Pastor Tom preached on 1 Peter 2:9-10 a couple weeks ago. In that sermon, he underscored Peter’s point that our appropriate response to our being called out of darkness and into light is to proclaim God’s mighty work:
Expand your praise! Look for things to praise God for: they’re all around you. Look for his great works in the record of redemption that we have in his Word. As you’re reading the Old Testament, do you stop and say, “Wow! This is amazing! Look at what God did.” Have you ever praised God (I haven’t until i put this sermon together) for Boaz redeeming Ruth? Shouldn’t we? Wasn’t that a great thing that occurred? How about causing the fire to fall from heaven when Elijah called for it before the prophets of Baal? What a great act! Isn’t God worthy of our praise today for doing that so many years ago?
Since we just came through the Christmas season, here’s a challenge for you. You might have to look up some of the people to find the point of praise, but I would challenge you to read one or the other or both of the genealogies of Christ that we find in Matthew and Luke. And as you go through that list of names, ask yourself, “Who is this person and why should I praise God for what happened in this person’s life?” It will take you a while . . . and when you get to Shealtiel, you may wonder, “Who in the world is this?” . . . and you might not find much. But there’s a whole long list of things that you could praise God for in the lives of that list of people that led either from Adam or Abraham, right up to Christ.
God is indeed worthy of our praise for His mighty work. And if you’d like actually like to use one of the genealogies to praise God, here is a helpful resource from Tim Challies’ Visual Theology series called Awaiting the Messiah:
Or listen to Andrew Peterson sing Matthew’s genealogy from his album Behold the Lamb of God: