Title: Embrace Glorifying God
When we’re confused about the purpose of things in our world, life gets confusing.
When we’re confused about OUR purpose, life gets really frustrating.
When the whole world is confused about the purpose of everything that exists, the world becomes chaotic.
What if you were to go to Home Depot and see a lawnmower, and say, “I could use one of those!”
So, you bring it home and hook it up to the back of your boat.
You give it a couple of cranks, and you’re satisfied with your mounting job.
But after you lower your boat into the water, the dumb thing won’t start!
So, you take it back, and a distracted clerk lets you exchange it.
But the second one has the same problem.
What do you do?
You either keep buying them and ruining them because you think their a boat motor,
Or you fire off a few heated letters to Briggs and Stratton complaining about their terrible product.
This ridiculous scenario represents how life can be when we don’t treat other people and stuff in our life with the purpose they were made for.
Too often, we treat people in this world treat others like they were made for our purposes.
And this world is filled with people that will ruin one person after another like that mower being treated like a boat engine.
This morning, we’re going to get into how EVERYTHING was made to glorify God – not to just be used for our purpose.
Let’s imagine another scenario
Your AC goes on the fritz.
Instead of calling Evan over at Haybush, you decide just need a window fan.
So you go on Facebook marketplace, and you see someone selling what they say is a window fan.
It sure looks like a lawn mower, but you’re willing to give it a try.
You’ve certainly never seen a gas powered fan.
And you’re not sure why it needs a sharp blade, 4 wheels and a big handle.
But the seller says it’s a window fan.
You bring it home, somehow install it, and you crank it up.
After a day, you message the seller, complaining about the noise and the smell.
And you could swear that it’s making your house hotter rather than cooler.
He assures you that you just have it installed wrong but to keep trying.
After a few weeks, you’ve hit your max.
Your sick from the exhaust and missing half your fingers.
This is obviously a ridiculous example.
But how many people allow destructive people or habits into their lives because they’re giving them a purpose that they were never made to have?
I truly believe that the foundational issue comes down to a misunderstanding or a forgetting of the purpose that everyone was created for.
How often do people settle for being a doormat or for a mediocre existence because we don’t understand that we’re meant to glorify God and others in our lives are meant to glorify God as well?
This morning, I hope that we can learn or remember that we MUST - Embrace Glorifying God
I’m intentionally that we will EMBRACE the glorification of God as the purpose of EVERYTHING.
I say “embrace” because there are plenty of beings that recognize this fact but hate it.
The Bible tells us that the demons believe and even shudder at God’s truth.
My hope is that we will embrace glorifying God first because it’s what He deserves
to be loved our whole selves.
I also hope that we will be embrace glorifying God, because we will find our greatest joy from doing so.
Both of these ideas are wrapped up in the statement “
“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”
So, your purpose and my purpose is to embrace glorifying God by finding our JOY in glorifying God.
So, first, let’s lay the foundation, and let me challenge you to -
EMBRACE GLORIFYING GOD AS THE PURPOSE OF EVERYTHING.
God didn’t create the Universe because He was bored.
God didn’t create mankind because He was lonely.
God created all that we know to glorify Himself.
To glorify God means to recognize the glory that He deserves and to live for His glory
What is “glory”?
The Hebrew term for "glory" is chabod, which basically means "to be heavy, weighty."
Before some of you guys over at you wife and say, “I’m just becoming more glorious,” let me explain.
The weight that’s described by this word means someone of significance.
It’s reserved for one who’s significant, honorable, impressive, and worthy of respect
There is no one more significant, honorable, and impressive than God.
Therefore, God is worthy of all the respect that His significance calls for.
And the scriptures tells us much about His glory.
In Isaiah’s vision of heaven, he sees God’s throne room and the angels calling out -
* Isaiah 6:3 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
God’s creation is as full of His glory as it is of the life that He gave to it.
And, God’s creation reflects His glory, as we’re told in -
* Psalm 19:1–2 1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
No one can claim they didn’t know that God should be glorified because our world proclaims it.
Psalm 72:19 points to what should be our chief desire for this world.
* Psalm 72:19 19 Blessed be his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen!
The purpose of everything in the whole earth is to glorify God.
And the purpose of mankind is to shine His glory as those made in His image.
What’s the purpose of your heart? – to pump your blood.
What’s the purpose of your lungs? – to oxygenate your blood.
What’s the purpose of your kidneys? – to clean your blood.
What’s the singular & final purpose of all of these organs? – to keep you alive and thriving.
No matter what you think your purpose is, your ultimate purpose is to intentionally glorify God.
How much has the glorifying God been on your mind lately?
Do you ask Him how you could best glorify Him?
If you were stopped on the street and asked, “What would you say is the purpose of your life?” what would your typical answer be?
What experience would make you say, “THIS is the life!”
Is this experience glorifying to God, or how can it glorify Him?
These are they types of questions that I hope to get you to be thinking about.
This first point might not be what you expect from God. So I hope to get you to also -
EMBRACE GLORIFYING GOD AS HIS RIGHTFUL EXPECTATION.
You might not expect God to be about His glory.
But He expects us to be about His glory.
What I mean by “rightful” is that not just that He’s owed it – He is.
I mean that it’s right for Him to expect it.
It’s right for Him to pursue it.
So, it’s best to get with the program – and that’s where great JOY is found as well.
What else are you going to do – tell God how you think He should be?
You’d basically be declaring yourself to be god over God
Psalm 96:8 doesn’t just tell us about God’s glory, it calls us to give Him glory.
* Psalm 96:8 8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name
In Isaiah 42, God takes off the gloves and tells it straight – He notices when we don’t glorify Him.
* Isaiah 42:5, 8 5 Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it… 8 I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.
God is jealous for His glory in the best way because He deserves to expect what He created to be about the purpose that He created it for.
In Isaiah 48:11, God explains whay He does what He does.
* Isaiah 48:11 11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.
This verse is explaining why God continued to redeem and discipline His covenant people for their idolatry.
And His reason applies as the reason for why He does everything – For His glory, For His name’s sake
You know, when it’s someone’s Special Day – Birthday, Mother’s Day, etc. we’re good making that day about them.
But when we say that someone thinks LIFE or “the world is all about them” we talking about it as if it’s not a good thing.
So, how is it RIGHT for God to be all about glorifying Himself?
In other words, how can God be righteous and also be focused and dedicated solely to His own glory.
God isn’t an idolator. He has no other God’s before Himself.
And this is good because God is righteous
This means God is rightly aligned with what is right because He is the source of righteousness.
The most righteous thing is for God to get His way because He is the perfect standard of what is right.
God getting His way means that He does what He chooses to do.
No one wants to live in a world where someone else gets their way all the time.
Do want to live in a home where one person seems like there always getting their way?
You wouldn’t’ want to go to church here if I was getting my way all the time.
Would you want to live in a universe were ANYBODY but God gets their WAY?
God is perfectly righteous, therefore what He decides and does is right.
And because God is righteous, He’s always going to default to His perfection to be glorified.
When I talk about God being the source and standard of righteousness, it’s like a level.
You can think that something is perfectly horizontal or plumb.
But you can really tell if it is once you hold the level up to it.
Like a level, God is the ultimate authority of what is righteous.
He’s the ultimate standard of all good things.
· Beauty
· Justice
· Love
· Creativity
· Power
How does it sit with you that it’s right for God to expect and pursue His glory in EVERYTHING?
When thinking about your life right now, what comes to your mind as something that is not glorifying God?
So, lastly, let’s touch on how we must -
EMBRACE GLORIFYING GOD AS THE PURPOSE OF THE GOSPEL.
From the very first days of creation, mankind fell into the temptation that we could actually be like God ourselves and decide things for ourselves.
Essentially, sin represents the fact that -
The Gospel - Mankind refused to glorify God.
I’m going to share insights into these ideas mainly from Romans.
Romans 1:18-23 makes clear how God feels about His glory going to other beings.
* Romans 1:18–23 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 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. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Notice, that idolatry is essentially the failure to give God the glory He deserves because we’ve given it to something else.
And the image that we most often worship is the one we find in the mirror.
Further, we see in Romans 3:23 that -
The Gospel - “Failing to glorify God” is what makes us sinners.
* Romans 3:23 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Essentially, we’re told here that the main evidence of our sinful hearts is our failure to glorify God.
And our sinful hearts continue to glorify other things instead.
We’ll talk next week about how we can seek to grow in glorifying God more and more.
So, by His gracious plan and divine work, God’s Word tells us that -
The Gospel - God is glorified by redeeming people who will glorify Him for eternity.
* Romans 5:8–11 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
* Romans 6:23 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
These are helpful verses that summarize the gospel of God’s grace for sinners to be saved through Christ.
And as a culmination of all His explanation of the gospel, Paul exclaims in –
* Romans 11:33–36 33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
The sum purpose of God’s redemptive work throughout the centuries is To him be glory forever.
Lastly, Embrace Glorifying God as the Purpose of the Gospel helps us to see that -
The Gospel - Present suffering can’t compare to glorifying God for all eternity.
* Romans 8:18 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Every pain and heartache that we go through in this life has the purpose of glorifying God.
And life is full of them.
I wish it wasn’t.
But I certainly don’t wish for going through them without a relationship with God.
And we should look forward to seeing the purpose of sufferings in the end and seeing how they pail in comparison to God’s presence.
And, if you know Christ, they won’t seem like anything when you’re finally behold God’s glory.
How could your approach to present frustrations, sufferings, or troubled relationships be changed by knowing that even our suffering takes place for God’s glory?
So, We were created to reflect the image of God to the rest of His creation.
We were meant to glorify God with the lives that we live.
And the gospel isn’t just about redeeming people.
It’s primarily about God proclaiming His glory on the earth through redeeming people.
Think of God’s original creation of sinless mankind as being like a masterpiece painting.
Just about everyone is familiar with the iconic painting, American Gothic by Grant Wood
You might know it as the farmer and wife with the pitchfork.
One thing’s for certain, is that there’s been a lot of editions that people have made to it.
They’ve added everything from hand gestures to a Big Mac to Bernie Sanders.
None of these folk would walk into the Royal Academy of the Arts in London and say,
“I’ve improved on that painting you got there. How ‘bout you hang mine in it’s place?
This is like what mankind has done by taking over the purpose for which God made us.
We make our own additions and then put our signature over His.
But, God’s redemption means that He takes His image that we’ve marred, and He fixes it.
He glorifies Himself by repairing His masterpiece, painting back over it with the blood of His Son.
It’s not what He originally intended, but somehow it’s better and was all a part of His original plan.
His original plan wasn’t to have a perfect people for Himself but a people redeemed by the sacrifice of Himself
How do these truths change your understanding of the purpose of the gospel?
Does it humble you to know that you were created for God’s glory?
If you know Christ as your Savior, is it doubly humbling to know that you were redeemed for God’s glory.
Next week, we’ll examine how we can live for God’s glory in our everyday life.
Let me close this morning quoting an excellent article by Mark Ballenger.
If you were to get down to the nitty-gritty motivations behind all that God does, I believe you would discover God does everything ultimately for himself, for his glory.
I know it seems counterintuitive when talking about a loving God who died in the place of all sinners,
but the Bible makes it very clear that all God does he ultimately does for his own glory.
God created everything through himself and for himself (Colossians 1:16).
He created the world to declare his glory (Psalm 19:1-4).
He formed and made man with the same intent (Isaiah 43:7).
He condemns all who dishonor his name (Exodus 20:7),
but he also rescues man to bring honor to his name (Jeremiah 14:7, Psalm 25:11).
He rescued the Israelites for the sake of his name so he would not be profaned among the nations (Ezekiel
He parted the waters for them to gain for himself everlasting renown (Isaiah 63:12-14, Psalm 106:8).
He placed Pharaoh in leadership to create for himself the opportunity to display his power and so his name would be proclaimed in all the earth (Exodus 9:16).
He makes a new covenant with his people, promising them a new heart and spirit, not for their sake but for the sake of his holy name (Ezekiel 36:22-32).
He guides us in paths of righteousness for his name sake (Psalm 23:3, Psalm 31:3).
He delays his wrath for his own name’s sake and for the sake of his praise, and he will not yield his glory to another (Isaiah 48:9-11).
For the sake of his righteousness he made his law great and glorious (Isaiah 42:21).
He has exalted his name and his word above all things for his praise (Psalm 138:1-2).
He blesses people so his ways and saving power may be known among all nations so all nations will praise him (Psalm 67:1-7).
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