God Reveals; We Respond

The rhythm of life is God's revelation and our response.

Let me say that again. The rhythm of life is God's revelation and our response. We assume that coming here this morning, to some degree, you're seeking God. We're seeking His impact in our lives. Before we could ever seek Him, He first seeks us.

He is the great initiator. Christ came to seek and to save that which is lost. God has revealed Himself to us. We see from His Word that He reveals, He speaks to us through the beauty of His creation. The heavens declare His glory.

The skies proclaim His handiwork. Psalm 19 says, Romans chapter 1 talks about how that we know of God, His divine attributes, His divine nature, and His power by the things that He has created. Who can look at a newborn baby and not be overwhelmed at the majesty and the magnificence and the grace of God? We know Him by the things that He has created. We know God has revealed Himself in Christ.

In Hebrews chapter 11, it speaks that Christ is the radiance of God's glory, the exact imprint of His nature. He is the Word spoken among us. Of course, we hold in our hands today His living and active Word.

Hebrews chapter 4 talks of the Bible and says that it's sharper than any two-edged sword, cutting to the very heart. And we know that His Word is alive. God reveals to us, He speaks to us through His creation. He speaks to us through Christ and through His Word. Not only does He reveal Himself to us, but He opens our eyes and our hearts to recognize Him.

And not just to recognize Him, but to have a relationship with us. God is seeking us. The Bible says the Father is seeking true worshipers. As we see in the Bible in different places, the relationship with the Lord explained. Think of the way that a follower of Christ is explained.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The description many times in the Bible that the follower is in Christ and also Christ in us, the hope of glory. We see many times in the Bible the word abide. Such a beautiful word that tells us that we're to live in Christ. We're to abide with Him.

John chapter 8 says that those who abide in His Word are truly His disciples. Think of many places in the Bible where even it uses the word continually. The psalmist says in Psalm 34, his praise will continually be on my lips. In Psalm 73, it says the Lord is continually with me. He is with us.

He will never leave us and never forsake us. So we have this relationship where God is speaking to us and we respond. That impacts every moment of our lives. Yet somehow I think, and I'm sure you would agree, certainly at times and perhaps way too often, we ascribe to that in theory, but in practice our lives might be very different. We push our relationship with the Lord to the periphery of our lives. Yes, we come to worship and we think of God. We acknowledge Him in the mountain tops and the peaks of life or in the valleys or for wisdom when we come to cross roads, but when it comes to the moment by moment, day by day, we neglect the privilege and the responsibility that we have to live in communion with Him. Our pursuits, our struggles, our circumstances, our focus can get off of the Lord onto ourselves and onto other things. The Psalm that we're going to look at today I feel is a great guide for us.

It gives us a great picture. And in just a moment we're going to read this together. And as we do, I would ask you to think and recognize in this Psalm what the Psalmist is saying or revealing about God and also what he is saying, modeling, commanding about our response to God. God reveals and we respond. Let's stand and these words are going to be on the screen and let's partake of this great privilege we have of reading God's Word together.

Let's read aloud. I give you thanks, oh Lord, with my whole heart. Before the gods, I sing your praise. I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness. For you have exalted above all things your name and your word.

On the day I called, you answered me. My strength of soul you increased. All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, oh Lord, for they have heard of the words of your mouth and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord. For great is the glory of the Lord.

For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life. You stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies and your right hand delivers me. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me. Your steadfast love, oh Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands. Amen.

Please be seated. What do we see about God in these verses in this Psalm? Our philosophy of worship rightly says that we worship God because of who he is and what he has done. We worship God for who he is and what he has done.

And, of course, we know who he is by what he has done. And in this Psalm, look at some of these attributes of God that are brought out. First of all, in verse, at the very beginning, at the very beginning, it says in verse 2, his steadfast love and his faithfulness. In verse 8, his steadfast love endures forever. So here we have the love of God described for us as it is many, many times in Scripture as steadfast and here, as in other places, as enduring.

God's love for us is perfect. It is steadfast. It cannot be shaken. It will not change. It's enduring.

It will never run out on us. He is steadfast. His love endures forever, we're told here and other places in Scripture. We also see that God is faithful. We know that his mercies are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness.

Like Brooke sang so well for us, his promises will never fail. He is a faithful God. We also see here, maybe not spoken directly, but certainly implied in verse 4, all the kings of the earth will give you thanks for they have heard of the words of your mouth. We see the sovereignty of God. The Bible tells us that the king's heart is in his hand and that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

He is sovereign. It says here too that he is glorious. Great is the glory of the Lord in verse 5. Down in verse 7 and verse 8, it speaks of his right hand, a sign, a symbol of his strength and of his might. As we look at this psalm, we see that God is loving and that he is faithful and that he is sovereign and that he is glorious and that he is mighty.

That's who he is. We know who he is by what he has done. Look in this psalm at the great works of the Lord. There are several that are mentioned as we work through this psalm. First of all, in verse 2 it says, you have exalted above all things your name and your word. God has exalted above all things his name and his word. A reminder to us of the priority of the word of God. The enemy subtly can creep into the church, into the body of Christ and move the word of God to the periphery so that we are always seeking maybe a new experience or a new project but we only refer to the word in times of trouble.

Kind of like we treat a user manual or assembly instructions. That when we get ourselves in need or help, then we look at it. But God has said, of course, as we know and how thankful we are for a church that I believe practices this, that he has exalted his word above all. He has exalted his name and his word. We see here too in the next verse, in verse 3, on the day that I called you answered me. God is a God who answers prayer.

The psalmist here is praying. David, he is recounting that he called out for deliverance. Deliverance for his enemies and the Lord answered. It's really the basis for the whole psalm, the deliverance that the psalmist has experienced. Therefore, he is rejoicing an obvious application to us that all of our life is to be lived as an expression of the Lord's deliverance for us.

God is a God who answers prayer. Verse 3 also says, my strength of soul you increased. God strengthens our soul. We're told to be strong and to take courage.

And there's a certain discipline and obedience involved in that, but it is God working within us and working through us. Listen to the words of this psalm. Psalm 73 says, nevertheless, I am continually with you.

You hold my right hand. There again is God's presence with us at all times. You guide me with your counsel. Afterward, you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. God is the strength of our heart. And the psalmist had experienced that. The Lord had strengthened his soul.

And I think that's a great benefit and a great promise to us today. Maybe some of us have a tired soul or a wearied soul or a troubled soul. God will increase the strength of our soul.

He increases strength of soul. Look what else he does, jumping down to verse 6. For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar. God resists the proud and he lavishly pours out his grace on the humble, on the lowly.

1 Peter 5 says, clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you. The Lord has exalted his name in his word. He answers our prayer. He infuses strength into our souls. He resists the pride, but he pours out grace to the lowly.

I think a couple of other actions of God. Look at his presence in the time of trouble in verse 7. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life.

You stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me. We have the promise of the Lord's protection, his presence with us. He preserves our life regardless of circumstances. We know that ultimately we have the promise, followers of Christ have the promise of eternal life. He preserves our life. One more action of God here in verse 8 says, the Lord will fulfill his purpose for me.

Again, your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Beautiful promise that God will fulfill his purposes for me. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 says that we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good work. So not only is God speaking to us and revealing himself to us, he is in us and he is working in us and he has a plan and a purpose for each one of us.

He fulfills his purposes. Philippians 1 verse 6 says that he who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion to the day of Christ. God is faithful to fulfill his purposes for us. We began our worship this morning with the great hymn, praise to the Lord the Almighty. One of the verses that we sang says, praise to the Lord who doth prosper thy work and defend thee. Surely his goodness and mercy here daily attend thee. Ponder anew what the Almighty can do, if with his love he befriends thee. Ponder anew what the Almighty can do.

Prosper thy work. God has purposes for us and I think that gives us obviously great meaning and great joy in life. And this is another one of these areas where we need to make sure that we are being guided by God's word as we submit ourselves before it and as we take it in each day and don't let the world or anyone else define what success and what meaningfulness is for us. The great desire of all time to be noticed, to be significant, to get ahead, perhaps comforts or riches, whatever these desires that can replace the Lord can become.

But no, God has designed works for us and sometimes those caring for a loved one or this might be something that's done not to be noticed by the world but to be rewarded by God and his faithfulness. He has purposes for each one of us, every one of us here, his workmanship created to do good works to his glory. So I have these principles here of God, his great attributes of his love and his faithfulness, his sovereignty, his power, these wonderful demonstrations of those attributes and how that he answers prayer, that he exalts his word, that he preserves our lives in trouble, that he has purposes for each one of us, that he regards the lowly, that he condescends in grace. What a great and gracious God we serve. What's our response? What's the response of the psalmist?

Well, there are several examples here that are a great guide for us. First, humility. In verse 6 it says, though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, the haughty he knows from afar. Humility, the primary foundational Christian virtue for salvation and for growth and serving in Christ. First of all, humbling ourselves before the cross.

Our model, of course, is the Lord Jesus himself. It says in Philippians chapter 2, who humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. He humbled himself. In verse 5, let this mind or attitude be in you, each of us, as was in Christ. This attitude of humility and that's foundation for salvation, isn't it? When we say complete surrender, there's nothing we can do to build up our salvation to please God. It is all of grace. We say that we have sinned, we ask for his forgiveness, and it's not by our works of righteousness that we are saved, but through his washing, through his grace, humbling ourselves at the foot of the cross.

We were out of town last week, but I think Desiree sang that beautiful song, I come to the cross seeking mercy and grace, where he died in our place. Humble ourselves before the cross, not only for salvation, but for every day of our lives, humbling ourselves before the Lord. This is a powerful principle, it is that God resists, rejects the proud, he gives grace to the humble. Andrew Murray wrote a, has written a great book, Christian classic, called Humility.

I'd recommend it to any of you. Let me read this quote here on humility. The life of those who are saved must be marked by an all-pervading humility. Without this, there can be no true abiding in God's presence or experience of his favor and the power of his spirit. Without this, no abiding faith or love or joy or strength. Humility is the only soil in which virtue takes root. Humility is not so much a virtue along with the others, but it is the root of all, because it alone takes the right attitude before God and allows him as God to do all the priority, the essential of humility in our lives, our response to God's revelation to who he is, to be, to humble ourselves before him.

Look at some of these other responses. Psalm 138 verse 1 says, I will give you thanks with my whole heart. The response, of course, of giving thanks.

You see this throughout the Bible. Another fundamental attitude and action, so many times we're commanded to be thankful. And notice here that it says we're to give thanks with all of our heart, wholeheartedly. First of all, that principle of giving thanks, this is bigger than just feeling appreciation, isn't it? The Bible says that in all circumstances we are to give thanks, and sometimes that's an act of surrender and of worship, to give thanks in a circumstance that we certainly would not in ourselves desire, but to give thanks to him.

Psalm 75 verse 1 says, we give thanks to you, O God. We recount your wondrous deeds. We recount we recount your wondrous deeds. I think we all know how much attention is given to a recount.

And so when we have, we see this word recount, it's specific and it's focused. Just like in Psalm 103, not to forget his benefits, like the old hymn, count your blessings and name them one by one, giving thanks, remembering what the Lord has done. And of course, here in a few moments, we have this beautiful ordinance, this great privilege where we will remember the Lord's death until he comes. We give thanks for the bread. We give thanks for the wine. We give thanks wholeheartedly to the Lord. Throughout the Old Testament, the children of Israel, they're giving thanks for their redemption, for the Lord brought them out of bondage, delivered them, and brought them into the land of rest, a picture leading toward our story as followers of Christ, that he redeems us from the bondage of sin and of the enemy to deliver us. And this is something we should always be deeply thankful for, giving thanks. And this is a deeper level too, isn't it, than just saying thanks, which we should be polite. Somebody opens the door or holds the door for us, they say thank you. But this giving thanks, these are foundations of foundational thankfulness from our soul.

Give thanks. Vicki and I had the privilege this week of visiting with family in Ohio. Vicki's mom has assisted living up there. We hadn't been able to see her since the pandemic.

Spent a lot of time on FaceTime, but had not been able to be in person until this past week. So it's just great to be there with Vicki's mom and other family. Just coming home, I had a couple of reflections.

It's nice to have a road trip too, to spend a little time on the road and to think, a couple of reflections. But I wanted to put a picture up here. This may not look like much to you, but this is the courthouse in Medina County, in Medina, Ohio. It's the courthouse in Medina, Ohio. It's the old courthouse.

There's a newer one now. One of the things that Vicki and I share in our story and in our life is that for each one of us, our father passed away right around the time that we were born. My father passed away when I was six months old from a couple of illnesses. Vicki's father passed away when three weeks before she was born with leukemia.

Both of our moms were widows at 22, 23 years old. But in both of our lives, God brought a wonderful man into our families who became, obviously, a husband to our moms and became our dads. You can take that picture down. But I remember vividly, one of my first memories in life, maybe second to my mom and dad's wedding, was the day when we went to Medina County Courthouse and my dad adopted me.

Great picture. As I was thinking of this message this week, and every time we're there, I walk past that building, and I think it means more because it's a picture to me of a work of grace in my life. I share with my wife how a dad would come in and God had provided that and adopt us, give us a new name, accept us into the family, choose us. Then it's a picture, of course, more broadly of God's grace in our lives.

I think we all, but many may not have the benefit of such a wonderful picture in their childhood. Those of us who are followers of Christ all have these foundational markers in our lives of God's faithfulness. Thinking even as we were visiting family in Ohio, passing the church where Vicki and I met and were married, and remembering that region where our children were born, and just all of these great blessings. Remembering these events specifically is a foundation for thankfulness in our lives, isn't it? It creates this foundation of gratefulness. We're to give thanks in all circumstances.

I think when we have those, we remind ourselves of our salvation, of God's work in our lives, of his faithfulness, of what he's done. It pours over then into a daily thankfulness where our focus shifts from what we don't have and just the little things that aggravate us in our lives, or even bigger things, to give thanks for what we do have. Give thanks. Again, momentarily here, we'll remember the Lord's table and the greatest gift that we have all received. Be humble before the Lord.

Give thanks wholeheartedly. Further on here in Psalm 138, it says, before the gods, I sing your praise. Verse one, before the gods, I sing your praise.

God's little g, meaning obviously it's the pagan gods or the gods of this world, the god of the worldly people. The psalmist is saying, I will sing your praise before the world. I will sing your praise before their gods. We have this principle here, responding to God in singing. As a pastor of worship and one who gets to serve with you week in and week out in this priority of singing, I wanted to just talk about this a little bit this morning. First of all, I just want to thank you for the way that you sing. Being down here on the front row, front row, getting ready for this message, hearing the body singing is an incredible privilege. I don't think there's any sound like it. How much more we appreciate it after 15 or 16 months with masks and with distancing and just so great.

The sound is incredible. The experience of singing before the Lord and the priority of singing. Why do we sing in church? Why is it such a big deal?

Well, a couple of reasons. Keith Getty wrote a book called Sing. We've hosted the ministry of the Gettys. We sing many of their songs, fantastic ministry.

I think he breaks it down really well in that book with three C's. He said, number one, we're created to sing. Number two, we're commanded to sing.

And number three, we're compelled to sing. God created us to sing. His creation sings.

Bible uses the imagery that the mountains will break forth with praise. Even creation sings. So we join that song of creation, especially those of us who are redeemed. We're created to sing and to give him glory. We're also commanded to sing. Hundreds of times in the Bible, we are told to sing. Psalm 147 says, tells us to sing four times in the first verse alone.

We see this repeated. God has told us to sing. In the New Testament, he gives the purpose for that. In the church, a primary purpose. In Colossians 3 and Ephesians 5, where it says we're to sing to teach and to admonish one another. Singing with thankfulness in our hearts.

There is a foundational attitude, again, as we encourage one another. So we have the benefit of singing as it just releases our praise to the Lord. It glorifies him. Glorifies him.

And it strengthens those around us. And then we're compelled to sing. How can I keep from singing? The old hymn says.

As we grow in our joy, God's word working in us, our focus on him. How can we keep from singing? I think again, you all sang last week 10,000 reasons to sing and to give him praise. Singing glorifies God.

It strengthens the body. And I will say, I'm grateful to work with our tech ministry and our musicians. And I hope this comes across in practice. While we spend a lot of attention, I'm so thankful to have all the instruments and all the voices that can present solos and wonderful instrumental pieces. All of these blessings, which we're so very thankful for. The main entree, if you will, of our music is the congregation singing.

There is nothing like it. And I would encourage you to sing. Sing out. I know that for some of you, that's not familiar. Maybe you haven't sung.

Maybe you're just not used to it. Maybe you're new to the church and you just don't really sing anywhere. And I encourage you, sing out.

Practice. Sing in the car. Sing when you're alone. And sing when we come together.

Try to think of an example of this. And I thought of the example of happy birthday. I don't think I can ever recall a situation in my life when I've been at a birthday party and somebody was just standing there with their arms folded, refusing to sing.

No? When we sing happy birthday with the family, with the friends, everybody sings. And some people are in the wrong octave. Some people are not singing. Somebody's trying to throw in a harmony that you're thinking, why are they doing that?

But all these, we have all these things. But the point is, we sing because we're together. And we sing because we're trying to honor someone. We're trying to wish them a happy birthday. How much greater, when we as the family of God come together, should we sing together to the one that we're celebrating, the God of the universe?

So using happy birthday as a starting point for your singing, expand that and just maximize the beauty of singing together. And again, that's an encouragement to something that I think is already a tremendous privilege here. But more and more, may we fill this room with praise, glorious singing to God. It says that even evangelizes the lost in this Psalm. It says, before the gods, I will sing your praise. Before the world, I'm going to sing your praise.

And 1 Corinthians 14 talks about the body of Christ worshiping and that the unbeliever comes in and sees that and falls down and worships God and says, surely God is among these people. So sing, sing praise. I will sing praise, says the psalmist. Also in verse 2, he says, I will bow down toward your holy temple. Another response, bowing down and giving thanks. And these are wrapped up in these other attitudes, the principle of humility and of bowing before the Lord and in His temple, the direction of our lives, live to His glory and the intentional times when we bow before Him to glorify Him.

Bow down and worship. I think importance to this and foundational, whether it's singing or giving thanks or humility is it's all about our hearts, isn't it? When we sing, it's not just from the neck up.

We sing from our heart and from our soul. We bow down in submission, not just as a physical action, but it's the posture of our soul bowing before Him, intentional in our praise, expressing a heart of worship and thanksgiving. Says here too, and there's just a couple others, even though we're only in verse 2 or 3 here. Verse 3, on the day I called you answered me and the principle of bowing down continued on into this principle of praying. Back to the psalmist calling out to God to deliver him for deliverance and then for daily guidance. 1 Thessalonians 5 says that we're to pray without ceasing.

Should be our first response in all situations. So the psalmist here, he takes time to bow down towards the Lord's temple and we should. We take time, we hope and trust every day to pray for specific needs and specific elements. But there's also the ongoing as we interact with God as it becomes a center of our lives that we're responding to Him by talking to Him, by bringing our prayer requests to Him. 1 more principle here in verse 8 says the Lord will fulfill His purpose for me. And we talked about that how the Lord has purposes and so I think the reaction, our response to that is to continue on in faithfulness. To walk in faithfulness in serving Christ. Continue on discovering and fulfilling God's purposes for each of us.

We can spend so much time regretting yesterday, wishing we were taking a different turn, preoccupied with tomorrow, wishing we were in a different circumstance today. When God has us right where we are and our focus is to serve Him, to serve Him faithfully. Walking in His strength, even if we walk in the midst of trouble and serving Him. So these are some, not an exact exhaustive list of course, but some principles for us in our response to God. That we would humble ourselves before Him, that we would give thanks, that we would sing praise, that we would bow down and pray and that we would fulfill His purposes. God in His majesty, His great attributes of who He is and what He has done. Reflecting on these, spending time in His word and then living a life that responds. Resuming a God-centered life, giving our priority to a God-centered life.

Two, I think, principles and just observations in closing with this. First of all, don't you feel in this Psalm, and can't you just sense the joy that is flowing through it? We haven't talked about joy, but as we look to the Lord, as we lean on Him, as we make Him the priority in our lives and our relationship with Him, that overflows into joy.

And we see that here, giving thanks. And so these don't become just tasks on a checklist for us that eventually will run out of steam or a New Year's resolution that will die by February 1st. These things become abounding parts of our lives, the joy that we have. And then two, always a reminder of the picture of Christ inviting us and helping us. Sometimes I think we can see or be challenged even in the Word to things that we need to do better and it just becomes overwhelming.

I can't add that to my life. And remind me that the turning to Christ is an instant thing, focusing on Him. His commands are not burdensome. I love the picture in Matthew 11 28 where the Lord Himself says, come to me all you that are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly of heart. That is a Savior with open arms that invites us to a daily moment-by-moment relationship with Him, live a God-centered life.

And in that, even He takes the yoke upon Him. He is, as we've already talked about, beginning and fulfilling that work that's within us. We sang this morning, never once, every step, breathing in His grace, evermore, breathing out His praise. May that be the song and the theme of our lives, focusing on God, His Word, His revelation to us, and spending a life responding to Him.

And this doesn't take us away from other people. It allows us to engage and see them more fully and serve them, even as He would have us to live a life that is centered on God. He reveals we respond to Him. Let's pray together and in a moment here we'll receive communion. Father, we come before You and thanking You for these reminders that You're faithful, God, that You're loving, that You're always with us, that You're sovereign, You're all-powerful, You're mighty, yet You're so gracious, You've condescended to the lowly. And Father, we confess to You that we get our eyes off of You and we chase our own pursuits, and we're reminded of how short life can be. And so Father, we pray that You'd help us today to look to You, to set our minds on the things that are above, to live a life of thanks and of praise to Your glory. And we pray that You would fulfill Your purposes in each of us. In the name of Christ, we pray. Amen.