Coconut
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To God Be the Glory
by Ralph I. Tilley
One inescapable sign discernibly marks all of our Lord's closest followers: they habitually give God all the glory all the time in all things.
To give God glory is to speak the language of angels, patriarchs, prophets, apostles and saints.
Angels (at the birth of Christ): "Glory to God in the highest, ..."(1)
Patriarchs (Joshua to Achan): "My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and give him the praise."(2)
Prophets (David): "Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength."(3)
Apostles (Paul): "to him be glory in the church..."(4)
Saints (Mary): "My soul glorifies the Lord ..."(5)
Within the context of these Scriptures and this article, the term glory is understood to mean praise and credit. To give God glory is to acknowledge God as the primary cause and the fundamental source of every good.
His creatures are to ascribe to Him glory because of His creative and redemptive activities: "You are worthy, our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."(6) "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and honor and glory and praise!"(7) We are to glorify God because He, and He alone is worthy to receive the glory.
And yet, how we fallen, sickly Christians subtlety maneuver to shine the spotlight of glory and praise upon ourselves instead of deflecting it all to the Worthy One.
I recently listened in amazement to a pastor advertise one of his recorded sermon series by saying, "Undoubtedly, these are the greatest sermons ever preached from this pulpit!" I had to ask myself, Is he the only one who ever preached from that pulpit?
Sometime ago I received an e-mail request from a brother in Texas who is a relatively new convert. He introduced himself as an "up and coming evangelist, who has something to say to this generation."
A few days ago I read an advertisement for a Christian concert artist "who has one of the finest voices" among Christian singers.
Pride invariably makes comparisons, and when it surfaces in the church it compares itself with its peers. Thus, even in the church we commonly hear the language of "greatest, best, finest, biggest, highest, deepest, godliest, most spiritual, most successful," etc. Does this sound all too familiar?
Lamentably, the marketplace has entered the church. The language of the world has become the language of the church because the church has failed to give God the glory. We pay lip-service to the Lord while slyly (and most times not so slyly) taking the credit ourselves.
Jesus saw this defect among some of His own followers. Following a successful evangelism campaign, His disciples reported: "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name." Our Lord instinctively heard the misplaced emphasis—the "us" was more pronounced than "in your name." Jesus responded, "I saw Satan fall like lightning fall from heaven ... do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."(8)
What was He saying? As followers of Christ, we should never glory in anything the Lord has accomplished through us. Instead, we should give glory to God for what He has done for us, remembering that it was a failure to give God all the glory which proved to be the downfall of an angel.
There's a little mythical story which points out this matter of how we tend to accept the praise and the glory instead of passing it along to the the Lord. The story goes like this:
" On Palm Sunday, when the Lord entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey, He was received with shouts of "Hosanna to the Son of David" (of course, this part of the story is not a myth).
That evening the donkey told his fellow donkeys in the stable: "If you could have seen how they glorified me in Jerusalem today! They called me "son of David." I had never known before the name of the donkey who was my father. I was very pleased to find out he was called David. And, furthermore, the crowd seemed very determined to make me king. They threw their clothes before me on the road in order that I might walk in softness. I suppose they will come tomorrow to enthrone me. I imagine that when a donkey becomes king, he gets plenty of hay and is not made to carry burdens any longer!"
What a dumb donkey! He didn't realize the glory belonged to his Rider.
Paul prayed, "unto him be glory in the church..." Of all people, the people of God should be the people from whom God is receiving the highest glory. In "the church"—the redeemed, the saved, the justified, the sanctified.
Prophets, apostles, evangelists, pastors, musicians, church leaders–none of these are to receive any glory. They are not to receive it because they don't deserve it. Only God deserves the glory.
Human organizations don't deserve the glory. How we love to brag on our ministry, denomination and local church. How we exult in our theologies, institutions and histories.
Walking into some churches one is struck by brass plates conspicuously located on walls and furniture. Can't we give anything to the Lord without insisting our name be on it? Must pastors appeal to human pride in order to raise sufficient funds? And then we have the audacity to say we gave it to the glory of God? Whatever happened to giving without the right-hand knowing what the left-hand has done?
Could the reality be that there is so much self-glorification in the church because we have forgotten who we are: redeemed sinners who have been delivered from the wrath to come? That we are nothing but unprofitable and unworthy servants of a gracious and merciful God. That the language of our soul should ever be that of the publican with bowed head in the temple: "God, have mercy on me, a sinner!"(9)
Could it be that we are too absorbed with ourselves to give God all the glory? Could it be that our egos are so fragile, unsanctified, proud, that we are so preoccupied with what we think we have accomplished, that we fail so see the One who indeed is worthy to receive all the glory?
Can God trust you to give Him all the glory?
When the late Methodist evangelist John R. Church was a young and aspiring preacher he was invited to give the commencement address at Asbury College in the 1930s. Later in recounting the event with Dennis F. Kinlaw, he said, "The place was packed. Excitement was high. God was with me and I soared. I thought, I have this audience in the palm of my hand. I can do anything I want with them. Suddenly, a cold chill moved over me. I closed the service immediately, went to my room, and got on my knees. I said, 'God, if you'll forgive me, I'll never be guilty of that again.'
"For years afterward, I met people who said, 'Dr. Church, do you remember when you were at Asbury for commencement?' It happened so many times that I knew what was coming. They would say, 'You know, I have never heard such oratory.'
"I would ask, 'What did I preach about?'
"I never met a person who could recall the text or the topic I had preached about," Dr. Church said. "All they remembered was the oratory.(10)
Isn't it time for Christians to repent—to repent for angling for some of the glory? Are some of us guilty of promoting ourselves instead of Christ? Preaching ourselves instead of Christ? Exalting our ministries, programs and successes instead of glorifying Christ? Who are we talking about? Who are we praising? Who's getting the credit? Who's wanting the credit?
Isn't it time for us to humble ourselves before the Lord of the flaming eyes and the two-edged sword?
No, I am no better than any of you; I have not always been innocent in this matter. There are times when I walk away from a conversation, for instance, saying to myself, Tilley, there was too much of self in that conversation. Or, Was I careful to give God the glory? Or, Did I subtly solicit praise for myself?
Let each of us present ourselves to the Refiner of hearts anew, allowing Him to refine us and purify us afresh, that we may always give God the glory that belongs to Him alone.
To God be the glory!
– Soli Deo Gloria –
Amen!
by Ralph I. Tilley
One inescapable sign discernibly marks all of our Lord's closest followers: they habitually give God all the glory all the time in all things.
To give God glory is to speak the language of angels, patriarchs, prophets, apostles and saints.
Angels (at the birth of Christ): "Glory to God in the highest, ..."(1)
Patriarchs (Joshua to Achan): "My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and give him the praise."(2)
Prophets (David): "Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength."(3)
Apostles (Paul): "to him be glory in the church..."(4)
Saints (Mary): "My soul glorifies the Lord ..."(5)
Within the context of these Scriptures and this article, the term glory is understood to mean praise and credit. To give God glory is to acknowledge God as the primary cause and the fundamental source of every good.
His creatures are to ascribe to Him glory because of His creative and redemptive activities: "You are worthy, our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."(6) "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and honor and glory and praise!"(7) We are to glorify God because He, and He alone is worthy to receive the glory.
And yet, how we fallen, sickly Christians subtlety maneuver to shine the spotlight of glory and praise upon ourselves instead of deflecting it all to the Worthy One.
I recently listened in amazement to a pastor advertise one of his recorded sermon series by saying, "Undoubtedly, these are the greatest sermons ever preached from this pulpit!" I had to ask myself, Is he the only one who ever preached from that pulpit?
Sometime ago I received an e-mail request from a brother in Texas who is a relatively new convert. He introduced himself as an "up and coming evangelist, who has something to say to this generation."
A few days ago I read an advertisement for a Christian concert artist "who has one of the finest voices" among Christian singers.
Pride invariably makes comparisons, and when it surfaces in the church it compares itself with its peers. Thus, even in the church we commonly hear the language of "greatest, best, finest, biggest, highest, deepest, godliest, most spiritual, most successful," etc. Does this sound all too familiar?
Lamentably, the marketplace has entered the church. The language of the world has become the language of the church because the church has failed to give God the glory. We pay lip-service to the Lord while slyly (and most times not so slyly) taking the credit ourselves.
Jesus saw this defect among some of His own followers. Following a successful evangelism campaign, His disciples reported: "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name." Our Lord instinctively heard the misplaced emphasis—the "us" was more pronounced than "in your name." Jesus responded, "I saw Satan fall like lightning fall from heaven ... do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."(8)
What was He saying? As followers of Christ, we should never glory in anything the Lord has accomplished through us. Instead, we should give glory to God for what He has done for us, remembering that it was a failure to give God all the glory which proved to be the downfall of an angel.
There's a little mythical story which points out this matter of how we tend to accept the praise and the glory instead of passing it along to the the Lord. The story goes like this:
" On Palm Sunday, when the Lord entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey, He was received with shouts of "Hosanna to the Son of David" (of course, this part of the story is not a myth).
That evening the donkey told his fellow donkeys in the stable: "If you could have seen how they glorified me in Jerusalem today! They called me "son of David." I had never known before the name of the donkey who was my father. I was very pleased to find out he was called David. And, furthermore, the crowd seemed very determined to make me king. They threw their clothes before me on the road in order that I might walk in softness. I suppose they will come tomorrow to enthrone me. I imagine that when a donkey becomes king, he gets plenty of hay and is not made to carry burdens any longer!"
What a dumb donkey! He didn't realize the glory belonged to his Rider.
Paul prayed, "unto him be glory in the church..." Of all people, the people of God should be the people from whom God is receiving the highest glory. In "the church"—the redeemed, the saved, the justified, the sanctified.
Prophets, apostles, evangelists, pastors, musicians, church leaders–none of these are to receive any glory. They are not to receive it because they don't deserve it. Only God deserves the glory.
Human organizations don't deserve the glory. How we love to brag on our ministry, denomination and local church. How we exult in our theologies, institutions and histories.
Walking into some churches one is struck by brass plates conspicuously located on walls and furniture. Can't we give anything to the Lord without insisting our name be on it? Must pastors appeal to human pride in order to raise sufficient funds? And then we have the audacity to say we gave it to the glory of God? Whatever happened to giving without the right-hand knowing what the left-hand has done?
Could the reality be that there is so much self-glorification in the church because we have forgotten who we are: redeemed sinners who have been delivered from the wrath to come? That we are nothing but unprofitable and unworthy servants of a gracious and merciful God. That the language of our soul should ever be that of the publican with bowed head in the temple: "God, have mercy on me, a sinner!"(9)
Could it be that we are too absorbed with ourselves to give God all the glory? Could it be that our egos are so fragile, unsanctified, proud, that we are so preoccupied with what we think we have accomplished, that we fail so see the One who indeed is worthy to receive all the glory?
Can God trust you to give Him all the glory?
When the late Methodist evangelist John R. Church was a young and aspiring preacher he was invited to give the commencement address at Asbury College in the 1930s. Later in recounting the event with Dennis F. Kinlaw, he said, "The place was packed. Excitement was high. God was with me and I soared. I thought, I have this audience in the palm of my hand. I can do anything I want with them. Suddenly, a cold chill moved over me. I closed the service immediately, went to my room, and got on my knees. I said, 'God, if you'll forgive me, I'll never be guilty of that again.'
"For years afterward, I met people who said, 'Dr. Church, do you remember when you were at Asbury for commencement?' It happened so many times that I knew what was coming. They would say, 'You know, I have never heard such oratory.'
"I would ask, 'What did I preach about?'
"I never met a person who could recall the text or the topic I had preached about," Dr. Church said. "All they remembered was the oratory.(10)
Isn't it time for Christians to repent—to repent for angling for some of the glory? Are some of us guilty of promoting ourselves instead of Christ? Preaching ourselves instead of Christ? Exalting our ministries, programs and successes instead of glorifying Christ? Who are we talking about? Who are we praising? Who's getting the credit? Who's wanting the credit?
Isn't it time for us to humble ourselves before the Lord of the flaming eyes and the two-edged sword?
No, I am no better than any of you; I have not always been innocent in this matter. There are times when I walk away from a conversation, for instance, saying to myself, Tilley, there was too much of self in that conversation. Or, Was I careful to give God the glory? Or, Did I subtly solicit praise for myself?
Let each of us present ourselves to the Refiner of hearts anew, allowing Him to refine us and purify us afresh, that we may always give God the glory that belongs to Him alone.
To God be the glory!
– Soli Deo Gloria –
Amen!
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