You are a Worshipper

God designed people with clearly identifiable characteristics and purposes. I want us to consider a few of them.

Pastor Aucoin has taught all of us the phrase “we are the visible representatives of the invisible God.”

• - If you have ever attended his geography or Genesis classes … or if you have ever spoken to him for more than 5 minutes he will tell you about the ancient near eastern practices of setting up images of the great king in conquered territories. [explain how he makes people stand]

• He has taught us all that while we must work out the details [we honor the Lord by doing the work we do, following the Word in our marriage, etc.], the big overarching purpose of our lives is to represent God accurately.

• That is why we were created.

• That concept grounds us.

• Why am I here? To represent God accurately.

I like to emphasize language as a part of how God made us. Unless there is something physically wrong, every two year old learns the language of their parents. My children learned how to speak English before they learned the alphabet. All we did was talk to them.

• - How could they do that? They were designed for it.

• We had to put down our dog last year. His name was Charlie and Charlie was a great dog. Everyone cried when he died because he was a wonderful family member. But for all his awesomeness, Charlie never learned English. He lived in our house for nearly 12 years and could not speak a lick of English.

• He knew a few sound patterns like “treat” but his ability to understand a sentence was terrible. [could tell the story]

• - People were designed for language.

Pastor Viars normally gives a lecture during our Biblical Counseling training called Why Counsel? Why have a personal ministry of the Word? Shouldn’t we just preach and be done?

• - Here is one point in the lecture. We needed God’s counsel before the fall. We were designed to live according to the Lord’s instructions.

• The fall intensified that need. In fact, Genesis 3 is a counseling session.

Thus, we see that God designed us to be in relationship with him. He designed us with language to learn his instructions and to represent him to the world around us.

We were also designed by God to respond to all his work in our lives and in this world through praise and worship. Our heart response to him and our outward attitude are part of his design. He designed us as a worshipper.

• - We have no choice, but to worship. It is part of our identity.

• - To worship is to adore. We are designed to adore the Lord.

That is the title of this message. You are a Worshipper…with that in mind turn in your bibles to Ephesians 1, page 150 in the NT in the bible under the chair in front of you.

Our church’s theme this year is Building on Our Heritage…

• - In these early months of 2024, we’re working through Ephesians chapter 1. We titled Remembering Our Identity as One in Christ…

• We are trying to show the overall goal of unity which will be a major focus of the book coming up … we share the same identity in Jesus.

• But also showing the amazing words describing who we are in Jesus.

We were told we are blessed in the heavenly places (v. 3). Those blessings include being chosen, adopted (given a stocking with our name on it), forgiven, united, and redeemed. I hope that has stirred your love for Jesus.

• - His death made salvation possible. Each identity is one picture of our salvation in Jesus. It is truly amazing.

Let’s return to Ephesians 1 looking for what God tells us about our response to these truths. Please follow along as I read Ephesians 1:3-14. This is the Word of the Lord.

Did you notice a repeated phrase?

• - Verse 6 = to the praise of the glory of his grace

• - Verse 12 = to the praise of his glory

• - Verse 14 = to the praise of his glory

These are statements of worship (or adoration) … exactly what we were designed for.

I would like us to consider 2 responses because of our identity in Christ.

I. Worship is the proper response for the Triune God’s work in salvation.

What is the end game or goal for God’s salvation according to this passage…It’s repeated three times in these verses…to the praise of God’s glory!

• - Who are we praising?

• - The One True God who is one being in three co-equal, co-eternal persons --- The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The Bible is so rich that you can spend a lifetime learning and not ever reaching finish. Each week we have taken one idea like adoption or redemption and explain it.

• - Now we are looking at the passage differently.

• - We see that one can also divide the passage in 3 sections each one ending with “to the praise of his glory.”

If you do that, then you have vv. 3-6 as one section, 7-12 as a second section and 13-14 as the third and final section. When you look at each of these sections you notice that each person of the Trinity works inseparably to save us from our sin.

• - Our rescue from sin is the work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We were designed to worship because of the great work each person of the trinity did in our salvation.

Notice first the passages mentions we worship the Father.

Because of the work of the Father.

Ephesians 1:3-6 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

What did the Father do?

• - He blessed us in the heavenly places in Jesus

• The blessing work of the Father in our salvation is inseparable from the Son, but the emphasis here is on the father.

• Before the foundation of the world the Father and Son are working inseparably.

• Again through Jesus Christ…not apart from Jesus.

What is the end goal…to the praise of the glory of the Father’s grace!

The goal of our salvation and purpose is that you and I would praise our Heavenly Father’s glorious grace…to the praise of the glory of his grace.

• - Is praising the Lord for his glorious grace a regular part of your life?

• When you listen to the testimonies on Church Family Night of people getting baptized and sharing of their faith in Christ, does it cause your heart to adore your heavenly father?

• Jerry Jamison told a funny story about a guy who was crawling through the choir and ripped his pants.

• The other side of that story is that this church was doing all they knew to win people to Jesus.

Earlier this week I learned about a man who attended Faith North. He is on hospice; and he trusted Christ as his Lord and savior this week.

• - Who knew that at the end of his life, he would finally see his need? Who knew that the Lord’s calling would come so close to the end?

• Now that we know, he will be in the arms of his savior soon.

• It should cause us to raise the roof in our hearts about a kind and gracious Father who rescued the dying.

The text says that he freely gave us his grace in the beloved … that is within the church family.

• - We are seeking to prioritize this as a church family as we remember his grace in our heritage as a church family.

Stephanie and I came in 2001. We lived in the house that was just torn down for about 10 months. The first school expansion was happening at that time. Most of our parking lot was either a field or gravel.

• - But you think back to God’s grace which he poured out in the church family and it is amazing.

• The people that the Lord rescued from their sin.

• The ways that he used people’s gifts and abilities to make a difference.

• We are not primarily standing on the heritage of great men and women, but on God the Father who poured out his grace.

There is a heart attitude of worship or adoration, but it should also come out in our actions and words.

• - Are you consistently praising the glorious grace of the Father?

• Do people know you as one excited about the Father’s saving work?

• Are you so enamored with praising the Father that you have very little mental energy to complain?

• Are you so amazed that the Lord rescued and adopted you, that you function like a gracious person?

We praise God the Father for his grace in securing our salvation in Jesus. Not only do we praise the Father for his grace, but also …

Because of the work of the Son.

Ephesians 1:7-12 - In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.

If the Father was blessing us in the heavenly places and choosing us before the foundation of the world, then what was Jesus’ involvement?

• - Our redemption comes through the blood of Christ.

• - In the Chronicles of Narnia Aslan gives himself to rescue Edmund.

We were in serious trouble and Jesus paid for our sin through his own blood. Hebrews tells us that he entered the holy place not made with hands with his own blood. It is a picture of ceremonial cleansing.

• - It came according to the riches of his grace which he lavished on us.

All things are summed up in Jesus. God’s promises are yes in Jesus. Jesus owns it all – things in heaven and on earth.

• - In him we have an inheritance.

• - I am so glad that Jesus goes to prepare a place for us and is determined to come again to receive us to himself so that we might be with him.

It really hits home when you have a lot of deaths. My grandmother, one of my spiritual mentors, and a prominent member of one of my ABFs all died within about 72 hours.

• - It was nice to be grounded in the truth of the inheritance we have in Jesus.

Jesus is the author and perfector of our faith. He is the object of our faith. It is his death, burial, and resurrection that satisfies God’s wrath and he is the one returning for his people … to the praise of the glory of his grace.

Because of the work of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 1:13-14 - In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

Pastor Viars explained our sealing last week. We see that the Spirit is also active in the salvation process. Again to the praise of his glory.

How do I know what I worship and adore? How can I know if I really am thankful for all that God the Father, Son, and Spirit have done for me?

• - I want to please him. It is part of my attitude toward him. I don’t just view it as my duty, I actually want to because I love him. I want to please him when no one is around.

• - I talk about him. We talk about the things that matter to us.

• How much do we talk about the Lord in our homes?

• Would our spouse believe we are excited about Jesus or would our spouse hear … oh we have enough Jesus in our house?

• Would our children believe that we are excited about Jesus or would they say that they rarely hear us mention his name?

• When people ask how you are doing, how often do you point people to what you have seen the Lord do?

• I heard some great testimonies at CFN about how the Lord rescued people from their sin.

• If we adore the Lord, then we value what he says about us more than we value what others say.

• One application is developing an evangelistic heart. We want others to experience all these blessings in the heavenly places in Christ too.

This is the positive side. Friends, we ought to worship God because that is what we were designed for.

If you are here and you have never placed your faith in Christ for your salvation, then I want to encourage you today is the day of salvation. For 8 weeks we have looked at different blessings of salvation.

• - You can do that today. Last CFN Mike Hines described two people from Faith coming to his house and presenting the gospel.

• - After they answered a few questions, Mike trusted Christ and has been a faithful follower ever since.

• - Maybe that is exactly what you need. A time for someone to talk to you about your need for Jesus.

We want to take some time this morning and widen our gaze. Just as we looked at the topic of adoption, forgiveness, redemption, sealing, and inheritance from other passages to get the larger themes, so we are going to do that with worship.

If we are going to worship God the Father, Son, and Spirit as we were designed to do based on their work in our salvation then we must also …

II. Reject the temptation to worship something else.

Our identity as Christians who are saved by God’s grace does not always keep us from adoring / worshipping something other than the Lord.

We are still attracted to different aspects of creation and life. It has always been that way. We know that we should love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, but other things look so attractive.

Sometimes it was a competing so-called god. Israel did this because some of them did not like the long-term blessing that God had in mind. They were hoping that the fields were productive, that they would have many children, and that life would be easy. Isaiah said …

Isaiah 44:17-20 - But the rest of it [speaking of wood] he makes into a god, his graven image. He falls down before it and worships; he also prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god.” They do not know, nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend. No one recalls, nor is there knowledge or understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire and also have baked bread over its coals. I roast meat and eat it. Then I make the rest of it into an abomination, I fall down before a block of wood!” He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has turned him aside. And he cannot deliver himself, nor say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

Just so we did not look down on them, while puff up ourselves, the Lord told NT believers that they can just like the Israelites.

1 Corinthians 10:6-7, 14 - Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.”…Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.

An idol is not just a physical statue, but it can be people, resources, anything in creation as Luther says…“whatever your heart clings to and relies upon, that is your God” Martin Luther, Larger Catechism. John Calvin called the heart a “factory of idols.”

I like to think of this factory of idols as producing three models.

• - The first model is momentary.

• - The second model is the pattern.

• - The third model is life consuming.

You can ask the Lord to help you know whether you build the same models.

Rather than see this as a little deal, I encourage you to see it as a big deal. The Lord tells us what happens when we leave our design --- to worship him --- and we worship something else. Why reject all competitors?

Because you exchange what is glorious for what is fading.

Romans 1:22–23 – Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

Friends, I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to give what is valuable for something worth nothing. That is what unbelievers do.

But sometimes it is so tempting.

Psalm 106:19-22 - They made a calf in Horeb; And worshiped a molten image.
Thus they exchanged their glory, For the image of an ox that eats grass.
They forgot God their Savior, Who had done great things in Egypt,
Wonders in the land of Ham, And awesome things by the Red Sea.

They chose a cow idol like the nations around them, rather than worshipping their God -- the God who actually had the power to save and rescue them. When we worship something we forget our God, Savior, the one who does great and awesome things and settle for something powerless.

Jeremiah 2:11 - Has a nation changed gods When they were not gods?
But My people have changed their glory; For that which does not profit.

I mentioned three models: momentary, pattern, and life consuming. I will tell you about one of mine.

• - Like many people I believe what I believe for reasons. I don’t change my position unless I learn about a position that has better reasons. That seems simple enough.

• The problem comes in when I think my reasons are better than someone else’s. I developed a pattern in childhood where I tried to convince others that I was right.

• In my mind, all they needed were the better reasons and they would then agree with me.

• Sometimes that approach worked. The more it was reinforced, the more I wanted to do it.

But we all know that when people try to convince us, we find it annoying. In a marriage, demanding that other people think you are right is a recipe for unresolvable conflict and it does not honor Jesus.

I had to learn that even when I got my way, it was not satisfying because it did not honor Christ at the same time.

I exchanged the glory of following Jesus, honoring him, and building the relationships around me for being right. It was a horrible exchange. Other pattern their life after …

• - Possessions/beauty to gain the glory of people. It is fading and yet they gave up honoring Christ to get nothing of value.

• - Sexual immorality…to get the momentary passing pleasure. It’s fading.

You ever accept or know of someone who accepted a bad deal? Something shiny looked good on the outside, but the bite afterward was not worth it.

When you spot a worship, an adoring, of something other than the Lord, then you must decide not to take the deal. Do not exchange “to the praise of the glory of his grace” for garbage.

Another reason …

Because your glory is made into shame.

There are books written about dealing with shame. Normally the shame comes from the cruel treatment from another person. But that is not the only kind of shame in the Bible. Sometimes, God brings shame on us because we rebel.

Isaiah 42:17 - They will be turned back and be utterly put to shame, Who trust in idols,
Who say to molten images, “You are our gods.”

In Hosea 4:7 we find … the more they multiplied, the more they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame.

Moving to the NT, we read about those who reject Jesus …

Philippians 3:19 - whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.

The only way to deal with this kind of shame is to change what we worship. Only devotion to God leads to freedom from guilt and shame.

• - Continuing in your patterns of wanting to be right … being devoted to sexual pleasure … trusting yourself more than Scripture … will also mean that you devote yourself to shame.

• No one can take it away from you.

• This is a horrible deal.

Contrast this to the kindness of Jesus’s salvation. As worshippers of God, we experience the riches of his glory, we share in his glory, and are honored and co-reign with Christ. Instead of humiliation, an eternal weight of glory awaits us!

Additionally, we should reject worshipping something else…

Because instead of being blessed you are cursed.

Remember that the source of blessing is God…he first chose blessed us before we did anything God. We read about God’s will to bless his creation and in a special way humanity with his image bearers, Adam and Eve.

Genesis 1:27-28 - So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them…

But it was not long before we read these words …

Genesis 3:17 - Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.

Later, we find the powerful words of Psalm 115.

Psalm 115:1-8 – Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness. Why do the nations say, “Where is their God?”
Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.
But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands.

They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see.
They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell.
They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats.

Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.

What powerful imagery. We become deaf, dumb, and blind to everything outside of what we worship. G.K. Beale writes on this passage “the worshiper, rather than experiencing an expected life-giving blessing, has received a curse by becoming as spiritually inanimate, empty, rebellious, or shameful as the idol is depicted to be.” - G.K. Beale, We Become What We Worship, pg. 21.

He later says, “One becomes like the earthly object to which one is devoted, which leads to destruction.” G.K. Beale, We Become What We Worship, pg. 297.

Friends, I mentioned life consuming worship. Sports were valued in my family. I dreamed of being a sports’ star. Two uncles received D1 scholarships and others were offered at smaller colleges. The problem is that I was mister JV in everything. Good enough to be on the team, but not good at anything. But so much of my life was consumed by WANTING to be good.

• - Disappointment after disappointment resulted in trying harder and pushing the Lord further and further from the center of my life.

• - It was not until I repented of all my false worship that I was able to see the horrible deal I had made.

My failures resulted in more shame, resulted in nothing glorious, and made me blind to the spiritual needs around me. It was a bad deal and a challenging time of life.

Friends, please hear me… if you are exchanging worshipping the Lord for worshipping success, financial wealth, immorality or pornography, comfort, ease, or pleasure then you will constantly struggle being joyful, easy to be around, and you will not make much difference for the cause of Christ.

None of those things are able to (1) see your tough day; (2) they have no power to deliver you or speak words of truth. (3) in fact, these things do not care about the Lord, your life, your marriage, your family, or your testimony. (4) nor will they show you any mercy.

Friends, as one of your pastors, I am appealing to you (and myself) not to worship these things in a moment, a pattern, or in a life consuming way. They remove our potential effectiveness and give us things that fade away, that shame us, and that bring a curse upon us.

Let’s together not take that deal.

Let’s commit to growing in our worship of the Lord and experience all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places until he takes us home. Unlike the idolatry that our own hearts produce, The Lord

• - Sees it all. Our greatest sufferings, sins, and successes.

• - Hears it all. Our greatest concerns and complaints.

• - Who knows it all. Our greatest desires and purpose.

• - Who can speak and always speaks the truth.

• - Who always acts righteously.

The final reason we should reject worshipping something else is…

Because you become empty instead of satisfied.

Jeremiah 2:5 - Thus says the Lord, “What injustice did your fathers find in Me,
That they went far from Me And walked after emptiness and became empty?”

As God reminded his people also in 2 Kings about the people of Israel idolatry…

2 Kings 17:15-16 - They rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers, and His warnings which He gave them. And they followed idols and became empty, and followed the nations that surrounded them, about which the Lord had commanded them not to do as they did. And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves cast metal images: two calves. And they made an Asherah, and worshiped all the heavenly lights, and served Baal.

The consequence of idolatry is not just that you will see that the idol itself is empty – although that is true. It is worse, you yourself become empty…

For example – when you worship leisure and vacations it will not be long before you invest more time, money, energy into them only to learn that they did not satisfy. They become a drug to themselves where you must have more. In the process, your soul becomes empty.

• - That is when discouragement, despair, and depression set in. When you place your hope in something only to learn that it leaves you empty.

Friends, next week we move to the great prayer in Ephesians 1:15-23. We close this section reminding ourselves that we were designed to worship the triune God for all his work in our salvation. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ.

Let’s be on guard for those momentary, pattern, and life consuming worship patterns that result in things that fade, bring shame, result in cursing, and leave us empty. The Lord offers a far better way.