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...understand. Suppose we postulate an omnipotent being who,

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for reasons inscrutable to us, decided to create

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something other than himself.

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Why should he expect us to worship him?

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We didn't ask to be created.

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Our lives are often troubled.

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We know that human tyrants puffed up with

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pride crave adulation and homage, but a morally

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perfect God would surely have no character defects.

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So why are all these people on their

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knees every Sunday?

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You hear what the objection is there?

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The only incentive that Michael Prowse can conceive

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for why a God would demand that we

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praise him is that he's needed.

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That's what we are when we demand that

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people praise us.

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If I were to demand you to praise

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me, I would be needy and you would

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be disgusted.

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So what's it with God, right?

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You can see why people would stumble at

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this.

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Everywhere I go and talk to believers about

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God's God-centeredness and God's passion to be

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praised, I see question marks on people's faces.

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They stumble over this.

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Some people see why they stumble and some

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people don't.

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Some people like him put it into an

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objection.

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Others just could feel uncomfortable.

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So what's the answer to that objection for

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why we should be okay with God saying,

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praise me all you peoples?

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What if admiration were the highest pleasure?

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And what if God were the most admirable

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being?

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Would not his beckoning us, summoning us, indeed

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dying to help us, admire him be called

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love and not arrogance?

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If he's the most admirable person and admiration

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is one of the deepest longings of the

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human heart, not to be admired.

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Oh, that's a sinful longing, believe me.

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I feel it and I try to crucify

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it over and over again.

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But I feel the wonder of having my

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heart drawn out before an admirable thing.

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Beauty, a person, that's a freeing pleasure.

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That's a selfless, self-forgetting pleasure.

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And what if God is the most admirable

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person?

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And what if that is the highest pleasure?

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And then wouldn't he be loving in order

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to draw us into that experience and say,

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admire me if you want to be.

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C.S. Lewis had the same stumbling block,

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stumbling block, and he found the answer.

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I hope Michael Kraus does pray for him.

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I'll read you C.S. Lewis's discovery.

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Changed my life in 1968.

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The most obvious fact about praise, whether of

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God or anything, strangely escaped me.

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I thought of it in terms of compliment,

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approval, the giving of honor.

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I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously

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overflows into praise unless, sometimes even if, shyness

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or the fear of boring others is deliberately

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brought in to check it.

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The world rings with praise.

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Lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poets,

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walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite

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game, praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors,

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horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers,

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mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians

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and scholars.

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I had never noticed how the humblest and

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at the same time the most balanced and

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capacious minds praised most while the cranks and

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the misfits and the malcontents praised least.

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I had not noticed either that just as

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men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they

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spontaneously urge us to join in praising it.

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Isn't she lovely?

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Wasn't it glorious?

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Don't you think that magnificent?

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The psalmists in telling everyone to praise God

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are doing what all men do when they

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speak of what they care about.

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My whole more general difficulty about the praise

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of God depended on my absurdly denying to

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us, as regards the supremely valuable, what we

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delight to do, indeed what we cannot help

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doing about everything else we value.

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I think, he said in conclusion, I think

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we delight to praise what we enjoy because

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the praise not merely expresses but completes the

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enjoyment.

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That sentence changed my whole way of thinking

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about God.

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I think the reason people praise what they

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enjoy is not merely to express the joy

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but to complete the joy, which means that

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if God would have your joy complete, He

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must command you to do what will make

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you infinitely and eternally happy, namely see, savor,

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and say His praises.

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God is the one being in the universe

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for whom gathering attention for Himself is not

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arrogant, is not selfish, is not abusive and

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manipulative, but is love pure and simple.

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If God is to be loving towards us,

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He must do for us what is most

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satisfying to us, as He is most satisfying

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to us, and therefore He must draw us

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to Himself, get attention for Himself, tell us

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to praise Himself, and move every obstacle out

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of the way so that we can do

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it, which is why Jesus Christ died.

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Missions is calling the world to do what

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they were created to do, namely enjoy making

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much of God forever.

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If we fail, if we do not penetrate

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a people where there is no gospel and

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where there is no Christian God, God will

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be dishonored and they will be miserable forever.

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So we have two motives in missions, right?

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And they are one.

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This is a great discovery.

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You don't have to even, Scotty, think about

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am I going for the glory of God

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or I'm going for the deepest joy of

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my own soul in ministry and sacrifice, because

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the enjoyment of God in walking with Him

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is an honor to Him and praising Him

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completes the enjoyment.

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So the honor of God and the joy

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of those people and us, one, if it's

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joy in God.

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A great discovery, I commend it to you.

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Finally, third point, last point.

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What's the basis of the people's praise?

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We've seen what people's means and we've seen

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what the purpose of God for the people's

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is, namely the praise of His name for

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their joy and our joy.

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Now what's the basis of the people's?

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Well, it's in verse 2 which begins with

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a basis word, right?

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Praise the Lord all nations, extol Him all

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peoples, for great, for, for, great is His

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steadfast love toward us.

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And the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

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Praise the Lord.

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Now this is really surprising because right here

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we find ourselves led right to Jesus Christ.

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It's not mentioned, but we're led right to

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Jesus Christ.