Dear BPCWAians, During the recently concluded family camps, I spoke on the topic of “Glorifying God” during our morning devotion messages. This is a phrase that most of us use quite readily in our conversations and in our responses during Bible studies. While it is an important thing, we must know and understand what it means to the Christian, and not just somethingthat we say. We are all familiar with 1Cor 10:31 “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God”. From here, we learn that even the most basic things in our life must be done for God’s glory. I hope that the recapturing of this series will help reinforce what it means to glorify God after camp. We must understand what does it mean to glorify God, what is the glory of God, how to glorify God, what does it cost us to achieve this chief end of man.

What the glory of God is not about. Today, some Christian circles teach that God is most glorified when man is most satisfied with Him. Many think that what God does, He does to make us happy. Over time, Christianity has become “me” centred, almost with God existing just to serve our pleasure and do good things for us. Over time, this will deteriorate to being no different from the pagan’s concept – the god that meets their desires most and satisfies them best is the god they will choose to be their god.

God declares the chief end of man. The chief end of man is determined and defined by the Creator, our God. Man, the creature, does not choose his end purpose. Our creation and election to salvation are for God’s glory. Isa 43:7 tells us so, “Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him”. To think that our salvation is only just merely to save us from the horrors of hell falls short of God’s purpose. Eph 1:4-7 & 14 tell us that our salvation and redemption is to praise God’s glory. God loves His elect beyond what any words can express. But even when God loves us, it is to praise the glory of His grace. When God delivered Saul the great persecutor and transformed him into the great Apostle, they praised God for what God did in Paul (Gal 1:24). We must certainly serve God after salvation. But even why we serve Him must be for His glory. Saved to serve is not an end but a means to the chief end of man. Everything that He gives us – even His Word – is for His glory, as the end purpose. Whatever our age and station in life, glorifying God is every man’s chief end and we must do even the normal things (not just the big and mighty things) in life to glorify Him, as reminded by 1 Cor 10:31.

God reveals His glory for us to exalt. To glorify someone or something is to give weight and substance to it. So, when we glorify God, it is to help people see with clarity the weightiness of God. It is to exalt God as great and mighty and to magnify Him. We often think of the glory of God as something that we see that is bright and dazzling, and that’s all. However, we need to first know what we are seeking to extol. God shows us what His glory is, and hence what we should lift up. 1) God’s glory is His character. When Moses asked God to show him His glory in Exod 33:18-19, God told Moses about His goodness. Later in Exod 34:5-8, what God showed to Moses of His glory was His attributes. These attributes are what the Westminster Confession of Faith rightly describes in answer to the question on “What is God”. From this, we see that God’s glory is intrinsically what He is and not just the dazzling physical brightness that we often think of. Knowing this, when we want to glorify God, then we must want people to see His attributes. 2) God’s glory is His creation (Ps 19:1) and His works towards man when He saves them. God’s creation declares His glory. His power is infinite and everything that exists is created by Him. And Ephesians 1 affirms His glory in the salvation of man as we have already dealt with. 3) He is Supreme above all. He alone is Almighty and hence to be praised above all. Re 4:11 “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created”. God is worthy to receive glory because He is above everything. None is comparable to Him. When we glorify God, it isn’t like praising man where it is often about helping the person feel good about himself. Because God is God and supreme above all, this glory is due to Him. God never lacks in glory and nothing we do can ever add to His glory. God is as glorious before His creation. Fulfilling our chief end of man is simply to declare and make known that pre-existing glory of God that has always been with Him. When we want to glorify God, it is simply to say that we have been elected, saved and everything in our life is to make people see more clearly who He is, what He has done, and that indeed He is worthy of all praise. But it begins with us truly seeing Him and behaving towards Him in ways that show that He is indeed glorious to us.

What I should change from now onwards. Heb 13:20-21 “Now the God  of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen”. 1) View the commandments in the Word of God as being very important in achieving my chief end. Every commandment given to man is for the purpose of transforming me to become more and more perfect. The Bible tells me how to live so that I can achieve my chief end. 2) Living to glorify God is a privilege that God gives to His children (Matt 3:9), not because God needs it. It is not a sacrifice, but a privilege on my part. 3) I must have a burning passion to make God the central and supreme focus of my life. It must be my delight, pleasure, and joy to live as He wishes. This must make me joyful and willing to change my life to glorify Him, instead of viewing what I leave behind as something to be dreaded. This must be my new vision in life – if my life doesn’t bring glory to God, then it is a useless life.

Yours in our Lord’s service,

Pastor