Out of the Mouth of Babes

• Out of the mouth of babes Matthew 21:14-17
• In this scripture, this is following the recent triumphal entry into Jerusalem- Jesus heals people, and then the scribes see children worshipping Jesus, and they were indignant. They were annoyed and angry that Jesus was allowing these children to worship him. 
• Have you ever noticed how many things in modern culture are connected to the Bible?
•  “out of the mouth of babes” which is to say- kids say true things because they have no guile- often times the things they say are the truest things you will hear. 

• To them- only God was to be worshipped, and here’s Jesus- allowing these children to worship him- and they think it’s wrong- and so Jesus puts these guys in their place and quotes Psalm 8:2
• Psalm 8:2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.
• Anyone who was listening can notice that Jesus says ‘you have perfected praise’ and Psalm 8:2 says ‘ you have ordained strength’ 
• This proposes a slight problem- did Jesus misquote the text or was the text miswritten?
•  don’t want to go into great detail, but the scriptures that Jesus used at the time was the Greek Septuagint was written 3^rd cent- and that trans (which Jesus quotes says ‘perfected praise’) 
• You might ask- well, why is it different in my bible? Many translations (the NKJV included) translates from the Masoretic text- translated by Jewish scholars in the 6^th century AD. 
• Ok- so what is the correct translation of the psalm text?
• One guy said this- You must believe that the Bible is inerrant. You must believe that Jesus is the pre-existing Second Person of the Holy Trinity and must have inspired David to sing Psalm 8:2 and therefore must have known it better than all of us.
• The two sayings are synonymous, for “perfected praise” is an “ordination of strength” to the praiser, as well as to those in the faith who are hearing the praise. Have you not been blessed and strengthened by another brother’s praise of God? In this way, the idea, though using different words, is actually the same regardless of the phrase used because God ordains strength via perfected praise.
• When these children were praising Jesus- it was ordained
• The Hebrew word for “ordained” means to set, appoint, establish or found. It was strength
• The word for “strength” can refer to boldness, might, power, strength, security, majesty, and praise. The Septuagint translates it using ainos, the Greek word for praise.
• So perfected– appointed, established Praise– Power strength might is Ordained– appoint Strength– praise
• They are synonymous- there is not separation between the two. They work together. 
• The bottom line is this- Jesus allowed the children to praise him because he was God- 
• They saw something in Jesus that these scribes didn’t see “out of the mouth of babes” 
• Ma 11:25 At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.
• The Children could see what these pharisees could not- that Jesus was worthy of praise as God. 
• Here’s the question- are you a Scribe or Child? Are you indignant or praising God?
• Is ‘out of the mouth of babes’ enough to get you to realize praising Jesus is correct?

1. People of God are supposed to worship God. 

• What these kids display to the scribes and chief priests is what Jesus wants them to know- they are praising me- you should be praising me because I am God. That’s who I am. 
• They didn’t believe him to be God- that’s why they got so upset at him receiving praise. 
• Lately I’ve been talking frequently about our identification as people of God from Genesis to Revelation. I want you and us to have the idea that who we are, as people of God is connected to our historical faith found in the Bible. – It has always been ordained for us to praise
• We are modern. What we do is modern. We use technology in the Church house to walk out our Faith and worship God collectively, but understanding our past gives us richness for now. 
• Worship started with Adam and Eve- Genesis 2:3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
• God had told Adam and Even to multiply, take dominion and subdue the earth. They communed with God and walked in obedience. 
• The day of rest was a holy day unto the Lord- and it was created from the beginning
• God established a holy day unto the Lord set apart for worship- the 7^th day
• Cain worshipped God in offerings Genesis 4:3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord.
• Cains descendants are the root of musical worship- Gen 4:21 His brother’s name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute.
• Genesis 6:9 says noah walked with God- 
• Genesis 8:20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar
• Abraham built an altar- Abraham gave tithe to Melchizedek (some say it was Jesus) then later on he goes to sacrifice his son and worship God. 
• The first worship Song in the Bible was the song of Moses in exodus 15 after the Lord delivered the Israelites from the Egyptian Army through the Red Sea
• Here’s what we can gather from these handful of instances from the foundations of our Faith:
• There was a set apart day to worship, Instruments were involved, altars, prayers, fellowship, sacrifice, songs.  Worship of God is central- OUT OF THE MOUTH OF BABES ordained to praise

2. Worship is More than Song

• In this instance- Jesus says “out of the mouth of babes you have perfected praise” which is signaling an audible oration of mouths declaring the grandeur of Jesus as God giving him the highest praise of ‘hosanna’ – it was ordained- from the foundations of the Earth. 
• Audible praise- the expression of approval or admiration for someone or something.
• When we ‘praise’ we declare out loud that God is God and we admire him. Thank him. 
• But its not just with our mouth- its with our lives that we would ascribe strength to God
• Sacrifice, prayers, fellowship, instruments, service, all are forms of worship
• But Audible mouth declaring worship with Song is a biblical expression of what we believe
• In the same way the Israelites praised God for his deliverance, we praise God because Col 1:13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
• If you have a reality of what you have been delivered from, it should bring you to praise
• I’ve often wondered about people who refuse to sing praise to God. Never audibly sing. Never raise a hand. Never bow down. Never stand to worship. 
• Honestly I think it’s often rebellion- “I don’t like to sing” “I don’t like my voice” “It embarrasses me” “I don’t like people watching me” “I worship in my own way” “it’s weird” 
• The People of God sing. That’s what we do. We worship God in Song and have for thousands of years. We are an audibly singing people. Its what we do. (Formation-sound off- until everyone)
• Frankly- I’m often concerned anytime someone professes to be a Christian and refuses to do what Christians do. I’ve never said I don’t need to be baptized, take communion, go to Church, pay tithe, serve, fellowship, read the word, pray, or audibly worship God. 
• times in my rebellion that I didn’t do them, but I never argued that they weren’t of God
• Why is American Christianity filled with so much rebellion? We’re the only organization that seems to tolerate it. Hangers on that linger. Why? I don’t get it. 
• I think its Pride
• Proverbs 16:5 Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord; Though they join forces, none will go unpunished.
• One of the marks of a prideful heart is thinking of yourself more highly than you ought, and not considering others better than yourself- you think you’re above worshipping God 
• I get it- some people have never learned how to give a compliment to someone, but some people are so self centered- they never think about someone else or encourage someone else
• Cant verbally encourage their spouse, friends, kids, employees, refuse to praise anyone
• I’ve heard many person describe the lack of encouragement they have gotten, but I rarely hear people admit at their inability to do so themselves- Its pride to not want to praise
• Afraid of how it will be received, or how the other person will respond, or just refuse
• I get it- it just doesn’t cross into some peoples wheel house- but I’ve not met many people who don’t appreciate a word of encouragement or praise. (guy married own words- still words!)
• Maybe it’s the end time deception- 2 tim 3:1-9. Unthankful- Part of the end time deception
• That’s what praise and worship is- thankfulness. If you’re never thankful- be concerned. 
• God gets more glory when we worship him- and we need to get aside from our pride and rebellion and give him the glory that is due his name!
• He is a real God, with a real awareness who really hears our praise- so we must give it!> 
• We must sing- Isaiah 12:5 Sing to the Lord, For He has done excellent things; This is known in all the earth. 
• Songs of worship in The Church
• I want you to understand what we do here with worship. The guidance I have given to the team is that the bulk of the songs that we sing here should be vertical towards God, and songs that are about God and not us. We try to sing horizontal songs- songs of declaration as a church that encourage us in our faith. 
• We want our songs to be biblically accurate and scripturally sound. 
• We don’t want to sit around and sing songs to ourselves. We want to sing songs to HIM
• We also don’t offer a ‘worship experience’ the experience is you giving God praise
• This is why gathering is so important! We worship God collectively! 
• Hebrews 13:15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
• This idea of worship is never going away- we will worship him all day every day until he returns
• We Must bow down Psalm 95:6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
• Have you ever bowed down before God in worship? Bowed the knee and got prostrate?
• Its humbling! And its not an act of public piety to bow down at the altar in front of the church- and if you think it is- you’re thinking of yourself again
• I hug and kiss my wife because I love her and whenever I think about it- I want to do it. I don’t do it for you to see me doing it- I do it because life is fleeting and I never want to miss it
• I was deployed 2 times in 4 years for 1.5 years and I’m still making up for lost time
• We must present our bodies- Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
• Offering up your body is keeping it in the presence of the Lord and away from sin. 
• And it’s a sacrifice! It is! When we set aside the day, and the time, and the energy- it’s a sacrifice!. It says “Lord, I’m giving this to you because you’re worth it” 
• And if you need help- you need to remind yourself of the scriptures- and what the Lord has done for you that would cause you worship him
• John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
• We MUST worship. We MUST there’s nothing else we can do BUT worship him
• Psalm 29:2 Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
• It is due to him! Adam, Noah, Moses, David- all the greats of the Bible WORSHIPPED
• What hasn’t he done? What hasn’t he given you? REMIND YOURSELF
• Matthew 4:10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
• There is no one else that you sing songs to or lift your hands to- or at least I hope there’s not. 
• People ask- why do we lift our hands in worship? The Bible says we should lift them so we do
• Hands-Psalm 134:2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, And bless the Lord. 1 Timothy 2:8 I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting; Psalm 63:4 Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. Lamentations 3:41 Let us lift our hearts and hands To God in heaven
• I remember the first time I went to a hand raising church- Freshman in high school- wasn’t saved- I thought their hands were being raised Nope- you got to raise them!
• “out of the mouth of babes” Jesus said- You have ordained praise- and its true- we should listen to Jesus and these children and we should WORSHIP GOD for WHO HE IS- 
• HOSANNA- HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST. 
• Matthew says Jesus did wonderful things and the Chief priests and scribes were indignant that the Children were giving Jesus praise. 
• Let’s not be indignant. Let’s give Jesus the praise due him- the fruit of our lips. Thankful. 

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