Soli Deo Gloria

Introduction

Well, good morning!

If you have your Bibles, and I hope that you do, keep ‘em open with me to Philippians chapter 2…we’ll get to that in just a moment. But of course, before we do that, let’s recite our church memory verse together. If you’re visiting with us, we’re working to memorize Acts chapter 2, verses 42 through 47 this year. And so far, we’ve just been working on the first two verses.

Starting in a couple weeks, we’ll add in another verse…but if you’re ready, I’ll get us started, you finish us up…verses 42 and 43.

Acts 2:42–43 (ESV)

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

[Prayer]

Alrighty…well this morning we’ll be finishing up our sermon series on the five solas. And listen, I’ve really enjoyed walking through each of these with you guys. It’s just a great reminder of what’s important…what truths are essential to our faith. And I hope you’ve gotten something from each of these sermons…I hope you see just how important they are to your walk and to our church as we continue, together, to advance God’s kingdom here in Cambridge and around the world.

If you’ve been with us over the past five weeks, we started this series off by looking at the first solas, Scripture alone…which of course emphasizes the Word of God. That’s our foundation…that’s where we place our authority and sufficiency…because as we learned, the Scriptures are God’s inspired words to us. They’re inerrant, infallible…they’re without error and they all help us grow closer to the person of Jesus.

And then, we moved into grace and faith alone…we have salvation today because of God’s love for us…and we’ve been given the gift of faith because of God’s grace. Salvation’s not something we can provide ourselves…its not something we deserve…its all because of grace and faith.

And then last week, we looked at the most important solas…Christ alone. It’s the one that holds all the rest up. Christ is the reason for grace and faith…and all of God’s Word, it points to Christ. And listen, because of Christ, as we’ll learn today, God alone, He’s glorified. That was the purpose of the person and work of Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria (So-lay Day-o Gloria)…or God’s Glory alone…that’s the last and final solas. It’s the reason for everything else we’ve talked about. The purpose for all things, its to bring glory to God alone. While Christ is the glue that holds all the rest together, this solas…the glory of God…its the purpose for all the rest.

Listen, when it came to the Reformation, this solas, it seemed to be the chief point of debate between the Protestants and the Catholics. It came down to religious authority and the doctrine of salvation, which of course was the primary discussion in each of the other solas. But you have to understand that in these debates, the Catholics didn’t necessarily dismiss the Scriptures, or grace, or faith, or Christ…it was just always things added to those doctrines. It was the Scriptures plus tradition…it was grace plus merits…it was faith plus works or sacraments…it was Christ plus the Pope and all the Saints.Essentially what the Catholics were doing, it was removing glory from God and it was spreading the wealth. It was placing glory on man.

Listen, the reason this solas is so important, it’s because it grounds all the others…it guides our beliefs and our theological convictions. Soli Deo Gloria, it protects the glory of God against human conceit.

Guys, in going through Genesis last year, the root of sin…its pride, right? But if you dig deeper into that, its because we all have this universal desire to be like God. We want control. And what this solas is teaching, its that every bit of glory, it all belongs to God. And listen, if we make this solas one of our foundational pillars…no matter what other doctrines we hold to, it’ll prevent us from robbing God of His glory. It’s one of the reasons I’m so adamant about things like perseverance of the saints…why I believe its so crucial for us to hold to…because its all about the glory of God. If you hold any doctrinal view that removes glory from God, here’s the reality…its just plain wrong. And listen, that’s what this solas is all about. I like to call it the guiding solas…we use this solas as our guardrails. As we dig into the Bible…as we grow in our knowledge of God, we should constantly be asking ourselves, “Does our view or does our doctrinal stance, does it promote God’s glory? Or does it take glory away from God?” This solas, its the litmus test, so to speak, to determine if our theology’s correct.

But listen, before we can jump into our passage this morning and discuss this solas of God’s glory alone…I think it’s also important to define God’s glory.

Honestly, that’s a sermon in itself because the phrase to describe God’s “glory,” there’s more than a dozen Hebrew words used in the Old Testament for that word. In English, we have one…which of course is “glory.” But in the Hebrew this word it has a range of implications…it means “splendor, brightness, dignity”…it means “beauty, excellence, abundance”…it can mean “worth, honor, importance, acclaim.” The concept of “glory” it’s complex. In the New Testament, it summarizes all these qualities into a single word that means “the worth or value of God.”

And so, in summary, the glory of God, its the radiance of His manifold perfections. It’s the sum of all that He is. It’s the character of God which separates Him from everything else. And God, He’s most glorified when we’re most satisfied in Him (John Piper said that)…but its when we’re satisfied in who He is. It’s when we’re leaning on Him and His attributes…it’s when we’re depending on His perfection…that’s giving God the glory He deserves. It’s giving God all the credit and all the ownership as you recognize His worth and His value.

And so, to help us examine this final solas…we’re gonna be walking through a passage in Philippians chapter 2. We’ve actually looked at this passage before…but if you’re talking notes, I have three points for us this morning. Number 1, we must be reminded that the cross was for God’s glory…number 2, we must be reminded that all will profess God’s glory…and then finally, number 3, we must be reminded that we are to live for God’s glory.

And so, with that, let’s jump into this first point.

I. We Must Be Reminded that the Cross was for God’s Glory (vv. 6-8)

We must be reminded that the cross was for God’s glory.

Now, we’re gonna come back to verse 5 and look at what Paul said and what he meant after we’ve looked at the rest of the passage…but if you’re there with me, look at verse 6 again. Paul writes, “6 though [Jesus] was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

If you remember, we briefly discussed this verse last week when we were going through Colossians chapter 1…and we looked at that word “form” or the Greek word “morphe” that’s used there. Which of course, if you remember, that word, it means internal consistency. It’s nothing like the English word “form.” It’s not a shape or image of something…it’s the internal form of something…it has the same internal consistency of whatever its comparing itself to. Meaning, Jesus, as we discussed last week, He’s God. That’s why Paul says, “Jesus didn’t count His equality with God a thing to be grasped or exploited,” right? So again…Jesus, in every way, He is God…He doesn’t just look like God…His very nature, His makeup, it’s the same as God. He shares all of God’s attributes, His power, His authority…everything.

And then of course, it says that Jesus, being God, He emptied Himself, by taking on the form of a servant…which Paul says, means He was born in the likeness of men. And so, how is it that Jesus, being truly God, became truly man? I love the way Augustine put it. He said, “Christ emptied himself, not by losing what he was, but by taking to him what he was not.” In other words, we could think of it this way. The incarnation wasn’t a subtraction, where Jesus quit being God and became a man. The incarnation was an addition, where the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, took to himself a human nature. He assumed a human nature.

And guys, the reason that’s important for us to understand, its because it reminds us that Jesus is 100% God and He became 100% man…And listen, the center piece of Christianity, as we talked about last week…the center-piece of the solas, is that this God-man, He died a tortured death in our place…and that message, it has massive implications for us today. Your belief or disbelief of that message, it alone determines the rest of eternity for you.

Verse 7, Paul said, “Jesus emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” Verse 8, “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Look at that again…Jesus made Himself nothing and then He took it a step further and He humbled Himself even further. He didn’t just come in the form of any man…He could’ve been a rich man, or a powerful man…no, He came as a servant and then went to a cross to die. The cross was one of the most embarrassing ways to die. He would’ve died naked, exposed. I think especially the emphasis here on “death, even death on a cross,” for those original Philippian readers, citizens of Rome—because they were Roman citizens, they couldn’t have been crucified. This was a death that they couldn’t have experienced. Even Paul himself couldn’t have been crucified, because he was also a Roman citizen. Crucifixion, it was reserved for slaves. Crucifixion was reserved for criminals. It was reserved for the scum of the earth. Only the worst sorts of people could’ve been crucified on a cross, and yet Jesus, He descended all the way there, so that He was treated like the scum of the earth, He was treated like a criminal as He was nailed to that tree, becoming disfigured before the eyes of his disciples, before the eyes of the world.

Just reflect for a moment on the beauty of this and the mystery of this, the mystery of the incarnation, that He who is characterized by eternal glory accepted the obscurity of becoming a man. He stooped from majesty to meekness. He went from power to weakness, from invincible might to suffering and pain. He who was life and light Himself descended into darkness and into death. He did that without ceasing to be God for even one millisecond…and listen, He did that ultimately to reconcile us to Himself, as we discussed last week. He made Himself nothing, He humbled Himself in that nothingness…to the point of death, because that’s what our sin deserved…the punishment, the consequence of our sin, it was death. And listen, the only way to satisfy the price of that sin…the only way to overcome death, it was for God Himself, to become man and pay that price Himself…which He did through Jesus.

But listen, why did He do that? Of course because of His great love for us…but listen, it goes much deeper than that. Last week, we looked at Colossians chapter 1…and in verse 16, Paul makes it pretty clear why He did it. He wrote, “16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and (listen to this) for him.”

Paul says, “All things were created through him and for him.” It’s all for Him! And so why did He come? Why did He stoop so low to reconcile all things back to Himself? Because ultimately it was all created for Him…and listen, we ruined that. We distorted His perfect creation. And in His suffering…through His sacrificial atonement, He was able to restore everything to Himself. Because if everything was created for Him…its means Jesus was the aim of all creation…it all pointed to His glory. Meaning, the cross…while He did it to restore us as well, we fit into that “all things” statement…ultimately He did it for His glory. His sacrifice put things back into a proper balance…meaning that all things point to Him and His glory alone.

While we gain from the cross, we have to be careful not to elevate ourselves over the main reason for the cross…”its was to reconcile all things to Himself, by making peace by the blood his cross (Colossians 1:20).”

The cross, it was meant for God’s glory alone. It was meant to show His worth and His value. It’s all meant for Him.

That’s the first point.

II. We Must Be Reminded that All Will Profess God’s Glory (vv. 9-11)

Which leads straight into the next couple of verses and into the next point…which is we must be reminded that all will profess God’s glory.

And so, if the cross was meant to reconcile all things back to Himself…if it was meant to restore everything He created…it must mean that all things will eventually proclaim His glory again, right?

Look at verse 9 with me again. Paul writes, “9 Therefore (which of course is pointing back to the cross…because Jesus went to the cross) God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name” (You see, Paul’s showing that the cross was all meant for God’s glory because the same God that exalted Jesus is the same God that died for all humanity. We have to remember, God doesn’t share His glory…He’s bestowing it to Himself…that was the purpose of the cross). Paul continues in verse 10, “10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Paul said, “Therefore God has highly exalted him.” And so, as a result of Jesus’s work, the Father has “highly exalted Him.” That phrase “highly exalted,” it means to “super-elevate.” No one else is exalted like this in the rest of Scripture. He’s in a class all by Himself. And listen, that phrase at the end of verse 9, “and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,” it really raises the question of what that name is? Was it Jesus? I don’t know but most commentators actually think Paul’s referring to the name of “Lord” or “Yahweh.” There’s a ton of deep theology here in this passage that really links to Isaiah 42 and 45 but we just don’t have the time to cover it all this morning. But Paul’s referring to the verse where God says, “I am Yahweh, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another,” and “Every knee will bow to Me, every tongue will swear allegiance.” Both of these are found in Isaiah.

And again, the point of all this, its simple…Paul’s pulling from Isaiah to show that only Yahweh can give salvation. That’s the whole point of Isaiah 45…but because Jesus is the incarnate one, because Jesus is the crucified one, because He’s the one that died on the cross…Paul says, God exalted Him and gave Him the name that’s above every name....He’s showing that Jesus Himself is God exalted in the flesh. And listen, He takes it a step further by making all things submit to this One that’s name is above all names. That’s exactly what it means for “every knee to bow,” right? The Son of God is given complete and total authority over all creation because it belonged to Him to begin with (We talked about that last week). But notice the extent of that creation…there’s a universal scope to it, right? Paul says, “every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and [even] under the earth.” You realize what that means? It means every angelic being in heaven, every human being on earth, every demonic creature beneath the earth…every single intelligent being ever created will bow the knee to Jesus, the Lord of all…every knee will bow to Jesus, the humble servant, whom God the Father has exalted…and listen, together, they’ll be glorified…because Jesus and the Father, they’re one.

As things are reconciled to the Creator of the universe, it can’t help but profess the glory of God! And listen, this picture…its a picture of what eternity will be like…there won’t be a sin problem…there won’t be pain or suffering…there won’t be death. We’ll live on a new earth…we’ll perform our work with joy…and we’ll live in a way that professes the goodness and righteous of God…which of course will declare His glory! It’s all because of Him…all things are reconciled because of Him…all things restored…and we’ll declare that message with the rest of creation. That’s the pattern of the gospel…where the humble are exalted…which in this case is supremely Jesus.

And guys, there will come a day where every single person who’s ever existed, who’s ever lived, will bend their knees before the crucified Messiah…the Lord of the world…and guys, they’ll say, “You are Lord.” And listen, it’s our greatest privilege, as people who’ve been brought to faith, it’s our greatest privilege to bend the knee now and say, “Christ is Lord.” And listen, if you don’t do that now, there will come a day when you will. That’s what Paul’s saying here…all of creation will declare the glory of God. Some will enjoy God’s glory and some won’t…but they’ll still declare it.

And so, why was reconciliation so important to God? Again, because all things were created by Him and for Him…and reconciliation, it brings things back into the goodness of God and gives creation the ability to declare the glory of God. All things will profess God’s glory alone in the end.

That’s the second point.

III. We Must Be Reminded that We Are to Live for God’s Glory (v. 5)

The third and final point this morning…we must be reminded that we are to live for God’s glory.

Look at verse 5 with me again. Paul writes, “5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.”

Paul, he’s literally commanding these Philippians here to have the mind of Christ…both in a individual sense and in a corporate sense.

The word “mind” here in the ESV translation, it’s actually a word that’s debated among other translations…some translate it as “have the same attitude” or “have the same frame of mind” as Christ. But listen, regardless…all those words, they’re commanding us to do the same thing which is to follow Jesus’s example…that’s the reason Paul appeals to Jesus’s attitude in the following verses that we just looked at. The point of this verse, it was to give readers a command, an exhortation…and then it was to give them an example of what that command looked like.

This word “mind,” “have this mind,” it’s the verb phroneo (Pro-ne-o). And it’s a word that carries the idea of having a mentality, having an attitude or a mindset, a disposition. It’s a frame of mind, it’s a way of thinking. We might call it the gospel mindset or the gospel way of thinking. Paul’s urging the Philippian church to embrace this mindset.

So we’re to embrace a certain way of thinking as believers. That’s what Paul’s saying. And this way of thinking, it’s kind of the DNA that makes us who we are as believers....it’s the mindset of Christ…the mentality of Christ…That’s the command he gives us, to emulate Jesus…which if you’re paying attention…Paul says, “is ours in Christ Jesus.” Meaning, we can have this mind or this attitude because of the work of Christ in us…because of His Spirit…on our own we can’t. It’s impossible to adopt the same mindset as Christ when when we’re not empowered by the Spirit of Christ because what’s that mindset to begin with? It’s to bring glory to God and God alone, right? Without Christ, we discussed this a couple weeks ago, we’re selfish…we only care about our glory, our desires, our ambitions.

Why did Christ ultimately do the things we just read about? Why did He humble Himself by taking on the form of man? Why did He go to the cross? Why did He willingly die on behalf of man? Well, because ultimately it all brought glory to God.

The purpose in everything Jesus did, it was to bring glory to God. And so, if Paul’s telling us here to adopt the same mindset of Christ, what’s he mean? Well, certainly we should humble ourselves…certainly we should sacrifice our comforts for others…we should absolutely be willing to give it all to see those around come to Christ. But ultimately, why should we do those things? All for the glory of God, right?

We go out and evangelize…we go to foreign nations…we put ourselves in uncomfortable situations…we sacrifice our time, and our money, and our gifting…for what? We do it because, like Jesus, we want to bring glory to God and God alone. Guys, that’s our purpose for being here. That’s our purpose as believers.

That’s the mindset of Christ…that’s His attitude. That’s what Jesus modeled all throughout His earthly life. It reminds me of the accounts just before the crucifixion when He’s praying to the Father and He says in Luke 22:42:

Luke 22:42 (ESV)

“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

Everything Jesus did, it was for the glory of God! Paul says, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.”

Everything we do as believers…everything we do as a church…everything we hold to and believe in…it should be to glorify God alone…and as we said last week, it should be to make much of Christ, who alone, reconciled all things to Himself by “making peace by the blood of His cross.”

Closing

Would you bow your head and close your eyes with me?

Listen, in just a moment, the deacons, they’re gonna come and prepare the Lord’s Supper for us. And listen, as they do that, if you’re a believer here this morning…you’ve turned from yourself and turned to Christ…you’ve placed your trust and faith in Christ…because that’s who the Lord’s Supper’s for…guys, I want you to think about why you’re taking it this morning? Are you doing it just because it’s something we do? Are you doing it because everyone else around you does it?

Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” Meaning, do it because you wanna bring glory to Me…Do it because you wanna remember who I am and what I did…Do it because you want people around you to know what’s most important in your life…Do it because you wanna take this same message of hope and love to those around you…all for the glory of God! We say that a lot…but does everything in your life point to the glory of God alone?

Guys, I saved this solas to go over last because its our purpose in everything we do as believers. Our life, its meant to be an offering…its meant to be a sacrifice…we’re meant to be God’s hands and feet…that’s why we’re called the body of Christ. Everything we do, it’s meant for God’s glory. Is that the way you’ve been living? For God’s glory?

If Jesus were addressing us this morning…we’re about to go through the Book of Revelation in a couple weeks…if Jesus were addressing our church today like He did the seven in that book…would He say we care about His glory alone? Would He say that about you? What about all the things you do through the week? The things that come out of your mouth? Your actions? Listen, whether you realize it or not, they all demonstrate your value of God’s glory.

Have you adopted the same attitude as Christ?

Listen, before we take the Lord’s Supper together this morning, make sure you’ve repented of anything that’s not brought God glory. Ask Him to cleanse you and to fill you with His Spirit this morning. Let’s make sure we take this part of our gathering serious…because again, its meant to bring God glory…and God’s glory, its most important.

But listen, if you’re here today and you don’t know Jesus…you don’t have a relationship with Him. Let me tell you what the Scriptures say about those still separated from Him. It says that in the beginning God created man perfectly, in His image. It says mankind, they were created good…in fact, very good…it says they walked personally with God……but by the third chapter of the Bible, we see that man, they choose to rebel against a good and holy God. And in doing so, they allowed that sin nature to impact the rest of creation…And so, every person born after, was born into sin, with this sinful nature…and every person has chosen, in the same ways, to rebel against God. And for those reasons, because of our disobedience…because we broke the good standard of God…we brought on punishment…which of course is death. Every one of us, we’ll experience death and separation from God because that’s what we chose.

But the good news of the gospel tells us that God loved us so much that He sent His one and only Son, Jesus…who is God Himself…He sent Him to become like us. And He lived a life we couldn’t…sinless…and He went to the cross to take on our death…to wear the weight of our sin…Jesus took our place on the cross…and the Bible says He died there before rising again three days later. And it says that all we have to do to experience eternal life and be redeemed from our own mistakes, its to repent and believe…we just have to turn from ourselves…recognizing who we are…and turn to Jesus…recognizing who He is. And we believe in Jesus…we have faith that He’s everything He proclaimed and that He’ll do everything He promised…when we do that, the Bible says we will be saved and the Holy Spirit will come into us.

And so listen, maybe that’s what you need to do today. Where you’re at…just repent and believe…ask Jesus to forgive you and ask Him to fill you.

And so, listen…our deacons, they’re gonna come and prepare the Lord’s Supper for us this morning…Wendy’s gonna play…you take this time and just respond…I’m here if you need me…but you respond and I’ll close us in just a moment.

[Prayer]

Matthew 26:26 (ESV)

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”

Matthew 26:27–29 (ESV)

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”