Not to us
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Not to us...
Not to us...
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!
In prepping this sermon I came upon a devotion by Sam Storms where he tells the story of William Tell. William tell is known as a Swiss Legend that has become the face of many revolutions and resistance groups. If you do not know his story here is a brief overview...
Most likely we would use the natural environment around us… Where the Sun is in the sky? Wait long enough and notice where the sun sets or rises from?
Legend has it that some time around the year 1307, during a time of unrest between Austria and Switzerland, the austrian bailiff Gessler representing the count of Habsburg, requests that everybody bows his hat on a rod in Altdorf (Uri). William Tell refuses reverence to the hat and is arrested. The bailiff forces William Tell to shoot an apple off his sons head with his crossbow. William Tell hits the apple, but he has prepared a second arrow to shoot the bailiff in case he would have hurt the child.
What about if the sun was not visible because we were in a very dark storm and we are in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? Suppose we knew a general direction that we should go but we were only 2 degrees off??? What would happen? Depending on the course we set, at 2 degrees off w
William Tell is known for his incredible accuracy and skill with a crossbow. He is renown because if he had been off in his aim only slightly, the results would have been disastrous. What is the point?
Sam Storms mentions this story in connection to this Psalm making the analogy between William tell and our worship of God to suggest that, much like Tell, if the arrow of our adoration is even slightly off target, the results can be disastrous. If our worship is not fixed and focused on the Triune God of Scripture alone, what we are doing is not only foolish, but fatal, not only dumb, but deadly.
Worship can happen at anytime and anyplace, but wherever and whenever it happens, it must not be pointed at whomever, as if that is of less importance.
One thing we must know is that we were created by God to Worship him, and yet we often replace God with idols and aim our worship at other things. Yet the scriptures are full of commands to adjust our worship and aim it at God alone. Today we will see this in our text, let’s dive in.
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!
This is not a typo here… the psalmist is intentionally repeating himself to be emphatic about the aim of their worship...
NOT TO US, NOT TO US, But to you name be the glory!
And to say, “not to US” means he is talking to the community of believers as much as the individual. This is a Psalm of communal confidence in who God is and how we should worship him. And to start things off we are encouraged not to look to ourselves or to the masses of humanity in all they can muster to present as accomplishments.
Spurgeon said, “No praise is due to man: Have we a being? “Not unto us” Have we health? “Not unto us” Have we outward comforts? “not unto us” Have we friends? “not unto us” How about the means of Grace? “not unto us” Saving faith in Christ? “not unto us” Gifts and graces? “not unto us” The hope of Glory? “not unto us” Usefulness to others? “not unto us”!!!!
This psalms first verse encapsulates the task of all believers, both individually and corporately. May it be a daily mantra that reminds us what are purpose is for… To give God glory and receive none of it ourselves.
But why does the psalmist say we must give it to God and receive none of it ourselves?
“For the sake of his steadfast love and faithfulness!”
All praise is due unto God because we have his inexhaustible Love and his everlasting faithfulness.
All praise is due unto GOd because we have his LoveFor the sake of his steadfast love and faithfulness!”
His “steadfast love” speaks of his gracious commitment to his people - His “faithfulness” speaks of his commitment to the truth. So this psalm moves God’s people to trust and worship God alone. His affection and character of faithfulness results in glory to his name alone!
Praise does not belong to us, but to his name be the Glory!
Praise does not belong to us, but to his name be the Glory!
How often do we like to take credit for when things are going well? Yet we cry out to the Lord and even get upset when things are not good. Does it seem like sometimes we like to get all of the credit and none of the blame? Do we withhold praise from God and yet give it to others or even ourselves?
Perhaps we need a great reminder of who God is and who we are? Can we say about anyone other than God, that they have steadfast Love and are truly faithful for all of eternity? When I put it that way, it is awfully hard to even compare.
It is like holding a flashlight up and pretending it is the sun. You can stare at a flashlight and start to see spots when you blink, but if you stare at the sun you will burn your eyes out and become blind. One can be impressive but the other is so overwhelming that it will bring you to your knees. How great is our God!
2 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
The psalmist is writing to a people who are feeling like they are being insulted by those who do not believe in God because they cannot see their God. Moreover, when God’s people are not faithful in giving God praise but taking it for themselves, he is not even to be heard of by those who do not believe in him. When he says the “nations”, the psalmist is referring to all those that surrounded Israel at different times… Canaan, Babylon, Assyria, Persia, and Egypt.
They saw a temple but see no god… For Israel, the Gentiles saw their reproach when God had forsaken them for a time, and they taunted them by asking, “where is your God?”
is part of what is called the Hallel, which was recited yearly at passover. They would recite and sing psalms 113-118 and remind themselves of the deliverance they recieved from God. Yet part of that story was how they were taunted by the nations around them because they saw no god helping them for a season.
Is it so different nowadays? Doesn’t the world around the Church see the Christian struggle and taunt them by saying “where is your God?”
And just like them that recited this annually, we have the same answer as they did in response to this question. Look at the next verse...
3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.
You mean to tell me, when nations would taunt Israel because they couldn’t see their God, they would respond with this? What is this? Look at this verse and think deeply about what it says...
This verse best describes what it means for God to be a sovereign ruler. This verse declares the personal nature, and unique habitation of the true God who has purposes that can never be thwarted! Look at it and behold our God as we unpack this verse word by word and thought by thought...
First, our God who is the only God, is “in the heavens”, in other words he is transcendent over all, supreme in majesty, and unparalleled in splendor. God is in the heavens - where he should be, where he is above the reach of mortal sinners, overhearing the vain clatter of foolish people, and as Spurgeon put it, “looking down with silent scorn on Babel makers”.
God is supreme above all opposing powers, he is the Lord that reigns on high from a lifted throne, where is absolute will and infinite power are superior to any limitations we understand.
Yet that isn’t as beautiful as how we are told of him here… This God is OUR GOD!
He is OUR GOD!
He is OUR GOD!
The Psalmist does not say that God is in the heavens and does all that he pleases, he says OUR God is!
The Hebrew word used for “Our” here is in the first person common plural form… meaning he himself and his audience together… Ours… this is our God. This is the most personal way to know God and address him.
This God is our God, and we are not ashamed to acknowledge him, even though he may not work miracles at the beck and call of any who dare to challenge him. They once told Jesus to come down off the cross so that they would believe, . Now, they would have him come down from heaven to convince them. And listen, even if our God is not seen, or heard, or even worshipped in any visible way, he is none the less real and true!
He is where his adversaries can never be, in the heavens where he stretches out his scepter and rules with boundless power.
Our God is in the heavens, he DOES… all that he pleases...
Our God DOES… unlike any lifeless Idols, that we will talk about in a moment… Our God is active and involved in all that he made. He is not passive, but he is immediately and intimately active in all of life.
Our God is in the heavens and does ALL that he please...
There is nothing that God fails to accomplish. Our God is not in the heavens and does SOME of what he pleases. He is not weak and unable to accomplish his will, nor is his will overruled by his creation. Whatever he plans, he fulfills, whatever he has decreed, it will come to pass! No matter how distasteful to his enemies, the Lord will accomplish his good pleasure without difficulty.
When his adversaries raged against him, he still compelled them to carry out his plan. When a proud Pharoah was most defiant, he was still but a lump of clay on the potters wheel. Nothing that happens is outside of what he has allowed and purposed for his Glory and our good. This is no doubt hard to understand.
John Clavin said it this way...
Commentary on the Book of Psalms Psalm 115
Hence, whatever takes place in the world is according to the will of God, and yet it is not his will that any evil should be done. For however incomprehensible his counsel may be to us, still it is always based upon the best of reasons.
He goes on to say...
Commentary on the Book of Psalms Psalm 115
On the other hand, it is deserving of notice, that if God does whatsoever he pleases, then it is not his pleasure to do that which is not done. The knowledge of this truth is of great importance, because it frequently happens, when God winks and holds his peace at the afflictions of the Church, that we ask why he permits her to languish, since it is in his power to render her assistance
The sovereignty of God we learn from this verse should make us confidently sure that his providence will be undisturbed, his throne will be unshaken, and his purposes will be unchanged.
But we are not done with this simple verse yet...
3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.
Our God is in the heavens; he does all the HE pleases...
All that HE pleases… He is free in his sovereignty. He is not controlled by anyone or anything outside of himself. Sam Storms said this “should give us such good pleasure to know that our aim in prayer and intercession is not to bend his will to my pleasure, but rather to shape and fashion our will to his!”
And finally he does all that he PLEASES… We need not fear what he does, for all he does is an expression of his good pleasure. God’s sovereignty is not casual, flippant, arbitrary or ill-advised. God’s purposes are what please God and even when we cannot understand how that seems good in a broken and sinful world we know we can trust him, because he does whatever he pleases.
This is said in comparison to what is false now in an effort to see how foolish it is to not worship the one true God.
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.
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And there we have it… the psalmist has now compared the one true and absolutely sovereign God with impotent idols of this world. And please notice that the description of these idols are very human… they seem to describe a “someone” to worship as they are described in very humanlike terms. That is a thought I want you to hold on to… But please understand that the culture of that time had very physical little idols that people would pray to. Nowadays we have false gods and idols that people worship, but also idols of themselves and ideologies that are opposing to the Gospel.
Let’s take a look at these idols in a little more detail....
4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
No matter how costly or precious the metal, these are still lifeless inanimate matter as opposed to our God who is Spirit and alive! These idols are not creators but they are creations of people. These idols cannot make, because they are made. And the fact that they are made out of silver and gold is nothing more than a shameful waste of money.
I love what Spurgeon said about people who make idols to worship… “How irrational… that men should adore something less than themselves. How strange to think that a man can make a god! Can madness go further?… A god who can be fashioned by our thoughts is no more a god than an image manufactured or produced by our hands.”
I have said it this way, “If you are not worshipping the God of the Bible, then you are worshipping the God of your imagination, and the problem is, that you are in control of your imagination, so that cannot be God.”
The true God, must of necessity, be his own revealer. It is impossible for man to invent and comprehend the infinite and incomprehensible God.
5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.
Such lifeless idols cannot communicate. They can’t make promises to comfort their worshippers, and they can issue no threats to those that wander from worshipping them. They are incapable of making commands or offering consolation. They can’t explain the past or prophesy the future. yet having a mouth and not speaking they are literally dumb idols!
And no matter what precious stone is used to make their eyes, it is of no real use, because they cannot see. If this false god cannot see, it is unaware of the needs of its people, unable to escape impending doom, and blind to the beauty in the world around them. completely pointless...
6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.
Not being able to hear might not seem as bad as not having sight or a mouth, but think about it… If they have no ears, how can they hear the many prayers and petitions of their worshippers? these idols are deaf to the pleas of their people.
do you remember when the prophet Elijah had a showdown with the prophets of baal?
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27 And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” 28 And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. 29 And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.
How sad for people to worship what is not real. no ears to hear them… and no nose to smell...
Again, this may not seem like something anyone cares about in an idol anyhow… Yet for Christians, we know how amazing it is that God “smelled the pleasing aroma” of Noah’s sacrifice. How about what Paul said about a church that is generous...
18 I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.
or how about the gathering of God’s people...
14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,
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Our God can smell and is pleased by the aroma of his people. A false god made by human hands cannot smell and cannot be pleased by his people gathering.
7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat.
psalm115.8
No Hands! They can’t receive what is given to them nor give it to those who worship them. There is no ability to feel or embrace them with love and touch.Yet our God extends his mighty hand to heal, deliver, and save!
There are no feet either? That means these idols must be carried by their makers. Sounds like an awfully weak god. But thats fine you can just fasten that false god to the ground because it can’t move anyways. This reminds me of what happened when a false god was placed in the presence of the real God.
2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. 3 And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4 But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him.
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How futile to worship a false god that you must put in his place when he falls...
and yet, “they do not make a sound in their throat”
Spurgeon said, “Idols neither grunt, nor growl, nor groan, nor so much as a mutter, can come from them.”
Why would you want to Aim your worship at anything other than the true God that revealed himself to his creation? But unlike these false gods that cannot speak, hear the psalmist speak on behalf of the true God in warning to those who make their own God to worship...
8 Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.
I wont even say what Spurgeon had to say here about this, but suffice it to say it is a little abrasive...
Martin Luther said about those who trust in idols in the catholic church, They must be mere fools to worship rotten relics that are the objects of their adoration.”
Listen to me, those who make idols will become like them… unable to accomplish anything because they are lifeless and that is where the worship of false gods leads, to death. Why?
You become that which you behold
You become that which you behold
If what they are beholding is not alive, then in the end neither will they be.
Yet if you behold the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ through words of the Gospel, you shall live forever to worship the true God!
Now the psalmist has compared the worlds false worship of idols to the real worship of the true God, but doesn’t end it there… He encouraged those who are reciting this psalm...
psalm115.9
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.
Now the people of God are encouraged to trust the Lord! And the psalmist gives categories to these people, not in an effort to segregate them but to be sure to include all of them.
The mention of Israel is a reference to all the people of God. To say the House of Aaron means to address the priests and ministers of God. And “you who fear the Lord” points out all those who tremble before the Lord, including those who are not of Jewish birth, yet still trust in the Lord.
The counsel is simple here
Trust in the Lord and fear him
Trust in the Lord and fear him
Why? Because he is your help and your shield. What does that mean? It means he aids and protects those who worship him.
And please notice it doesn’t say to trust and fear the Lord SO HE WILL be your help and shield… Rather the psalmist admonishes them to trust and fear the Lord because HE IS your help and shield!
We worship the Lord and trust him and fear because HE IS our help and shield. And while this was so encouraging to them, there was more that the psalmist told them...
psalm115.12
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.
2 things… First off, he remembers us! he does not forget he has never forgotten his people and he never will. Second, He WILL… not he might but he WILL! He will bless us, both small and great. no matter what you have or what you do not have in this life, that does not qualify you or disqualify you. If you are a prince or a peasant, a patriarch or a pauper, our God will bless you!
And if all this is not enough to encourage the worshipper to trust God and fear him, then he continues to ensure the worshipper that God is even more good yet!
psalm115.14-
14 May the Lord give you increase, you and your children! 15 May you be blessed by the Lord, who made heaven and earth!
This is not just good news for you, God cares even for your children and those who came after you. Why? because this is not really even about you, this is about God, about how powerful and about how loving he is… Our God is this God who blesses not just us but also our children… Who is this God???
The maker of the heavens and the earth! This is the Creator of all that we can see and know, this is our God. Is there anything that he cannot do? Is there anything that he cannot control?
16 The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man.
Even the heavens over our heads are his… they belong to him. And even the earth that he created… he gave it to us to steward because it belongs to him and he can give it to us. We cannot take it from him, he gives us a position and a job within his created order. The heavens and the earth did not come from us and the glory does not go to us… remember verse 1… Not to us, not to us, but to his name be glory!
Yet we need to be mindful that our ole is to bring him Praise and glory for everything he has done and all that he is. We can only do this here and now, Why???
17 The dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any who go down into silence.
Once you are gone you cannot change your mind and decide to start praising God because now you see him and believe.
Those who do not praise God here will not do so after hereafter either. They will be in a place of eternal punishment where God will not be able to be praised by those who go down into silence.
So what should we do in this then?
18 But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the Lord!
Well in case you did not catch the timeline here, starting now and going to forevermore!
There will be no end to the praise our God will receive and there is no better time to start praising him than now. This was the encouragement the people of God recieved from the psalmist then and this is what we need to hear now… yet before I wrap this up I would be remiss if I didn’t point out one major part of this whole Psalm...
Remember how I said that is seemed like the description of the idols they were not to worship was very humanlike? I believe there is a reason for this.
While other nations were worshipping gods made of precious metal coverings, without mouths, and eyes, ears, noses, hands, and feet. They can’t speak or see, or hear, or touch and feel and move… It seems as though all these descriptions can be answered by the people who originally heard this with saying things like, Our Prophets speak for our God, and he see us and he hears us, and we are a fragrant offering to him, etc…
If They could say this and mean it, then how much more can we now that Jesus has come? Jesus is God and really did what all these idols could never really do!
For he was not clothed in precious metals and stones, but was clothed in precious flesh like us!
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
john1.
And while flesh is more precious than any silver or gold, his clothes were that of a poor person and when he was born into this world he was wrapped in swaddling cloths. Not like these fancy idols in psalm 115.
We have his words recorded because he was physically heard, and every-time we speak his words he is still speaking and being heard, Because his word is alive!
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
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His words are still being echoed through our hearts to this day unlike these false gods and idols that cannot speak!
He has eyes and saw his people and had compassion on them.
36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Unlike idols who cannot see he saw the plight of his people and did something about their condition.
He heard his people’s cry and smelled their offering, when the woman came and broke her alabaster box of perfume on him and worshipped him. He heard the accusations when they threw a woman down before him caught in sin, and he wrote with his hands on the ground and spoke with his mouth to her accusers… no Idol could have protected her that day, but the one True God did!
Jesus, with his own hands and feet walked and carried a cross where his hands were pierced with nails. Unlike idols who cannot feel he felt it all and did it for you and me!
And when he open his mouth one last time, from his throat he groaned and spoke the words… “It is finished” Because this God would carry his peoples sins unlike the idols that people made and carried with them, our God carried us and carries us when we cannot go any further.
And the promise of this God who carries his people...
When we behold him we will become like him, and so do all who put their trust in him!
The is our God!
Not to us, Not to us but to His name !The Name of Jesus Be the Glory!!!