You Become Like What Your Worship”
Pastor Stephen Farish
December 28, 2025
Psalm 115:4-8; 2 Corinthians 3:16
1. Two definitions
a. worship: the right response of the human heart to God’s revelation of himself, which
response involves loving God with all we have and all we are by, among other things, seeing,
delighting in, treasuring, and obeying the Lord
b. idolatry: loving any person, thing, idea, or status more than we love (worship) God
2. Psalm 115:4-8: Those who worship idols become like them (cf. Psalm 135:15-18).
a. idols of the heart (Ezekiel 14:1-5)
b. four questions to ask yourself to discern the idols of your heart (Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters (Dutton, 2009), pp. 167-170)
i. About what do I daydream?
ii. Where do I spend my money?
iii. How do I respond when I am frustrated?
iv. What are the emotions I find hard to control?
c. “the expulsive power of a new affection” (Thomas Chalmers, 1815)
3. 2 Corinthians 3:16: Those who worship Jesus Christ become like him.
a. how this dynamic works in Christian souls
b. the bottom line: we desperately need the grace of God to stop making mud pies in a slum and start enjoying a holiday by the sea (C.S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory,” sermon preached June 8, 1942)
