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Hey, I want to invite you to Psalm 95 together. Psalm 95. And as you turn to the Psalm, you know, I’ve told you as a church, we’re going to spend these next four weeks going through the Book of Psalms. And the reason we like to do this, we do this every summer and and particularly about this time of year, because this, this book of Psalms is a beautiful reset book. And you don’t know this about us, but maybe you might know this. But behind the scenes, as a church, we use the summertime kind of as a reset opportunity to think about the next season. For us, the school year being what do we what are the targets we want to set for us? And what’s God been doing and what does God desire to do, and what does it look like to be a healthy church? And and we have particular metrics that we use as a church to measure our health and where we’re at and where we want to be. And and we call that an intentional growth plan. Or sometimes we use the phrase a discipleship pathway, where we think very specifically of what we hope will happen in the life of any individual that calls Alpine Bible Church their home, and we talk about an intentional growth plan. Please know our goal is not about numbers. Our goal is not to be some mega church. We really our desire is to be a healthy church.
And so we set out those metrics of what we think a healthy church is supposed to be. And we, we, we examine where we are and for the purpose of helping us take that next step and where God has called us to. And so we we very intentional thinking about that, that discipleship pathway in the life of the believer. And we ask the question, what does it look like to take someone from a lost state to a saved spectator among the body of Christ, and not we don’t want you to be a spectator forever, by the way, to a devoted follower, to a multiplying leader, that’s really God’s desire for you is from a lost state that you would come to know him, that you would be saved in him as a spectator in the Lord, and then that you would become a devoted follower in Christ, and then that what God does in you, he would do through you, that you would become a multiplying leader. And so how do we how do we help people go through that? And one of the things that we find as an important marker, the very beginning in our metric is, is really described in in one word. And you can create branches off of this, but it’s how we help people engage the Lord through worship, both both corporate and personal worship. How do we encourage you in your relationship with God in in worship? And what is what does that mean and what does that look like? Well, Psalm 95 is that particular psalm that’s related to worship.
Very specifically, it’s describing worship, which I find very interesting when you read this specific psalm within the context of Psalms. Because if you know anything about the Book of Psalms, that is the entire book, right? I mean, Psalms is a book of worship. It’s teaching you how to engage the Lord where you are in life. And and there’s a Psalm for every season of life. Psalm. The Psalms teach us how to approach God with a different season that we experience in our lives. And, you know, most of the Bible is God speaking to us, but the book of Psalms is mankind’s response back to the Lord. How do we react in light of knowing who God is and what that means for us? That Psalms and and Psalm 95 is like it’s considered the worship psalm of the Psalms. And you see this in the very beginning of Psalm 95, verse one, where the psalmist invites us into the presence of God for worship. Uh, it says, it says in Psalm 95, verse one, it’s known in Latin as the venite. It’s it’s O come. It carries that idea, this invitation for you to worship. O come, let us sing to the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
Oh, come, let us worship and bow down. In verse six. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker. And so there’s this idea of this psalm being the Psalm of Psalms, inviting you into worship before the Lord. And so the question for us in the midst of the invitation to worship is to ask, what is worship? And why is it important for our lives, and what is worship and why should I do it? And we use this song to talk about this today because when you think about worship, I think people have this. They conjure up in their mind all sorts of ideas of what worship could be. And a lot of times the reason we define worship the way that we do is because we are familiar with different styles of worship. And but one of the beautiful things about the Bible is the Bible gives a lot of freedom in the style of worship. And I even know here among our church, we come from a lot of different backgrounds, and the familiarity of our worship could look unique from from the perspective that we’ve had in life. Some of us more maybe liturgical, some of us more, a little more free flowing in our worship. And and in that sometimes it can become divisive, like the liturgical people can look at the, you know, the more, uh, let’s say I don’t want to say emotionally led, but but more spirited in their worship and say, well, you’re not being reverent, right? That’s not how worship is supposed to be.
And someone that’s more on the outside of their worship. They could look at the reverential people and be like, don’t you love God? What’s wrong? You know? And then they could go back and forth. You know, there’s different styles that help shape what worship is for us. I’ve even found as a pastor doing ministry at different places. I’ve done a lot of stuff in inner city Baltimore, and I could tell you the way they worship in Baltimore is a little, a little different than Utah County. Utah, right? Like there are times where I’ve been worshiping in Baltimore. I’m pretty sure the rhythm of the church is so good that the house is joining us in it. Like the house moves to the rhythm. It felt like that at times. And here it’s just it’s just different, right? And and even within the spectrum of a church, you could have people that are unique in their, their worship. But I can tell you in the, in the overall methodology that you employ, here’s what’s important is to recognize that the Bible gives a lot of freedom in methodology. But but it’s very specific in its theology. Right? So we’re we’re married or tied to our theology, but we hold loose our methodology. In fact, the Apostle Paul said it like this in first Corinthians nine that he wants to become in verse 19 all things to all people for the sake of the gospel.
And so you’re allowed to ask the question, what does it look like to help community best communicate the truth of God to the people of God? Where I find myself, how can I contextualize our worship to best minister to our community? And it may not be, you know, the particular style you like, but but guess what? When you leave, um, you can worship the Lord however you want, right? As long as it’s honoring to him. That’s our encouragement, right? And it’s the same thing for us. We want to do whatever we can short of sin, in order to reach people for Christ and help him know him. And so we can employ methodology to do that. So when you ask the question, okay, what is what is worship? And you look to the Bible, you’ll find within in Scripture there’s not a specific place where you go to where they’re like, oh, this is exactly what should happen in a church service, right? There’s not a necessarily a prescribed exact way at this time. You do this, and at this time you do that. You can read throughout Scripture and see different ways in which the church worship, and there’s different components to a gathering of God’s people that should be essential. Like the Word of God should be very much a focal point of what we’re doing.
And in John chapter 15, verse 25, Jesus said that the purpose of the Spirit of God was to make much of him. So one way to know if the Spirit of God is working among the people of God is if Jesus is glorified in what you’re doing, right? So, so those things are certainly central. But as far as a definition goes, there’s there’s a lot of freedom of methodology. I mean, even a couple of weeks or a couple, not even two months. Now we’re going to have a few people from our church go on a mission trip to Uganda. I can tell you, in worship in Uganda, there’s some things that we’ve done there in worship that I just have not ever experienced in United States. I don’t know if I ever will. For example, I didn’t know you could do a ten minute conga line in worship and and but but in Africa, that’s what we do, right? So, so there is a different style in which maybe we’ll do that one day, I don’t know. Let’s baptisms. We’ll do that today. But uh, but there’s there’s just a different style. It doesn’t make it right or wrong. It just just it just makes it unique to that particular group of people and how they engage the Lords. But what what is worship? What does that look like for us? Well, I gave you just a concise definition in your notes from D.R.
Carson. And most definitions are of a similar thread to what he said here. But he says it’s it’s ascribing all honor and worth to your creator God precisely because he is worthy. You know, when you want to even look at Scripture and find a definition of worship. There are different places that you can go to in the Bible. But one of the things I love about the beauty of the Bible is that God there’s there’s not a spot where you necessarily go and say, okay, for my Western mind, give me a definition of who God is, right? You don’t turn to a passage in the Bible and just get a definition of God. But what you find is throughout the story of the Bible, God is revealed to you and he’s revealed to you through different, different literary genres, right? The predominant literary genre is is narrative storytelling. And as the Bible tells stories, you learn about the nature of who God is through those stories. And and then there’s other styles of, of literature that you find. For example, you’re reading in Psalms a poem, or you could hear from Jesus, a parable, or you could read a prophecy, or you could find it in a proverb, those are all the peas. But you could different literary genres revealing to you who God is through those stories for your own understanding. And the same thing is true with worship, right? You look at, you think, okay, what is what is worship like? And you find throughout Scripture ways in which humanity is engaging God, where they are.
And in Psalm 95, the worship psalm, it’s not just simply giving you a definition, but through a poem describing for you what worship is. And so I’m going to give you a definition based on some of these verses. And I want you to know we’re going to look at this whole Psalm together. But if I just peppered some of the thoughts of the psalmist as he’s describing for us, as he invited us into worship, he’s describing for us what it is, and he’s going to share with us why it’s important. But when you think about what worship is, first two verses. O come, let us sing to the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving. Let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise. He’s he’s describing it like this. The first thought in your notes under what is worship is Psalm 95 describes worship as giving to God your affections. Or you could even say emotion. So a component of which should involve your worship is your affections and and emotion. Can I tell you the irony of just saying that to you? This is one of the things that rather than just say it, you should just do it.
I always, I always find it weird with certain topics of sermon discussions that I can have with people that I’m like, man, I don’t want to. I’m going to kill it by just describing it, right? Like when it comes to emotion and just delighting in God, describing, you’re like, forget that. Let’s just do it right. And sometimes I loathe the idea of a sermon on prayer. Not because I don’t think prayer is important, but I find sometimes people will take like an hour giving you a sermon on prayer for you to only practice it for like two minutes in your week. It’s like, if it’s so important, we should talk about it for two minutes and then do it for an hour, right? Like, and it’s the same thing with worship this week. I can just sit and put on paper very, you know, intellectually what worship could be. And and then we never we never let it touch the depth of our heart. But but it is important that we see here that the psalmist, the way he’s describing it, is really the entirety of your being, starting with your affection, your emotion. And then he goes on in verse, verse six, he says, oh, come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker. And so it’s this idea of your will, this surrendering Rendering yourself to God. So not only emotionally coming to him with joy, but but also surrendering, surrendering before him.
That’s not important, but surrendering before him and in your will that you belong to him. And then in verse seven he says, today, if you hear his voice in verse eight, do not harden your heart. Verse seven is carrying the idea of of your mind, hearing his voice, listening to what he says, being attentive with your your mind. So you’re worshiping God with your affections, your emotions. You’re worshiping God with your will. You’re worshiping God with your your mind. And then this last verse, he talks about your heart. I mean, what God is ultimately interested in is your heart because he knows if he gets your heart, he changes your life, giving who you are to who he is, that that is worship. And so the psalmist throughout this poem is really describing for us in, in a way, we could say defining for us what worship should be like. And if you didn’t get it here, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. It’s the totality of who you are surrendered to who he is. That’s what D.A. Carson says to us. But more than just simply defining it, I think it’s important to provoke our lives to it by describing why we should do it. What it what it is, is, is crucial. But why we do it? It’s also paramount.
We understand the significance and importance of it in our lives. And let me give you point number one, under the second question there, the reason why we should worship is number one, to be in his presence. Or maybe I could specifically say to delight in his presence. I mean, the fact that you can even know God or even draw near to God is an absolute gift for us. Could you imagine if God just simply wound up the clock of our existence and just became deistic or distant to us? That yeah, he exists, but he’s just out there. That’s. That’s not who God is. That God. Rather he he wants to invite you into his presence. And when you consider the holiness of who God is, that is a very sacred privilege to do that. That perfect God would invite me to be in his presence. Not only that, Hebrews chapter four verse 14 tells you to come boldly into his presence because of what Christ has done for you. Now that’s an incredible gift that you know. When we ask the question, there should be a little tongue in cheek to the idea when we understand the the gift that it is, that true worship is the way that we have the opportunity to enter into God’s presence. And the reality is for you and I as a human being, we were made to connect to God. You were made ultimately for a relationship in God.
That’s how you were designed in the beginning when God made you in his image, that that idea is communicated to you. To understand that your purpose for existence is really found in who he is, because who he is defines ultimately who you are. Being made in his image and therefore you can relate to God. And so worship is that avenue by which we we come into his presence to connect to the one for which we were created to belong, so that we can find the purpose of our existence wrapped up in the purpose of his existence. And so worship is is that invitation into his presence. And this is what Jesus is became very clear in his communication to us to understand what access to God should look like. He said in John chapter 14 verse six, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father but by me. He is the means through which, as we worship, we’re able to engage with God because of what Christ has accomplished for us, that we would have the opportunity to to know him. So why worship one is to be in his presence. Point. Point number two in your notes is to give him glory, to give him glory. You know, as you come into God’s presence, understanding who he is should inspire your your heart and your life to continue to glorify God.
But I want us to have clarity in what that means for us as believers to give God glory. Sometimes when we hear that word, we have such a poor understanding of who God is that we do not define it in a healthy way, or at least think through that idea in a healthy way. Sometimes we hear, well, you should worship in order to give God glory, and we reason that the purpose for that is because, well, God is a needy God. Oh how terrible. Like, you know, we’re here this morning to give God glory because he’s up in heaven being like, I just feel so alone, guys. Like, I’m just so needy. Will you make me feel adequate and important? Please praise me. Like sometimes we hear give God glory. Because. Because we think God might be needy. And can I can I just tell you that that is an inadequate God that is not a biblical God? And if you worship that kind of God, that God will sell you short. If you worship a God that you think needs you, the image of your God is a God that will ultimately fail you because in some capacity he is inadequate. We don’t worship God because he we he needs us. We worship God because he is worthy and we need him. It’s actually the exact opposite. It’s not because God’s up in heaven saying, oh please praise me, praise me, give me glory.
I feel so, so lonely. That’s not that’s not who God is at all. But but the fact that he invites us into his presence, to even begin to recognize his glory, that the idea of God’s glory should continue to inspire our hearts to give him worship, not because he’s needy, but because he’s worthy and I’m needy. And when you look at this, this Psalm, this is exactly what the psalmist is helping us understand is our position apart from him, and how much our dependence is is relying upon him. We will not worship what we do not know, and you cannot delight in what you do not have. But when you come to know him, as you come into his presence and you see the significance of the gift, it is to know God, it should deepen and further compel your heart to seek his face. And the psalmist describes this when he invites us into this, coming into his presence in verse two, you’ll see in verse three and seven he goes on and uses this word for, and this word for is literally because he’s saying in verse one and verse six, come on, come and worship. You need to do this. This is, this is not because he needs you. It’s because you need him. This invitation don’t don’t take it for granted. Come. And then in verse three he says, and here’s the reason why. And then in verse seven he goes on to explain, here’s the reason why I want us to see it together.
He says, for the Lord is a great God, and a great king above all gods. And in his hand are the depths of the earth. The heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his. For he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. O come, he says this invitation again. Let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker. And here’s the reason why again he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as at meribah and as you did at Massah in the wilderness. We’ll talk about those two things in a little bit. But but I want you to see the the invitation, because he’s contrasting it to people who didn’t seize the opportunity, the gift it was, they failed to recognize it in the hardness of, of of their own heart. But he’s he’s drawing out for us two qualities of God that are important. And he he really he really captivates these qualities in this phrase in verse one, when he refers to God at the very end of verse one, he refers to God as the rock of our salvation. This idea of a rock of our salvation. When you think about what the imagery of what this means for us rock, rock is this place of stability, something that’s constant in an inconsistent world, something that will not fail you.
You want your foundation to be on a rock. That’s that’s what he’s saying about the Lord. God is our rock. And more than just consistent, he is that source of rescuing that he cares. So more than just he’s there and he will always be there, constant. But he’s also this place of solace that you can come rest upon. So he becomes this, this invitation that you get to hide in because he will protect you. And this is what the psalmist is saying is he’s recognizing the glory of God. He’s saying, look, in order to inspire your heart and realizing why you need this, let me just. He’s saying four in verse three, this is why God is so important. And he it describes the grander glory of who God is and all his magnificence and power. Because the psalmist knows we as human beings, we have this tendency of ripping God down to make him like us to to to treat him as less than. One of the first things I like to encourage people when they, when they come to know the Lord is, is to diminish who we are and elevate who he is. We have this tendency as people to to elevate ourselves and rip down the identity of God. But but what we come to understand is if you elevate the identity of who God is in your mind, it’s it becomes honoring to you because you as a human being are made in his image.
As people, sometimes I find we get in the, the, the tendency of saying, I’ve had this happen sometimes in counseling or just conversations with people where they’ll say, you know, I want to come to the Lord, but I got to get myself cleaned up first or, you know, I wish I could change, but my problem is I don’t love myself enough. And you know, my answer typically in those situations is honestly, it’s it’s you that’s the problem. It’s not that you don’t love yourself enough. It might be that you love yourself too much, and that what you need to do is let go of yourself in order to see the greatness of who God is, because it’s the glory of God that gives us worth as human beings. Now, I can’t say that that statement is always true in every situation, but, but, but sometimes that’s our own wrestling, is that we continue to want to elevate ourselves and build ourselves up with apart from who God is. But but Jesus says who? He who loses his life for my sake will find it. And what Jesus is ultimately saying is, you don’t really, truly find the worth of who you are until you let go of you and embrace the greatness of who he is, because embracing the greatness of who he is helps shape the identity of who you are and the worth you have as a human being, because your worth is wrapped up in his glory.
And when you begin to embrace his glory and understand who he is, it helps us understand who we are in light of that. And so the glory of God becomes essential to understanding who we are in light of who he is. And so the psalmist is saying, look, just think about this, that we as a human being, we have as human beings, we have this tendency of pulling God down. In fact, Paul, Paul warns us in Romans chapter one, verse 25 that we worship and serve the created rather than the creator. That we, we, we sell ourselves short all the time by praising the things of this world and forgetting the maker of it all. And that’s the one that desires to be made known in your life. The glory of God. Now, if you aren’t careful in talking about the glory of God to then also talk about the the grace of God. The tendency is you’ll. You’ll describe God in a way as a transcendent being that is beyond us, but not attainable to us. And it’s true that God is a transcendent, glorious being. But but at the same time, the psalmist wants you to know in verse seven that while he is transcendent, he’s also intimate and personal in his care.
That this great God cares so much about you, that he would enter into your world, that you would know him. And in verse seven, it goes on and describes that as as it compares us to, to sheep in a pasture, to our shepherd who is the Lord. And I love the way the Bible does that. The imagery of Shepherd is is painted throughout Scripture masterfully, to the point where and when you get to the New Testament. Jesus then describes himself as in John ten as that great shepherd. He is God in the flesh, who’s come near for you. The glory of God made known in a personal way, and you have the opportunity to to connect to Him in His presence and to give him glory. This is this is why we we worship this transcendent God who was immanent in our lives. In fact, in Romans chapter 12. The apostle Paul at at the very end of Romans 11, he does exactly what the psalmist is doing in Psalm 95. He’s talking about the glory of God at the end of Romans 11, and God’s grand plan through his sovereignty. And and then God bringing personally his salvation. And then when he starts chapter 12, he says to us, and the only way that you should truly respond because of that, he says, I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
And so he’s saying the only the only right response to a heart that begins to understand the depth of who this God is and his desire to be made known is worship. And so Paul is saying, I’m begging you then, because of that, that this would be the response of your life that you would give to God all that you are in order that you become who he has called you to be. Because point number three in your notes is the reason why we should worship is to be transformed. To be transformed. That’s the beauty of what worship ultimately does for God’s people. It transforms our lives as God gets our heart. He transforms us. In fact, in verse six seven and eight, you see this in this invitation and this these, these verses are really showing this war, this worship war that happens in the hearts of, of humans, of us. Verse six is what what we should do. But verse seven and eight is the temptation of where we might go. But God desires to do a beautiful work in you. So this is what the psalmist is doing. In begging us, he says, oh, come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker. Don’t don’t take this moment for granted.
He’s saying, Take all that you are before him, because this is why you were created to be known by him. And in so doing, God will direct your life and God. God is most interested in this world, not what you are doing, but who you are becoming in light of who he is. Because if your heart is given over to God, God will shape what you do in this world. If somebody could look at me this morning and be like, well, how did you know? You know God’s will for your life was to become a pastor. I tell you, I’m still not sure that that I’m just kidding, but but someone could ask that question, and but, you know, there are certain things that could happen to me in life that may not allow me to stay in this position. For example, if something ever happens to my ability to speak. Does that suddenly mean because I can’t speak, I’m no longer in God’s will? No, because God’s will for me is more than just simply what I do. What I do is just a byproduct of who I am. And when I know who I am in the Lord, there’s still all kinds of things I can do with my life in order to honor him, but it’s only because my heart would be given over to the Lord that I’m able to walk in that. See, God does this work within me that then works through me, and it can look all sorts of ways.
And the same thing is true for you. And God wants to do a work in you. He wants to transform your life that he he can work through you. And and worship gives us that place to connect to him that that that God is able to, to to do this in our heart in order to transform our life, to live for his glory. You know this, this Psalm in verse six, he’s saying all that you are. Just take it and give it over to him. And this is the only thing that makes sense in the life of the believer, in light of who God is and the magnitude of who he is and how he has created you. He is the one that has made you for his purposes. And so it’s not until your life is given over to him that you truly live for the reason in which you’re created. And in so doing, he transforms your life. This is so important. And and recognizing that Joshua, at the end of his ministry in Joshua chapter 24. He gave the people of God this challenge, and he recognized that their temptation was to follow other, other idols in this world. And so it’s our temptation every day. What are you going to give your heart to? What are you going to give your life towards? What are you going to be about? What’s going to define who you are? What really has your heart? It’s going to shape you.
Direction determines your destination and what you give your life over to. That is what you will become. It’s why you say sometimes to teenagers, show me who your friends are and I’ll show you who you are. Actually it’s true for every adult. Show me who your friends are and I’ll show you who you are. Okay. You will become what you shape your life around. It will pour into you. It will become who you are. And the same thing with with the Lord. And for Joshua in chapter 24, he gave Israel that challenge. Choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods of your fathers served in the region beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, We will serve the Lord. Before he took a step into anything else, before he experienced anything in life. Joshua knew the kind of man he wanted to be, and he wanted to point his life in that direction. The destination or excuse me? Direction determines your destination. That’s important. Maybe for us to ask this morning who or what really has your heart? What is your life about? Does it belong to the Lord? We worship to be transformed. In fact, the Apostle Paul said in second Corinthians 318, talking about God’s people together.
He said, and we all with unveiled face, behold, the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord, who is the spirit. And when you think about this Psalm, the Psalm said it very clearly. If you hear, are you talking about the. It’s the truth of God that shapes our life. And so letting God’s Word And develop and shape in our mind that it would captivate our heart and then transform what we do to understand what God says. Let that saturate and churn within your soul that you would live for his glory. In fact, if I went back to Romans 12, when Paul begs you to lay down your body, he goes on in verse two and says it like this do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You want what transforms you. It starts. And the truth of God’s Word communicated over you and in you. Do not be conformed. The world wants to press you into a mold. Do not let that shape you. Do not follow those false gods. Don’t. Don’t let that define or determine who you’re going to become, but rather the one who has created you for his purposes. Let his word wash over you. Let His Word transform you by the renewing of your mind that that by testing you, you may discern what is the will of God, what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
When you understand the truth of God’s Word, you understand the heart of God. And as you understand the heart of God, you learn to love what God loves and it begins to shape you, that who you’re becoming is dictated by who he is, not the the things of this world. And you know, when you look at this Psalm, what this psalm is really talking to us, I think really is one of two people. And all of us find ourselves maybe categorically in one of these two positions at some point in life. It’s either he’s either talking to a worship skeptic or a worship rebel. I mean, you see it in verse seven and eight, right? Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. So he’s talking to someone who’s whose soul is being tormented a bit with things of this world rather than the goodness of who God is. And he’s warning them, but he’s also inviting them to something so much greater. Their life could be a part of today. If you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Can I just for a moment, if you find yourself more as a as a skeptic to to what God says, can I just encourage you as a as a skeptic in this verse, it literally says not take everything I’m telling you, you know, and do it, but it qualifies it.
If if you hear his voice, then do not harden your heart. He even he identifies for us even that today. Today you’re not promised a moment beyond right now. Today it becomes important to ask yourself, is my heart really given over to him? Today, if you hear his voice. Now, let me just say now, I’m not saying prescriptively for us. We all just need to sit here until we hear the audible voice of God. And then we hear that do that. What I think is important to say is that we have already heard the audible voice of God, because theologians will tell you that in Christianity there are two forms of special revelation specific ways God’s communicated to us. And those two ways are His Word and Jesus, his Word in Jesus. In fact, if you want to know what Jesus is like, you should look at His word. I mean, it tells you in Hebrews chapter one verse three, he is the exact imprint of his radiance in this world. Or in Colossians two verse nine, In Him the fullness of God dwells in bodily form. Or in John chapter one verse 14, And the word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten, full of grace and truth. I mean, if you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus.
He’s God in the flesh. Take time to know Jesus. Listen to Jesus in the way that we do that. Get this is to read what Jesus said to us in Scripture, and to not just take my word for it, but become to know Christ. You know, grow in Jesus and and for the worship rebel. Can I can I just tell you, um, Sometimes there’s this rebellion in us that when when we’re invited to do things or told to do things, that our response often is, nobody will tell me what to do, right? That’s because I’m in charge of me. That’s kind of that’s kind of where we come from. We come with this rebellious attitude. But can I just can I just tell you? By refusing to worship God doesn’t mean that you’re going to refrain from worship, period. In fact, it is impossible not to worship something you’re made as a worship being. You cannot walk in this world and not worship. It is an impossibility. And the reason I say that is because all of us, all of us, want to know we matter. All of us want to connect. All of us want to belong. All of us want to live for a purpose, right? And so in looking for those things, we will ultimately worship something to help us feel significant, to help us feel important, to help us feel like we matter, to help us feel appreciated.
We’ll look to something in this world to just say to me that that who I am is significant for some reason, hopefully greater than myself. But but we’ll look for that. I think you see this easily, more easily in culture, more with high school kids than any other, at least high school kids in the 90s. I don’t know, I’m not so much familiar with how they are today, but in the 90s, I don’t know if you grew up in high school in the 90s, you know what it was like. You’re you get a little friend circle, and over time you would just start to look like that little friend circle, you know, and you’re attire. Your wardrobe would be like something that didn’t even matter to you 1 or 2 years before suddenly matters to you. Because this little circle that you you find important for this little period of time in life, you just want to match to it in order to feel like you can belong and feel like you’re loved and feel like you’re important. And again, that’s not just, you know, teenagers. That’s everybody. We all we all struggle with that. We we want that. And and our heart is looking for a place to attach itself because we are created as worship beings. And so the psalmist is wanting us to recognize that when we harden our hearts to the things of God, we’re dis attaching ourselves for the thing that gives us ultimate meaning and who we are and the purpose for which we exist, and the value of what we carry as people made in God’s image.
I forgot where I was. Point three right. All right. So when it comes to to rebellion, it’s important to see what we’re cutting our hearts from. And let me just give you this last one because I got six minutes. So this last one. Um, why why should we worship? And I think this this to me, is when I, when I discovered this as a, as a believer, this this was the most significant truth I think I’ve learned in worship to enter his rest, to enter his rest. And I don’t know where you’ve come from and what you’ve gone through in life. But I know the world creates turmoil in our soul. And we as people sometimes look desperately to know that we matter. But the beauty of Jesus, in understanding what he’s done becomes this place that while the world may be chaos in your inner soul before the presence of God, you can rest because Jesus is more than enough. I mean, this is this is the second half of this Psalm is the tragedy of sharing with us a story of individuals that didn’t recognize the greatness of who God was and therefore never entered his rest. But more than anything, this is what God desires for you.
When God created us in the beginning, on the seventh day of his creation. Do you know what it tells us? God did? Rest it, and what it was saying to us on the seventh day is God’s desire for all of us, is that we would rest with him for eternity. But there was no rest to be found, because what mankind did was rebel against the Lord, and in so doing, turmoil for the soul. But when you read passages like first Peter chapter, well, first Peter chapter five tells you, cast all your cares on him because he cares for you. God’s desire for you is to rest. In fact, when you read about this story you’re reading in Exodus chapter 17, a story of the children of Israel just complaining before God. They didn’t really want God. They just wanted the luxury of what God gave them. They weren’t interested in a relationship. They just want to take from him. Guys, can I tell you that’s not a real relationship? If you really want to worship God, it requires you to lay down all of your life because that’s how intimacy is developed. You think, if I was we were performing a wedding this morning and I had a couple come up and they shared their vows and one said, you know, I give to you all that I am, and the other one is like, and I give to you probably half of myself sometimes, right.
You’d be like, that is not a healthy relationship. Marriage is not 50 over 50. Marriage is all that you are and all that you are for the benefit of someone else. And the same thing is true in your relationship with the Lord. You don’t come to God and just get from him, but rather we want to come and give all of ourselves to him because you were created for that. And that’s where intimacy is developed. And so when it comes to the idea of resting in God, it’s to recognize the greatness of who he is, this powerful God, and the intimacy of his care, inviting me into his presence, that my heart can rest before him forever because Jesus is enough. And in verse 11, that’s what he says. That’s his conclusion. Therefore I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. The tragedy of their soul, never finding a place to recognize that God is enough. And because he is enough, I am enough in him. It’s not about what I’m doing. It’s about what he’s done on my behalf. And in fact, this same Psalm. And I’m not going to have time to read this, but this same Psalm in Hebrews chapter four, the psalmist, the the writer of Hebrews goes back to the psalm, and he’s he’s regurgitating this story because he’s saying, look, the challenge to us even today is to find his rest.
And that last verse, he says, therefore there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. And he is it’s saying it’s not talking about a particular day. I know sometimes we use the word Sabbath talking about a day, but the greatest rest is not about a day. The greatest rest is in a person, and that person is Jesus. That’s why Jesus in Matthew 11 he says this to us. He preached it to the in the first century, to the people around him. And it’s just as true today for us. Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Rest is not a day. Rest is not a religion. Rest is a person. Jesus. And he goes on and says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For look at this. This is the only time in Scripture Jesus tells you his heart. He says, for I am gentle and humble of heart. He’s gentle in his care for you. He’s humble in his service to you. That’s his heart towards you. And look what he says, and you will find rest for your souls. After Jesus gives this message in Matthew 11, do you know the very next thing he does? In chapter 12? He goes after the religious people because he knows the religion of their day. It’s just worn down the people to a demand that they can never achieve.
But what he’s declaring for them is that Jesus is more than enough when it comes to the idea of worship. Why should we worship? It’s the gift of his presence, the recognition of the greatness of his glory, the transformation that he ultimately brings in me, and the ability to rest in him. There is a princess in the 17th century, right in the middle of the 17th century, Princess Elizabeth. And there’s nothing I like more as a grown man to talk about princesses. Okay, so. But Princess Elizabeth, she, um, she was alive during the Civil War in England, and she was actually taken as the king’s daughter. She was taken as a political prisoner by the parliament, and she was taken as a prisoner at six years old. And she stayed in prison until she was 14 years old. And at 14 years old she passed away in prison. But just before she passed away, her her father in the year before, in 1649, was sentenced to be beheaded as as king in the middle of the civil war and the night in which he was beheaded, he he asked if his children could be brought to him, and his two of his children came. It was Elizabeth, and her brother came before the king to spend one final night with her father, and her father gave some incredible instruction. You can read it in history. There’s a whole letter on it, but a couple of summary ideas he said to he said to them is continue to fear God.
Forgive those who’ve come against me. He tells them, and he offers them his Bible to take and read. It was known that that Princess Elizabeth struggled with her health, and while she was in prison to the parliament during the Civil War, there was one particular day where she was not doing well, and someone went into her room to check on her, and they saw her lying on her bed and she had passed away. But there on her bed, as she lay her, her head was resting, not on a pillow, but on the Bible. And she was pointing to one particular passage, a passage that gave her hope in the midst of the turmoil of the world around her. Matthew 11 verse 28, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Guys, can I tell you today when we get ready to partake of baptisms, the joy that is in my heart, because the people that want to pursue the Lord, to recognize the greatness of of who they are and how he desires to transform our life and we in him are enough because he alone is enough. And in that position we find rest.