To Him Be the Glory
Notes
Transcript
This morning we return once more to the final phrase in the 28th verse of Romans chapter 8, where Paul writes,
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.
Over these last several weeks, we have been moving ever deeper into this final description of the people to whom this great promise belongs, “those who are called according to His purpose.”
We first had to understand what Paul means by this call. We distinguished the outward and indiscriminate general call of the gospel, as distinct from God’s particular and effectual call, by which He opens spiritually blind eyes and brings the sinner willingly and believingly to Christ – both have a place, but they are also different from each other in essential ways. And we learned that what Paul is referring to here is that effectual call.
And then, last time, we began looking beneath even that effectual call to consider the purpose according to which it is given.
The great corrective we need in order for us to properly understand this entire reality is stated very plainly in the text, this is His purpose rather than ours.
God’s saving purpose did not originate in something He discovered within us. It was not formed in response to our works, our wisdom, our willingness, or even our potential, no matter how good we think we are! No, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 1 that God “saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace” – a purpose and grace given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.
And so, if we begin the story of our salvation with the moment when we believed, we have begun the story too late! God’s purpose already existed before we heard the gospel, before we were born, before Adam was formed from the dust, and indeed, before created history itself began.
But we also saw that if we bring the story to an end merely by saying that we have been rescued from hell, if our gospel message ends with escape from punishment alone, we have brought it to an end too soon.
We really have been saved from the condemnation our sins deserve – I am not suggesting in the least that we diminish the magnitude of that deliverance! But it is essential to the full message of the gospel that God did not rescue us merely to leave us bound for a new and more pleasant destination, and He most certainly did not do this so that we could go on our merry old way as we continue living for ourselves without any concern about judgement.
No, He saved us and called us with a holy calling, He made us His workmanship, created anew in Christ Jesus for the good works He prepared beforehand for us to walk in. Not only have we been saved from condemnation, but we have also been called unto God.
But what we need to realize in our hearts is even that holy transformation within us is not the real ultimate point of God’s purpose.
We saw in Colossians 1 that all things were created in Christ, through Christ, and for Christ, “so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.” Paul repeats this theme again in Ephesians 1 where He writes that God’s saving work moves “to the praise of His glory.”
So, last time, we realized that there is both an immediate as well as an ultimate purpose before us, and once again we must use context to help us understand which is being spoken of as the prominent perspective in each portion of Scripture.
In that immediate sense, God saves and calls us so that we would belong to Him and walk in the holiness He has prepared for us.
But in the ultimate sense, even our salvation and transformation serve something greater than ourselves: the preeminence of Christ and the praise of the glory of God.
And it is that final statement which we now need to slow down and consider much more carefully.
Because the expression “for the glory of God” is so familiar to Christians that we tend to say it without really stopping to consider what we truly mean by it; the phrase can become a sort of religious punctuation, something we place at the end of a statement because it sounds true and suitably spiritual, without ever asking what the glory of God actually is, or why everything God purposes should ultimately move toward it.
But, when we do so, we are fairly quickly confronted with some questions we really need to answer, such as
What does it mean to say that God does all things for His own glory?
Does God somehow lack glory and need His creatures to give Him something He does not already possess?
Why would it be holy and righteous for God to make Himself the ultimate end of His works, when it would be proud and sinful for us to make ourselves the center of everything we do?
These are not remote questions for theologians to debate while the rest of us go on with the Christian life, no! They reach directly into how we interpret our salvation, our worship, our suffering, our service, and even the promise before us in Romans 8:28.
Because Paul’s statement is explicit here and heavily layered with meaning when you stop to think about it, and Paul is telling us clearly that all things work together for good for those who are called according to God’s purpose.
If we misunderstand the end toward which God’s purpose moves, then we will also misunderstand the good toward which He is working all things, the good He causes all things to work for in us, we who have been effectually called.
And this matters because we will misunderstand the apparent disparity between the life we hoped to live and the life we actually live in Christ whenever we continue to speak of “God’s purpose” while quietly assuming that we ourselves remain its center.
But we are not the center, that was the point of our look at this last time – God Himself is the center.
And that means God’s purpose cannot finally be understood by beginning with us, or measuring things by us, or even by framing our thinking only in terms of what these things mean for us. Even our salvation, as wondrous and precious as it is, belongs within a purpose far greater than our own rescue, happiness, or comfort.
Please don’t mistake what I am saying here – this doesn’t mean that our salvation is unimportant to God, or that His love for His people is somehow cold or impersonal, either. And it certainly does not mean that something may serve God’s glory while not being truly good for His people, as though God’s glory and our good may be in competition with one another. That is not what I am saying at all!
But it does mean that we cannot make ourselves the final measure of that good.
The question is not merely, “What is God accomplishing in my life?” The deeper and more proper question is, “How does what God is accomplishing in my life and yours belong to His greater purpose of making His glory known?”
Because the purpose according to which we have been called begins in God, it is accomplished by God, and it moves ultimately toward God.
Paul expresses that reality with extraordinary clarity later in this same letter, and I think it is vital for our understanding here that we skip ahead somewhat since we’re so carefully considering what Paul says here in 8:28 about the purpose according to which we are called.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be repaid to him? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
Contextually, Paul has been considering the astonishing wisdom of God’s saving dealings with Israel and the Gentiles – His judgment, His mercy, His promises, and His purposes across the course of redemptive history.
But Paul doesn’t end that consideration by placing either Israel, the Gentiles, or even the saved sinner at the center, no! He ends in wonder before God, exalting and glorifying God.
“For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.”
Everything begins from Him; everything is sustained and accomplished through Him. And absolutely everything moves ultimately to Him.
Much of that confirms truths we have already established. God’s purpose originates in Him, meaning everything is from Him. Its accomplishment rests upon His wisdom and power, meaning everything is through Him.
These are things we’ve been establishing ever since we started looking at Romans 8:28.
But Paul now carries us to the truth we need to consider this morning: everything is also to Him.
God is not only the source from whom His purpose proceeds, He is not only the sovereign power by whom it is accomplished. But He is also the ultimate end toward which everything moves.
And so Paul concludes:
“To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”
That is not merely an expression of religious emotion added to the end of Paul’s argument, no! Rather, it tells us where the entire argument has led. If things are ultimately to God, Paul’s conclusion is fitting in saying all glory must be rendered to God.
But if glory belongs eternally and inseparably to who God is, what can creatures possibly render to Him?
When Scripture speaks about the glory of God, it does not always use the word in exactly the same sense, and we need to be careful about how we think about it because we can easily get off-track.
God’s glory is not some possession He has acquired or something He carries which could conceivably be taken away from Him. God does not merely have glory in the same way that we might possess honor, riches, authority, or reputation.
These sorts of things can be taken away from us. God, on the other hand, is glorious.
His glory belongs necessarily and eternally to who He is. It is the infinite weight and worth, the majesty and beauty, the excellence and splendor of His very being. It is the radiant fullness of all His perfections.
Scripture speaks of God’s glory as belonging essentially and eternally to who He is. In Acts 7, Stephen calls Him “the God of glory.” In John 17, the Son speaks of the glory He shared with the Father “before the world was” – in other words, before there was any creature to behold, acknowledge, or praise Him. Or consider Isaiah 42, in which Yahweh joins His glory to the uniqueness of His own name and being: “I am Yahweh, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another.”
God’s glory, then, does not originate in the response of His creatures. It belongs eternally and inseparably to who He is; His glory can no more be separated from Him than His holiness, wisdom, power, goodness, or righteousness can be separated from Him. The glory essential to God’s being cannot be increased, it cannot be diminished, it cannot be surrendered or taken away. God has never been less glorious than He is now, and He will never become more glorious than He has eternally been.
And yet, Scripture repeatedly calls upon His creations to render glory to Him. In Psalm 96, the families of the peoples are commanded, “Ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength. Ascribe to Yahweh the glory of His name.” In Psalm 148, that summons extends across the created order: “Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all stars of light!”
And here in Romans 11, after considering the wisdom of God’s saving purpose, Paul joins that same great chorus by declaring, “To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”
These repeated calls cannot mean that we supply God with something absent from His being. It cannot mean that our worship adds to God’s greatness or that our praise makes Him more glorious than He was before.
Rather, Scripture speaks both of the glory that belongs essentially and eternally to God, and of that same glory being made known, seen, acknowledged, declared, reflected, and praised by His creatures.
We do not create God’s glory, but we behold it.
We do not increase His glory, but we acknowledge it.
In other words, we’re not supplying God with something He lacks. We render to Him the worship and praise that correspond to who He eternally is.
When Paul says, “To Him be the glory forever,” he is calling for the response that is fitting to reality: because all things are from God, through God, and to God, God alone must be recognized and praised as the glorious One.
And so, before we can understand why God makes His glory the ultimate end of His purpose, we must understand that He does not seek glory as one who needs to acquire it. He wills that the glory eternally and inseparably true of Him be made known, and receive the response it deserves.
But that brings us to the next question we raised earlier: If God does not lack glory, why does He purpose to make His glory known?
Before we can answer that fully, we need to remove one more mistaken idea from our thinking: God does not need His creatures to supply anything absent from Himself.
When Paul stood before the philosophers in Athens, surrounded by temples and idols fashioned by human hands, he declared,
“The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;
Paul is not saying that God’s people should not serve Him – Paul himself wrote in Romans 12 about our reasonable spiritual service, for Scripture repeatedly calls and commands God’s servants to serve Him faithfully.
The vital words for our purposes here are “as though He needed anything.”
God is not served in the same way that an earthly ruler is served. Human rulers lack the time, strength, knowledge, or ability to accomplish everything themselves. God, however, does not need us to carry out tasks He could not otherwise perform. He does not depend upon our strength, our wisdom, our resources, or even our worship.
The direction of dependence always runs the other way.
God does not receive life and breath from us. “He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things.”
Every breath with which we praise Him was first given by Him. Every mind that knows Him was created by Him. Every voice that declares His glory depends upon Him for its continued existence.
This is precisely what Paul has already told us in Romans 11 when he is so taken up in declaring “From Him and through Him and to Him are all things.”
The same correction, however, also appears in Psalm 50. God addresses Israel concerning the sacrifices they offered to Him, and He says,
“I shall take no young bull out of your house Nor male goats out of your folds. “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. “I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine. “If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, as well as its fullness.
God Himself had commanded Israel to offer those sacrifices, and the problem was not even that they obeyed His command.
The problem was not that they obeyed His command, nor were the sacrifices meaningless; God had appointed them to teach realities beyond themselves. The problem was that the people had begun treating the outward offering as sufficient in itself, as though they were supplying God with something He needed, rendering Him a profitable service, and thereby placing Him under obligation to favor or deliver them, all while withholding the thankful, trusting, obedient heart the sacrifice was intended to express.
But the animals they brought already belonged to Him, the fields upon which those animals grazed belonged to Him, even the people offering these things belonged to Him. The whole world and all its fullness, belonged to Him.
They were not enriching God by returning to Him a small portion of what was already His.
And yet, God did call them to worship. He commanded them to offer thanksgiving, to fulfill their vows, and to call upon Him in the day of trouble. Then He says:
“Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving And pay your vows to the Most High; Call upon Me in the day of distress; I shall rescue you, and you will glorify Me.”
Notice the direction once again.
Their calling upon God does not supply something lacking in Him; it confesses something lacking in them. Prayer itself honors God by acknowledging their dependence upon Him. Then God delivers, and their grateful recognition of His mercy glorifies Him.
Let’s be clear, this error is not confined to ancient Israelites bringing animals to the altar. We ourselves fall into the same error whenever we begin treating our service as leverage over God.
But Psalm 50 overturns that entire way of thinking. Our service does not enrich God, and our worship does not place Him in our debt. We, on the other hand, are the dependent ones. He is the giver, the sustainer, and the rescuer.
The Westminster Confession later summarized this biblical truth in chapter 2, declaring…
The Westminster Confession of Faith: Edinburgh Edition Chapter II. Of God, and of the Holy Trinity
God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself; and is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which he hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting his own glory, in, by, unto, and upon them
This truth is also reflected in our own church’s statement of faith. It describes God as “eternal in existence,” “inexpressibly glorious in holiness,” and “worthy of all possible honor, confidence and love.” It says that the Father “has life in Himself” and is the One “for whom we exist.”
Our philosophy of ministry then says that the objective of this church is “to be used by God to glorify Himself through faithful ministry of the Word of God.”
Notice that direction carefully, it is a distinction we must observe and preserve! We do not exist to supply God with glory He lacks, no! We exist to be used by God as He makes His own eternal glory known. He commands our worship, our glorifying of Him, because He alone is worthy of it. To withhold that does not diminish His essential glory, but it does refuse Him the honor due to His nature and place the creature in rebellion against reality.
And that begins to answer the other rather difficult question we raised: Why is it holy and righteous for God to make Himself the ultimate end of His works, when it would be proud and sinful for us to make ourselves the center of everything we do?
The difference is not that self-exaltation is sinful for creatures but somehow becomes the same sort of sin with divine permission when God does it.
The difference is found in what is true of God and what is true of us.
When we make ourselves the ultimate center, we are making a claim about ourselves which simply is not true.
We are not self-existent. We did not create ourselves. We do not sustain ourselves. We are not the source of all wisdom, goodness, beauty, or life.
Everything we are and everything we possess has come to us ultimately from God.
And so, when a creature exalts himself as though he were the center and ultimate end of everything, he does more than display poor manners, he denies reality, taking the place belonging to the Creator and gives it to the creature.
That is pride, and at its root it is idolatry.
Paul wrote of this same activity in the opening chapter of his letter to the Romans,
For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
God does not occupy a place that belongs to someone greater when He makes Himself the ultimate end, for there is no one greater, more worthy, more deserving of glory than He.
It is essential to understand that He is not claiming an honor that properly belongs to another, “All things are from Him, through Him, and to Him” we read in Romans 11.
God’s regard for His own glory is therefore not vanity, but perfect holiness and truth. He cannot deny, misrepresent, or treat lightly His own infinite worth, and so He orders all things toward the highest and most worthy end possible, namely Himself!
Indeed, if God were to treat something within creation as though it were more worthy than He is, He would deny the truth about Himself. If He directed His creatures to find their ultimate object of worship in something less than Himself, He would direct them into idolatry.
So God does not seek His glory because He is needy, but because He is glorious.
So when Paul beholds this reality, he does not accuse God of pride, but bows in wonder and amazement, declaring
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
That is the only fitting and truthful response of the creature to the Creator, of the dependent to the One upon whom all things depend, and of the redeemed sinner to the God, whose saving purpose originates in Him, is accomplished through Him, and moves ultimately toward Him
So now when we return to the promise in Romans 8:28,
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.
…we realize that the saving purpose according to which we are called does not terminate upon us. Even the good God works through all things belongs within a purpose that moves ultimately toward the manifestation and praise of His glory!
All things are from Him.
All things are through Him.
All things are to Him.
“To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”
Let us pray!
