WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.679 Good morning, everyone. Good morning. It's good to be back today here. We had a bit of a 00:00:10.679 --> 00:00:16.839 small disruption last week and had to meet over Zoom. That wasn't ideal, but thankful we can 00:00:16.839 --> 00:00:21.839 still meet to some degree, even not physically during that typhoon. And last week we heard about 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:28.399 how some of us scattered, some of us here scattered to share the love of Christ with some youth at 00:00:28.399 --> 00:00:34.359 Young Life Camp. Some of the youth here are here today, actually. That was a great time, but this 00:00:34.359 --> 00:00:41.200 past week there was also another camp at the main church. This past week we were, some of us, 00:00:41.519 --> 00:00:49.899 went to serve younger kids also at the VBS in the main church building next door. And we have people 00:00:49.899 --> 00:01:04.340 including Auntie Agnes, we have Rocky, some of our youth, Alexis, Josephine, Sophia, helping out. I'm 00:01:04.359 --> 00:01:12.640 but they decided still to feature me as Cantonese speaking Apostle Paul, right? I bet you haven't 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:18.000 heard that part of Acts yet. You didn't read that part of Acts yet. But hey, sometimes serving God 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:24.460 means that we have to be challenged to step outside our comfort zones. And that's why I had to do this 00:01:24.460 --> 00:01:29.340 past week. And there's one more person I have to mention. Big shout out to Deacon Adrienne, who led 00:01:29.340 --> 00:01:35.219 the charge in planning this whole camp. And so that was the kids' camp. That was VBS this past week. 00:01:36.260 --> 00:01:43.740 Now, there's one thing that I notice about kids. Kids like to ask this question of why. They like to 00:01:43.740 --> 00:01:48.859 ask why. And my parents said I was a pretty curious kid growing up. I asked that a lot growing up and 00:01:48.859 --> 00:01:55.100 bothered them quite a bit. Why? Why? Why? Right? Like, why is the sky blue? Why do I have to go to bed? 00:01:55.099 --> 00:02:02.319 Why do we have belly buttons? Right? Why can't I make McDonald's? Why do we bake cookies yet cook 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:08.099 bacon? That's crazy. The world doesn't make sense. This world doesn't make sense. Kids like to ask 00:02:08.099 --> 00:02:15.319 why. Right? But it's not just kids. We don't outgrow asking this question of why. Those why questions, 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:22.199 they stick with us. Right? As a kid, why do I have to go to school? That now becomes, why do I have to 00:02:22.199 --> 00:02:30.199 wake up every day for this job? Right? Or why do I need to do my homework becomes, why am I working 00:02:30.199 --> 00:02:36.339 overtime on some dumb slide deck that no one's going to take a second glance at? Right? Or are we there 00:02:36.339 --> 00:02:41.879 yet? Why is this taking so long? That becomes, why haven't I met my spouse yet? And actually, what does 00:02:41.879 --> 00:02:47.459 he look like? Is he going to be a finance bro or financially broke? What's it going to be? Right? 00:02:47.460 --> 00:02:52.760 We all have questions. Especially when taking a shower sometimes. You guys have shower thoughts? 00:02:53.659 --> 00:02:57.840 Right? The shower is a place where a lot of people do philosophy. That's where they contemplate life. 00:02:58.480 --> 00:03:05.000 In the shower. But maybe even more common is when you're squished in the MTR early Monday morning 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:11.420 heading to work. Or waking up with a headache after a late night out. Or after you sent off your kids 00:03:11.419 --> 00:03:16.179 university and returning to home, that's just a little bit too big now. And that's where we might 00:03:16.179 --> 00:03:24.859 be asking, why am I doing all this? Why? Why am I here? What is my life about? And that's the question 00:03:24.859 --> 00:03:31.079 we'll be asking today as we continue on our summer series on apologetics. We've been asking a few 00:03:31.079 --> 00:03:36.759 questions so far this summer. Why is Jesus relevant? Why trust the Bible? And today we'll be asking this 00:03:36.759 --> 00:03:44.319 question of why are we here? What is the meaning of life? And now I know it's not even 1130 yet on a 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:48.340 Sunday morning. Maybe you haven't had your coffee. It's a bit too early in the day for an existential 00:03:48.340 --> 00:03:54.419 crisis. That's understandable. Sometimes it's scary to ask this question because we don't know what we'll 00:03:54.419 --> 00:04:01.000 find. Right? What if we ask what is the meaning of life and there's nothing? Right? What if we ask why am 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:06.419 I here and we're met with silence? That's a pretty daunting thought. Or on the other hand, maybe this 00:04:06.419 --> 00:04:11.619 question hasn't crossed your mind because life's good, you're happy, and there's enough distractions 00:04:11.619 --> 00:04:17.939 to keep us from asking this question. But what if you're made for more than this? So that's why we're 00:04:17.939 --> 00:04:23.639 talking about this question today. And to answer this, we'll look to the Bible. We'll look to Isaiah 00:04:23.639 --> 00:04:30.180 chapter 43 verses 1 to 13. We'll read from that. I'll invite Jasper up to read for us. I believe the 00:04:30.180 --> 00:04:36.660 word of God has something to say about why we are here. So we'll read Isaiah 43 verses 1 to 13, 00:04:36.819 --> 00:04:41.660 focusing on a few verses there. But let's read verses 1 to 13. 00:04:44.620 --> 00:04:51.860 Israel's only Savior. But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who... 00:04:51.860 --> 00:04:54.939 Sorry, let's stand as we usually do as we read the word of God. 00:04:54.939 --> 00:05:05.060 All right, let me start again. Israel's only Savior. But now thus says the Lord, he who created 00:05:05.060 --> 00:05:10.420 you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called 00:05:10.420 --> 00:05:15.620 you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through 00:05:15.620 --> 00:05:20.480 the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, 00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:26.060 and the flames shall not consume you. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, 00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:34.140 your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious 00:05:34.140 --> 00:05:41.560 in my eyes and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, people in exchange for your life. 00:05:41.879 --> 00:05:47.640 Fear not, for I am with you. I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west, 00:05:47.639 --> 00:05:52.759 I will gather you. I will say to the north, give up, and to the south, do not withhold. 00:05:53.839 --> 00:06:00.620 Bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the end of the earth. Everyone who is called by my name, 00:06:00.819 --> 00:06:05.759 whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. Bring out the people who are blind, 00:06:05.899 --> 00:06:11.680 yet have eyes, who are deaf, yet have ears. All the nations gather together, and the people assemble. 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:20.579 Who among them can declare this, and show us the former things? Let them bring their witnesses to prove 00:06:20.579 --> 00:06:26.120 them right, and let them hear and say, it is true, you are my witnesses, declares the Lord. 00:06:26.860 --> 00:06:32.079 And my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he. 00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:41.800 Before me, no God was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, I am the Lord. And besides me, 00:06:42.120 --> 00:06:49.000 there is no Savior. I declare and save and proclaim. When there was no strange God among you, 00:06:49.339 --> 00:06:56.199 and you are my witnesses, declares the Lord, and I am God. And also, henceforth, I am he. 00:06:56.199 --> 00:07:02.479 There is none who can deliver from my hand at work, and who can turn it back. This is the word of God. 00:07:03.659 --> 00:07:07.439 Thank you. Please take a seat. This is the word of the Lord. 00:07:09.300 --> 00:07:14.639 And again, today, we're asking this question, what is the meaning of life? It's a question that 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:20.560 we probably all have, but it's not a question that's just in our heads that we ask intellectually 00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:25.959 and impassively, right? It's a question that we ask in our hearts. We want purpose. We all want purpose. 00:07:26.199 --> 00:07:32.240 We all want meaning. We want to be happy. We want to be fulfilled. And in a way, as we live our lives 00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:38.259 each day, that's an attempt to answer this question, practically speaking. What we do, it reflects where 00:07:38.259 --> 00:07:44.300 we find meaning. It's an, or it's an experiment to see whether this thing will make us happy, will satisfy us. 00:07:44.419 --> 00:07:51.500 We search for meaning when we are kind and helpful to others, or in pursuing your passion as a musician, 00:07:51.500 --> 00:07:57.540 or building out your career. Or lots of people find meaning in having friends, in family, in community. 00:07:57.540 --> 00:08:03.560 For example, even here at the gathering. Or caring for your family, elderly parents, or your children. 00:08:03.560 --> 00:08:09.540 That's where a lot of people find meaning and purpose in life. And that's all great. Those are all great things. 00:08:09.540 --> 00:08:15.920 Those are all great pursuits. They are very, they're meaningful things. But although they're good things, 00:08:16.600 --> 00:08:22.860 they aren't the ultimate thing. They're not the ultimate reality. So instead, I want to start from 00:08:22.860 --> 00:08:28.220 there. I want to start from the foundations today, from the one who is ultimate, and the one who is 00:08:28.220 --> 00:08:35.920 reality and gives us purpose. And the Bible is really clear in Genesis 1. In the beginning, 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:42.500 there was God. In the beginning, God. In the beginning, there was only God. And God created 00:08:42.500 --> 00:08:48.759 the heavens and the earth. God is the only one who is eternal and without beginning. Everything else 00:08:48.759 --> 00:08:55.059 was created by him. All right, look around in this room. God made everything. These chairs, the people 00:08:55.059 --> 00:09:01.579 around us, or outside, the harbor, the skies, even the building. God made people with creativity and the raw 00:09:01.580 --> 00:09:09.139 materials to build those. Right? The person next to you. All of us made by God. God made it all. And that's what 00:09:09.139 --> 00:09:16.460 we see here in Isaiah 43 in verse 1. Where God says, now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who 00:09:16.460 --> 00:09:22.259 formed you, O Israel. He's saying, I am the Lord, and I made you. I formed you. Right? He's the one who made 00:09:22.259 --> 00:09:30.080 everything. And that's where we begin today. And God did all this with a purpose. God created us for a 00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:35.919 reason. And so if we're asking, what is the meaning of our lives? It makes sense to look at our creator 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:41.039 and ask him, why did you make me? What is your purpose? What's your purpose for creating the world? 00:09:41.139 --> 00:09:47.799 What's your purpose for making me? Because if everything exists by God's design, then God's purpose 00:09:47.799 --> 00:09:54.419 is our purpose. Our lives are about what God made our lives to be about. Right? If you pick up a pair 00:09:54.419 --> 00:10:00.120 of shorts here, a pair of pink shorts, they might not mean much to you. But if you ask Joe or Alex, 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:06.059 they'll tell you those aren't any ordinary pair of shorts. Those shorts are actually Eden safety 00:10:06.059 --> 00:10:12.519 blanket. And without them, Eden won't sleep with it. Eden won't be able to sleep. And neither will 00:10:12.519 --> 00:10:16.679 they. Neither will Joe and Alex. Right? So this mundane thing, this pair of shorts, 00:10:16.679 --> 00:10:23.739 we don't see the full meaning unless we ask Joe and Alex. And that's the same for us. It's the same 00:10:23.739 --> 00:10:30.059 for us, for our lives, unless we ask God, why did you make us? And when we ask God, why do you create 00:10:30.059 --> 00:10:36.419 me? What's your meaning for my life? This is how he responds. This is what he says in verses six to 00:10:36.419 --> 00:10:42.439 seven. God says, I will say to North, give up into the South. Do not withhold. Bring my sons from afar and my 00:10:42.440 --> 00:10:48.900 daughters from the ends of the earth. Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, 00:10:49.340 --> 00:10:56.840 whom I formed and made. Everyone whom I created for my glory. That's the reason why God created us, 00:10:57.300 --> 00:11:05.200 formed us, made us. He says here, it is for my glory, for my glory. And so when we ask, what is our 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:13.160 purpose? The answer is what our creator says it is. And God says, you are made for my glory. 00:11:14.060 --> 00:11:18.200 Ultimately, that's what our lives are about. And not just our lives, but everything here, 00:11:18.360 --> 00:11:23.140 everything he created, it's all for the glory of God. That's what Romans 11 says. From him, 00:11:23.259 --> 00:11:29.940 through him, and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. That's the purpose of everything. 00:11:29.940 --> 00:11:35.340 And this isn't just a passing thought. This doesn't just show up in Isaiah 43. God's glory 00:11:35.340 --> 00:11:40.760 really is the heartbeat of the book of Isaiah. It runs through this book. God is relentless in 00:11:40.760 --> 00:11:47.200 repeating it. It reminds me a bit of the construction going on in Sherengwan recently. I don't know if it's 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:51.680 still there, but a few months ago, there was this, there was this pile driver. Do you guys know what a 00:11:51.680 --> 00:11:58.320 pile driver is? But like, it was so loud. There was just this constant thumping noise in Sherengwan 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:04.560 whenever you went there, whenever you went to the station, just this pile driver beating into the 00:12:04.560 --> 00:12:10.360 ground. You would hear it shaking. You'd feel it in your chest. And that's the picture I see when I 00:12:10.360 --> 00:12:15.500 read the surrounding chapters of Isaiah, that God is relentless in hammering home this point. 00:12:16.180 --> 00:12:22.860 He wants to drive home into hearts this message that he is the Lord. There is no other. And he gets 00:12:22.860 --> 00:12:28.300 the glory. I'll read a few examples in Isaiah. He says, I'm the Lord. That is my name. 00:12:28.299 --> 00:12:34.099 My glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. Let them give glory to God, 00:12:34.299 --> 00:12:39.399 to the Lord, and declare his praise. That people may know from the rising of the sun and from the 00:12:39.399 --> 00:12:44.719 west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord and there is no other. To whom will you compare me 00:12:44.719 --> 00:12:52.559 that I should be like them, says the Holy One. I, I am he who blots out your transgression for my own 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:58.019 sake. For my name's sake, I defer my anger. For the sake of my praise, I restrain it for you. 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:03.319 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it. For how should my name be profaned? 00:13:03.859 --> 00:13:09.599 My glory, I will not give to another. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall 00:13:09.599 --> 00:13:14.000 see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. That's the message that echoes through this 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:20.099 book of Isaiah, that God is passionate for his glory. And the point in our passage here today is in verse 00:13:20.100 --> 00:13:26.740 seven, my sons and my daughters, I created them for my glory. And so when we ask this question, 00:13:26.980 --> 00:13:32.700 why are we here? The Bible is clear. There's no question about it. We exist for the glory of God. 00:13:33.060 --> 00:13:38.379 God is emphatic about that, that for his glory. He is passionate for it. And the question for us is, 00:13:38.920 --> 00:13:45.560 do we share that same passion for his glory? Do we have that same passion? Now at this point, 00:13:45.559 --> 00:13:51.179 you might be asking two questions, right? The first question you might have is, well, that's great, 00:13:51.259 --> 00:13:55.239 but what is the glory of God? What is the glory of God? Because that just sounds like Christian lingo, 00:13:55.739 --> 00:14:00.279 right? Around church, we always hear this, like praise God, worship God, glory to God. But what does 00:14:00.279 --> 00:14:07.119 that mean? What is the glory of God? The second question you might have is, actually hearing this 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:15.279 doesn't sit right with us, right? One question you might have is, is God selfish? And he's talking a 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:21.299 lot about himself. Well, the Bible doesn't ask, doesn't allow us to neglect this truth that God is 00:14:21.299 --> 00:14:26.840 passionate for his glory. But you might be asking, hey, doesn't that make him selfish? Because we have 00:14:26.840 --> 00:14:32.860 a word for people who think that the world revolves around them, right? We call such people 00:14:32.860 --> 00:14:41.340 narcissists, right? We call them self-absorbed, self-centered, egomaniacs, right? If I asked you 00:14:41.340 --> 00:14:47.560 to praise and glorify me, that'd be messed up, right? That's, you guys know that. You'd call me delusional, 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:53.899 right? You'd call me crazy. So what makes God different? How can God be good when he is so 00:14:53.899 --> 00:14:59.080 passionate for his glory, when he does everything for his glory, even creating all of us? That's one 00:14:59.080 --> 00:15:02.840 question you might have. That's a good question, but hold on to that thought. We'll come back to 00:15:02.860 --> 00:15:08.879 it. We'll start with that first question, which is what is the glory of God? What is the glory of God? 00:15:09.899 --> 00:15:18.159 Okay. God's glory is related to the fact that there is no one like him, right? We'll read in verse 10. 00:15:18.680 --> 00:15:24.700 It says, you are my witnesses, declares the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know 00:15:24.700 --> 00:15:31.960 and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me, no God was formed, nor shall there be any after me. 00:15:31.960 --> 00:15:40.280 I, I am the Lord, and besides me, there is no savior. Notice that God doesn't just say, I am the Lord. 00:15:40.400 --> 00:15:47.639 He makes sure to repeat it. I, I am the Lord, right? That there is only me, and there is no God like me. 00:15:47.920 --> 00:15:55.060 I am the Lord, and there is no other. And that's what we mean when we say that God is holy. That's what 00:15:55.059 --> 00:16:00.239 we mean when we say that God is holy. God's holiness means that God is completely in his own 00:16:00.239 --> 00:16:05.099 league, that there is no one like him. There's no one like our God. That is his holiness. And we see 00:16:05.099 --> 00:16:10.439 how God describes himself in verse three, right? I am the Lord, your God, the Holy one of Israel, 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:17.359 your savior. There is no one like me. God's holiness means that he is unique, that he's completely other. 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:24.019 But that's not all. Because if you're at a restaurant and your waiter asks you, oh, how's the pasta? And you 00:16:24.019 --> 00:16:29.500 reply, oh, it's, it's unique. It's, it's different, right? That's not necessarily a good sign. 00:16:30.659 --> 00:16:36.200 But instead, the holiness of God means that he is uniquely good. He's unique in his majesty. He's 00:16:36.200 --> 00:16:41.580 unique in perfection, in purity, in righteousness, in his splendor, in his love, in every good thing. 00:16:41.580 --> 00:16:49.400 He is worthy. Exodus 15 says, who is like you, oh Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in 00:16:49.400 --> 00:16:55.540 holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? He's not just unique. He is uniquely good. That's 00:16:55.540 --> 00:17:02.740 the holiness of God. And I bring up his holiness when talking about glory, because in Isaiah chapter six, 00:17:03.740 --> 00:17:09.000 that's where we see how God's holiness and his glory come together. In Isaiah six, God is sitting 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:14.819 on his throne with heavenly creatures, the seraphim worshiping him. And in verse three, the seraphim 00:17:14.819 --> 00:17:21.319 cry out. They say this in verse three, Isaiah six, verse three, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. 00:17:21.880 --> 00:17:29.359 The whole earth is full of his glory. And notice this, they say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. 00:17:30.339 --> 00:17:37.440 God is holy. The whole earth is full of his, right? If we stop there, how do you expect them to finish 00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:41.580 that sentence? Holy, holy, holy. They said holy already three times. Why not say it four times? 00:17:42.140 --> 00:17:46.539 His holiness. The whole earth is full of his holiness, but that's not what they say. 00:17:47.600 --> 00:17:52.400 They say this, that's not how they complete the sentence. Instead, they say the whole earth is full 00:17:52.400 --> 00:18:00.500 of his glory. And that's, that's how God's holiness and glory mean. John Piper puts it like this. God's 00:18:00.500 --> 00:18:08.720 holiness is his infinite worth. God's glory is the display of that worth. While God's holiness is, 00:18:09.019 --> 00:18:14.299 it's his infinite perfection. It's his beauty on the inside. God's glory is that going public 00:18:14.299 --> 00:18:20.140 of his holiness. It's the hard launch of his holiness. God's glory is his holiness on display. 00:18:20.420 --> 00:18:26.380 It's his, his glory is his infinite beauty and greatness being displayed and treasured and 00:18:26.380 --> 00:18:33.980 appreciated by the world. And so God didn't create us because he lacked anything for all eternity. 00:18:33.980 --> 00:18:41.540 The father, the son and Holy spirit were together in perfect love, perfect joy, perfect unity. God 00:18:41.540 --> 00:18:48.100 wasn't missing anything in the Trinity, but he made us out of abundance, out of fullness to share with 00:18:48.099 --> 00:18:56.559 us who he is to share with us his holiness, his glory. John one says from his fullness, we have all 00:18:56.559 --> 00:19:05.980 received grace upon grace. Our cup overflows because God's cup overflows and the glory of God is his beauty 00:19:05.980 --> 00:19:14.539 on displayed and shared with us, shared with us people that he created. That's the glory of God. And now it's 00:19:14.539 --> 00:19:20.339 about time we visited that other question from earlier. That is God egotistical for demanding 00:19:20.339 --> 00:19:25.079 our praise or put more bluntly as Christians, do we worship a narcissist? Is that what God, 00:19:25.220 --> 00:19:31.799 is that who God is? That's a question that a guy named C.S. Lewis had. So C.S. Lewis, 00:19:32.039 --> 00:19:37.440 the author of Chronicles of Narnia, Lion, Witch and Wardrobe, there's this talking line. Well, 00:19:37.720 --> 00:19:42.519 C.S. Lewis said that when he was starting to believe in God, when he was first starting to believe in God, 00:19:42.519 --> 00:19:48.879 he hit a stumbling block when he was reading the book of Psalms. The reason why was he felt 00:19:48.879 --> 00:19:55.160 uncomfortable about all the commands in the Psalms that ask us to praise God. Right? For example, 00:19:56.519 --> 00:20:02.960 Psalm 22 says, you who fear the Lord, praise him, glorify him and stand in awe of him. Psalm 29 says, 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:07.740 ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name, worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. 00:20:07.740 --> 00:20:14.440 Psalm 96, declare his glory among the nations. Psalm 117, praise the Lord, all nations. Psalm 150, 00:20:14.700 --> 00:20:20.240 let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Right? There's these constant, the Psalms just full 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:25.339 of commands to praise God and worship him. And C.S. Lewis, he looked at the Psalms and thought, 00:20:25.779 --> 00:20:32.740 how can I worship a God like this? Right? A God who craves our worship like a vain woman wanting 00:20:32.740 --> 00:20:39.099 compliments. That's what C.S. Lewis wrote. Like, how could I worship a God that cares so much about 00:20:39.099 --> 00:20:46.339 being praised? That was one objection he had. That was a stumbling block he had. But later he realized, 00:20:47.220 --> 00:20:53.940 hey, actually in our lives, we worship things all the time. We actually worship things all the time. 00:20:53.940 --> 00:21:01.059 And he wrote, the world rings with praise. Lovers praising their, their mistresses. Readers, 00:21:01.259 --> 00:21:05.380 their favorite poets. Walkers praising the countrysides. He's saying that we worship and 00:21:05.380 --> 00:21:12.059 praise things that we love all the time. We praise things that we enjoy. Right? Have you ever met an 00:21:12.059 --> 00:21:18.420 Australian, someone from Melbourne, talk about coffee? Right? That, that is worship. Someone from 00:21:18.420 --> 00:21:23.519 Melbourne talking about coffee. Or that question, like, who's the goat? Who's the greatest of all time? 00:21:23.940 --> 00:21:28.460 Jordan, LeBron. There's others in the discussion. But that's, that's never a calm, civil discussion. 00:21:28.460 --> 00:21:32.860 Right? That's always a debate that's filled with passion because people care so much about this. 00:21:33.779 --> 00:21:39.720 Or think about how crazy people get about celebrities, like BTS or Mirror or Taylor Swift, 00:21:40.360 --> 00:21:46.559 paying like any amount for concerts, memorizing lyrics like scripture. You know, all their songs 00:21:46.559 --> 00:21:53.480 by heart. Fans are passionate for the glory of their idols. Right? You don't have to ask people 00:21:53.480 --> 00:21:59.200 to worship. You don't have to ask people to worship. We naturally worship and praise and glorify the 00:21:59.200 --> 00:22:03.059 things that we love all the time. That's just, that's just something written in our hearts. 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:10.180 Right? Do you know how loud it gets in a, in a Man U versus Liverpool game? You don't have to 00:22:10.180 --> 00:22:15.680 tell fans to cheer. Right? They'll chant, they'll cheer, they'll yell at each other. 00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:22.240 They'll yell with their hands in the air. Why? Because they love their team. They love their team. 00:22:22.320 --> 00:22:25.720 And they just do this naturally. And C.S. Lewis reflected. He said this, 00:22:26.580 --> 00:22:31.360 I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses, 00:22:32.019 --> 00:22:38.640 but completes the enjoyment. The praise doesn't just merely express, but it completes the enjoyment. 00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:45.000 What he's saying is that cheering for a team doesn't just mean we enjoy our team. We love our team. 00:22:45.400 --> 00:22:51.200 It actually adds to the enjoyment. It adds to our enjoyment of the game. Right? We're happier when 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:57.780 we cheer. It's more fun to watch a game cheering with a crowd in a stadium than to be sitting on your 00:22:57.780 --> 00:23:04.720 couch at home watching in silence. It's more fun to cheer. And that's why it's from that perspective, 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:11.440 that's why God made us for glory. And that's why God asked us to worship him. He wants our joy. He 00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:18.539 wants our enjoyment to be complete. He isn't insecure and fishing for compliments. God doesn't 00:23:18.539 --> 00:23:26.000 need anything. God is overflowing. He's overflowing in love, in goodness, in joy. And he just wants to 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:31.839 share that with all of us. That's why he made us. That's why he created us. He wants to share 00:23:31.839 --> 00:23:40.000 for us to have joy in glorifying him and praising him, enjoying him in the same way that we have joy 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:45.399 when he prays for a sports team. And that's why the Psalms don't just command us to worship. 00:23:45.899 --> 00:23:50.839 They're not just saying, praise God, right? Like we're slaves and we have to bow down before him 00:23:50.839 --> 00:23:56.779 and worship him and glorifying him against our wishes. They don't do that. They command us to have joy. 00:23:56.779 --> 00:24:06.299 Psalm 32 says, be glad in the Lord and rejoice. Psalm 95 says, oh, come let us sing to the Lord. 00:24:06.639 --> 00:24:13.420 Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Psalm 37 says, delight yourself in 00:24:13.420 --> 00:24:19.559 the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 34 says, taste and see that the Lord is 00:24:19.559 --> 00:24:23.940 good. That's the way that we glorify God. When we taste and see the Lord, that the Lord is good, 00:24:23.940 --> 00:24:28.940 that he's better than anything else this world has to offer. And then we come to him with joy. 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:36.080 And actually what else should God command us to do? If we think God is selfish, what else would we 00:24:36.080 --> 00:24:40.799 command? What else should God tell us to do? If he's the greatest good, there's nothing better to 00:24:40.799 --> 00:24:44.980 offer than himself. And he's better than Taylor Swift. He's better than LeBron. He's better than 00:24:44.980 --> 00:24:52.820 Melbourne coffee. So if God pointed us to anything else, he'd be depriving us of the best thing in the 00:24:52.819 --> 00:24:58.279 world. He'd be holding back the best thing in the world. So when God asks us to worship him, 00:24:58.460 --> 00:25:04.279 he's not being selfish. He's being self-forgiving. He wants to share with us the greatest joy that 00:25:04.279 --> 00:25:10.899 there is in the universe. And that's himself. Him asking us to glorify him is actually the greatest 00:25:10.899 --> 00:25:18.779 act of love. And John Piper puts it like this. He says, the reason God seeks our praise is not because 00:25:18.779 --> 00:25:25.180 he won't be complete until he gets it. He is seeking our praise because we won't be happy 00:25:25.180 --> 00:25:32.740 until we give it. This is not arrogance. It is love. It's love because there's nothing better to do 00:25:32.740 --> 00:25:38.500 than to know him and enjoy him. That's what we're made to do, to glorify God by enjoying him. That's 00:25:38.500 --> 00:25:47.599 the meaning of life. But for us, where are we looking for meaning in life? What is it that we're 00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:54.859 clinging to, that we're looking for to fulfill us? People have different answers. One very common one 00:25:54.859 --> 00:26:02.460 in Hong Kong we have. Hong Kong people love money, right? We're told that we should study hard 00:26:02.460 --> 00:26:07.819 so that we can get a good job, so that we can make money, so that we can live a comfortable life, 00:26:08.180 --> 00:26:13.340 so that we can send our kids to a good school, so that they can make more money and the cycle repeats. 00:26:14.220 --> 00:26:21.279 We're told that if we have enough money, if we have enough money, we'll be comfortable, we'll be happy. 00:26:22.799 --> 00:26:28.480 But what we find out is that once we have it, it's never enough. There's always this want for more. 00:26:28.480 --> 00:26:34.960 You guys know this actor, Jim Carrey? He's a famous actor, famous comedian, loved by many, 00:26:35.620 --> 00:26:39.799 made hundreds of millions of dollars, and he's made it in life by most standards. 00:26:40.880 --> 00:26:46.140 And he's a comedian. He should be happy, right? But this is what he says. He said this, 00:26:46.380 --> 00:26:52.220 I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so that they can 00:26:52.220 --> 00:26:58.339 see that it's not the answer. He's rich and famous. He's made it in life, but he 00:26:58.339 --> 00:27:05.599 realized, actually, that isn't enough. What about chasing our passions, chasing accomplishments? 00:27:06.899 --> 00:27:12.500 You guys know Michael Phelps? Michael Phelps, most decorated Olympian of all time, 28 medals, 00:27:12.839 --> 00:27:19.619 Olympic swimmer, greatest of all time. But he said after every Olympic Games, he felt lost, 00:27:19.619 --> 00:27:24.699 even depressed. And he said this, you work so hard for four years to get to that point. 00:27:24.700 --> 00:27:31.019 You're at the top of the mountain. But once you achieve that, once he accomplished everything he 00:27:31.019 --> 00:27:37.019 set out to accomplish, then he said this, you're like, what am I supposed to do? Where am I supposed 00:27:37.019 --> 00:27:45.259 to go? Who am I? Accomplishments won't satisfy us. Once we make it to the top, it's a long walk down from 00:27:45.259 --> 00:27:53.779 that mountain. We can also look for happiness in friends and family. But we all know people will 00:27:53.779 --> 00:27:58.740 disappoint us. People always disappoint us. They will always fail us because they were never meant 00:27:58.740 --> 00:28:05.519 to bear the full weight of all our hopes and dreams, all our expectations. Your friends, your boyfriend, 00:28:05.519 --> 00:28:13.079 your wife, they can't be the only source of your joy. That would be suffocating for them. They can't bear 00:28:13.079 --> 00:28:20.240 that pressure. Or your children. They can't achieve all the dreams that you wanted to achieve. That 00:28:20.240 --> 00:28:27.139 pressure will crush them. It's good to love our friends and family. That's a good thing God gave us. 00:28:27.140 --> 00:28:33.880 But they will disappoint us. They can't fulfill us completely because they were never meant to. 00:28:35.400 --> 00:28:39.380 And so if we look in life and we find that all these things that we put our hope in, 00:28:40.100 --> 00:28:46.160 they'll disappoint us. Maybe it's because there is a better way. C.S. Lewis also wrote, 00:28:46.420 --> 00:28:53.259 if I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation 00:28:53.259 --> 00:28:58.500 is that I was made for another world. And do you find yourself in the same boat? 00:28:59.420 --> 00:29:04.960 If you're searching for meaning, if you're searching for joy and wanting more, you're wanting more than 00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:11.299 this. Maybe it's because there's more to life than that. All the things that God made for us, 00:29:12.059 --> 00:29:20.660 money, achievements, family, anything else, those are all good things. They're good things that we can 00:29:20.660 --> 00:29:25.840 enjoy. They're good gifts from him, but they can't fully satisfy us because they were never meant to. 00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:31.000 They're all gifts from God that were meant to lead us to point to God. They were meant to point us to 00:29:31.000 --> 00:29:39.560 God so that we can enjoy him, enjoy his glory. That's what we were made to do. But that's the problem. 00:29:39.720 --> 00:29:44.180 There's a problem though. It's that we don't do this. We don't always, we don't naturally have this heart. 00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:48.940 That's the problem in Isaiah 43. The context in this chapter is that the people of Israel, 00:29:48.940 --> 00:29:54.019 they're captured and exiled. The holy city of Jerusalem, where the temple was, was conquered 00:29:54.019 --> 00:29:58.740 and destroyed. The temple was burned to the ground. Their lives are in chaos. Everything's upside down. 00:29:58.860 --> 00:30:05.700 Everything is in chaos. And let's see how this passage describes it. Verse eight says, 00:30:06.279 --> 00:30:12.920 bring out the people who are blind yet have ears, who are deaf. Bring out the people who are blind yet 00:30:12.920 --> 00:30:20.700 have eyes, who are deaf yet have ears. Blindness and deafness. That's how Isaiah 43 describes the 00:30:20.700 --> 00:30:26.460 problem. It's the same thought in the previous chapter, chapter 42 verses 19 and 20, which says 00:30:26.460 --> 00:30:32.440 this, who is blind but my servant or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated 00:30:32.440 --> 00:30:38.440 one or blind as a servant of the Lord? He sees many things, but does not observe them. His ears are open, 00:30:38.440 --> 00:30:46.039 but he does not hear. And it's because of this reason in verse 22, it says, this is a people 00:30:46.039 --> 00:30:50.660 plundered and looted. They are all of them trapped in holes and hidden in prisons. They have become 00:30:50.660 --> 00:30:59.059 plunder with none to rescue, spoiled, none to say rescue. It's describing, we are blind and deaf, 00:30:59.320 --> 00:31:05.759 that they are blind and deaf and their lives are in chaos as a result. That's the problem described in 00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:10.240 Isaiah 43. And we're not just talking about a physical blindness, a physical deafness. That's 00:31:10.240 --> 00:31:17.119 not what it's talking about. Here, God is referring to a spiritual blindness, a blindness to seeing him, 00:31:17.240 --> 00:31:25.599 a blindness to seeing who God is, his glory. We were made to enjoy the glory of God and blindness to that 00:31:25.599 --> 00:31:33.519 fact is one aspect of what it means to sin. Sin, there's many perspectives on it, disobedience to God, 00:31:33.519 --> 00:31:41.119 breaking his law. But another one here that we see is sin is this devaluing of God and settling for 00:31:41.119 --> 00:31:48.059 less, that we were made to enjoy the glory of God, but we choose to settle for less. We'd rather stress 00:31:48.059 --> 00:31:53.500 about, stress out about money than to look to the God who made everything, who was sovereign over all 00:31:53.500 --> 00:32:01.680 the earth and everything in it. We'd rather look for cheap intimacy than a relationship, intimacy with 00:32:01.680 --> 00:32:09.019 the God who made you, that you can rejoice in him. And that's what sin is. It's like if a three-star 00:32:09.019 --> 00:32:14.519 Michelin chef, he offers to cook you a nice meal and you say, now I'd rather have McDonald's instead. 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:22.820 That one offends him and dishonors his glory. And that's one reason why God punishes sin. That's why God 00:32:22.820 --> 00:32:31.400 punishes sin. It's offense of his glory. At the same time, think of how dumb that is. Sin is just foolishness. 00:32:32.420 --> 00:32:38.019 Sin hurts us. Sin leaves us empty and wanting because it's a lie. It's a mirage. It's second 00:32:38.019 --> 00:32:43.720 best, second, third, fourth best. We were made for more. We were made to enjoy more and sin is simply 00:32:43.720 --> 00:32:49.779 settling for less. And that's why it's comforting to hear what God says in verses one to three. 00:32:50.519 --> 00:32:55.799 He says this, fear not for I have redeemed you. I've called you by name. You are mine. 00:32:55.799 --> 00:32:58.639 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. 00:33:00.639 --> 00:33:04.919 And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you shall 00:33:04.919 --> 00:33:09.940 not be burned and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, 00:33:10.419 --> 00:33:16.500 your Savior. God is saying, fear not. Even though you've turned away from me, even though you've 00:33:16.500 --> 00:33:22.000 rejected me, you settled for less, you're still mine. And even though there's trials, even though there's 00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:26.740 consequences that come with this, even though there's high waters and you pass through the fire, 00:33:27.880 --> 00:33:32.980 even when you face the sting of sin, he says, I won't leave you. I've called you by name. 00:33:33.720 --> 00:33:40.259 You are mine and I will save you. And he says in verse four, because you are precious in my eyes and 00:33:40.259 --> 00:33:46.680 honored and I love you. I give men in return for you people in exchange for your life. And ultimately, 00:33:46.680 --> 00:33:52.000 the way that God shows that we're precious in his eyes, the way that he shows that he loves us is by 00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:58.920 sending his own son in exchange for our lives. And the reason for that, the reason why God did this 00:33:58.920 --> 00:34:04.420 in verse six, verses six and seven is so that he can redeem for himself a people for his glory. 00:34:04.660 --> 00:34:09.400 That's what he says in verse six and seven. I will say to the North, give up into the South. Do not 00:34:09.400 --> 00:34:15.280 withhold. Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth. Everyone who is called by my 00:34:15.280 --> 00:34:22.200 name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. That's what, why Jesus, why God sent Jesus 00:34:22.200 --> 00:34:27.360 to the cross. That's what Jesus did on the cross for us. He died for the forgiveness of our sins. 00:34:28.360 --> 00:34:34.720 But more than that, he rose on the third day that we have new life. The good news of the gospel 00:34:34.720 --> 00:34:39.740 isn't just that we're forgiven. That's it. That we, we won't have to pay the penalty for our sins. 00:34:39.739 --> 00:34:47.059 That's it. The good news of the gospel is that we get to know and enjoy God. We are reconciled with 00:34:47.059 --> 00:34:54.000 God. We have peace with God. We can love him now. And it's this pursuit of the glory of God. 00:34:54.739 --> 00:34:59.659 That's what motivates us to keep obeying him, pressing on to obey God in the Christian life. 00:35:00.879 --> 00:35:06.819 I don't know what your impression is of Christianity or of sin. Some people see Christianity as a religion 00:35:06.820 --> 00:35:13.100 of rules. Right? The Bible has a list of do's and don'ts. Right? Don't drink. Don't have sex. Don't 00:35:13.100 --> 00:35:17.680 you dare have fun. Right? But do all these boring things. You have to pray, read the Bible, go to 00:35:17.680 --> 00:35:22.260 church, give away your money. Right? That God is such a killjoy. The Bible is just a list of do's and don'ts. 00:35:23.600 --> 00:35:30.760 Have you ever thought that way? I remember when I was in high school, I grew up going to church, 00:35:30.760 --> 00:35:36.420 church, the good Christian kid. And I'd see my friends, um, having fun, doing other things, 00:35:37.040 --> 00:35:42.360 but I couldn't add my Bible. I knew what God's law was, what's right and wrong. I saw his commands. 00:35:43.640 --> 00:35:50.540 I remember thinking to myself, man, I wish, I wish I wasn't born in the church. Then I could just, 00:35:50.620 --> 00:35:54.700 I could have fun like them. I could have fun like what they're doing. And then later I would just go 00:35:54.699 --> 00:36:01.019 believe in Jesus. Then I'd repent. I'd be forgiven. He'll forgive all my sins, but I could still enjoy 00:36:01.019 --> 00:36:06.119 that and then come to Jesus. I can have both. Right? Have you ever thought that way that I want 00:36:06.119 --> 00:36:11.219 Jesus's forgiveness? I want all his blessings, but there's this part of my life that I'm not ready 00:36:11.219 --> 00:36:19.619 to surrender yet. There's a sin that I still want to hold onto. Or some people ask, why do I need to do 00:36:19.619 --> 00:36:24.419 all this stuff and follow Jesus now? Like, why can't I just believe him, him later? Right when, right before I die? 00:36:25.219 --> 00:36:30.199 I'd still be forgiven anyways. Right? I think that's just missing the whole point of the gospel. 00:36:30.919 --> 00:36:35.579 It's missing the whole point. It's like asking, it's like saying, oh, Disneyland closes at 9 p.m. 00:36:35.879 --> 00:36:42.939 Why can't I just show up at 8.59? Right? Wow. I get a free upgrade to first class. That's so annoying. 00:36:43.039 --> 00:36:47.719 Why do I have to change seats? I already sat down here. Right? That's, that's, that's kind of what that 00:36:47.719 --> 00:36:53.819 question, that's what we're asking. Like, why would we want to continue in our old ways when God offers us 00:36:53.820 --> 00:36:59.600 so much more? Those things that we're looking to, those sins, they won't satisfy us. They're just a 00:36:59.600 --> 00:37:05.880 lie. Why would we want to keep settling for less when God has so much more to offer? Jesus said to us, 00:37:06.260 --> 00:37:13.420 the thief comes only to steal, steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it 00:37:13.420 --> 00:37:20.840 abundantly. Jesus came to give us life. That's why we obey him. That's why we follow him. 00:37:20.840 --> 00:37:28.440 Not as an obligation, but just to take full advantage of the new life that we have in Jesus. 00:37:30.300 --> 00:37:38.559 How can we do that? How can we live for the glory of God? And more than just actions, it's, 00:37:38.680 --> 00:37:45.059 it's a change of heart. It's not just a list of do's and don'ts, but what we are after is a change of heart 00:37:45.059 --> 00:37:51.360 above and beyond anything to do. The goal is to have a heart to want more of God, to know that he's 00:37:51.360 --> 00:37:56.579 better than anything else in this world. And here's some ways that we can express and cultivate that 00:37:56.579 --> 00:38:04.360 heart. A love for the glory of God changes us to want to look for reminders of him, to look for 00:38:04.360 --> 00:38:08.920 reminders of his glory. Because we're so prone to forgetting. We're so forgetful as people. 00:38:08.920 --> 00:38:14.740 We're so forgetful. And we need reminders. One way to remind ourself is through spiritual 00:38:14.740 --> 00:38:20.760 disciplines, seeking him out that way. When we pray, when we read the word, confess our sins, 00:38:21.639 --> 00:38:28.400 solitude. Those are ways that we can experience God. And some days we don't feel it. Some days we 00:38:28.400 --> 00:38:33.159 don't. The spiritual disciplines are just discipline. We just want to check off your Bible reading plan. 00:38:33.500 --> 00:38:38.900 Just want to be a good Christian and come to church. There are some of those days, but even 00:38:38.900 --> 00:38:44.720 then fight for joy. Look at this, knowing that, Hey, this, these aren't just things to do to be a good 00:38:44.720 --> 00:38:51.760 Christian, but God wants us to taste and see that he is good. That's why he asked us to do those things. 00:38:51.760 --> 00:38:58.280 And so we can pray in faith. Even when I don't feel it, help me to rejoice in you. I want more of you. 00:39:00.579 --> 00:39:06.539 Love for the glory of God also makes us grateful, makes us thankful, knowing that every good thing 00:39:06.539 --> 00:39:10.759 is a gift from God. And when we receive it with Thanksgiving, that glorifies him. 00:39:11.579 --> 00:39:16.159 That's also another way to be reminded of him constantly throughout the day. Thank him for the 00:39:16.159 --> 00:39:22.500 good things that we experience. Thank you for my coffee, for this meal. Thank you for my hobbies, 00:39:22.559 --> 00:39:28.000 for basketball, right? When I, when the things that we do that we enjoy, those are all good gifts from 00:39:28.000 --> 00:39:35.019 him. And those are all ways to remind us to seek him of his glory. A love for the glory of God also 00:39:35.019 --> 00:39:40.260 makes us humble, keeps us humble, right? When people praise us, when we feel accomplished, 00:39:40.920 --> 00:39:48.679 remember it's God who made us. It's his breath in our lungs. He gave us skills and talents. He gave us 00:39:48.679 --> 00:39:56.099 all this, these things. It's, it's his, my life belongs to him. And so the glory belongs to him. 00:39:56.099 --> 00:40:00.980 And actually in remembering that our identity is in being a child of God, that frees us. 00:40:01.819 --> 00:40:07.400 Like there's no pressure to perform. I'm not defined by my grades. I'm not defined by how much 00:40:07.400 --> 00:40:12.079 money I make. This frees us from the pressure to perform and earn our place in the world. 00:40:12.500 --> 00:40:19.000 We seek the glory of God and give him the glory. A love for the glory of God also helps us rejoice in 00:40:19.000 --> 00:40:23.960 suffering in tough times in life, not just in the good times in life, enjoying the good gifts, 00:40:23.960 --> 00:40:31.320 but also in suffering. When work is super busy, you're working overtime, 12 hours a day. When 00:40:31.320 --> 00:40:38.619 you're disappointed in failing an exam or job interview, we glorify God by saying, you're enough 00:40:38.619 --> 00:40:46.460 for me. Despite the circumstances, you say, I will never leave you or forsake you. And so we say, 00:40:46.599 --> 00:40:51.340 Lord is my helper. I will not fear what can man do to me. That's how we glorify God in suffering. 00:40:51.340 --> 00:40:55.920 A love for the glory of God also makes us want to obey him. 00:40:58.480 --> 00:41:05.800 We fight against sin by remembering what sin promises, that joy that sin promises, that satisfaction 00:41:05.800 --> 00:41:12.920 that sin promises. From going to that place, from changing the number on this report, from talking to 00:41:12.920 --> 00:41:19.940 that lady, we remember that this is all a lie, that the joy that sin promises, it's a lie, that God is 00:41:19.940 --> 00:41:24.740 better. His way is better. I want to follow him. That's how we glorify God. 00:41:26.480 --> 00:41:31.480 A love for the glory of God also makes us passionate to scatter. We talked about this a lot in the past 00:41:31.480 --> 00:41:37.559 few weeks, but we scatter on the one hand because we have love and compassion for the world, for people 00:41:37.559 --> 00:41:43.380 on the fringe, for those on the fringe. That's one great reason to scatter. But another one, another 00:41:43.380 --> 00:41:50.360 reason to scatter is because we love the glory of God. It's because God is good. He deserves our 00:41:50.360 --> 00:41:55.760 worship. He deserves the worship and every knee will bow to him in heaven and earth and under the 00:41:55.760 --> 00:42:00.980 earth. And we scatter. That's one reason we can scatter. That's what motivates us because God 00:42:00.980 --> 00:42:08.300 deserves the glory. And those are just some examples, but really what we're after is to have this heart in 00:42:08.300 --> 00:42:14.440 Psalm 27 that says, one thing I've asked of the Lord that I will seek after that I may dwell in the 00:42:14.440 --> 00:42:19.300 house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in the, 00:42:19.460 --> 00:42:26.160 in his temple. That's the heart that glorifies God. That the one thing I've asked, the one thing I want, 00:42:26.760 --> 00:42:30.840 the one thing I'm looking for in life that's better than anything else in the world. That's God. 00:42:30.940 --> 00:42:37.220 That's the heart that glorifies God. And so, and so today we asked this question, what is the meaning 00:42:37.219 --> 00:42:44.299 of life? What's the meaning of life? And actually it turns out we've, for the past two years, funny 00:42:44.299 --> 00:42:49.959 enough, we've been reading out the answer to this every week. We've been reading out the answer to 00:42:49.959 --> 00:42:54.899 this every week. We've been reading it out in our mission statement. Right? The first one, we are a 00:42:54.899 --> 00:43:00.619 simple gathering in a complex time and we seek to walk daily in the way of Jesus so that we may know 00:43:00.619 --> 00:43:07.039 him and enjoy him until the day he returns for good. To know him and enjoy him. And the only thing I'd add 00:43:07.039 --> 00:43:12.039 to that is to know him and enjoy him to the glory of God. That's really in the nutshell, what we're 00:43:12.039 --> 00:43:17.279 made for. That's, that's the meaning of a life. That's how we glorify God to know him and enjoy him. 00:43:17.900 --> 00:43:23.860 That's the life we're made for. But truth is every morning when we wake up, we'll be presented with a 00:43:23.860 --> 00:43:31.900 different choice. The world offers us a life built on performance, on income, on relationship status, 00:43:31.900 --> 00:43:40.039 on accomplishments. The world presents us all these good gifts and asks us to look to that rather than 00:43:40.039 --> 00:43:47.119 the giver of these gifts to God himself. And we heard what that leads to. It leads to a dead end, 00:43:47.320 --> 00:43:53.099 an empty feeling, and a scary question. Is this it? Is there, is that, is this what life is about? 00:43:53.099 --> 00:44:04.019 Is this it? But God offers us a different path. Not a path of rules, but a path to himself, right? Not a 00:44:04.019 --> 00:44:10.059 path of performance, but a path of joy. And he made the way through Jesus. He doesn't just call you to 00:44:10.059 --> 00:44:16.199 obey him, but he invites you to enjoy him, to find in him a satisfaction that is so deep that everything 00:44:16.199 --> 00:44:22.960 else is revealed as just cheap imitations. Right? So for the question for us is what will we choose? 00:44:23.419 --> 00:44:30.759 Are we going to be choosing the counterfeits or will we choose to pursue the one thing that our soul 00:44:30.759 --> 00:44:38.879 was made for? Refuse to settle for less. Let's not settle for less. Let's walk in the way of Jesus. 00:44:39.059 --> 00:44:45.299 Let's choose to know him and enjoy him. Right? Let's walk in the way of Jesus until the day he returns for 00:44:45.300 --> 00:44:51.880 good. And when he does, we have this hope. We have this hope when he returns, that's when we will know 00:44:51.880 --> 00:44:58.840 him and enjoy him forever in his presence forever. That's the goal. Let's pray. 00:44:58.840 --> 00:45:17.620 Father, we just praise you. You made us, you formed us from you, through you, to you are all things, 00:45:17.700 --> 00:45:27.280 to you be the glory forever. And Lord, we just want to have this heart. One thing I've asked for the 00:45:27.280 --> 00:45:31.600 Lord, one thing that I will seek after is to know you, to dwell in your house forever, 00:45:32.240 --> 00:45:38.920 to sit in your temple, in your gates. We just want fellowship with you. We want relationship with you. 00:45:41.420 --> 00:45:46.800 We, we say there's nothing in this world that will satisfy. There's nothing that's better than 00:45:46.800 --> 00:45:55.000 knowing you. And Lord, we confess that our hearts don't always, we don't always feel this way. We fall 00:45:55.000 --> 00:46:05.120 short. We look to things that are second, fourth, tenth, hundredth best. But Lord, we, today, we come to you 00:46:05.119 --> 00:46:15.500 and ask you, just give us more of yourself. Show us your glory. You are worthy. 00:46:17.859 --> 00:46:24.299 You are the one who can satisfy our soul. As a deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs for you. 00:46:24.300 --> 00:46:28.600 That's what I want. And you're the only one that can satisfy this thirst. 00:46:30.180 --> 00:46:33.440 Turn our eyes from looking at worthless things. Give us life in your ways. 00:46:35.320 --> 00:46:42.660 We want you. And not to us, not to us, but to your name be the glory for the sake of your steadfast love 00:46:42.660 --> 00:46:48.640 and faithfulness. Lord, we pray that today you would just remind us of who you are, 00:46:48.639 --> 00:46:57.900 that you are everything, that there is no God. You are the Lord. There is none beside you. 00:46:59.400 --> 00:47:05.739 Just help us to love you. We have this hope in Jesus. It's in his name we pray. Amen. 00:47:05.739 --> 00:47:05.819 Amen. 00:47:14.819 --> 00:47:20.159 So let's make that our goal, to say, no, Christ is enough. Christ is enough for me. 00:47:21.319 --> 00:47:27.599 And what Jesus has done on the cross, everything that God has done for me, I have in him. I have in Jesus. 00:47:27.599 --> 00:47:37.279 What's better than God sending his son, laying down his life for me, to reconcile me, to bring me back home to him. 00:47:38.019 --> 00:47:42.619 I don't need to wander anymore. I don't need to look anywhere else. 00:47:43.920 --> 00:47:47.199 Christ is enough. Let's make that our goal. 00:47:47.440 --> 00:47:53.079 And hey, what are some ways that we can remind ourselves of this as we live our lives? 00:47:53.079 --> 00:48:00.420 Because I know when you're working on a busy day, 9, 10, 11 hours a day, sitting at your desk, 00:48:00.500 --> 00:48:03.799 it's easy to go the whole way, the whole day not thinking about God. 00:48:04.619 --> 00:48:10.079 How can we remind ourselves that there's more to life than this? We were made for more. 00:48:12.199 --> 00:48:14.159 How can we find ways to rejoice in God? 00:48:15.279 --> 00:48:19.860 Take a think about that. Discuss with people around you as we go off to lunch. 00:48:19.860 --> 00:48:24.820 It could be as simple as, I'm just going to put a sticky note on my screen at work. 00:48:27.280 --> 00:48:28.019 That's one way. 00:48:28.519 --> 00:48:31.680 And maybe, hey, on the topic of scattering, that's one way to strike up conversations. 00:48:31.900 --> 00:48:33.960 But have a think, what is it that we need to do? 00:48:35.320 --> 00:48:38.820 What are some ways that we can be reminding ourselves what we're made for? 00:48:38.900 --> 00:48:40.200 That there's more to life than this. 00:48:40.720 --> 00:48:41.860 It's about the glory of God. 00:48:41.940 --> 00:48:43.400 And that Christ is enough for me. 00:48:43.400 --> 00:48:43.400 00:48:43.400 --> 00:48:43.400 00:48:43.400 --> 00:48:43.400 00:48:43.400 --> 00:48:43.400