To the Praise of His Glory!

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To the Praise of His Glory!

• Ephesians 16, 12, 14

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Paul Ephesians 1

• 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by
  which He made us accepted in the Beloved
• 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be
  to the praise of His glory
• 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until
  the redemption of the purchased possession, to
  the praise of His glory

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To the Praise of His Glory!

• J. S. Bach Music's only purpose should be the
  glory of God and the recreation of the human
  spirit
• Michelangelo Art is the gift and must be used
  for His glory. That in art is the highest which
  aims at this

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To the Praise of His Glory!

• Sir Isaac Newton When I wrote my treatise about
  our system, I had an eye upon such principles as
  might work with considering men for the belief of
  a Deity, and nothing can rejoice me more than to
  find it useful for that purpose
• C. S. Lewis The glory of God, and, as our only
  means to glorifying him, the salvation of human
  souls, is the real business of life

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The Glory of Gods Glory

• The Central Message of All Scripture
• 1 Corinthians 1031 - whatever you do, do all to
  the glory of God
• God created man to glorify Himself, and that is
  mans purpose in life
• Fallen man cannot glorify God on his own, because
  he does not know God or have a godly nature
  through Jesus Christ
• Redeemed man is able to glorify the Lord, and he
  will glorify Him if he is faithful

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The Shorter Catechism

• First question and answer
• What is the chief end of man? Mans chief end is
  to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.
• The pinnacle of mans being is glorifying and
  enjoying God
• The highest purpose any person can have
• The perspective of a true worshiper!

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What is glory?

• English - glory something that is worthy of
  praise or exaltation brilliance beauty
  renown.
• Hebrew kabod heavy in weight
• The verb comes to mean, give weight to, honor
• To give glory is to praise, to recognize the
  importance of another, the weight the other
  carries
• Greek doksos opinion, conjecture,
  expectation, and then praise
• The New Testament limits the meaning to Gods
  glory
• dokeo to be accounted pleasing, to be of
  reputation, to seem good

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Gods Glory - Two Aspects

• His inherent glory
• God is the only being in all of existence who can
  be said to possess inherent glory
• No one can give it to Him it already completely
  belongs to Him by virtue of who He is
• If no one ever gave God praise, He would still be
  the glorious God that He is, because He was fully
  glorious before He created any other beings to
  worship Him

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Gods Glory - Two Aspects

• His inherent glory
• His ascribed glory
• Psalm 2912 Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of
  the mighty, ascribe to the Lord glory and
  strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to
  His name worship the Lord in holy array
• ascribe to assign, to attribute
• We cannot give God glory in the sense of adding
  to His glory, any more than we can add to His
  strength
• We are to recognize, to assign, to attribute, and
  acclaim the glory God already has and to worship
  Him because of it

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Exodus 3318 348

• 18 And he said, Please, show me Your glory.
• 19 Then He said, I will make all My goodness
  pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of
  the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I
  will be gracious, and I will have compassion on
  whom I will have compassion.
• 20 But He said, You cannot see My face for
  no man shall see Me, and live.
• 21 And the LORD said, Here is a place by Me,
  and you shall stand on the rock.
• 22 So it shall be, while My glory passes by,
  that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and
  will cover you with My hand while I pass by.
• 23 Then I will take away My hand, and you
  shall see My back but My face shall not be seen.

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Exodus 345-8

• 5 Now the LORD descended in the cloud and
  stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of
  the LORD.
• 6 And the LORD passed before him and
  proclaimed, The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and
  gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in
  goodness and truth,
• 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving
  iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means
  clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the
  fathers upon the children and the childrens
  children to the third and the fourth generation.
  
• 8 So Moses made haste and bowed his head
  toward the earth, and worshiped.

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Definition

• Gods Glory a visible manifestation of His
  attributes!
• When you see Gods attributes, it glorifies Him
  and we immediately fall down and worship Him!
• The proper response to the Glory of God is
  worship and praise!

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Gods Goal Is His Glory

• This is easily misunderstood!
• The purpose is divine love, not of divine egoism
• God does want to be praised for His
  praiseworthiness and exalted for His greatness
  and goodness
• But God also wants to be appreciated for what He
  is

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Two Staged Relationship

• First - acts of revelation
• He freely shows His glory to men and angels
• Only men and angels can praise God!
• God then expects a response of adoration
• Our part is to give Him glory out of gratitude
  for what we have seen and received
• Seeing glory in God and giving glory to God is
  the true fulfillment of who we are as human
  beings!
• This and only this brings supreme joy to man just
  as it does to God!

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Giving Glory to God

• What you do, why you do it and how you do it all
  have the potential of giving glory to God!
• A person either lives a life that honors God or
  that dishonors Him
• Sin of any sort takes glory from God
• But God is especially dishonored when His own
  people sin
• Because He has especially honored us by His
  forgiving grace
• When He is forced to chastise us, He is further
  dishonored by unbelievers, who say that He does
  not even take care of His own people

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Giving Glory to God

• God is especially honored and glorified when His
  people are faithful and obedient
• Our loving obedience reflects to His honor
• When we resist sin and turn away from sin and
  forsake sin we glorify our heavenly Father
• When we willingly use our lives for His sake, we
  glorify Him still more
• How can we fulfill the commandment in 1
  Corinthians 1031?
• Examine Our Motives
• Examine Our Methods
• Examine Our Goals

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Our Motive for Serving

• The glory of God is what salvation and ministry
  are all about
• He saved us to the praise of the glory of His
  grace Ephesians 16, 12, 14
• He commands us, Whatever you do, do all to the
  glory of God - 1 Corinthians 1031

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Our Motive for Serving

• If our motive for serving is anything other than
  the glory of God, what we do will be only
  religious activity
• We may help people in one way or another, but God
  will not be able to bless as He wants to do
• A counterfeit bill can do a lot of good as it
  passes from hand to hand but when it gets to the
  bank the final place of judgment it will be
  rejected
• 1 Corinthians 45 - Therefore judge
  nothing before the time, until the Lord comes,
  who will both bring to light the hidden things of
  darkness and reveal the counsels motives of the
  hearts. Then each ones praise will come from God

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Our Motive for Serving

• How do we know when what were doing is really
  glorifying God?
• We cant explain whats happening, and often
  nobody expected it to happen
• Bob Cook If you can explain whats going on,
  God didnt do it!
• D. L. Moody was preaching in Birmingham, England,
  in 1875
• Dr. R. W Dale, after listening to Moody preach
  and seeing the blessings, wrote in his
  denominations magazine I told Mr. Moody that
  the work was most plainly of God, for I could see
  no real relation between him and what he had
  done. He laughed cheerily, and said he should be
  very sorry if it were otherwise.

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Our Motive for Serving

• How do we know when what were doing is really
  glorifying God?
• We cant explain whats happening, and often
  nobody expected it to happen
• Another evidence that your work is glorifying God
  is that the enemy opposes what youre doing
• 1 Corinthians 169 - For a great and effective
  door has opened to me, and there are many
  adversaries
• Opportunities and adversaries usually go together
• Satan hates it when the Spirit of God is at work
  bringing glory to Jesus Christ

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God Is Glorified

• When people see the Lord and not the servant
• Matthew 516 - Let your light so shine before
  men, that they may see your good works and
  glorify your Father in heaven
• You have to decide whether you will be a servant
  or a celebrity, whether you will magnify Christ
  or promote yourself (Phil. 120-21).
• We dont always understand our own motives
• Some people are involved in ministry only for
  personal gain

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God Is Glorified When

• When people see the Lord and not the servant
• When people see the Master and not the minister
• J. Hudson Taylor when he received a flattering
  introduction - Dear friends, I am the little
  servant of an illustrious Master
• A. W. Tozer All I can say is, dear God,
  forgive him for what he said and forgive me for
  enjoying it so much!

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God Is Glorified When

• When people see the Lord and not the servant
• When people see the Master and not the minister
• When His glory is not shared
• Isaiah 428 - I am the LORD, that is My name
  and My glory I will not give to another
• When you find yourself more concerned about your
  image than your character and your work, you
  have stopped glorifying God

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God Is Glorified When

• When people see the Lord and not the servant
• When people see the Master and not the minister
• When His glory is not shared
• When your service produces fruit
• By this My Father is glorified, said Jesus,
  that you bear much fruit - John 158
• There is a difference between fruit and
  results
• Fruit comes from life
• When the Spirit of life is working through the
  Word of life, the seed planted bears fruit and
  that fruit has in it the seed for more fruit
  (Genesis 111-12)
• Results are counted and soon become silent
  statistics, but living fruit remains and
  continues to multiply to the glory of God (John
  1516)

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Two Opportunities

• The opportunity to glorify God, or the
  opportunity to glorify yourself
• Moses, in Exodus 32, illustrates this truth
• God tested Moses by making him an offer He would
  destroy Israel and create a new and greater
  nation of Moses and his descendants (v. 10)
• But Moses turned it down
• Instead, he pleaded with the Lord to forgive His
  people because Moses great concern was the glory
  of the Lord!

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Two Opportunities

• The people of Israel didnt know the battles
  Moses was fighting for them
• Personal sacrifice is an insignificant thing when
  you live and serve for the glory of God alone
• I have glorified You on the earth. I have
  finished the work which You have given Me to do
  - John 174