Date:   01/31/10

Text:   1 Timothy 1:17

Title:   Doxology

Theme: Because of God's lofty attributes, He is to be praised.

Introduction:

  In 1989, on celebrating the 27 th Johnny Carson's Late Night show, there was an interview with Orel Hershiser. He was the pitching ace for the LA Dodger, in winning the 1988 world series. At the end of the show, Carson asked Hershiser to sing a couple of songs which he sang to calm himself between the innings. Carson recalled that Hershiser caught him a bit off guard by actually singing the Doxology on the live program, but added that he was moved by it. Carson chose the taped segment to conclude his primetime television special. Can you imagine, singing the Doxology in the Late Night Show?

  Two Sundays ago we studied Paul's testimony. He said he was a blasphemer of God. He spoke evil against God. He was a persecutor. He went all out to arrest the Christians with the intent to crush the church and the Jesus movement. He was a violent opponent of the gospel. He intimidated the Christians; and the mention of his name brought great fear to them. Yet, God was patient with him and merciful to him. Paul wrote that Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He was the number 1 sinner. Moreover, God chose him to be His apostle, His spokesman and representative. Imagine, to a sinner like him, God reached down to pick him up. No one is so low that God could not reach. No wonder, with this realization he had to stop what he wrote and burst into this praise: “To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”

  Even though it is a one sentence praise, it tells us so much about this God. This God is the king of ages, incorruptible, invisible and one and only. First

 I •  God is the King of Ages.

In the Jewish thinking, there are only two ages: the present and the future. God is the king of both the present and the future age. For this reason, some translations rendered it as king eternal..

Human kings come and go. In world history, we have Alexander the Great, who ruled for only 13 years. In N. Korea there was the great leader   Comrade   Kim Il-sung  , who was later held in high esteem as the eternal President of the Republic. He lasted about 40 years. In our Chinese history, we have the great Qin empire, the great Ming empire and the great Chin empire. These and many other great empires lasted anywhere from 100 to 350 years and those great kings ruled at the most for 61 years. Here, our presidents will govern, not even rule, for 4 years or at the most 8 years. Human kings and rulers come and go. But God, the creator is the king, the ruler from this age to the next, He rules eternally, He is the true eternal king. In the darkest and brightest hours in human history, he is the King.

We may have seen this bumper sticker: God is my Co-Pilot. We want to sit on the driver's seat, with God by our side. So when we fly into turbulences, we want him to take over, otherwise, we pilot to where we want. However, if He is the King eternal, then, He is not the co-pilot, He is the pilot.

We know intellectually that He is the King eternal, but do we let Him rule in our lives? To be the king in our lives means He is the king in good times as well as in those rather dark hours. To be the King, he will rule over our moral behavior. We will let him take control of our work situations and career direction. We'll let Him rule over our finances and also our families. He will also be the king, the ruler of this church. When He is the king, ruling in our lives, we are to constantly ask this question: is this pleasing to Him? Is this what He wants me to do or is this what he expects from this church. He is the pilot and not the co-pilot.

  II •  God is the King Immortal.

The word immortal is also translated as incorruptible, imperishable or unchangeable. We don't see too much of this around us. You bought that pair of really cool shoes, shirts or purse. You take good care of it. But a few months or even weeks later, it has lost its newness, it's just another piece of clothing or shoes. They are worn out. You remember the computer you bought two or three years ago. Now it's so outdated, so old. You want a newer, faster one. Human bodies also wear out. We are told that after you turn 18, your body starts to go downhill. For those of us who go overseas once in a while, there was a time, we had little problem with jet lag. Within a few days we were back to normal. But now, it takes one week or even two or more weeks to be fully recovered from the trip. We say our body is not as it was before. We are still trying to discover if there are any genes and proteins that turn on the aging process. If so, then we'll be able to manipulate such genes and proteins that they may turn off this process. We put on creams, inject Botox to remove the wrinkles that cover our face. We want to take the latest recommended vitamin or fruit to slow down the aging process.

But God is immortal. He is incorruptible, He does not change. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Several years ago, through reading Christianity Today, I learned of this artist, Mako Fujimura. In his paintings, God and divinity are always represented by gold and, humanity, by silver. The reason is that gold lasts but silver tarnishes and turns dark with age. In Asia , the Buddha statue is often painted with gold. In Chengde( ??? ) city, near Beijing, many of the temples' roofs are painted with gold. During the WWII, the Japanese soldiers would scrape the temple roof to remove the gold and bringing it home. God is like gold, he is immortal, incorruptible.

How or where do we recognize God's immortality? It is in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Ps.16:10, king David said, “ For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.” Then when Jesus was raised from the dead, he was given the eternal and incorruptible body. But note, he is the first one and because of his resurrection, God also gave his children immortal bodies. In 1Corinth 15:42,53 “So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable…..For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” Because God is immortal, he raised Jesus from the dead so that those who believe in him will also be raised from the dead and have eternal, incorruptible life. This is our hope. In a world where nothing lasts, we have this promise that when we come to faith in God, he will raise us from the dead, giving us that eternal, immortal life.

  III •  God is the King Invisible.

God is invisible, He cannot be seen. 1Tim 6:16 further expands on this truth, “who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see….” He is invisible, yet we all have the desire to see Him. As humans, we want to uncover what is hidden and see the invisible. King David said, Psa 27:4, “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” David wanted to see but did not. Moses saw a glimpse of God's glory. Elisha saw the Chariots of Israel but not the God of Israel. Job, after he had lost everything, he wanted to see God, but he did not see God in his life time. In Children's Catechism there is this question: “Can you see God?” Answer, “No, I cannot see God, but he always sees me.”

We cannot see God, yet he is knowable. On Friday morning I noticed a flower pot lying on the ground near the garage door. I knew the wind must have blown it down. I could not see the wind, but I could see its influence. I could not see gravity, but every day I see and know its impact on us. If there is no gravity, then you and I will be floating all over the place. W cannot see the various kinds of electronic waves around me; the Bluetooth, wifi, AT/T, Verizon or T-mobile's network wavelength, but if you turn your cell phones on, we can call out and receive calls. Even though we cannot see the wavelengths, we know they are everywhere in this building.

The same is with God. We cannot see him, yet he made himself known to us. when we see the universe and the nature around us, we know it is the creator's handiwork. When we see the wonder of our body, how brain cells communicate to other cells in our body, we know there is a God who has wonderfully and fearfully created me.

God made himself known by telling us about himself in the Bible, in words that we can understand. And finally, God made himself known through Jesus Christ. John 1:18, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father 's side, he (Jesus) has made him known. ” Col 1:15, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” When we see Jesus, we see God.

Yes, God is invisible, but we don't stop here. Job, after he had lost everything, said, Job19:25-27, “ 25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. 26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, 27 whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!”Job knew after his death, his eyes, very own eyes will see God. Apostle John wrote, 1John 3:2, “ 2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” And then lastly, if we know God through faith in Jesus Christ, Jesus promised in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” When our hearts are cleansed by his blood, on the day he returns, or when we through death return to Him, we will see him face to face.

IV •  God is the Only King.

God is the eternal king, the immortal king, the invisible king. He is also the Only King. The first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me.” Deut 6:4, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” This is the essence of the Jewish faith. The Lord God is one, therefore, they are to listen to Him. There is no other King besides Him. People may worship many other images, dogmas, or gods, but there is only one true God. This doesn't go well in today's society and culture. We want to be all inclusive, all roads will lead to Rome . But in the Christian world view, this is not so. There is only one God who is the eternal and immortal. Buddha is not a god. The many gods of the Hindu religion are not God. There is only one true God.

We have heard this message on different Sundays in recent months. The question we would always go back to is: besides this true God, the God who is king eternal, immortal, invisible and one and the only one, do we treat anything else as if they are gods in our life? I remember a conversation I once had with a couple. The husband said that he didsn't worship any gods. Upon hearing this, the wife shot back, “but you worship money.” How would people who know us well will say? You worship money; you worship your job, you worship your ministry, you worship your family or you worship yourself.

From time to time you have asked, how can we have a deeper spiritual life? Or how can we experience a deeper relationship with God? Or how can we experience a deeper spiritual reality? It is a difficult question to ask. For in trying to answer, I may be revealing my own spiritual poverty. However, lately I wonder in our search for spiritual reality, shouldn't we first examine to see are there any other things that we are worshipping? Is there anything that we have unknowingly treated as God? Has money, family or career taken the place of God in our lives? Who or what are you worshipping nowadays? Is it not true that the first step to restore that spiritual reality, that deeper relationship with God is to acknowledge Him as the only God in our lives?

Conclusion:

  It is always encouraging and refreshing to see how young men and women follow Christ. Their expression of faith in God is different from mine, but their love for God is unmistakably clear. Some of them would be trained to share the gospel with strangers in the shopping malls or on the bus. This past week I read about the University of Florida 's quarterback, Tim Tebow, a Heisman winner. He and his mom will be featured in a 30 seconds ad in next week's Super Bowl football game. (We want to pray that this ad will be aired on TV as originally planned.) However, what caught my attention is his Christian faith.

   When he's not wearing shoulder pads and his famous eyes-black interlaced with Bible verses, Tebow is also shining off the field. During his college career, he spent spring breaks and summers ministering to orphans in the Philippines . Meanwhile, on free weekends, you could often find him behind bars, reaching out to prisoners. Here is a young man who has his priorities in the right places. He is under the rule of the king eternal.

When Paul reflected upon his life, he saw his corruption and being the chief among the sinners. Yet God in His great mercy reached down to him and saved him from God's wrath. Not only that, he was appointed as Jesus' apostle. As he was struck by this mercy, love and grace, he burst out in praise. He offered all honor and glory to God. Honor is the respect and reverence God deserves. To give God glory is to testify, to acknowledge He is the glorious one. To say he is great and important, or literally, he is heavy. And in Paul's praise, he tells us that God is the king eternal, king immortal, king invisible and the Only King.

  Isn't it true that as we look at our own lives, seeing how God has reached down to a sinner like you and me, we, too, can't help but burst out in praise? Shall we pray: