“Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD” (Psalm 117).

Psalm 117 is the shortest chapter in the Bible. It is only two verses long. But this short chapter contains some amazing truths about the purpose of life.

The Psalm opens with a call to worship – “Praise the LORD.” Praise the LORD is actually only one word in the Hebrew – hallelujah. When the Jews heard “Hallelujah,” they knew that they were being called and summoned to praise and worship God.

Notice that the English translations of the Bible write the word Lord in two ways. There are times when God is referred to as the Lord, and then there are times when God is referred to as the LORD. What’s the difference? The Hebrew language had two words/names/titles for God that are translated as Lord in the English.

• elohim – is always written as “Lord” in the English. This word can be translated as Lord, God, gods, ruler, goddess
• yhwh – is always written as “LORD” in the English. This name for God is both untranslatable and unutterable. It is the proper name God gives himself. The best we can do is to understand the name of God as “He who is.”

Next, we are told who is called to “Praise the LORD.” “All you peoples.” All ya’ll peoples. That pretty much covers every single human being who ever lived. All…ya’ll…peoples.

Finally, we are given the reason for praising God – “For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.”

• We worship God because his love for us is great
• We worship God because his faithfulness endures forever

Spend some time this morning on those two qualities of God – God’s love for sinners and God’s amazing faithfulness toward repeat sinners.

When I ponder how God can love a repeat sinner like me, I can’t help but worship God.

The Psalm opened with a call to worship. And it ends with a call to worship – Hallelujah!

Praise the LORD!!!

“One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:28-31).

A lawyer approached Jesus and asked him a question: “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” In essence, the lawyer was asking Jesus, “If you could summarize all of the scriptures into one statement, what would that be?”

Jesus answers this question in typical fashion: Jesus quotes Scripture.

“Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” This is a direct citation of Deuteronomy 6:4-5. The Jews called it the
“shema.” Shema is the Hebrew word for “listen.” This prayer was quoted by Jews everyday to remember who they were as children of God and what their purpose for life was.

But Jesus continues. He adds, “The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” This is a direct citation of Leviticus 19:18.

Jesus does something fascinating by putting these two citations together. Jesus shows us how a person is to “Love the Lord their God with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their mind and with all their strength.” They love God by loving their neighbor as they love themselves. In fact it is impossible to love God without loving people. Simply impossible.

The writer of 1 John tells us, “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen” (1 John 4:20).

As you know the Greeks had at least four words that are translated as love in the English. Guess which Greek word our passages use regarding love? Yup. You guessed it. Agape.

Love is not a feeling. Love is not an emotion we passively feel. Love is a willful and deliberate decision to desire the best for the other. That is unconditional love.

Love God? You love God’s people.

“And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us” (1 John 3:23).

Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

It is fitting to reflect on what love means on this Valentine’s Day.

“And this is his command…” Whatever else follows, this is not a suggestion or a good idea but a command. This is what we are called to do if we are followers of Jesus Christ.

“And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ…”

We are to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ. What does it mean to believe in his name? First, names meant more than what it does today. Names often reflected the character of the person. There are two names given to the Son: Jesus and Christ.

• Jesus – the name literally means Savior or one who saves
• Christ – the anointed one. Our Savior is one who was born in order to die for the sins of the world.

The first thing we are called to do is to believe that Jesus is the Savior of sinners. We turn to Jesus to save us from the punishment of sin, and that is exactly what Jesus did for us on the cross and by descending into hell. Jesus bore the brunt of God’s wrath against sinners. And Jesus rose again from the dead so that all who believe in him will be raised with him.

The second thing we are called to is “to love one another as he commanded us.” The Greek word for love here is agape, or unconditional love. Love is not a feeling, it is not an emotion. It’s not talking about having warm fuzzies for someone. This is a choice. Agape, unconditional love, has to do with a willful decision for the other.

We are to love one another by choosing to believe the best of others and by willing the best for others.

Have a great Valentine’s Day. Celebrate love. Celebrate the willful and deliberate decision to do what is best for others.