Sermon Notes (10.9.22)

Week No. 4 – You are Made for God

Psalm 115

[1] Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory,
for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!
[2] Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
[3] Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.
[4] Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
[5] They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
[6] They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
[7] They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
[8] Those who make them become like them;
so do all who trust in them.
[9] O Israel, trust in the LORD!
He is their help and their shield.
[10] O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD!
He is their help and their shield.
[11] You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD!
He is their help and their shield.
[12] The LORD has remembered us; he will bless us;
he will bless the house of Israel;
he will bless the house of Aaron;
[13] he will bless those who fear the LORD,
both the small and the great.
[14] May the LORD give you increase,
you and your children!
[15] May you be blessed by the LORD,
who made heaven and earth!
[16] The heavens are the LORD’s heavens,
but the earth he has given to the children of man.
[17] The dead do not praise the LORD,
nor do any who go down into silence.
[18] But we will bless the LORD
from this time forth and forevermore.
Praise the LORD! (ESV)

Created for Worship

Psalm 115:1-3; 16-18

Not to us, O LORD, not to us…

Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”

The dead do not praise the LORD…But we will bless the LORD…

Much of the Church today, especially that part of it which is evangelical, is in captivity to this idolatry of the self. This is a form of corruption far more profound that the list of infractions that typically pop into our minds when we hear the word “sin.” We are trying to hold at bay the gnats of small sins while swallowing the camel of self…The contemporary church is whoring after this god as assiduously as the Israelites in their darker days. It is baptizing as faith the pride that leads us to think much about ourselves and much of ourselves. – David Wells

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A Contrast in Worship

Psalm 115:4-8; 12-15

Do you see the difference?

[14] He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. [15] Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. [16] Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” [17] And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!” – Isaiah 44:14-17

Do you see the ridiculousness?

Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.

We resemble what we revere, either for ruin or restoration…All of us our imitators, and there is no neutrality. We should disabuse ourselves of the notion that we can be spiritually neutral. We are either being conformed to an idol of the world or to God. – G.K. Beale

How can you discern your idol(s)?*

  1. What do you habitually think about to get joy and comfort in the privacy of your heart?
  2. How do you spend your money?
  3. How do you respond to unanswered prayers & frustrated hopes?
  4. What do your emotions reveal

*Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods

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Transformed by Worship

Psalm 115:9-11

You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield.

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding 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. – 2 Corinthians 3:18

Your real, new self (which is Christ’s and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him. Does that sound strange? The same principle holds, you know, for more everyday matters. Even in social life, you will never make a good impression on other people until you stop thinking about what sort of impression you are making. Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring two pence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it. The principle runs through all life from top to bottom. Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in. – C.S. Lewis

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How will you respond?

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A Prayer for Salvation

“Heavenly Father, I admit that I am weaker and more sinful than I ever before believed, but through your Son Jesus I can be more loved and accepted than I ever dared hope. I thank you that he lived the life I should have lived and paid the debt and punishment I owed. Receive me now for his sake. I turn from my sins and receive him as Savior. Amen.”

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