The Priority of the Glory of God
THROWBACK THURSDAYS: Every Thursday, we plan to publish an old article written in our denomination’s magazine, The Evangelical Presbyterian. The purpose is to connect us to our history, as we recall God’s faithfulness to us over many years. This week’s article is from the Nov-Dec issue of the The Evangelical Presbyterian in 1999, and was written by Rev Stephen Tracey. Stephen was ordained into the Christian Ministry in November 1990, and served as the Minister of Omagh EPC for nearly 11 years, before his move to the United States. The article was the last in a series on The Well Ordered Church, which had considered regulated worship, elders that rule, congregations marked by love and lively preaching.
A God-honouring church is marked with a sense that the glory of God takes priority. The Shorter Catechism captures the truth precisely by commencing with the words,
Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever
Most of us, however, then promptly go on to forget the practical effects of that truth. Yet the Bible makes two facts very clear. First God created the universe for His own glory. The heavens declare His glory (Ps.19:2), the whole created order declares the glory of God. Second the Church declares His glory - that is, the very fact that there is a church and that God has chosen a people for Himself declares His glory, hence Paul writes, “to Him be glory in the Church” (Eph.3:21). The astounding fact is that Paul had earlier said that God has given Jesus Christ as “head over all things to the Church” (Eph.1:22). The glory of God as Lord of the created world orchestrates all that happens in that universe for the benefit of His Church! That Christ is the head of the Church is glorious – but not all the glory. That Christ is the Head of the whole universe and rules in favour of His people is profoundly glorious. No wonder man’s chief end is to glorify Him!
Now what we have said is true, but it is not satisfactory. In the end it looks intensely selfish. It is considering the glory of God only as it benefits us. This is the problem. This is the very reason why so many churches fail to glorify God and are more rightly called by the name Ichabod. Even when considering the glory of God we are sub-consciously asking, “what’s in it for me?”. We make so much of ourselves and we make so little of God. The implications of the glory of God turn this on its head. We should make little of ourselves and much of God.
“Even when considering the glory of God we are sub-consciously asking, “what’s in it for me?”. We make so much of ourselves and we make so little of God. The implications of the glory of God turn this on its head. We should make little of ourselves and much of God.”
The Glory of God and Evangelism
Paul, in 2 Cor.4:4, speaks of “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ”. It is not simply that the gospel is glorious – it is – but that in the gospel the glories of Christ shine like a brilliant laser light shining in the darkest hole. The love that God demonstrates to us as sinners is not that he makes much of us. We are nothing. We are vile, depraved, contemptible things. That is the whole point. He graciously and freely takes such odious sinners and fires into us the glories of Christ so that we are enabled, by His spectacular mercy, to make much of Him!
What is evangelism then? It is to use all our God-given opportunities to bring sinners to “taste and see that the Lord is good”. John Piper puts it wonderfully when he says, “our evangelistic task is not to persuade people that the gospel was made for their felt needs, but that they were made for the soul-satisfying glory of God in the gospel”.
The Glory of God in the Church
We know very well that in order to come to Christ for salvation we must come empty-handed. We know we come naked and poor and needy. Yet we seem to forget this when it comes to worshipping God in the church. We inwardly make much of our offering to God. We can grow proud of our worship – our great singing, our great preaching, our great collections - as though this were the heart of it all. Worship is in order to magnify God because He is worthy.
If we had a greater sense of this our worship would be richly enlivened. It is because we do not have a proper sense of His glory and worth to receive honour and glory and praise and dominion, that our singing is so muted, our preaching so predictable, our praying so spiritless. We have lost our vision of the glory of God! Once the vision is lost it is not long until the glory is lost.
“If we had a greater sense of this our worship would be richly enlivened. It is because we do not have a proper sense of His glory and worth to receive honour and glory and praise and dominion, that our singing is so muted, our preaching so predictable, our praying so spiritless. We have lost our vision of the glory of God! ”
The Glory of God in our Living
Jonathan Edwards had a resolution to the effect that he resolved to be as happy as he could be while he did live! CS Lewis said, “It is a Christian duty …for everyone to be as happy as he can”. Now at first sight this seems contradictory to the whole point of the glory of God. To pursue our own happiness must be wrong, we think. Sadly, that is the way sin has made us think. God is glorified when we obey Him and make much of Him. And what has He commanded us? “Delight yourself in the Lord” (Ps.37:4). “Serve the Lord with gladness” (Ps.100:2). God is most glorified when we are most delighted with Him.
It is this truth, when in gets into the Christian man’s heart, that causes him to say, “For me to live is Christ. For me to die is gain”. To live is to delight in the glory of God in this sinful world. To die is to begin to delight in the glory of God in His immediate presence. That delight shall never end but shall always be increasing to even greater heights and even greater depths. We shall make much of God, forever. To God be the Glory!
