Introduction
"I will praise the name of God
with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving."
It is a mark of all the true children of God that they long to magnify the God
of their salvation.
These were the heart cry of Old Testament saints. Today it is the same
for the true Christians. If you are a true Christian you will always seek to
magnify the Lord. The NT says in everything whether you eat or drink; magnify
the Lord (1
Corinthians 10:31).
Illus: As I was writing the message last Thursday night, it came to my
mind that it is exactly 1 year that I lost my brother Wilson (The father to
Franck; one of our children in Boko). As we were arranging with other brothers
on how we were going to make the thanks giving for the life lived on Sunday God
went further with us. I got a phone call that The ENSET final results is out
and Franck was successful. When I called the mother (widow) she was rejoicing
and thanking everybody. My answer was this “We only thank God. He decided that the results should come just the
same day Franck’s father died. The mighty comforter just wiped your tears”
Your husband died on 12/11/2014 and today 12/11/2015 your son is successful for
the entrance exams to ENSET.
God is all knowing and some times before we start to express our
thankfulness to God He makes us know that He knows the intentions of our
hearts. And then he pours out his blessings more again.
1)
Magnify God the way He
is.
David said, "I will magnify God with thanksgiving." The word
"magnify" can be used in two different senses.
a) The first meaning of
magnifying is that you can make something look greater than it really is. So,
something that is very small can be made to look big. That is what the
microscope does. It makes what is micro or small to look as if it is macro
(big).
b) The second meaning is
that you can make something which is big to look as it really is. So you look
for something that is very big which people do not see it big; then you make
people see it as big as it is. This is what the telescope does. The telescope
makes the stars and the sun which seems to be small because we are looking from
far to appear as big as it is.
So we have microscopic magnification and telescopic magnification. The one makes a small
thing look bigger than it is. The other makes a big thing begin to look as big
as it really is.
When David says, "I will magnify God with thanksgiving," he
does not mean: "I will make a small God look bigger than he is. He means:
"I will make a big God begin to look as big as he really is." We are
not called to be microscopes, but telescopes. Christians are not supposed to be
con-men who lie about their product so that i twill sell in the market. There
is no one as great as God in this universe. And so the calling of those who
love God is to make his greatness begin to look as great as it really is. You need to feel, think, and act
in a way that will make God look as great as he really is.
Due to the sinful insensitivity and forgetfulness of our hearts, many of
God's greatest attributes and most awesome and loving deeds pass in one ear and
out the other without causing the slightest ripple of emotion within our
hearts. Seeing we do not see, and hearing we do not hear. When our hearts are
in such a condition, we need to beg God (like Paul did) to open the eyes of our
hearts that we might know (that is, really know and feel) the hope to which he
has called us, and what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the
saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe (Ephesians 1:18, 19).
Have you ever felt like me? That when God has done a good thing you may
leap up with joy and hawk your child or wife or husband and say “Oh how can I
forget what God is doing in my life. He is always present at all times” Then
the next minute to get on doing just the opposite which God will never be
glorified or pleased? This is because man is prune to forgetfulness. We quickly
forget the good God is doing in our life and so we fail to thank God for the
goodness. Let is be like the psalmist when he says in Psalm 77:11.
I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord; yea I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate on all thy work, and muse on thy mighty deeds. Thy way, O God,
is holy. What God is great like our God?
We
are called to be telescopes: people who make the greatness of God seem as great
as it really is. This is what it means for a Christian to magnify God. But you can't magnify what you
haven't seen or what you quickly forget. Therefore, our first task is to see
and to remember the greatness and goodness of God. So we pray to God, "Open the eyes of my
heart," and we preach to our souls, "Soul, forget not
all his benefits!"
2) The Response That Magnifies God: Thanksgiving
What must the human telescope do in order to cause God to appear as
great as he really is? Our text in Psalm 69:30 answers: "I will magnify God with
thanksgiving." When we give thanks to him from our hearts, God
is magnified. Gratitude glorifies God.
Why? Because givers are more glorious
than receivers. Benefactors are more glorious than beneficiaries. When we thank
God, we acknowledge and display that he is the giver; he is the benefactor. We
pay him a high compliment. When children are angry with each other they do not
say thank you easily. When you are angry with somebody to can not give them
compliment but when you are find you can say “thank you”, I am indebted to you
for the thing you have done.
Therefore, when gratitude springs up in the human heart toward God, he
is magnified as the wealthy source of our blessing. He is acknowledged as giver
and benefactor and therefore as glorious. And there is a very good reason that
human beings by nature do not want to magnify God with thanksgiving or glorify
him as their benefactor. The reason is that it detracts from their own glory,
and all people by nature love their own glory more than the glory of God.
In Psalm 35:27 David says, "Let those who desire my
vindication shout for joy and be glad and say forevermore, 'The Lord be magnified!"' And he contrasts
this group of people who love to magnify the Lord with another group in verse
26, "Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify
themselves against
me." There are only two groups of people in the world whose differences
from each other are of any eternal significance: those who love to magnify God
and those who love to magnify themselves.
Conclusion:
How do you
intend to magnify God with your thanks giving this morning? Do you really know
that you were sin-sick and God the great physician healed your soul? Do you
know that you were rebellious and God still loved you? Do you know that it cost
God a lot to save you from your sin? Do you know that it cost Jesus His life
for you to live? Do you know that even today He is still working for your good?
What then
can you do to show that you are magnifying God who is your great provider
(Jehovah jireh), your security, your healer (Jehovah Rapha), your Jehovah
shalom (of peace) your Jehovah shamah (is always there), your Jehovah Nissi
(your banner), Jehovah Raah (your shepherd), Jehovah Tsidkenu (our
righteousness); Jehovah M’kaddesh (who sanctifies). He is El Shaddai (Lord God
Almighty).
Will you
magnify His name this morning with thanksgiving? He is my everything. My only
reward! AMEN!
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