Amazed By Him

Introduction

And I’ve got to tell you by way of introduction that I like to acknowledge the source of my ideas at times, and the source of this particular idea is Sherry. Now I tell you that, because people will tell you that some of the best sermons I’ve preached I got from her. And so that you can acknowledge the good thoughts that she had that I’m presenting to you. And I also say that in case this doesn’t go very well, I’ll have someone else to blame. Which is another reason why I tell you that. And yet, if this doesn’t go very well, Sherry would be the first to say, well, I wouldn’t have preached it that way. Which leads me to my subject tonight, why not women preachers?

So it’s all connected. So hopefully you can be here tonight at 5 o’clock. Of all the creatures that God created. Only man is capable of voluntarily adoring and praising him and being amazed by him. And that says something pretty important. I want to take you to the book of Psalms and what I call at the end of the Psalms the crescendo of praise. And rightfully so, these hymns of worship. The book of Psalms ends with Psalms devoted to praise. And particularly I want you to notice Psalm 148. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens. Praise him in the heights. Praise him, all his angels. Praise him, all his hosts. Praise him, sun and moon. Praise him all stars of light. Praise him, highest heavens, and the waters that are above the heavens.

1. The Praise of Creation and Its Limits

Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created. He has also established them forever and has made a decree which will not pass away. Praise the Lord from the earth. Sea monsters, I like that. Sea monsters and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and clouds, stormy wind fulfilling his word, mountains and all hills, fruit trees, and all cedars, beasts, and all cattle, creeping things, and winged fowl, kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all judges of the earth, both young men and virgins, old men and children. And the Psalms conclude with this. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. And so when I think about this crescendo of praise and everything that’s called to praise, particularly in Psalm 148, I wonder about the praise of creation and the limits of such praise.

Constellations, stars, can only praise God so much. Sun and moon. And the animals of the field can only praise God so much. They do not choose to worship God. The magnificence of their existence merely testifies to the awesomeness of the Creator and His glory, and they owe their beauty and the intricacies of their existence to Him. And they exist to serve His purposes. Thus they are called to praise God, since they owe everything to Him and they exist for all of His intentions. But everything, but of everything that God has made, man is uniquely capable to choose to praise Him. To speak words of praise voluntarily from our lips and to honor Him by listening to and obeying Him. Only man. And isn’t it interesting? And tragic, really, that some would purport that we have derived from animals.

That we are descendants of apes. Can you imagine? Surely, somewhere in this large world in some remote forest, that today there is a gathering of a group of apes, and they sang, our God, He is alive. And hallelujah. I know it. There’s apes somewhere who have gathered for worship and praise of the Creator. And we laugh at that because we know how nonsensical that is. I have been to zoos all over the place, and I’ve never seen any animal engaged in worship of God like we do. And yet their existence testifies to their creator and the marvelous intricacies of creation. So if we did indeed evolve from apes, which we did not, and I say that rather confidently, how is it that we have come to be people who attempt to worship the one who made us?

Who acknowledge a creator and choose to voluntarily worship him? I have an answer for that. It is not because we have descended from the animal kingdom. There’s no evidence of that.

And the Bible explains how that has come to be even to this time.

And everything that we know about God has first descended from Adam and Eve and the generations that followed, and then when God destroyed the world with a flood because their thoughts were only evil continually, it was also filtered down and passed down through Noah and his family and his children and every generation that follows. Every man that has ever lived has been introduced to the subject of God, their creator. And now the information, well, it’s everywhere.

Anthropos is an interesting word.

It means the one who looks up into the heights. That’s the Greek word for man. The one who is the upward looking one. All of that has to do with the fact that men have worshiped God from the very beginning. And David, who spent a lot of time beneath the stars as a shepherd. As he was considering all the things that God had created, the stars, the work of his fingers, and all that God has done, he noticed, he thought about the peculiar place of man in creation. What is man that thou art mindful of him in the midst of all of this awesome creating that God has done? That’s all I want to talk to you for a few moments this morning about our worship of him and our honor voluntarily given to him and doing what only men can do, and that is to be amazed by him.

2. Those Who Do Not Retain God in Their Knowledge

Admittedly, many folks throughout history, and many folks even now are not the least bit amazed by God.

That’s sad. That’s tragic as well. But why is that? There’s actually an explanation for that in the scripture. And it’s found in Romans chapter 1. And it’s found in verse 8 of verse 28 of Romans chapter 1, when it says of those who are dominated and controlled by sin, speaking specifically in the context of the Gentiles. He says, And just as they did not see fit to retain God in their knowledge. The New American Standard says to acknowledge God any longer. God gave them over to a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper. Let me tell you who is not amazed by him. Those individuals who do not retain God in their knowledge. And they are further described in this context if you go back to Romans chapter 1 and verse 18.

They are those upon whom the wrath of God is revealed. We spoke recently on a Wednesday night about the wrath of God as a part of his nature. You do not want to be the object of his wrath. And I noticed in the passage that Tom read that the discipline of the Lord that comes upon us to train us is to keep us from that wrath so that we might avoid it. They knew God, the text says, but they did not honor Him as God or give thanks. Hold that thought. They saw themselves to be wise, but were fools. They exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the form of the corruptible, pointing to idolatry. Because they did not retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to what they wanted.

The lusts of their hearts. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie. He even gave them over to degrading passions. A reference to homosexuality, to receive in their own persons the due penalty of their error. What led to such a course? A depraved mind, an improper conduct as a result. It was the removal of God from their thinking. And that’s exactly what many people do. They live their lives and they do their very best, though God has permeated our culture. Copies of the Bible are everywhere. There are those that talk about God, and certainly his people are to be shining as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. It’s hard to escape God altogether, but that’s exactly what people are trying to do.

To remove God from their thinking. And we need to be careful that does not describe us. Oh, I know we’re thinking about God today, but is this it? Is this all there is? Otherwise, we live a pretty secular world focused life. This is what most people are doing. They are not retaining God in their knowledge. And so they live their lives in the pursuit of the accumulation of things and all of the niceties of life that they can possibly provide for themselves and moments of pleasure. And all of that is ultimately empty, dissatisfying, and only fulfilling to a point. Because it is temporary. And because we are temporary. And there is no way of getting around that. That’s the way the creator made things. He who loves money will not be satisfied with it, nor with its income.

That’s just the way it works in the world, Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 5 and verse 10. That’s just the way the Creator made it. And so if you put all of your hopes in that, it’s very short-lived. They live for the now. Though it is brief, so impermanent and ultimately disappointing. Even if you make a pretty big splash in the world. May I suggest to you this course is no way to live. But it is how many live. We, on the other hand, as those understanding what God has made us for, we need to be the exact opposite of this. The unamazed by God do not retain God in their thinking, but we, as the children of God, are striving to retain him in our thinking.

3. Honor Him and Give Thanks: Our Attitudes Toward Worship

And I just want to suggest to you very briefly this morning that is going to require some effort. That is going to require some training. And you’re doing part of it right now. One of the things that we do together as we worship is that we’re bringing God more into our thinking. We are being godly people today. God focused. We’re learning about our Creator and His intentions for us. And we’re reminding each other of how important this is and how it is critical to our very being, and to our lives and to our hope. Those who did not retain God in their knowledge.

What did they not do? They did not honor him, nor did they give thanks. Those who wish instead to retain God in their knowledge must honor Him and give thanks. They are profusely thankful for all that God has done. And you’re only going to do that. If you take the time to enumerate all that God has done and the magnitude of it and your dependence upon him and how awesome all the things God has done for us and congratulations.

Only then will we honor him and give thanks. And this is all about the way you look at things. And I’ll tell you, I struggle with this. I think the Lord’s people struggle with perspective. How we’re looking at things. When we get so down and out and discouraged and unhappy and not rejoicing, a lot of times it’s our perspective that’s gone amiss. When we start complaining and criticizing unnecessarily, when we find ourselves in that mode, we have lost perspective. We who retain God in our knowledge need to watch our perspective. And really in three areas. Number one, our attitudes toward worship. We’ve got to cultivate a proper perspective about that. It’s not just us putting in our time to appease the demanding God. We’re supposed to do it.

If we don’t, we’re going to be lost. So here we are. Is that all it is? This is about honoring God and giving thanks. And that’s why it doesn’t matter if I go five minutes over. And actually I’m nearly done. But it doesn’t matter. We’re here to honor God and to show our gratitude. That’s what I love about Colossians 2, 6 and 7, where it says, as therefore you have received Christ, so walk in him. Rooted in your faith, he says. And the conclusion of that is overflowing with gratitude. I love that phrase. That phrase is so significant. What are those who retain God and their knowledge all about? Not like those who did not give thanks. We are profusely thankful for all that God has done.

4. Our Perspective About His People

And so that’s going to change our perspective about worship. It’s going to change our perspective about the way we view as people. And the way we participate and conduct ourselves among his people, the way we regard his people, not as nuisances. I don’t want to be on your nuisance list. I might do some things that are annoying. But we’re in this together. As those who have been reclaimed by God, blessed is he who has been forgiven of the Lord, Psalm 32 and verse 1. We are those who have been forgiven by him, and we are to work together despite our differences. That’s one of the things we read about through the entire New Testament. Jew and Gentile worshiping together, you’ve got to be kidding me. That was a real struggle for them.

At least we’re over that. Most of us are probably Gentiles anyway, but we’re over that. But there are all kinds of social strata differences, ethnic differences. I’ll tell you, one of the greater things that I see in our time is just the fact that we’re different people. Folks are different. All of us are a bit strange to somebody.

5. My Mission in the World

And if you didn’t believe that, let’s sit down and talk. And you can talk about my strangeness. But it changes the way we look at our involvement amongst people. Well, I’m not just punching the time clock when I show up at 5 o’clock on Sunday night. I’m here for these people. We’re in something together. God wants us to operate as a collective. He wants us to be responsible to one another and serve one another and help one another. That’s why I’ve got to change my perspective about that. Because I’m thankful. Because I’m here to honor God. And I’ve got to see my mission in the world. I’m not just about making an income or pursuing a vocation or a passion that I have out in the world.

When I live out there, God is wanting me to show light to the world. God is wanting me to show that I’m one of his, that I belong to Him, that we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people for God’s own possession, that we may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light. That’s my mission, and we need to understand that I do have a mission beyond just assembly. And so it’s all about the way we look at things. And the longer I serve him, the sweeter he grows. And I want that to be your experience. I know some of you who are older saints who have been doing this for a long time. Know well the sentiment of that song.

The more you honor him because he is God and because you’re the creature, and the more you give thanks to him and realize all that he’s done for you, the longer I serve him. The sweeter he grows. And I want to make one more point about your ability alone in creation to voluntarily honor, thank, and praise your God.

6. A Spot in Serving God That Only You Can Fill

And that is that there is a spot in serving God that only you can fill. Each one of us here this morning. Serve God uniquely. I’m the only one that can offer Tony in worship to Jehovah. You’re the only one that can offer you in worship to Jehovah. And there’s a couple of passages here that I want to mention very briefly. One is Revelation chapter 2 and verse 17, and I’ll readily acknowledge I don’t know everything that Jesus meant when he says this, but I think it has something to do with what I’m saying. In the overcoming section of this letter to the church in Pergamum, he says, to him who overcomes, and he always does this in each of the letters, the one who overcomes, who fights the battles of faith and is victorious by persevering in faith, you get something from God.

And these are all wonderful things in all seven letters. And he says, and it’s unique in each one. And he says, to him I will give some of the hidden manna. That’s good. That’s sustenance from God. I will give him some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and that’s good. But I don’t know everything about that, but it’s good. And a new name written on the stone, which no one knows but he who receives it. Okay. So I got this stone, I got a name written on it, and I’m the only one that knows what’s written on there. I don’t know that I understand everything about that, but I think it’s saying this. That each one of us sustains a unique relationship to God, a place that only you can fill.

It’s much like Galatians 1. This passage came to me.

When Paul talks about his role as an apostle and God using him in that way, he’s almost overwhelmed by the thought of it seems, in Galatians chapter 1. Look at this with me very quickly, Galatians 1. But when he who had set me apart from my mother’s womb. You ever thought much about that? And called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the Gentiles. I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood. Well, you mean it didn’t have anything to do with Paul’s own decision? Oh, yeah, it had everything to do with that, and God’s foreknowledge of that. But the fact is, Paul says, you know, he had a plan for me. He had a plan for me from my birth.

Now look at everything that happened, how old Paul was, the opposition to the cause, and everything that’s transpired before he finally got on board with the creator’s intentions for him. But he looks back on it now and he says, you know, God had this plan for me from the moment I was conceived, from the moment I came into the world, God knew what I was going to do. And wow, look at what he did when he figured out why he was here.

I wonder what the Lord had planned for you from your mother’s womb. I don’t think he’s talking about something that’s unique to him because he is an apostle. He’s saying God can use me in his purposes. He had a plan for me, and I’m living that plan, and he has a plan for you.

Conclusion

There are people in your life that only you will touch and influence. I won’t. I’ll never know them like you do. What are God’s intentions in working through you in your circumstances? Do you realize that you uniquely hold a place in creation of service to God that only you can fill? And will you take that seriously? And will you be amazed by him? Will you offer voluntarily the worship that he wanted from man as the pinnacle of creation that he planned for? Really, what we’re talking about, and I do this a lot, it’s the most critical thing that is. There’s not anything more important than this. I think I passed over 1 Peter 1 and verse 7. I had it on the slides there. I passed over it.

I love that passage. The trial of your faith being much more precious than gold which perishes may be found to result in praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. You know, we go through a lot as we live our lives as Christians, but what is the result of persevering, of sticking it out, of giving God his due, honoring him and thanking him and praising him and being amazed by him? What’s the end result of that? The praise and honor and glory that is due our God. That’s what’s going to result. And the amazing thing about that is that at the end of the day, while he is worthy and I am not, he says, delight yourself in the Lord. And he will give you the desires of your heart.

Who’s worthy of that? Oh, that doesn’t mean he’s if the desire of my heart is multi-million dollars, that’s what’s coming my way this week. He’s going to give you everything that matters. Everything that’s really worth something. He gives to his people. Because he delights in us, and I’ll never understand why. Or the depths of that. But it’s just my responsibility to embrace it and thank him and to give him the honor that’s due to him. And what a privilege it is to be able to do that with you this morning. We are a blessed people. And if you’re not numbered among the saved, we want to assist you to be such a blessed person. If you would be amazed by him and thankful to him, would you respond to the call of the invitation of the gospel to be immersed in water for the forgiveness of your sins, that you might be saved from the wrath of God that will be displayed towards sin one day?

If we can assist you, come now while we stand and sing together.