Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

How many of you have seen this after a touchdown (S)?

Or a soccer goal (S)?

Or a basket (S)?

Or a home run (S)?

Not trying to frown on them or question faith.

My point is that some of them point up to God after a triumph and yet live in public sin the rest of the time.

We’re not only supposed to point up to God in a moment of triumph.

Our entire lives are to point people to Jesus Christ!

Do they?

The idea that we are to bring God glory is not a new one.

It is not even a NT idea.

Israel was given this command in (S).

Part of Israel’s responsibility was to declare the glory of God!

The NT reveals that believers also exist for His glory.

(S).

The very purpose of our salvation is the glory of God

It is therefore a big deal to take any glory for ourselves.

puts things into perspective (S).

All called by God are created and formed for His glory.

Proverbs tells us that He has made all things for Himself.

Why is God obsessed with His own glory?

Ever thought about that?

Ever thought about that?

Is He narcissistic?

Selfish?

Self-absorbed?

I believe that when we are done this morning we are going to be convinced of a truth.

Here is the truth.

Our highest good, and therefore our highest aim, is to bring God glory.

Now, what happens when we do not?

This passage explores that a little bit.

However, there is another element here.

God is preserving and protecting the church.

We will answer two questions today.

First of all.

Why do we give Him all the glory?

There is a second question that goes along with that.

What does this passage teach us about the glory of God?

The conviction that we exist for the glory of God changes how we live.

Revealed in this passage are four reasons to give glory to God.

Give glory to God…

1.

Because Glory Is His By Right Of Preservation v. 20

READ v. 20

We mentioned last week that God was setting Herod up for judgment.

In vv.

18-19 we saw Herod interrogate and kill the guards.

He then left for Caesarea.

I want to read a commentary note about Herod that helps us understand his actions in this passage.

To understand the persecution cited in this text, we need to understand what King Herod was like.

His father, Aristobulus, had been murdered by his own father, Herod the Great, the ruler who had ordered the slaughter of innocent babies at Christ’s birth.

After the death of Aristobulus, the Herod of Acts 12 was sent to Rome to be educated, and there he grew up as a close friend of the imperial family.

He was something of a playboy, and in A.D. 23 he fled to Palestine to escape his creditors.

In Palestine he lived in humility and poverty under his uncle, Herod Antipas.

Upon his return to Rome, he was imprisoned by the Emperor Tiberius for some critical remarks he had made.

His life had hit bottom.

But then Tiberius died, and Herod’s childhood friend, Caligula, came to power—not only freeing him from prison, but giving him a gold chain weighing as much as his iron fetters in prison.

Soon Herod was named ruler of some Palestinian provinces.

When another childhood friend, Claudius, succeeded Caligula, Herod became ruler of Judea and Samaria.

Murder and intrigue had been the currency of his entire life.

Herod was preeminently a politician.

When he was with the Romans, he did as the Romans did.

Though he was Jewish only by race and not by conviction, when he was with the Jews he acted like a Jew.

The Mishnah records that during the annual procession bearing the firstfruits to the temple, “when they reached the temple Mount, Agrippa the king [Herod] would take his basket on his shoulder and enter as far as the Temple Court.”

He would do anything to maintain his popularity with the Jewish people.

However, he saw Jewish Christians as divisive and believed their activities would disturb the people.

As a result of Peter’s deliverance, Herod had the apostle’s guards executed and left town himself for Caesarea, perhaps because of embarrassment.

So Herod is a chameleon who tries to blend in.

He is trying to make the Jews like him.

His failure with Peter has made him throw a hissy fit and leave town.

Now, why did we read all that and put everyone to sleep?

Because we need to understand that the events in this chapter haven’t happened in a vacuum.

Herod acts the way he does because of the pressures he is facing.

We all do this.

Pressure tempts us to act in ways that get us into trouble.

That is what happens with Herod.

He goes down to Caesarea and while he is there the people of Tyre and Sidon come to him.

We are not told the cause of Herod’s anger toward these people because it is irrelevant to the story.

However, this does give us another clue as to his character.

These are coastal cities supplied with grain and fruit by Herod.

They make him angry, he cuts off their food supply!

This group of people are awarded this audience because they had an inside man in the person of Blastus.

It says they had made him their friend.

Having made – πείθω (peithō) persuade; convince.

To cause somebody to adopt a certain position, belief, or course of action.

Having made – πείθω (peithō)

These people have persuaded and coerced Blastus into being their friend so that they can ask for peace.

Their motivation is the provision of food that they enjoyed from Herod.

These are the divinely appointed circumstances in which Herod will face the judgment of God.

We see the glory of God here in His sovereignty.

None of this is happening by chance!

God is orchestrating these events to display His glory and to strengthen His people.

There is another important consideration here.

Where does food really come from?

God! Turn to .

God is the one who does all of this! Glory belongs to Him because He is the one who preserves us!

Already the people of Tyre and Sidon are in error because they are looking to Herod to provide for them!

The temptation in our society is to look to government or the church or a side hustle (job) or parents or friends to provide.

While those are tools God may use, ultimately God is the one who preserves us!

Because of His preservation, all glory belongs to Him!