‘Behold, the Lamb
of God’
ide
o amnos tou theou
College Study
59th teaching
1.6.2013
“God’s Glory:
Soli Deo Gloria”
Review:
What was our subject this past week? Which
non-moral attribute of God was related to this subject of Free Will? What did
we discover: is God Sovereign, yes or no? Do we have Free Will, yes or no? How
are these compatible? How does the existence of human free will answer the
Problem of Evil and God allowing moral evil to exist? So then you see how these
three ideas are all inseparably related: God is Sovereign and has sovereignly
given us free choice, which results in both the morality and immorality of our
world. Note, this doesn’t quite resolve the Problem of Pain or Suffering, such
as from natural disasters; although that’s a topic for another time. What are
some Scriptural proofs for the existence of Free Will? Why would a materialist
or naturalist believe there’s no such thing as Free Will? What ought we to do
with our Free Will?
End
of Review
Turn to John 11:1-45.
This story is unique to the fourth gospel. Only John
reports this story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. That’s one thing
which makes it so remarkable.
Now we don’t want to let our familiarity with this story or
with the biblical language to keep us from the several striking things about
this passage. For example: the raising of a man from the dead. Have you ever
seen that? No. Do you believe it really happened? If so, then that ought to be
alone quite a shocking report. It’s ironic that we’re so used to the stories
that we hardly bat an eye talking about people coming back from the dead.
But more importantly, let’s zoom in on Jesus as revealed in
this chapter. Notice some striking things about Him.
Note foremost the seeming indifference He shows at first.
We’re told in v.5 that Jesus loved “Martha and her sister and Lazarus”, but
then we’re told, considering that He
loved them, that He waited two whole days before leaving to visit them, when
here the man who was sick was dying! Don’t you think that’s incredibly strange?
If you’ve known anyone with a loved one close to death, you
know that one of their immediate reactions is to run to them. People want to
see their loved ones before they die. Jesus shows no such immediate reaction to
the news of Lazarus’ sickness.
Why? Well obviously it’s apparent that Jesus knew Lazarus was
going to die, but that death would not hinder Him from visiting with His old
friend. Jesus compares death to sleep and says to His disciples that He will go
to wake Lazarus up.
But let’s think on why Jesus, let’s say, allowed this to happen. Lazarus is sick,
possibly suffering, to the point of death. Jesus waits two days. Why? What’s
the point? Why not rush over heal Him instantly and (hear this carefully) spare
Lazarus the pain? Why not spare Lazarus the pain?
Jesus clearly says in v.4:
“This sickness is not unto death, but for
the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Why did
Lazarus get sick? Why did He suffer? Why did the closure of his life come? Why
did Jesus wait?
Answer: So that God would be glorified. So that Jesus could
say to the grieving Martha: “I am the
resurrection and the life…!” So that those who were standing nearby could
see the miracle of a man raised from the dead after lying in his grave four
days, and so come to believe in Jesus Christ.
I think that touches upon the subjects of our studies past.
In one clear sense, why does God allow evil and suffering? Well, sometimes for
His glory. Does that sound fair? Should a free creature suffer only so that God
can be glorified? I mean, what’s the real purpose for our being here, anyways?
We will pick up on these ideas tonight, but here’s a window
into our topic.
Tonight’s study is entitled: “God’s Glory: Soli Deo Gloria”.
1.
The Five Solae
It was English philosopher Edmund Burke who said “Those who
don’t know history are doomed to repeat it”.
With that in mind, let’s consider a point out of church
history. The Protestant Reformation was an event which split the history of
religion. In 1517 with the striking of Luther’s hammer upon the nail that
pinned his Ninety-Five Theses, a movement began. This Reformation of protest
(hence, why it’s called Protestant) came about because of the criticisms and
disagreements that several people, not just Luther, had begun to have with the
Catholic Church. The Reformers wanted reform.
The Protestant Reformation was aimed at reforming
Christianity back to a more scripturally sound and biblical basis. So people
broke away from the Catholic Church, and here we are today, each of us (at
least immediately in this group) members of Protestant churches.
Now at the very center of the Protestants’ disputes against
the Catholic Church were five theological differences. They felt that the Catholic
Church no longer taught or exemplified these five basic teachings of scripture.
These five ideas later came to be known as the Five Solae: five statements in
Latin that emerged during the Protestant Reformation that represented their
five basic scriptural reforms. Each of these contradicted what the Catholic
Church was teaching. Think of the Five Solae as the Five slogans or mottos of
the Reformation.
We never want to be doomed to repeat history, so let’s
recall the Five Solae to mind. We begin with the two earliest examples:
A. Sola Gratia
In Latin, sola gratia
means “grace alone”. Before the Reformation, Catholic priests taught that you
had to merit or earn or achieve salvation. But the Reformers said: “No, the
Bible shows that salvation is by grace alone, unmerited divine favor.” This
means that salvation is an unearned gift from God.
B. Sola Fide
In Latin, sola fide
means “faith alone”. Just like sola
graita, sola fide meant to show
that biblically good works are not necessary to earn salvation. The Reformers
saw that contrary to the Catholic doctrine, the Bible said that were are
declared just by God by faith, without any need of good works. This is
saving-faith. Though true faith yields good works, good works themselves are
not required for the gift of salvation. Faith is the only means by which one is
justified.
C. Sola Scriptura
The Latin phrase, sola
scriptura means “only scripture” or “scripture alone”. This kept Christians
from believing any doctrine or teaching on the basis of church tradition or
priestly interpretation, the two foundations for Catholic teaching, and really
why they got so far away from what the Bible actually said. Sola scriptura meant that only the Bible
is the inspired, inerrant and authoritative Word of God, not whatever priest or
pope says. It also meant that “scripture interprets scripture”, that it
self-interprets. It didn’t matter what this or that man said. What mattered is
what the Bible actually said. This idea of course became the spring-board for
translating the Bible into the language of the people.
*You can see how important and relevant these ideas are.
How easy it is to stray from even them.
D. Solus Christus
In Latin, solus
Christus means “Christ alone”. The phrase embodies the central biblical
teaching that Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man, and that
salvation comes through no one else. This was a direct contradiction of
Catholic doctrine, that the Virgin Mary or that another human, like a priest,
was a mediator between a Christian and Christ and Christ between them and God. Solus Christus re-establishes the words
of Jesus when He said “I am the Way”.
E. Soli Deo Gloria
And finally, the last of the Five to join the mix, was soli Deo gloria, the one which has
direct bearing upon our study here. The Latin phrase literally means “glory to
God alone” or “glory to the only God”. It excludes any worship or veneration
given to the Virgin Mary or to the saints, such as the Catholic Church was
doing. This phrase points out from scripture that God alone is to be glorified.
The Reformers believed that the human priests and saints and popes of the Catholic
church were not worthy of the glory being given them for their works and that God
above and alone should be glorified as the Author of these people and their good works.
So we remember that we’re saved by grace alone, through faith
alone, in Christ alone, according
to Scripture alone for the glory of God alone. It is beautiful in
its simplicity and its truth.
But of course the last of the Five Solae is the one we pick
up on tonight. And by it we ask the question that forms our second point:
2.
What is the Meaning of Life?
If your brain immediately thought “42”, then I’m sorry for
you. It’s a shame that entertainment has dulled us to the most significant
questions of the human experience. Theologians and pagans, philosophers and
artists, writers and scientists have thrown their energies for centuries into
this one question.
Yet, the question remains: what is the meaning, the
significance or the purpose of our existence? Here we find ourselves as beings
with some degree of control over ourselves and our environment, both aware of
ourselves and the universe around us, which looks conspicuously as if it had us
in mind when it was made.
Physicist Freeman Dyson said: “As we look out into the
universe and identify the many accidents of physics and astronomy that have
worked together to our benefit, it almost seems as if the universe must in some
sense have known we were coming.”
And yet for all the apparent thoughtfulness of our surroundings, there remains the overwhelming
hostility of the universe, a place devoid of life like our own, so far as we
can see, and a place which is more often than not totally uncaring as to
whether we live in suffering or in happiness.
From a naturalistic view of the universe, it seems as if
there is no ultimate meaning at all, but only whatever brief and subjective
meaning we give to ourselves for the short and painful time we’re here.
But from another view of the universe, there is a clear
answer to the question. What is the meaning of life? Soli Deo Gloria, that God alone may be glorified for all the
vastness of the universe and for all the experience of our human lives. Therein
lies the ultimate meaning and purpose of our lives, that whether we’re strong
or weak, bad or good, happy or sad, in joy or in pain, that God may get the
glory out of His own creatures.
Christian apologist Norman Geisler writes: ““The purpose of
creation is twofold: to honor the Creator and to enjoy His creation”.
The Westminster Catechism echoes that statement by saying
in its most famous line: “What is the chief end of man?” In a sense asking the
same question: Why are we here? What’s the purpose of existing? What’s the meaning
of life. “Answer: Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”
And I suggest to you that these words have an even older expression
in the writings of the ancient wise-man himself, King Solomon, who writes in Ecclesiastes 12:13, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole
matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.”
And it is Revelation
4:11 which reads in the KJV: “…for
Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.”
Now we must pause a moment for reflection. What is the
meaning of life? Why are you here? Answer: To fear, to honor, to glorify God
alone and to enjoy Him forever.
The next question is: How are you doing about that?
How are you doing in answering the question, not with mere
words, but with your very life? For “what is the meaning of Life” is answered
not by our affirmations alone, but by our actions. And if this is the reason
for your existence, are you in fact living apart from your reason for being? If
this is what we should be doing with our lives, is that in fact what we are
doing or at the very least aiming to do with the lives God has given us?
Well maybe in order to answer those deep questions, we need
some clarification. What does it mean to glorify God? What does it mean to say “for
the glory of God”?
3.
What is God’s Glory?
So far as I can see, we can think of God’s Glory in two
distinct ways. C.S. Lewis saw it this way when he wrote: “Either glory means to
me fame, or it means luminosity”.
First, we can think of God’s Glory as being His radiant
Beauty, His majesty, His light and all these sort of things. Sometimes you read
of God’s Glory as being this visible shining, something tangible that could
occupy or fill up a building like the temple.
We can refer to this first type of God’s Glory as intrinsic glory, meaning glory that is
in himself and essential to His nature. As light is to the sun, so is the glory
of God to God Himself. As mentioned, His intrinsic glory is identified as His
Beauty. We’ll cover that next time as a separate attribute, this essential luminous
beauty of God. So let’s leave it there for now.
Secondly, another type of God’s Glory can refer to His
value and worth. Ascribing worth to God or praising God is the act of pointing
Him out to be valuable. This kind of glory has to do with adoration,
appreciation, affection, surrender and worship. That’s the meaning of “glorifying
God”.
Let’s identify this second type of God’s Glory as expressive glory, this is the glory that
we express God has when we specifically glorify Him, when we set Him in high
esteem, when He is exalted in our words, thoughts and actions. Glorifying God
is showing His value and His worth to all, making God famous in the eyes of
all.
It is this second type of God’s Glory, this expressive glory, which occupies our
study tonight.
Question then: in our opening passage in John 11, when Jesus said that the
sickness of Lazarus was for the glory of God… is that talking about God’s Glory
as intrinsic glory or as expressive glory? Is it talking about God having glory
in Himself or God getting glory from others?
Definitely the second. The death of Lazarus and his
following resurrection occurred so that people might glorify the Son of God,
recognize who He is and believe in Him. That’s expressive glory.
4.
Biblical Basis for God’s Glory
Now as you share these verses, let’s think about whether
its talking about God’s Glory as His Beauty, intrinsic glory, or whether its
talking about God’s Glory as His worth, expressive glory.
Isaiah 43:7, I
Corinthians 10:31
5.
The Enemy of God
Another question for you? What
was the first sin?
If we’re talking about the sin of Lucifer, then we saw last
week that clearly it was pride. “To be exalted… to be like the Most High” is
what he wanted. Check out Isaiah 14
for that.
“…Fling away
ambition: by that sin fell the angels,” Shakespeare wrote.
But if we’re talking about the original sin of man, we’re
really still talking about the same thing. In Genesis 3, we read of the temptation of Eve and what was the nature
of the temptation? What could make her want to eat the forbidden fruit? Well,
the serpent said to her: “You will not
surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be
opened, and you will be LIKE GOD, knowing good and evil.”
Note, the same exact
delusion that Satan himself had he turned into the temptation that tore down
humanity. In both cases, there was the sin of pride.
Self is the great enemy of glorifying God. In New Testament
terminology, it’s that old man, it’s your flesh that wants to be exalted
instead of God, that wants to take care of Self rather than pay any attention
to the Lord. And that’s a basic part of our nature.
Has anyone ever seen an altruistic baby? You ever seen an
infant that has a pure and selfless concern for the well-being of others? Of
course not! Babies are little tyrants! Babies, as the purest forms of human
beings before we learn to mask ourselves for the sake of society, exhibit the
most fundamental of human behavior, and they would sooner hold a totalitarian
rule over the household they’re born into rather than spare one fleeting moment
of concern for somebody else.
But that’s just how we are. If we’re not careful, we never
grow out of our infantile tendencies toward only thinking about, caring for and
loving ourselves. Sin has made us selfish.
A.W. Tozer said quite appropriately: “As long as you set
yourself up as a little god to which you must be loyal, how can you hope to
find… peace?”
But the problem with our sinful infatuated Self-love is it presents a real danger. Remember
God’s moral attribute of Jealousy? He has a perfect and holy and very much
justified jealousy for His own nature. Rightfully so, He is the highest
possible Being in existence and He deserves infinite adoration.
And God deservedly jealous for His glory. Isaiah 42:8, “I am the LORD, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to
another, nor My praise to carved images.”
God is serious about His glory. How serious? Turn to Leviticus 9. He is deadly serious.
Leviticus 9:22-10:3.
How are we to understand this passage? That God must be glorified. No one is deserving
of glory besides for Him. There must be no arrogance, no pride, no selfishness
in the Christian life. Self is the great enemy of God’s Glory and it is an
enemy which resides in home territory, far nearer to us, and dangerously dearer
to us, than any other foe of God.
We need to be mindful of how we speak of ourselves and how
we speak of God. We must be careful about how we think of ourselves and how we
think of God. We must, as Paul writes in Romans
8, mortify, put to death the deeds of the body, the desires of the flesh.
We have to think and act upon God’s glory, by His grace and by His Spirit.
Let me share two verses on the subject of Self:
Galatians 2:20, “I
have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who
lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of
God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Luke 9:23, “And he said to all, “If
anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily
and follow me.”
6.
The Writing at the End
Certain musical artists of a by-gone era, such as Johann
Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel, used to write these three letters at
the end of some of their compositions: S. D. G.
What does that mean?
Soli Deo Gloria. They
wrote it at the end of their work to signify that their work was produced for
the sake of praising and glorifying God. Yet another reason why I think classic
music is so special. That aside, the music was meant to glorify God to the
exclusion of self-glorification and pride, even for such great works.
Now my final consideration for you tonight is this: Do you
think that at the end of your life, you could write the three letters S. D. G.
across the finished work?
After all, Ephesians
2:10 says “For we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works…”
You, not just we,
but you were created by God as His
handiwork. The Greek word there is poiema
(poy-ay-mah) from which we get our English word poem. You are literally God’s creative work just the same as Handel
and Bach penned their magnum opuses, their symphonies.
And someday, when your time has come, and the Conductor of
your Life lays down His baton at the conclusion of His work in you, shall they
inscribe soli Deo gloria, that this
life, for all its weaknesses, for all its failures, for all its shortcomings,
for all its strengths, for all its victories was lived in dedication to the
Glory of God Almighty?
Here we are, at the threshold of a new year, the first few
days of 2014. Do you have decisions to make this year? Well what are you going
to do about answering the question “What is the meaning of Life” and living out
the answer?
Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Submit
yourself to the purposes of God in your life, first and foremost of all that He
will get glory out of you, whether you like it or not. Oh? Oh yes.
God will be glorified in both vessels prepared for glory
and vessels prepared for destruction. As Lewis wrote: “A man can no more
diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the
sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.”
But you refuse Him worship and adoration He so deserves to
your own detriment. You would ignore the purpose of your existence to your own
downfall.
I hope that this year will mark a change in your life, if
such a change need be, when you realize your purpose for being who you are:
glorify God in wherever you fit into the great symphony He is conducting. If
God wants you to sing tenor, sing tenor. If He wants you to play cello, play
that cello. If you’ve got to be the guy on the drums that only comes in at one
or two parts, well then so be it. But give God the glory He deserves with your
life. Inscribe soli Deo gloria over
your every action.
Consider for the decisions you will have to make whether
this or that choice will freely glorify God and live of the reason for your
existence.
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