Sermon Tone Analysis

God’s glory can’t be taken ...

Taking God’s Glory

, “Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king's chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king's country for food.

On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them.

And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.

But the word of God increased and multiplied.

And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark.”

“Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king's chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king's country for food.

On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them.

And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.

But the word of God increased and multiplied.

And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark.”

In this morning’s passage we are going to see two things being clearly pointed out.

The sovereign divine judgment of God and the sovereign divine Word of God, which continues to grow the church.

Both of these actions are predicated upon our God receiving all the glory for the things in which He has done.

Every action, every accomplishment, every achievement, every assertion, every audacious attribute in this age and in the age to come all serve to give glory to our God.

Our God is great and greatly to be praise, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, His name must be given glory for the things He has done.

What Glorifies God, or what gives God honor.

To glorify and honor God means to bring Him glory and honor through everything we say and do – Doing everything for the glory of God.

Honoring God, Glorifying God with our lives, words, thoughts, actions, songs, dance, and food, drink and in all we do.

Acknowledging God’s glory, Appreciating who God is, and Valuing God far above everything else.

We glorify God by loving him, by obeying him, by trusting him and walking with him.

We honor God when we have faith and trust in him, when we love him, and when we truly desire to know him, obey him and please him in all that we do.

We were created to glorify God, enjoy him and walk with Him.

When we glorify God and honor God, we get closer to him and enjoy him immensely.

God is really pleased and rejoices over us when we glorify him and live for him.

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

Let us pray…

The Sovereign divine judgment of God

Several months has passed since Peter’s angelic release and escape for jail in Jerusalem.

When for reasons unknown to us, Herod became very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon.

These people were outside Herod’s jurisdiction, but since the Old Testament times their country had been fed by the region ruled by Herod.

Realizing the danger of having Herod irate with them, with one accord they came to him, and having won over Blastus the king’s chamberlain… Well pastor what is a chamberlain?

A chamberlain is a trusted personal assistant to a high government official; the Greek literally means “the one over the bedroom,” but such a person would have had wider responsibilities than this.

We see that they were asking for peace, because Herod’s economic blockade was crippling them, and they needed to make peace with him quickly.

They persuaded (possibly with money) Blastus the kings’ chamberlain to act as an intermediary.

Herod agreed to terms, but to further demonstrate his prowess,

He subjected the ambassadors from the two cities to a spectacle.

On an appointed day (according to the Jewish historian Josephus the occasion was a feast in honor of Herod’s patron, the Roman Emperor Claudius), Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the rostrum and began delivering an address to them.

They met in the amphitheater built by Agrippa’s grandfather, Herod the Great.

Josephus describes the scene:

“ [Herod] put on a garment made wholly of silver, and of a contexture truly wonderful, and came into the theatre early in the morning; at which time the silver of his garment being illuminated by the fresh reflection of the sun’s rays upon it, shone out after a surprising manner.

Overwhelmed by his splendor (or, more likely, seeking to flatter him), the people kept crying out, “The voice of god and not of a man!” Josephus notes that Herod “did neither rebuke them, nor reject them but accepted their impious flattery, he was clear taking God’s glory.

"What is the glory of God?"

The glory of God is the beauty of His spirit.

It is not an aesthetic beauty or a material beauty, but it is the beauty that emanates from His character, from all that He is.

, “Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away.”

James exhorts the poor to boast in their exaltation and vindication in God and the rich to boast in their humiliation.

Why? (1) By realizing that their wealth is temporary and that it brings them no advantage before God, and (2) by identifying with the poor in their affliction.

The church is to be a “countercultural” community, which reverses the values of the world.

Given the context here, James seems to be saying that the challenges of poverty and wealth may be one of the greatest “trials” for Christians.

This understanding is suggested by his immediate emphasis on the “blessed” status of those who remain “steadfast under trial.”

James also echoes Jesus’ warning that “You cannot serve God and money”

The glory of man is the beauty of man’s spirit, which is fallible and eventually passes away, and is therefore humiliating—as the verse tells us.

But the glory of God, which is manifested in all His attributes together, never passes away; it is eternal.

, says, that God created us for His glory.

In context with the other verses, it can be said that man “glorifies” God because through man, God’s glory can be seen in things such as love, music, heroism and so forth—things belonging to God that we are carrying “in jars of clay” ().

We are the vessels, which “contain” God’s glory.

All the things we are able to do and to be, find their source in Him.

God interacts with nature in the same way.

Nature exhibits His glory.

His glory is revealed to man’s mind through the material world in many ways, and often in different ways to different people.

The sight of the mountains may thrill one person, and another person may love the beauty of the sea.

But that which is behind them all is God’s glory and it speaks to both people and connects them to God.

In this way, God is able to reveal Himself to all men, no matter their race, heritage or location.

As says, “The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims handiwork.

Day to day pours our speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and like a strong man, runs its course with joy.

Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.”

calls heaven itself “glory.”

It used to be common to hear Christian’s talk of death as being “received unto glory,” which is a phrase borrowed from this Psalm.

When a Christian dies, he or she will be taken into God’s presence, and in His presence will be naturally surrounded by God’s glory.

We will be taken to the place where God’s beauty literally resides—the beauty of His Spirit will be there, because He will be there.

Again, the beauty of His Spirit (or the essence of Who He Is) is His “glory.”

In that place, His glory will not need to come through man or nature, rather it will be seen clearly, just as

says, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known.”

In the human earthly sense glory is a beauty or vibrancy that rests upon the material, and in that sense, it fades.

But the reason it fades is that material things do not last.

They die and wither, but the glory that is in them belongs to God, and returns to Him when death or decay takes the material.

Think of the rich man mentioned earlier.

The verse says, “The rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away.”

What does this mean?

The verse is admonishing the rich man to realize that his wealth and power and beauty comes from God, and to be humbled by the realization that it is God who makes him what he is, and gives him all he has.

And the knowledge that he will pass away like the grass is what will bring him to the realization that God is the one from whom glory comes.

God’s glory is the source, the wellspring from which all smaller glories run.

Since God is the one from whom glory comes, He will not let stand the assertion that glory comes from man or from the idols of man or from nature.

In , “I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes of that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.

I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.”

We see an example of God’s jealousy over His glory; God will not share His glory with anyone.

When Herod attempted to take the sovereign divine glory of God for himself, there was a great price to pay, and he paid with his life.

This jealousy for His own glory is what Paul is talking about in

, “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!

Amen.”

When he speaks of the ways people worship the creature rather than the Creator.

In other words, they looked at the object through which God’s glory was coming, and, instead of giving God the credit for it, they worshiped that animal or tree or man as if the beauty it possessed originated from within itself.

This is the very heart of idolatry and is a very common occurrence.

Everyone who has ever lived has committed this error at one time or another.