God's Glory

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

Psalms 115:1–11

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.

Psalms 115:1

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.

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

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 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,

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.