Sermon Text: Revelation 4:9-11
Below is a sermon manuscript from July 6, 2025. Watch the sermon here.
Introduction
C.S. Lewis, in the beginning of The Weight of Glory, says that humans are settling for mud pies in a slum when offered a holiday at the sea. Part of his aim in the book was to show that humans are glory-seeking and that is not something intrinsically wrong, but actually how we are designed. It is good and worthwhile to understand this. A more recent take on this says,
Christians sometimes see the Bible’s call to humility as opposed to a wholesome craving for glory. In fact, man was made for glory. We were designed to be glory-seekers. This is why people exult in movie stars and sports icons. Certainly, the glorification of entertainment and sports idols is appropriately named: it is idolatry to grant the status of god or goddess to any creature. But the quest for glory itself is implanted in the human heart by God in order to be satisfied by none other than himself. People marvel at how thousands are religiously drawn to stadiums to cheer ecstatically for a long touchdown pass or pack into the arenas for a music concert. The reason is that we crave even a fleeting earthly experience of the glory for which we were made. Yet the only true glory is found in the person of God and in his saving works.[1]
I love this, and we might think of many more examples today. We might think of recognition from a boss instead of the eternal king. Or perhaps we could update this to say that people settle for likes and views on social media instead of the embrace of the God who made them and loves them. They settle for a few seconds’ recognition from a person doom-scrolling on the toilet to the everlasting union with God, who sits on the heavenly throne.
True Worship Involves…
Worship is Weighty
The word glory indicates a kind of weightiness or heaviness to it. There is a reverence and seriousness to worship that are very foreign to many people today.
In assessing American evangelicalism, David Wells has commented on “the weightlessness of God.” Wells explains that to professing Christians, “God has become unimportant. He rests upon the world so inconsequentially as not to be noticeable.” Wells does not mean that something has happened to God, but rather that something has happened to our attitude toward him. In the place of God, man sees himself on the throne. Even Christians today are preoccupied not with knowing God and his will but with matching our own preferences and suiting our own needs.[2]
Have you seen this happen or been guilty of it yourself? “I’m sure God’s fine with it,” we flippantly say. Or we claim that sin is not a big deal because we don’t perceive it as such. We often see God as a side character in our life’s movie, rather than recognizing Him for who He is. We are not concerned with what He has said about himself in Scripture so much as how we want him to be. In this case, our will, not His Word ,becomes the framework by which we understand God and his character.
I think this is especially a temptation in lower church traditions like ours. There is much to be thankful for in our tradition. I think it rightly emphasizes that we are one in Christ, the importance of evangelism and discipleship, and the closeness of God to us in His love. But we have to be careful not to lose a proper sense of God’s majesty. Of the awe of God. That God is bigger than us and beyond us. We don’t need to dial back our healthy understanding of God’s closeness, but we have to make sure that we rightfully dial up our understanding of his vastness. God is not like us. We do well to heed the words of Psalm 29,
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.
3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord, over many waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth
and strips the forests bare,
and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
10 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord sits enthroned as king forever[3]
Worshipping God As He Is
One thing that we notice here is that the creatures and the elders are worshipping God for who he is. Our passage not only tells us that they are showing the worth of God, but their worship has content. The content is focused on God’s attributes. God is holy, he is eternal, and he is the creator God. This is something for us to recognize: there is a direct association between worship and theology. Between God’s revelation of himself and our response to that revelation.
We could put it like this: Our understanding of God fuels our worship of God. Do we recognize that? Our worship of God is not mere emotivism. It’s not just directed from us somewhere, but it has a direction, and it is solidly informed.
My wife and I just celebrated our 15th anniversary. To celebrate our anniversary, I got my wife a signed Baltimore Ravens jersey. No I didn’t do that! Why? Not because my wife doesn’t like sports, but because she is a Steelers fan and with that, like any good Steelers fan, a healthy dislike for the Ravens. She may not have passed being a Steelers fan onto the boys, but as we were driving the other day, they did say, “Ugh, that’s disgusting. Did you see that Ravens plate on that car, Mom?”
Why mention this? Because just as I need to know my wife well to respond well in given circumstances, we need to know God to respond rightly to him in worship. Knowing what God desires, one thing is a humble heart.
Worship involves praise through posture
Another aspect that we see here is that the elders fall down. Their worship involves recognition through their posture. It is an act of humility. With this, we need to keep in mind that heart posture is more important than physical posture. But often they can work in harmony. There is an ancient practice of praying with hands lifted high and eyes open. But many today pray with their heads bowed and eyes closed. Does the Bible command this particular practice? No. But it can be a helpful way for us to acknowledge humility before God and to remove distractions. The point of highlighting the posture in this passage is that the physical act demonstrates an internal reality. The heart attitude of humility before God, of reverence and deference, is what matters. We should remember Jesus’ warning in Matthew 23:27-28 about those who merely give the appearance of godliness but lack inward transformation.
Let me illustrate this a bit. I was once part of a church that said, “Ok, now everyone really means this worship, raise your hands.” This took me back a little bit. Some of you may be familiar with the Tim Hawkins skit where he categorizes the kinds of hand raisers in church. While it’s humorous, there can be two dangers when it comes to this idea, one is a kind of forced approach that sees the seriousness of worship with a particular action and then makes everyone follow suit. But another might be complete restriction as well. Just because the emphasis is on the heart doesn’t mean that it can’t be expressed through our arms. This may look different for various individuals. Scripture warns against a kind of unbridled chaos in worship services that confuses visitors. But some are expressive in worship, and there should be a level of freedom there as well.
Being Centered on God
Another aspect that we can’t miss in all of this, again, is the place of the throne. This is centered on God. Worship flows to him and is for Him. It is a response to what he has revealed to us about himself. We do what we do for God’s glory. We worship for God’s glory. We are centered on God’s glory. It’s about him and not us. This is true in corporate worship as a local church, but it should also be true in everyday life. We live for God’s glory. We have the elders throwing down their crowns, symbolizing their glory, their fame, their recognition. They laid it at the feet of the one seated at the throne. God alone deserves the glory. This was the attitude of Paul as well. Remember, after listing his accomplishments, he said that he counts it all as a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. Fame and earthly glory can go to our head, we are not meant to be worshipped. Instead, we should follow the example of these elders and Paul and give all glory to God.
Idolatry Results From…
Worshipping created things instead of the creator
We worship God as he has revealed himself to us. Unfortunately, even though there is a basic knowledge of God within the created world, we are prone to stop there. Paul says in Romans 1,
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.[4]
Do you get that? Instead of rightfully acknowledging God, we elevate things in his place. This is true today as well. We might not bow down to golden statues, but we can worship God’s gifts instead of him. We can take good things and make them ultimate things.
Augustine defined idolatry as worshipping what should be used and using what should be worshipped.
Getting the object of worship wrong
A second way this can go wrong is when we craft God according to our own whims, when we misrepresent God. It’s true that we don’t need to have our understanding of God 100% to offer him worship. Praise God for that! But on the other side, we do have to know who we are worshipping. Remember Aaron in the Old Testament, while Moses was up on the Mountain. We might say that an associate pastor or elder takes over, and the people get grumpy. What do we see happen? They take up a huge offering! Everyone is giving their jewelry to him. We also see everyone seemingly united in their approach. But what is happening? They have made a golden calf and are claiming that this is the one who led you out of Egypt. Their unity, their giving, their worship, all in vain because they got the object of their worship wrong.
We might not fashion literal golden calves. But we, too, can join a mob-like mentality of crafting God according to the spirit of the age or what we want him to be like, instead of submitting to the God of Scripture.
Centering on ourselves
We can too often make worship about us. We can center on ourselves and our desires and preferences. This can take place even in the context of the local church. Too often, individual preferences sit in the driver’s seat instead of the glory of God. Think about it like this, we are called to worship God in spirit and truth, we know this and yet other things can loom more important. This was very evident in the worship wars
The truth is that no one typically sees this as elevating their preferences above everything else. They see it as being faithful. But even deferring to others and submitting can be something God uses for our good. If it were up to my daughter every message would be from the Old Testament narratives. She loves the stories, maybe you do too. But God has given us the full counsel, and all of it matters. Or maybe you like certain song styles. I always cringe when I hear advertisements for churches that hype up preferences, “not your grandma’s church.” We have to be careful, even the way we worship God can lead to idolizing our preferences.
We Become Like What We Worship
Throughout the Bible we see a motif of the idea that we become like what we worship.
Psalm 115 states this directly.
Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,
for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!
2 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
5 They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
6 They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
7 They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
8 Those who make them become like them;
so do all who trust in them.[5]
Do you see verse 8, after saying that the people of God worship God in heaven, the Psalmist says that those who make false gods become like them. This is a warning to us. In fact, after Isaiah sees a vision of God and cries out Holy, Holy, Holy, just like we see in Revelation 4:8, he then acknowledges that he is a man of unclean lips. Recognizing God for who he is in his glory and splendor leads to confessing his attributes and to a recognition of who he is in light of that. We are made to reflect God. And we are drawn close to him in worship, recognizing him for who he is, it reveals where we fall short, it directs us to holy living. But idolatry does the opposite. As the Evangelical Dictionary of Theology puts it,
Idolatry offers worship, explicitly or implicitly, to something or someone other than the Triune God (e.g., Lev. 20:1–5; Isa. 41:5–7; 1 Cor. 6:12–20; 10:14–22), which deviously turns people into an image of the false god they worship (Ps. 115:2–8). More subtly, idolatry might also consist of offering worship based on distorted understanding of God’s beauty and character, forming believers into sentimental or angry echoes of the “god” they imagine themselves worshiping.[6]
When we elevate created things, we lose our spiritual appetite
When we settle for the created instead of the creator, we miss what we were meant for. Maybe you have seen this in your own life. Someone is hungry for the Lord, but then they get so caught up in other things that they start to wander. Maybe it’s a good thing, but it begins to take an outsized role in their life. Soon, this begins to overtake everything else and begins to define them. It’s no longer one aspect of their life, but it’s their whole life. They are throwing their crown of energy, devotion, and time into it. And it begins to affect their mood. When this prospers, they are on top of the world; when it goes south, everything else does. G.K. Beale, who wrote a book on Becoming What We Worship, gives an example of someone who is obsessed with jogging. He recalls hearing about someone describing a friend, “They used to be a Methodist, but now they’re a jogger.”
Paul said that our worship that is perfect and reasonable is presenting our bodies as living sacrifices. Put simply, following Jesus means sacrifice. Often, of good things do something better. Its not always easy. But it is worth it. Unfortunately, idolatry reverses this. It sacrifices what is better and eternal for what is lesser and temporary.
For an over-the-top example, we might think of the Chiefs superfan. Perhaps you have heard this story. A Kansas City Chiefs fan whose world revolved around the team to the point that they robbed banks to pay for tickets to the game. A combination of dedication to the team and an addiction to the attention for being a superfan. Placing these desires as the center displaced basic morality.
We might think, surely not us. But let’s be careful. We can be so driven by career that we view children as a burden instead of a blessing. We can be so caught up in our own comfort that we neglect opportunities to serve those in need around us. We can put God on hold until X, Y, or Z. Church is something that may happen if it fits our schedule, but we’ll never miss a football game.
Think about it like our physical appetite for food. There is something addictive about highly processed and sugary foods. The more you eat, the more you want. It also kills your appetite for what is much better. It’s foolish to prefer a box of Nerds over filet mignon, yet this is exactly what we do when we pursue fleeting pleasures to the neglect of the author of all that is good. Again, enjoying things is not a problem, but elevating them to a place of worship is.
Perhaps a reason that we lose the weightiness and the idea of transcendence is that we are so focused on transient realities. We can scroll on a phone that is continuously updated, and our hyper-fixation on that can chip away at the importance of realities that are unchanging and fixed.
Conclusion
What is shaping you? Is God central or something else? Do you have a healthy spiritual appetite? The wonder of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that we grow in these things, not in order to gain God’s love but as those who have been loved in Christ. Even as Christians, we can wander, we can get sidetracked, but God is gracious to redirect, though not always as gently as we would hope. But right now, this morning, we do have a gentle reminder. We have a reminder that we don’t live by bread alone. We have a reminder that the God who is glorious and above all made a way for us to be in a right relationship with him. He sent Jesus Christ, one who is worthy of worship, to this earth. He was mistreated, he was beaten and crucified.
[1] Richard D. Phillips, Revelation, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2017), 178–179.
[2] Richard D. Phillips, Revelation, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2017), 178.
[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ps 29:2–10.
[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ro 1:18–23.
[5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ps 115:1–8.
[6] John D. Witvliet, “Worship,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed. Daniel J. Treier and Walter A. Elwell (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic: A Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2017), 954.
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