For five weeks we walked through the five solas, the pillars that anchor our understanding of how we are saved. And the heart of it is this: followers of Jesus do not actually have any role in our salvation. We brought a bunch of sin to the table, and Jesus did everything else.
In week one, we learned that Scripture alone helps us find the truth of Jesus. In week two, faith alone told us that our salvation cannot be based on anything we have done or will do. It is based on what Jesus already did. Week three was grace alone, where we learned that we did not deserve it to begin with, and God gave the gift anyway. And then Christ alone: there is no other way to experience salvation except through Jesus Christ. That is four weeks of preaching in about fifteen seconds. All of it comes back to our theme verse.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV)
This final message lands the plane. No one else can take any credit at all for us being saved. Nobody on the planet can take credit for your salvation. It goes only to the glory of God. He is the only one who gets the glory for what Jesus did for us all on the cross.
What Jesus did was the most humble thing any human has ever done. It marks the greatest expression of love in the history of humanity. There has never been anything like it, and the only thing that will ever come close is Him coming back to receive His church for Himself. And He did it while He was fully God and fully man.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:8-11 (NIV)
Jesus came for the glory of God. Yes, He came for you. He even came to defeat the devil and disrupt the enemy’s work. But Jesus also came for the glory of God.
Whatever You Do
In the early church, believers had some misunderstanding about what this meant, and it came from a confusing place. Corinth was a pagan city, and the pagans were used to sacrificing food to idols. But food that gets sacrificed to an idol is still just sitting there afterward, because the idol, a carved piece of wood, is not actually doing anything to receive it. So the pagans would set the meat before the idol, wait a minute, and then take it to the market and sell it. Then people would eat it.
Some of the Christians in Corinth had no problem eating that meat. But some who were being converted out of paganism still had the old way of thinking in them: "Can I really eat this? It was sacrificed, right?" It was a real question in that church, so Paul took time to address it. His answer was yes. You have total freedom to eat it. It was just food that was temporarily stationed next to a dead object of wood and then transferred to the market. It does not impact your relationship with Jesus at all.
But Paul also understood that we still should be sensitive. Some of those people had just walked out of the pagan temple and discovered Jesus, and they did not want to eat that meat and walk back into the old way of life. So Paul said yes, you have freedom, but just because you have it does not mean you always use it, because your life is not just about you. Your life is bigger than you.
So how do you decide what is allowed and what is wise? Paul concludes it all with one sentence.
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV)
Paul is saying that if you pursue the glory of God, if you say, "I want my life to be for the glory of God," your decisions are going to line up. You are going to help people and be nice to people and honor people, but you are going to bring all glory to God.
Let me define glory real quick. Glory is the weight we place on God for who He is. We are thankful for what God has done. But God is our source, and without doing a single thing for us, He would still deserve our glory, even more so now that we have been saved and set free by Jesus. When we give Him glory, it is the full weight we give Him as our source. It is our total and complete worship for who He is.
And that is our charge: to live lives that glorify God. We cannot take credit for our lives, because He created us. We cannot take credit for our salvation, because He saved us. Therefore He is the only one who should receive the glory.
Does that mean we are not blessed by God? No, of course not. We are absolutely blessed. I know some of you are blessed because I have read your bio. It says hashtag blessed. And I believe you! Mine says hashtag highly favored. We are blessed, and we get to receive that blessing from God.
Does it mean we should not honor others? Of course we should honor others. It is very biblical to do so. Some people simply deserve our honor, and it is okay to hold people in high regard. We do not worship them. We do not give them glory. But we can absolutely honor them, and that distinction in God’s Word is very important. You might honor someone for what they have done for you. Maybe they are a parent, or they play a role in your life as a close friend or a mentor, or they hold a position of leadership. We even honor for age. One of the men in our church is named Reed Bacon, and I call him Mr. Reed. I am his pastor, and yet I call him Mr. Reed, because I honor his age and I honor his wisdom.
We can honor people. We can appreciate people. We can even praise people. But all glory goes to God. The full weight of who He is needs to go to Him. It is His to receive and His to do with as He wants.
And He does something with His glory. In John 17, Jesus is praying for all believers, which means this is a prayer over you. He is talking to God the Father.
I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. John 17:22-23 (NIV)
Stop and think about that. God, who receives all the glory, decided through Jesus to give glory. We receive the glory of God, and it has a purpose. It brings us to complete unity, and then the world will know. When we experience the glory of God, it helps other people believe, because they see His glory in and through us. And one of the greatest truths in this verse is that Jesus is saying He and His church will be as tight as God the Father is with Jesus. How about that closeness?
So an interesting question comes up. Should we ever give glory to somebody else? By my count, Scripture shows about four times where someone attempted it. Three ended in correction, and one ended in death.
In Acts 10, Cornelius falls at Peter’s feet, and Peter says, "Stand up, I am only a man myself." In Acts 14, a crowd in the city of Lystra gets so fired up about Paul and Barnabas that they try to worship them, and Paul says, "We too are only human, like you." In Revelation 22, John is getting a tour of heaven, and he falls down flat in front of an angel. The angel says, "Don’t do that! ... Worship God!"
Then Acts 12 tells the one that did not end well. Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address that I am sure he thought was outstanding. The people shouted, "This is the voice of a god, not of a man." And Herod received it. He took that worship. What belonged to God, he decided not even to give away, but to keep for himself. And the Bible says an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. Look it up. Acts 12, right around verse 21. That is great reading for your afternoon: a man eaten by worms.
The glory of God is not ours to hold. It is only ours to give back to Him.
Blinded By Self
Now, I do not know that we have that exact problem today, with people falling down and worshiping other people or angels. But the church has wrestled with something underneath it for two thousand years. We keep being blinded by ourselves. We keep letting things get in the way that push us further from God instead of closer to Him. The same thing happened between Jesus and the religious leaders of His day, and John 12 tells it.
Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in front of them, John says they still would not believe in Him. And look at the order of what happens next. Verse 37 says they would not believe. By verse 39, they could not believe. They were refusing, and the refusing brought on the blindness. But then verse 42 says something remarkable.
Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human praise more than praise from God. John 12:42-43 (NIV)
Some of the leaders had real faith. The Bible makes no distinction like they half believed or sort of believed. They had the faith, but they kept their mouths shut. They feared what the other religious leaders would do to them if they confessed that they now believed in Jesus.
Think of somebody you know who is very selfish, very self-absorbed, very self-centered. You probably have a picture of a person in your mind. And if you cannot think of anyone, it might be that you are the selfish, self-absorbed person. But the issue we face as a church runs deeper than the obvious cases, because pride can be sneaky. It is not always the surface-level pride where you can just tell that person is all about themselves. A more subtle version catches believers, and I think that same silent pride can infect us.
It happens when we have a friend who we know is far from God, and we choose to keep our mouths shut about the Jesus who has saved us. It happens at restaurants. Some of you, when the chips hit the table at Chuy’s, this is your whole prayer: "All right, Lord Jesus, bless. In Jesus’ name." And then you dive in. How about pausing and truly thanking God? "Lord, I just want to pause in the middle of this rushed, busy day and say thank You that I can sit down at this meal." I am not trying to be legalistic about it. I am saying we sometimes rush past moments where God is trying to do something. We miss the mark on giving God all the glory because we are moving so fast, and maybe some of it is rooted in a little bit of fear or a little bit of pride.
We do not want to mention Jesus at work. We do not want to upset anybody. Honestly, we should upset a whole bunch more people! If the truth of God’s Word upsets people, that is not on us. That is between them and God. Let’s leave it with Him. Let’s invite our neighbor. Let’s pray at the restaurant. Let’s put the bumper sticker on the car. And if you put the bumper sticker on your car, it does mean you have to drive safely. Be a good representation.
Jesus came and showed us exactly what a humble life should look like, not only with His words but with His actions.
Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life." John 12:23-25 (NIV)
The hour had come for God to bring His glory onto Jesus, and Jesus describes it as a kernel of wheat falling to the ground and dying so it can produce many seeds. Then He says anyone who loves their life will lose it. You can absolutely love the world and the things of the world. You can think this is your only shot and YOLO it all day long. But YOLT is true as well. You do live twice. Another life is coming, and we need to be way more about that life than this one. This world is not just going to die one day. It is already decaying. And Jesus is not saying to skip this life. We have an assignment here. He is saying, "Do not fall in love with this part." Fall in love with Him, fall in love with heaven, and fall in love with the assignment God has given us on earth, so that a whole bunch more people can join us in the next life.
How do we do that? We do it by living a life that brings glory to God in every area, holding nothing back.
A Life That Gives God All Glory
1. Have humility that honors God.
We all need this one. I need this one. If Jesus came in humility to serve all of mankind, then those of us who have received Him ought to follow in that humility and serve Him, His purposes, and His plan.
That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble." Submit yourselves, then, to God. … Come near to God and he will come near to you. … Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:6-8,10 (NIV)
James lays out the instructions, and then comes the promise: humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up. If you are down, the way to get up is not to get up. It is to go further down. Humble yourself before God, and let Him lift you up out of whatever situation you came in with.
Jesus came to serve, and so should we. And we do not serve out of obligation. Serving is not a have-to. It is a get-to! We have been set free by Jesus, and it is a delight to serve God and His church. Ask anybody on our Dream Team why they serve, and they will tell you straight up, "I am here to honor God. I get to worship God with my serve." Somebody put your welcome guide together this morning. Somebody kept the coffee full, picked up the trash, and made the building hospitable. They were not doing it for their own glory, or to receive credit, or to balance out something they did wrong this week. That is just not how it works. They do it because they honor God and love His church, because Jesus has transformed them and set them free. And the fact that you get blessed in the process is the coolest bonus from God.
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:10-11 (NIV)
We serve for the glory of God. And in the same passage from John 12, Jesus adds a promise.
Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. John 12:26 (NIV)
What an amazing promise from God. Serve God, and He honors you. God honors me when I serve Him.
2. Have friends who love God.
We need to give glory to God in our relationships. I told the men at our men’s breakfast this weekend, "Some of you need an IRS audit on your friendships." You know what an audit does. It looks for the anomalies, the things that should not be there, and it finds ways to correct them. Some of us need some corrections in our relationships. That is between you and God. Find some friends who love God.
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:24-25 (NIV)
That is exactly what you get in a small group: people who spur you on and encourage you. Some of you need somebody to encourage you, somebody to sharpen you, somebody who sees you. Somebody that doesn’t see you for your sin, but sees you for who you are as a son or a daughter of the Most High God. Somebody who calls gifts out of you that may have been suppressed a long time, who sees things in you that maybe no one else on planet Earth is seeing. The power of the Holy Spirit working through a person in your small group can help you see yourself, not just for how they see you, but for how God sees you.
I need that too. I have people like that speaking into my life. I could not do what I do without people who believe, and who through the power of the Holy Spirit say, "This is who you are in Christ." Our small groups exist for exactly this, and you can find one anytime in our directory at rise.church/groups. God helps me when I choose His family.
3. Live your life to glorify God.
Live your life. That is a statement of totality. Living is the summation of everything you are doing here. So give all of it to glorify God.
Have you ever seen the movie Chariots of Fire? It won Best Picture back in 1981, the year I was born, so I saw it when I was about five, which means I mostly remember the theme song. But it tells the true story of an Olympic runner named Eric Liddell. They called him the Flying Scotsman, and in the movie they gave him a line people still quote today: "God made me fast."
In 1924, Eric qualified for the Olympics in Paris. His race was the 100 meter dash, and he was the best in the world. People talked about that race the way we sometimes talk today: the gold is already his, so let’s figure out who gets silver and bronze. But when the schedule came out, the opening heats of the 100 meter dash fell on a Sunday. And Eric Liddell would not run on a Sunday. He drew a line in the sand and said, "That day belongs to God, and I am not going to go against my God."
The newspapers vilified him for that decision. He had just vacated a gold medal his country was counting on, and some people even called him a traitor. One of the fastest men alive was taking a beating only because he wanted to honor God.
So the team put him in the 400 meter race instead. He was not prepared for it. A sprinter running the 400 is a very different thing, and people said he did not have a chance. Then, the morning of the final, someone on the team slipped a folded, handwritten note into his hand. It said, "In the old book it says, ’He that honors me I will honor.'" That quote is from God Himself, in 1 Samuel 2:30. If you honor God, He will honor you.
Eric drew the worst lane on the track, the outside lane, where you run blind. You cannot see where any of the other runners are, so you have no idea how to judge your pace. Going from the 100 to the 400, it was pretty much the worst thing that could have happened. And Eric Liddell lit out in that 400 meter race, ran flat out from start to finish, won the gold medal, and set a new world record.
Eric honored God, and God chose to see that stand and to bless and honor Eric in return. You would think that is where the credits roll, and that is what Chariots of Fire did. But that is not the end of Eric’s story. Because of the honor he received from God, he chose not to keep any of it. Eric Liddell walked away from the sport, the fame, and the fortune, and he moved to China to become a missionary. For the rest of his life he served people and served God in a country that desperately needed the message of Jesus. He died in a prison camp about twenty years after that gold medal was won, still serving Jesus to the very end.
God gave Eric glory, and Eric chose to give it right back to God, and to live his life for the glory of God. I am calling us to do the same.
Revelation 4 shows us a scene in heaven, and it is happening right now. Four living creatures cry, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty," day and night. And as they do, watch what the twenty-four elders do with their crowns. Not crowns they made themselves. Crowns they received from God.
The twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: "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." Revelation 4:10-11 (NIV)
If we will submit ourselves completely to God, He will secure us in a way we cannot even imagine. You will be safe from every storm. You will even be safe from this life, because this earth is no longer your home, and you recognize how temporary it is. God secures me when I completely submit to Him.
If you have never given your life to Jesus, hear this. The greatest thing you can do to give God glory is to give your life to Him. God loved the world, every single one of us, so much that He came to give you the opportunity to say yes to Jesus. He stands at the door and knocks. He will not force His way in. He is hoping you will open it.
And for everyone who already knows Him, the prayer our church prayed together on Sunday says the whole message in a few sentences: "I give You my life. I give You all glory. I will live my life only for You."
