Good morning. It is good morning. Great. That was a good response. It's great to be back with us
this morning, and it's a wonderful privilege to look at God's Word. Just to remind us, we are
doing a mini-series called The Church That Jesus Is Building, and we are re-examining some of the
key foundational stones upon which the church is built. And so two weeks ago, we looked at Psalm
127, unless the Lord builds the house, those that build it labor in vain, unless Christ is at work in
His church through the power of His Spirit, the elders and the staff and the leaders labor in vain.
And then last week, we looked at Isaiah 66, in which God says, the heavens are my throne,
the earth is my footstool. What is the house that you would build for me? All these things my hand
has made, says the Lord, and so they came to be. But this is the one to whom I will look,
those who are humble and contrite and tremble before my Word. And so we looked at the fact
last week that how passionate God feels about His Word and about a church like ours that takes God's
Word seriously. And so that's where we've been the last two weeks. Now this morning, we're going to
look at a psalm, the psalm that was read to us, and it's a difficult psalm to understand, but it's a
very important one. And it's a psalm which in many ways has been a guiding scripture for my life. It
has been a scripture which has shaped so much of how I've tried to think about life and especially
ministry. And my hope and prayer is that for us as a church, Watermark Church, that this scripture will
become a guiding principle, a guiding scripture that shapes us for many years to come. Okay? And so
we're looking at Psalm 115 verse 1 to 11. So let me pray for us. Let's ask God to speak to us this
morning and bless His Word, and then we'll dive in. So why don't you join me? Heavenly Fathers, we come to
Your Word this morning. We want to hear from You. God, we don't come to church to hear the opinions of
men or women. We don't come to be told how to make our lives more comfortable or convenient. We come to
meet with the living God. And so living God, won't You speak to us from Your living Word. Won't You
open our eyes? Won't You prepare our hearts? Holy Spirit, won't You take the words on these pages and
make them real to our souls? We ask You, God, to speak to us as a family this morning. Come and have Your
way. In Your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Okay. So Psalm 115 verse 1, we sang it. Starts off like this.
Not to us, O God, not to us, but to Your name give the glory. Now, quick question. What does the Bible
mean when it talks about glory? What is the glory of God? Throughout the Bible, we hear this phrase,
the glory of God, or do things to the glory of His name. What does that actually mean? When the Bible
uses the word glory, it uses it in two ways. The first is the glory of God is the intrinsic reality
as to who God is. It's the worthiness of God. So God's glory is not just one of His characteristics, like
God's wisdom or God's knowledge, God's glory. It's not one of many characteristics. The glory of God is the
totality or the sum totals of all of God's divine attributes and characteristics together. So the glory of God
is everything that makes God God. It's that which makes God infinitely worthy and infinitely perfect. Okay?
So maybe one way of thinking about it is to think like this. Think of a ginormous, multifaceted diamond.
A diamond has many facets, many sides to it. And each one of God's characteristics or attributes
is another aspect of this diamond. So His holiness and His mercy, His justice and His kindness,
His patience and His sovereignty. Every one of God's characteristics is one facet of this
multifaceted diamond. And together, all these facets together make up God's glory. The togetherness of God's
characteristics shows or displays His infinite worthiness and His infinite beauty and perfection.
That's the glory of God. Or maybe another way of thinking about it is to say God's glory, the totality of
God's attributes is what makes God distinct from the rest of all creation, from every other creature.
There's nothing and nobody in the whole world that comes close to possessing God's glory because there's
nobody and nothing that comes close to possessing anything near to His divine attributes. Okay?
Does that make sense? And so when the Bible talks about us seeing God's glory or beholding God's glory,
it talks about seeing or having a revelation of the infinite awesomeness, the infinite perfection and the
beauty of who God is. So for instance, in Isaiah chapter 6, Isaiah gets a revelation of the glory of God.
And what does he do? It means that he's seen something of who God is. He's seen the intrinsic
awesomeness of who God is and he falls down on his knees and he worships. Okay? So that's the first way the
Bible speaks about it. But then the Bible also speaks about glory as a verb. To do something to
the glory of God or to glorify God's name or something being done to the praise of His name. Which means to
do something in such a way that reveals or pulls back anything that covers God's glory. So to do something
to glorify God is to like shine a spotlight on the glory of God. To do something in such a way that reveals
the awesomeness and the infinite perfection of God. To glorify God means to uncover or obscure
God's glory. To make it visible or recognizable. So for instance, Psalm 19 says,
The heavens above declare the glory of God. The skies above proclaim His handiwork. In other words,
when you look at creation, when you go out on the night sky and you look at the stars and you
see the planets, this should elicit something inside of us that says, God, you are glorious.
The creation declares how God is so distinct from us and not like us. Or another example,
1 Corinthians 6, Paul writes and says, If you belong to Jesus, you are not your own, for you
were bought with a price. So glorify God with your body. In other words, the way you handle your
body and particularly your sexuality and your relationships, let the way that you handle your
body say something. Shine a spotlight on the infinite awesomeness of God. The perfection of God.
Let it be a statement about how grand and majestic God is. That God is unlike anyone else. And so this is
the glory of God. To glorify God is to do something which makes visible the fact that God is God and we
are not. That God is distinct from us and worthy of our worship. Okay, did that make any sense?
Okay, that's the theological part. Now let's dive in and see what the scripture says.
So our psalm starts off like this. Not to us, O God, not to us, but to your name give the glory.
In other words, the psalmist is saying, God, may you be the object of our affection. May you,
God, be the object of our devotion and our worship. Don't let us as a church get confused and think
that we are somehow awesome or we are somehow infinitely special or we are somehow distinct
from everyone else. Don't let us get confused and think that we are somebody special. Not to us,
God. To your name may we give the glory. You see, as a church in this series, the church that Jesus
is building, we ask him the question, if Jesus is at work in his church, if Jesus is the one that's
building his church, how does he go about building it? And last week we saw the way that God builds
his church is he builds it on the authority of his word. He builds it with those who take his word
seriously. But this week, the Psalms tell us the way God builds his church is with those who the internal
motivation of their hearts, the driving motivation of their hearts is God, not to us, but to your name,
give the glory. And so, Watermark, I want to ask us and I want to urge us and I want to urge the elders of
this church that whatever the future holds, whatever direction God takes us, whatever decisions we make into
the future, may this frame every decision we make. May this be the guiding principle that shapes how we approach
our church and our community. May this be the verse that shapes how we relate to God and one another
and to our city, Hong Kong. Not to us, O God, not to us, but to your name, give the glory.
A hundred and fifty years ago or so, there was a British parliamentarian by the name of William
Wilberforce. And he was one of the most famous and one of the greatest British parliamentarians.
And his driving passion in life was to eradicate slavery. And so, for twenty years, he campaigned in
the British parliament for the abolition of the slave trade. For twenty years, he tried every means
to outlaw trading of slaves in the British Commonwealth. And eventually, after twenty-five years, the British
parliament on, when was it, March 1807, the British parliament, so two hundred years ago, passed a law
outlawing the trading of slavery anywhere in the British Commonwealth. But William Wilberforce was
not satisfied because the law didn't say anything to slaves that had previously been bought or sold.
It only said that you couldn't trade them any further. And so, millions of people were still in
slavery. And so, for another twenty-five years, William Wilberforce gave his life to trying to
eradicate slavery altogether. And so, just a few days before he died, in August 1833, slavery was
eventually outlawed in the British Empire. But William Wilberforce wasn't just a good man who was
involved in social justice. He was a man who loved the scriptures. And this psalm was one of his
favorite psalms. And so, the night after the bill has passed, William Wilberforce, he's now an old man,
he goes back to his study. He's meditating on the psalm. And he pulls out his journal, and he writes there,
Psalm 115, not to us, O God, not to us. To your name, give the glory. And so, Watermark, I want to say,
I hope and I pray that as a church, I pray we will be blessed. I pray the next few years will be fruitful.
I pray that when things are going well, and the church is growing, and new ministries are starting,
and babies are born, and people are getting married, and worship is wonderful, and everything
is going well, that as a church, the cry of our heart may be, not to us, O God. Glorify your name,
King Jesus, in this church. And Watermark, I pray that as things go well for you at work,
and you get promoted, or you get that new job that you've really been looking for, and hoping for,
or maybe you fall in love with someone, and you get married, and everything is wonderful,
in the quiet place of our lives, when we put our head on the pillow at night,
may the cry of our heart be, God, not to me, but to your name, give the glory.
And Watermark, when things are going tough, and we're in a season of transition,
and people leave, and we have to say goodbye to friends, maybe the elders are stretched,
maybe the elders don't look after our church, our community as well as we should.
When things aren't at their best, may we still say, God, not to our comfort and our convenience,
but to your name, give the glory. And friends, when you're overlooked at work,
and you don't get that promotion, or you're hoping for that job, and it doesn't come through,
or when you're out of community, and you feel confused,
may the cry of our heart be, Father, not to me, but to your name, give the glory.
Watermark, may this be the refrain, may this be the song that we as a church sing,
the foundation upon which we are built. God, glorify your name.
May the infinite worthiness, and beauty, and majesty of God be put on display
in our lives and in our church.
Okay, great. I'm glad you're as excited about that as I am.
Now, the question is, why?
Why should we do this?
Why should this be the refrain of our church?
I want to give us three reasons.
The first reason is because this is the motivation of God himself.
This is God's primary passion, the glory of his own name.
Secondly, because it will keep us honest,
and thirdly, it will set us free.
Okay, so first reason.
This is the motivation of God himself.
When you have children, young children, they love to ask a question, right?
What is the question children love to ask?
Why? Okay, you've also been there, right?
This is a universal phenomenon.
Children love to ask the question, why?
Why do I have to eat my broccoli?
Why is it taking so long?
Why do I have to share with my sister, right?
And you give them an answer, and then what happens after that?
They ask why, right?
Okay, you've got it.
And they keep on asking why, and eventually, you get frustrated,
and you say something like, because I'm your father,
or because I said so, right?
It's not a very good parenting moment.
But as human beings, we actually do the same thing.
We are constantly asking the question, why?
Why is the world the way it is?
Why is there so much evil?
God, why don't you just eradicate suffering right now?
God, why is the universe so big and ever-expanding
if there only seems to be life on our planet?
Why, why, why, why?
And when we find an answer, the next question is,
okay, but why?
And Jonathan Edwards wrote 200 years ago.
He said, the end for which the world is made,
the end answer for every why question is for the praise of his glory,
for the display of his glory.
Now, we may not always understand the answer,
but somehow in the wisdom of God,
everything God does is for the display of his glory.
Isaiah 43 says this,
the reason why every human being was made
is for the display of his glory.
The reason why that egg and that sperm met together
to create that human being
is for the praise of his name,
for the display of God's glory.
That something of the infinite majesty and wonder of God
will be put on display, made visible in your life and my life.
In Isaiah 48, it says,
God is so slow to anger,
so patient, so long-suffering.
Why is God so patient with his people?
For the praise of his name.
Everything God does is for the praise of his own name,
to display his glory.
But what about the cross?
What about Jesus dying on the cross?
The most horrendous day in the history of the world.
How is that a display of God's glory?
Sometimes we think the reason Jesus died on the cross
is because God was so enamored with us,
so in love with us,
that he couldn't possibly bear the idea
of not being with us, right?
As if God didn't want to be in heaven without us,
so he left heaven to come and be with us.
But friends, that's not what the Bible says.
The Bible tells us again and again
the reason Jesus died on the cross
was that he might put on display
the infinite justice and the holiness of God
and at the exact same time
the infinite mercy and kindness and grace of God.
That on the cross,
Jesus might glorify God
by revealing the infinite awesomeness
of the one true God.
Now, of course,
Jesus did die on the cross because he loves us.
John 3.16,
For God so loved the world
that he sent his only son.
But friends,
the cross is a statement
not about how lovely we are,
but how glorious God is
that despite our sin,
God loves us still
for the praise of his own name.
Friends,
if we took the time
to listen to creation,
to every majestic view,
every bird that sings,
every newborn baby,
every piece of music that's played,
every bit of creation,
every star in every galaxy,
we would hear that each one of them
are singing from the same hymn sheet.
They're singing,
Not to us, O God,
not to us,
but to your name,
give the glory.
Colossians 1 says this,
For by this God
all things were created,
in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible,
whether thrones or rulers,
dominions or authorities,
all things were created through him,
and all things were created for him,
for the praise of his name.
Lord Mark,
may we join
in the song of all creation.
May this be the anthem
of our church forever.
Not to us,
O God,
not to us,
but to your name,
give the glory.
First reason,
this is the primary motivation
of God himself.
Second thing is this,
it'll keep us honest.
Now,
what I mean by that is,
if we as a church,
and if as individuals,
the motivation of our hearts is,
God,
may you glorify your name.
God,
may you put your infinite beauty
on display,
it will stop us
from getting distracted,
either by pain,
and problems,
and difficulty,
but it'll also stop us
from getting distracted
by pleasure,
and abundance,
and great success.
You see,
Psalm 115,
this refrain,
is a song that has often
been sung
when Christians
have enjoyed great success.
There's a story about
one of the,
there's an old hymn,
it's actually in Latin,
this phrase,
not to us,
O God,
not to us,
but to your name,
give the glory.
And about four or five hundred
years ago,
the British army
was engaged in battle,
they won the battle,
and the commander
made the entire army
kneel down
on the battlefield
in one knee
and sing this psalm
in Latin,
not to us,
O God,
not to us,
to your name,
give the glory.
So Christians have often
sung this,
or spoken about this
psalm in times
of great success.
But verse two
tells us
what's actually
going on here.
You see,
the psalm isn't written
because the people of God
are in a good place,
actually things are
going wrong for them.
The nation of Israel
is in a spot of bother.
Look at what happens
in verse two.
It says,
why should the nation
say,
where is your God?
You see,
what's going on here
is Israel
in a tough situation.
Things aren't going
well for them.
And so their enemies,
the nations around them,
are laughing at them.
They're mocking them.
They're saying,
Israel,
where is your God?
Just look at where
your faith in God
has got you.
It hasn't got you
very far.
Maybe your God
has abandoned you.
Where is your God now?
And so what's going on
is things in Israel
aren't going so well
and the nations
are mocking them.
They're laughing at them,
saying,
where has God
got you?
And friends,
I can almost
guarantee you
that every one of us
will come to a time
in our lives
when things aren't
going well.
Every one of us
will experience
a situation in life
where we'll face
hardship or suffering.
There'll come a time
when you'll wonder,
God,
where are you?
Have you abandoned me?
There'll come a time
when those who don't
like the gospel
will say,
where is your God?
And friends,
you may be tempted
to agree with them.
You may say,
God,
where is you?
Where are you?
Where have you gone now?
And watermark,
what will keep us
on the straight and narrow?
What will keep us
in times like that
from losing our faith?
What will keep us alive
and our faith alive and real?
What will get us
through those times
in one piece?
Or what will determine
whether we stop trusting God
will depend on our vision of God.
Because if you've got
a small God
who's not glorious,
not majestic,
a God who just exists
to make your life
comfortable or convenient,
when difficulty comes
or hardship comes your way,
you'll be irritated by God,
you'll throw your hands
in the air,
and you'll say,
where are you, God?
I thought you were
supposed to be good.
A couple of years ago,
a Christian psychologist
by the name of
Christian Smith
and a colleague,
Melinda Denton,
they researched
what do American
teenage Christians
think about the Bible
and the God of the Bible.
And they did a whole
lot of research
and they wrote a book
in the end
called Soul Searching.
And in this book,
they said that
the God
that American
Christian teenagers
worship
is very different
from the God of the Bible.
And they called
this new American faith
moral therapeutic deism.
Have you heard
that phrase before?
Moral therapeutic deism.
In other words,
they said,
the God of contemporary
American Christianity
is a God who is moral
and He wants us
to be moral.
A God who is therapeutic.
In other words,
He exists for your own
comfort and your convenience
to make you happy.
And He's a deity
which means that
He should use His power
and His strength
to make your life
work together.
And in the end
of the book,
the summary statement
these psychologists
wrote is this,
this God does not need
to be particularly involved
in one's life
except maybe
when God is needed
to fix a problem.
You see,
Watermark,
if we haven't seen
the glory of God
and the majesty of God,
if we haven't seen
the infinite worthiness
of God,
that's exactly
what we'll think
God is like.
God is moral
and He wants us
to be moral.
God exists to make
our lives comfortable
and convenient
and God should use
His power
in our lives
when we're in trouble.
Friends,
if we haven't been
gripped by the majesty
of who God is
when things go wrong
or pain comes
or difficulty comes
or inconveniences arrive,
we'll be deeply confused.
We'll throw our hands
in the air
and say,
where are you God?
But look at what
the psalmist says.
This psalmist,
this community,
it starts off saying,
not to us,
O God,
not to us,
but to your name
give the glory.
When things go wrong
and the enemies
mock them and say,
where is your God now?
Look at how they respond.
Look at verse 3.
What is their response?
They say,
our God is in the heavens
and He does all
that He pleases.
In other words,
they've seen something
of the majesty
and the bigness of God.
They may not always understand
why He does what He does,
but they've seen
that God is God
and that they are not
and that they exist
for His glory.
He doesn't exist
for their glory.
Friends,
I want to ask you this morning,
is your God small?
Is your God
that just exists
just to make you happy
and comfortable
and convenient?
A God whose chief reason
for His existence
is to make your life work?
Because if it is,
it's a God of our imagination.
That God doesn't exist.
But the one true God
of the Bible
is the God that says,
our God is in the heavens.
He does what He pleases
and therefore,
not to us,
O God,
not to us,
but to your name
give the glory.
Now,
the other side of the coin,
that's one side of the coin,
the other side of the coin,
is that if we as a church
will see the glory of God
and love the glory of God
and if the song of our heart
is God,
not to us,
but to your name
give the glory,
it will not only keep us
faithful and following God
when difficulty comes,
it will also keep us faithful
and following God
when great success comes
or abundance comes.
The church that I,
we were involved in,
in Cape Town,
was started by a businessman
by the name of Christo,
Christo Breedenkamp.
And Christo,
when he first became
a follower of Jesus
20 years ago,
he was out of work
or actually soon after
he became a follower of Jesus,
he lost his job.
He used to work for De Beers,
a mining company.
He lost his job
and for two years
he was without work.
He went for almost 30 interviews,
good interviews,
couldn't find any work.
And at one stage
he was selling candles
out of the boot of his car,
the trunk of his car
to try and pay the bills.
And he started a bakery
with his wife
and that went badly
and so they lost
whatever money
they did have or borrowed,
they lost that.
And eventually
somebody in the church
offered him a job
as a junior salesman.
And so he started
at the very bottom.
And 12 years later
when Christo and I
helped start this new church,
he was now CEO
of the business.
But they didn't own the business,
he was working
for other shareholders.
And at some point
he felt God put in his heart
that maybe the management team
should have a management buyer.
They should buy the business
from the shareholders.
So they went to the shareholders
and said,
look, we want to buy this business.
And the shareholders said,
we don't want to sell it.
And so they negotiated
and eventually
they named their price,
a very high price.
And Christo and his team
had to work very hard
to make the money
and they borrowed
and they made the targets
and eventually
they owned the business.
But one of the things
that Christo often said
to me in that time,
he said,
I will be far more tested
in my success
than I ever was
in my failure.
When I had nothing
it was easy to trust God
because I didn't have much
to trust him with.
But if I have a lot
it will be harder
to trust God with that.
And one of the things
I most respect
about my friend Christo
is I've seen him
when he's had very little
and I've seen him
when he's had a lot.
And at both times
he's exactly the same man.
Nothing has changed about him
because the internal
driving motivation
of his heart
is not to me, oh God,
not to me,
but to your name
give the glory.
God glorify your name
in my poverty.
God glorify your name
in my abundance.
Not to me, oh God,
not to me,
but to your name
give the glory.
And friends,
maybe you'll never be tempted
to throw your hands
in the air in exasperation.
Maybe you'll never say,
God, where are you?
Because your life
will be comfortable
and convenient.
Maybe you'll make
a lot of money,
you'll have a wonderful family,
your loved ones
will always be close,
you'll never experience
much difficulty.
What's going to keep you
from becoming dull
and ineffective?
What's going to stop you
from becoming proud
and self-sufficient?
What's going to stop you
from becoming self-reliant
rather than God-reliant?
This needs to be
the refrain of our heart.
God, not to me,
but to your name
give the glory.
Friends, if we,
as a church,
want to stay true
and honest,
if we want to be a church
which is faithful
to the gospel
and walking with God
and experiencing
the power of God
and the Holy Spirit
to change lives,
if we want to see people
coming to faith
and salvation
and having a,
we need to have a revelation
of the bigness of God,
that our God
is in the heavens.
He does all that He pleases.
He is majestic
and sovereign
and therefore,
not to us,
O God,
but to your name
give the glory.
Why should this be
the motivation
of our church?
Because this is the motivation
of God Himself.
Because this will keep us honest.
Third thing,
because this will set us free.
Now,
look in your bulletins
or your Bible.
Look at what happens
when we get distracted
by the false gods
of comfort and convenience.
Look at what happens
in verse 4.
Or rather,
verse 2 says,
Why should the nations say
where is their God?
Now,
verse 4 says,
The gods of the nations,
the gods of our culture
are like this.
Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
They have mouths,
but they do not speak.
They have eyes,
but they cannot see.
They have ears,
but they do not hear.
Noses,
but they cannot smell.
They have hands,
but they don't feel anything.
They have feet,
but they cannot go anywhere.
They do not make a sound
in their throat.
Those who make them
become like them.
And so do all
who trust in them.
Now,
in Hong Kong,
one of the things
that we know is
shrines are ubiquitous,
right?
Everywhere you go,
you see these little shrines
of burning incense,
and sometimes there's fruit there
that's been left out
to the spirits
or to the gods.
And this is ubiquitous.
And I don't imagine
many of us
have those in our houses.
Maybe some of us,
there's a shrine in your house,
and they put out fruit
often for the spirits,
but most of us
might not have that
in our house.
And yet still,
every one of us
are tempted
to follow the contemporary
gods of our culture,
right?
What are the gods?
Our cell phones,
social media,
our work,
our careers,
our paycheck,
our bonuses.
These things
that we trust in
and hope in
to give us hope
and meaning,
to give us security
and comfort
and convenience,
right?
These things
that we trust in.
And the reason
why we do this
is because these things
promise us glory.
They promise
to put our name
in light.
They promise
to make us feel
better about ourselves,
right?
But look at the tragedy
of these gods.
In ancient times,
they were maybe
carved statues
in your living room
or in your lounge
or in your office place,
but these days,
they're in our pockets.
They're in our bank accounts.
They're on the computer screen.
But look at the tragedy
of these gods.
Look at what happens
in verse 8.
It says,
those who make them
become like them
and so do all
who trust in them.
Friends,
the problem
with trusting
with these gods
and these idols
to save
and to satisfy us,
to give our lives
meaning and hope,
is not just that
they are powerless
and they are insipid
and they can't do
what they promise.
The problem is that
they actually change us
and ultimately
they enslave us.
See,
Watermark,
this is why I want to ask,
can we be gripped
by the bigness of God?
Can we get a revelation
of the majesty of God?
This is why I want to implore us
as a church
that whatever happens
in the future,
we don't get distracted
by small man-made gods
that cannot save
because ultimately
those gods enslave us.
They trap us.
Tim Keller,
a wonderful pastor
from the States,
he's in New York City
and he is writing
about how so many men
and women
in his city
give their lives
to trying to make
a success of their career
and their whole lives
revolve around
making a success
of their career
and this is what he writes.
He says,
these men and women
have sacrificed
everything
to the God of success
but it wasn't enough.
In ancient times,
the deities
were bloodthirsty
and hard to appease.
Even still today,
they are exactly
the same.
Isn't that profound?
In ancient times,
the deities
were bloodthirsty
and hard to appease.
You had to work
very hard
to appease the gods,
offer them
great sacrifices.
Friends,
even still today,
the gods that we serve
are exactly the same.
They demand a lot from us
and this is true
of everything we worship.
Everything that we
give ourselves to
as worship
ultimately owns us.
I want to ask
the youth here,
if you're a teenager here,
one of the gods
of our culture
is social media.
Friends,
you don't feel
like social media
owns you.
Your social media
controls how you feel
about yourself,
how you feel
about others,
whether you have
a good day
or a bad day.
The gods of our cultures,
they own us.
What about our careers
while working
for that bonus
or that paycheck?
Our careers own us.
When we give ourselves
to these gods,
they ultimately,
they enslave us
and they own us.
And you know,
Jesus Christ
says something
very interesting.
Jesus is unapologetic
about the fact
that if you come
to him,
he also owns you.
Jesus says,
you can't come to me
and give me your life
and still maintain
the right to be
your own lord.
If you come to me,
I own you.
Either I have all of you
or I have none of you.
Jesus comes to us
and says the same thing.
Now,
I'm not sure
if this is true
in Hong Kong culture,
but in many other cultures,
people say,
don't become a follower
of Jesus,
you'll lose your freedom.
If you follow Jesus,
you'll lose your independence,
you'll lose your freedom.
Friends,
Jesus Christ
says the only way
to truly be free
is to come
and give him your all.
The only way
to be free
from the idols
that enslave us
is to come
to the one true God
and say,
not to us,
a God,
not to us,
but to your name,
give the glory.
You see,
in ancient times,
the deities
were bloodthirsty
and hard to appease.
Even today,
they still are.
But therein lies
our hope
because in Jesus Christ
is the one God
who claims nothing less
than being divine.
Nothing less
than being God.
Nothing less
than saying,
I own you.
But Jesus Christ
is the one God
that didn't demand
our blood,
but he gave his blood
instead.
And there's the irony.
Jesus is the one God
who says,
if you come to me,
I'll demand everything.
But he's the one God
who gave everything
of himself for us
to set us free.
That's the counterintuitive thing.
When we as individuals
or as a church family
live for ourselves
and our own glory,
we end up losing our lives.
And when we come to him
and we're willing
to lose our lives
and say,
Jesus,
have your way in my life,
that's where Jesus is.
You'll find your life.
That's when I'll truly
set you free.
Friends,
what are you trusting
in this morning?
What are you hoping in?
What are you hoping
is going to set you free?
What are you hoping
in to give your life
meaning and purpose
and security
and comfort
and convenience?
Whatever it is
that you're trusting in
will ultimately own you
and enslave you.
The one way to be free
is to get to the place
where in your heart of hearts
you say,
God,
I'm not living for myself.
I'm living for you.
And when we do that,
Jesus says he will set us free.
He'll set us free
from the idols
that enslave us.
He'll set us free
from needing to live
for ourselves.
He'll set us free
from the comparison
of comparing ourselves
to everyone else.
In Hong Kong,
we love to compare,
right?
Where do you live?
What job you have?
We love to compare.
When we come to the place
that Jesus,
you have it all.
He'll set us free
from needing to compare ourselves
to everyone else around us.
But only if we can come
to the place
where we say,
God,
not to us,
not to me,
oh God,
to your name,
you have the glory.
Look at what happens here
in verse 9.
Verse 9 says,
O Israel,
trust in the Lord.
He is your help
and your shield.
O house of Aaron,
trust in the Lord.
He is your help
and shield.
O Watermark Church,
trust in the Lord.
He is your help
and your shield.
You who fear the Lord,
trust in Him.
He is your help
and shield.
Watermark,
I hope and I pray
and I want to ask us
as a church,
those of us
who call this church home,
that for as long
as we do so,
this will be the refrain,
the anthem of our heart.
This will be the song
of our heart.
God,
not to us,
but to your name,
give the glory.
I pray that we will so see
the glory of God,
the infinite worth of God,
the majesty of God,
the infinite perfection of God
that will set us free,
it will keep us honest
and it will allow us
to join God
in making this
the song of our heart.
God,
glorify your name.
Amen.
Let's stand together
and let's pray
as we worship.
Let's take a minute or two
to respond.
Let's close our eyes
and come before
this majestic God.
Heavenly Father,
we confess God
that we
we need you,
Lord.
The natural disposition
of our hearts
is to live for our own glory.
The tendency of our hearts
is to
want to make much
of ourselves.
Oh God,
we need you
to open the eyes
of our heart
to see you,
to set us free.
Holy Spirit,
we need a work
of your grace.
And so Holy Spirit,
won't you come?
Come even now,
Spirit of God,
and come and open our eyes,
open our hearts,
and set us free.
Holy Spirit,
come and show us
more of yourself.
Show us your
infinite worthiness.
Show us your
infinite beauty.
Show us your
majesty.
Help us to fall
in love with you
and to trust you,
God.
Friends,
I want to give us
a few ways
to respond.
Let's maybe admit
how naturally
and easily
we live for our own glory
rather than God's glory.
Let's admit that to God.
Ask Him to forgive us.
Ask Him to give us
a revelation
of His glory.
Let's ask God
to open our eyes
and to see the
bigness and the
grandeur of God.
And then for those
of us who have become
trapped or enslaved
by
secular thinking,
the spirit of our age,
let's confess
and ask God
to set us free
to live for His glory.
Let's live for His glory.
Let's shiftMP olha
to His glorious glory
Father, I pray that as we go this week, tomorrow as we go to work,
and some of us travel, some of us even today flying various places around the world,
and some of us that are at home this week for our children as they go to school,
God, as we make business deals, as we go about our work,
may something of the majesty and the magnificence of God grip our hearts.
God, I pray that we won't just go to work this week to earn a salary.
We'll go to put on display the wonder of our God.
God, give us a fresh vision for our lives.
Give us a fresh purpose for everything we do.
God, recalibrate, recenter our lives, recommission us, God, to live for your glory, we pray.
We pray, God, that this will be the song of our church.
Not to us, God.
To your name, give the glory.
God, öğ compar season, earth sanitaire, mangha.
Bye for our life.
Love, tacos,amingha.
Love,
city Alyx and family.
Young man gets to be the song of his life.
Left-line cinnamon,
금ine water,
hasta third medications.
Love after being recommended that love you are human being
next on holiday.
We pray for your journey to love you when you are in the same place,
Act on holiday.
losses are your dream.
limiting them to befriend the 그게 that you're doing.
It's the same challenge for your journey
For the course of everything we will just you,
to plan your other space instead for life this other day.
The story is important to remind you of our焦 coming together.
God, recovery.