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  GOD MADE THE WORLD FOR WORSHIP HIS GLORY
  by John Piper
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of individual souls
rightly seeing and savoring the glory of Christ, highlighting the
connection between individual worship and corporate worship as the Bride
of Christ. It explores the essence of worship originating from the
heart's affections for God, leading to the formation of the worshiping
church. The ultimate goal is the worshiping bride of Christ, where
diverse voices in harmony reveal the greatness of God's leader, Jesus.

Duration: 37:36 Topics: "Individual Worship", "Corporate Worship"
Scripture References: Isaiah 43:6, Ephesians 5:27, 2 Corinthians 2:1, Revelation 5:9

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the importance of individual souls rightly seeing
and savoring the glory of Christ, highlighting the connection between
individual worship and corporate worship as the Bride of Christ. It
explores the essence of worship originating from the heart's affections
for God, leading to the formation of the worshiping church. The ultimate
goal is the worshiping bride of Christ, where diverse voices in harmony
reveal the greatness of God's leader, Jesus.

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CONTENT
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Would you pray with me? We have done it and now we do it one more Time
here before I speak we wait for you We wait for you And I pray that you
would come now in our waiting and in my speaking and Satisfy our souls
in Christ and all that he has done and all that you father are for us in
him And I pray that under you father we would see that there isn't
anything greater except for one thing There isn't anything greater under
you except for one thing then the individual soul of flame in worship
and that one thing is the Bride of Christ of flame in worship. So come
and show us now the connection Between these two things I pray And set
our hearts and our churches aflame with God centered Christ exalting
Bible saturated worship I Ask this in Jesus name. Amen So the individual
human soul Underline the word individual the individual human soul
Rightly seeing The glory of Christ and rightly savoring the glory of
Christ is at the heart of the purpose for which God made the world and
until we grasp the Relationship between that and Corporate worship, we
won't be able to give an account for why The worship of the bride the
worship of the temple the worship of the body Is the ultimate end for
why God made the world not merely the individual soul Worshipping.

So what I want to do in this message is try to steer a course between
two errors On the one side is the error of thinking that the
relationship between the individual Worshipping human soul and God that
Relationship between my soul and God in worship is the ultimate purpose
for which God made the world It's not the other error that I would like
to avoid is being so captivated by the corporate reality of the
worshiping people of God the body of Christ the temple of God The bride
of Christ that we lose sight of the fact that the vital Ongoing eternal
Intensity of the individual soul is absolutely essential for the
authenticity of that Corporate reality of worship, which is the ultimate
goal for which God made the world So the New Testament forbids that we
Neglect or forget or minimize the radical essential eternal significance
of the individual worshiping soul It forbids don't ever forget that
don't ever minimize that don't ever neglect that don't ever think that
there can be a God-centered worship without that And the New Testament
forbids that we forget or neglect or minimize the coming into being
Through Christ of a blazingly beautiful bride Who is more than the sum
of her parts? So that's where we're going Let's begin by focusing on the
relationship between the individual soul and The ultimate purpose of
God's they want to I don't want to downplay or minimize either of these
we start with the individual Will end with the corporate One of the
clearest statements in God's Word about the end for which God made
everything is Isaiah 43 6 and 7 I'll read it to you Bring my sons from
afar My daughters from the ends of the earth Everyone who is called by
my name whom I created for my glory Every son every daughter created to
display the glory of God or Ephesians chapter 1 verse 11 He works all
things according to the counsel of his will So that we might be to the
praise of his glory or Romans 11 36 From him and through him and to him
are all things to him be glory Forever and ever amen So God created the
world. He sustains the world. He governs the world He does everything in
the world to display his glory.

That is his greatness his beauty His worth those are my three efforts to
get at the meaning of the word glory Oh how often we will use the word
glory in this conference. You'll hear it. No doubt hundreds of times So
I'm filling it up with three other words for you you can meditate on
whether greatness beauty worth Helps you grasp what you're saying when
you say that word glory He does everything he does in order to display
his glory the heavens Declare the glory of God and the sky above
Proclaims his handiwork Psalm 19 1 the trees of the forest sing for joy
Psalm 96 12 the rivers Clap their hands and the hills sing for joy
together Psalm 98 8 The meadows and the valleys shout and sing for joy
Psalm 65 verse 13 or Isaiah 44 Sing Oh heavens Shout Oh depths of the
earth Break forth into singing Oh mountains Oh Forest and every tree in
it for the Lord will be glorified in Israel So you got the heavens the
mountains in the hills the forest and the trees the rivers and the
meadows all of them Created to sing this thing or clap To the glory of
their maker and they do for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear
That's what they are doing May the Lord give you eyes and give you ears
if you haven't heard it or seen it so does a 150 voice Choir of
unbelieving musicians singing the hallelujah chorus you can find that on
almost any large city venue every Easter unbelievers singing handles
Messiah Surrounded by an orchestra full of unbelieving musicians and
they too are like trees and meadows Glorifying God With their God given
amazing creativity and skill like trees Soulless trees Clapping their
hands.

So if God gets so much glory from the the external echoes of His
creative and redeeming excellency in this world like that external
evidences of his Reality if he gets so much glory that way Why is there
a need? for the individual human soul to have any particular affections
for God In order to him for him to achieve his creator purpose Isn't it
enough that God's purpose is being glorified by the trees and the
planets and the skies and the hills and the rivers and the orchestras
and the choirs All singing because they were made in the image of God
whether they believe or not Isn't that enough and of course the answer
is no No, it's not enough Why? Because God does not intend to be half
glorified picture a king a king and a kingdom two kinds of kings a King
may be glorified magnified praised honored for his great achievements
power wisdom He rules his kingdom with an iron hand He sees to it great
fortifications have been built in my kingdom Beautiful buildings have
been built in my kingdom Gardens have been constructed in my kingdom. My
citizens under my iron hand have been forced to become phenomenal
Excellent musicians playing grand and excellent music in my kingdom The
finest pieces of art I Forced to be made in my kingdom he's not so great
a king and he's not so glorified as The king who is loved by his people
admired revered cherished treasured desired enjoyed By his people so
that the affections of their king exalting Hearts create greater
fortifications and more beautiful buildings and greater gardens and
greater musical compositions a king is more glorified By a cherishing
people than a cowering people He's not going to be settling for half
glorification He will have all the glory from the heart and the skill
Jesus said to the Scribes and Pharisees This is one of the most
important statements on worship in the Bible you hypocrites Well did
Isaiah prophesy about you saying This people honors me with their lips
But their heart is far from me in Vain, do they worship me? vain zero In
vain do they worship me Matthew 15 7 So here you have in this text an
excellent use of the mouth That's what lips are for with your lips You
honor me That's what they're for and they're doing it half My honor is
sounding forth. My glory is sounding forth from your lips being
glorified by your mouth Just like by the mountains and the trees and the
rivers and the unbelieving orchestras and Ensembles and choirs on Easter
Their heart he says is far away The heart only exists in one place in an
individual Individual hearts are far away Meaning what? verse 9 Matthew
59 Meaning in vain.

Do they worship me in vain? Meaning it's an external echo Of excellence
and a zero in the heart It's not worship. It's not the essence It misses
the essence the the essence of worship is the heart aflame with
affection for the beauties of God What comes out of the mouth is fruit?
To that root where that root is severed and those affections are gone
this God counts as Zero in vain. Do they worship me? That's not why he
created the world Not to be half glorified externally glorified trees
clapping their hands Unbelieving orchestras reflecting his excellence.

That's not why he created the world He Created the world In order that
there might be an echo of his excellence in the hearts of his
affectionate people that affection Is the echo of his excellence that
completes the reason for creation at the individual level Where that's
not present Amos 5 23 The voice of God sounds over every congregation
Take away from me the noise of your songs To the melody of your harps. I
will not listen Says the Lord Why? The heart is not there Don't hire
unbelievers in your church it almost goes without saying But is so
crucial I will say it anyway that these absolutely essential effects
affections are In individual hearts and nowhere else That's where
affection love Treasuring desiring delighting. That's where they exist
here nowhere else Everything else is expression or awakening Causes, but
here's where it resides Just think of it the universe made for this
These affections these loves.

It's the first commandment to love the Lord your God with all your tell
me That's the first one. Yes, the others are mentioned number one starts
here If not there the others don't count He turns away from them Now
let's switch gears. Let's turn to the question of The corporate reality
if affections for God in the individual human soul are the essence and I
think they are the essence of The self-glorifying purpose of God in the
universe Now mark the word essence because I'm not saying totality.

I'm not saying the individual human heart affections are the totality of
worship or the totality of God's Ultimate purpose they are the essence
Without which nothing counts Okay, so keep that word in mind if
affections for God in the individual soul are the essence of the self-
glorifying purpose of God in creating the world How do those heart
affections give rise? to the corporate reality of the worshiping church
Because it's clear from the New Testament It's not just millions and
millions of Isolated independent human souls with white hot affection
for God that he's aiming at like a billion solos That's not the picture
of the end of history God is bringing into being a diverse global church
pictured as the body The temple the bride of Christ Paul pictures the
church as the wife of Jesus in Ephesians 5 27 and it's what he says
About the purpose of Christ the second person of the Trinity the creator
of the universe Coming into the world. Why did he come? Why did he come
and die? Here's what it says in Ephesians 5 27 so that He might present
the church to himself in splendor He wants a beautiful wife For his son
for himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that
she might be holy and without blemish So Christ means to have a
beautiful wife It's an amazing statement a wife Made up of millions of
white hot worshiping individuals But vastly more so this talk is about
the more why more how more? This conference is devoted to blessing
churches, at least that's my understanding what's going on here blessing
Congregational singing especially there's more but mainly I'm hoping
that's what happens hundreds and hundreds of Congregations do what
they're called to do better because of what happens here So this local
expression of The local church, what is it? Emerging global everlasting
corporate Worshiping reality called the bride of Christ What local
churches do in their gathered worshiping assemblies is? to You can say a
different ways rehearse For that eternal vocation of the bride For taste
of That eternal vocation of the bride That's what we do week after week
in our gatherings called corporate worship now. There's a text My guess
is for many of you who think worship thoughts all the time This text is
very prominent in your mind, and I shall make sure you see what I see
You probably see more Let me show you three Absolutely crucial things
that I see as I read this to you this Ephesians 5 Ephesians 5 18 and 19
Be filled with the Spirit Addressing one another In Psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs singing and making melody to the Lord With your heart
With your heart three things From your heart, or it's not worship to the
Lord always Addressing one another Always that's corporate worship Now
it doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter whether the song is Vertically directed like we come
Oh Christ to thee the second person singular vertical Or Horizontal come
Christians join us and sing you you plural second person plural. It
doesn't matter Whether the song happens to be Grammatically addressed to
God or grammatically addressed to people This text says and it's true
Every song is sung in the presence of God And he's listening to every
song and he's either holding his nose or loving it he's enjoying as he
will forever the reception of our praises into his life Whether we're
singing to each other or whether we're singing to him and it's from
Thirdly so to him to each other it's from the heart or it's not worship
God's design is that we every gathering in worship rehearse for the
everlasting corporate reality of The bride in worship So what's plain
from those? Verses Ephesians 5 18 and 19 is that the birthplace of The
essence of worship the birthplace of the essence of worship is the
individual human heart It says from the heart He mentions from the heart
in corporate worship That's the birthplace because there isn't any other
place where affections for God happen Affections are native to the human
soul nowhere else and then from this furnace of Christ exalting
affections There flames up expressions In song to God song to people and
the corporate reality the worshiping bride is brought into being By the
combining of these individual burning hearts into a new reality This is
where I'm going. I'm getting near the end here new reality first the
foretaste Here in corporate worship and then finally in the complete
Perfected eternal worship of the bride in the presence of the Lamb
Forever that's the ultimate goal of God in creation now why? What is it
about the corporate reality of the singing bride That makes her worship
the ultimate end rather than just me me and God in love with each other
and me singing and me obeying and That's the end.

That's the point of creation You doing that me doing that 10,000 of us
doing that why isn't that the end and the goal? Why is it there? There's
this thing called the corporate reality the bride of Christ. Why? And I
have three answers one 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 verses 1 to 3 Clue us
in to a mystery about joy Because I think joy in God delight in God
Desiring God's satisfaction. We just sang it until my heart is satisfied
Because that's the end Like you don't try to get satisfied in order to
do something for God He doesn't need you at all Therefore satisfaction
in him is the end.

That's the goal. That's what makes him smile You are totally content and
satisfied in me. I'm the end.

I'm the goal You show that in a hundred ways This text 2nd Corinthians 2
1 2 3 clues us in about there's a mystery here That clues us in why
individual joy in God is not the end Alone, I read it to you Paul says
two things here This is verse 2 of 2nd Corinthians 2 if I cause you pain
Who is there to make me glad But the one whom I have pained in the next
verse I Felt sure of you all that my joy Would be the joy of you all In
the body of Christ where we are Spiritually united in him something
profound Happens in the experience of joy in God My joy in God your joy
in God together Paul says my joy, I was sure Would be the joy of you all
and yours would be mine My joy in God is more Because yours is mine and
yours is more because Mine is yours Therefore the totality of Christ
exalting affection that comes into being in corporate worship is not
merely the sum of the parts It's more a new reality has come into being
in the bride Worshiping together a great mystery comes into being the
worshiping bride is the goal of creation because the Interpenetration of
Christ exalting joy is something new Something greater something more
God glorifying than the assembly of individual flames of Affection,
that's number one number two the unified harmony of diverse voices is
more beautiful Than the greatest sound of voices in unison. Let me stay
back and make sure you're with me I'm trying to give you three reasons
Why? Not the individual soul a flame with love to God is the end of
creation But rather the body of Christ the bride of Christ United in
corporate worship is the end of creation. That's what I'm trying to do
This is reason number two the unified harmony of diverse voices is more
beautiful than the greatest Sound of voices in unison.

It is a glorious thing not to minimize unison It is a glorious thing
when say 50,000 people Blast with unison like an army going to war and
singing their ballad of homeland That's a glorious thing but if those
voices were to at a point break into Diverse Harmony something else
happens not less And not dispensing with the former But glorious and I'm
not just talking about a musical phenomenon here though. That's clear
It's true about countless diversities in the body of Christ that God is
up to these days right time across all time Geography ethnic diversities
age diversities male and female diversities personality diversities
taste and preference diversities voice quality diversities Think think
of Bob Dylan and Pavarotti And I won't even venture Pavarotti I Love
them both in their own way such diversity But God is doing in the
gathering of the bride of Christ in united diversity of the worshiping
bride Something more beautiful is created than if she were all of one
kind on any number of scales That's the second reason why corporate
worship of the bride is ultimate not just Individuals and third and
lastly God designed for Christ To have a worshiping bride and not just
worshiping individuals because the greatness and the beauty and the
worth of a leader is Revealed by the extent of the diversity he can
inspire and Motivate in who follows him who has allegiance to him. I'm
thinking of Revelation 5. I'll read it to you It's a very familiar text.

You know it. Well, I'm thinking of our Redeemer leader, right? What did
he do to lead us to lead us together into one priesthood in one kingdom?
What did he do? He died He ransomed a people. So here's what it says.

They sang a new song saying worthy now Notice the ground of the
worthiness Worthy are you because creation was Made to exalt the
worthiness of the Lamb Worthy are you to take the scroll to open its
seals for you were slain and By your blood you ransom people from every
tribe and every language and all the people and all the Nations and you
have made them one kingdom and one priesthood a singing kingdom and a
singing Priesthood so the glory of Christ the point of that text is the
glory of Christ the honor of the Lamb Shines more brightly because he's
the kind of Redeemer leader Who can hold together the allegiance of
unbelievably diverse people? He can hold us together in Song and in many
many other ways so in conclusion The the universe is created to display
the worth of the Lamb His glory his greatness his beauty his worth and
in him to display the beauty of God When you gather next Sunday is my
application when you gather next Sunday in Corporate Worship whether
small say your church is 30 people or large 3,000 or so Remember what
you're doing there is not merely assembling Intensely affectionate
individuals who love God and want to go vertical as solitary
individuals, that's not Merely what's happening? What's happening is you
are becoming a manifestation a foretaste a Rehearsal of the end the
ultimate end for which God made the world by combining individual souls
aflame for Christ and Something more they become something more a
greater joy a greater harmony a greater diverse allegiance The
worshiping bride of Christ the goal of all things. Let's pray so father
grant that our affections would be individually unbounded Because you
are of unbounded excellence And grant that our churches would become
foretastes Rehearsals manifestations of the end for which you made all
things the bride Worshiping in that new reality, which we call corporate
worship Pray this in Jesus name

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/gOJV-OTwH_M.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/john-piper/god-made-the-world-for-worship-his-glory/
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