Category Archives: The Attributes of God

What does it Mean to Glorify God?

Posted by Dan C. on

In this continuation of a Thomas Watson sermon that addresses the chief end of man (Part 1 is here) and (Part 2 is here), four ways of glorifying God are discussed. . .

“Q. What is it to glorify God?

A. Glorifying God consists in four things: 1. Appreciation, 2. Adoration, 3. Affection, 4. Subjection. This is the yearly rent we pay to the crown of heaven.

1. Appreciation. To glorify God is to set God highest in our thoughts, and, to have a venerable esteem of him. Psalm 92:8. “Thou, Lord, art most high for evermore.” Psalm 97:9, “Thou art exalted far above all gods.” There is in God all that may draw forth both wonder and delight; there is a constellation of all beauties; he is prima causa [the first cause], the original and spring-head of being, who sheds a glory upon the creature. We glorify God when we are God-admirers; admire his attributes, which are the glistening beams by which the divine nature shines forth; his promises which are the charter of free grace, and the spiritual cabinet where the pearl of price is hid; the noble effects of his power and wisdom in making the world, which is called “the work of his fingers.” Psalm 8:3. To glorify God is to have God-admiring thoughts; to esteem him most excellent, and search for diamonds in this rock only.

2. Glorifying God consists in adoration, or worship. Psalm 29:2. “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” There is a twofold worship: 1. A civil reverence which we give to persons of honour. Gen. 23:7, “Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the children of Heth.” Piety is no enemy to courtesy. 2. A divine worship which we give to God as his royal prerogative. Neh. 8:6,”they bowed their heads, and worshipped the Lord with their faces towards the ground.” This divine worship God is very jealous of; it is the apple of his eye, the pearl of his crown; which he guards, as he did the tree of life, with cherubims and a flaming sword, that no man may come near it to violate it. Divine worship must be such as God himself has appointed, otherwise it is offering strange fire, Lev. 10:1. The Lord would have Moses make the tabernacle, “according to the pattern in the mount.” Exod. 25:40. He must not leave out anything in the pattern, nor add to it. If God was so exact and curious about the place of worship, how exact will he be about the matter of his worship! Surely here every thing must be according to the pattern prescribed in his word.

3. Affection. This is part of the glory we give to God, who counts himself glorified when he is loved. Deut. 6:5, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul.” There is a twofold love: 1. Amor concupiscentiae, a love of concupiscence, which is self-love; as when we love another because he does us a good turn. A wicked man may be said to love God, because he has given him a good harvest, or filled his cup with wine. This is rather to love God’s blessing than to love God. 2. Amor amicitiae, a love of delight, as a man takes delight in a friend. This is to love God indeed; the heart is set upon God, as a man’s heart is set upon his treasure. This love is exuberant, not a few drops, but a stream. It is superlative; we give God the best of our love, the cream of it. Cant. 8:2,”I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.” If the spouse had a cup more juicy and spiced, Christ must drink of it. It is intense and ardent. True saints are seraphims, burning in holy love to God [from the Hebrew word saruph, to be burned up]. The spouse was amore perculsa, [an overwhelming love], in fainting fits, “sick of love,” Cant. 2:5. Thus to love God is to glorify him. He who is the chief of our happiness has the chief of our affections.

4. Subjection. This is when we dedicate ourselves to God, and stand ready dressed for his service. Thus the angels in heaven glorify him; they wait on his throne, and are ready to take a commission from him; therefore they are represented by the cherubims with wings displayed, to show how swift they are in their obedience. We glorify God when we are devoted to his service; our head studies for him, our tongue pleads for him, and our hands relieve his members. The wise men that came to Christ did not only bow the knee to him, but presented him with gold and myrrh. Matt. 2:11. So we must not only bow the knee, give God worship, but bring presents of golden obedience. We glorify God when we falter at no service, when we fight under the banner of his gospel against an enemy, and say to him as David to King Saul, “Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine,” 1 Sam. 17:32.

A good Christian is like the sun, which not only sends forth heat, but goes its circuit round the world. Thus, he who glorifies God has not only his affections heated with love to God, but he goes his circuit too; he moves vigorously in the sphere of obedience.”

So What?

How am I doing? I  need to grow in both ‘inward devotion to’ and outward expression of’ all of the areas discussed. I am grateful for a particular verse of scripture found in Paul’s letter to one of the early churches.

” . . .for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” Philippians 2:13

To glorify God with my everything in my life sounds like a tall order (it’s impossible in purely human terms), but the God who saved me will bring it to pass as I yield to the written word as it instructs me and to the Holy Spirit who guides, strengthens and empowers me.

Grandma’s House and God

Posted by Dan C. on

When I was just a little boy (isn’t there a Simon and Garfunkle tune somewhere in there?) we would visit my Grandma ‘s house in Wisconsin, out in the country several miles away from the nearest town.

Among the memories of my grandparents’ farm, apart from all the great times playing in the barnyard, looking for arrowheads and picking fresh strawberries, peas and sweet corn from Grandma’s garden, are thoughts of God.

Two things in particular reminded me of God at Grandma’s house. The first was being outside and looking at the night sky and seeing so many stars! If you have ever been in the country where there aren’t any street lights, city lights, neon signs, etc., you know what I mean. My little mind would go WOW – God made ALL THAT!

The second thing that left a “God’ impression on my little heart was the little white country church with the tall steeple and stained glass windows, surrounded by tall fragrant pine trees, across the road from Gtandma’s house.   Well, not the church itself – I don’t remember the inside, the preacher or a Sunday school teacher. I remember being being outside on Sunday morning and hearing the organ and the hymn ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’, echoing through those tall pines and fill the atmosphere! It was awesome!

I knew I was just a little boy and just about everything and everybody was bigger than me (except kittens and puppies), but God was bigger than the whole WORLD and everything it!  It was kind of like Abraham’s attitude when he bargained for Sodom:

“Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes.” Genesis 18:27

It was a sense of my own smallness and God’s greatness. Well, that God is still my God , the God who is sovereign over all the affairs of men, the God who sent his own son to die for my sin and who will come one day to judge the earth.

It seems that somehow that much of the church today has made mortals bigger and God smaller. God seems more like a kindly grandfather that wants to ‘spoil’ us – that he lives just to gives us all the things we want in our quest for our ‘best life now’. Or, that God cannot imagine heaven without us in it, and that he sent his Son to die for us, hoping that some of us might (all on our own) someday choose him.

The Bible is full of this idea that God does everything he does first and foremost for his own glory – even our salvation! Listen to these few words from Ephesians.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
      To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:1-14

Many years have come and gone since I visited Grandma’s house, but I NEVER want to lose that picture of God!

What is the Glory of God?

Posted by Dan C. on

This is a continuation of the Thomas Watson sermon concerning the chief end of man started in this earlier blog, that end being to glorify God and enjoy him forever. The sermon continues. . .

“When we speak of God’s glory, the question will be moved, What are to understand by God’s glory?

Answer. There is a twofold glory:

1. The glory that God has in himself, his intrinsic glory. Glory is essential to the Godhead, as light is to the sun: he is called the “God of glory.” Acts 7:2. Glory is the sparkling of the Deity; it is so co-natural to the Godhead, that God cannot be God without it. The creature’s honour is not essential to his being. A king is a man without his regal ornaments, when his crown and royal robes are taken away; but God’s glory is such an essential part of his being, that he cannot be God without it. God’s very life lies in his glory. This glory can receive no addition, because it is infinite; it is that which God is most tender of, and which he will not part with. Isa. 48:11, “My glory I will not give to another.” God will give temporal blessings to his children, such as wisdom, riches, honour; he will give them spiritual blessings, he will give them grace, he will give them his love, he will give them heaven; but his essential glory he will not give to another. King Pharaoh parted with a ring off his finger to Joseph, and a gold chain, but he would not part with his throne. Gen. 41:40. “Only in the throne will I be greater than thou.” So God will do much for his people; he will give them the inheritance; he will put some of Christ’s glory, as mediator upon them; but his essential glory he will not part with; “in the throne he will be greater.”

2. The glory which is ascribed to God, or which his creatures labour to bring to him. 1 Chron. 16:29, “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name.” And, 1 Cor. 6:20, “Glorify God in your body, and in your spirit.” The glory we give God is nothing else but our lifting up his name in the world, and magnifying him in the eyes of others. Phil. 1:20, “Christ shall be magnified in my body.”

So What?

How do we define lifting up his name in the world, and magnifying him in the eyes of others? A comment to the earlier post described one way we give him glory: “I bring Him glory when I tell the truth about Him, or when my actions tell the truth about Him.”  We bring him glory when our words and actions tell the truth about him. Our actions ‘speaking louder than words’ is what it really means to me in Acts 1:8 – you will be my witnesses. Our words give voice to the reality of Christ in us, the hope of glory (Col 1:27).

To be continued. . .

Thanks, Michelle!

What is the chief end of man?

Posted by Dan C. on

That’s just another way of asking the question: “Why are we here?”, or “What’s our purpose?”  It’s a question that has probably been asked throughout time as we know it. It’s the topic of the biggest selling ‘Christian’ book in history. Phrased slightly differently, it’s the first question asked, and answered, in the Westminster Shorter Catechism that dates back to the 17th century. A notable Puritan preacher of the time, Thomas Watson, addressed the question in one of his sermons, the first part of which is below:

“Question. 1. What is the chief end of man?

Answer. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.

Here are two ends of life specified. 1. The glorifying of God. 2. The enjoying of God.

First. The glorifying of God, 1 Pet. 4:11. “That God in all things may be glorified.” The glory of God is a silver thread which must run through all our actions. l Cor. 10:31. “Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” Everything works to some end in things natural and artificial; now, man being a rational creature, must propose some end to himself, and that should be, that he may lift up God in the world. He had better lose his life than the end of his living. The great truth asserted is that the end of every man’s living should be to glorify God. Glorifying God has respect to all the persons in the Trinity; it respects God the Father who gave us life; God the Son, who lost his life for us; and God the Holy Ghost, who produces a new life in us; we must bring glory to the whole Trinity.”

So What?

With 1 Cor 10:31 in mind, I am forced to consider how my behavior might change if I asked myself the simple question: “How does this (whatever I am doing or thinking/about to do) bring glory to God?” I think it puts the popular W.W.J.D. (What Would Jesus Do) thing, with all ‘stuff’ that goes with it, on a totally different level. While I am not knocking W.W.J.D as an honorable thought (other than all the aforementioned ‘stuff”), it can turn the Lord of the universe into nothing more than a moral example with a cute slogan.

And by the way, it doesn’t take a 300 page book and a 40 day ‘journey’ to figure this out! After the first couple of pages of appearing to say it’s all about God, that one turned out to be all about ‘me’ anyway.

Life really is all about God and His Glory!