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Hindu Conversation and WORSHIP

Student’s question about not worshipping someone else, but worshipping Christ. Created as worshippers. Idolatry vs. Atheism. Avatar. Twilight. Worship Jesus! Explore further of functional Savior, Mediator, Believe, Salvation, Hell, Heaven.

8:1 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.

We can’t help but worship God when we look at all of his awesome creation all over the earth. Some look all over the earth and worship the creation.

Paul says that some have traded the Creator for the creation. We as created but sinful creatures always struggle with worshipping the creation instead of the Creator because we are created as natural and constant worshippers.

The question isn’t if you worship, but what/who do you worship. Paul also says that the Creator has been made plain to them through the creation. You can know the existence about God by just looking at the creation.

Don’t worship the creation. Don’t worship animals (animal cruelty over abortion). Don’t worship plants (Avatar). Don’t worship people (star struck). Look around at animals, plants, and people…and worship God! He has set His glory above the heavens so that we can glorify Him!

Who are we as humans? We are worshippers! We see the majesty of God. We are blown away with how He rules and reigns, how He’s in control, and how He’s king over all of his creation. All over the earth we see this. We see this with the the vast oceans, the gaping Grand Canyon, the pure snow fall, the exotic scenes of Hawaii, and other breathtaking sites all over the earth. He is Lord over the universe, but that’s not all…He is our Lord! Oh Lord, our Lord! Your name is majestic. His signature is all over the earth when I look at creation!

Do you look at the creation and praise God? If God, the Lord of the universe your Lord? Is all the earth a sanctuary of worship for you?

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

Not only do we see the Majesty of God all over the earth, but we also see the majesty of God in the heavens.

Its like David is outside and he is staring at the moon and stars. He has no idea how HUGE they are. He has no clue the size of the universe. All he can see is the beauty. He knows the faithfulness of the moon every night. He can see the beautiful formation of the stars. He knows that there are more than he can count…just like God told Abraham about his offspring being more than the stars.

Today, we know even more about the vastness of the universe. We know that we are on one of 8 planets (not counting Pluto). We know that our planet is round. We know that our planet is the only one that is able to sustain life. We know that God created the other planets just to show off His glory! We know that our solar system makes up a galaxy, and that there are millions of solar systems and galaxies in the entire universe. We know that our planet is the only one that is warm enough, cool enough, and with the right elements to even sustain life. We know that God created all of this stuff that many have never seen before, and that there is so much that we have never seen before. Why? It is for His own glory. He is pleased in it. He enjoys it. He marvels at it. He is glorified through it! (Watch the AIG videos).

One of the most worshipful experiences I have ever had was in Jamaica worshipping God under the expanse of His starry universe. Amazing!

But David says that he looks at this marvelous creation by God, how huge it is, and how glorious it is…and it makes him ask a super important question… “God, in the glory of all of your creation, why do you think about humanity the most? Why would you care for and love men and women and boys and girls more than absolutely everything else?” You think about people more than you do the tiniest of insects, the biggest of sea creatures, the furriest of animals, the prettiest of plants, the breathtaking-est of creation’s landscape, the majestic of the heavens. Why us, God? We are microscopic specks at best when it comes to the vastness of His universe. We can’t even see us from outer space! Why us? Why do you love us more than all the rest? We know that God created us last on the 6th day of His creation as the pinnacle of everything that He created. We are the crowning jewel!

Do you ever feel insignificant? There are so many people in this school…why would anyone notice me? Like me? There are so many people in this area…why would anyone date me? There are so many people in this world…why would God love me?

Psalm 139:13-16…you are fearfully and wonderfully made! Ever feel like you don’t matter to your parents? Your family? Your friends? Your teachers? People in general? You matter greatly to God! He made you!!

But David not only says that God fearfully and wonderfully made YOU…

5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings [2]
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

Lower than the angels: Mediating role. Angels are only spirits. Animals are only bodies. We are both spirit and body. This is not rank, but rather earthly position. We outrank the angels! We are just put lower than them. Lower how? Farther away than God. David puts it this way so that we keep our eyes UP and not DOWN onto animals.

Go back to Genesis 1 with created in the image of God to rule. (Intellectual, Moral, Functional, Physical). We are created above the animals but below the angels. We are crowned with glory and honor. We are the crowning jewel of all creation. He created us last. We have been given a responsibility to rule over creation towards the glory of God. We are given responsibility to rule and reign in God’s image over the sky animals, the land animals, and the sea animals. That means that we rightfully use them for the glory of God to accomplish His purposes! God created it all…and then handed it over to Adam.

Do you know who you are? Do you know what you are? You are a steward. You are a king. You are a queen. God has given us all of this, but He also gave us instructions. We call it the Cultural Mandate. God mandated (commanded) us to progress the culture towards His glory!

TRUTH: God is worshipped world-wide mostly through HUMANITY!

9 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Jehovah, our Adonai!

God is glorified over all the earth as The Majestic King when we worship Him by praising Him for His creation (to others, in class, etc.), when we personally enjoy His creation, and when we rule rightly over His creation. As humans, we must worship God rightly in our humanity. God’s name is not majestic all over the earth just because of the beauty of His creation and the vastness of His universe. God’s name is mostly made majestic when the creatures He created in His image swarm and cover the earth with praise and worship in His name. We must remain humble. We must remain worshippers. We must remain rightful rulers. We must worship and image God constantly. Who is our Lord? Our Lord is Jesus!

Hebrews 2:5

5 Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. 6 It has been testified somewhere,

God didn’t subject the world to come to angels. Who did He subject it to?

“What is man, that you are mindful of him,
or the son of man, that you care for him?
7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned him with glory and honor, [1]
8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.”

This is quoting the Psalms. God subjected the world to come to us! But there’s so much more here.

Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

This explains everything! The reason God created man in His image, the reason God cares for us over all of the other creation, the reason God placed everything under our feet, the reason God makes us fearfully and wonderfully, and the reason all animals our at our dominion…its all because of Jesus! God created Adam and put all things under His feet because His ultimate plan was for Jesus to be the King over all things! The reason God created us in His image is because His ultimate plan was that Jesus would be the prototypical human being in God’s image! Jesus is crowned with glory and honor at His death and resurrection. He tasted death for you and for me as a human being. As a human He was tempted, as a human He resisted sin and submitted to the Holy Spirit, as a Human He bled when He was beaten and tortured before the cross, as a human He took our sin in His body, as a human He died, as a human His heart and lungs stopped, as a human He laid in the tomb dead, as a human His heart and lungs started back, as a human He raised from the dead, as a human He ascended and now sits at the right hand of His Father, as a human He deserves and receives our worship, as a human we worship Him!

Who are we as humans? We are worshippers. God created us in His image and as the kings and queens over creation…because that’s how we worship Him…through Christ Jesus! We don’t worship creation. We don’t worship animals. We don’t worship angels. We don’t worship demons. We don’t worship trees. But neither do we worship humans. Worship Jesus and Jesus alone! That’s what God created humanity to do.

CHALLENGE: Worship Christ by glorifying His name throughout the earth.

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