Spiritual Discipline - Glorify God in All Things

Many people are lost today and one way we are lost is we have lost our spiritual compass.
To illustrate this point I will share with you a lesson that I have to share with my students many times.
As a science teacher I have had to teach my students about the idea of a heliocentric solar system.
For thousands of years people thought that the earth was the center of the Solar System. They thought that the Sun and all other celestial bodies orbited around the earth. The Earth was the Center of all things.


Some of the Greeks had proposed that the Sun was the center of the Solar System but the theory did not gain much traction.

It wasn’t until the 16th century that Copernicus proved that the Earth actually revolved around the Sun. This was a revolutionary teaching during this time period. It was later proved by Kepler and Galileo that the Earth indeed does go around the Sun.

In the same way a seismic sift has occurred in many Churches. Many groups, and this crosses across all boundaries, have placed man at the center of the Christian faith. Many have exalted man as the decider of all things and a doctrine that was coined in Latin as Sola Deo Gloria has taken a beating. The Earliest Christians and all orthodox Christians through the centuries have understood that all things are to be done to God’s Glory.

We must understand that God is the center and not man. Salvation is not about us but about God. Nothing that we do is about us but about God.

It is all to God’s Glory.

1 John 2: 12
12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name's sake.

Our very salvation is to give Glory to the name of Christ.

When we consider all that we do as we order and discipline our lives we must begin with this axiom that cannot be shaken. If we don’t start here we will not have our lives ordered and disciplined in a way that is proper and godly.



Christ came to this Earth for that Purpose. The very Son of the Most High God came to glorify the Father.

Philippians 2: 5-11
5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.


In this passage we see the very essence of the Incarnation of Christ. Jesus purposefully emptied Himself of glory just to come to this earth.
He was humbled, He was humiliated, He bore the Cross with a willing heart and All for What?

We miss the point many times but Paul makes it clear that Jesus’ main purpose in all of this was to the GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER.

IT IS ALL ABOUT GOD’S GLORY.

Our lives must be ordered around this controlling thought and all actions should stem from this.




Even in the Cross Jesus glorified His Father.

John 12: 27-28
27 "Now My soul has become troubled ; and what shall I say, 'Father, save Me from this hour '? But for this purpose I came to this hour. 28 "Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came out of heaven : "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again."

Jesus took on the pain, the scorn the ridicule all for God’s Glory. To Glorify the name of God.

Jesus understood that He would have to go and was troubled because of it but He set this as His goal as he readily accepted this task of the Cross.

I. Our lives must be ordered in that All things Glorify God.

As we look at this we ask how does this apply to us.

How does this apply to how we order or live our lives?

1 Corinthians 10: 31
31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

After this argument over food that is sacrificed to idols and whether or not a Christian can partake of such food Paul makes his main point and that is that all things are done for the Glory of God.

That has huge implications for the Christian life.



We must take inventory of our lives.

Do you live each day to Glorify God?

Is that an over-riding principle in your life?

How do we know? There is a saying that actions speak louder than words.
1) Time – how do we spend our time. How do you spend your time?
If you were to sit here today and take an inventory of the last week in your life, how much time did you spend Glorifying God?

Many misunderstand this as time that you are praying or reading your Bible but it means more that just that.

Glorifying God encompasses every second of your day, how we treat others, how much time we spend in prayer, what we watch on TV, what types of movies we watch, what type of music we listen to.
All of that is God’s territory, there is not turf that you get to keep for yourself.

Are you carving out time for yourself and neglecting God. Is there an area of selfishness that you want to hold on to for your own recreation, or pride, or desire that takes president over your devotion to God.
African Proverb – A rich man was a tyrant and a poor family wanted to desperately wanted to buy a house. The rich man sold them a house for a very low price and the only catch to the deal is the rich man would still own one portion of the house. The portion of the house would be one nail over the door of the home. That would be the rich man’s lone last possession of that house.

The family purchases the house and moves in and pretty soon the rich man comes and brings a dead carcass and hangs it on the nail over the door. After a short time the animal becomes very decayed and the smell is so bad the family moves out. The man repossesses the house and continues his money making scam on the next family.

The moral to that story is that if we give Satan one area of our life, one small section of our time and hide it from God, he will the make the whole thing a decaying mess of sin.

2) We must be all in. – This is a phrase used in sports a good bit and coaches understand for a team to be successful it must be all in your will loose.
Christianity is an all or none deal. Our modern world of self-help sermons and me first Christianity with entertainment replacing worship is misshaping our faith.
If we are going to live a life that Glorifies God we must be willing to sacrifice all for His Kingdom.

Matthew 10: 34-39
34 "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth ; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 "For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW ; 36 and A MAN'S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD. 37 "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 "He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.


Jesus makes it clear that His Kingdom must come first. How many of us can say that we live up to this. I know that in my own life I read this passage and realize that work must be done with the help of God. I know deep in my bones that without God’s kingdom this earth is hopeless. If it is that important, if eternal salvation and the salvation of this world is that important than the Kingdom must be pretty important in my life.

How much is one soul worth? Can we put value on the soul or eternal destiny of an individual? When we look at our loved ones I would ask how much do we value their soul?

It is of ultimate importance that we ask ourselves this question.

How important is the Kingdom to us?
Do we live our lives in line with Jesus and what He is saying?

Do you believe that the work of the Church is part of God’s Kingdom?
If you don’t I would challenge you to look at Scripture and it is clear that the local Church and the Church universal will be the bearers of this good news of the Kingdom and the mysteries of God.

When you look at your life does this church and the assembly of this Church take precedence over all other things.

My Dad did something one time that I will always remember. I had football practice during our Gospel Meeting. I told my Coach that I had to leave to go to church at 5:30 and he was a little curt with me about it. At about 5:45 my Dad walked on the practice field without saying a word and took me off the field. My coach got angry but it left an impression on me that church was more important than football. It was a lesson that has come back to me that now that I am an adult I want my kids here every time the door opens to be around godly people.

Do we have enough a commitment to the Kingdom that our money, time, and devotion to the assembly of the Church are in line with a life that will seek the Kingdom at all costs.

3) In a life that Glorifies God do we abhor sin. Does sin upset us and even grieve us or make us angry?

Many times we sugar coat the Bible and neglect certain parts because we feel like it will offend people but there is one story that I would like to turn back to that doesn’t get preached about very often.

The story of the Golden Calf in Exodus 32 and the consequences of that sin.

Moses has just got a glimpse of the glory of God and his face is shining because of it. Moses leaves the Israelites in the charge of Aaron his brother and a terrible thing happens.

The people make a golden calf – much like what they had worshipped in Egypt and gave this graven image the glory that was supposed to be given to God. They take of their clothes and do things so detestable that it embarrasses them even before the heathen people around them.

When Moses returns from the Mount he is in raged by what he sees. It is at this point we pick up in the narrative of Exodus 32.





Exodus 32: 26-29
26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, "Whoever is for the LORD, come to me!" And all the sons of Levi gathered together to him. 27 He said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Every man of you put his sword upon his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbor.' " 28 So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day. 29 Then Moses said, "Dedicate yourselves to the LORD -for every man has been against his son and against his brother today to other -in order that He may bestow a blessing upon you today."

Moses asks for the faithful and it is the Levites, the ones that will become the priests of the nation that respond.

What does Moses ask them to do? To go out and kill those that have sinned, not kill the enemy but brother friend and neighbor.

God’s holiness is more important than any familial relationship it is sacred and when it is disgraced something must be done. People have such a hard time with Judgment day and the wrath of God but they forget that sin is affront to an all holy God.

Sin is serious business that must be dealt with.

Many say, that was in the OT and wrath of God is an old thing. I would say that you find that same wrath toward sin in the New Testament.

It has been judged by Christ and is awaiting a final day of vindication and it is coming. It will not be the Levites that go out and collect the evil but it will be the angels of God that will come and collect those that have been disobedient.

Jesus had this same type of zeal that we see in Moses.
There was Psalm of David in which David cried out to God in distress because of all the wrongdoing going on around him and it said of David that he:

Psalm 69: 9
9 For zeal for Your house has consumed me

David was consumed with zeal for God and this same verse is quoted by the apostles when they remember what Jesus did when He cleansed the Temple in Jerusalem. They saw this verse as a Messianic prophecy of the zeal of Jesus.

The Temple had become a place of corruption. All over the Empire different currencies were used but only one type of Temple currency could be used to buy sacrifices in the Temple. The Temple had a pretty good racketeering operation going on in the time of Jesus.
One would get to the Temple and go through the money changers to change out their money into the Temple currency. They would skim a little off the top at that point and basically take your money and not give you as much back in Temple currency.

If you brought your own animal from home to be sacrificed the priest would simply declare it unclean and you would have to go into the Temple courts to buy a clean animal for sacrifice. The prices for these animals would be astronomical. It is into this type of corruption that Jesus walks and you can imagine His anger.

Jesus burned with such anger at the corruption that He drove them from the Temple. I think we don’t realize the violence of this action. Jesus drove them out. These guys that were making all of this money would not go easily but Jesus drove them out.

When we look at this, do we have this same type of view of sin as God does?

Are we seeking to Glorify God so much in our lives that sin makes us upset along with God?

When something comes on TV that is terrible for our children to watch do you keep it there and watch it or do you turn it off?

When there is a magazine eye level with your child at a check out counter in the grocery store or Wal-Mart with basically soft porn staring at them do we say something to the manager? Do we just put up with it and say well that is just the world we live in?

When someone in our company tells a bad joke or a dirty joke do we laugh and play along or do we address the issue?

Do you allow people to take God’s name in vain in your presence?

These are all ways in which we can manifest the same attitude God has toward sin. We can grieve along with God and do something about the sin.

Conclusion:

We are called as all humans to give honor to God. Philippians 2 tells us that one day all men will bow and confess Jesus. In this life we have the opportunity to do so and live in victory. God wants victory over sin and the Devil in your life now. That begins by acknowledging God as Sovereign and Jesus as His only Son. The only way to give God glory is the acknowledge His Son Jesus. We must then respond to that fact and order our lives properly.