Worshiping God As Savior Series

That’s Why We Worship - Worshiping God As Savior

That’s Why We Worship

"Worshiping God As Savior"

We are looking at why we worship God.

Revelation 5:11-14

Last week we looked at God as creator. That alone should evoke from us a desire to worship Him, but our sin instead causes us to draw back, to hide. But God does not leave us in this predicament. He is also our Savior.

To understand what God has done to save us, we need to examine three vital parts of the nature of God. The failure to do this results in the kind of wishy washy faith that too many people hold today. Too many people believe that God is only love; that He will save everyone, because He could not do anything else. This is a cheap view of God’s grace, and it is a false view that will leave many separated from God’s love for eternity.

I. The Righteousness of God.

- Revelation 15:3,4 - one of the things we worship God for.

- People can be pretty predictable, especially when you get to know them

- Brad Asche will always sit in that chair Sunday mornings.

- the middle and high schoolers will always run from class to get donuts

- Sherri will always say it’s a little cold in here first thing in the morning.

- God is predictable in a sense too. The Bible calls that God’s righteousness.

-The word "righteous" is the same word as "justice." It means to conform to the proper standard or law. When the Bible speaks of the righteousness of God, it refers to the fact that God is always true to His own nature - He is the standard or norm. God will always act true to His nature - you can count on it - that is what God’s righteousness means. Now this is a good thing, or so it seems. God is holy, pure, just, loving, faithful. We can count on it. He will never depart from these. It is a good thing, but it poses a problem for us.

It becomes a problem because of our sin. Because of sin, it is no longer easy for God to be holy and also loving with us. Why? If God were to be true to His holiness, justice or righteousness would demand that we be punished for our sin. If God were to be true to His desire to love us, He would not have us be the objects of His wrath or punishment, but would want to protect and save us. Sin is a very real problem. It began in the Garden of Eden, and it continues to now. Sin, doing that which is against the will of God, is a very real problem.

Man has often suggested that it is not a problem at all. This is done by emphasizing the love of God. In this way, God’s holiness and wrath against sin is ignored or explained away by saying that "God is love." But the problem is that while God is love, He is not only love. He always acts true to His nature, His entire nature. Remember, God is righteous.

At no given time can God be explained or understood only by His love. Neither can He be explained only by His holiness. Both run throughout Scripture. God has never abandoned either. And this, I suggest, is the amazing thing about our salvation in Jesus. God did not have to abandon His holiness or His love to accomplish it. In saving us, God remains righteous.

- Romans 3:21-26. God remains righteous. He is both just (holy) and the justifier (love) of those who have faith in Christ.

- 1 Jn. 1:9

Let’s look a little closer at His holiness and His love and how both were expressed in our salvation.

II. The Holiness of God.

Holiness means at its root to be separate or distinct. The Bible tells us that God is holy in two ways.

- in His being - transcendent - uncreated and infinite.

- in character - ethically - He is completely pure, without any sin or evil. This is the holiness that we need to focus on this morning. Our sin presented a dilemma for God’s righteousness because of His holiness.

- Illus: Martin Luther

Before the events of the Protestant Reformation unfolded, Luther, unlike most people of His day, had studied very closely what the Bible said about God. Like Isaiah, when he came closely to God, He was terrified by what He saw. The holiness of God he saw throughout the Bible told him there was certain doom and punishment coming his way because of his own sin. Martin Luther was a monk at the time. In fact, he was a very disciplined monk. He spent more time in prayer and study than others, but he also spent a lot of time in confession of his sin. He wold often spend six hours a day in confession with a priest! He knew that almost every thought of his heart was tainted in some way with at least a less than holy motive. He nearly drove himself insane with the thought of his own sin and God’s holiness and what it meant for him. When it came time to present his first mass as a priest, he could not finish it, because he did not feel worthy.