More Than the Man Upstairs

True worshipers can never perceive God as merely the “man upstairs.” As the Sovereign Maker, he is alone worthy of extravagant worship.

  • A limited theology will lead to lackluster worship and eventually to a liberal worldview.
  • Any attempt to domesticate God will always lead to devastating results.
  • We will never give God the worship He deserves if we perceive Him as merely “the man upstairs.”

Psalm 95:1-11

Proper Perspective (95:1-7a)

  • The only acceptable response to such an incredible God is unbridled, enthusiastic worship.
  • God deserves far more than stoic routines of obligatory worship gestures.
  • God made everything, and therefore, God owns everything.
  • If blatant humility is absent from your worship, you have yet to comprehend who you worship.

Persistent Protest (95:7b-11)

  • During the wanderings, Israel tested God by doubting His ability to sustain them in the wilderness (cf. Ex. 17:1-7; Num. 20:2-13).
  • God’s people making the same mistake twice shouldn’t shock you if you honestly evaluate your personal history.
  • An insufficient perspective of who God is will always lead to a defiant rebellion against what God commands.
  • Some of us will never find true rest because we are fighting against God’s path to experiencing it.

Jesus is the rock of our salvation – innocently struck for our hardened hearts (cf. John 19:34).

  • Would God describe you right now as having wholehearted worship or a hardened heart?
  • Do you see Jesus as the man who lives upstairs or the God who came downstairs?
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