Sermon Notes: Worship – Humbly Glorifying God

Revelation 4:1-11

We’ve been studying the subject of worship because as we continue in our study of Exodus we will find that worship is something Israel has already formed systems around and those systems will need to be disrupted as they reveal themselves in their practice.

We are not different. All human beings worship. The question is for us, who or what do we worship in competition with Jesus who we learn in a jealous God and will not tolerate any competition for his glory.

Let’s review our working definition:

Worship is communion with God in which believers by grace center their mind’s attention and heart’s affection on the Lord humbly glorifying God in response to the revelation of his glory and majesty.

We are going to read Revelation 4:1-11 to help us unpack “humbly glorifying God”, so let’s read it together.

Revelation 4:1-11.

What is “humbly glorifying God” concerning worship?

We are going to start in a strange way to get us over to Revelation 4:1-11, so come on a quick word study to help us look at our text and learn.

We will have two main observations that read the same way. They will each emphasize different parts of the sentence to make them two distinct observations.

Worship HUMBLY glorifies God.

Let’s look at some Hebrew words that are translated as worship.
1. Sachah (shacaw) – “bow”
2. Asah – “do” as in You shall not “do” the Lord your God that way. (as in worship him like Asherah is worshiped)
3. Abad – “serve”
4. Cagid (sageed) – “prostrate” “do homage”
5. Sharath – “minister”
Let’s look at some Greek words that are translated as worship.
1. Proskuneo – “adore” “show respect”, literally “to kiss toward”
2. Latreuo – “serve” particularly in the application of service in the levitical order of serving
3. Sebomai – “reverence”
4. Latreia – “service like that of a servant”
The body of language the Bible uses to describe worship leaves us with an undeniable reality that worship is a humble action.
James 4:6 tells us that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
1. The Lord acknowledges humility, so when it comes to capturing the posture of worship that the Lord approves, humility must be the posture.
2. The primary word used in the New Testament for “humble”, “tapeinos”, means to “be low”.
  1. What does that mean regarding the Christian’s humility?
    1. Humility has two components to it:
      1. Physical humility and accurate self-assessment.
        
        Physical humility is just what it sounds like, a physically low position.
      2. Accurate self-assessment is just what it sounds like, judging oneself accurately. Knowing our place.
        
        Biblical humility does not require us to demean ourselves or be unnecessarily self-deprecating.
        
        Humility requires us to act and think rightly about where we are, whose presence we are in, and who we are.
Therefore as we center our mind’s attention and heart’s affection on the Lord, we approach humbly.
1. Revelation 4 gives us a glimpse of what humbly glorifying God looks like.
2. Revelation 4:10 tells us that the 24 elders “fall down before” the one seated on the throne, the Lord God.
  1. “Fall down before” means to move from a higher place to a lower place physically accompanied by a shift in countenance. This is where these creatures show the physical and self-assessment parts of humility. Their shift in countenance is their displaying they have assessed themselves rightly.
    1. These 24 elders physically move from their thrones to the ground and adjust their countenance because of who they are falling down before.
      1. The Lord’s presence moves their physical change in position, they assess themselves accurately, and thus their countenance shifts.
        
        The shifting countenance is not to a sad state. It is the state of recognizing one’s location to the holy.
    2. Then the Bible says next “and worship the one who lives forever and ever.”
      1. Not “then”, signifying that worship was something other than their physical location and their accurate self-assessment.
      2. The Bible says “and”, signifying their physical movement and the shift in countenance was the bedrock of their worship.
    3. The elders then “cast their crowns” before the Lord’s throne and THEN use their words to express with their mouths what is happening on the inside to move them to fall down, shift their countenance, and offer their crowns.
What does humble worship look like?
1. Humble worship moves in ways that reflect awe in response to the Lord’s glory. (Not to get too far into next week, but the Lord’s revelation of himself dictates our physical response.)
  1. Remember in Exodus 12 how the people who came to meet with the Lord stood at the entrance of their tents, then they bowed to worship?
    1. Biblically informed Christian worship should always include movement.
      1. Some traditions incorporate kneeling as well as standing and sitting.
        
        We don’t have kneeling benches, but kneeling is an appropriate Christian response to the grace of God.
        
        NOTE: Some postures are better suited for private worship than they are for corporate worship. You need to be able to socially know the difference.
  2. In Nehemiah, they walked along the walls in two different directions to stand and sing antiphonally to the Lord.
    1. Physical movement matters. It signals our acknowledgment of what we are seeing and hearing.
    2. Humble worship has to include movement.
      1. So, we gather for you to move yourself to attend.
      2. We have you move to a seat.
      3. We have you stand and sit.
      4. You can raise your hands.
      5. You can sway.
      6. We send you.
      7. You physically leave to go on mission for the week.
      8. We sing songs that innately help the human body move.
        
        Have you ever noticed that standing and singing cause human movement?
        
        This is because the Lord created music to assist the human in moving in appropriate ways to worship the Lord Jesus.
2. Humble worship requires accurate self-assessment.
  1. We saw how “falling down” includes the physical movement of humbling oneself and a shift in countenance.
  2. The Christian must never stray from the good news as the good news humbles us and changes our countenance.
    1. We begin the day telling the Lord good morning, and remembering why we can enjoy communion with him, and that is because of the good news that Jesus came on the mission to save sinners, of whom, I am foremost.
      1. I don’t proclaim myself to be more than I am or less than I am.
        
        I am a man who was under the condemnation of God because of sin inherited from Adam’s fall in the garden.
        
        Because of God’s grace in getting the good news to my ears with effect and the response of faith, I am now a saint, not perfect, but positionally counted as perfect because of the finished work of Jesus in my place for my sin.
    2. Therefore, I don’t approach flippantly or arrogantly; I approach with confident caution (humble), presuming nothing while offering my life as a living sacrifice.
      1. My confidence is in Jesus’ finished work alone.
      2. My caution is to make sure I evaluate myself well and don’t take the blood of Jesus for granted.
3. Humble worship directs attention to the Lord, not the worshiper(s).
  1. Notice the 24 elders cast their crowns before the Lord’s throne and speak words directed to the Lord.
    1. The elders don’t say words about themselves or reflect on themselves, and they don’t say words until those words come from humble postures.
    2. The elders put their attention on the Lord.
      1. This truth should affect the kinds of words we choose to say to the Lord and sing to the Lord.
        
        We are not the object of worship, so we should not be the subject of our words in worship.
        
        Worship is not self-help. (But worship will help the self when worship is done right, and we’ll have some application about this.)
        
        Notice in verse 11 the 3 to 1 ratio of second-person singular pronouns to first-person plural personal pronouns.
        
        Our Lord and God…
        
        You are worthy…
        
        You have created…
        
        By your will, they existed…
    3. The attention is firmly on the Lord not on the worshipers.
      1. Humble worship must be aware of it’s theological content being right and voluminous.

Worship humbly GLORIFIES God

Christians humbly glorify God in how we live.
1. We are going to go a long way around to work this out, so hang in there.
2. Revelation affirms that it is right for God to be glorified by his creatures.
3. Revelation 14:9 tells us that the living creatures give “glory” to the one seated on the throne.
  1. The elders say to the Lord, “…you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power…”
  2. I would argue that the Lord being glorified here begins with how these creatures are living not just the result of the living, which are words expressed.
    1. That’s not to minimize the words. We are just putting first things first.
4. Before we jump to Christians glorifying God like the hosts of heaven glorify God, we need to note that God being glorified begins in inter-Trinitarian love.
  1. John 17:1-5 (HCSB) 1 Jesus spoke these things, looked up to heaven, and said: Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son so that the Son may glorify You, 2 for You gave Him authority over all flesh; so He may give eternal life to all You have given Him. 3 This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and the One You have sent — Jesus Christ. 4 I have glorified You on the earth by completing the work You gave Me to do. 5 Now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with that glory I had with You before the world existed.
    1. Jesus asks the Father to glorify him so that he can glorify the Father as he gives eternal life to all the people the Father has given to him.
      1. Our reception of eternal life depends on the Father glorifying Jesus and Jesus glorifying the Father.
        
        The work of the cross is a display of the Father exalting the Son and the Son exalting the Father, and that inter-Trinitarian love is the root of our salvation.
    2. Jesus glorified the Father on earth by completing the work the Father gave him to do, so Jesus asks the Father to glorify him again in the Father’s presence with the glory he had with the Father before the creation of all things.
      1. We all probably need to get alone and sit with John 17:1-5 until we have the level of awe that Ezekiel had as he observed the eternal Son of God, Jesus, sitting on the throne in Ezekiel 1:25-27 and that he came to die to save those the Father gave him for his glory.
5. When followers of Jesus glorify God we are joining with the unseen hosts imitating what they see in the members of the Triune God honoring one another.
  1. The living creatures and elders in Revelation 14 are not making anything up.
  2. They are glorifying the Lord as they see the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit glorifying one another.
6. How can we glorify God in how we live? Remember, this was the observable point.
  1. Peter teaches us how we can glorify God in a way that reflects how the persons of the Godhead glorify one another.
  2. 1 Peter 4:7-11 (CSB) 7 Now the end of all things is near; therefore, be serious and disciplined for prayer. 8 Above all, maintain an intense love for each other, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Be hospitable to one another without complaining. 10 Based on the gift each one has received, use it to serve others, as good managers of the varied grace of God. 11 If anyone speaks, it should be as one who speaks God’s words; if anyone serves, it should be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To Him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.
    1. Notice what Peter said: “…so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything”?
      1. God is glorified through Jesus as we do the things he just listed for us to do because that is how Jesus glorified the Father in his work to come and save sinners.
    2. According to Peter, God is glorified as we:
      1. Engage in serious and disciplined prayer.
      2. Maintain intense love for each other.
      3. Are hospitable to one another without complaining.
      4. Use our gifts to serve others as good managers of the various “grace” (gifts) the Lord has given us.
      5. Speaking like we are speaking God’s words.
      6. Serving with the strength the Lord provides.
Worship should humbly glorify God by offering words that acknowledge his attributes at all times.
1. The living creatures and elders glorify the Lord day and night.
  1. Glorifying God is not limited to a time or location.
    1. It is right to glorify God at all times by being continually aware of his presence and majesty.
      1. In other words, worship is the life we live that is continually aware of the Lord’s presence and we live as living sacrifices to and for him not merely a song or set of songs we sing.
2. The living creatures and elders glorify God together.
  1. Worship can be a personal experience and something we do alone, BUT worship is maximized when we do it together.
    1. Our worship should strive to be Trinitarian because that is the nature of the Lord and that is the image we were created in.
    2. Because God is triune and never isolated from himself, worship is best done when it is with others who follow Jesus glorifying God together.
      1. We are to glorify God together in fellowship.
3. The living creatures and elders glorify God by speaking to him and recalling his excellencies. This is the part where we say and we sing words to the Lord.
  1. Holy. Holy. Holy.
  2. Lord God, the Almighty.
  3. Eternal!
  4. Our Lord God.
  5. You are worthy to receive glory and honor and power because you created all things, and by your will they exist and were created.
    1. Worship that glorifies God uses words to communicate to the Lord that we see and we know and adore who he is.

Application:

God does not give us worship because he is needy and manipulates his creatures to meet his needs.
1. By calling us to glorify him the Lord is seeking our highest joy.
2. C.S. Lewis wrestled with this in the Psalms.
  1. It seemed to him before his conversion that this needy God was just blathering on about meeting his needs with “praise me!” all over the place.
3. When humans act like this, constantly seeking attention to meet some need, we rightly understand that they have a problem.
  1. Not God. He created all things, and it is not a sin for God to seek his glory from creatures who were created to experience joy when they found it in their Creator.
4. We were created to be in fellowship with the Lord, and our highest joy was experienced when we had continual communion with him.
5. Due to the fall into distrust, we lost our highest joy when we lost communion with the Lord Jesus, and the sickness of the curse wrecked the human soul, and mankind has wrestled with what he delights in.
  1. Worship that glorifies God is one of the Lord’s healing balms in the restoration of humanity in his people.
  2. In saving us and calling us to worship, he is leading us to the living water of experiencing our highest joy.
By calling the nations to worship, God seeks his glory in the praise of his people, and the praise of his people is their highest joy.
1. What is for God’s glory is also for our ultimate happiness.
2. Look at Isaiah 48:9-11 (CSB) 9 I will delay My anger for the honor of My name, and I will restrain Myself for your benefit and for My praise, so that you will not be destroyed. 10 Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. 11 I will act for My own sake, indeed, My own, for how can I be defiled? I will not give My glory to another.
  1. Again, if a human said something like this, they would be off their rocker because they did not create all things.
    1. The Lord Jesus did create all things, and he says here in verse 9 that his saving of his people is for their benefit and his praise, and thus he connects the amazing good of his praise and our joy.
3. We touched on this last week, and I want to drive it home here.
  1. Example: When we went to the Need to Breathe concert in November, we enjoyed the experience of watching those dudes play their hearts out. It was a fantastic concert.
    1. When the arena erupts into praise for a job well done, we rightly expect the band to enjoy the fruit of their performance. They find joy in doing what they are good at and receiving praise for doing it.
    2. We were so entertained that we couldn’t help but express our joy in applause and other forms of joyful expression with and for the band.
      1. They were honored by our real expression of joy.
    3. Need to Breathe’s enjoyment of our enjoyment is not selfish.
      1. They received joy in our joy in their performance.
4. God’s desire and call for us to come and glorify him is the Lord also seeking our happiness so that by him receiving what he should receive in the praise of his glory he is at the same time seeking the absolute apex of human happiness in us giving him glory.
  1. God is not fully glorified until his creatures recognize his glory and express it, and we will not be fully happy until we see that glory and express it.
5. Therefore, the Lord seeking our worship in giving him glory is a gift of grace by which he is seeking our ultimate joy.
  1. The Lord cares about our joy and it is found in him.
    1. The Lord made us for himself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in the Lord. – Augustine
      1. Our happiness is rooted in our delight in the Lord Jesus, and therefore our emotional well-being will always underperform until we set our mind’s attention and heart’s affection on Jesus who created us to delight in him and find our equilibrium and happiness and fulfillment in our worship of him.
Therefore, worship is not a “thing” to be consumed, but the highest of all pursuits for God’s glory and our joy.
1. Isaiah 48:9 could not be more explicit.
  1. The Lord saves us for our benefit and his praise.
    1. People are saved to glorify God. People are saved to worship.
    2. Worship glorifies God and worship is the ultimate experience of human happiness.
2. This truth is why we always feel empty after emotional highs that are not routed through the Lord Jesus.
  1. There is this letdown and empty feeling.
  2. Why?
    1. We were not made to find our ultimate joy, our worship in people or things.
    2. So, when we seek our highest joys apart from the Lord, we will always leave empty and will keep coming back to what gave us that temporary high.
      1. This is the root of every idolatry and addiction on the planet.
      2. Mankind finding his happiness in anything other than the Lord Jesus or things apart from the Lord Jesus is the very root of idolatry.
        
        We were made to enjoy creation, but not instead of Creator Jesus.
        
        Rather, we are to enjoy creation through and with the Creator Jesus.
3. When a person is awakened to life by the gospel, they have access to the ultimate joy of glorifying God as well as the way to enjoy every good and holy thing in Christ with no letdown or emptiness because they can enjoy it through Jesus and for Jesus.
  1. In this way he gets glory and we get joy.
    1. This is not a Jedi mind trick. This is the root of all Bible-saturated discipleship.
      1. Learning to seek as first priority Jesus Christ and his kingdom from the place of sheer happiness in Jesus and his kingdom.
Glorifying God is the first brick in the foundation of our emotional well-being.
1. Everyone in this room either is or is tempted to root their emotional health in people, things, states of physical being, security, peace, etc.
  1. And all of these sought apart from God will leave us empty when they fail.
2. The first brick we have to lay in the foundation of the stewardship of our well-being is to come to the place where we are determined to glorify God by seeking him and his kingdom first. Period.
  1. There is more work to be done. But this is where we have to start.
  2. We must decide that there is nothing more worthy of my attention than Jesus Christ.
    1. When we make this shift, we begin to enjoy communion with God where we center our mind’s attention and heart’s affection on the Lord humbly glorifying God.
      1. When we live lives that glorify God, we are beginning to reach the apex of human happiness and Jesus is worshiped.
3. This sounds easy, and I’m telling you it is the fight of your life.
  1. Every dark means is employed by the enemy to get you to distrust the Lord and place your trust in something or someone else.
    1. We live in the constant tug and pull of giving attention and glory to those things.
      1. Busyness in good things to the neglect of the prime thing is just another dark instrument employed against God’s glory and our joy.
  2. When you decide there is only One you will live for, only One you will glorify, you have made the first step in moving toward joy.
4. I’m not promising you this is the silver bullet to healing everything in your emotional and mental framework.
  1. I am promising you it is the beginning place for doing your part in stewarding your well-being and trusting the Lord to make all things fall in line.
5. Come and respond to the Lord Jesus by glorifying him for who he is and all he has done.

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