God's Glory

Glorifying God is a requirement of the Christian life.

And it’s not just us humans, all of creation is required by design to glorify God.

Psalm 19:1–2 ESV

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.

It’s clear when you go to the Grand Canyon or Glacier National park that the heavens and the works of God’s hands know how to do their job.

But I want us to take a moment and consider if we know how to glorify God.

Do we really know what it means to glorify our creator?

So first what does it mean to glorify?

To answer that question you need to know what glory is.

glory is defined as “high renown or honor”.

Another definition is “magnificence or great beauty”.

Okay so with that in mind think back to nature’s beauty.

We can see how it brings God glory.

The white-capped mountains were not created by human hands. Their creator is God.

And if the mountains are beautiful and worthy of awe - how much more is their creator beautiful and worthy of awe?

The seas are the same way - vast, always moving, unfathomably powerful.

How much more expansive, active, and crushingly strong is the one who defined their boundaries with a word?

Nature glorifies God by showing us a small part of His beauty and power.

The idea of glorifying God is something that all Christians need to be absolutely committed to.

So naturally phrases like “To God be the glory” become part of our daily vernacular.

But you know how if you say a word too many times, it starts to sound like gibberish?

I think sometimes we do that with God’s glory.

We hear sermons and songs and read scripture and books about glory.

If you’re in ministry you might talk about bringing God glory as a strategic goal.

And don’t get me wrong - those are all great things.

But I'm afraid we've grown disconnected from the reality of it.

There’s so much that can be said about how to glorify God, but if we nail the basics we’ll be in good shape.

I think there’s 3 basic things we can do to glorify God.

1 Bear His image

2 Behold His majesty

3 Bring Him glory

Bear His Image

So first we’re to Bear His image

God has designed us to reflect His Glory.

The origin story of man makes this clear when God says

Genesis 1:26 ESV

26 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.”

God made us in His image.

It’s hard to understand because at this point in scripture- the triune God existed only in spirit.

But when God went to make a self-portrait - it looked like us.

I think there’s more to reflecting God’s glory than just existing as an image bearer.

When God saves someone, He gives them a new spirit.

Romans 6 says that the old self is buried with Christ and that person is raised into newness of life.

Reflecting God’s glory means living in a way that is true to the new spirit that Christ has given us.

Reflecting God’s glory means practicing the fruit of the spirit

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control

These are the core attributes of our new spirits.

And when we live them out - we reflect God glory.

If you think that’s too simple of a task, then you might not be doing it right.

Behold His majesty

The second way that we glorify God is by beholding His majesty

When you behold something, you’re looking at it.

Back to the mountains that we were talking about.

When you stand at the foot of them and you gaze up - you are beholding the mountains.

There’s something arresting about them.

You’re still, quiet, and all you can do in that moment is marvel.

That’s beholding.

But it doesn’t quite work the same way if you’re not there - right?

If you see a picture of that mountain range, even if it’s extremely high quality, it’s just not the same.

You have to actively put yourself in front of something in order to truly behold it.

Just like you have to put yourself in front of the mountains to behold them, you have to put yourself in view of God’s glory in order to behold it.

Nature is a great representation of God’s majesty - and being out in it can help us behold Him

But there’s an even truer display of God’s majesty that we have access to.

The Bible.

Some scriptures provide a much straighter path to beholding God’s glory.

It can be difficult to find your way to marveling at God’s majesty from the Sundry laws in Leviticus or the numbering of troops in Chronicles.

I suggest you start with the Psalms.

David was possibly the best beholder of God’s majesty

So read the scripture, and ask God to help you behold His glory.

He wants to help us!

In John 17 Jesus prays to God that we would see His glory.

If you want to know the will of God for your life - I can tell you that part of it is to behold God’s glory.

Bring Him Glory

The last thing we’re going to cover tonight is bringing God Glory.

And I want to draw a distinction between bearing God’s image and bringing God glory.

When you’re seeking to bear his image you’re striving to conform your will to His.

Submitting to the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to change your heart.

Think of it like this - you’re brushing the dirt off of the mirror that is reflecting the new Spirit given to you by Christ.

That’s reflecting God’s glory, bearing His image - pursuing personal holiness.

Bringing God glory is related but different.

When you bring God glory - you’re acting, working, serving.

Bringing Him new glory, adding to His glory through your actions.

When you get baptized as a believer you’re bringing Him glory through your obedience.

You might think my choice of verbs here isn’t the best and that’s fine. You can use your own if you want.

Just remember that bearing His image is glorifying God by looking more like Him.

And bringing God glory is adding to His glory through the expending of your energy.

Okay so let’s get specific with bringing Him glory

I think there are 2 broad categories of bringing Him glory

The first category of bringing Him glory is through our use of the natural world.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:31 “31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

While there are certainly specific things that we can do to bring God glory, Paul is charging us to continue doing the same things that we do - but with a focus on God.

Eating, drinking, whatever you do - Paul isn’t prescribing a ritual

And there’s no requirement to make a radical life shift - simply orient your life to bring Him glory.

The taste of our favorite meal is a call to worship God.

The laughter of a friend or spouse, softness of a pillow, even air conditioning - all of them gifts meant to lead us to worship God.

Our use of the natural world should be an invitation to worship God.

Everything we enjoy in this life is an invitation to magnify God.

The second category of bringing Him glory is our service to Him

Peter speaks about using our gifts and abilities to God’s glory:

1 Peter 4:11 ESV

11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Peter lays out our goal - we should live our lives so that in EVERYTHING God may be glorified!

Our work is not done chiefly to earn money for us to buy stuff.

Our work is a mission field and it’s a method to make money to bless others

Our free time is not spent with pleasing ourselves as the goal.

Just like our money - our time is the Lord’s and should be used in ways that make him look great!

Our relationships should not be wound around the axle of how that person makes us feel.

We should seek to develop relationships that show God’s love and thereby glorify Him.

Everything is done to magnify God and bring Him glory.

If you find yourself unable to find a straight-line connection between what you’re doing and how it glorifies God, take a second look at whether you should be doing it.

We show God to be valuable by choosing to use our resources only in ways that bring Him glory.

Don’t waste your life pleasing yourself or thinking of yourself.

Seek to bear God’s image in a fuller sense.

Behold His majesty.

Live to bring God glory.

So as we consider our own lives I have an optional homework assignment.

Write a Psalm glorifying God. You don’t have to share it with anyone. You can call it a poem if the word Psalm makes you squeamish.

I’m hoping that reading the Psalms as reference material and then coming up with our own Psalm will give us some practice pondering who God is and adding to His glory.

For now i have three questions that are on the table - you can answer them if you like.

Discussion Questions

How are you reflecting God's glory? (conforming your heart to be in line with Christ’s)

How are you beholding God's glory? (scripture, nature, children)

How are you adding to God's glory? (marriage, work, relationships, giving, serving)