Captured by a passion for God's glory!
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| English: Stained glass panel in the nave of St. John's Anglican Church, Ashfield, New South Wales (NSW). This window depicts the young Jesus teaching at the temple. The title banner reads "All that heard him were astonished at his understanding & answers" (Luke 2:47). The inscription on this memorial window reads "To the Glory of God & In Loving Memory of William Rogers, Died 22nd October 1930, & his Wife Annie Mildred Rogers, Died 1st January 1927." (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
This passion both begins and ends with worship. In the corporate gatherings of God’s people, the magnificence and majesty of God should be the focal point. In the singing, praying, and preaching, the glory of God should be exalted and praised. God must hold center stage in our worship services. As we come apart from our daily activities and the din of the world’s voices beckoning us to participate in what does not satisfy, God’s people need to be reminded of the greatness and worth of God and the supreme joy and blessing of serving Him. This is why the Lord’s Day worship is so crucial in the Christian’s life. It is a time for refocusing and readjusting our attitudes and convictions as to what should hold supreme value in our lives.
The realignment obtained in corporate worship then directs all the affairs of our lives. As we go to work in the factory, we are reminded that we have been called by God to build cars to His glory. As we care for our homes and train our children, we realize that success in these tasks is determined by whether our homes and families exist for God’s praise. As students, we seek to harness our intellectual capabilities and unleash them in the service of God. A people that has been captured by the glory of God in corporate worship will strive in all areas of their lives, whether eating or drinking, or whatever they do, to do all to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31).
When a Christian is prospered by the Lord with financial stability or a joyful marriage, passion for the glory of God will guard him against forgetting the source of all these blessings (Deut. 8:11–17). When a mother gives birth to a child with heart defects, the parents will be bolstered by the knowledge that it wasn’t an accident or a random mistake. God, even in the tragedies of life, is pursuing the fame of His name. We can be comforted that God’s glory and His people’s good are never at odds, and all things occur that the works of God should be revealed and that His people would praise Him for His matchless grace and sustaining mercy.
The glory of God is also crucial for burdening an often lethargic and self-centered people for evangelism. What is it that will give you the courage and boldness to bring the Gospel to your neighbors who are living in sin? Is it not the very fact that God, the all-glorious King, is not being acknowledged or glorified by them? David laments “Rivers of water run down from my eyes, because men do not keep Your law” (Ps. 119:136). It is the conviction that one day “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14) that drives us to support with our prayers and finances the great missionary enterprise of directing the nations to “give to the LORD the glory due His name” (Ps. 96:8).
God’s glory also will dictate the methodology we employ in our evangelism. Anything that detracts from the sovereignty of God in the salvation of sinners will be shunned. Any message that leaves room for man to congratulate himself will be avoided so that those who are redeemed know from the outset that God has saved them to show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:7), and all for the praise of His glory (Eph. 1:14). Any method that seeks to short-circuit the sovereign action of the Holy Spirit in working conviction, repentance, and faith will be avoided. Instead, a robust message that preaches the inability of man to save himself and the all-sufficient grace of God in redemption will be proclaimed without embarrassment and with joy.
As we cultivate a passion for God’s glory on earth that begins with worship and results in a life dedicated to the praise of our God, we will long for the day when God’s glory will be revealed in its totality. As David weeps because the wicked do not keep the commandments of God, we too will weep because our worship of God is so lackluster, so casual, so cool, so unfitting His divine glory. But one day we will worship Him without being impeded by our sinful hearts and minds, when we will hear the voice of a great multitude saying, “ ‘Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come’ ” (Rev. 19:7a).
Let us, until that day, join Moses in praying “ ‘Please, show me Your glory’ ” (Ex. 33:18), and may our lives join the symphony of praise expressing “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let Your glory be above all the earth” (Ps. 57:11).
Author: Rev. John van Eyk is the minister of Riverside Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in Cambridge, Ontario.
