A Dramatic Conclusion

Reformation Sunday

Today is Reformation Sunday. This church recognizes this day as special on the calendar. On October 31, 1517 an Augustinian monk by the name of Martin Luther, took matters into his own hands, being unhappy at the direction of the church at the time, nailed 95 protests upon the church doors in Wittenberg, Germany.

From the Reformation came a refocusing on what the Bible teaches. Specifically, five solas emerged.

The term sola comes from the Latin that means alone. When we use them in this context we are talking about valuable truths which stand alone, apart from any ill treatment. These are oftentimes looked at as pillars upon which the Reformed church stands. They are the following:

Sola Scriptura: Scripture alone is the authority in the Christian’s life. Not the pope or church law. The Bible, plain and simple.

Sola Gratia: It is God’s grace alone that can save a person and bring him or her into a right relationship with God.

Sola fide: It is by faith alone that a person receives God’s grace. Not through works or good deeds. We are justified by faith alone. Good works follow faith.

Solus Christus: And such faith is in Christ alone. He is the object of our faith. No pope. No church. No other individual. No intermediary.

And finally, Soli Deo Gloria or To God Alone Be the Glory. This teaches that God does not exist for our desires and agendas. He is the uncaused cause, the one who exists for Himself.

He is worthy of our worship. We exist for Him, He does not exist for us. The Westminster Shorter Catechism teaches, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” (The Westminster Shorter Catechism in Modern English, trans. Douglas Kelly and Philip Rollinson, Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1986, 5).

Stephen Nichols of Ligonier Ministries, writes of the solas:

“These doctrines encompass the richness of Reformation theology and its legacy to the church. They signal a return to the primacy of Scripture and its teaching concerning God, humanity, and salvation. And, they continue to be the hallmark of Protestant theology, expressing the heart of an orthodox theology.” (Stephen Nichols, Martin Luther: A Guided Tour of His Life and Thought. Found at http://www.antithesis.org.

The Lord’s Prayer teaches about the supremacy of God’s glory.

Interesting that we address God’s glory today, as we conclude our study of the Lord’s Prayer. The conclusion of this statement of devotion is challenging, for it is present in the older versions like the King James, but not in the ESV. Why is that?

It is true that the conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer does not occur in the earliest manuscripts of the Gospel of Matthew. Nor does the conclusion appear in Luke’s abbreviated version of the Lord’s Prayer in Luke 11.

Donald Carson states:

“The doxology- ‘for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen’ -is found in various forms in many (manuscripts) The diversity of what parts are attested is itself suspicious and the (manuscript) evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of omission-

The doxology itself is theologically profound and contextually suitable and was no doubt judged especially suitable by those who saw in the last three petitions a veiled allusion to the Trinity.” (D.A. Carson, “Matthew,” Expositor’s Bible Commentary, 174).

And while it is true that this ending does not occur in the updated translations of the Bible, we can know that the church added the statement and its theology is appropriate. And so we say it. It is an attitude of prayer that emits from every line.

It is a statement of voluntary submission to the complete sovereign rule of God. And that is the responsibility of every Christian- to bow to God’s authority. His way is best and we dare not challenge it.

Psalm 115:3 ESV

3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

Now hopefully everyone here believes this. And it is safe to say that the church has always believed this. Even the Old Testament saints believed this. For instance, 1 Chronicles 29, King David collects an offering for the building of the temple, which his son Solomon would complete. David prayed in 1 Chronicles 29.10-11

1 Chronicles 29:10–11 ESV

10 Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: “Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. 11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.

Sounds a lot like the conclusion to the Lord’s Prayer, no? “Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.”

But there was a man that had to learn the hard way, that the Lord was in charge. His name? Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. We see in him a case study and turn to the Old Testament book of Daniel, chapter four. It is some 550 years before Christ. And the people of Judah are in exile in the kingdom of Babylon and under Nebuchadnezzar’s rule.

Nebuchadnezzar was thought to have been the most powerful king of his time. When Saddam Hussein was killing many of his own countrymen and exercising dominance over the Kurdish people, he proclaimed that he wanted Iraq to return to the glorious days of Nebuchadnezzar. Well, it did not work out so well for President Hussein. Nor did it work out so well for Nebuchadnezzar.

In Daniel 4:30, we read how he was walking on the roof of the royal palace and filled with arrogance and pride, said:

Daniel 4:30 (ESV)

30 “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”

And almost immediately, he heard a voice from heaven that said: Daniel 4:31-32

Daniel 4:31–32 (ESV)

“O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, 32 and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.”

God has the last say. His is the “Kingdom and the Power and the Glory, Forever.” We read in Daniel 4:34:

Daniel 4:34–37 ESV

34 At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; 35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” 36 At the same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and splendor returned to me. My counselors and my lords sought me, and I was established in my kingdom, and still more greatness was added to me. 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

When humans put themselves above God, the clock starts ticking. He will not share his glory with another.

Nebuchadnezzar was spared. Maybe even converted. But for another, it did not end as well.

Acts 12:21-24 records something similar that happened to Herod Agrippa, who was persecuting the church. He had James the brother of John put to death and Peter imprisoned, fully intending to have the latter executed too.

Acts 12:21–24 ESV

21 On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. 22 And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” 23 Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last. 24 But the word of God increased and multiplied.

Worship involves giving God the glory.

Other places in Scripture where God is given the glory as a act of willing worship is found throughout the Apostle Paul’s writings. For instance, we are to let the glory of God be our motivation for everything we do. 1 Corinthians 10:31

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

And after explaining God’s great plan of salvation, even without the cooperation of the Jews or the Gentiles, Paul says in Romans 11:34-36

Romans 11:34–36 ESV

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.

And as a reminder that he was working through both Jews and Gentiles to bring the world under the Lordship of Christ, Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:20-21

Ephesians 3:20–21 ESV

20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Some might ask: Aren’t you making God out to be arrogant, if everything is done for His glory? To that, I would say, no. And here’s my reason:

If God really be everything the Bible teaches Him to be: infinitely sinless, infinitely compassionate, infinitely righteous, infinitely omnipotent, infinitely omniscient, infinitely omnipresent, then it would be sin not to glorify Him as such. To avoid glory to the One who defines everything good and pure, makes us to be infinitely wrong.

But this is not the end of the prayer. We must not forget the little word, “Amen.” It is the Greek “A-main” It means, “True,” or “Truly.” When you read that Jesus often said in the gospels, “Truly, truly, I say to you… .” He is saying, “Amen, Amen.” For instance, John 10:1

John 10:1 ESV

1 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.

One commentator states:

“This response considered by the ancient Jews of the highest authority and merit. The repetition of this word among the Jewish writers thought to be of equal import with the most solemn oath...” (Adam Clarke, The Holy Bible with a Commentary and Critical Notes, New Edition., vol. 5 (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife Corporation, 2014), xxvi.)

Giving glory to God is your calling.

From July 26 to August 7, 1971, the eyes of millions of Americans were on the Apollo 15 moon mission. You may remember the astronauts David R. Scott and James B. Irwin, who landed on the moon and spent eighteen of their sixty-six hours there outside the spacecraft. They covered over seventeen miles of the surface in a specialized vehicle people dubbed the “moon buggy.”

Upon returning to earth, James Irwin, a professed Christian believer, declared, “As I was returning, I realized that I am not a celebrity but a servant. So I am here as God’s servant on Planet Earth to share what I have experienced, that others may know the glory of God.”