Scripture:
Psalm 145:1-7

It's amazing what people notice when they know that I'm a pastor: about choices I make, what I don't drink, and what my family does, all because I'm a pastor. I promise you, I think I'm normal! The number of stifled cigarettes, drinks and comments at parties we attend can really be funny. (And I'm not just talking about the kids in the student ministry!) Chuck Swindoll tells a great story about this.

I will never forget the time I was walking down a long corridor, preparing to make a hospital call. As I approached the parishioner's room, her husband was just leaving. On his way out the door, he lit up a cigarette, then glanced down the hall and suddenly recognized me from a distance. I smiled and waved. He nervously waved back and was absolutely at a loss to know how to hide the cigarette from me. Still holding the lighted cigarette, he slid his hand into his pants' pocket! I decided to act as though I hadn't seen it...and engage him in a lengthy conversation. It became hilarious. The more we talked, the shorter that cigarette got in his hand and the more he looked like a chimney. There was smoke swirling out of his pants' pocket and curling up behind his collar. Unable to restrain myself any longer, I asked him why he didn't go ahead and finish his cigarette. Would you believe it? He denied even having a cigarette. Within seconds, he dashed to the elevator and fled, which was probably good. Had we talked much longer, the man would have become a living sacrifice. (Rise and Shine)

Now, would that have happened to an engineer? Or a salesman? An airline pilot? The foggy thinking about ministers and ministry in general is amazing. Why? People don't understand our purpose. People think it's supposed to be mysterious and unclear, but the truth is that the Bible is a missionary book about a missionary God who creates and calls a missionary people. Many Christians, even pastors, get sidetracked from our primary purpose as a church. Why has the church been called into existence? Why do we own this piece of property at Maple and Pleasant? Why have we erected a building? Why do we engage in a ministry of music? Why are sermons preached? Why do we support the church with our funds? Why do we send out missionaries?

If we were to ask this congregation, we would hear lots of great answers. Here are some answers we would give:

· To present the gospel to the lost.

· To have the opportunity for worship and teaching.

· To bring hope to the hurting.

· To declare and support wholesome values.

· To "gather, nurture, and equip."

· To pray.

· To stimulate action and involvement in critical social issues.

Each reason is valid, wholesome and worthwhile. The church needs to continue to do better and better in these areas. But we still haven't touched on the one that is absolutely primary; the key, deep-down, foundational purpose for the church's existence. Sometimes Leigh and I have the mixed blessing of hearing: "I've been a Christian all my life. Why have I never heard this before now?"

Here's the primary purpose. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:31: "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

In the simplest terms, that's it. The church's primary purpose, and our primary purpose as Christians, is to glorify the Lord our God. May we never forget it again. Look how broadly Paul puts it: "WHETHER..." Whether we are eating or drinking, hurting or helping, serving or struggling. The activities are limitless, but the purpose remains the same. Look further. "WHATEVER..." Whatever you do. Whatever you are personally - male or female, adult, youth, or child; in whatever country you find yourself; in whatever circumstance. The goal is God's greater glory. Let's not let this be a secret! Let's know what we're doing!

A few chapters earlier, Paul asks: "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body." 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20

There it is again. God is concerned that we glorify Him even in our body. The way we treat it. What we put into it. What we allow it to say. Where we go with it. What we let it see. How much rest we give it. How well we keep fit. Even our physical existence is to glorify God.

Matthew 5:16: "Let your light shine before others in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

The Bible is full of statements like this. Our sole purpose, our basic reason for existence, is to bring maximum glory to our God. It is so easy, and I have gotten so caught up in other agendas: to get bigger, to build up the church, to make an impression, to look good. Now, there is nothing wrong with these things if the motive is right and in perspective, but they are not primary.

Here's how to make this practical. Ask yourself: Why am I doing this? Why did I say yes? Why am I teaching? Why do I sing in the choir? Why am I so involved? Why am I planning this? Why do I plan my budget to give this amount of money? When we ask these questions, there must be one answer: To glorify God.

What does it mean to glorify God? We know generally, but let's get specific, church. After all, we want to know what we are doing.

There are basically three major ways glory is used in scripture. First, glory refers to light, the light of God's presence, a bright and shining light from heaven. This light is the holiness of God, a brilliant, searing light called the "shekinah" of God. It is awe-inspiring and terrifying.

The second form of glory in scripture refers to a distinctive appearance of celestial bodies. Something about the sun, stars, moon and planets bears an appearance that reveals a distinctive and awesome glory.

The third form of glory is the one meant for the goals of our lives and purpose of the church. For our bottom line purpose, glory means to magnify, to elevate, to shed radiance or splendor on another. So what does it mean for our church and our individual lives? It means to magnify, to exalt, to extol, to elevate the Lord our God as we humble ourselves and defer to God's wisdom and authority.

John the Baptist said it best in John 3:30: "He must increase, but I must decrease." What a great example! John never once accepted glory that belonged only to Jesus the Messiah. In order for us to fulfill our purpose, that must be us. I cannot at the same time accept the glory and give God the glory. Let me repeat that. I cannot at the same time accept the glory and give God the glory. You and I need to be preoccupied with God, rather than ourselves and our own plans. After all, what will bring God glory? God is so good that in our bringing glory to Him, we see that it works. You can run a church operation seeking sheer glory for God. You can live your life in such a way that people will see God and glorify Him. That is what God defines as successful. Just keep asking yourself: Who's getting the glory in this?

If the answer is God, the world will literally sit up and take notice. The awesome glory of God will be winsome and contagious. God's glory creates an interest in spiritual things. That's why nature works so well. On a mountaintop, people sit up and can't help but think about big things. "The heavens proclaim his righteousness. The peoples see his glory, for You, O Lord, are the Most High over all the earth." Psalm 97:6, 9

This leads us to our scripture for this morning. This is titled: "A Psalm of Praise of David," the only one so inscribed. It is the climax of all of David's psalms, and is the end of the main body of Psalms, with the last five being an appendix of appreciation for God. It is an acrostic psalm. Each line begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The theme is God's greatness, and verse by verse we see, in a worship setting, glory flowing up to God.

1. "I will extol Thee, my God, O King." This is a "why" line. To extol means to magnify. Notice David addresses God as "my God, O King." That's why. God's personal relationship with David. Nobody can praise God apart from this personal relationship. No one can experience God's full measure until they can glorify God, and no one can glorify God until they have experienced Him in a personal way. Whether it is through a sense of awe or a strange warming in your heart, you and I need to know God in this personal way. It is as simple as inviting God to be Lord of your life. God is not like "the force" from Star Wars.

The other answer to "why" is this: God's permanent rule over David. God was "King" of David. To try to worship God in the abstract does not measure up. That the transcendent God who created the sun and stars, the God over the universe itself, is my God fills me, changes me, gives me hope and a future. God's rule over my life gives me an allegiance. It creates an awe within that I cannot fully express, and thus it would take "forever and ever" in order for me to fully "bless God's name." David did not contemplate any end to God's lordship in his life. It was forever. God will never tire of being our God. No matter how wavering you or I have been, God still desires this personal relationship with us. That is why we praise and glorify God.

2. "Every day I will bless Thee, and will praise thy name forever and ever." This is a "when" line. Have you thought about praising God every day? Do you have a plan to praise God every day? I can remember the day it dawned on me that my Christianity was not limited to Sundays. It was a "total life" experience; Sunday just happened to be one of the seven days each week it impacted me. It is possible you have yet to make a definite step toward glorifying God in your work or in your relationships at school or at home.

When do you glorify and bless God? On the good days and on the bad days. When you are unsure, you glorify God by seeking his guidance. When you need to make a decision, you lean on his Word for direction and his Spirit for strength. This covers anything: selecting a job, finding a place to live, focusing on a goal to accomplish, choosing your attitude. Decide each one based only on God's glory. When things are going wrong, when you are suffering, when you are pursuing an education, a degree, a career: is it for God's glory, or yours? No matter the day, cement it down with praise for God.

3. "Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable." This is a portion of "who" God is: David is talking about the great I AM, whose name is above all other names, and unpronounceable. He is God without beginning or ending of days, before the dawn of time, back into the dateless, timeless past, into the void of nothingness. God was there and had been there, glorious, awesome, needing nothing.

4. "One generation shall praise Thy works to another, and shall declare Thy mighty acts." One way the unceasing praise happens is that each new generation receives instruction from the previous. This verse is the passion for my career. After all, the church is always only one generation away from extinction. Let me repeat that: the church is always only one generation away from extinction. How are we doing, church? What are we instructing to our youth and children? Do your kids know about sin and God's work of salvation through his Son, Jesus Christ? Do they know where you stand? I remember being well into college the first time my mom described herself to me as a "born -again Christian." I can still remember what side of the kitchen table we were both sitting on in our house on Suffield. It was so cool to hear her share her story! Have you told yours?

5.

Don't wait for your kid to hear it from her Sunday school teacher. Go home and share it with her today. Find a time to show your son some of your favorite scripture verses. Do they even know where you stand? And men, it's especially vital that we take the opportunity. Since our affirmation of our children is such a major part of their esteem, how powerful could our role be in pointing our kids to our heavenly Father!

It is the sane and sensible thing to do. It's the intelligent thing to do. The insulting thing to do would be to say that it all happened by chance, that it's a fortuitous collision of atoms, to invent theories to argue God out of his own creation.

This is part of the reason for adding a new branch to our church's tree in the area of alternative worship. Sunday nights will become alive as we seek new ways to "praise God's works to another generation," which is a generation of all ages. God will be working in a new way here on Sunday nights and we are looking for many of you to join Him there. Won't you please consider supporting this new ministry with your commitment?

We must declare God's mighty acts! From the creation of an atom, containing power enough to annihilate a city, to the creation of a galaxy. What mighty acts! Let alone the raising of mountains and surrounding them with oceans, and populating them with hundreds of thousands of different sorts of living things. Let alone the creation of man and woman, made in God's own image and likeness. What mighty works!

5, 6, 7. "On the glorious splendor of Thy majesty, and on Thy wonderful works, I will meditate. And people shall speak of the power of Thine awesome acts, and I will tell of Thy greatness. They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness, and shall shout joyfully of Your righteousness." In the Old Testament, God intervened with wonderful works in judgment, but in the New Testament, God's wonderful work was in mercy, at Calvary, on the cross. It became forgiveness and salvation from sin.

In God's awesome acts, some fearfully speak of God's power, whereas David tells of God's greatness. The distinction of interpretation between non-believer and believer is seen here. To a non-believer, the Bible is a long (really long) list of do's and don'ts. But to the believer, it is simply God's original plan for life. For the believer, the B-I-B-L-E is Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. Righteousness is simply acting in accord with God's plan. Living in obedience to God, not do's and don'ts. And if you spend your time doing the do's, you won't have time to do the don'ts, and even if you could you wouldn't, so you don't... What some call miracles others call myths, but even that is incorporated as praise to the glory of God. David himself knew the pain and trouble of self-will as opposed to seeking God's glory, but still he chose to praise God. And thus so should we.

It's no secret. Your main goal as an individual, and our main goal as a church, is to glorify God. Church, our problem is not the sin of commission. It's not the sins of omission. Our problem is the sin of no mission. Well, now the secret's out. We've got one. But, if our church is to live out our mission, it has to be in the hearts of all the congregation.

Like David, it's all about God. "He must increase, we must decrease." The glory we give is because God is personal, and permanently ruling our lives. It is daily. God's glory is our priority, including every detail of our lives, and our church's life. We need to reach our generation to continue God's praise. To anyone who encounters us, it ought to be obvious that there's no secret. Let's do more than talk about our purpose. Let's accomplish it . . . in God's strength, and for his glory. AMEN.