true praise. Praise in this song comes in one Hebrew word that you probably use without thinking. The word is, Hallelujah!

Praise here is not private. Notice that it takes place in the congregation. Surprising how often group praise appears in the Old Testament. But this isn't just any old congregation. It is a congregation of the upright.

Now if your Bible is like mine your’s has Romans 3.10 which says, ...there is none righteous (upright) no not one.... In that verse Paul cites Psalm 14.3. Unrighteousness is common. Groups of the unrighteous are easy to find. If all are unrighteous where does this author find a bunch of righteous with whom to worship. Or how does he fit in for that matter?

The answer to this puzzle is found in verse 9. He (God) has sent redemption to his people.... Years later another famous author, quoting John the Baptist’s father Zechariah, put it this way, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he has visited and redeemed his people (Luke 1.68).

So, you see, the group of “righteous” who were singing praise to God with the author of Psalm 111 were a special bunch. Rare in fact. They were only righteous because of God’s imparted righteousness. In simpler terms. God made them righteous. It is the same today. There are none righteous or good. Only those saved by Christ’s sacrifice can join this choir. Would you be part of this praise team? Or would you be just another hip-swinging lip syncing praise pretender.

We’re going to have to come back to this song. Choir practice is tomorrow morning.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Twenty Buck Challenge

Well I went and done it! That's bad grammar I know. But I done it anyway. We've been having a Bible study with Esmano and Genesie and their two kids Jennifer and Jadson, for about seven weeks now. This week Jennifer threw out a challenge. "Let's memorize a verse!" I thought that was a great idea. I told them that if they did memorize the verse that I would give them each an American coin. Esmano, their dad usually sits in on the study but he hasn't really been a part of it. When I mentioned the coin idea his eyes lit up a little. I then reached into my wallet and said, "If YOU memorize that verse I'll give you $20 bucks! His eyes really lit up then! Was it a good idea? I doubt it. No one has ever offered me money for memorizing verses. However, this will be the first verse that this man has ever memorized. If he does it. It is not a conventional way of doing memory work and it could cost me a bill for nothing. But if God uses this simple chall...

What About the Property?

Some of you have been asking about the land purchase. In fact I got a note from my friend Tom asking about it just this morning. So, I decided to respond to Tom's question and send the note to everyone on my list.  Tom Funny that you should ask about the property. We talked about it last night in our team meeting. We see three options.  We could buy a piece of land near the neighborhood and build.  We could buy a couple of houses that are side by side and remodel or  We could buy just one house and expand as we grow.  We have R$37,000 ($22,000) available to choose our option. We decided last night to pray and ask God for specific guidance as we proceed. We plan to talk to a man next week about option one . There is a huge piece of property next to our neighborhood and we will be asking him to sell us a 600 meter square piece. If he does we will have our land but no money for construction. If the man say, "No" we will consider that God is closin...

If this is the kingdom of God, do I really want it?

If this is Kingdom Living, Do I Want it? Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. In a study of the Sermon on the Mount to this point we might be tempted to say, “I don’t want to be that happy!” If this is Kingdom living then I want to go to Disney World. This place is depressing.  What Jesus describes here seems to highlight all of the ...