We Serve a Big God

Psalm 97 (ESV)

The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice;

let the many coastlands be glad!

Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;

righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

Fire goes before him

and burns up his adversaries all around.

His lightnings light up the world;

the earth sees and trembles.

The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,

before the Lord of all the earth.

The heavens proclaim his righteousness,

and all the peoples see his glory.

All worshipers of images are put to shame,

who make their boast in worthless idols;

worship him, all you gods!

Zion hears and is glad,

and the daughters of Judah rejoice,

because of your judgments, O Lord.

For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth;

you are exalted far above all gods.

O you who love the Lord, hate evil!

He preserves the lives of his saints;

he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

Light is sown for the righteous,

and joy for the upright in heart.

Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,

and give thanks to his holy name!

Series Introduction

I want to take some time through the next few weeks to look at four different psalms throughout the book of psalms

and im calling this.

The “Summer Psalm Series.”

The psalms

The psalms is a book that is full of the various different seasons and emotions of life.

one theologian wrote that you can find every season and emotion of life within the pages of the psalms

Each psalm tells a different story, from a different point of life, and expresses the reality of those moments..

Some express joy,

some express sorrow,

Some express anxiety and longing,

and yet some express anger and the desire to dash the teeth of another person in..

Each one though expresses real life and Gods presence in those very real circumstances.

and they speak volumes about the fragility and everchanging nature of life and the charator and nature of god in each and every season they express..

So for the next month, I want to take some time to go through a select few of those psalms

Were going to look at psalm 1, Psalm 23, Psalm, 91, and Psalm 97.

and I would encourage you as we do to maybe spend the next month reading the psalms as we dig in together.

Psalms 97

Psalms 97 has long been one of my favorite psalms in the book of psalms

specifically for the imagry that it paints of god

We really see how grand and majestic God is through this passage.

and its words have stirred my heart for many years..

it has a way of really putting the image of God into persepctive for the reader.

Overview of psalms 97

Psalm 97 is a hymn depicting the kingship, the rule, and the reign of god in the universe

Yahwah

and through the imagry that it uses to paint a picture of our king..

we see that god is no ordinary king.. but rather is the ultimate king..

a grand, majestic, powerful, and ulmighty king

And Without Jesus, an unapproachable king..

One that rulles over all and everything…

Here we see the creator king, who has no match in all creation..

He is incomparable in might, power, and magesty

yet he is fully trustworthy, approachable, celebrated and close to his poeple.

How Big God is

And we could talk about many different aspecs of this passage

Differnt things.

We could talk about Gods soverine kingship and authority..

We could talk about his rule and reign both now and forever..

but What I would like for us to focus on this morning as we walk through this psalm

is not just that God is king…

I believe there is another revelation here to be had if we will perservere for it..

What I want us to see in this passage is the revelation of how big god truely is..

How Majestic he truely is..

not in some quatative size per say..

but in the big picture of life..

in our journy..

how majestic..

how strong God is..

How mighty God is..

how big god is..

and how small and insignifigant we really are in comparison..

This is the awe inspiring revelation god gave me when I first read this passage many years ago..

that I hope for yout to see today..

The Reason

and there is a reason I want us to take a step back and view the overwelming granduer of god..

Mount Sinia

to have a moment maybe like the children of israel when they saw the cloud descend on mount sinai..

and backed away overwelmed by the awe of seeing god..

Isaiah

a moment like isaiah when he was called up into heaven..

and saw the lord on his throne and felt so insignifigant in humility..

Moses

A moment like moses when he saw the bush that was not consumed and heard the call of god..

Peter

or peter when he saw Jesus speaking with elijah and moses on the mountain..

Important

Theres something important for us in coming to a revelation of god in this size..

where he see him for the awe inspiring and majestic god that he truely is..

The Problem

Im afriad though.. Many times in christian circles, and even in our personal life..

I believe we enounter a problem..

and the problem has to do with how we view god..

Natural

You see Its natural for our mind to try to comprehend the things we encounter in life..

We use the phrase “wrap your mind around it”.. when we are trying to comprehend something..

Naturally We want to be able to understand, comprehend, and fully realize the things that we encunter in life and that surround us..

this is a rationalization of the mind..

its a logical process.

and its part of the natural make up of man..

it was created by god himself as well..

Problem.

but when it comes to god…

this is not always a good thing..

Not just better understanding

and im not talking about simply trying to better understand who god is. ..

Were not talking about growing in our knowledge of god..

those are good things..

rather..

What I mean is there are times in our attempts to wrap our minds around god..

that we begin to marganalize and minamize God..

we begin to view god as someone or something that can be fully understood

and so we shrink god down in our persepctive to something small and rationalthat we can comprehend..

somthing managable in our understanding..

Shrinks

and suddenly when we do this.. ..

the god who is bigger than it all..

the one who holds the universe in his hands..

becomes smaller..

and smaller..

and weaker

and weaker.

and in comfort we put him in this little box of understnading thinking we fully know who god is..

Consequences..

And this is the problem..

and it brings consequences..

suddenly since we think we fully understnad god.. when he acts in ways we dont understand we encounter disapointment and hurt.

suddenly.. because our view of god becomes so small..

so does his might..

and his ability..

suddenly god cant solve the problems we need him too because hes not big enough....

suddenly god does not understand who we are and what we are going through because hes not wise enough..

suddenly he is not enough to sustain us..

suddenly our restored relationship is not enough for us..

all because of this diminished view of god..

Fear

Furthermore..

when god is reduced to rational understanding..

there is no more fear of god..

because I can keep him in this little box....

and the role between creator and creation are switched..

we become the master..

and he the servant..

who will do everything we pray for ...

or he wont get the pleasure of us serving him..

This is the problem..

many have shrank god down to a managable size..

and no longer have any awe of who he is..

or reverant fear of who he is..

or believe in what he can do..

God has become powerless and manageable..

Reminded

but when we stop..

and begin to search the scriptures..

we are reminded that god is much bigger than our capible comprehention..

that he is much more powerful than our than our understanding..

that he is beyond any box that creation could try to put him in.. ..

When

When we begin to see god for who he truely is..

we begin to worship and serve him in a reverence and godly fear for who he is..

and my relationship with him changes to who of him being master..,

and i being servant..

My faith begins to raise..

because i begin to understnad he it bigger than my problems..

and my circumstances..

and he is stronger than my weakness and my brokeness..

We have to begin to view god for who he truely is..

not for the feabal and managable understnading that we want him to be..

So how big is God?

This is what I want us to see in this passage..

God in his fullness..

in his majesty and granduer..

The writer of Psalms 97 does a great job of painting a picture of who god truely is..

of helping us comprehend the uncomprehendable..

look at the aspecs of gods granduer that he points out..

Majestic

in verse 2 he reveals gods majesty

Psalm 97:2–5 ESV

Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around. His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth.

and verse 9 says..

Psalm 97:9 ESV

For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.

Mount

We are reminded of God on the mountain with moses and the people in this passage..

God in his magesty and glory descend on the mountain..

the bible says that the cloud came down over the mountain..

no one could see the luminous glory of god but moses..

and moses was able to go in..

so was joshua with him..

but the people.. who were not..

they were no prepared to enter into the majesty of god..

bible

The scripture tells us that god is so majestic..

that mere man could never approach him..

in the old testament

if common men went into the holy of holies..

the very place the presence of god dwelled on earth..

they would die..

if unholy priest went in..

they would die..

just by shere proximity to his presence..

this is how magesticy, how holy, how kingly god is..

Yet Approachable

but yet the psalmist ballances out the unapproachable majesty of god

with the his rightouseness and justice

and tells us that though he is majestic..

though he is unapproachable in the thick clouds.. ..

his foundation of his rule is rightousenss and justice..

Psalm 97:2 (ESV)

Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;

righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

We have the privilage.

We know now that you and I have been affored the same thing moses was..

that through Jesus we can bodly approach his throne..

but this is not of our own doing..

Hebrews 10:19 ESV

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,

The sole reason we can approach the presence of god and not die..

is because God himself made a way through Jesus for us to do so..

this is not our own works..

but his..

King

God is the unapproachable king unless yo uknow Jesus..

his kingship and majesty are unmatched..

there is no greater authority in all the universe..

The new testament paul will tell us that one day..

Philippians 2:10–11 ESV

so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

There is not greater name or authority..

he is the highest majesty..

Mighty

God in his magisty is also mighty..

hes strong and undefeatable..

no one can stand against him..

We see this in this passage..

how strong and victorious he is..

Psalm 97:3–4 ESV

Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around. His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles.

nothing.. no one.. can stand against god..

nothing in existance, then, now or future.. that can stand up to god..

and like a fire that burns..

antyhing that tried to stand agianst him must fall..

must be destoryed..

god is majestic..

he is mighty..

he is powerful..

Revelations

All through out the old testament we find the stories of God defeating armys on behalf of his people..

but we know in the new testament..

in the book of revelations..

there will one day come a day when he will finally destory every fo and enemy..

and he willl imerge victoriously..

as the mighty king..

he is mighty..

Powerful

look at the awe mighty power of god in verse 5..

Psalm 97:5 ESV

The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth.

mount everest is over 29,000 feet tall..

over 5.49 miles tall..

the mountains.. even that one..

melt in the power and glory of the god we serve..

Creation

Geneisis tells the story of how god is so powerful that he created everything..

not with his hands..

but mostly with his speach..

He said it and it was..

and then man with his hands and breath..

but God spoke let there be light..

sun

and the sun.. which is 865,000 mile in diameter..

which is about 10,000 degree f..

came out of his mouth and was born..

universe..

the universe.

which has yet to be fully explored..

which contains up to a septillian … yes thats a real number… stars..

was birthed..

Oceans..

He spoke and the oceans parted..

the seas were made..

he told job that he set the boundry of the waters..

and controlls the winds..

this is the power of our god..

Healings

in the new testament..

we see god reveals through JEsus..

and we see him heal the lame..

oppen blind eyes..

riase the dead..

raise himself..

turn water into wine..

and so much more..

THIS IS THE POWERFUL GOD WE SERVE!

HE IS TOO BIG, TO MIGHTY, TO POWERFUL FOR US TO FULLY COMPREHEND AND UNDERSTAND..

HE WONT FIT IN ANY BOX…

Worthy of All Glory

The psalmist tells us that this revelation of who god is..

should lead us to glorify him..

Psalm 97:1 ESV

The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!

Psalm 97:12 ESV

Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!

true revelation of the granduer and majesty of god..

leads us to magify and glorify him..

when we truely see him for who he is..

we can not hold back praise for him..

but should force us to worship him and glorify him for who he is..

The crazy thing

This is the god that we serve..

Yet here is the craziest thing of all....

when we get into the new testament..

the bible tells us that it is this god..

The majestic, mighty, powerful God of the universe..

who humbled himself..

Who thought less of himself for the sake of creation..

so that you and I could be made right with him..

and our relationship restored..

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Philippians 2:8 ESV

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

We need to see god for who he truely is..

but we need to understnad that in who god is..

even in his majesty, his might, and his power..

he is personal..

and wants a relationship with you and I.

and so he did everything he could..

to secure it..

Have you seen him for who he is?