Grind For God's Glory
Coram Deo : From Spiritual Relapse to Rejuvenation this Summer • Sermon • Submitted
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· 107 viewsIf we want to move from spiritual relapse to rejuvenation this Summer, we must be a people who grind for God's glory.
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Coram Deo : From Spiritual Relapse to Rejuvenation
Coram Deo : From Spiritual Relapse to Rejuvenation
Good morning, church! Welcome to the final week of our Coram Deo sermon series. Throughout this series, we’ve sought to see how a life lived Coram Deo (“Before the Face of God”) is the way that we’ll move forward in spiritual rejuvenation this summer.
Remember that the enemy wants to lull us to sleep – to make us feel like we can just sit still and relax – to put our relationship with Jesus on pause and pick it back up in the fall – but that is a lie. There is no standing still in our spiritual lives. It is a constant battle against the current of sin. We must be actively moving towards Jesus or we’ll be swept away from Him. Even if we don’t intend to.
This series has sought to give us a framework to ‘swim against the current’ this summer.
The key to spiritual rejuvenation over the summer is to live our lives Coram Deo – before the face of God this summer. Through this posture, God will grow and revive us by His Spirit.
These three weeks have looked at what living life Coram Deo entails :-Week 1 we looked at life Coram Deo as a life lived in the presence of God. How the presence of God satisfies and sanctifies us. And we can trust this because Jesus brought God’s presence to us to redeem us back into His presence.
-Week 1 we looked at life Coram Deo as a life lived in the presence of God. How the presence of God satisfies and sanctifies us. And we can trust this because Jesus brought God’s presence to us to redeem us back into His presence.
-Week 2 we looked at life Coram Deo as a life lived under the authority of God. How God’s is our good creator and gracious redeemer. As Creator, He knows more about us than we do–thus He knows what will make us flourish. As Redeemer, He has made a way for us to surrender to His good authority through His Son Who surrendered all for us. And we can know that His authority is best, because it freed us from the bondage of sin and results in eternal life with Him forever.
This week we’re talking about how life Coram Deo is a life where we grind for His glory.
Coram Deo : Grind for His Glory
Coram Deo : Grind for His Glory
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I wanted to share this quote by the late writer and english professor david foster wallace:
"In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship…If you worship money and things-if they are where you tap real meaning in life-then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you…On one level, we all know this stuff already…the trick is keeping the truth up-front in daily consciousness. Worship power-you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart-you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. And so on.”
–David Foster Wallace
Now, I know this quote is speaking of how everybody worships something. But I believe that worshipping and glorifying go hand in hand. You worship – bow down to, submit to, live for – something because of it’s worth. In other words, because of it’s glory. Of it’s value, it’s beauty, it’s weightiness. You cannot glory in something without worshiping it, and you cannot worship something without recognizing it’s glory.
To glorify simply means to declare the worth of something or someone. We live our lives for this. It’s amazing how every human seeks to find worth, value, and completeness in something. And our expression of that devotion is our glorification of that. It could be self, sex, intelligence, etc. We all declare the worth of something or someone, even if that’s ourselves. You don’t get to choose whether or not you glorify something.
That’s because, church, we are hard-wired to glorify.
So, church, today’s question is:
Who ya livin for?
Everybody lives for someone’s glory . We must be a people who grind for the glory of God.
Everybody lives for someone’s glory . We must be a people who grind for the glory of God.
"In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship…If you worship money and things-if they are where you tap real meaning in life-then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you…On one level, we all know this stuff already…the trick is keeping the truth up-front in daily consciousness. Worship power-you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart-you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. And so on.”
To glorify simply means to declare the worth of something or someone. We live our lives for this. It’s amazing how every human seeks to find worth, value, and completeness in something. And our expression of that devotion is our glorification of that. It could be self, sex, intelligence, etc. We all declare the worth of something or someone, even if that’s ourselves. You don’t get to choose whether or not you glorify something.
To glorify simply means to declare the worth of something or someone. We live our lives for this.
That’s because, church, we are hard-wired to glorify.
That’s because, church, we are hard-wired to glorify.
Everybody glorifies something. We must be a people who grind for the glory of God.
God created us for His glory
God created us for His glory
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Church, know from that God created mankind in His image, after His likeness. God decided to create humanity to reflect Him. To point back to who He is. We are created in His image – the word means, likeness of resemblance. Not that we ourselves are God, but that God created all the people of the world that they would be a reflection of who He is. That, every time we’d see people, we’d be reminded back to the God who formed them. That we’d see His resemblance in one another.
Church, God created mankind in His image, after His likeness. God decided to create humanity to reflect Him. To point back to who He is. We are created in His image – the word means, likeness of resemblance. Not that we ourselves are God, but that God created all the people of the world that they would be a reflection of who He is. That, every time we’d see people, we’d be reminded back to the God who formed them. That we’d see His resemblance in one another.
I’ve heard it said that each person is called to be a glory reflector. Each person is running around, living their lives, reflecting the worth, beauty, of someone/something. The intention of creation is that we would reflect the wonder of the One who made us.
God is fiercely committed to His glory
God is fiercely committed to His glory
God reiterates and clarifies this truth further in . Let’s turn there.
God is talking to His chosen people, and He sheds some light onto why they exist and what their purposes are.
everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
The LORD declares to His people that He created them for one purpose – FOR HIS GLORY. He created people that He would be glorified. Doesn’t get much clearer than this.
That His glory – kavod – the riches, splendor, reputation, holy heaviness of His Person would be declared and lived for by His people.
He formed and made His people for His glory.
Hang out in , because we’ll be back there.
In chapter 42, right before, we see another reality.
God is fiercely committed to His glory
God is fiercely committed to His glory
Jealous = “fiercely protective or vigilant of one’s rights or possessions” | (God) demanding faithfulness and exclusive worship.
I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.
The One true God is the eternal, unchangeable, unshakable God of the universe, and that is Who He is. There is no other like Him. And because of that, He is fiercely committed to His glory. He will not give HIs glory to another. He will not allow His praise to be passed out to other idols.
In speaking of this, the Scriptures say that God is jealous for His glory.
To be jealous means to be “fiercely protective or vigilant of one’s rights or possessions” | (God) demanding faithfulness and exclusive worship.
For I must die in this land; I must not go over the Jordan. But you shall go over and take possession of that good land. Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.
(for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),
We made a glory exchange (“We gave away His glory”)
We made a glory exchange (“We gave away His glory”)
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.
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.
Romans 1:21-
Jesus is the Perfect glory grinder
Jesus is the Perfect glory grinder
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
John 17:
“We made a glory exchange, and Jesus made a gory exchange”
God is jealous, huh? What’s up with that?
It would only be wrong of God to be jealous–to demand absolute glory and devotion of our lives if there was anything else in the world that was worthy of it; that deserved it. But there is not. Every other ‘god’ is a cheap substitute that is useless. Therefore,
How loving would God be if He tolerated my idolatry? If He was okay with our whoring after other gods?
We know that God not tolerating our idols is good – we understand this on a much lower level:
One pastor gave this analogy:
Consider a husband and wife. Now, what if one day, the wife came up to the husband and said, you know what babe, I love you and all, but I’m gonna go and sleep around with some other people, because I think I’d really enjoy that. And, the husband thinks for a second and says, “you know what honey, that sounds like a good idea. Enjoy.”
Now church, I ask you: what kind of a husband is that? A good one, because he gave his wife what she ‘desired’? No, church, that husband is a bum. A total bum! Why, church?
Because, as the husband of that wife, He alone is deserving of her intimacy in that manner. It is right for that to go to him and him alone.
We would dishonor a husband who said, go for it, enjoy. You have my blessing.
And rightly so.
Now, what if, when asked, the husband said to the wife, no, you cannot go sleep around with other people, the wife responded, “well, you’re just being jealous. That’s not good honey, you are too jealous.”
NO, CHURCH! We’d all say that is a good jealousy. That is a holy jealousy. That is a beautiful jealously. Because the husband who has made a covenant with the wife is jealous for their love, adoration, and affection. As it should be, because it is ‘theirs’ in that sense.
So, church, why do we get upset that our Maker is fiercely jealous for His glory? That He won’t give it to any other. Church, that is GOOD, RIGHT, and HOLY. His jealousy should be our joy.
Because He loves us enough to not tolerate our whoring around after other gods. He calls us to glorify and declare the worth of Him alone with our lips and our lives.
God doesn’t allow for joint custody of what you glorify.
There’s no, God, I’ll give you glory on weekends but and on the weekdays, I’m giving this person I know I shouldn’t be with glory. I’m giving myself the glory – the weekdays are all about me. My money. My work. My agenda. No.
If you want God allow you to share His glory with other things, than You want God to be okay with your destruction. Church, He loves you too much to allow that.
God demands that you declare His worth alone. His beauty alone. His majesty alone. All creation is full of His glory. Any ‘glory’ anything has is simply a reflection of the One Who created it, who is glorious within Himself.
Glorifying God involves our words and our walk (“Head, Heart, Hands”) (“Declaration and Demonstration”)
Glorifying God involves our words and our walk (“Head, Heart, Hands”) (“Declaration and Demonstration”)
Church, when we don’t like this jealously of God, it’s one of two things:
Either, we’re underestimating the value of God.
Or, we’re overestimating the value of things that are not God and cannot fulfill us.
God is fiercely protective and vigilant of His rights and possessions, and that is good. It is good that He is jealous for His glory alone, because He alone is worthy of trust, honor, adoration. His glory alone is the only thing worthy of living for.
He is the only one who has rights and possessions over your life. He is your good creator, and you were created for His glory.
He demands that you submit to and declare His worth alone. His beauty alone. His majesty alone. All creation is full of His glory. Any ‘glory’ anything has is simply a reflection of the One Who created it, who is glorious within Himself.
Now, we might struggle with this in our cultural context, because it brings us to a hefty realization...
It’s not about us. It’s about the glory of God.
But it is for our good that God is jealous for His glory.
Let’s look at two examples from that shed light as to why this is good.
Because God is committed to His glory, He is committed to upholding relationship with His covenant people.
Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth,
The security of God’s relationship with His covenant people is based upon the strength of His covenant promise, not my covenant performance.
Isiaah
In , the Israelites dishonored God by asking for a king like the other nations (when they already had the LORD as a king), and they realize that sin and are convicted and fearful because of their evildoing. Samuel says:
And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.
For the LORD will not forsake his people FOR HIS GREAT NAME’S SAKE, because it has pleased Him to make you a people for Himself.
He will indeed uphold His covenant promises because He will indeed be glorified in His cosmic purposes.
Isaiah 49:
“Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
We also see in that, because God is committed to His glory, we can be confident that He forgives sin.
“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.
God forgives sinners for the sake of His glory. That the glorious grace of His character would be seen. I don’t know about you, church, but I’d much rather Him forgive sins based on the sake of His glory over my worthiness of His forgiveness. It’s His purposes over my performance.
The point is this:
God being committed to His glory overflows in good towards His people, because His glory is our good.
We gave up on His glory
We gave up on His glory
We made a glory exchange (“We gave away His glory”)
We made a glory exchange (“We gave away His glory”)
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.
Church, the tragedy that is sin is that we made a glory exchange. Humanity did exactly what a jealous God, in His divine goodness, would not tolerate. We, who claimed to be wise, were fools and made a glory exchange. We exchanged the glory of the immortal God for idols. To idols that could not save and were not satisfying. We exchanged basking in God’s glory for death.
We exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served creature rather than Creator.
We changed the truth of God for a lie. Then we acted on it.
We worshiped, served, might I say, glorified creature rather than Creator. We put our hope in that which cannot save and cannot deliver.
This is the tragedy of that we talked about in week 1. We forsook the LORD, the fountain of living water, and created/filled broken cisterns that couldn’t hold water. We exchanged the I AM for Idols as our source and fulfillment.
Humanity gave up on living in and for God’s glory – HIs worth, His beauty. We went our own way. Sought to worship things that are not deserving of worship, and rejected the only One worthy of worship and glory.
And this leaves us guilty before a holy, righteous, glorious and JUST God, who is deserving of all the glory.
How can we stand before His holy heaviness? We can’t on our own. We are guilty. We need glorification reassignment surgery.
The Lord will judge and bring His wrath against both idol and idolater. And on our own that is all of us.
Where is our hope, church?
Jesus is the Perfect Glory Grinder
Jesus is the Perfect Glory Grinder
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
Church, humanity rejected a life of living perfectly for and to the glory of God – we didn’t grind to the glory of God.
The good news today is that God, in His great mercy, did something about it.
He knew all along that this would be our path. That we would reject Him and walk in the ways of sin and death, apart from a life lived for His glory.
Because God is PERFECT, He cannot tolerate us with Him in our sinful state. He can’t just sweep our idolatry under the rug. He would not be good if He tolerated our evil.
In steps Jesus.
Church, Jesus Christ is the Perfect Glory Grinder.
He glorified the Father perfectly on earth. Every action. Every thought. Every move Jesus made on earth was to the glory of God. Was a move declaring the ultimate beauty, worth, and greatness of God the Father.
He says “I have accomplished the work you gave me to do.”
Now, the Son says, the hour has come for the height of the Glory of God to be displayed.
“Our response to Jesus’ glory grind is to grind for His glory”
“Our response to Jesus’ glory grind is to grind for His glory”
The Son is about to be glorified. He is about to be exalted on the cross. He is about to be lifted up and nailed to the cross for our sins. He is about to, in the most brutal way imaginable, demonstrate the glory of God and the consequences of our sin.
Because Jesus is God Himself, His glorification results in the glorification of God the Father.
The gospel is this.
The good news of the gospel is that on the cross,
We made a glory exchange, and Jesus made a gory exchange
Church,
Us sinners made a glory exchange. And instead of leaving all of humanity doomed for hell, for eternal separation from God the Father and eternal wrath poured on us for our sins, in love, God the Father made a way of restoration.
In love, He sent Jesus to make a gory exchange. Jesus took the gory fate of sinners upon Himself. On the cross, He suffered the eternal fate due to us for our rebellion. He suffered for our sins. Bore the wrath of God. Bore the penalty of our sins – death. Forsaken by His Father. Forsaken by His Father, whom He never once sinned against. Never once disobeyed. Perfectly has loved for all eternity. Perfectly has glorified for all eternity.
In love, He took my place in death.
Because Jesus is God Himself, His glorification results in the glorification of God the Father.
He alone has rights to give eternal life to all the Father has given Him. To give eternal salvation to those who turn from their own sin, their own glory seeking, and receive Jesus’ grace and follow them.
Eternal life (v. 3) is that we would be in an eternal relationship with God! Know Him intimately forever. Be fully forgiven of our sins.
That opportunity to escape the wrath of God and once again live in relationship with the One for whom you were created is open to all who would turn from self, confessing our sin, yet seeing Christ’s sacrifice for us and receiving that great grace. This, church is what it means to be ‘born again.’
Who you living for?
We respond to Jesus’ sacrifice by grinding for His glory with our head, heart, and hands.
We respond to Jesus’ sacrifice by grinding for His glory with our head, heart, and hands.
How we think, what we love, and what we do.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19
The only proper response to so great a salvation is to glorify Him with everything we’ve got.
The scholars would say that the imperative flows from the indicative. That is, the imperative (the command) “glorify God in your body”, flows from the fact that there is an indicative (a reality that is a statement of fact) “you are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you.”
We mess up church, when we try to earn the indicative by doing the imperative. “Well, maybe if I glorify God enough, then he’ll love me. He’ll accept me. He’ll forgive me.” No, church!
The truth of the good news of Jesus is that:
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
1 Cor 5:17
All who received Him. Receive His grace. You don’t earn the indicative.
But, because there is so great a salvation that has been given to us, God calls us to ‘be who we are’. To live out the reality of what it means that we are already bought with a price, beloved children of God.
SO GLORIFY GOD IN YOUR BODY.
While this Corinthians verse is specifically talking about glorifying God in regards to our sexual purity, just in case we thought there were parts of our lives the Bible doesn’t call us to live to His glory, consider these
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Or,
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Our sin nature always tries to find loopholes in our call to loyalty and total devotion. This is why He says, ‘whatever you do’. No loopholes.
Whatever you do. In word or deed. In word or walk. In declaration and demonstration. It must be done to His name. To His glory. That others would hear and see the worth and beauty of God.
Church, what area of your life are you trying to persuade yourself that you don’t need to live that area of your life to His glory?
You know, the kind of temptation to say, ‘well, I glorify Him in all these other areas of my life, but THIS area, well, I’m doing pretty good overall. This area I can just let rock for a bit. I’ll get to glorifying God in this area of my life. Besides, I’m doing WAAY better than this person or that person. The percentage of my life lived to His glory is way beyond their percentage. But God calls for 100%.
Church, God doesn’t tolerate that. Remember, God is a jealous God for His glory. And you’re robbing yourself of the joy of living to God’s glory. He loves you too much to be content with a passing grade.
How it must break the heart of God that we have to fight to persuade ourselves to live for the glory of God.
This is how we move forward from relapse to rejuvenation this summer. To be a people that live for His glory.
And church, I wanted to close with some practical thoughts around glorifying God:
Let me help you out, church, as well –
You know, the kind of temptation to say, ‘well, I glorify Him in all these other areas of my life, but THIS area, well, I’m doing pretty good overall. This area I can just let rock for a bit. I’ll get to glorifying God in this area of my life. Besides, I’m doing WAAY better than this person or that person. The percentage of my life lived to His glory is way beyond their percentage.
Church, God doesn’t tolerate that. Remember, God is a jealous God for His glory. And you’re robbing yourself of the joy of living to God’s glory
Church, what area of your life are you trying to persuade yourself that you don’t need to live that area of your life to His glory?
You know, the kind of temptation to say, ‘well, I glorify Him in all these other areas of my life, but THIS area, well, I’m doing pretty good overall. This area I can just let rock for a bit. I’ll get to glorifying God in this area of my life. Besides, I’m doing WAAY better than this person or that person. The percentage of my life lived to His glory is way beyond their percentage.
Church, God doesn’t tolerate that. Remember, God is a jealous God for His glory. And you’re robbing yourself of the joy of living to God’s glory..
Remember, God is a jealous God for His glory.
Glorifying God involves our words and our walk (“Head, Heart, Hands”) (“Declaration and Demonstration”)
-For things to be done in His name, they must be done in His nature.
Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
That means NO, you cannot do sinful things to the glory of God. They must be according to His nature. That means, church, we must be a people who seek to know our God and His nature. We need to know what He’s like.
Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!
This is how we move forward from relapse to rejuvenation this summer. To be a people that live for His glory.
This is how we move forward from relapse to rejuvenation this summer. To be a people that live for His glory.
And church, I wanted to close with some practical thoughts around glorifying God:
-If you love something, your default is to glorify that thing.
Here’s a helpful analogy I’ve heard that I’m personalizing:
One of my favorite foods in the world is chicken fingers. Chicken fingers with honey mustard, ah man, it’s hard to beat. With the legit batter breading, oof. So good.
Anyways, say I stumble upon this chicken finger spot, and I stop in for a meal. Well, I order the five piece tenders with honey mustard and I sit down to eat them. I take the
Anyways, say I stumble upon this chicken finger spot, and I stop in for a meal. Well, I order the five piece tenders with honey mustard and I sit down to eat them. (Fries too, obviously). I take the first bite of the tender, and church, it’s perfect. Perfectly cooked, top-quality chicken, perfect ratio of batter to chicken. Is anyone else getting hungry?
Anyways, I eat the meal. And it was great.
Church, when I get home and I meet up with my friends, what do you think I’m going to tell them about?
The chicken finger spot. Obviously. I’m gonna boast about it, and I’m going to tell them all the intricacies of how great the spot is. I’m gonna brag on and on about it, and I’m going to do everything I can to take you to that place because it’s so good.
What about to my friend who’s a vegan? I’m still going to tell him about it, and probably try and get him to give up his veganism in the face of a greater thing – these chicken fingers.
And do I have to force myself to do that with my friends? No, it comes naturally, because I’ve experienced these life-changing chicken fingers. And I’m not ashamed about them.
It’s not hard to glorify something if you have experienced it’s goodness.
Well, church, the Scriptures say:
The steadfast love of the LORD is better than life.
I wonder if we struggle to glorify God because we’re not experiencing His greatness and love, we’re not pursuing after Him who first pursued us.
In this moment, your prayer might be, “Father, increase my joy in You…Increase my love for you. My view of your greatness…I confess that there are other things in my life that are looking appealing…but I want to live for your glory. I want to declare your worth over and above everything else the world has to offer. For that to flow out of me, God, I need to see and experience you more deeply.”
What goes in, must come out.
-To glorify is to show God for Who He is.
The apostle Paul, in the midst of much persecution, says this
as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Philippians 1:20-
His eager expectation is that Christ will be honored in His body. That word honored means ‘magnify’. That Christ would be magnified in His life. That His worth would be seen through me.
One of my favorite preachers says that there’s two ways to magnify. Like a microscope and like a telescope. A microscope takes something that’s infinitesimally small and makes it appear larger than it is.
A telescope, on the other hand, takes something that’s unbelievably large, that you can’t even see clearly, and shows it for what it really is.
We are to be telescopes, church, of God’s glory. We are to declare and display God for Who He really is. We are to magnify the reality of His God-ness to the world around Him. And that is a joy. Paul says that by life or by death, He knows Christ will be magnified. And in speaking of death, Paul says that is GAIN.
Christ will be glorified in Paul’s death because Paul saw the surpassing greatness of knowing Him. HIs love for Christ above everything the world could offer glorified Christ. And it gave Paul the most satisfying existence in the world.
When we glorify Him...
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This propels us into rejuvenation, church, because when we glorify Him...
That we would grow
we grow | we’re drawn deeper into relationship with God the Father because we’re seeing Him more clearly for Who He is, and we’re rejoicing in who He is. We’re declaring His worth to others and to our hearts, and as we do that, He grows us.
“The riches
we show | as we serve Him in our gifts, we demonstrate His worth and power. talks of how whatever our gifting are, we are to use them by His power, so that everything God may be glorified. He gets the glory when we use the giftings He’s given us by His power. God flexes in our frailty when we’re obedient in using our giftings.
That others would know
others know | glorifying God means living our lives in such a way that others would know him. , whether you eat or drink or whatever you do…the close of that verse – the reason Paul does that is to seek the advantage of others – v. 33 “that they may be saved.” The aim of glorifying God in our lives is to point people to the One Who can save their souls.
Church, what area of your life are you trying to persuade yourself that you don’t need to live that area of your life to His glory?
You know, the kind of temptation to say, ‘well, I glorify Him in all these other areas of my life, but THIS area, well, I’m doing pretty good overall. This area I can just let rock for a bit. I’ll get to glorifying God in this area of my life. Besides, I’m doing WAAY better than this person or that person. The percentage of my life lived to His glory is way beyond their percentage.
Church, God doesn’t tolerate that. Remember, God is a jealous God for His glory. And you’re robbing yourself of the joy of living to God’s glory..
There is more joy in glorifying God than glorifying ourselves. There is more joy in glorifying God than in glorifying anything else. Nothing else will do.
Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!
“The RICHES OF HIS GLORY”‘
‘
Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Once again, it’s not ‘try harder to glorify Him better.’ It’s, receive all of who He is. If you’re in Christ, you have ACCESS to the throne room of God. We have access to the riches of His glory.
Over and over again, the Bible talks about the ‘riches of His glory’. Church, it is unbelievable that God has made a way for us to share in glorifying Him. Yes, He deserves it, but living a life to His glory isn’t just good for Him, but it is the most satisfying, joy-filling thing we can do. What a privilege that we can glorify Him with our lives.
When we don’t seek to live life for His glory, to enjoy His glory, which He’s given us access to, it’s like somebody gave us an all expense paid cruise to the Bahamas and yet we stay in our hotel room the whole trip. Yes, we got there. But we missed out on the joy of it all. We missed out on the joy and we failed to fully glorify the person who purchased that trip for us. The way to both glorify the giver and enjoy the gift to the fullest is one in the same – pursue it for all its worth. Tear up those water slides, go ham on the all expense paid buffet…go to all the dance parties, sing the karaoke, tan out on the dock…this is how you glorify the giver, by enjoying their gift.
That is why its said that the chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.
Why would we waste our time messing around with anything else.
There is more joy in glorifying God than glorifying ourselves. There is more joy in glorifying God than in glorifying anything else. Nothing else will do.
Let’s walk in His gift by grinding for His glory.
When we come to the end of our lives…what are we content with our tombstones saying?
Here lies Jake…a great husband, father…etc.
That would be a tragedy if that is what it said.
Jake, who lived His life for the glory of God.
And if you grind for His glory, you will live for the best for those around you.
We have been given a gift greater than anything else in the world – eternal life with God, in relationship with Him forever.
Why would we waste our time messing around with anything else.
There is more joy in glorifying God than glorifying ourselves. There is more joy in glorifying God than in glorifying anything else. Nothing else will do.
Let’s walk in His gift by grinding for His glory.
Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!
Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!
We all live for something...
the only question is,
Who ya living for?