Advertisers are constantly trying to convince us of different things to pour ourselves into. Whether it is the latest car, a super fund or our footy team, advertisers want us to give worth to their product. Often they do it through a clever lie. It sounds like this, "if you buy our product you will get glory." They use tag lines like "because your worth it" or "you deserve a break" or "get the best you" or "stand out in the crowd". If you buy the product you will get the glory you deserve. But do we actually deserve it? What have we done to be worth it? Are we any more "worth it" than the starving kid in Africa? Advertisers want us to see ourselves as glorious, important and valuable. They especially want us to buy their products so that we will feel this way. But is wanting to make ourselves more important right?
This is the same lie, the serpent told in the garden of Eden. The Serpent told Adam and Eve to eat of the fruit so that they would be like God (Genesis 3:5). He convinced them that they could take the glory that belongs to God on themselves. Humanity has been doing this, ever since than, we all do it today. The reality is God deserves all glory, every good thing in this world was created by him. This is his world, he made it, he made us and we owe him everything. All our worth, importance and value belongs to him. Our lives should be devoted to God because he made us. As Revelation 4 says:
11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honour and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”
But God deserves glory not only for being the creator and sustainer of the world. God deserves glory for being our saviour. Think about what Jesus did when he became human. God left the comforts of heaven, to enter his creation, tarnished by humanity, to save those who want to take the glory that rightfully belongs to him. Even though God deserves our worship because he created us, he didn't force us to worship him with his mighty power, he gave up his mighty power to save us and love us. Philippians 2 speaks about what Jesus gave up to do this:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Even though God deserved our glory and praise he didn't force us to give it, instead he gave us himself. This shows us what we should be like. We should like Jesus serve others. We should have the same attitude as Jesus did. But we should also want to worship God more and more because of his great love for us, that came at such a cost to him.
So how do Christians glorify and worship God. There are two ways that stand out to me:
1. Boast in the Lord
2. Live for the Lord
Firstly Christians should boast about the Lord Jesus. By boast I mean talk about how good and amazing he is. It is so easy to want to talk about a new piece of technology or how good a new movie is but why don't we often talk about how good and awesome it is to know Jesus. You don't have to look like a total weirdo when you do it and have some weird spiritual experience (in fact that freaks most people out). But we should be able to talk about Jesus like we do about any other good thing, except realising that Jesus is the best thing. I love to boast about my footy team, my iphone, my sporting abilities, my cleverness but these are nothing (and are things I can't take credit for because they are gifts from God) compared to knowing Jesus. I shouldn't want glory, I should want God to get the glory. Even my best achievements couldn't have happened if he hadn't made me or given me what I needed. As it says in Jeremiah 9:
23 This is what the LORD says:
“Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
or the strong man boast of his strength
or the rich man boast of his riches,
24 but let him who boasts boast about this:
that he understands and knows me,
that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,”
declares the LORD.
Do your friends know that the best thing in your life is Jesus? Do they know that you think all the best things in your life are gifts from him? They won't unless you talk about him (preferably like a normal person and not a religious weirdo).
The second way we worship God is by living our lives his way. Romans 12 puts it this way:
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.
Firstly it is "in view of God's mercy". We worship God because of who he is and what he is done not because we know we are supposed to. If you are finding it hard to worship God, you don't need a special experience or to try harder, you need to remind yourself of how lost and hopeless you were without God, and how merciful he was to save you.
Secondly our worship involves being "living sacrifices". We lay our life down for Jesus. God doesn't want you to make him just the number 1 priority of your life, he wants you to make him the only priority of your life. To worship God means to live your entire life for what he wants. And here is what I have found, when I do that, it turns out that what God wanted was better than what I wanted for myself. The best thing we can do in life is glorify God by enjoying relationship with him. All of life lived following God is a life that glorifies God.
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.(1 Corinthians 10:31)
Soli Deo Glory.
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