The Glory of God and Why We Sing

let's pray together father we just sang our prayer and so all I want to do now is is use my own voice to say amen amen we met every word of it all the purposes for your glory in Belfast in Northern Ireland and wherever this will reach all the purposes for your glory so we invite you Holy Spirit to come and to grant us ears to hear and me a faithful voice to speak your word and so do those purposes we ask in Jesus name Amen so I'm going to talk about the relationship between the

glory of God and singing or congregational worship so we have lots of words to explain who is God will be the place we start what does it mean to glorify Him or before that what is the glory of God what is Christian singing what is corporate worship should we even think of our gatherings on the Lord's Day as corporate worship have you ever heard anybody say as I have that's not what the New Testament teaches it's not a biblical idea you don't gather to worship you gather for edification is that right we'll see so we

have our work cut out for us and it's a glorious work because we're not dealing in opinions right wonder of wonders God gave us a book and our job is to open the book and find answers to those questions not dream them up you should not care at all what my opinions are that clear so this visiting American does not come with my opinions I come either as a faithful witness to what you can see or you should just pity this poor old man that he can't make anything plain is that clear I'm not coming

as an authority but with an authority and if I can't show you what's here there's no reason you should pay any attention to me so we have a glorious work to do all Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching for reproof for correction for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete or equipped for every good work and a great work is to get answers to those questions that's a great work and so I invite you into that scripture supported great work that it has been given to equip you

to do that's where we're going in the next minutes what matters is God's answer to those questions and we'll start with who is God where would you go answer that question that what what text would you use I would love to know but here's where I'm going I think the most fundamental sentence in the Bible to answer the question who are you if you are is Exodus 3:14 now you remember the situation God has come to Moses and said I'm calling you to deliver the people out of bondage in Egypt and Moses responds verse 11

of Exodus 3 Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt and God patiently answers verse 12 I will be with you Moses argues again verse 13 if I come to the people of Israel and say to them the god of your father's has sent me they will ask me what is his name what shall I say to them and God answers I am Who I am say this to the people of Israel I am and sent me to you what does that mean why did God

identify himself as I am Who I am I absolutely am now if we can take off our clouded spectacles of mere religious jargon like g.od this should come will come as a bolt of lightning God is that's staggering what sentence could be more important in any language than God is so what did he mean when he said I absolutely am I am Who I am what did he mean I'm gonna linger here longer than you think I should perhaps because until God becomes dominant in our thinking and in our feeling until God becomes the blazing

sun at the center of the solar sister some of our daily lives until God becomes the Mount Everest in the foothills of all of our concerns with this world until God rests on the souls of the saints in Belfast and on the churches of Northern Allen until he rests on the churches and the people here with 10,000 times more weight than all your political concerns and all your church growth concerns then all of our talk about the glory of God and singing and gathering for worship will be just more tinkering and engineering of religion to

try to get people to do what we hope they will do in some kind of appropriate way the world doesn't need any more tinkering with religion it needs God it needs to see God it needs to be stunned that there is a God so it's no accident that when Moses is who's so sending me God says I am Who I am period and we need to linger over that and I've got 10 things I think it means they're very short it's not the whole message its introduction number one God is who he is means he

never had a beginning and now just staggers the mind every child asked his parents where did God come from who made God and every wise parent says nobody made God he just was always there always no beginning number two God is who he is means God will never end if he didn't come into being he can't go out of being because he is being absolute being there's no place to go outside being there's only he before he creates he's all there is absolutely number three God is who he is means God is absolute reality there's

no reality before him there's no reality outside of him unless he wills it and creates it he's not one of many realities before he creates he is simply absolute reality he's all that was eternally no space space didn't exist the universe didn't exist emptiness did not exist only God existed forever absolutely and absolutely all number four God is who he is means that God is utterly independent he depends on nothing to bring him into being he depends on nothing to support him he depends on nothing to counsel him he depends on nothing to make him

what he is he is absolutely independent number five God is who he is means everything that is not God depends totally on God all that is not God is secondary dependent the entire universe is secondary reality let that sink in because nobody in this city believes that and if the church doesn't you just like them all the universe is secondary humanity is secondary God is primary absolute first last glorious everything else secondary galaxies compared to God nothing that's number six let's go back and restate it God is who he is means all the universe is

by comparison to God as nothing all the universe by comparison to God is as nothing contingent dependent reality is to absolute independent reality as a shadow to substance as echo to thunderclap as bubble to ocean all that we see all that you are amazed by in your land or around the world all the world all the galaxies is compared to God as nothing if you put God on one side of the scales and the universe on the other side of the scales the universe goes up like air or dust on the scale Isaiah 40 17

all the nations are as nothing before him they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness number seven God is who he is means God is constant he's the same yesterday today forever he cannot be improved he cannot be diminished he's not becoming anything is who he is there's no development in God there's no progress in God absolute perfection cannot be improved number eight God is who he is means he is the absolute standard of truth and goodness and beauty there's no law book which he consults in deciding what is right there's no

Almanac to establish facts for God there's no guild no musical guild for example to determine what is excellent and beautiful he's the standard he himself is the standard of the right the true the beautiful number nine God is who he is means God does whatever he pleases and it is always right always beautiful always in accord with truth there no constraints on God from outside that he doesn't will to exist and thus govern all reality that is outside of him is subordinate to him so he's utterly free he's the only free being in the universe

in fact he is utterly free from any constraints that don't originate from his own will finally number ten God is who he is means he's the greatest the most beautiful the most valuable and the most important person in existence he's more worthy of interest and attention and admiration and enjoyment than all persons and all realities put together including the entire universe now the Bible reveals and assumes that God everywhere and if you're a pastor you should be drawing him out everywhere every Sunday next question so what is the glory of God talk talk talk talk

talk you you reform people especially are you talking about do you ever pause to define your cherished phrases yes we do we do like now so what is the glory of God I ventured this and then I'll try to show you why the glory of God is his greatness his beauty and his worth or value on display I mean we all know words are words so I've got and this book is full of them and don't you ever belittle them right don't say uh it's just words words words that's words words words question is whether

these words are true to this word now why did I just say what I said do you remember the glorious text that every worship leader should love from Isaiah six versus two and three especially the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord High and lift it up and just smoke filled the temple on his train ring that filled Belfast each and it was surrounded by these these cherubim that flew each had six wings with two they covered their face with two they covered their feet and with two they flew and one called to

the other saying holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his why didn't it say holiness it didn't right you all know that you're just you're just Irish or Northern Irish I don't know how you say these things it didn't it didn't say what you would expected to say holy holy holy the whole earth is full of your holiness it didn't say that and I've always I mean this is my starting point for trying to feel what if the glory of God it says holy holy holy the whole earth

is full of his glory why the shift here's my attempt at an answer I think in biblical terms generally you don't I can't make this work in every text I would just say generally the holiness of God nothing about the holiness of of Temple utensils or people the holiness of God is generally his intrinsic beauty and greatness and Worth and when that goes on display the Bible calls it his glory they're not radically different realities God is who he is right great he's beautiful he's infinitely valuable in himself without any creation in existence but when

the heavens were created they were telling the glory of the Lord when the Son of God came we saw his glory glory as the only son from the father glory of God is is the intrinsic worth the intrinsic beauty the intrinsic greatness gone public for you to admire and worship and enjoy Hebrews 1:3 speaks of a radiance of the glory of God and some 19 speaks of the heavens telling the glory of God as you see what God has put out there to communicate what cannot be seen you're supposed to see the planets and stars

and the blue sky and the cloud formations and the entire natural world and know this is a great God this is the glorious God this is a beautiful God this is a true valuable infinitely glorious beautiful being why do I choose these three words greatness and beauty and value I didn't I'm not just throwing those words out there thought which what are those two three words that I should use my greatness I am referring to his scope his extent his grandeur I mean I mean there's no geography no dimensions in God but we used language

the Bible uses language of greatness so that's what that is scope extent grandeur beauty the perfections of all his attributes and the infinite harmony of their interrelationships view to list all the attributes of God that are revealed in the Bible they would all be beautiful but the totality of the beauty makes the glory would be not only each one's individual beauty but the harmony of them all as they get shown in history and in salvation and judgment and third his worth because the Bible reveals him as a treasure more precious more valuable more to be

desired than anything or anyone in the universe and that may be the one that you need to hear most I certainly need to hear it most because your heart is going after treasures every day every day your heart is latching on to something satisfying something precious something you want and the Bible's messages he's the most wonderful reality in the world if you don't feel it you're wrong you're broken so those three things greatness beauty and Worth this is the glory of God on display now my experience is I'm 73 years old I've been talking about

my love for the glory of God for about 50 years my experience is that the greatness and beauty and worth of God the glory of God they don't become dominant in a heart in a mind they don't become a dominant reality they didn't in my life until I saw how dominant the glory of God was to God I grew up in a home my dad probably mentioned the term glory of God in almost every prayer he prayed in my presence and that was every night that he was home from his evangelistic work he pronounced it

glory glory he divided the syllables after Oh glory not glory I love it because this is stuck there do everything for for the glory of God and and my mother would would sign off on letters to me in college and graduate school whatever you do in word or deed do everything to the glory of God but they never to my I'm sure this is not true but you know the memories of kids are distorted I don't remember them ever saying God lives for the glory of God God exists for the glory of God God does

everything he does for his glory and when that began to come home to me and I had to wrestle with out whether I liked to God like that my life shifted we I was newly married we were just in seminary and I remember saying no well you know one of the biggest evidence is that your world is being turned upside down by the centrality of God in the mind of God is your prayers I mean why is the first petition of the Lord's Prayer hallowed be your name but take yourself seriously that's not for him

that's for us we gotta get in sync with that because Jesus said that's one that's number one Kingdom next we'll next or do I get backwards he'll be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done first three petitions God God God do it for yourself your prayers are changing you you sound different when you pray as a twenty 23 year old who's being blown apart by the centrality of God in the life of God said let me show you what just just six quick glimpses of what did that I mean there are dozens dozens

in the Bible so I'm asking this question and you need to come to terms with it from from predestination to consummation why does God do what he does ultimately they're less subordinate reasons I wrote a book called fifty reasons why Jesus came to die so I'm not I'm not a reductionist but I know number one and I want you to see number one predestination I've got one verse for each six stages of redemptive history predestination if evens one five he predestined us to adoption through Jesus Christ to himself according to the kind intention of his

will to the praise of the glory of His grace that's why you were predestined to the praise of the glory of His grace number two creation why did he create the world after that bring my sons from up this is Isaiah 43 six bring my sons from afar my daughters from the ends of the earth everyone who is called by my name whom I created for my glory you wonder why you exist huh it is so thrilling at twenty-three years old to discover but no I'm here ultimately I know why I am here I know

why I'm in Belfast I know I'm standing here I'm not at a loss that verse is clear I was created for his glory number three incarnation unto you Is Born This Day in the City of David a savior who is Christ the Lord and you will find the baby wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly saying glory to God is a glory to Mary glory to manger glory to Jesus even what what what should you shepherds be seeing when you come away from seeing

this baby God is glorious God is glorious that's what you should be saying number four substitution Christ's work on the cross this in Romans 3:25 God put Christ forward as a propitiation that means one who satisfies the wrath of God puts Christ forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith here comes this was to show God's righteousness because in His divine forbearance he has passed over former sins it was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith

in Jesus Christ died for God so that he could die for you he vindicated God so that he could justify you number five sanctification is anybody making any baby steps in sanctification yes you are you are if you're a Christian you are why why is the Holy Spirit doing this for you second Thessalonians 1:9 these skipped it Philippians 1:9 almost got to consummation first sanctification Philippians 1:9 this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment so that you may be filled with the fruit of righteousness which

comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God are you becoming a more loving person are you becoming a more patient kind meek gentle person are the fruits of this being worked out in your life if so I'll tell you why to the glory and praise of God number six last one second coming why is he coming back consummation why is Jesus coming back Oh hasten the day right 2nd Thessalonians 1:9 these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when

he comes on that day here it is to be glorified in his Saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed love clear sentences he's coming to be marveled at like you're marvelous that's why I just came just simple utterly life-changing utterly life-changing if you believe everything from predestination to consummation is for that that God does everything he does for the glory of God so you exist your family exists your churches exist Northern Ireland exists the world exists the universe exists for the glory of God what does that mean I mean we use

words like glorify go Rifai or magnify what does it mean what what's happening if you do that I mean my dad said my mom said whether you eat or drink whatever you do do all to the glory of God glorify God well what does that mean to glorify God does not mean make him glorious we're all agreed there right he's glorious whether you exist or not so you can't make him glorious so glorify is not like beautify a room like this room is boring we're gonna make this room beautiful so beautiful its room you never

do that hair if you try to beautify God or glorify God like that it's helpful to take the word and magnify and and distinguish between magnifying with the telescope and magnifying with the microscope we all know that you can do both right to magnify you can magnify with the microscope so you can take a human cell which is invisible to the human eye very very tiny thing and you can make a tiny thing bigger than it is so trying to magnify God like that is blasphemy right he's so tiny he needs all of our help

to look bigger than he is that's blasphemy so you don't magnify God like a microscope what is a telescope - a telescope also has lenses that magnify and telescopes magnify stars why why do we need to magnify stars because you look up up at night they look like pin pricks are they pin pricks they're bigger than the solar system which is the way God looks to this world pin pricks little teeny erasers in the night sky he's absolutely pointless beautiful not your job is to put a telescope to their eye that's what it means make

God look like he is right make God look like he is namely bigger than anyone can imagine more glorious than anyone can imagine so how do we do that to magnify God like that is - I'm gonna argue experience him and show him to be what he really is those two words experience him and then show him to be what he really is here's another name for that worship and yes the implication is all of life is worship which is what Romans 12:1 and 2 says right all of life is the experiencing of God as

supreme and the showing of God is supreme you can do it in church with songs you can do it on the street with love and you can do it with a roommate in words of witness there's lots of ways to show and deep ways to experience now why do I use those two expressions experience and show because a lot of lot of reformed types get nervous with the word experience which i think is demonic not to overstate things we must experience him for who he is and we must show him for who he is because

experiencing God is an invisible act of the mind knowing and the heart feeling and God doesn't intend to be glorified invisibly he wouldn't have created the universe and showing God is a visible act of the body doing and both both parts of experiencing invisibly and showing visibly are necessary without either they're incomplete if we try to show God when there's no experience of God there's a name for that hypocrisy woe to you hypocrite you clean the outside of the cup thank God look really really nice and worship nice music nice preaching nice everything and inside

you're full of greed we've seen that over and over again in the States as pastors go crashing to the ground in greed if we think we are experiencing God where there's no impulse to show God I've got another name for that dead faith if it does not have works is dead a good tree bears good fruit so the inward experience that glorifies God is knowing God truly and feeling God duly knowledge that is true to God feelings that are due to God we cannot glorify God as we ought without knowledge that accords with God's truth

and feelings yes feelings that accord with God's value greatness beauty if you think you can glorify God but feeling nothing as you look at his beauty look at his value look at his greatness just don't get the meaning of creation the heart was not created to be blank as it stares at infinitely satisfying beauty they have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge Paul said in Romans 10 - so without a mind that's in tune with true views of God from the book worship is empty and we have a description of experience or

knowing that has no experience even the demons even the demons believe in tremble knowledge - feeling about God is demonic it's what the devil has the devil can't love him but he can know him in fact the devil I would argue it's probably more orthodox than anybody in this room meaning he knows more about God and he trembles but he hates it all we have the enormous privilege by the holy spirit to have been awakened to the beauty and the value and the greatness that the devil hates and is therefore blind to and blinds others

- let's bring all this to bear now as we move to the end on corporate worship I've seen in the Getty website and materials these verses and I feel really really happy to read them to you just two verses on corporate worship in the New Testament the first is Ephesians 5:18 what do we do we come together be filled with the holy spirit yes addressing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the

name of Jesus Christ that is a rich sentence well here's Colossians 3:16 let the word of Christ dwell in you richly teaching admonishing one another in all wisdom singing Psalms hymns spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God that's really clear that's glorious that's full it's not truncated I'll sum it up in six sentences six statements six observations number one starts with the word right starts with their Luther let the word of Christ dwell in you richly any worship that's not starting here gonna go haywire not gonna work number two fullness of the Hosier

if you be filled with the holy spirit what does he do he illumines this so that these brains can see what's really here so seeing Christ for who he is in the word that's number two number three I should have said just number two illumination by the spirit number three see because of the illuminations I broke them out so the word comes the spirit illumines we see number four we're moved by what we see with affections like thankfulness making melody with your heart giving thanks the mind is alive to truth and the heart is alive

with affections for God number five this focus of our mind on God these affections of our hearts for God overflow is singing so singing is number five and number six is simply you do it to people and you do it to God singing to one another singing to God both of them are explicitly in these two verses let's make sure we get this it's not as though when you sing some of your singing is to God great is thy faithfulness O God my father it's not as if some of your songs are to Christians come

Christian is going to sing no all of your singing is to God and all of your singing is to others the fact that there are others listening is why we call it corporate and the fact that you're singing to God is why we call it worship corporate worship I mean nobody puts on noise-cancelling headphones while singing great is thy faithfulness because we're singing to God and nobody in their right mind says that when we sing come Christians joined to sing that we don't want long for and believe God Almighty stooping low to listen and enjoying

our hearts some all singing is God word all singing is man word in corporate worship so I come to an end by asking the question that I peaked you with at the beginning what shall we say to those folks and I could tell you where most of them live who say you got it all wrong get a Piper you you just you should not be telling people that we gather for worship we gather for edification we gather to teach we don't gather for worship it's not a New Testament concept you cannot find services called worship

anywhere in the New Testament that's true whoa that problem here's what I would say to any of you who may be here who think that way to say that we should gather as Christians to teach and edify on the Lord's Day and not to awaken and Express Godward affections is like calling for marriage without sex eating without taste discovery without delight miracles without wonder gifts without gratefulness warnings without fear repentance without regret resolves without zeal seeing without savoring and my answer that is no absolutely no when your church gathers of course your gathering for edification

the Bible says so let all things be done for building up to which I ask up to what building up to what edifying to what I'll read you Peters answer here's Peters answer from first Peter 2:4 you are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ and one of those beautiful sacrifices of praise to God is the fruit of lips Hebrews 13:15 and one of the sweetest most precious gifts of God fruit of lips is singing why is that it's my last

question why is that I mean why didn't God create a world without singing why didn't he just shut down 10000 radio stations and all they do is play singing what's with that just shut him out why why doesn't he just silence every concert hall why doesn't he silence the song that rises up in every culture on the planet why partly I think because when people sing a new God designed God reflecting Beauty comes in to be but mainly I think it's because singing music with words singing has a peculiar power to awaken and carry awaken

and express strong affections which God made for himself singing is my definition Christian singing is restricted to that Christian singing is the musical use of the voice to express truth that accords with God's Word and feelings that accord with God's worth say it again Christian singing is the musical use of your voice to express truth that accords with God's Word and feelings that accord with God's worth it's a gift beyond measuring and therefore make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth serve the Lord with gladness and come into his presence with see father

would you please create an authentic song you know hearts you are very very great we can't be satisfied with preaching I love preaching gave my life to preaching we can't be satisfied with poetry we can't be satisfied with painting we can't be satisfied even with the glories of the heavens that are declaring your glory we have to sing how great you are so don't let that be artificial don't let that be fake grant that we would experience you according to your Worth and know you according to your truth as we sing in Jesus name