Thrilling God's Heart

Thrilling God’s Heart

Text: 2 Samuel 7:18-29, 6:16-18, 24:18-25

INTRO: I want you to imagine that this worship service has just ended,

and people are lingering, hugging, milling around, filing out,

smiling, laughing, talking to each other:

“Wasn’t worship wonderful today?” someone might say.

“Don’t you love singing like that?” adds another.

“I really liked the sermon today.”

“Me, too, especially that one story he told. . .”

Or you might hear,

“I really like worshiping at this church

because the music is so good,” or

“I like the preaching,” or

“I feel like the emphasis on Scripture

really meets my needs,” or

“I think the enthusiasm of the students adds so much to the worship experience,” and

“I like worshiping at a church that has

something for everyone.”

Those are typical comments—

maybe more positive than others you might hear, but fairly common, nonetheless.

And totally beside the point.

I’m not saying none of those things are important;

I’m saying they’re not talking about worship.

You see, we’ve gotten to the point in the church today where we look for fulfillment in worship:

Does it meet my needs?

Fit my “style?”

Lift my soul?

But I’m here to tell you this morning that answering those questions won’t help you find fulfillment in worship....because that’s not what worship is about.

For the last several weeks here at OBF, we’ve been preaching through a sermon series on "Spiritual Maturity." We’ve identified eight characteristics of a spiritually mature person:

One of those, which Pastor Dave Smetana preached on at Presser Hall was “The Dependent Life,” a life of prayerful dependence on God;

Next, Win preached sermons on “The Generous Life,” a life of stewardship, and “The Extended Life,” a life that reaches out to others.

Which leads us to this morning’s topic: “The

Worshipful Life,” and our conviction that the spiritually mature person will exhibit a life that is marked by intentional, fervent, "deepwater" worship.

And the key to that kind of worship is not

meeting your needs,

fitting your style

or lifting your soul,

BUT something else entirely....

something David—the man after God’s own heart— knew,

something he had,

something he experienced and exemplified.

So, if you would, please turn in your Bibles to the Old Testament, to 2 Samuel chapter 7,

and we will look there to see a model of “The Worshipful Life.”

But first let’s pause to pray together:

“O Sovereign LORD,

How great you are!

There is no-one like you, and there is no God but you,

as we have heard with our own ears.

For the sake of your glory, Lord, I pray that you will

illumine your word and accomplish your will,

in these moments we spend together this morning. Amen.”

I want to talk about the worshipful life this morning by pointing out to you four characteristics of the kind of worship that thrills God’s heart.

You know, the Bible records that God himself referred to David as “a man after my own heart”

(1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22), and I believe that description has a lot to do with the way David worshiped.

And I suggest to you,

if you aspire to be spiritually mature,

you can’t do much better than to do like David,

and worship in such a way that thrills God’s heart.

So, if you’ll look at 2 Samuel 7, verse 18, I want to show you, first, that:

I Worship that thrills God’s heart is humble worship

Now, these verses occur in the context of David’s ascension to the throne after the death of King Saul, and his desire to build a glorious temple to God. But God informed David that his son and successor would accomplish that task, not David.

With that in mind, look at verses 18-21:

Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said: "Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?

19 And as if this were not enough in your sight, O Sovereign LORD, you have also spoken about the future

of the house of your servant. Is this your usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign LORD?

20 "What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Sovereign LORD.

21 For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant.”

Do you hear the humility in David’s words?

"Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?”

That’s the kind of worship that thrills God’s heart: humble worship.

In fact, the truth be told, there IS no other kind! There is no such thing as prideful worship,

self-absorbed worship,

or even self-satisfied worship.