YouTube video sermon
Romans 11:33-36
Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Romans 11. We’re going to be looking at verses 33-36. This is one of Paul’s many doxologies in his epistle to the Church in Rome. One of the things that we do almost every single time that we gather for worship is to sing the Doxology.
Maybe you come from a church background where there were other elements of worship that were done regularly in worship. Perhaps you recited the Lord’s Prayer each week, like we did today. We don’t do that every Sunday, but I do try to lead us in that prayer about once every six weeks or so. In addition to the Doxology, maybe your church also sang the Gloria Patri (Glory be to the Father…). Many of you, I know, came from churches where the Lord’s Supper or Communion or Eucharist was celebrated each week.
Well, I came from a church denomination that didn’t do any of those things weekly. We never sang the Gloria Patri. In fact, it wasn’t until I was in college attending mandatory chapel services that I was even introduced to it. We rarely, if ever, sang the Doxology – although it was more familiar to me than the Gloria Patri. And we only celebrated the Lord’s Supper once a quarter. That’s only four (4) times a year.
Now I’m not criticizing my church background. I’m just acknowledging that churches have a way of structuring their worship services, even if that structure means . . . there is no structure. And whether it was intentional or by happenstance, Mountain Hill Community Church has, over the years, structured its weekly worship in such a way as to include the singing of the Doxology. And while it’s taken me some time to get accustomed to it, I find it to be one of those elements of worship that makes me feel “at home” with God and also with this family of faith.
So, this morning, in another gesture of homage to the past, I’m going to ask you to stand with me as I read God’s Word.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways!
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been His counselor?”
35 “Or who has given a gift to Him
that He might be repaid?”
36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.
When we think of the Protestant Reformation, we might remember that it involved a man named Martin Luther, we might know that it had something to do with nailing a piece of paper to a door, we might even be able to put it in the proper century (16th century, or the 1500’s), but we may not remember that the movement resulted in five (5) phrases – phrases that came to define what the reformers were putting forth as correctives to the Roman Catholic Church but also as positive biblical declarations.
Each of those five phrases begins with the Latin word sola; a word that simply means “alone.” In fact, our English word “solitary” has its roots in the Latin sola. Let’s see if you can help me. Do you know what the five solas of the Reformation are:
1. Sola scriptura: “Scripture alone”
This was known as the “formal principle” of the Reformation because it gave form and direction and clarity to the life and ministry of the Church. Not Scripture and the Pope. Not Scripture and the traditions of men. Not Scripture and the Church councils, but Scripture and Scripture alone.
2. Solus Christus: “Christ alone”
This is the very heart of the gospel that Paul is making, here in Romans. By this, we mean that salvation is accomplished in and through Christ alone. Not Christ and our own moral contribution. Not Christ and the commandments. Not Christ and our money, but salvation is only found in Jesus Christ alone.
3. Sola gratia: “grace alone”
The Reformers argued that salvation came to those who had absolutely no merit of deserving Christ, for those who had no goodness, no righteousness, no ability to stand in the presence of a holy God. In other words, salvation is a free gift.
4. Sola fide: “faith alone”
Whereas sola Scriptura was called the “formal principle”, this was known as the “material principle” because it involved the very matter of what a person must do to be saved – one must place their eternal trust, their faith, their hopes, their very souls over to the care of Jesus Christ by faith.
5. Soli Deo gloria: “to the glory of God alone”
This is the capstone of the Reformation. It’s the capstone of the Bible. It is – I hope and pray – the capstone of who and what Mountain Hill Community Church is and does. It’s the finishing stroke upon the painting of all theology: to give all glory and honor to God.
In the few moments that we have remaining, I want us to consider three principles that Paul lays out for us here.
Wondering After God
Notice that’s not “wandering” after God, although some of us might describe our faith journey or our walk with God as wandering around. No, the word there is “wondering.” Worship is getting caught up in the things that we know about God. We can’t know or understand God completely – if we could, He wouldn’t be God. Paul cries out in amazement at his inability to fathom the depth of God and the riches of His wisdom and knowledge.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great British minister known as the “Prince of Preachers”, once said, “The highest science, and the loftiest speculation, and the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of the child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.”
Folks, the greatest pursuit of the human mind that you and I can engage in is for us to have a growing knowledge of God. That’s why it’s so important to have a daily devotional period – a time of reading God’s Word, meditating upon it, and praying over what you’ve just read.
Now, depending on your view, verse 33 either mentions two attributes of God or it mentions three. Some people believe that the words “wisdom” and “knowledge” are two ways of saying essentially the same thing. And it’s true; sometimes biblical authors use additional words for emphasis rather than to distinguish separate things. The writers of the Psalms are especially known to do this. But I don’t think so. I tend to see verse 33 as mentioning three attributes of God: the riches of God, the wisdom of God, and the knowledge of God.
And the reason I believe that’s the case is because in verses 34-35 Paul expounds on each of them. “For who has known the mind of the Lord…” that’s the knowledge of God. “…or who has been His counselor?” that’s the wisdom of God. “Or who has given a gift to Him…” that’s the riches of God.
“Oh, the depths of the riches…of God” We sometimes wonder if God is rich enough in grace to forgive us for our sins. Or if He’s rich enough in resources to provide money to pay our bills. Or if He’s rich enough in wisdom to help us know what to do when we’re stuck in a situation. God’s riches in all those situations are beyond any measure with which we might compare them. Our task is to make ourselves available to receive the blessings and riches He possesses.
Next, Paul speaks about the wisdom of God. This God’s ability to choose the proper means to achieve His ends. Many people are filled with knowledge, but that’s not the same thing as being filled with wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to take knowledge and turn it into actions that accomplish good purposes. And that’s certainly what God is able to do.
Finally, in this opening verse, Paul speaks about the knowledge of God. In church circles we often speak of God being omniscient: that means that God knows everything there is to be known. He knows everything present and everything future. We know only by learning. In other words, everything that we know today is something that we didn’t know earlier. That’s not the case for God. He knows everything at one and the same time without ever having learned any of it. That kind of knowledge doesn’t exist in the human realm; it’s beyond our comprehension.
So, worship is, first of all, wondering after God – meditation on His attributes and the depths of who He is. But it’s also…
Waiting Before God
There’s a sense in which we have to wait for God to reveal Himself so that we can learn more about Him. That’s part of what David means when he writes these words in Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.”
Isaiah 55:8-9 is another key passage on the unsearchable nature of God’s knowledge: “’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’”
The great Christian apologist, C.S. Lewis said that trying to understand God is akin to a shellfish trying to tell another shellfish what a man is like. The shellfish uses the only words he knows to describe a man, but ultimately gets it mostly wrong because it has no common language or set of experiences which overlap the man. That’s what it’s like for us. We mostly think of God in our terms, only bigger, better, smarter, wiser, and so on. But in reality, God is not a man any more than a shellfish is a man. The fact that God condescended to come to earth in the person of Jesus – the Son of God, the Son of man – at least gives us the common ground of humanity to help bridge the gap.
And so, at best, we fall down and worship on the basis of what we know in Jesus Christ and we’re watchful and prayerful – like Mary who sat at Jesus’ feet – that we might learn more as it is revealed to us.
So, we wonder after God, we wait before God, and finally, like Paul we want to be known as people…
Worshipping God, NOW
In his book Made in America: The Shaping of Modern American Evangelicalism, author and theologian Michael Horton writes with great clarity about the weakness of the church’s understanding of God. He writes, in part:
The older theology tended to provide character… By the end of the 20th century, we have become God’s demanding little brats. In church, we must be entertained. Our emotions must be charged… We must be offered amusing programs – we gave up a lot to become Christians and what little teaching we do get must cater to our pragmatic, self-centered interests. The preaching must be filled with clever anecdotes and colorful illustrations, with nothing more than passing reference to doctrine: “I want to know what this means for me and my daily experience!” We have forgotten that God is a Monarch. He is the King by whom and for whom all things were made, and by whose sovereign power they are sustained. We exist for His pleasure, not He for ours; we are on this earth to please Him, to adore Him, to bring Him satisfaction, excitement and joy. Any gospel that seeks to answer the question, “What’s in it for me?” has it all backwards.
Verse 36 helps to keep our focus on proper worship. Verse 36 is theology that leads to doxology. For Paul, theology is doxology. Growing in the knowledge and understanding of God naturally leads to giving Him all the glory. We began this morning talking about doxology and the Protestant Reformation. The German composer Johann Sebastian Bach understood that music was a gift from God to be used for the glory of God. So, beneath all of his compositions of sacred music, Bach penned the initials SDG, soli Deo Gloria – the last sola of the Protestant Reformation.
In John’s heavenly vision, recounted for us in Revelation 4, the apostle saw “the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power.’” Paul’s doxology echoes this “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.” From Him. God is the source. Through Him. He is the means. And to Him. He is the object of our praise and worship.
As we close the first 11 chapters of Romans and the monumental doctrines that we find outlined for us there I want to read for you a poem written by English poet William Blake:
He Who wept above the grave,
He Who stilled the raging wave,
Meek to suffer, strong to save,
He shall bear the glory.
He Who sorrow’s pathway trod,
He that every good bestowed –
Son of Man and Son of God –
He shall bear the glory.
He Who bled with scourging sore,
Thorns and scarlet meekly wore,
He Who every sorrow bore –
He shall bear the glory.
Monarch of the smitten cheek,
Scorn of Jew and scorn of Greek,
Priest and King, Divinely meek –
He shall bear the glory.
On the rainbow-circled throne
Mid the myriads of His own,
Nevermore to weep alone –
He shall bear the glory.
Man of slighted Nazareth,
King Who wore the thorny wreath,
Son obedient unto death –
He shall bear the glory.
His, the grand eternal weight,
His, the priestly-regal state;
Him the Father maketh great –
He shall bear the glory.
He Who died to set us free,
He Who lives and loveth e’en me,
He Who comes, Whom I shall see,
Jesus only – only He – He shall bear the glory.