Posted on 02/24/2021 6:10:17 PM PST by Pilgrim's Progress
THE THING A MAN LOVES WILL BE THE THEME OF HIS SONG
“O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together” (Psalm 34:3).
“O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together” (Psalm 34:3).
“For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matthew 12:34).
I have sat in line camps and around the campfires of cowboys and woodsmen countless times, and under such conditions conversation inevitably flows in the channel of common interest.
Cattlemen talk of cattle—of branding and prices, breeds and roundups, of men and horses who labor together in the great industry that made the West both famous and prosperous. They know the names and sing the praises of the rodeo champions. And they can all talk by the hour about famous gunfighters on both sides of the law, for such themes are the common interest of the men of the West.
And when hunters rest and fishermen loaf, their talk is always of fish and game, streams and fields, arms and equipment, flies and rods—their mouths naturally utter the thoughts which fill their hearts.
In army barracks and in quarters on navy vessels, the talk revolves around such themes as girls and faraway homes, loved ones and homemade pies, Pop and Mom, sweetheart and friend. Being cut from the warm contacts that humans so dearly prize, the lonely lads speak of those things upon which their interests naturally center.
Aliens, exiled from their own beloved lands, are eager to talk of their own countries and their national customs.
I have sat with Americans in London and Rome, in Cairo and Hamburg, in Venice and in Jerusalem; their conversation was not centered upon the foreign place where we met but upon the homeland and the native city so far away!
The thing a man loves will be the theme of his song, as a matter of course.
When Christians meet, do they also follow this trend? We also are aliens, exiled for a lifetime from our own City, whose golden paved street and pearled gates we see only by faith. We have a great King and a Sovereign who is God; we should have much to converse about when we meet our fellow citizens of that Homeland and realm.
But, alas, most of the citizens of the kingdom of God are more concerned with the present life than they are with the one to come—so occupied with time they have no interest in eternity.
We are a strange variety of “pilgrim”; being so cluttered up with real estate and burdened with souvenirs of the land and age through which we pass, we can scarcely lift our eyes to the heavens toward which we say we are bound.
Our text for today implies cooperation and common interest. It presumes that those who know God will want to magnify His name and exalt Him; hence, the psalmist suggests a union of those who are of such a mind so that their praise may take the form of a group action.
How often is this suggestion carried out in actual practice in your own personal experience? If we were frank and honest, most of us would have to confess that our group conversation are far more concerned with ourselves and our fleshly interests than with the honor and fame of God.
We talk quite naturally about business and home; we converse readily about children, travel, movies, baseball and parties; but a strange restraint falls upon the average group if the talk turns to spiritual matters. We look askance upon the person who delights to introduce God into every conversation and think such a person is a bit fanatical and too religious!
But if our text means anything, it implies that those who truly love God should gather into companies to exalt His name and magnify Him.
It would be easy to show just how far we have gotten away from the practice of this text. Pick out fifty of your close friends and send them a nicely printed invitation like this:
“Mr. and Mrs. John Smith invite Mr. and Mrs. William Jones to attend a party devoted to magnifying the name of God, Friday night at 8:00 P. M. at the home of John Smith. Bring a Bible.”
How many of your friends would respond to that call? And incidentally, would you have the nerve the issue such a call?
The average Christian thinks he has done all that can be expected of him when he attends church once a week and congratulates himself on his own piety when he does so. Yet our common experience in a service supposedly for worship excludes and precludes true worship of God’s name!
The time is occupied in listening, not worshiping. At the least, our participation is limited to joining in the responsive reading, reciting the Lord’s Prayer and possibly the Apostles’ Creed—the rest of the time we are fighting sleep, enjoying the choir, suffering through interminable announcements, and trying to stay interested in the sermon. To most of us, the high point in the service is the benediction!
Do I sound pessimistic? Well, too long an experience in the static and drery monotony of the average church service has made me so.
We need an infusion of new life and a quickened interest.
On every hand the name of God is blasphemed today as it has never been before. The careless use of His name is appallingly common, even by the “best” people.
Fiction writers sprinkle the name through the conversations of their characters, women embellish their remarks with adurations to Deity, and boys and girls use the phrase “Oh my God!” to express any emotion that moves them momentarily.
I recently came in contact with an outstanding businessman who was president of the Holy Name Society in his state. He consistently and constantly took God’s name in vain in all his casual and business utterances!
We ought to have a new order: “The Society for the Magnifying of God’s Name.” I would like to be a charter member of such an order, and I wish we believers could start the practice of group worship of the holy name.
It was a hungry-hearted psalmist who wrote, “O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together”! He wanted fellowship with others in his faith and worship.
- Dr. Henry Rimmer, Scientist-Preacher
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