8/17/08 - Pentecost 14 - Romans 11:33-36

THE LORD DESERVES A DOXOLOGY
- Because of what we don't know
- Because of what we do know

Would you like to learn a couple Greek words today? Actually it’s one English word that you already know. In fact, it’s a word that you usually hear in a church setting. The word is: doxology. Many of you have heard the word “doxology” before, you’ve even sung doxologies in a worship services, but do you know what doxology means? This is where the Greek lesson begins... Doxology really comes from two Greek words: doxa - meaning “praise;” and logia - meaning “words.” doxalogia (doxology) then means “words of praise.” There are many doxologies in the Bible - poetic sections of Scripture that praise God. And the 2nd Scripture reading that we read today, Romans 11:33-36, is one of the most beautiful examples. In fact, if you were to look in your Bibles at this part of Romans, the heading for these verses would simply say: “Doxology.” They are words of praise to God. And to God alone. The word “doxology” is never used for words of praise given to a fellow human being. Doxologies are reserved for the Lord. Because he is the only one that truly deserves them in the first place.
Look again, if you would, at the doxology in Romans 11. And pay close attention to the things Paul praises God for. “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” Paul indicates that the Lord deserves a doxology first of all because of what we don’t know about him! We don’t know the depth of his riches or wisdom or knowledge. We cannot search - we cannot understand - his judgments or decisions. We can’t track his footsteps or guess where he is going. We can’t fathom his mind. We can’t give him advice. The Lord is so far beyond us that he deserves a doxology. When was the last time you praised the Lord because you couldn’t understand him? When was the last time you thanked him because you couldn’t figure him out? But that’s exactly what this doxology is all about: the depth and unsearchability of God.
A swimmer in SCUBA gear is able to safely go down to a depth of about 200 feet. 220 feet is the maximum, and even then it is a dangerous thing for a scuba diver to dive that far down. The deepest part of the ocean reaches 35,840 feet in depth. And so a scuba diver even at 220 feet is nowhere close to the very bottom. No scuba diver - no matter how bad the person wants to - will ever get to that depth in their lifetime. “Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!” The riches and wisdom and knowledge of God are at such a depth that we cannot reach them. We can’t find the bottom of his “riches” - his blessings. We can’t see the limit of his wisdom or knowledge. They just keep going and going. His riches never run out. His wisdom does not have an end. Because of the Lord’s depth he deserves a doxology.
But it’s not only the extent of his riches and wisdom and knowledge, it’s the way he uses them as well. “How unsearchable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out!” Why does the Lord do what he does? And what will the Lord do when he does it? And how? And when? We just don’t know. The Lord’s judgments and plans and decisions are oftentimes indecipherable. We don’t always know why he does things or what the outcome will be. And he deserves a doxology for that. “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” We can’t read God’s mind. We can’t give him any good advice. To a great extent the Lord’s way of thinking is a mystery to us. And he deserves a doxology for that.
There are so many things that we do not know about what our Lord does and thinks and plans. He is so smart and so brilliant and so powerful that we just have to kneel in ignorance and shake our heads in awe as he performs his wonders and carries out his work without our understanding. “Words of praise” - a doxology - is in order here for the incomprehensible ways of the Lord. So let us bow our heads for a second and sing “The Doxology” of the Christian church: “Praise God from Whom All Blessing Flow.”
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!
Praise him, all creatures, here below!
Praise him above, ye heavenly host!
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! (CW 334)
We love when people sing our praises, don’t we? All of us do. Every child wants the approval of their father or mother. Employees want to be commended by their employers. We like when others see the things we do and so say good things about us. We love the credit, the thanks, the praise, the glory. We love the doxology that’s pointed our way. Because it makes us feel better. It makes us feel appreciated and needed. And that sometimes becomes our motivation, doesn’t it? Or it’s at least in the back of our minds. “I hope someone notices… I hope someone sees what I’ve been doing… A thank you would be nice… A pat on the back… Some gratitude… Any indication that what I’ve done is valued…” Now you may not ever admit those shadowed thoughts float through your mind, but it’s true, isn’t it? You want the praise, just like I want the praise.
I want to be noticed. I want you and other WELS congregations and other pastors within our circles to commend me for what I’m doing. I like to be built up. Sometimes too much. Because sometimes, shamefully, it seeps into my motivations and my reasons. And that desire for praise gets to all of us in one way or another. We all like others to give us a doxology. But any glory or praise we secretly desire, is glory and praise taken away from our Lord. Both of you can’t have it! You can’t share praise with God. You can’t enjoy it for a while and then pass it on! It doesn’t work that way. All glory, all praise, all thanks goes to your Lord. That’s the 1st Commandment after all. Now, it’s not a sin to receive thanks and praise from others or to even give thanks and praise to others - but when we desire it, when we long for it, when we wait for it and want it, then we are taking the praise away from the only one who deserves it.
Only the Lord deserves a doxology. And if you ever struggle with wanting praise for yourself, remind yourself about what you can’t do and what don’t know: the depth of God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge, the unsearchable nature of his judgments, his untraceable ways, his unfathomable mind, his unexplainable will. Then compare yourself to the Lord. Consider all the ways you fall short of his perfection. Remember all of the sins that you have committed against him. Do you deserve a doxology? Do you deserve even one word of praise? Neither do I. Because not only do we sin all the time, even the things we do that happen to be God-pleasing are worked by the Lord through us anyway. Listen to what the writer to the Hebrews says: “[Jesus will] equip you with everything good for doing his will, [and he will] work in us what is pleasing to him” (Hebrews 13:21). The Lord gets all the credit! Anything good in this life must be credited to the Lord. And so only the Lord deserves a doxology. He deserves it because of everything we don’t know about him. And because of everything we do know.
99.99% of the Lord we do not know or understand. But what we do know about the Lord is worthy of praise to the highest degree as well. And the last verse of Romans chapter 11 sums up what the Lord has revealed to us in Scripture: “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen!” From him. Through him. To him. What has come from the Lord? Everything. All creation has come from the Lord. Every blessing that you have received has come from the Lord. Your salvation and forgiveness and hope of eternal glory has come from the Lord. And that is the greatest thing of all. That’s the most mind-boggling thing of all. That our hope of eternal glory in heaven would come from the Lord. That’s mind-boggling because in order to give us the glories of heaven, he had to give up his own glory. God gave up his glory for you. He gave up his doxology. The prophet Isaiah described Christ on earth in this way, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrow, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isaiah 53:2-3). What a turnaround! The great God of the universe, the one who demands that all people worship and praise him above all things, decided to give it all up for a time, to be despised and rejected and hated. To be cursed as he hung on the tree of the cross. The Lord gave up his glory to give it to you. That’s right: the Lord gave his glory to you. You will share in his glory when he takes you to be with him in Paradise and you will actually be praised because of what Christ has done! You won’t deserve the praise, you won’t deserve the doxology, but you will get it anyway in heaven because you are connected to Christ. You will share in everything your Savior deserves. And all this and more has come from the Lord. If that isn’t worthy of a doxology to our Savior, I don’t know what is.
But that’s not all. He deserves a doxology not only because things are from him, but through him as well. What things are through the Lord? Everything… again. Blessings or trials. Nothing touches you without it going through the Lord first. He is your customs officer in a way. Nothing gets to you without his stamp of approval, with his “OK”, without his hand in everything. And many things never get to you because the Lord’s stops them. That is definitely worth a doxology. Because we would not want the devil, his evil angels, the corrupted world and our sinful nature converging on us at once without the Lord’s intervention and constant monitoring. We would not survive. We would be crushed in a second. And so the Lord deserves many doxologies many times over for everything that goes through him.
And to him. We praise the Lord for everything that goes to him as well. Because all things, no matter how bad they are and no matter how sinful they may be, will always come back to him. They will work out according to his will. They will be turned and conformed to his plans for the good of his children. There will be no loose ends on the Last Day. There will be no situation, no person, no catastrophe that does not come back to the Lord and add to his perfect plan of salvation. We know this from the Bible. We believe this through his Word. And we praise him for it every week. “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever!” To him be the glory forever - for everything that we know about him in Scripture and for everything that is too far above us to grasp. To him be the glory forever! To him be the doxologies forever! And let us end this morning by singing “The Doxology” one more time to our Lord. Praising him with our voices for everything that he does and everything that he is.
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!
Praise him, all creatures, here below!
Praise him above, ye heavenly host!
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Amen. (CW 334)

“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen!” - Romans 11:36