Glorifying God By Worship Series

Scripture

Our ultimate goal in life is to glorify God.

The first question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What is the chief end [or goal] of man?” The answer given is, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”

The reason we exist is to bring glory to God. God created us and all things for his own glory. All creation exists to glorify God. The Psalmist says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1).

What is the glory of God? It is who God is. It is the essence of his nature, the core of his character, the weight of his being.

How do we glorify God? We glorify God, as the Children’s Catechism says, by loving him and doing what he commands.

Our supreme example, of course, is Jesus. He glorified his Father every moment of his life. In fact, toward the end of his life Jesus said to his Father, “I brought glory to you here on earth by doing everything you told me to do” (John 17:4, NLT).

We glorify God in the same way. There are five key ways in which we bring glory to God.

First, we bring glory to God by worshiping him. Worship is the primary way in which we glorify God. All of life is a reflection of whom or what we worship. We are to worship God in all that we do. The Bible says, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Second, we bring glory to God by loving other believers. Becoming a Christian means becoming part of God’s family. We glorify God when we belong to a church family where we love our brothers and sisters in Christ. The Bible says that “we know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers” (1 John 3:14).

Third, we bring glory to God by becoming like Christ. God wants his children to grow to spiritual maturity. What does that look like? It means becoming like his Son, Jesus Christ. Becoming more and more like Christ brings glory to God. The Bible says, “And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more” (2 Corinthians 3:18, NLT).

Fourth, we bring glory to God by serving others with our gifts. God has given every believer spiritual gifts. He wants us to serve others with the gifts he has entrusted to us. The Bible says, “God has given gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God’s generosity can flow through you. . . . Then God will be given glory in everything through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:10-11, NLT).

And fifth, we bring glory to God by telling others about him. God wants to use us to tell the world who he is and how he can be known. It is an incredible privilege to introduce others to Jesus and help them discover how they too can bring glory to God. God’s Word says, “As God’s grace brings more and more people to Christ, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory” (2 Corinthians 4:15, NLT).

For the five Sundays of January I plan to preach a series of sermons that will explore in greater depth how we can bring glory to God in each of these five key areas of our lives. Today we will look at how we bring glory to God by worshiping him.

Each of these five areas corresponds to one of our purposes as a church. The mission of our church is “to bring people to Jesus Christ and membership in his church family, develop them to Christ-like maturity, equip them for their ministry in the church and life mission in the world, in order to magnify God.” Bringing glory to God by worshiping him corresponds to magnify.

Our text for today is 1 Corinthians 10:31:

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Introduction

In the late 1980s Dr. Hugh Moorhead, a philosophy professor at Northeastern Illinois University, wrote to 250 of the best-known philosophers, scientists, writers and intellectuals in the world, asking them, “What is the meaning of life?” He then published their responses in a book titled, The Meaning of Life According to Our Century’s Greatest Writers and Thinkers. Some of his respondents offered their best guesses. Some admitted that they just made up a purpose for life. Others were honest enough to say that they were clueless. In fact, a number of his respondents asked Dr. Moorhead to write back and tell them if he discovered the purpose of life!