James 1:6
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I find it a common occurrence that I'll be driving my car with my children in the backseat and they will randomly ask me a question. Does this happen to you? Every once in a while, Lottie will ask something like, can we go to the beach today? Sometimes, not always, but sometimes I'll respond with something like, probably not today we just don't have time for it and that's it that's all I say I just expect the answer that I gave to be sufficient my daughter is four and sometimes this is actually true I mean there's a manifold reasons for why we're we're not going to the beach today We live in Louisville, Kentucky.
The beach is 700 miles away. It's not like we can just make that decision on a whim and just go one day. We have to book a place. We have to save some money. We have to plan ahead of time. There's a lot that goes into that decision. I have to talk to my wife about it. But I have on multiple occasions when my daughter asks the questions, I just say we probably won't go today. We don't have time for it. Time's not the only reason why we're not going to the beach. And this happens quite often to us. We may be asked the question and we give reasons that is only really a part of the multiple reasons that we have, that we could give. Our real reasoning may be layered, varied. It consists of different parts or elements. They may have many features to it. And I think our text this evening gives us a glimpse
into the manifold wisdom of God. Our text for this evening is Psalm 86 9. It can be found on the front of your bulletin. It reads, all the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. So the point I want to draw out of Psalm 86 9 is this. The nations will worship and glorify God because he is God, and this will be accomplished through his church. And I want to focus on two points about this truth. The first one's going to be that God's nature and character demands the worship of everyone. The second one's going to be that God's glory will be displayed through his church. So our first point, God's nature and character demands the worship of everyone. I want us to be reminded this evening that
our God is infinitely wise. And his wisdom is displayed in his plan to bring the nations to himself for worship and for his glory. Generally, most Christians that I encounter are fine with the idea that God's infinitely wise. And we even confess this. We don't have a problem proclaiming this aloud to others. But when it comes to our day-to-day activities or more essentially our thoughts and our attitudes that we carry with us each day, we tend to forget this truth quite often.
So how does this manifest itself? Well, we're planners. We always seem to know what the best plan is for us and we don't like when our plans are thwarted it doesn't take much for us to lose patience or get angry when someone stands in our way we want to see ahead and we want to know what is next and we also like for people to know that we knew that was coming or that was going to happen we also may fear what others think when they realize that we don't know something. So we mask ourself with knowledge. We don't like to ask for help because we fear what that may signal to others. Psalm 147 5 says, great is our Lord and abundant in power. His understanding is beyond measure. His understanding
is infinite. All of God's acts were accomplished in perfect wisdom. And one of the most grand displays of all of his acts is for the gospel to go forth to the ends of the earth. How was this accomplished? We see his wisdom most clearly as Christians in the incarnation of Jesus. This was done with perfection, only possible to the one beyond measure.
1 Timothy 3.16 says, Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness. He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed to the nations, believed on by the world, taken up in glory. He was manifested in the flesh, Jesus Christ, proclaimed to the nations and believed on by the world. And with that, Christ's work of atonement for us was done with perfect wisdom.
Christ's work perfectly reconciled God and men and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. how should this truth affect us? We need to repudiate our own wisdom and take the infinite wisdom of God so that our heart can rest. This may mean that we need to slow down and reflect on what God has done for us rather than focus on what we think He needs to be doing for us.
I really appreciate the subtle reminder that Matt gave this morning of writing down what God has done so it can serve as a reminder to us because we're forgetful people. Isaiah paints a beautiful picture of what God does for his people. Isaiah 42 16 says, and I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know. In past, they have not known. I will guide them. I turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do and I do not forsake them. This is a grand picture of what God is doing with us in his infinite wisdom. He's leading the blind and guiding us by turning our darkness into light.
He's smoothing the ground so that we don't trip on our own feet. This is an amazing providence from our God. As Tozer once put it, surely we are the most favored of all creatures. God's glorious plan to open salvation to the entire world through the life and death of his son is so glorious that our hearts must respond with gratitude. A second truth about God's nature and character that demands our worship is God's goodness.
The nations will come to worship and glorify his name because our God is good. Psalm 86 is a prayer from David. And the first seven verses are very personal for David. David boldly asked God things. He asked God to incline your ear, preserve my life, be gracious to me, gladden the soul of your servant, give ear to my prayer, listen to my plea for grace. Why does David ask these things so boldly?
Well, he foundationally understands the goodness of God. David understands that God delights in doing these things. And when we ask things from our God, it is an unceasing delight. We understand that God is good because Scripture paints a glorious and wonderful picture of our God. We get a good dose of it here with David's prayer. But his goodness is taught and implied on every page in our Bibles.
We find it in 1 Chronicles. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Psalm 145, the Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made. Mark 10, 18, and Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. The goodness of God is a foundational stone that is pivotal to our understanding of the world. If God is not good, then we don't understand the difference between what is kind and what is cruel.
We don't know what is different about the darkness and the light. If God's not good, then we have no direction, no moral compass. We lose meaning. We then make ourselves the center of the universe. Our God is kind, benevolent, and full of goodwill. He never varies in his intensity of his loving kindness. You know, I've spent the last 14 years in the classroom teaching high school students.
And I've realized that usually the school year is about 175, 180 days. And I realized that seeing the same students over and over for that many days, day after day, can make the year long. And I've had, you know, some occasions where this has happened where I will have students say, they'll say something to this effect. They'll say, Mr. Woods, you were way nicer at the beginning of the year. And this is usually happening about when report cards are coming out, you know, and there's other variables going on.
But we can't ever say, well, God, there was a time when you were nicer or kinder. God will never be kinder than he is now, and he will never be less kind. So what's our problem? Well, sin has made us timid, skeptical. We're self-absorbed, self-conscious. We fear everything because we don't understand His goodness.
We hold on to fears. We hold on to our mistakes. We lean into our own understanding. And we start to ask questions like this. If I come to God, how will He act towards me? What will I find God to be like because of me? And if you're a Christian, then the answer is astonishing to us. As a Christian, you are hidden in Christ.
Colossians 3 starts out by saying that if you've been raised with Christ, this means that you've placed your faith and your trust in Jesus. Then verse 3, For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. This is a heavenly father's view of his perfect, obedient son. And as a Christian, this is God's view of you. You're hidden with Christ. Colossians 3, 4 goes on to say, When Christ, who is your life, appears, did you catch that?
When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory. If you're losing hope in what Christ has done for you, meditate on Colossians 3, 1 through 4. God is generous, kind, friendly, forgiving, considerate, compassionate, and gentle. And this leads us to our second point. God's glory will be displayed through his church.
The church is responsible for overseeing and protecting the gospel. The stewardship of the gospel will always remain unique to the Christian church. This means that the church must consider how we present and how we preserve the gospel message, including how we take it to others outside these walls. And it's important for us to understand to what God has entrusted the good news to, which is his bride, and how that good news must spread, which is through his bride.
So I want to answer four quick questions here, and these will be quick. So the first one, why should we take the good news to others? We do it for the love of our neighbor. If we're convinced that eternal suffering in hell is the single worst outcome of a life lived, then we have no other choice but to take this good news to others. Also, we're commanded to do this work. Matthew 28, 19 through 20 is the Great Commission. And John gave us a heavenly vision of what to expect in Revelation.
In heaven, there's going to be a great multitude that no one can number. There's going to be people from every nation, tribe, and tongue standing before the throne and before the Lamb. We'll be crying with loud voices, salvation belongs to our God. So question number two, what was the purpose of Christ? 1 Timothy 1.15, it's the mission of all missions. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
And from that purpose, God will get the glory from this work. And God is the one who sustains this work. God's mission will go forth on his own terms because he must be worshipped and glorified. He's the most wise and he's the greatest good. Question number three, does God care how this work of the good news goes forth? Yes. He does care because he will not give his glory to another.
Again, in Isaiah, Isaiah 48, 9 through 11, we get a glimpse of God's goodness and insight to his promise to Israel. And the same promise holds true for us. It says this. For my name's sake, I defer my anger. For the sake of my praise, I restrain it from you that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it.
For how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another. How encouraging is this passage in Isaiah? God's wrath was restrained, restrained from being poured out on his people. because of his glory and God's wrath was poured out onto Christ for his glory. Fourth question, why is the church central to this plan? This work must continue through the local church. The church is able to make clear who is and who is not a disciple through baptism and membership in the body. We see this in multiple places. We see this in Acts. There was a specific numerical record of those who professed Christ. And specifically in Acts 2.41, we see the progression of professing belief, then baptism, and they were keeping record of those who were added.
The church acts as an embassy of our king. The church is also the central place in the plan where most discipling naturally takes place. Hebrews 10 says we should meet and encourage one another together. We should hold fast to the confessions that we've made. We should stir each other up in love and good works. This is discipleship at work.
It even says that some people will stop meeting, and we're warned against this. We see that the local church also sends out missionaries. We see this clearly with Barnabas and Saul in Acts 13, 1 through 3. And we also see that the church cared for missionaries after they were sent. It's important that we send missionaries, but also that we follow up in support and care. We see this with Paul in Philippians where he said that no church entered into a partnership with him in giving and receiving except the Philippi church.
Also John, in the book of 3 John, writing to Gaius, a leader of one of the churches in Asia Minor, encourages him for all that he's done by sending his brothers out. Then John says, we ought to support people who are being faithful for the sake of the name of Christ. So you may be asking one final question. Why did God choose the church to display the work of redemption? I think Paul says it best in Ephesians 3, verses 10 and 11.
Paul is speaking about the mystery of how the gospel has now been revealed to the Gentiles who are fellow heirs in Christ. And he says this, he says, His, or God's intention, God's intent, was that now through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. According to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It's almost as if Paul is saying that this work, the work that God did through Jesus Christ, it's so astonishing. And this astonishing work of Jesus will be displayed through his church. It will be on display to the world. And not only to the world, it will be on display to the angelic host. The rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms. They're going to be looking down at the church and be in awe.
And what will the church be a reflection of? The church will be a reflection of the manifold wisdom of God, the infinite, the beyond measure wisdom of our God. The church displays the wisdom of God in its sovereign work to reach the ends of the earth so that he will be glorified and worshipped. Let's pray. Father, we recognize you as the sovereign one who will be worshiped by the nations.
Your name will be lifted up and you will be glorified. We lift your name up and glorify you this evening. You're infinitely wise and we understand and know that we're dependent upon you. Your goodness should make us weep with gladness because you have acted on our behalf. You sent Christ to atone for our sins, and this was the most wise and good thing that could be done for us. We thank you for acting in this way. We also thank you for establishing your church, your manifold wisdom, your many and varied wisdom is displayed through your church, and you call us to be a part of your church. We're thankful that you allow us to be a part of this glorious plan we pray for third avenue that will will display this glory well we pray that a sense of urgency will be placed upon our hearts to share the good news to those in our neighborhood college students at the university of louisville and others across the country
in the world for the sake of your glory we pray these things in the name of your son jesus amen