Glory to God in the Highest

We began chapter 3 with this definition of worship.

Worship is honor and adoration directed to God.

As we have gone through this study on worship, perhaps we need to expand this definition now.

Worship is our innermost being responding with praise for all the God is, through our attitudes, actions, thoughts, and words, based on the truth of God as He has revealed Himself.

An easier more “boiled down” version of this definition would be,

Worship is glorifying God.

A true worshipper should be obsessed with the glory of God and should be living to exalt God. This chapter and the next are going to explore this truth.

Why was man created? What should be our chief purpose?

Man was created to glorify God and to exalt and enjoy fellowship with Him for eternity.

What is God’s Glory?

The definition of glory

Glory - something that is worthy of praise or exaltation; brilliance; beauty; renown.

God’s glory has two aspects.

His inherent or intrinsic glory

We don’t have to give God glory because He already has it. If God had not created man and the heavens and the earth, He would still be glorious.

Man doesn’t have intrinsic glory.

King and a beggar with a bath.

God’s glory can’t be taken away because it is part of His nature. God’s glory can’t be added to nor diminished. It doesn’t matter what we do, God cannot be anymore glorious than what He already is.

Exodus 33:18 ESV

18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”

Moses is asking to see God’s glory here. God’s response:

Exodus 33:19 ESV

19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

Other translations say, “The name of the Lord.” This phrase is used throughout the Bible and can be interpreted as God’s glory, a composite of all His attributes.

Acts 7:2 ESV

2 And Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,

Stephen used this phrase to refer to God. God’s glory is the same as light is to the sun, as wet is to water, as blue is to sky. You can’t separate the two.

God doesn’t give His glory away, nor does He share it.

Isaiah 48:11 ESV

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.

God will give us many things, but never His glory.

Glory doesn’t become ours. It is His glory radiating through us.

The second aspect of God’s glory is his ascribed glory.

This is when the Bible refers to giving God glory

Psalm 29:1–2 ESV

1 Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

We can’t give God anymore glory than what He already has, but we can recognize His glory.

We can confirm it and praise Him for it.

Titus 2:9–10 ESV

9 Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, 10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.

We cannot adorn God Himself, but we can adorn His truth by living godly lives according to what has been revealed to us in Scripture.

When we don’t live lives according to what the Scripture says, it has no affect on God’s glory, but rather affects our testimony about who God is to us.

Ascribing glory to God means acknowledging and magnifying His glory.

Philippians 1:20 ESV

20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.

Paul is saying people’s view of Christ can be enhanced through the testimony of how he lived his life. This is a challenge for us as well.

Creation itself magnifies God.

Romans 1:20 ESV

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.

We should be making God’s atributes clearly visible to men.

These verses from Chronicles are about God’s glory.

1 Chronicles 16:23–29 ESV

23 Sing to the Lord, all the earth! Tell of his salvation from day to day. 24 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! 25 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and he is to be feared above all gods. 26 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens. 27 Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his place. 28 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength! 29 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness;

Why Should We Give God Glory?

Because He made us.

Psalm 100:3 ESV

3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Romans 11:36 ESV

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

We need to remember, He is the one who created us. We need to be giving Him glory and not expecting glory from others.

As our creator, He alone is worthy to be glorified.

John describes a scene which will happen in Revelation when the 24 elders will cast their crowns before God.

Revelation 4:11 ESV

11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

How could we give honor to any other or try to take it for ourselves.

We are what we are because of the One who created us.

We also ought to glorify God because He made everything to give Him glory.

Proverbs 16:4 ESV

4 The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.

Everything in creation is designed to exhibit His attributes.

As our Creator, He has every right to demand our worship and adoration.

Ultimately, God will be glorified by everyone.

That is willingly and unwillingly.

God is pleased when He receives glory from His people willingly. This is a calling of God’s people. It is what we are supposed to do.

Isaiah 43:21 ESV

21 the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.

1 Peter 2:9 ESV

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Unbelievers may not want to give God glory, but eventually, they will.

Pharoah didn’t want to, but God predicted he would eventually.

Exodus 14:17 ESV

17 And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen.

God gave this message to Pharoah.

Exodus 9:16 ESV

16 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.

Even though Pharoah wouldn’t glorify God through his life, God was glorified through His destruction.

Another incentive to give God glory is that He will eventually judge those who won’t.

Romans 1:21–23 ESV

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.

You can continue to read on in this scripture and see how God said He gave them up to their sin. He let them live in their foolishness. Their depravity.

He will be glorified and revealed as a holy, righteous God in judging them.

In Jeremiah, a message is recorded He gave to the Israelite people who didn’t listen to him until they were ready to be taken into captivity.

Jeremiah 13:15–16 ESV

15 Hear and give ear; be not proud, for the Lord has spoken. 16 Give glory to the Lord your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains, and while you look for light he turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness.

Jeremiah was grieved and deeply upset when he spoke these words. He was begging the people to acknowledge who God was. He was trying to tell them if they didn’t turn from their ways, they were going to be judged.

God’s judgement is certain for those who refuse to worship Him and give Him glory at the end of time.

Worship and God’s Glory

Those who give God glory willingly are true worshippers.

Glorifying God begins with salvation.

Philippians 2:9–11 ESV

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 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.

Just as worship should be a way of life, so should glorifying God with our lives be our aim as true worshippers of God.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

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

Jesus spoke of the way people were behaving and going things during the days of Noah.

Matthew 24:38–39 ESV

38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

It wasn’t the fact of what they were doing, it was the way in which they were doing it. They were doing these things with no regard for how they appeared to God. They were bringing no glory to God through their actions.

Jesus lived His entire life to bring glory to the Father.

John 8:50 ESV

50 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge.

John 7:18 ESV

18 The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.

1 Peter 2:21 ESV

21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

If we live for God’s glory, then it gets rid of the possibility of us appearing as hypocrites.

Matthew 6:1–2 ESV

1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Whenever we do what God has called us to do, we do it for His glory. We seek no acknowledgement for our part in His glory. It all belongs to Him. If we are truly doing things for His glory, we will not seek to impress others, nor to gain personal gain. If we do this, we are trying to steal from God the blessing and joy which should come from Him.

A story is shared in the book about a young man who tried to impress D.L. Moody.

All night prayer, faces shining, quoted Exodus.

Exodus 34:29 ESV

29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.

Devoting our lives to glorifying God means we must sacrifice self.

“The true worshiper does not think about how much it’s going to help him, how much money he is going to get, how much success he will realize, how much fame he will have, how many friends he can garner, how spiritual he may appear to others, and so on. The pursuit of the glory of God is a purely selfless, lonely pursuit. True worship is not concerned with the popularity of the stand it takes, or the kind of response it gets.”

Paying the Price

To seek to glorify God above all else can be costly.

Exodus 32 tells us about when Moses came down from the mountain after receiving the commandments to find the people worshiping an idol. They were in the throws of worshiping this idol and Aaron was leading it.

Moses was furious.

Exodus 32:26–27 ESV

26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. 27 And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’ ”

The had to follow what God told them to do. It was the glory of God which was at stake here. God wanted the world to know He wouldn’t share His glory with anyone.

Exodus 32:28 ESV

28 And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell.

God will not call us to kill our loved ones, but He will call us to take stands which will be unpopular with those we love who do not bring Him glory.

The price to glorify and honor God can be high.

John 21:18–19 ESV

18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Peter paid the price of glorifying God through be crucified on a cross.

Peter wanted believers to know the persecution they were going through was bringing glory to God.

1 Peter 4:14 ESV

14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

Paul did the same thing.

Romans 8:18 ESV

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.

Living for God’s glory will involve suffering. There are two kinds.

The suffering of the believer

And in this suffering, we know that God suffers with us as well.

The mature Christian will recognize the second.

The suffering of God

The mature Christian will hurt more when the name of God suffers. When His name is slandered or when His glory isn’t recognized.

A powerful statement is made in Psalm 69

Psalm 69:9 ESV

9 For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

David wrote this, but they had implications for Jesus’ time. Jesus would quote this verse about Himself when He was clearing out the temple.

The Mind-set of the True Worshiper

“The one who has committed his life to the glory of God. He is consumed with zeal - not for his own reputation or self-image, but for the glory and majesty of almighty God, to whom he has devoted his whole being to worship. That is the only kind of life acceptable to God.