Adoring God

Psalm 115:1–18 NIV

Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness. Why do the nations say, “Where is their God?” Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them. All you Israelites, trust in the Lord— he is their help and shield. House of Aaron, trust in the Lord— he is their help and shield. You who fear him, trust in the Lord— he is their help and shield. The Lord remembers us and will bless us: He will bless his people Israel, he will bless the house of Aaron, he will bless those who fear the Lord— small and great alike. May the Lord cause you to flourish, both you and your children. May you be blessed by the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to mankind. It is not the dead who praise the Lord, those who go down to the place of silence; it is we who extol the Lord, both now and forevermore. Praise the Lord.

Introduction: If someone who had never heard of Jesus, who never heard of Christianity came to a Church and experienced worship, what would they think? If they see a believer doing what they do individually to spend time with God, what would they think?

Christian Worship is both Unique in some ways, and not Unique in other ways.

It is not unique in this way, that everyone worships something, but what you can tell what is being worshipped is by how we worship.

24-How We Believe is How We will Pray.

Lex Credendi, Lex Orandi, Lex Vivendi - how we worship reflects what we believe and determines how we will live.

Things we worship and how they shape us.

The Assyrian god was the god of war - so guess what the Assyrians were the most cruel of warriors at the time.

The Canaan gods focused on fertility - Baal the god of rain, and so you can imagine anything related to fertility is how they lived their life.

If money is your god then what do you to worship it.

if science is your god then what do you do to worship it.

Christian Worship is not unique in that everyone worships something, but is unique because of who is worshipped.

This Psalm intentionally paints a different picture of the God of the Bible. A living, seeing, hearing, communicating, relating, promising, supplying, blessing, protecting and author of all things God,

The materials that the other gods are made of were created by the God of the Bible, and so our worship and Adoration should reflect that.

So the Worship of this God involves yes singing music, but ultimately two-way communication and a walking with...

Application Points!!!

As you pray, ask yourself

Ask yourself when you pray, what does this prayer tell me what I believe about God.

Pray through Scripture.

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God,” (). The Psalms should not merely be read, but should be done, acted out, sung, and prayed aloud.

As you can tell our worship/praise then has a shaping effect.

25-Who our God is will Shape Who we Are.

The psalms categorized as hymns focus on declaring who God is and praising him for that unchanging character—and how this immutability affects us as his creation.

The idols mentioned were all fashioned by human hands as all idols are. So who is doing the shaping? both - fulfilling prophecy of sorts. They are gods who we have made out of the Lord’s good creation, who then make us into the distorted twisted image of what we wanted those gods to be for us.

Praising the one true God is different, because that God is not made by humans, we are made by him, and he then gets to shape us as he pleases.

“The psalms also help us see God—God not as we wish or hope him to be but as he actually reveals himself. The descriptions of God in the Psalter are rich beyond human invention. He is more holy, more wise, more fearsome, more tender and loving that we would ever imagine him to be. The psalms fire our imaginations into new realms yet guide them toward the god who actually exists. This brings a reality to our prayer lives that nothing else can” (Timothy Keller, The Songs of Jesus [New York: Viking, 2015], ix).

Worship has a way of changing our perspective, not because God changes, but because he, in fact, does not. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And when we worship God in song, in prayer, declaring who he is based on his Word, we are reminded that he is faithful. Everything he has ever been he will continue to be. And as we get a glimpse of his glory, his majesty, his strength, his sovereignty, our angle on our own temporal circumstances is put into a proper perspective.

Application Point!!!

Let God Shape you into who he intended you to be.

But worshipping a God we can not control is actually much more difficult, so why is it important to “Adore” God or give Him Glory?

26-Adoration Leads to Expectation.

This Psalm is a part of “Hallel” Psalms - Which simply means “Praise”

are apart of the Jewish Pasach Liturgy and is recited at the beginning of Passover, and are recited at the end of the Passover. - And so at the end of the Passover there is a lot of emphasis on Elijah returning to prepare the way for the Messiah. So this Psalm is a Psalm Adoring the God who has created all things and we can Trust him/Expect Him to fulfill all of his promises. For them it was specifically to send the Messiah, for us it is a Trust that he is fulfilling all of his promises in Jesus. And so this is why Adoration leads to Expectation. We expect the Lord to fulfill all of his promises based on Who God is and Said he is.

Jesus and the disciples sang a “hymn” at the Passover meal (). Jesus likely sang through the psalms during his entire life, and it is very possible he had all of them memorized. He quotes from the book of Psalms more than any other book of the Hebrew Bible (Tim Keller, The Songs of Jesus, ix).

Jesus taught us to start our prayers with adoration - The Lord’s Prayer, A.C.T.S.S.

Do we just jump right into our requests?

Adoring God first reminds us who he is, and who we are asking, and how we want to ask it. Is this god I am praying to the god of my own wishes and desires, or is this the God of all creation how made us for his purposes?

Who we Adore is Who we Trust…When we adore God for who he is it reminds us of his Trustworthiness in doing what he said he would do.

Chicken or the Egg. To I pray to God so that I might adore him, or do I begin praying when I adore him? My answer would be “Yes.”

If you are exploring Jesus, “You do not love him yet.” Begin praying to him and see what God might do through that. That is part of “Exploring.” Use Psalms like this one to get you started when you do not have words to say.

You are down in the dumps - be prepared to adore him, when you are on a high - be prepared to lament with others in the dumps. - This only grows our relationship with God and others as it can remind us of our Faith in God, “It is not about us.”

Story of Christmas Program & Sandy Hook Shootings.

Mentoring someone in the Christian Faith - Walk people through some Praise Psalms like these to help them learn prayers of Adoration.

Application Point!!!

Application Point!!!

Spend some time in Adoration this Week. Start Every prayer Adoring who God is...

But do it in the way God wired you. Here is a good resource to mentor those who want to Worship God more, take them here to get some ideas. https://onethingalone.com/ultimate-list-creative-ways-connect-god-120-ideas/

Thinking of Adoration as the Love Dare towards God.

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God,” (). The Psalms should not merely be read, but should be done, acted out, sung, and prayed aloud.

Conclusion: So Worship the one true God - It will shape who you will be. Start with Adoration, because what you Love is who you will trust.

Reference the Reformed Confessions: The Reformed Confessions are statements of faith written to clarify the Gospel at times when the Church was in crisis. Heidelberg Catechism: Q&A 58, 94-95, 120-122 Belgic Confession: Articles 1, 12, 17, 37

Reference the Reformed Confessions: The Reformed Confessions are statements of faith written to clarify the Gospel at times when the Church was in crisis. Heidelberg Catechism: Q&A 58, 94-95, 120-122 Belgic Confession: Articles 1, 12, 17, 37