Idols, God, And Peace

Offer a Pastoral Prayer

Guide the Congregation to Read Psalm 29

Psalm 29 ESV

A Psalm of David. Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forests bare, and in his temple all cry, “Glory!” The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord sits enthroned as king forever. May the Lord give strength to his people! May the Lord bless his people with peace!

Today I invite us to consider two statements by two Christian thinkers. Consider the Words by Jerry Bridges:

21  The truly godly person never forgets that he was at one time an object of God’s holy and just wrath. He never forgets that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—and he feels along with Paul that he is himself the worst of sinners.

Jerry Bridges

The Practice of Godliness (1996)

Jerry Bridges

Consider now these words that ring ever true in our society, today. These are the words of D.L. Moody:

You don’t have to go to heathen lands today to find false gods. America is full of them. Whatever you love more than God is your idol.

Dwight L. Moody

King David Reminds Himself of God’s Nature When He Is Contrasted to the World.

David, witnessing the mighty storm, reflects on God’s nature—He is YHWH.

YHWH formidable and powerful, so He alone is worthy of worship—By angels, humans, and all creation.

YHWH demands worship that is holy as He alone is holy—We must arraign ourselves to worship as He demands to be worshipped.

Hear the words of Jesus:

John 4:21–24 ESV

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

This truth is echoed by the good Doctor David Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

It is God who decided and who has revealed how He is to be worshipped, not man, and they should have observed God’s way instead of turning to their own inventions.

God’s Sovereign Purpose, 68

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Here’s the rub:

TRANSITION—We must ask ourselves whether we are ascribing to God as we must, or do we ascribe to God as we see fit?

All Creation is Unable to Withstand the Voice of God.

Hear the words by the late J.I. Packer:

But in the Bible the great divide is between those who believe in the Christian God and those who serve idols—“gods,” that is, whose images, whether metal or mental, do not square with the self-disclosure of the Creator.

J. I. Packer

King David reflects on YHWH’s nature, as the Storm sweeps over the land of Canaan.

The imperative for the reader is to see that God’s “voice” is the agent of active work over all creation.

The scope of YHWH’s voice is outside of time and space, and it makes itself evident in creation.

God’s voice is sovereign over the waters—An image of Genesis 1, as the creation shows God being present before all came into existence.

God’s voice is powerful and inspires majesty due to Him—Job conversing with God in the middle of the whirlwind, shows this. (Job 38-42)

God’s voice makes barren the forests of the proud nations—This is seen in the words of the Prophet Isaiah, issuing a divine judgement against the enemies of God and His people.

God’s mighty presence makes the proud nations tremble—The Exodus, and the entrance to the Promised Land are prime examples of the awesome power and fear of the Lord.

Because God’s glory is surrounded by the “fiery ones,” the Seraphim, His voice is able to spark forth the fire of his holiness—This is evidenced in the Contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:20-40).

God’s voice has no geographical bounds. From the Sea, to the North, to the South, to the East, and to the West, God’s voice commands every living thing, visible and invisible—This is evidenced in his promise for redemption in Psalm 103:12.

God’s voice is powerful overall things and everyone that in the place He set apart to be worshipped, everything exalts his self-existent nature as God—God evidences this truth as he speaks out of the smoke in the temple to King Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7:14-18.

The God that we worship is the Living God that has power not only in the world we know and live in today, but haas power over the grave and the resurrection therefrom. Matthew, Luke, Mark, and John testify to this power, and the Book of Acts showcases the power of His voice as His children trust and obey Him.

TRANSITION—Once we come face to face with this Living God, whose name is the seal upon the soul of every disciple, We cannot but live in a state of constant repentance and exuberant joy. We must consider this reality—Where is my allegiance for eternity now that I know who He is and who I am?

God Has, Is, and Will Rule Forever

The Living God who sovereignly designed and created the universe, is the same God who deals judgement according to His holy counsel. All of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, testifies to God’s rule over all creation—We call it the crimson thread of redemption.

YHWH who is clothed in majesty and glory, who is the totality of strength in all creation—That’s why His voice effects change—He alone is able to give us the strength needed to live according to his call to holiness and faithful obedience. Look at our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the hope for this one basic truth.

Because YHWH is holy and supremely good, we can trust that He will provide us what is missing in our lives. God is the only being capable of giving us completeness—shalom—peace.

Hear the words of the late A. W. Tozer:

True peace is a gift of God and today it is found only in the minds of innocent children and in the hearts of trustful Christians.2

A. W. Tozer

You may then ask how does peace work itself into the life of the disciple? Hear the words of Augustine of Hippo:

The peace of body and soul is the well-ordered and harmonious life and health of the living creature. Peace between man and God is the well-ordered obedience of faith to eternal law.Peace between man and man is well-ordered concord. Domestic peace is the well-ordered concord between those of the family who rule and those who obey. Civil peace is a similar concord among the citizens. The peace of the celestial city is the perfectly ordered and harmonious enjoyment of God and of one another in God. The peace of all things is the tranquility of order.

Augustine of Hippo

This great peace has once and for all been accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ, who upon the cross said, “It is finished,” it has been ratified by God the Father, through the Holy Spirit, in the resurrection, and is proclaimed by the empty tomb near Jerusalem!

TRANSITION—Peace is known to the world by one name. That name is Jesus Christ, who is the propitiation, expiation, and substitute for all who place their trust in Him alone above all, for all eternity.

So What?

1. Worship calls us to follow God’s instruction, not our preference.

2. YHWH is powerful and in His might He extends the opportunity to know Him. We cannot waste the opportunity to know Him and to make Him known.

3. As King, God is worthy of everything we can give, up to and including our lives. When we walk in His order for us, we can know that we will have complete peace.

So…Is Jesus Christ your King, or is He your Page Boy? I invite you to surrender to Him as your King.

Idols, God, And Peace