Radical Life Support

Rick is a non-traditionalist, rock-n-roll, evangelist who likes to stir things up. And Robin is a traditional, choir member, encourager who does not like to rock the boat. They come together to challenge and discuss how to live a radical life for Jesus.

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Radical Life Support

God is Exalted

October 16, 2020 • Rick and Robin Moe • Episode 56

When saying God is exalted, we mean He is high above all else, placed at the highest or most powerful level; held in highest regard and standing. God is lofty, eminent, superior, and distinguished. God is to be honored, revered, and esteemed.

Understand this though, that God is exalted whether we exalt Him or not. He is the exalted supreme being over all at all times. He doesn’t need anyone to exalt Him to a position that He already holds or to a place He already is. He is never low that He becomes exalted due to our exaltation of Him. Nothing is above Him and nothing is beyond Him. He can never be brought down nor can He be promoted from an outside source. He cannot actually be raised or lifted higher in the truest sense because He alone holds that solitary and solid highest position now and forever.

We can only raise Him high and lift Him up in the position He holds in our hearts. If anyone is worthy, God is worthy to be exalted. We are the ones who should exalt Him for who He is, who He’s always been and always will be. We should exalt Him in our thoughts, words, and actions. We should praise Him and worship Him for His esteemed position as Creator of the universe and sovereign Lord over all the earth. We should elevate Him in our hearts and increase our estimation of Him. Nothing we think or do, affects that He is the High and Exalted One. That position that He alone holds is stationary. It is we who are either elevated towards Him or descend away from Him. It is we who decide whether we will give Him the highest position in our hearts or not.

If no one on the earth were to exalt God, it could not affect God in any way. Who He is, is not affected by those He created. Tozer says, “He is what He is in Himself without regard to any other. To believe in Him adds nothing to His perfections; to doubt Him takes nothing away.” God desires our praise and deserves our praise; but our worship or lack of worship doesn’t make Him more or less exalted.

One special thing that God created to exalt Him was music. I am particularly drawn to harmony like in a choir and love to hear voices singing together to create a united song of worship. God created different genres of music that appeal to different cultures and generations to praise Him. Sometimes we might have trouble or don’t know how to worship God. Music helps. A song can take you to a place of exaltation and praise. Corporate worship can elevate the worship experience. It is a prelude to heavenly worship. It is a way to pour out our hearts to God. Singing about praise, thankfulness, confession, petition and love. [Ex 15:1] “I will sing to the Lord for He is highly exalted.” Worship not only helps you focus on God but when God created music, He knew that worship benefits us as well.

Jesus as the second member of the Trinity is exalted too. [Heb 7:26] “A high priest, (who) meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.” Because Jesus was sinless in all His ways, He is exalted. No other priest on earth can claim to have lived a blameless life. Only His pure shed blood could wash away the sins of the entire world. He was the final Lamb sacrifice. After His death and resurrection, He sat down next to the Father indicating that the work was done. No other sacrifices were needed. Jesus is given by God the exalted position of King of kings and Lord of lords. No other man or philosophy of man is to be exalted over Jesus Christ.

Acknowledge the exalted position that God holds and compare it to our humble position before Him. Although God allows us to be so familiar with Him to call Him Daddy, we also are to be reverent before an all-consuming, all-powerful, exalted God. It is so important to contemplate and worship God in His entirety of being. Let us not dwell on a few attributes of God which limits our thinking of who He is; but understand Him in all His divine attributes.

Intro to Attribute

We can only raise Him high and lift Him up in the position He holds in our hearts. If anyone is worthy, God is worthy to be exalted, glorified, and magnified. We are the ones who should exalt Him for who He is, who He’s always been and always will be. We should exalt Him for all His amazing attributes in our thoughts, words, and actions. We should praise Him and worship Him for His esteemed position as Creator of the universe and sovereign Lord over all the earth. We should elevate Him in our hearts and increase our estimation of Him. Nothing we think or do, affects that He is the High and Exalted One. That position that He alone holds is stationary. It is we who are either elevated towards Him or descend away from Him. It is we who decide whether we will give Him the highest position in our hearts or not.

As we do in all of our podcasts, let’s reveal God as exalted through the word, through creation, through Jesus and in our hearts:

I. How does God reveal Himself as Exalted through the Word

All of God’s attributes are exalted. Let see through 13 of them that we have studied about how every aspect of His divine nature and character is exalted in scripture:

1. Almighty and Transcendent: [Job 37:23] “The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power.”

2. Defender: [II Sam 22:47-49] “Exalted by God, the Rock, my Savior. He is the God who avenges me…you exalted me above my foes, from violent men you rescued me.”

3. Eternal [Ps 92:8] “But you, O Lord, are exalted forever.”

4. Faithful: [Is 25:1] “O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.”

5. Good: [Ps 118:28-29] “You are my God and I will give you thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.”

6. Holy and Beauty: [Is 6:1-3] (a picture of heaven) “I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple…the seraphs were calling to one another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory.”

7. Just: [Is 33:5] “The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high; He will fill Zion with justice.”

8. Righteous: [Is 24:15-16] “Exalt the name of the Lord, the God of Israel…From the ends of the earth we hear singing: ‘Glory to the Righteous One.’”

9. Sovereign: [I Chron 29:11b] “Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.”

10. Vast: [Ps 57:5] “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.”

11. Yahweh: [Ps 34:3] Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt His name together.

All of God’s attributes compliment and agree with each other. They flow together in perfect harmony and are worthy to be exalted.

II. How does God reveal Himself as Exalted through Creation

When does creation touch you? Recently, I’ve seen the ascent of a harvest moon on a cloudless night, rolling hills of red and yellow fall leaves, lush green valleys with crystal clear running rivers, the power of endless water flowing over cliffs, ominous dark puffy rain clouds, and miles and miles of fields of corn. When I think about that God created it all, it does inspire me to exalt God for all He has created and the beauty and/or power displayed in it. I choose to declare like Abram did in Gen 14, “I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.”

One special thing though that God created that I want to highlight in exalting God in creation is music. Music is enjoyed around the world. Especially when words are absent like with classical music, it is a universal language. You can express all kinds of emotions within a melody such as joy, sorrow, fear, enthusiasm, and praise. Think about how background music in a movie or play can enhance the feeling that is trying to be conveyed on screen or on stage. Add words to the music and stories are told, statements of love are declared, miseries and heartache are expressed. Add rhythm and beat and you might find your body wants to move to the sounds you are hearing. I am particularly drawn to harmony like in a choir and love to hear male and female voices singing their parts together to create a united song of worship. God created different genres of music that appeal to different cultures and generations. It is a beautiful and very enjoyable thing.

Think about all the musical instruments there are as well. Each creating their own unique sound. Drums, violins, flutes, trumpets, harmonicas, guitars, ukuleles, harps, pianos and xylophones. I believe when we get to heaven, we are even going to hear more wonderful music than we have ever heard on this earth.

When we worship God, we often think of worshipping Him in song. Sometimes we might have trouble or don’t know how to worship God. Music helps. A song can take you to a place of exaltation and praise. And singing a song in corporate worship can further elevate the worship experience. It is a prelude to heavenly worship. Dr. David Jeremiah states that songs of worship have been sung to God in heaven and earth and go way back in the Jewish culture. Psalms is practically an entire book of the bible of songs. It is a way to pour out our hearts to God. Singing about praise, thankfulness, confession, petition and love.

· [Ps 95: 1-2] “Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song.”

· [Ps 100:2] “Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs.”

· [Ex 15:1] “I will sing to the Lord for He is highly exalted.”

Worship in song can not only help you to focus on God but when God created music, He knew that worship benefits us as well. It lifts your spirit and sometimes when you hear a song, it can linger in your thoughts all day long. That is why I think it is best to only listen to songs that are about God and Jesus. I don’t believe it is a sin to listen to secular music, I just believe that spiritual music is healthier for your soul. It is always best to fill your heart with things of God, not things of the world. If you have never tried this before, try listening to only Christian music for 30 days and see what a change it can make.

[John 4: 23-24] Jesus said, “the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” God is not interested in having us just sing a Christian song. God always looks at our hearts. We need to be singing to God and offering up praises and exaltation to Him. We must engage our heart and spirit within the song of worship to honor our exalted God. Don’t just sing about Him but sing to Him and tell Him how much you love Him.

III. How does God reveal Himself as Exalted through Jesus

Jesus as the second member of the Trinity is exalted too. It was prophesized in the OT: [Is 52:13] “See, my servant will act wisely; He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.”

Jesus whole life was to live to give God glory. He humbled Himself, did not think equality with God something to be grasped. [Phil 2:8-9] Because Jesus humbled Himself and became obedient to death, “Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name.”

The life Jesus lived demonstrated the contrast between the ways of this world and the ways of the kingdom of God. When Jesus’ disciples were arguing about who would be greatest, Jesus said the last shall be first and the first will be last. [Matt 23:12] Jesus says, “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.” Jesus said that they weren’t to be like the Greeks who lorded themselves over others; but they were to become servants of all like Him.

Jesus came to seek and save the lost. He loved God with all His heart and then loved others. The world says to work towards obtaining the highest job or position you can because that will make you successful and bring you financial gain; but God says to give your life away to His will and plans for us. There is no place for pride and selfishness in God’s kingdom. Jesus says to consider others above yourself, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. It goes against our grain to abdicate our rights and wills to another; but Jesus says, [Luke 9:24] “for whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.” When we choose like Jesus to humbly live for God’s glory, then great is our reward and blessings will flow abundantly in our direction.

In Revelation, Jesus is declared by the elders, the angels, and all the heavenly creatures that He is worthy, saying “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain.” Jesus was the only one worthy to open the seals. The main reason Jesus is worthy to be exalted is because the God of the universe says so. If God exalts Him, then so should we exalt Him. [Acts 2:32, 5:31] “God raised this Jesus to life…God exalted Him to His own right hand as Prince and Savior that He might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.”

[Heb 7:26] “A high priest, meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.” Because Jesus was sinless in all His ways, He is exalted. No other priest on earth can claim to have lived a blameless life. Only His pure shed blood could wash away the sins of the entire world. He was the final Lamb sacrifice completing the old covenant and ushering in the new covenant. After His death and resurrection, He sat down next to the Father indicating that the work was done. No other sacrifices were needed.

Jesus now sits at the right hand of God which is the highest position next to God. God gave Him that position. [Heb 1:3] “After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” NIV says that being seated at God’s right hand indicates that the work of redemption is complete and that Christ is actively ruling with God as Lord over all. Jesus is given by God the exalted position of King of kings and Lord of lords. No other man or philosophy of man is to be exalted over Jesus Christ.

IV. How does God reveal Himself as Exalted in our Heart

[Mic 6:6] “With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God?” What are some of the ways we can exalt God in our lives.

· First is to rever. Which means to acknowledge the exalted position that God holds and compare it to our humble position before Him. Although God allows us to be so familiar with Him to call Him Daddy, we also are to be reverent before an all-consuming, all-powerful, exalted God. It is so important to contemplate and worship God in His entirety of being. That He is a God of love yet zealous that His name be honored, gentle and defender, merciful and just, present and near yet infinite beyond understanding, and long-suffering and gracious yet unyielding in His hatred of sin, rebellion, and pride. Let us not dwell on a few attributes of God which limits our thinking of who He is; but understand Him in all His vast array of attributes. We need to be mindful of all His divine nature.

· Second is to rejoice. Worshiping God exalts Him in our hearts and helps us to keep a right perspective of Him. We are born with an emptiness. We need to fill it with God and Jesus. Filling our minds and hearts with the goodness of who He is and the knowledge that His love for us is so great, keeps us in a perfect place of peace and rest. [Eph 5:18-19] “Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

· Third is to resolve. [Rom 12:1] “Therefore, I urge you, brother, in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” NIV commentary states that God demands our action as well as our believing and thinking. Faith expresses itself in obedience. God doesn’t want just ritual moral activity, He wants the involvement of your heart, mind and will. We must bow before the exalted God, be truly grateful for all that Jesus did for us on the cross, and then resolve to surrender and to offer our lives in obedience and service. Don’t just worship in song but with your entire being.

· Fourth is to restore. Three times in Ps 80, it says, “Restore us, O God Almighty; make your face shine upon us that we may be saved.” This Psalm was a national prayer but it can also be a personal prayer. We must constantly acknowledge through prayer, praise, and exaltation that we need this exalted God in all areas of our life. We need His exalted face to shine on us and we need His salvation. He need to tell others that an Almighty God can restore their lives too. Let’s all exalt the Lord together.

Living a Radical Life for Jesus means believing that God is Exalted.