More Than the Man Upstairs

True worshipers can never perceive God as merely the “man upstairs.” As the Sovereign Maker, he is alone worthy of extravagant worship.

• A limited theology will lead to lackluster worship and eventually to a liberal worldview.
• Any attempt to domesticate God will always lead to devastating results.
• We will never give God the worship He deserves if we perceive Him as merely “the man upstairs.”

Psalm 95:1-11

Proper Perspective (95:1-7a)

• The only acceptable response to such an incredible God is unbridled, enthusiastic worship.
• God deserves far more than stoic routines of obligatory worship gestures.
• God made everything, and therefore, God owns everything.
• If blatant humility is absent from your worship, you have yet to comprehend who you worship.

Persistent Protest (95:7b-11)

• During the wanderings, Israel tested God by doubting His ability to sustain them in the wilderness (cf. Ex. 17:1-7; Num. 20:2-13).
• God’s people making the same mistake twice shouldn’t shock you if you honestly evaluate your personal history.
• An insufficient perspective of who God is will always lead to a defiant rebellion against what God commands.
• Some of us will never find true rest because we are fighting against God’s path to experiencing it.

Jesus is the rock of our salvation – innocently struck for our hardened hearts (cf. John 19:34).

• Would God describe you right now as having wholehearted worship or a hardened heart?
• Do you see Jesus as the man who lives upstairs or the God who came downstairs?