The glory of God is our greatest goal and greatest good. It is why we were made. It also affects our day to day decisions. 1 Corinthians 10:23-33
This is the last devotion in the series of sermons on the Reformation slogans: Soli Deo Gloria—Glory to God alone. This is what all the other slogans point to. Our ultimate authority is the Word of God because our ultimate authority is God. We are saved by Christ’s work alone, applied to us through faith in him alone, and all this is a free gift from God alone. This acknowledges that we have nothing to boast about before God. All the glory belongs to God alone.
To insist on this is not false modesty, but a true grasp of reality. We do not—we cannot—underestimate our importance in the drama of life. The motto of our age is "it’s all about me." Yet the reality is that it is all about God. We are important as we take our place in the universe God created and sound our voice to praise him. Yes, God has given us great dignity in that we were created in the image of God, but God was not created for us. We were created for God and for his glory. When we reach our highest purpose it is for God’s glory.
Why were we created? The old catechism answers: Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. We live, move and have our being. All we do has its greatest end in increasing God’s glory.
When Jonathan Edwards died in March of 1758, he left behind some unpublished manuscripts. One was published under the title On the End for Which God Created the World. From the scripture Edwards correctly argues that the reason God created all things was for his own glory. What is higher than the glory of God? What greater end could we have than increasing and being part of the glory of God?
To consider the glory of God is heady stuff. To desire to live your life to the glory of God is sublime and noble. Yet we should not think of it only in high and hypothetical language. The glory of God is our ultimate end, but it is also our daily concern. The glory of God can drive our decisions of what we say or when to keep quiet and what we do or leave off doing.
Our passage takes a little explaining because it deals with things that are foreign to most of our experience. St. Paul writes to people who live in a city filled with idol worship. Most meat butchered in the city was done during a pagan rite, with the meat being set before an idol. Since idols don’t actually eat the food, it can find its way into the marketplace and the dinner tables.
Some of the people worried that by eating meat that was sacrificed before idols, they would be thought of as worshipping the idols. St. Paul knew that the idols were not really gods. He ate with thanksgiving to the true God. Still, he did not want his actions to be misinterpreted or to lead others to think it was OK to worship the Lord and the gods of the idols. While we do not deal with the same sort of problem, he gives us two very important guidelines to help us know what to do when we are in an analogous situation.
The first is this. If you think something is sin, don’t do it. We are to act from faith. If we believe that doing something is sinful, then we should not do it. Even if our conscience is wrong, we do not want to be in the place of going against our conscience.
Are there places you go, things you see, even things you consume that you really think is sinful? Then don’t do it. Whatever is not of faith is sin for you.
The second principle covers things that you know are not sinful, yet it would cause another person to stumble. We are to have love for other people. Nobody should see his own good, but the good of others (v 24).
On what do we base our actions? Do we demand our rights? Do we decide what would give us the most ease or pleasure? Or do we, in Christian love, think about the impact of our actions on other people? That is the law of love in action. This does not mean that we are to live our lives based on the whims, ideas and consciences of others. If we tried to please everyone in every way, we would fail and go crazy.
St. Paul urges us to take a higher view and ask a higher question: what would best glorify God? So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God (v 31). Gone is the selfish demand of our own rights. Gone is the neurotic attempt to please everyone else. In its place is the honest desire to glorify God with every action. What would best benefit the Kingdom of God? What would bring more people to praise, know, glorify and enjoy the Creator-Redeemer? This question will challenge our own selfishness and still retain the joy of life that Christ has given us.
Do you live your life for the glory of God? Is there a lesser goal that has taken the place of the highest? May our lives, like our salvation be for the glory of God alone.
Pastor John Howard Dawson 03-20-05