The Great Business of God's House Text: Psalm 135:1-4
Introduction: The Centrality of Praise
We live in an age that is profoundly confused about its purpose. Men wander about, building their little kingdoms of dirt, chasing after a puff of wind, and wondering why their lives are shot through with anxiety and meaninglessness. The modern project is a frantic attempt to build a world without a center, a house without a foundation. And the end result is always the same: it is a house of horrors, a hall of mirrors reflecting only our own grimacing faces.
The book of Psalms is God’s great corrective to this spiritual vertigo. It is the prayer book of the saints, and its central, repeated, thunderous command is to praise the Lord. This is not a suggestion for the religiously inclined. It is not a therapeutic exercise for those who need a spiritual lift. Praise is the central duty of all creation. It is the very reason we were made. We were created to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever, and praise is the engine of that glorious business.
Psalm 135 is a mosaic of praise, borrowing phrases and themes from other psalms and from across the Old Testament. It is a summons to worship, a declaration of God's character, a recital of His mighty acts in history, and a polemic against the dead futility of idolatry. This psalm calls the people of God to the great business of the house of God, which is to praise the name of God. It reminds us who we are, where we are, and what we are to be doing there. In a world that has forgotten its Creator, this psalm is a blast of celestial trumpets, calling us back to reality.
The first four verses lay the foundation for everything that follows. They issue a threefold call to praise, identify the worshipers, locate the place of worship, and declare the ultimate reason for our praise, which is God's sovereign, electing grace. This is not just an ancient song for Israel; it is the job description for the Christian Church in every age.
The Text
Praise Yah!
Praise the name of Yahweh;
Praise Him, O slaves of Yahweh,
You who stand in the house of Yahweh,
In the courts of the house of our God!
Praise Yah, for Yahweh is good;
Sing praises to His name, for it is lovely.
For Yah has chosen Jacob for Himself,
Israel for His treasured possession.
(Psalm 135:1-4 LSB)
A Triple Summons to Our Chief End (vv. 1-2)
The psalm opens with a rapid-fire, threefold summons to praise.
"Praise Yah! Praise the name of Yahweh; Praise Him, O slaves of Yahweh, You who stand in the house of Yahweh, In the courts of the house of our God!" (Psalm 135:1-2)
The command is "Hallelujah!" Praise Yah. This is not a polite invitation. It is a divine imperative. The psalmist then unpacks this. We are to praise the "name of Yahweh." In Scripture, a name is not a mere label; it represents the character, the reputation, and the authority of the person. To praise God's name is to praise Him for who He has revealed Himself to be. We are not praising a vague, generic deity, but Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the great I AM.
And who is to do this praising? The "slaves of Yahweh." In our egalitarian and autonomy-obsessed culture, this language is jarring. We want to be partners, associates, or at the very least, volunteers. But the Bible is unflinching. You are either a slave to sin, which is a cruel and merciless bondage that ends in death, or you are a slave to righteousness, a slave of Christ, which is perfect freedom. There is no third option. The worshipers here are those who have joyfully acknowledged their absolute dependence on and allegiance to their Master. They are not conscripts; they are willing bondservants who know that their Master's service is their highest honor and greatest liberty.
And where does this praise take place? "You who stand in the house of Yahweh, in the courts of the house of our God!" This is a specific reference to the priests and Levites who served in the Jerusalem Temple. Their job was to stand before the Lord day and night and to lead the people in worship. They were the professional praisers. But in the new covenant, this has been gloriously expanded. The apostle Peter tells us that the church is a "royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9). Every believer is now a priest, and our duty is to stand in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, and to offer up spiritual sacrifices of praise.
When we gather for corporate worship, we are not just in a building in Moscow, Idaho. We are, by the Spirit, caught up into the heavenly places. We are standing in the true courts of God, joining our voices with the angels and the saints who have gone before. This is the great assembly. This is our station. Our job description is to stand and praise.
The Reasons for Praise (v. 3)
The psalmist does not leave us with a bare command. He gives us the fuel for our praise, the reasons why we should erupt in worship.
"Praise Yah, for Yahweh is good; Sing praises to His name, for it is lovely." (Psalm 135:3 LSB)
Here are two foundational reasons to praise God. First, "for Yahweh is good." This is not a sentimental goodness. It is not the squishy, indulgent niceness of a modern therapist. God's goodness is His moral perfection, His absolute righteousness, His covenant faithfulness. Everything He does is good. Every command He gives is good. Even His judgments are good. When He brought the plagues on Egypt, that was an expression of His goodness, His justice against a tyrannical and idolatrous nation. We praise Him because He is the unchangeable standard of all that is right and true.
Second, we are to sing praises to His name, "for it is lovely." The Hebrew word can also be translated as pleasant, or delightful. It is a joy to praise Him. This is not a grim duty. It is not a liturgical chore to be endured. True worship is a delight to the soul. It is what we were made for. A man who finds no pleasure in praising God is like a man who finds no pleasure in breathing. Something is desperately wrong with him. To the redeemed heart, the name of God, His character, His ways, are beautiful. Singing His praises is the most pleasant activity a human being can engage in.
The Fountainhead of Grace (v. 4)
Verse 4 provides the ultimate, bedrock reason for all of this. Why is God good to us? Why do we, of all people, get to stand in His courts and find His name lovely? The answer is found in God's sovereign, electing love.
"For Yah has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His treasured possession." (Psalm 135:4 LSB)
This is the doctrine of unconditional election in poetic form. Why did God choose Jacob and not Esau? Why Israel and not Egypt or Babylon? The Bible's consistent answer is that the reason was not in them, but in God Himself. Deuteronomy 7:7-8 says it plainly: "Yahweh did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But because Yahweh loved you..."
God chose Jacob for Himself. He chose Israel to be His "treasured possession," His segullah. This is a special word, meaning a private treasure, something a king would keep in his personal treasury. This is an astounding statement. The God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the God who created the universe by speaking, has chosen a particular people to be His personal treasure.
This is the fountainhead of all our blessings. We are not in His house because we were smarter, or more righteous, or more spiritually sensitive than our neighbors. We are here for one reason and one reason only: because before the foundation of the world, He set His electing love upon us. He chose us. He did the choosing.
And this truth, far from leading to arrogance, is the very source of all true humility and all genuine praise. If our salvation depended in any way on us, on our choice or our goodness, we would have something to boast about. But if it is all of grace, from first to last, from election to glorification, then all we can do is fall on our faces and praise the name of the one who chose us. This is why the slaves of Yahweh praise Him. We praise Him because He has made us His own. We were rebels, and He made us sons. We were spiritual paupers, and He made us His treasured possession.
Conclusion: From Israel to the Church
This psalm was written for Old Covenant Israel, but its truth finds its ultimate fulfillment in the New Covenant church. The church is the true Israel of God. We are the "chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession" (1 Peter 2:9). Everything said here about Jacob and Israel is now true of all those, Jew and Gentile, who are united to Christ by faith.
God has chosen us in Christ for Himself. He has made us His treasured possession, purchased not with silver or gold, but with the precious blood of His own Son. Therefore, the command to praise thunders down through the centuries to us. We are the slaves of Yahweh. Our place is to stand in His house, the church. Our joyful duty is to sing praises to His good and lovely name.
Let us, therefore, take up our office. Let us reject the world’s anxious and meaningless pursuits and give ourselves to the great business of praise. For this is our eternal destiny. This is the purpose for which we were redeemed. This is the foretaste of heaven. Praise Yah!