What is the reason
for my existence?
Neil Mammen, San Jose, CA
I: There
are four eternal questions of the Ages
1. What
is the meaning and purpose of life?
2. What
am I here for?
3. Why is
there pain and suffering in the world?
4. Why is
there pain and suffering in MY life?
Now they
say that there are two great fears
inborn into mankind.
1. The
fear of loud noises
2. The
fear of falling.
Actually
I don’t agree with them. First of all my
greatest fear is of making a loud noise
while I fall and secondly
after studying human nature and reading
the great philosophers, I really believe
that man’s greatest fear is “Extinction
without Distinction”.
Let me
say that again. Man’s greatest fear is
“Extinction without Distinction.”
Our
greatest fear is that we’ll die and no
one will ever know or care that we ever
lived. Do you agree?
Almost
every person I’ve ever met in someway is
affected and motivated by this.
So
tonight I want to address these four
fundamental questions and Man’s Greatest
Fear all at the same time.
1. What
is the meaning of life?
2. What
am I here for?
3. Why is
there pain in the world?
4. Why is
there pain in MY life?
and
5. our
greatest fear, will anyone ever care
that I lived?
In the
summer of 1981 I found myself in the
middle of Birmingham Alabama, walking
from door to door in the hot sun with a
heavy green case in my hands. I would
knock on each door with fear and
trepidation. My supposed purpose of
being there was to sell the books that I
was carrying in my green case.
Now you
may well wonder why I had come all the
way from India to go to school in Oregon
and then I had ended up in the hot sun
in of all places Birmingham Ala. Well
the reason is quite simple, I was doing
that so that I could pay my way through
college. You see being a foreign
student, I wasn’t eligible for any
financial aid or for any student loans.
And when I applied for a scholarship,
the International office told me that
there were no scholarships available for
foreign students anymore, especially not
if they were from India. Plus not having
a green card, I wasn’t allowed to get a
regular job. But I could start my own
door to door sales business, with the
help of a company that did such a thing.
Now my alleged purpose was to sell
books, but my real purpose as it was
turning out to be was hoping that at
each door that I knocked, that there
wouldn’t be anybody home. But there were
people home, and some of them didn’t
want to talk to me, and some of them
didn’t want me to even walk on their
property and some of them told me that
if I didn’t clear out immediately they’d
call the cops. But many of them invited
me in and talked to me and fed me and
wanted to know all about me.
Now
somewhere in between when I started out
that summer to sell books with all the
energy and enthusiasm in the world and
that moment that I found myself knocking
on doors, I had quit my job about 9
times.
I had
quit because I was tired of being
rejected,
I had
quit because I was tired of being told
no.
I had
quit because I was hot,
I had
quit because nobody was buying.
I had
quit because it was too humid,
I had
quit for every excuse I could find.
True,
most of the no’s were very nice polite
no’s and most of the no’s were no, I’m
not really interested and most of the
no’s were no I don’t want to buy your
books. But being out there on your own,
after hardly being in the States for 9
months, these no’s got me down. I
thought the no’s were “no I reject you
personally.” Ofcourse they weren’t. But
I felt they were.
And at
that point I was down, and beaten and
tired and most of all I was very very
hot. I’d been working over 13 hours a
day, 6 days a week for almost 5 weeks
now and there were 8 more weeks left to
go. They say the toughest sales district
you will ever be assigned is the 4
inches between your ears. If you can’t
convince your brain to put your head
down and work, you will never get
anywhere ever. And this I’ve found
applies to every aspect of life.
In other
words I was tired and fed up and ready
to quit for the 10th time. Now, the
company that I was working for, was very
wise, for in my sales kit, they had
included a number of motivational books.
One of them was called From Prison to
Praise. I was out in the suburbs
and it’s quite foresty out there so I
found a shady spot in a wooded area. I
sat myself down for a well earned rest
or so I rationalized to myself and
decided that I would pull out this book
that somehow had ended up in my sales
case that day.
The
author’s premise was quite simple. And I
have added to it to make the foundation
of today’s talk.
1. As far
as we are concerned, God’s sole reason
for existence is to bring glory to
Himself.
2. God
created us and thus: Our sole reason for
existence is to give God glory and
Praise.
3.
Everything that happens, whether good or
bad is predetermined or allowed by God
thus we should praise God in ALL
circumstances.
So
sitting there in that shady area, with
the humidity at about 110%, which
legally means you are under water, I
decided that it was about time I started
fulfilling the main reason why I had
been created. And the results? Well,
....I’ll tell you, at the end. Let’s
take item 1 first.
1. As far
as we are concerned, God’s sole reason
for existence is to bring glory to
Himself.
In other
words:
The
chief end of God is to glorify
God and enjoy Himself
forever.
Now on
the face of it, that might seem a pretty
arrogant statement.
When I
first got to the States I used to work
in the dish rooms at Oregon State
University (to pay my tuition again),
since I’d just gotten off the boat from
India this was the only job I could get.
My job was to take the food off the
trays on this belt, and stick them in
this huge garbage disposal. It was huge
and could dispose your entire arm if you
weren’t careful. Well, right across from
me on this belt was this girl doing the
same job. We would get there at 6 am and
would work “slop” as they called it till
9 am every morning. So I had a captive
audience for 3 hours. I wasn’t going to
let that go to waste was I? So I started
witnessing to her. I had been witnessing
to this her for about a month and
finally she said in effect “God this,
God that, that’s all I hear about God.
God wants this from us, God wants that
from us, God is jealous, God wants us to
worship Him, God does what He wants when
He wants to. He sounds very selfish,
arrogant and proud… just who does He
think He is?
And in
that moment… I got chills down my spine.
And I turned to her and I told both her
and myself. I said “Why....He thinks
He’s God.”
“Oh,” she
said realizing what she had just asked.
Yes, He
thinks He is God.
But let’s
go a step further. He doesn’t only think
He’s God, He knows He’s God. Because He
is God.
And being
God he can be as selfish as he wants
And being
God he can be as jealous as he wants
And being
God he can be as proud as he wants
because
the rules that apply to us…… don’t apply
to Him.
Now some
of you might say, why? Why shouldn’t God
be subject to the same rules that we
are.
How come
God can be jealous,
how come
God can be selfish,
how come
God can be egocentric,
how come
God can do the very things he tells me
not to do?
Doesn’t 1
Corr. 13 say, Love is never envious or
jealous or selfish? Isn’t God supposed
to be love?
Don’t we
seem to be contradicting ourselves?
Well, let
me explain: Assume you have a kid, if
that’s hard, assume that you are
babysitting a kid. While stumbling
through the kitchen, the kid happens to
find some matches and starts to play
with them. He lights a couple and blows
them out, that’s fun, so he lights a
couple more and blows them out and then
he does it again. This is pure fun, and
then.... you catch him.
“Aaaargh”
you say. “Maaaaaatches!!! Matches?
Matches?
you don’t need no steenking matches,
you can’t
play with matches”… and you take them
away from him.
Now a few
minutes later it being winter and all
that, it starts to get kind of cold, so
you decide to what? To light a fire in
the fireplace, guess what you use to
light the fire?
Right,
the very
same matches,
in the
very same box,
and you
light them in the very same way that he
did. Now in the eyes of the kid, what’s
the big difference between what you are
now doing and what he was doing?
Absolutely nothing? How come you get to
use the matches but He can’t? In his
eyes, it’s just not fair.
But in
your eyes
it makes
perfect sense.
And
what’s worse, is that 9 times out of 10
you could try and explain your view to
the kid but he’d still think you were
unfair because he has no intention of
burning the house down and he knows that
he won't burn the house down, he just
wants to play with those matches,
because they do cool things. But still,
he doesn’t get to play with the matches,
but you do! You created that rule for
the KID.
You see
all the rules that apply to the kid,
don’t all apply to you.
You see
all the rules that apply to you, don’t
all apply to God. God is the creator,
we are the created. Let’s never
forget that. God can do what He wants
to, when He wants to and how He wants
to, and let’s not talk about fair or
unfair. He made the rules and He made
the rules for us. In fact He made most
of the rules for our protection NOT His
protection.
So as far
as we are concerned, the chief end of
God is to glorify Himself and enjoy
Himself forever. And He can do that
because He not only thinks he is God, He
is God.
Now
that’s all theory, let’s see if the
Bible supports that idea. So here are
some verses:
Isaiah 42:8
"I am the LORD; that is
My name! I will not give My glory to
another or My praise to idols.
Isaiah 48:11
God says: For
My own sake, for My own sake, I do this.
How can I let Myself be defamed? I will
not yield My glory to another.
Exodus 29:43
God says: …I will meet with the
Israelites, and the place will be
consecrated by My glory.
Isaiah 40:5
God says of
himself: "And the glory of the LORD will
be revealed, and all mankind together
will see it. For the mouth of the LORD
has spoken."
Exodus 14:4
And I will harden
Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue
them. But I will gain glory for myself
through Pharaoh and all his army, and
the Egyptians will know that I am the
LORD."
Isaiah 60:21
Then will all your people be righteous
and they will possess the land forever.
They are the shoot I have planted, the
work of my hands, for the display of my
splendor.
And lest
you think it’s only the Old Testament,
let’s go to the New Testament.
Matthew 24:30
Jesus says: "At
that time the sign of the Son of Man
will appear in the sky, and all the
nations of the earth will mourn. They
will see the Son of Man coming on the
clouds of the sky, with power and great
glory.
John 11:4
When he heard
this (about Lazurus' sickness), Jesus
said, "This sickness will not end in
death. No, it is for God's glory so that
God's Son may be glorified through it."
And just
in case you thought I had to dig deep
and hard to find verses that talk about
God glorifying himself, I didn’t, there
are a bunch of them at the end of this
talk.
Once
while talking to a good friend of mine,
he said: You know I have trouble taking
the Old Testament seriously. Everywhere
I read about God in the Old Testament,
he’s being judgmental, vain, selfish.
He’s acting like a big spoiled brat. How
am I supposed to accept a God like that.
Let me
explain why God CAN act like that and we
can’t.
First of
all. It is not wrong for God to act that
way. For being selfish in itself is not
evil. Being judgmental in itself is not
evil, being arrogant in itself is not
evil. It is only evil if we
HUMANS do it. You see the reason it is
evil, is because those things are
reserved exclusively for GOD. And you
know what the biggest sin in the world
is? It is trying to make ourselves God.
You see
by being selfish, wanting glory, or
wanting people’s praises, we are taking
away from God what belongs to ONLY him.
Just like killing someone is evil for us
but perfectly acceptable for God.
Especially since in God’s hands, death
is merely a transition into his
Spiritual dimension.
And in
fact this then explains why we are never
to be arrogant or self righteous, or
self praising, for then what would we be
doing? Trying to be gods ourselves and
that is the first sin. To want to be
like God in power and glory. If you
recall the first sin in Time was the
fall of Lucifer. Why did Lucifer fall?
I’ll tell
you, Let’s read Is 14:12. This many
theologians believe is an allegory of
the Fall of Lucifer.
Is 14:12.
12 How
you have fallen from heaven, O morning
star, son of the dawn! You have been
cast down to the earth, you who once
laid low the nations!
13 You said in
your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I
will raise my throne above the stars of
God; I will sit enthroned on the mount
of assembly, on the utmost heights of
the sacred mountain.
;
14 I will
ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High."
15 But you are brought down to
the grave, to the depths of the pit.
Why did
Lucifer fall? Because he wanted to be
JUST LIKE THE MOST HIGH GOD.
Over the
eons we have forgotten why being selfish
is wrong, why seeking glory is wrong. We
think it is wrong in itself. No it is
not wrong it itself. It is wrong for US.
It was never wrong for God, just wrong
for us. But over the years we’ve thrown
out the baby with the bath water so to
speak. Anything that takes from God what
belongs to Him alone, is wrong. But that
doesn’t make it wrong for God.
That
would be like saying that it is wrong
for me to take my car out for a joy
ride. No, it’s wrong for a 14 year old
kid to steal my car and take it out for
a joy ride, but no one in their right
mind would consider it wrong if I
decided to hop in my car and take it for
a spin, would they?
Coming
back to the concept of God glorifying
Himself.
The chief
end of God is to glorify God and enjoy
Himself forever.
Let’s go
a step further. You see it is a Logical
necessity and in fact it is of utmost
importance that God be all for
Glorifying himself.
You
see if God wasn’t for Himself, he could
and would not be God for us. If there
were something else that God was to be
glorifying instead of Himself, would not
that something else then have to be
greater than God.
And in
which case should we not be focusing
some if not all of our praises on that
thing that God was praising?
God has
to be the greatest, logically and
Biblically there can not be anything
greater than God. God has to praise
himself, or he would not then be the
greatest. Does that make sense?
And we
praise Him.
This
brings us to point #2,
2. God
created us to give Him glory and Praise.
Let’s see
if we can prove this using the Bible.
Let us
turn to Is 43:6. Is 43:6 Let’s read from
Is 43:6 onwards.
I will say to the north,
“Give them up!” and to the south, “Do
not hold them back.” Bring my sons from
afar and my daughter from the ends of
the earth-everyone who is called by My
name, whom I created for who? MY what?
glory,
MY GLORY
whom I formed and made.
Who
formed whom and why?
God
formed us, for His glory.
Now skip
down to verse 20.
Is 43:20 The wild
animals honor me, the jackals and the
owls, because I provide water in the
desert and streams in the wasteland, to
give drink to my people, my chosen, the
people I formed for who?
myself that they may proclaim
what? MY
praise.
God
formed people… why? So that they could
proclaim HIS praise.
We have
determined that the chief end of God is
to glorify himself and enjoy himself
forever, now we have supported that
concept with this verse and we have also
arrived at the second concept. We are
formed by God to proclaim His praise.
The
Westminister Confessional says:
The chief
purpose of man is to glorify God and
enjoy God forever.
John
Piper goes a step further in his books,
Desiring God and The Pleasures
of God, and says:
The chief
end of man is to glorify God by
enjoying God forever.
In other
words, you glorify God, by enjoying Him.
And when you enjoy Him, you are happy or
rather you have joy. Let me ask you a
question: Are you enjoying God? Because
if you aren’t you are missing out on the
most important part of life!
Now some
of you are thinking: Why does God NEED
me to glorify him? What sort of God is
he who NEEDS us to glorify Him.
Well,
let’s clarify that right up front. God
doesn’t need anything. In John Piper’s
book, the Pleasures of God he
says: God is quite content being God and
finds all the comfort and joy he NEEDS
within the fullness of the Trinity.
However,
we are missing the point when we ask
that question. God created us to
NEED to praise Him.
Therefore, while God enjoys our praise
he doesn’t need it.
But we
NEED to praise HIM to enjoy ourselves.
We NEED
to praise HIM to be content,
we NEED
to praise HIM for our well being.
We NEED
to praise HIM to have joy.
Because
He has wired us that way. You could ask
why has he wired us that way, but that’s
a question for a later date.
How many
of us have heard the statements to this
effect:
-
In a desperate
prayer: Oh God, if you just get me
out of this fix, I’ll go to church
every Sunday.
-
Or: I think God is
mad at me because I haven’t been
going to church.
-
Or: I think I’ll make
God happy this Sunday by going to
Church.
The truth
really is quite the opposite. Imagine
that you are visiting a village near a
mission hospital in Papua New Guinea.
The doctors in the Hospital are
volunteers. They get no money from their
patients. Now as you are walking around
the village you see a native Papua New
Guinean who has just been gored in his
thigh by a wild boar. The New Guinean
says to you: Well, if the doctors at the
hospital give me a new spear, I’ll go to
the hospital and have my wound taken
care off. And you say: You dough head,
you need to go to the hospital. Not for
the doctors sake, but for your sake.
Isn’t
that the same as saying: Oh God if you
get me this great job that I’ve been
longing for, I’ll go to church every
week.
Or how
silly would it be if the same man said:
I’ll go to the hospital and have my leg
tended to and make the Doctor happy.
You’d say, dummy, you’ll get gangrene
and they’ll have to chop of your leg if
you maintain that attitude. If you don’t
go to the hospital, you’ll get nothing
and like it. The New Guinean doesn’t
need to go to the hospital for the
doctor, he needs to go to hospital for
himself.
When we
praise God or go to church, in a sense
we are really doing it for ourselves. We
don’t go to Church for God, we go to
Church for ourselves. We don’t give
money to God for God’s sake, He owns
everything. We give money for our own
joy. Because we will never find peace
apart from obeying and praising God.
God has
provided the Church to be a family for
us, to care for us to protect us, to
help US. Not to help God.
You see
God also designed us to need to be in
Ministry. I am convinced that all of us
as Christ Followers also need to be in
Ministry to be content. And the Church
is there to provide us a place to be in
ministry. The pastors and the teachers
at church are there to train us for the
ministry.
You see
you don’t go to Church for God, you go
to Church for you.
The chief
end of man is to glorify God by
enjoying God forever.
If we
enjoy God, we have Joy.
To have
Joy, we must glorify God.
You know,
in all the years of ministry I’ve done,
to tell the truth I’ve gotten far more
out of it, than I’ve given. I’ve always
said, if you are in the right ministry
for your talents, you will get fired up
by doing it. You will enjoy doing it.
Sure you may have trying times and down
days. But overall, it will be something
that stimulates you.
And you
know God in His everlasting Love and
Mercy has chosen to use us sinners in
Churches like this Church to minister to
those whom he sends to the Church. He
has chosen to use families and
communities like this to reach out to
the lost and lonely and the not
so lost and not so lonely.
And let
me tell you there is no real fulfillment
until you have dedicated your life to
enjoying God.
So now
let’s see if we can answer the first 2
questions of all time.
1. What
is the meaning and purpose of life?
2. What
am I here for?
Answer:
1. What is the meaning and purpose of
life?
Answer:
The meaning and purpose of Life is to
Enjoy God, by Glorifying Him.
2. What
am I here for? [Well this
automatically follows doesn’t it?]
Answer:
I am here on this earth to Glorify God
by Enjoying Him forever.
Without
that, I promise you, that you will never
find the peace that passes all
understanding, or the joy of the Lord.
You will always be searching, never
content. You may become the richest
person on the earth like Howard Hughes,
the most desired person on the earth
like Marilyn Monroe, the most loved
singer in the world like Elvis Presley
or even some of the most powerful people
on the earth like Napoleon or Hitler or
Stalin. And you will never be content.
This
brings us to the third and fourth
questions and their answers:
3. Why is
there pain in the world?
4. Why is
there pain in MY life?
The
answer which some of us may not like too
much is Point #3:
Point #3:
Everything that happens, whether good or
bad is predetermined or allowed by God
thus we should praise God in ALL
circumstances.
Around
the turn of the century, standing on the
dock of a port in the United States a
man watched his entire family sail away
to England on the steamship Ville de
Havre. His entire family consisted of
his three little daughters and his wife
Anna. Three daughters that were his
life, and whom he loved dearly, being
even more precious to him having just
lost his son. I have no doubt that prior
to their leaving he and they, prayed
fervently for a safe journey.
On
November 22, halfway to Europe the ship
was struck by the English ship Lochearn,
and it sank in twelve minutes. Anna and
their four little girls were cast into
the inky black sea. Anna frantically
tried to save them but although she
briefly grasped the hem of the nightgown
of one of them, they all slipped away.
Anna was found floating unconscious on a
piece of wreckage and was rescued. The
ship had sunk so fast that of the
hundreds aboard, only forty-seven were
rescued.
“But why
God” we are tempted to ask “Why? …..We
prayed?”
God
brings Trials
You see
God brings and allows sufferings, turn
to Is 45:5-7, 9.
5
I am
the LORD, and there is no other; apart
from me there is no God… 6 from the
rising of the sun to the place of its
setting men may know there is none
besides me. I am the LORD, and
there is no other. 7 I form the
light and create darkness, I
bring prosperity and create disaster;
I, the LORD, do all these
things. 9 "Woe to him who quarrels with
his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd
among the potsherds on the ground. Does
the clay say to the potter, `What are
you making?'
God allows sufferings. He
says: "I bring prosperity and
create disaster;"
But we
may ask- why does the Lord bring trials?
Well there are numerous reasons.
Reasons
1:
Turn to
Romans 5: 2-5
Rom. 5:2
… And we rejoice in the hope of the
glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we
also rejoice in our sufferings, because
we know that suffering produces
perseverance; 4 perseverance,
character; and character, hope. 5 And
hope does not disappoint us, because God
has poured out his love into our hearts
by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given
us.
Why does
God allow us to suffer? To perfect us,
to produce perseverance, to produce
character and of course all this
produces hope in God, faith in God. But
hope is not an end to itself is it. No,
you see through this hope, God pours out
His love into our lives and into the
people around us through the Holy
Spirit.
But what
else does sufferings bring?
Reasons
II:
Let us
read II Cor 12:9-10
2Cor. 12:9 But He
[The
Lord]
said
to me, "My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in
weakness." Therefore I will boast all
the more gladly about my weaknesses, so
that Christ's power may rest on me. 10
That is why, for Christ's sake, I
delight in
weaknesses, in
insults, in hardships, in persecutions,
in difficulties. For when I am weak,
then I am strong.
My power
is made perfect in weakness. God’s power
and glory shine through our weakness.
You see, if you do something on your own
because you are strong and capable, you
get the credit. But if God does
something through you despite the fact
that you are weak and unable, God gets
the credit.
Why else
does God allow suffering?
Reasons
III:
As they
were walking they saw a blind man on the
side of the road.
John
9:2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi,
who sinned, this man or his parents,
that he was born blind?" 3 "Neither
this man nor his parents sinned," said
Jesus, "but this happened so that the
work of God might be displayed in his
life.
God
allows suffering so that He can bring
Glory to Himself.
Reasons
IV:
I Pet
1:6-7
In this
you greatly rejoice, though now for a
little while you may have suffered grief
in all kinds of trials. These have come
so that your faith - of greater worth
than gold, which perishes even though
refined by fire - may be proved genuine
and may result in praise, glory and
honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
OK there
are two issues in that verse. One is
more reasons why God allows us to
suffer: so that our faith may be refined
and be proved genuine, but why is that
important? So that it may what? So that
it
may
result in praise, glory and honor when
Jesus Christ is revealed.
That is
so important that we should repeat that
again. Why is suffering allowed in our
lives? So that it may result in praise,
glory and honor when Jesus Christ is
revealed.
What does
that mean? It really means that most of
the time we have no idea what God’s
plans are. But since we know that all
his plans revolve around his Glory,
whatever happens to us now is a small
part of him being glorified. And thus we
should trust him and praise him even in
these trying times.
We still
praise Him.
So what
am I saying. I am saying that God is in
control of every single thing that takes
place, he allows and sometimes even
creates disaster just as he allows and
brings blessings and healing. And he
does all this for his purposes. And many
times we never know what His ultimate
purposes are. If you remember the story
of Joseph in the old Testament. Through
out Joseph’s trials, being abandoned by
his family, being falsely accused, being
forced to become a slave, being thrown
in a dungeoun, he never knew what God
was doing in his life. It wasn’t till
years later when he became second only
to the mighty Pharoah, he told his
brothers, you meant this for evil, but
God meant it for good, and he saved his
entire family from starvation, and the
very nation of Israel was formed there.
You mean
we should praise him in times of
suffering? Yes, not only praise him but
also thank him.
Continually giving thanks for all things
Turn to
Eph 5:19
Eph. 5:19 Speak to one
another with psalms, hymns and spiritual
songs. Sing and make music in your heart
to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks
to God the Father for
[what?]
everything, in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Now the question here is
what is everything? Is everything the
good things? Is everything the fun
things? Is everything the blessings?
Sure it is? But is everything only
the good things? Only the fun
things? Only the blessings?--
Ah, that’s different, you see
everything includes
the bad things!!!
But wait
just a doggone second you say! I’m
supposed to thank God for the bad things
as well? That’s just ridiculous. That
means in the story I just told you, the
man was supposed to thank God for the
loss of his children, for the loss of
his daughters? Are you out of your mind?
No, I’m not out of my
mind. I am forced to accept what the
Bible says. After I’ve proved to myself
that the Bible is accurate, I am forced
to accept it. Yes the verse does mean
thanking God for all things, for the
good things and
for the bad things!!!
And let
me tell you, I am speaking from
experience. I am speaking this out of
the pain I have experienced in past too.
God desires our praise even in our pain.
Let’s
read Hebrews 13:15
Sacrificing Praise
Hebr.
13:15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us
continually offer to God a sacrifice
of praise --the fruit of lips that
confess his name. 16 And do not forget
to do good and to share with others, for
with such sacrifices God is pleased.
let us
continually offer to God a sacrifice of
praise, let me repeat that,
let us
continually offer to God a sacrifice of
praise
What
exactly is a sacrifice of praise?
Well to
analyze that let us first understand
what a sacrifice is. A Sacrifice is
something that costs us something. A
Sacrifice is something that we don’t
really want to give at first. A
Sacrifice is something that is hard to
give. A Sacrifice is something that we
may want to keep.
So that
is sacrifice, what is praise?
That’s
easy. Praise is praise to God. Praise is
glorifying God, Praise is acknowledging
the awesome creator. Praise is giving
God what he deserves.
So a
sacrifice of praise is.....? Praise that
costs us something. It’s praise that we
don’t really want to give at first. It
is praise that is hard to give. It’s
praise that costs us our pride and
forces us to humble ourselves. Because
we want to feel like we deserve
something.
Sacrificing praise is praising God when
we don’t feel like it.
Now
remember I’m not saying that you should
be sarcastic or irreverent or just say
it without meaning it.
Sacrificing praise is meaningfully and
with heartfelt praise, worshipping God.
It is
praising God when things are going bad,
knowing who He is.
It is
praising God when you are down and
broken and defeated
And the
world is against you. When there is no
solution, there is no way out.
And you
look up into the majesty of the almighty
God and you say: God, I have no idea why
this is happening
I have no
idea what is going on,
I have no
idea what is going to happening.
But
in this deepest darkest
moment, in this moment of despair I bow
before you and I praise you Oh Lord,
I praise
you because you are so powerful,
because
you are so majestic,
because
you are God, creator of Heaven and of
Earth,
and I am
nothing, in your presence, and yet I
know you love me.
I praise
you and I thank you for this situation.
May I glorify you in everything. And
like the martyrs in Rome, even as the
lions came pouring out into the arena,
to tear the Christians to shreds, they
stood there, saying may I even in my
death bring you glory and praise.
O Lord
may I a creature, bring Glory to my
Creator.
And then
you get a taste of what life is all
about. Then you understand the meaning
of life. That I, a insignificant puny
nothing, am even of such importance that
my Creator, the one who created the Sun,
that man in all of his scientific
knowledge and silly little power can not
even fully comprehend, this very Creator
knows when even a hair of my head falls
and loves me so deeply. And He is using
me to glorify Him.
Believe
me. I’ve been there. And there is
nothing so cleansing as that moment.
There is nothing so defining in life as
that moment.
Yes, we
are to praise and thank God in all
circumstances. Especially the tough and
trying ones. Especially if and when the
time comes for us to die for Him.
You see
for every non-Christian that gets
cancer, there is one Christian who gets
cancer too. So that the world may see
and compare, how the Christ centered
person copes with it. So that the world
may see what it means to know an awesome
God. So that the world may see God bring
glory to Himself. So that the world may
know what it is like for a believer to
die peacefully knowing that he is going
to be in the arms of the Almighty Loving
Soverign God. It is a far greater place
they go to than they have ever been
before.
Job 1:18
… yet another messenger came and said,
"Your sons and daughters were … at
the[ir] oldest brother's house, 19
when suddenly a mighty wind swept in..
and struck the four corners of the
house. It collapsed on them and they are
dead…!"
20 At
this, Job got up and tore his robe and
shaved his head. Then he fell to the
ground in [what?] in worship 21
and said: "Naked I came from my mother's
womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD
gave and the LORD has taken away; may
the name of the LORD be praised."
22 In all this, Job did not sin by
charging God with wrongdoing.
Praise
without ceasing, in everything give
thanks
Turn
to I Thes. 5:16-18
16 Be joyful always;
17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in
all circumstances, for this is God's
will for you in Christ Jesus.
So we are
commanded to praise God and thank God in
all circumstances. Thank you God that my
relationship was torn apart. Thank you
God that my husband has left me. Thank
you God that the business that I worked
for 4 years had to file Chapter 11. I
don’t understand, I praise you for that.
That almost seems blasphemous. But we
are commanded to do it. Because only God
knows what He will do with the
situation. Only God knows how He will
Glorify himself in this. And when he
Glorifies himself through us, our Joy
will know no bounds.
Despite
our ability to comprehend why.
You see
we won't and we can’t always understand
God:
Turn to
Isa. 55:8 "For my
thoughts are not your thoughts, neither
are your ways my ways," declares the
LORD. 9 "As the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher
than your ways and my thoughts than your
thoughts.
You see
the real question is do we have faith to
rejoice that God has everything in his
hands, and that nothing is going to
happen today or ever that has not been
either expressly commanded or
specifically allowed by God. He’s got
the whole world in his hands tonight.
And He knows where the sparrow lands. If
we can’t praise him in those
circumstances, in our pain, does that
not mean that perhaps we haven’t yet
committed ourselves to trusting that God
is doing what is best?
Do you
think that God who created this universe
and placed the stars in the heavens was
any less careful when He created you?
Nor has he been careless with the
circumstances He has allowed into your
life in order to show you how much He
loves you.
And at
some point we should compare our cushy
lives to the lives of the saints before
us, compare our life to Paul's, can we
even complain? I can’t!
In your
notes I’ve given you a small summary of
what Glorifying God means.
•
Some definitions of what
Glorifying God means?
1. It
means Comprehending the magnitude of
God, Understanding who God is in
relationship to who you are.
2. It
means having a Heartfelt Gratitude, a
thanksgiving heart
3. It
means Trusting God
4. It
means Praising God
5. It
means replacing all grumbling with
praise.
Do you
grumble when you don’t get enough sleep?
Do you grumble when you have to do extra
work? Do you grumble when things go
wrong at the office? Do you grumble when
you have to pay bills? Do you grumble
when you hit a red light? Or do you
whine? Well replace everything with
praising God. Praise Him for the lack of
sleep and plan to glorify him anyway.
Praise Him for having to do the extra
work, and pray that He will glorify
Himself that way. Praise Him for the
bills, Praise Him for the red light they
are there to protect you. Thank him for
everything however absurd that may seem
6. It
means trying to learn what God is
teaching you through pain
7. It
means Enjoying God
8. It
means loving God
9. It
means knowing that God loves you.
10. It
means serving God in your work.
11. It
means serving God in ministry.
12. It
means obeying God’s rules that are there
for YOUR well being.
13. It
means studying about the Nature of God
as given to us in the Bible.
Hab.
3:17 Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails and the
fields produce no food, though there are
no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the
stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the
LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
•
Conclusion: Actions and the challenge
As we
come to the conclusion of today’s talk.
We’ve answered the 4 main questions in
life.
1. What
is the meaning and purpose of life? To
live for God.
2. What
am I here for? To Glorify God
3. Why is
there pain in the world? To Glorify God
4. Why is
there pain in MY life? To refine me so
that I may glorify God.
And to
respond to your greatest fear:
5. Will
anyone ever care that I lived? This can
only be answered by saying: If you live
for God, you WILL make your mark for all
eternity. For instance if you make a
billion dollars you will only change the
world for 1 year or 1 century. But if
you are used by God to save someone,
that person will be your monument though
out all eternity. If you Glorify God,
you will never be forgotten. For what
you do for yourself will be forgotten.
But what you do for God will live for
all eternity, because God is eternal.
Live with Passion, die with Passion
…….for Him.
I Corr 10:31
So, whether you eat or
drink or whatever you do, do all to the
glory of God.
So today
itself start changing your. Commit
yourself to live a life of praising God
instead of complaining. Commit yourself
to living a life of enjoying God.
Remember to Praise and thank the Lord
for ALL things. Sacrifice Praise as
Hebr. 13:15 tells us. This means the
good and the bad.
Start all
your prayers with a season of praise
first. In fact dedicate a day each week
where you only praise God. Nothing else.
Just praise God.
You will
see your life change. I promise you.
I told
you that I would tell you what happened
to me that summer. Remember me sitting
in Alabama on that hot hot humid sticky
summer? Well I decided right then that I
would start praising God all the time. I
went on to become the top selling
salesperson in my entire team of rookies
that summer and earned enough money to
pay for the next year of college. But
when I got back to school, I found out
that despite the fact that the office
had said there were no scholarships
available, they had given me a full
tuition scholarship anyway. I still went
back to work in the Dining Room despite
the fact that I didn’t need to. And this
time they gave me a cushy job punching
people’s meal cards. And the girl I’d
been witnessing to, came up to me one
day and said: I decided that I do
believe in God.
Things
happen when you praise God. You enjoy
Him much more.
Let me
finish with the conclusion of story of
the man who lost his daughters.
The man's
three daughters had died. Died in what
may seem a tragic & useless death.
When he
finally got word from his wife via a
telegram, she said, "Saved alone." His
children whom he loved, whom he had
brought up, whom he had prayed for, whom
he’d taken joy in were all dead.
He needed
to go across the Atlantic to be with his
wife and so he set sail to England. And
yes, his heart mourned for his family
that had been torn apart. Torn apart
through no fault of man's. There was not
a thing that any man without knowledge
of the future could have done or not
done once they were on the ship to have
saved those girls. The responsibility of
their deaths lay purely in the hands of
God. God had absolute power in their
deaths.
As they
crossed the Atlantic, they came upon the
location where his family's ship had
sunk. The captain had at his request
informed him when they came upon the
exact latitude and longitude where his
girls had died. And there, in the bow of
that ship, looking down on the cold dark
waters that had taken his own daughters
life, he wrote a song.
It Is
Well With My Soul
by
Horatio Spafford
When
peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When
sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever
my lot, thou hast taught me to say
"It is
well, it is well with my soul."
It is
well (it is well)
With my
soul (with my soul).
It is
well, it is well with my soul.
Though
Satan should buffet,
Though
trials should come,
Let this
blessed assurance control,
That
Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And has
shed his own blood for my soul.
My sin,
oh the bliss of this glorious thought,
My sin,
not in part but the whole,
Is nailed
to the cross, and I bear it no more;
Praise
the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
And,
Lord, haste the day
When my
faith shall be sight,
The
clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump
shall resound,
And the
Lord shall descend,
Even so,
it is well with my soul!
It is
well (it is well)
With my
soul (with my soul).
It is
well, it is well with my soul.
Let me
ask you. When the time comes, can you do
that? Then not only will people care
that you lived, but whatever you do for
God will last forever. Everything else
will burn like wood hay and stubble. Do
you trust God that much, that you know
that He knows best and that He is God?
Can you walk amongst Lions? I pray that
I can. I pray that I can.
Are you
going commit yourself to changing your
life today, will you live a life of
Praise in all seasons. Make that
commitment. It will change your life. It
changed mine.
A small
sampling of Glory Verses
Some
describe God’s desire to glorify
himself, others talk about incidents
where He shows His glory.
Key word:
Glory
Exodus
14:4 & 17-18
And I
will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will
pursue them. But I will gain glory
for myself through Pharaoh and all his
army, and the Egyptians will know that I
am the LORD."
…And I
will gain glory through Pharaoh
and all his army, through his chariots
and his horsemen….
The
Egyptians will know that I am the LORD
when I gain glory through
Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen."
Exodus
29:43
there
also I will meet with the Israelites,
and the place will be consecrated by my
glory.
Isaiah
40:5
God says: "And the
glory of the LORD will be revealed,
and all mankind together will see it.
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
Isaiah
42:8
"I am the
LORD; that is my name! I will not give
my glory to another or my
praise to idols.
Isaiah
48:11
For my
own sake, for my own sake, I do this.
How can I let myself be defamed? I will
not yield my glory to another.
Isaiah
59:19
God says:
From the west, men will fear the name of
the LORD, and from the rising of the
sun, they will revere his glory.
For he will come like a pent-up flood
that the breath of the LORD drives
along.
Isaiah
60:19
God says:
The sun will no more be your light by
day, nor will the brightness of the moon
shine on you, for the LORD will be your
everlasting light, and your God will be
your glory.
Isaiah
66:18
God says:
"And I, because of their actions and
their imaginations, am about to come
and gather all nations and tongues, and
they will come and see my glory.
Isaiah
66:19
God says:
"I will set a sign among them, and I
will send some of those who survive to
the nations--to Tarshish, to the Libyans
and Lydians, to Tubal and Greece, and to
the distant islands that have not heard
of my fame or seen my glory. They
will proclaim my glory among the
nations.
Jeremiah
13:16
God says:
Give glory to the LORD your God
before he brings the darkness, before
your feet stumble on the darkening
hills. You hope for light, but he will
turn it to thick darkness and change it
to deep gloom.
Ezekiel
40 and onwards tell about
The
Cherubim whose main job is to glorify
God
Ezekiel
28:22
`This is
what the Sovereign LORD says: "`I am
against you, O Sidon, and I will gain
glory within you. They will know
that I am the LORD, when I inflict
punishment on her and show myself holy
within her.
Ezekiel
39:21
God says:
"I will display my glory among
the nations, and all the nations will
see the punishment I inflict and the
hand I lay upon them.
Zechariah
2:5
And I
myself will be a wall of fire around
it,' declares the LORD, `and I will be
its glory within.'
Matthew
16:27
Jesus
says: For the Son of Man is going to
come in his Father's glory with
his angels, and then he will reward each
person according to what he has done.
Matthew
24:30
Jesus
says: "At that time the sign of the Son
of Man will appear in the sky, and all
the nations of the earth will mourn.
They will see the Son of Man coming on
the clouds of the sky, with power and
great glory.
Matthew
25:31
Jesus
says: "When the Son of Man comes in his
glory, and all the angels with
him, he will sit on his throne in
heavenly glory.
Mark 8:38
Jesus
says: If anyone is ashamed of me and my
words in this adulterous and sinful
generation, the Son of Man will be
ashamed of him when he comes in his
Father's glory with the holy
angels."
Luke 9:26
Jesus
says: If anyone is ashamed of me and my
words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of
him when he comes in his glory
and in the glory of the Father
and of the holy angels.
John 11:4
(Lazarus's sickness and death)
When he
heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness
will not end in death. No, it is for
God's glory so that God's Son may
be glorified through it."
John 15:8
Jesus
says: This is to my Father's glory,
that you bear much fruit, showing
yourselves to be my disciples.
John
16:14
Jesus
says: He will bring glory to me
by taking from what is mine and making
it known to you.
Romans
3:7
Paul
says: Someone might argue, "If my
falsehood enhances God's truthfulness
and so increases his glory, why
am I still condemned as a sinner?"
Revelation 1:6
and has
made us to be a kingdom and priests to
serve his God and Father--to him be
glory and power for ever and ever!
Amen.
Revelation 5:12
In a loud
voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb,
who was slain, to receive power and
wealth and wisdom and strength and honor
and glory and praise!"
Revelation 14:7
He said
in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him
glory, because the hour of his
judgment has come. Worship him who made
the heavens, the earth, the sea and the
springs of water."
Revelation 21:11
It shone
with the glory of God, and its
brilliance was like that of a very
precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as
crystal.
Revelation 21:23
The city
does not need the sun or the moon to
shine on it, for the glory of God
gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp
Exodus
33:22
When my
glory passes by, I will put you
in a cleft in the rock and cover you
with my hand until I have passed by.
Leviticus
9:6
Then
Moses said, "This is what the LORD has
commanded you to do, so that the
glory of the LORD may appear to
you."
Isaiah
6:3
And they
were calling to one another: "Holy,
holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the
whole earth is full of his glory."
Exodus
16:10
While
Aaron was speaking to the whole
Israelite community, they looked toward
the desert, and there was the glory
of the LORD appearing in the cloud.
Exodus
24:16
and the
glory of the LORD settled on
Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud
covered the mountain, and on the seventh
day the LORD called to Moses from within
the cloud.
Isaiah
44:23
Sing for
joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done
this; shout aloud, O earth beneath.
Burst into song, you mountains, you
forests and all your trees, for the LORD
has redeemed Jacob, he displays his
glory in Israel.
Key word:
Glorify
John 8:54
Jesus
replied, "If I glorify myself, my
glory means nothing. My Father,
whom you claim as your God, is the one
who glorifies me.
John
12:28
Father,
glorify your name!" Then a voice
came from heaven, "I have glorified it,
and will glorify it again."
John
13:32
If God is
glorified in him, God will glorify
the Son in himself, and will glorify
him at once.
John 17:1
After
Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven
and prayed: "Father, the time has come.
Glorify your Son, that your Son
may glorify you.
John 17:5
And now,
Father, glorify me in your
presence with the glory I had
with you before the world began.
Romans
15:6
so that
with one heart and mouth you may
glorify the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans
15:8-9
For I
tell you that Christ has become a
servant of the Jews on behalf of God's
truth, to confirm the promises made to
the patriarchs, so that the Gentiles may
glorify God for his mercy, as it
is written: "Therefore I will praise you
among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to
your name."
Revelation 16:9
They were
seared by the intense heat and they
cursed the name of God, who had control
over these plagues, but they refused to
repent and glorify him.
Key word:
Praise
Isaiah
48:9
For my
own name's sake I delay my wrath; for
the sake of my praise I hold it
back from you, so as not to cut you off.
Isaiah
61:3
and
provide for those who grieve in Zion--
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes, the oil of gladness
instead of mourning, and a garment of
praise instead of a spirit of
despair. They will be called oaks of
righteousness, a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.
Isaiah
61:11
For as
the soil makes the sprout come up and a
garden causes seeds to grow, so the
Sovereign LORD will make righteousness
and praise spring up before all
nations
Isaiah
57:18
I have
seen his ways, but I will heal him; I
will guide him and restore comfort to
him, 19 creating praise on the
lips of the mourners in Israel. Peace,
peace, to those far and near," says the
LORD. "And I will heal them."
Jeremiah
13:11
For as a
belt is bound around a man's waist, so I
bound the whole house of Israel and the
whole house of Judah to me,' declares
the LORD, `to be my people for my renown
and praise and honor
Jeremiah
33:9
Then this
city will bring me renown, joy,
praise and honor before all nations
on earth that hear of all the good
things I do for it; and they will be in
awe and will tremble at the abundant
prosperity and peace I provide for it.'
Acts
12:23
Immediately, because Herod did not give
praise to God, an angel of the
Lord struck him down, and he was eaten
by worms and died.
Ephesians
1:12
in order
that we, who were the first to hope in
Christ, might be for the praise
of his glory.
1 Peter
1:7
These
have come so that your faith--of greater
worth than gold, which perishes even
though refined by fire--may be proved
genuine and may result in praise,
glory and honor when Jesus Christ
is revealed.
Revelation 19:5
Then a
voice came from the throne, saying: "Praise
our God, all you his servants, you who
fear him, both small and great!"
Leviticus 10:3
Moses then said to Aaron, "This is what
the LORD spoke of when he said: "`Among
those who approach me I will show myself
holy; in the sight of all the people I
will be honored.'" Aaron remained
silent.
Deuteronomy 32:39
"See now that I myself am He! There is
no god besides me. I put to death and I
bring to life, I have wounded and I will
heal, and no one can deliver out of my
hand.
Isaiah 44:24
"This is what the LORD says-- your
Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I
am the LORD, who has made all things,
who alone stretched out the heavens, who
spread out the earth by myself,
Isaiah 45:23
By myself I have sworn, my mouth has
uttered in all integrity a word that
will not be revoked: Before me every
knee will bow; by me every tongue will
swear.
Isaiah 48:11
For my own sake, for my
own sake, I do this. How can I let
myself be defamed? I will not yield my
glory to another.
Ezekiel 20:5
and say to them: `This is
what the Sovereign LORD says: On the day
I chose Israel, I swore with uplifted
hand to the descendants of the house of
Jacob and revealed myself to them in
Egypt. With uplifted hand I said to
them, "I am the LORD your God."
Ezekiel 20:9
But for the sake of my
name I did what would keep it from being
profaned in the eyes of the nations they
lived among and in whose sight I had
revealed myself to the Israelites by
bringing them out of Egypt.
Ezekiel 28:22
and say: `This is what
the Sovereign LORD says: "`I am against
you, O Sidon, and I will gain glory
within you. They will know that I am the
LORD, when I inflict punishment on her
and show myself holy within her.
Ezekiel 28:25
"`This is what the
Sovereign LORD says: When I gather the
people of Israel from the nations where
they have been scattered, I will show
myself holy among them in the sight of
the nations. Then they will live in
their own land, which I gave to my
servant Jacob.
Ezekiel 29:3
Speak to him and say:
`This is what the Sovereign LORD says:
"`I am against you, Pharaoh king of
Egypt, you great monster lying among
your streams. You say, "The Nile is
mine; I made it for myself."
Zechariah 2:5
And I myself will be a
wall of fire around it,' declares the
LORD, `and I will be its glory within.'
Job 38:4
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the
storm. He said:
2 "Who is
this that darkens my counsel with words
without knowledge?
3 Brace
yourself like a man; I will question
you, and you shall answer me.
4 "Where
were you when I laid the earth's
foundation? Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who
marked off its dimensions? Surely you
know! Who stretched a measuring line
across it?
6 On what
were its footings set, or who laid its
cornerstone--
7
while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels [1]
shouted for joy?
8 "Who
shut up the sea behind doors when it
burst forth from the womb,
9 when I
made the clouds its garment and wrapped
it in thick darkness,
10 when I
fixed limits for it and set its doors
and bars in place,
11 when I
said, `This far you may come and no
farther; here is where your proud waves
halt'?
12 "Have
you ever given orders to the morning, or
shown the dawn its place,
13 that
it might take the earth by the edges and
shake the wicked out of it?
14 The
earth takes shape like clay under a
seal; its features stand out like those
of a garment.
15 The
wicked are denied their light, and their
upraised arm is broken.
16 "Have
you journeyed to the springs of the sea
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17
Have the gates of death been shown to
you? Have you seen the gates of the
shadow of death [2]?
18 Have
you comprehended the vast expanses of
the earth? Tell me, if you know all
this. …..
2_blue.GIF)
