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GLORIFYING GOD

Ruthie was excited when she came home from school. She said, "Mom, Millie and I taped a Christian message. We wanted to make a testimony to all the unsaved kids." She played the tape while her mother finished preparing dinner. As the tape ended, Ruthie glanced down the hall. "What are you doing in my room?" she screamed at her brother, Pete. As Ruthie raced to her room, her mother flipped the tape over and set it to record. Ruthie was yelling, "You pig!" There was a thud as she hit her brother, then pounding footsteps as he chased her back to the kitchen. "You look like a pig! You act and smell like one too. Oink, oink," she continued.

Pete looked at his mother, who usually would have stopped the fighting by now. "I can't stand you!" Ruthie said in disgust, "You belong in a pen." The arguing continued for a few more minutes until her father finally said, "That's enough!"

While the children washed for dinner, her mother rewound the tape. When the table was cleared, Ruthie asked, "Can I play my tape for daddy?" She pushed the "Play" button. "You pig . . . You look like pig . ."

Ruthie quickly pressed "Stop." "My tape!" she gasped.

"Your project is on the other side," her mother assured her, "but let's hear the rest of this side first."

At her parent's insistence, she reluctantly played the cassette. When it was over she was very embarrassed.

"Your rehearsed tape had a good Christian message," observed her mother, "but what if we played your unrehearsed thoughts and words and actions during the day? How much would they glorify God?"

Jesus said, "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 5:16, nas).

We are supposed to glorify God! The Church is supposed to glorify God! But, unfortunately, the word "glorify" has become such a trite religious phrase that few people understand its meaning.

In the New Testament, "glorify" comes from a Greek word that referred to a person's reputation. When applied to God "to glorify" means to enhance the reputation of God. Now, of course, we can't improve on who God is. God is perfect. But His reputation often doesn't measure up to His reality.

In fact, God has a very poor reputation among many people. He is perceived as arbitrary, unkind and unfair. He is blamed for natural disasters. Even insurance companies call floods and hurricanes "acts of God." He is also feared as a merciless judge, ready to pounce and punish. More than anything else, Jesus came to demonstrate a better and truer portrait of God.

Jesus made God look good. He reflected a God of truth and a God of love. This was very different from the reflections of the earlier prophets, the priests and pharisees.

When a Christian lives an honest productive life and represents God well, the reputation of God is improved, and God is glorified. When a church exemplifies Christ-likeness in its outreach and relations in the community, God's reputation is improved among both believers and unbelievers, and God is glorified.

In most communities the reputation of God is directly tied to the reputation of church. So, how can we glorify God?

I. FIRST, WE DON'T NECESSARILY GLORIFY GOD WITH RELIGIOUS WORDS.

Jesus, Paul, James and John were all very clear about this. Listen to these verses: Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 7:21, niv);

"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me" (Matt. 15:8, nlb);

Paul said, "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal" (1 Cor. 13:1, nas);

"Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live. They are despicable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good" (Titus 1:16, nlb).

James said, "Faith without Good Deeds Is Dead" (James 2:13, nlb).

John said, "If someone says, "I belong to God," but doesn't obey God's commandments, that person is a liar and does not live in the truth" (1 John 2:4, nlb);

"If anyone says, "I am living in the light," but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is still living in darkness" (1 John 2:9, nlb);

So holy talk and religious language doesn't necessarily glorify God. Saying "Hallelujah" and "Praise Jesus" with every other breath doesn't glorify God.

II. NEXT, WE DON'T GLORIFY GOD WITH SELF-RIGHTEOUS RELIGIOUS ACTS.

Jesus was not considered "orthodox." He was not particularly "pious." He lived an ordinary life. In fact, he compared his lifestyle with that of John the Baptist: "John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, `He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, `Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ' " (Matt. 11:18-19, nlb).

Jesus broke certain taboos and associated with "sinners." Listen to these verses: "Be careful not to do your `acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets . . . they have received (all the reward they are every going to get) . And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men . . . they have received (all the reward they are every going to get) " (Matt. 6:1-2,5, niv);

"Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you (are) hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence" (Matt. 23:5,25, nlb);

"You like to look good in public, but God knows your evil hearts. What this world honors is an abomination in the sight of God" (Luke 16:15, nlb).

So doing a lot of public religious deeds doesn't necessarily glorify God. Carrying big Bibles and wearing gold crosses don't glorify God!

III. FINALLY, WE DON'T GLORIFY GOD WITH EMOTIONAL CRUSADES AGAINST CERTAIN EVILS.

Jesus had a positive mission. He didn't try to discover and annihilate sins. He never marched in protest against pagans. He never joined "anti-wine" groups. In fact, he detested those who judged and criticized. Instead of condemning the woman caught in an "act of adultery," he said, "If anyone of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her" (John 8:7, niv).

Listen to these verses: "Do not resist an evil person . . ." (Matt. 5:39, niv);

"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matt. 5:44, niv);

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged" (Matt. 7:1, nlb).

When his disciples wanted to destroy sinners, he always rebuked them: Once, when the people of a certain village were rude to Jesus, James and John said, " 'Lord, should we order down fire from heaven to burn them up?' But Jesus turned and rebuked them" (Luke 9:53-55, nlb);

In another story, Jesus refused to allow his followers to attack specific sins. He said, "The owner's servants came to him and said, `Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?' `An enemy did this,' he replied. "The servants asked him, `Do you want us to go and pull them up?' `No,' he answered, `because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them" (Matt. 13:27-29, nlb);

We usually destroy more good than bad when we try to be moral policemen.

Jesus abhorred violence. "Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear . . . Jesus commanded Peter, 'Put your sword away! . . .' " (John 18:10-11, nlb).

So, being a moral crusader doesn't necessarily glorify God. Marching and carrying "anti-sin" cards and signing petitions against certain practices doesn't glorify God.

So, how can we glorify God? How can our Church glorify God?

Churches that are kind to people, pay their bills on time, seek to serve rather than be served, and handle difficulties in a Christian manner are those churches that glorify God. To glorify God, we can:

1. Be honest. "Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable" (Rom. 12:17, nlb).

2. Be kind. "Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other" (Rom. 12:10, nlb).

3. Be helpful. "If anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward" (Matt. 10:42, nlb).

4. Be forgiving. "Love your enemies! . . . Then . . you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to the unthankful and to those who are wicked" (Luke 6:35, nlb).

5. Be productive. "Let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions" (1 John 3:18, nlb).

We are God's representatives.

One day, when a child and his father were shopping, an elderly man walked up to them and said, "Excuse me! I've been watching the two of you, and I can't help noticing how much both of you look like an old school chum of mine. His name was Nathan Noble. Are you related to him?"

"That's my name, and my dad's too," the little boy said.

"I'm sure this gentleman is talking about your grandfather, Nathan," explained his father.

"I just knew you must be related," the old man said. "Your son looks very much like old Nate did in grammar school. Both of you walk and talk like him too."

Later the father smiled and explained, "It was a real compliment, Nathan, to be recognized as my father's son. I guess I've copied his ways more than I realized. I'm really proud to be like him."

"Yeah! Wasn't that something?" Commented Nathan. "That old man hasn't seen Grandpa in years, and yet he recognized how much we were like him."

The father looked very thoughtful. "You know," he said, "The Bible says we should be 'followers of God as dear children' (see Eph. 5:1 ) . People should be able to tell that God is our Father just by watching our actions and hearing our words."

If we can show God's kind of love, kindness and forgiveness to others, then surely some people will say, "There goes a real Christian!"

That's how we can glorify God!

(WC1835)

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This issue of NEW PERSPECTIVES is from an unpublished manuscript © copyrighted 2006 by Miles and Maralene Wesner, Idabel, OK. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO USE THEM IN ANY WAY YOU THINK IS APPROPRIATE. The only thing we ask is that you give credit for original material in PUBLISHED works.

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