“Saints Glorify the Lord!”
Romans 15:17-33
Testimony: Mary Strom
Opening Illustration: Have the congregation pray for me before I speak.
Scripture Verse: Romans 15:17-33
17Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. 18I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—19by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. 20It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. 21Rather, as it is written:
“Those who were not told about him will see,
and those who have not heard will understand.”
22This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.
23But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to see you, 24I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to visit you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while. 25Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the saints there. 26For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. 27They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. 28So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this fruit, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way. 29I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ.
30I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. 31Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there, 32so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed. 33The God of peace be with you all. Amen.
Thesis: Saints are to glory in Jesus Christ and in service to His Kingdom not to themselves, idols or to others.
Introduction:
Today we are exploring the thought, “Saints Glorify the Lord.” I did a word search for the term “glory” – on my Bible software and came up with 263 matching references to “glory” in the NIV Bible. I read through these verses and discovered some thoughts about this term glory.
But before I share my insight with you let me read what Webster’s Dictionary says about this term Glory – “1). A. Great honor and admiration won by doing something important or valuable; fame; renown. B. anything bringing this 2). worshipful adoration or praise. 3). the condition of highest achievement, splendor, prosperity. 4). radiant, beauty, splendor; magnificence 5). Heaven or the bliss of Heaven 6). A halo…any circle of light (Webster, page 595).
So what did I discover about this term glory from the Bible:
* I discovered that in many Old Testament references we are told by Scripture to give God the glory that is due His name.
* I discovered that heaven is filled with the glory of God and the angels sing about it.
* I discovered that when God shows up so does His glory.
* I discovered that sin causes the glory of the Lord to depart from an individual’s life and a nation’s life.
* I discovered that many Saints in the Bible saw and beheld the glory of God in their lives.
* I discovered that miracles point to God’s glory and are done to glorify God.
* I discovered that when we produce fruit for the Kingdom of God we in turn glorify God.
* I discovered that those who do good and live righteous lives bring glory to God.
* I discovered that as I grow and mature in my faith I glorify God.
* I discovered that I am promised to share in God’s glory if I choose to suffer for the Kingdom like Jesus did.
* I discovered that the spread of grace brings God glory.
* I discovered that when you experience the glory of God others will see it in your face.
* I discovered that some people are afraid of the glory of the Lord.
* I discovered that we are to do everything for God’s glory.
* I discovered that the world does not understand or even see the glory of God because Satan has blinded them.
* I discovered that if we look at Creation itself we can see the glory of the Lord.
* I discovered that if I believe then I will experience the glory of God.
*I discovered that if I pray and ask God for things then when I receive the answer to my prayer it glorifies God.
This last week we started the series “When God’s People Pray” and we learned from Jim Cymbala that God answers prayer so that He may get the glory. God allows trials and tribulations to come into a person’s life to draw them back to Him. The way most people come back to God is through hardship and then the realization that they need God. This act of calling upon God is what touches the heart of God. The Lord does intervene when we pray and He is the one who gets the glory as miracles happen and mountains are removed.
The lesson in this is: It’s never what I do or even what another person does – it’s what God does through the person who prays. We need to be reminded that God answers a person’s sincere prayers to Him. But He is the one who is to get the glory – not us!
I discovered one other truth about “glory” – In Romans 1: 21-32 people in the last days will throw the glory of the Lord away for idols, for perverted practices, for lives filled with sin, for an adherence to lies; Listen to these verses:
21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
Illustration from USA TODAY September 13, 2007 edition page 11a “Live and Let Live – Public opinion polls reflect what many people see in their daily lives: When it comes to gay rights, issues of race and beyond, the USA has become a more tolerant nation over the past 25 years.” (See clipping)
Poll:
Question 1 - Should homosexuality be considered an acceptable alternative lifestyle?
1982 – 34% said yes
2007 – 48% said yes
Question 2 – Do you approve or disapprove of men and women living together without being married?
1986 – 43% said yes
2007 – 55% said yes
Question 5 – Do you think that gay couples should be legally permitted to adopt children?
1992 – 29% said yes
2007 – 46% said yes
The writer of this article Michael Gartner makes this comment from this poll – “On balance, though, we have become a remarkably more tolerant nation in the quarter century since USA TODAY was born. This is a good thing for all of us – because most of us belong to one minority or another that has been discriminated against in eras past – but it is particulary good thing for my grandson.”
Let’s go back to finishing our reading from Romans 1 and see if this really is a good thing for the future generations!
28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
As I read this it becomes obvious that this is not a good thing for this nation to tolerate sin and to throw away the glory of God!
T.S. - The key concept that I gleam from Scripture today is that God is the one who is to be getting the glory! It’s not me, a movie star, a person, a politician, a sports star, or even a preacher! Saints are to glorify God and point the finger upward by the way they live their lives on a daily basis! Today I have three questions for you to ponder!
I. Who or what do you glory in? (17-22)
a. Do you glory in yourself?
i. Illustration: Bluefish TV “It’s all about me” video clip
1. I have shown this clip a couple times in church here and it always makes me laugh. But the last time I looked at this clip it made me cry. Why? I felt the Lord tell me “Mike there are 1,000 of people doing this in the church and they think that I am okay with it!”
2. So lets watch this clip one more time and think about how this “Glorification of self “ grieves the heart of God.
3. You have often heard me use the phrase “Self-centered Christianity.”
a. This disease has infected the Body of Christ today.
b. Listen to this Scripture text warning us about what would happen in the last days – before Christ’s Return.
i. 2 Timothy 3:1-5:1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.
ii. 2 Timothy 4: 3-5: 3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
ii. Larry Crab, “We worship God for selfish reasons (in the church today) – for blessings but not for service.”
1. Larry Crab is writing a new book called 66 Love Letters from God.
a. He at the 2007 AACC Convention in Nashville made this observation about the Old Testament book Amos.
i. He stated, “People in this book felt like they were entitled –owed by God. They were not living for God but felt God was living for them. They lived self-centered lives and expected God to still bless them.”
ii. He also eluded to the fact that we need to see our own sinfulness!
b. Do you glory in idols – others?
i. What is and idol? An idol is anything that usurps God’s rightful position as Lord.
1. I used this illustration when I preached the sermon THE GOLDEN COWS from (Exodus 32: 1-35). I passed around this cow years ago! I passed it around to the congregation on a Sunday morning and had people write on it different idols that they knew of. Some admitted to me after the message that they actually wrote idols on it that they themselves had worshipped at one time.
2. So I am passing it around today for you to look at and to even write on if you think an idol is missing from the cow.
c. Do you glory in materialism?
i. Illustration- Blue Fish TV – Teaching Moments Volume 2 - “Confessions of a Shop-a-holic.”
ii. If I were to pick the biggest idol in America today this is what I would choose.
iii. John White states, "Faith in the invisible God can be demonstrated by power over material things, either power to manipulate them or power to escape enslavement to them. If someone’s life is controlled by material things, it is possible that such a person knows nothing of saving faith.”
d. Do you glory in sports?
i. How many here today think sports is an idol in America?
ii. We have games on Sunday where people worship the teams and the players.
iii. We have games that people choose to go to instead of church and worship of God.
iv. We have players making millions of dollars to play a game while children starve in others parts of the world.
v. We high school sports pushing out Wednesday night church and even infringing on Sundays – and no one seems to have a problem with it.
vi. We have hockey that blatantly infringes on the Lord’s Day here in Amery and no one seems to care.
1. They think God is okay with them choosing hockey over worship to Him – this is an idol friends!
2. The sad fact is many calling themselves Christian have rationalized that the 10 Commandments are out of date laws for today. They really believe that God does not mind if they don’t follow the 10 Commandments. He understands how these laws don’t apply today to our society and culture.
3. John White states, "The 20th Century church has forgotten which master she belongs to, painting herself like a hussy in her silly pursuit of Lord Mammon. Or to use another image, a church has gone a- (lusting) after a golden cow."
4. There are many Christians today who have become like sponges soaked to the max with the value system of this god-making society. They are really no different than the Israelites lead out of the bondage of Egypt to Mt. Sinai by Moses. Lets explore what happened there.
5. We need to re-read the 10 Commandments Deut. 5:7-24: 7“You shall have no other gods before me. 8“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 9You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.11“You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.12“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. 13Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. 15Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.16“Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.17“You shall not murder.18“You shall not commit adultery.19“You shall not steal.20“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.21“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”22These are the commandments the LORD proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and he added nothing more. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.
6. Let’s continue to read on in this chapter to understand the intent of the 10 Commandments:
a. 23When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, all the leading men of your tribes and your elders came to me. 24And you said, “The LORD our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a man can live even if God speaks with him. 25But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer. 26For what mortal man has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived? 27Go near and listen to all that the LORD our God says. Then tell us whatever the LORD our God tells you. We will listen and obey.”
b. People do not want to listen and obey today – they want to re-write the Word of God to justify their idol worship!
e. Do you glory in the number of people you control – in power?
i. Power has become the idol of some people today.
ii. Just look at a lot of the politicians!
f. Do you glory in your finances?
i. The size of your bank account.
ii. How wealthy you are.
iii. The love of money:
1. I Timothy 6:3-10: 3If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, 4he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 5and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.6But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many grief’s.
g. Or do you like Paul glory in Jesus Christ and in service to Him?
T.S. – The Scripture makes it clear that we are to glory in Jesus and glorify His name by serving the Body of Christ. We really as “Saints need glory in serving.
II. Do you glory in serving others in the Body of Christ? (23-29)
a. This section of Scripture draws us back to Romans 12:1 again, “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.”
b. Questions to think about – to evaluate the condition of our soul and its service to others:
i. Do you do your part in the Body of Christ?
ii. Do you sacrifice for the Body of Christ?
iii. Do you give what God requires of you financially?
1. Your tithe?
2. Your offerings?
3. Your time?
4. Your resources?
iv. Do you serve others for God’s glory?
v. Do you use your gifts for the benefit of others in the Body of Christ?
vi. Do you help out people in need?
vii. Do you have a servant attitude?
1. Do you say I don’t need the church!
2. My faith is not tied into the local church!
3. Its between me and God.
a. I must remind you of Jesus’ Two Commandments again “Love the Lord with you whole heart and love your neighbor as yourself.”
T.S. – The Saint must serve others in the Body of Christ and in the Kingdom of God so that God gets the glory. God also gets the glory by others praying for the needs of others and by He answering the prayers of the Saints.
III. Do you have people pray for you and do you pray for others? (30-33)
a. Paul asks for the saints in Rome to pray for him.
i. Do you pray and ask for help or do you think you can do it all yourself.
ii. He tells the Saints to join in his struggle by praying with him.
1. Notice - The superstar Saint Paul asked for help from God and from others.
2. Share about what happened with Larry Crab when he asked the group to pray for him before he spoke at the AACC Convention.
3. We under-rate the power of prayer today because we think that we are the ones that will accomplish and solve all of the problems in life.
b. Paul was specific in what He wanted them to pray for – listen:
i. Paul asked “Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers.”
ii. Paul asked “Pray that my service may be acceptable in Jerusalem.”
iii. Paul asked “Pray that God’s will would be done through my ministry and my service to the Kingdom.”
iv. Paul asked “Pray that I may come to you.”
v. Paul asked “Pray that I may have joy.”
vi. Paul asked “Pray that I would be refreshed.”
c. Paul also prayed for them – Do you pray for others?
i. Paul prays that they would have peace.
ii. We live in a society in America that has been blessed with peace for years – but our culture is moving further away from God and I fear that this nation will lose its peace and security!
1. Reference David Wilkerson’s message delivered at Times Square Church in New York.
Conclusion:
We are to glorify God not ourselves, not others, and not idols.
We are to glorify God by serving one another in the Kingdom of God.
We are to glorify God by praying and then testifying to God’s willingness to answer prayer.
THE COMMUNION OF LIFE WITH LIFE (from Illustrations Unlimited)
“The best way to send an idea,” said scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, “is to wrap it up in a person.” The theological word for all of that is incarnation, meaning “in the flesh.” Jesus was the incarnation of God. Jesus was the way that God sent His “idea” to humanity; there was and is no better way! One of the early church fathers whose name was Ignatius explained that “by the Incarnation, God broke His silence.” Less scholarly as an explanation but equally to the point was the remark of a little girl who said, “Some people couldn’t hear God’s inside whisper and so He sent Jesus to tell them out loud.” The Gospel of John declares dramatically, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The Word, that living expression of God, tells out loud His truth and sees to it that we are in touch with the power and glory at the heart of Creation. We are brought into the personal presence of the lover of our souls. How great that blessing! How wonderful that gift!
What the World Needs (from Illustrations of Bible Truths)
Belonging to Christ should create in us a sense of responsibility. His glory should be our concern. We are His image in the world. An American chaplain in the Civil War asked a wounded soldier, “Would you like me to read you something from the Bible?” The soldier said, “I’m so thirsty, I’d rather have a drink of water.” After he had drunk it he said, “Could you put something under my head?” The chaplain took off his overcoat, rolled it up, and placed it under the man’s head as a pillow. “Now,” said the soldier, “if I had something over me. I’m so cold.” The chaplain took off his jacket and covered the man. Then the wounded man said, “For God’s sake, man, if there’s anything in that Book that makes a man do for another what you’ve done for me, let me hear it!” Isn’t that what the world needs today—Christians who exemplify Christ?
Point: Saints are to glorify God with their daily actions and how they live their lives on a daily basis.
