Bonjour à tout le monde. It's our pleasure and our delight as a family to be with you after about three years of absence. And we're grateful for the partnership in the gospel that we have had from the first day of our mission work in France, even until now. The Apostle Paul used those words writing to the Christians in Philippi, who were some 900 miles away from where he was. And yet, in spite of the great geographic distance, he rejoiced in the partnership that they had together. And I find it a happy and a blessed thing that the way that the gospel advances in the world is itself an evidence as well as a result of gospel working. God creates partnership with people that naturally would be very different Paul was a Pharisee to begin with. These people in Philippi were, for the most part, pagans to begin with. And yet, the gospel advanced through the partnership that the gospel created between those two groups of people. And so, it's a celebration of what God does in us, through us, and in our relationship together that we can rejoice in this morning. And I'll reserve other words of introduction and of report for this evening. But this morning, it's my pleasure and honor to open God's word with you. So I invite you to find Ephesians 1. And I'd like us to consider the theme of worship, the fact that we are before God to celebrate the glory of His grace. Ephesians chapter one, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. And then begins a hymn of worship. that goes from verse three all the way down to verse 14. And what I'd like to do this morning with you is take this hymn as an example of, as well as an inspired guide for our worship. For the church of Jesus Christ, what can we learn for our own worship, no matter what our cultural setting may be, no matter our time frame within the history of this world, what can we learn from this hymn? And so, instead of looking at it verse by verse, I'd like to look at it as a whole. And we'll take this hymn as a flawless example as well as an authoritative guide that the Holy Spirit gives us for our worship. And to help us with that, I want to take a little time with the structure of this hymn in order to show you that it really is a hymn of praise. It's poetry. And we know it's poetry because it's very structured and condensed. It's essentially the sine qua non of poetry. We have structured and condensed thought that is presented. Moreover, this hymn is believed to be a single phrase in the original language. And we find in this hymn that there are three stanzas ending with the same sentence. And you may have already seen this. You may have already had this pointed out to you. This is nothing new, but it's important to what we want to see later on, so I want to Review it with you. If you are a Bible marker, I encourage you to underline this phrase that comes up three times so it will stand out to you in the future. The first refrain is found in verse six. So jump down to verse six where it says that we are to the praise of the glory of His grace. The praise of the glory. of His grace, notice that phrase. And then look for a similar phrase down in verse 12. That we should be to the praise of His glory. Do you see those same two words? Praise and glory. And then if you look at the end of the hymn, the very last words of the hymn, the last part of verse 14, it says, unto the what? Unto the praise of His glory. And there you have it again. Those two great words, praise and glory. There is the same refrain three times, which suggests that we have a three-part structure, we have three stanzas in this hymn. And looking at it, we find that they have similar, yet slightly different subjects. And you may want to circle the words I'm gonna give you in order to see the contrast between the different stanzas. Look at the first stanza, which begins in verse three. Blessed be the God and Father. And in my Bible, I have circled the word Father, and this first stanza is primarily about God the Father. Then if you look at verse six, which ends the first stanza and kind of sends us into the second stanza, to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the who, the beloved. And I encourage you to circle the word beloved. Who is the beloved one in this text? It's not God the Father, it is God the Son. And if you're unsure of that, is that really God the Son? I think that's very clear in the next verse. If you just keep reading into verse seven, in whom, so the beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood. Very clearly pointing us to Jesus Christ, God the Son. So the second stanzas is primarily, not exclusively, but primarily about God the Son. So the first stanza's primarily about God the Father. Second stanza's primarily about God the Son, and if you go to the end of the hymn, look at verse 13. He says, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. And you could circle the word Holy Spirit, and what that will point out to you is that we have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This is a Trinitarian hymn. I love worshiping a triune God. It is something that mankind could never have conceived, but God's holy word has revealed. So there's part of the structure, but one other aspect of the structure is in relation to time that we see in some of these events or verbs. I'm calling them time words, although they're actually actions that God does. I have a rectangle around them in my Bible. Look at verse four. According as he, and we know now that this is talking about God the Father, so he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. Notice that word chosen, that's what I have. a rectangle around that, that word shows, it speaks of our election, and notice when it took place, before the foundation of the world. Now jump down to the second stanza in verse seven, and we're just setting this up, I think, to be helpful for us when we try to draw out some truths here. This is like building the foundation. It might not be as fun as putting up the paint, but it's important for the house. Look at verse seven, in whom And it's now speaking of God the Son, we have redemption. I've chosen the word redemption as the key time word in this phrase because of God the Father we're chosen, and because of Christ the Son we have redemption. And redemption occurred in time. Specific time in history, in fact, the date on your calendar is set, more or less, by the coming of God the Son into the world to redeem us from our sins. And then if you go to verse 14, he speaks of the Holy Spirit, we've already seen that from verse 13, which is the Holy Spirit is the earnest, or he's the guarantee of our salvation. Inheritance. And I chose the word inheritance as the time marker for this last stanza. And the inheritance that this is talking about does not point us back into eternity past like the word chosen. It does not even point us back to a moment in time like the word redemption, but it's actually pointing us forward into eternity future. So we're in eternity, but not in eternity past, we're in eternity future. This is our eternal inheritance that's being pointed out to us. And so here's the beauty of this hymn. It's a Trinitarian hymn, which begins then in eternity past, and the scope of it reaches, by the time we get to the end, all the way into eternity future. Ephesians 1, 3-4 is what we could call a meta-narrative. I use that word because it was invented by a French philosopher. Not too many good things invented by French philosophers, but words, even non-biblical words, can sometimes help us grasp certain truths. Trinity, for example. And A metanarrative is a narrative or a story that embraces all the other little narratives. For example, children may have heard about Washington crossing the Delaware. That's a story in and of itself. But that actually belongs to a bigger story, right, of the American Revolution. And we could say, well, the American Revolution actually belongs to an even bigger story, which is the history of the United States of America. So we have smaller stories, but we understand those smaller stories fit into larger stories. And so the idea of a metanarrative is that you have actually a big story in which all the little stories of your life fit into. It's not that you just happen to get up, and then you happen to have breakfast, and then you happen to leave and get in your car. No, all those little events fit into a bigger thing, and everybody wants to have a bigger story to his whole life, more than just, in French we call it, metro, boulot, dodo, which is metro, work, sleep, except it rhymes. That's what they say most people's life is, metro, sleep, go to work, work, and go sleep, and start all over again. People want a bigger story to their lives. And this hymn tells us of the work of God from eternity to eternity. to eternity. That is to say, it encompasses all of history, all of eternity, everything that can exist. This is the meta-narrative. This is the story. And when you look at it, you realize that it is God's story. It is a story of what the triune God is at work and what he's doing. He is the grand subject of the story. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, each in this text, this hymn, tells us that story as being the work of God. He is at the center, it is his story. And so if you'll allow me just to reread it, before I pull out three truths from it. Hear the word of God, starting in verse three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him. In love, having predestinated us into the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace. wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself. that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory. who first trusted in Christ, in whom he also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after that ye believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession and to the praise of his glory. First thing I want to pull out here is the role to which God has chosen us. I think this is a concept even the children can understand. What is the role for which God has chosen us? What is our part in this story? I want to isolate for a moment verse four. Could you look at that? According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him. If we can stop right there for a moment. Before him. He has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be before him. Before him, in front of him. Salvation does not simply allow us to have access to God. That is true. What did Jesus say? I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Jesus gives us access to God the Father. In fact, right here in Ephesians chapter two, verse 18, it says, for through Christ we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. We find again the Trinity in that verse. but salvation doesn't just let us have access to God. We see here in this verse, verse four, that we're chosen before the foundation of the world so that we should be before him. In other words, God has saved me, among other things, so that I can be before him in his presence. And I like what Milton Vincent says in his Gospel Primer. He says, as a chosen one of God, I was saved to pray. And whenever I come into God's presence to behold Him, worship Him, or make requests of Him, I am arriving at the pinnacle of God's saving purposes for me. So think of that. When you get up to have fellowship with God, to read His word towards you and express your words towards Him in prayer, prayer's not simply a means of reaching a goal. Prayer is the goal. That's where He wants you. He wants you before Him. He wants you in His presence. In Christ, God has chosen us before the foundation of the world that we should be before him. But you know, the fact, the simple fact of finding ourselves before a holy God should itself terrify us. We read in Revelation how people will be crying, rocks, fall on us, and hide us, actually, from his presence and the wrath of the Lamb. Standing before God is not in and of itself a happy prospect to anyone who has the remotest consciousness of sin. I've never met a condemned criminal who looks forward to standing before a judge. But here's the good news that changes everything in relation to our future before God. Let's go back to verse four and let me add the two adjectives that I'd taken away. Before as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be, not just before him, but what are those two adjectives? That we should be holy and without blame before him. My friends, that is the gospel. That's the good news right there. Jesus Christ came not only to give us access to God, but that we might be holy and blameless before God. And I can assure you on biblical authority that no matter who you are, you can have assurance that one day you will stand not only before God, but you will stand there holy and blameless in Jesus Christ. That's good news, but remember, We're trying to discover the role for which God has chosen us. And part of the answer is that he's chosen us to be before him. That's key. He wants us to be before him. But even this is not the ultimate goal. Okay, he's chosen us, verse 14, to be before him. Verse four, that we could call the penultimate goal, but the first stanza's not over yet. It goes on to give us the ultimate goal. In love, And I like to throw the love here now with what follows. In love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to, and now here we finally have the two of ultimate purpose. We're before him, but why are we before him? To the praise of the glory of God. of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. All this leads down to verse 16, or six, sorry, which says to the praise of the glory of his grace, to celebrate his glory. That's why he gave us a title before God, to celebrate the glory of his grace. So this is the role for which God has chosen us. It's simple enough, even for you children. It's to praise His glorious grace. It's to celebrate His glory. And that's not just a parentheses, right? Because we saw down in verse 12 that we should be to the praise of His glory, and we saw in verse 14 that we're unto the praise of His glory. So we are born and reborn to celebrate God's glory. And I like the French translation here. where it says that we may serve to celebrate his glory. Or we could put it this way, to the celebration of his glory. Because this indicates that my role is not merely passive. Now what's the difference between passively serving to his glory and actively celebrating his glory? Well imagine this, imagine one day in heaven you run into me. And you think, Tim Bixby's in heaven? God must be a gracious God. And just my being there would be to the praise of God's glory, right? But that's still different. than if I'm actively taking part in celebrating God's glory. See, in one, I'm just there, I'm passive, and wow, God's gracious. But in the other, I'm celebrating His glory. That's what God wants from us. It's the difference between serving passively and actively praising. And I think this word translated praise, which is found only these three times in Ephesians, but elsewhere in the Bible, It speaks of active participation. For example, don't look it up, but in Romans 2.29, it says, it's speaking of certain people, and it says, whose praise, and it's the exact same word, actually, whose praise is not from man, but from God. Okay, so what is praise there? Praise is not something God is. When it says his praise is from God, praise is something God gives. God actually gives praise. 1 Corinthians 4-5, we find the same word again. Then shall every man have praise, this is our word, of God, or from God. You see, it's not something God is, but something God does. And so, I think that when Ephesians 1-6 says, we should be to the praise of his glory, it's not simply something we are, it's something we do. We give praise. It's to the praising, if you will, of His glory. To the celebrating or celebration of His glory. But we need that active concept in our minds. This is worship. This worship can be defined as coming before God to celebrate His glory. And you could summarize all these verses. four, five, six, by saying in Him, God has chosen us before the foundation of the world that we should worship Him. That's our purpose. That's our role. God saves us to make us worshipers. Christ redeemed a people in order to celebrate His glory. Do you know that only once in the New Testament is it said that God seeks something? And you know what he says he seeks? Jesus talking to the woman at the well says in John 4.23, for the father seeketh such to worship him. The same word is used in the same story in verse 27 where we're told that the disciples saw Jesus talking with a woman and they did not dare ask him, what do you seek? So Jesus was seeking something, he was after something. And he was seeking not earthly food, but the will of his father. He says, verse 34, to his disciples, my meat, my food is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. Well, what is the will of him who sent him? What is the will of the father? To seek and to find worshipers. He says it in the same story. God the Father was at that very moment through his son in search of worshipers and he found in this woman a worshiper and through her he found a large part of the village, turned them into worshipers. The will of the Father who sent Jesus to seek worshipers does not merely explain the conversation with this lady, it explains Jesus' whole life on earth and death. When Jesus said, my father seeks worshipers, that's his will, and then he says, my will, my food is to do and accomplish his will, he's binding his will to his heavenly father's will and saying, I'm here to seek worshipers for my father. And so to the question, why did Jesus come to earth? One biblical answer would be to say that Jesus came that his father might find worshipers. If we ask what is the will of God for my life, here's a fundamental answer. The will of God for my life is that I be a worshiper, that I celebrate God's glory, God's story, what He's doing in this world, not just passively, but actively, Jesus died to make me a worshiper. That is the role for which I was chosen. The first desire of God for me is not that I do something for him, but that I celebrate and praise his glory. Before we set to work in his field, God wants us to admire his glory. And so evangelism is the quest for God worshipers. As worshipers, we're seeking, like Jesus, other worshipers to fill heaven with worshipers. That's the role, that's the first point, the role for which God has chosen us. The answer is to celebrate his glory, or if you will, to worship him. But now secondly, What is the glory that we are to celebrate? What is the glory that we're to worship? If he wants us to celebrate his glory, what aspect of his glory does he want to be celebrated most? Look at verse 12. It says that we should be to the praise of his glory. Or if we plug in that active sense of the word praise, that we might be to the praising or the celebration of his glory. In verse 14 again, that we'd be unto the praise or the celebration of his glory. And so the question we wanna ask now is, what is that glory of God that we wanna celebrate? What glory should be at the center of our praise? And it's very important to understand that there are different aspects of God's glory. So, I'm gonna ask you a question. In the broadest sense possible, where is the glory of God to be found? In the broadest sense possible, we could say, well, wherever God has revealed it, right? Okay, well, in the broadest sense possible, where does God reveal his glory? And the answer to that question is everywhere, right? Everywhere. God reveals His glory everywhere. Psalm 19, the heavens declare what? The glory of God. The firmament manifests His handiwork. The creation of God reveals the glory of God. His glory is therefore everywhere. Someone said in creating the universe, God has spread his glory in everything. Creation does not wait for the opportunity to manifest the glory of God. It already does it today. The seraphim flying around the throne of the Lord constantly proclaim in the words of Isaiah 6.3, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth full of his glory. Calvin, who I specify was a Frenchman, says this, Ce monde a été conçu comme un spectacle de la gloire de Dieu. En lui manifestent les perfections de sa nature invisible. Did you get that? That was to wake you up. I'll give you the translation into English. He says, this world was conceived as a spectacle is the word, a theatrical performance of the glory of God. Isn't that a beautiful image? God conceived this world, he's saying, as like a stage on which to display his glory. In it, he manifests the perfections of his invisible nature. It's exactly what Romans 1.20 says. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood, notice this, by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead. So creation, which is God's general revelation, reveals the glory of God. And we're part of the glory of God, right? Because we're part of God's creation. When you look at man and woman who alone bear the image of their creator, this is His glory reflected even in us. And so the gifts we have, the intellectual or physical abilities that God has given us are part of the creation of God. If you can run fast, if you can do mental calculations with ease, if you can play an instrument with beauty, it's because God created creatures with those abilities. Man therefore with all his abilities is part of the general revelation of the glory of God. We can therefore glorify God as a chemist, as a musician, as a teacher, as a shoemaker, as a cook. Whether therefore you eat or drink, you can do all things to the glory of God. This verse sanctifies all occupations. But think with me. Can general revelation display all the varied aspects of the glory of God? Or are there perhaps certain aspects of God's glory that nature around us cannot reveal to us? Nature gives us a view of God's glory that should lead us to adore him. It should lead us to celebrate God's glory just by looking at nature. But there's another view, if you will, there's another chain of mountains to be seen that would give us an even wider, what do you call that word, panorama of the glory of God. That would take our worship to heights that nature simply cannot take us to. And Psalm 19 speaks not only of general revelation that reveals God's general glory and so drives us to worship God in a general way, verses seven through 11 of Psalm 19 speak of special revelation, the law of God that reveals a special glory of God. And the special glory drives us to special, if you will, worship. In other words, there's not only a general glory, Revealed by general revelation, there's a special glory revealed by special revelation. And what is this glory that we do not see in nature? Look at verse six of our text. To the praise of his glory, but to the praise of the glory, none of it's just his power or his wisdom, or His holiness, but to the glory of His grace. Grace. In Ephesians 1, we find the glory of His grace revealed. That is God's special glory. And keep that sentence in mind, the glory of His grace, or His glorious grace, and look at chapter two, verse seven, probably just across the page. glory of His grace, and what is the glory of His grace? Look at 2 verse 7. Notice why God saves us. He has done this, that in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness towards us. through Christ Jesus. He wants to display the exceeding riches of his glorious grace through us. Display in us the riches of his grace. And if you ask yourself, where is God's glory? Well, here we see that a great part of his glory is found in this sentence. The exceeding or immeasurable riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Jesus Christ. And this is the glory that we've been chosen to celebrate. The heavens can celebrate God's general glory, and they do, but only chosen and redeemed sinners turned saints can celebrate the glory of his grace. And so we can now answer our question. What is the glory that we have to celebrate or to worship? It is the glory of His grace, the glory of the exceeding or immeasurable riches of His grace. So do we have that in the children? The role for which God has created is to celebrate His glory, the glory that we're specially to celebrate, is the glory of His grace. And lastly, but I think very important for our age, I want us to consider the primary means of inciting us to celebrate the glory of God. of His grace. What is the means? We have something to learn from this hymn. The means, the way in which God is going to push us to worship God for His glorious grace. You know, I'm sure that there's a whole lot of talk in Christian circles about worship. Celebrating God's grace. how to incite people to worship, how to have what I have heard termed as a quote, powerful worship experience, et cetera. And I think it should go without saying that worship is to celebrate the glory of God's grace that we have displayed to us and we cannot worship what is not set before us, right? So what is the revelation that displays the glory of God's grace? How does God display the glory of his grace? Is it creation? Can creation reveal this special glory, this exceeding, immeasurable riches of God's grace? The simple answer is no. Right, you agreed with me? Nature cannot reveal God's grace. It takes a special revelation to reveal God's special glory. So how is this glory revealed? Well, if you hold your finger here, just look at one parallel passage in Hebrews one, and then we'll come right back. Hebrews one, the first two and a half verses there. Hebrews one, God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake, so we're talking about God revealing Himself here, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us. Again, He has revealed Himself to us. God has spoken, how? Through or by His Son. The Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, will be in the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person, et cetera. The point here is that, we can go back to our text, that God reveals his glory through his Son. Here is a perfect reflection of the glory of God. See that in verse three. The brightness of his glory. The express image of God's person. It's therefore in him that we see the exact imprint of God's nature. So creation reveals to us one aspect of God's glory. But Jesus Christ reveals to us heights and depths and breadth that no eye has seen, that no mind could have conceived. but which God has reserved for those who love Him. Here is a glory that God must reveal to us by special and direct means, such as the prophets, and then abundantly in Jesus Christ as revealed to us in Scripture. And this special revelation must be the primary means of inciting us to worship God for His grace, to manifest His general glory, God uses general revelation. But to manifest his special glory, God uses special revelation. So when I want to admire or cause other people to admire God's general glory, what can I use? Well, I can use any aspect of God's general revelation. So if you know how to draw beautiful portraits, or play beautiful music, or prepare delicious meals, you can, through those means, display God's glory to people. There are aspects of God's general glory that are displayed through the gifts and the talents that we have from him. So can a delicious meal, for example, this is probably where your minds are going already, can a delicious meal Display the glory of God. And the answer is yes. But can a delicious meal, even the best of meals, display the glory of God's exceeding grace in Jesus Christ? The answer is no. And why not? Because in order to reveal God's special glory, one must use God's special revelation. Let me put it a different way. Can we spend an hour walking through the beautiful countryside and worshiping God through the creation we see? The answer is absolutely yes. But does that mean that we should cancel our morning service and spend every Sunday morning outside walking through the forest? I hope you'd say no. Why? Because to reveal God's special glory, we have to use God's special revelation. We have to look at, see, admire, understand the revelation of Jesus Christ as revealed in the scripture. We have to set our eyes on that. And this is where this hymn is so helpful to us in shaping our worship, because in order to incite us to praise and worship God, it reveals to us the glory of God's grace by telling us what God has done for us through Christ. God's primary means of inciting us to worship His glorious grace is His inspired revelation of Himself in Scripture. If we really want to worship together and celebrate together the glory of His grace, we have to contemplate together the revelation of his grace, and that is found in the living word, Jesus Christ, as revealed in the written word, which we call the Bible. So, please hear this, the primary means of inciting us to celebrate the glory of his grace must be then God's special revelation, the person of Christ in the word of Christ. Biblical revelation is itself the primary incentive to true worship. And that is why it is through the folly of the preached word that God is bringing, creating worshipers. There's simply no other substitute for God's revealed, holy word. And here's the danger. In any age, here's the danger, is to depend on aspects of God's, aspects, plural, of God's general revelation, as the primary tools to incite people to worship God's special glory. We often want people to worship God for the glory of his grace, but without using as our primary means for such worship the proclamation of God's special revelation, or it could become even worse than that. We could become content with just a general worship of God, based on a general revelation of God while totally ignoring the special glory of God displayed in Christ who is revealed in the scriptures. So here's an easy question, I think. The worship of the gathered church as well as her evangelization, is it centered on God's general glory or God's special glory? What should the worship of the church be centered on? Just God's general glory or God's special glory? I think you'd say with me, our worship is to be centered on God's special glory. the glory of his exceeding immeasurable grace. Okay, follow up question, what then should be our primary incentive to worship his glorious grace? It should be beholding together that glory as revealed in Christ through the scriptures. When God's special glory, the glory of his grace manifested in Jesus Christ is at the center, all the other aspects of God's general revelation just serve as accompaniments, if you will, but they should never be the focus, they should never be the center of our attention. And when you look through church history, I found this very interesting, you'll discover that the center of the church's worship has often been displaced, it's often just been uprooted and relocated by the very means that people were choosing to incite people to worship. Nearly every single town and village in France has at least one, if not several, Christian cathedrals. Think of the medieval man entering the cathedral. No doubt, the tallest and most imposing structure he had ever seen in his whole life. Even now, we get awed when we walk into Notre Dame or these other cathedrals. The edifice is itself imposing. The place was designed to fill one with wonder and awe, to incite people to worship. That's their intention. That's the best of intentions. But did it work? Or did the means to worship ultimately displace the center of worship? Now there's no doubt about it, if the place which is important, I'm not saying it's not significant to have a place set apart to worship God, but if the place, which is part of the creation of God, becomes the primary means of inciting us to worship God, the center of worship will be displaced away from the glory of God's grace, revealed in scripture to another aspect of God's glory. You understand what I'm saying, the primary means we use to incite people to worship, God will determine the primary glory that is worshiped. The primary means we use to push people to worship will determine the primary glory of God that is revealed. And throughout church history, special vestments have been used to incite people to worship. So they started wearing special robes and colors and hats. but where vestments became the primary means to incite people to worship, the center of worship ended up being displaced away from the glory of God's grace as revealed in Christ through the scripture. And then you have special and elaborate ceremonies that were invented and that had and still are used in many places as a primary incentive for worship, but the means often ended up uprooting the center of worship, which is to be the glory of God's grace as revealed in Christ, as displayed in the scriptures. And what do you think in our day is the, all caps, the primary incentive to worship used by the church today? Now this is a matter of personal opinion, but I don't think it's anymore the place. We're happy to worship in a storefront, doesn't make any difference. And I don't think it's any longer the vestments, we're happy to come in jeans and flip flops. And I don't think it's even the ceremonies, we're happy to be as casual as everything. What I think today is a sine qua non of worship, what is almost universally equated with worship in much of the evangelical church, is music. I call music the modern cathedral. We use it, we depend on it to incite people to worship. The worship leader, in quotes, is not the guy who opens God's special revelation to display the glory of God's grace as revealed in the person of Christ or the word of Christ. The reading and preaching of scripture have been almost entirely severed from our concept of worship. You have the worship time and then you have the preaching. I'm not against music. Music is part of God's general revelation, can be used to glorify him. My point is simply that if we put any aspect of God's general revelation at the center of the worship of the gathered church, we will limit ourselves to a display of God's general glory. And we must worship God for his general glory revealed throughout nature. But if His general glory is the center of our worship in the church of Jesus Christ, we'll miss the supreme panorama of His glorious grace that He wants to put on display. And the only way to see His glorious grace is through the means of his inspired word as it reveals his holy son. Here's what is at stake. The primary means we use to incite people to worship God will determine the primary glory of God that is revealed. So if I chose to give you an hour-long speech on the birds of the forest, for example, this choice of means of revealing the glory of God through the birds, which is true, the birds reveal the glory of God, but that will determine the glory of God that is revealed. They can only reveal a certain aspect of God's glory. You may see the glory of God, but you will not see the glory of his grace by contemplating wild birds. And here's why when you come to this church, they don't give lectures on birds. One can use the birds as an illustration, that's what I'm doing right now, but they cannot be given the central position of worship. The chosen means of revealing the glory of God will determine the glory that is revealed. So if someone says, you know, I like the Bible and all that, but what really drives me to worship are pictures of birds. What if you met someone like that? That's what really makes me worship God. Well, this person cannot be worshiping God for his grace, for he's replaced the glorious demonstration of that grace for a view of another aspect of God's glory, a less glorious aspect. So if someone says, you know, I like the Bible, I like preaching, I believe it reveals God's grace, but what really drives me to worship is that CD I have in my car. That's part of God's creation. Reveals his general glory, perhaps, but that person is depriving himself or herself of the most spectacular panorama of God's glory, which is his grace, as revealed in Christ, as seen in the scriptures. So what is at the center? And here again is where this hymn of praise is so helpful in shaping our worship. What is at the center? Well, it's all about God. The subject of this hymn is very apparent. This hymn tells us the story of the work of God. There is nothing that God has done in the past or will do all the way into the future that is not somehow englobed and encompassed in this hymn. It's really a summary of the history of God's work. The worship of the church is to be centered then on the work of God, the work of the triune God. God's work is at the center and His revelation must be the primary incentive to our worship. Question, why then is God's word so often displaced from its role as a primary incentive to worship? Simply because it's still foolishness to the world. It still is. But the fault lies not with Scripture. The fault lies with us. Our flesh, let's admit it, would rather anything but Scripture. We actually prefer lesser panorama, less glorious panoramas of God's glory. than beholding this. True worship, however, is a celebration of the grace of God in Christ, fueled by the revelation given to us by the Spirit. I celebrate God for what He has done for me, and His Son as revealed to me by what He has given me through His Spirit. The primary focus of worship is what God has done for me through Christ, and the primary incentive to worship is the word that God has given me through his spirit to display these things for me. God is still seeking worshipers who will worship him in spirit and in truth. May God bless his word to our hearts and use it to incite us to worship him as he desires. May you stand with me for prayer. Our Father, we join our hearts to speak to you, conscious that we have been in your presence. And we pray now that you would remove anything that is from man, but that by your Spirit you would drive into our hearts all that is from you, and that you would give us eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to adore the glorious glory of your grace as seen in Christ and revealed through your holy word. We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, your son. Amen.