“For the glory of God”
It has been said that history repeats itself. Now I believe that to a point but I think that it is more accurate to say that people repeat the same mistakes in the same choices and the same decisions others have made before them and that’s why history repeats itself. Because people never seem to change.
The things people use to struggle with... They struggle with today. The questions people asked hundreds of years ago, they asked today which is why it is often good to look back in history to see what people did, what they learned from it and how we can be better today.
So in the past five weeks we have been going back 500 years... This month is the 500 year anniversary of the Reformation of the church. So we been talking about them not for the sake of a lesson in history but so that we can understand what the word of God says about how to follow Jesus. And what we have learned is that there were some followers of Jesus 500 years ago who went back and looked at how they were doing church, they looked at what the Scripture had to say and they looked at the way they were doing things and they said, hey, something doesn’t add up here. And as they studied closer what the early followers of Jesus had done, it changed to their entire outlook on life. It would change the way they did church and ultimately it would change the world.
On October 31, 1517, a Catholic monk named Martin Luther nailed 95 statements on the door to a church in Germany and it went viral. He posted it. He wrote three books and the ideas he presented were not new ideas; there are actually old ideas-right out of the Scripture. And that is what this series has been about... What does the word of God say in what does the truth of Scripture say and how do we get informed so we can be reformed? Because those truths were not just true 500 years ago-they are true today.
There were five major ideas. And they are sometimes referred to as the five solas. The word so law means alone. (latin). Here they are:
(1) Sola scriptura. Scripture alone is our authority. Men are not the ultimate authority. Church leaders are not the authority. The ultimate authority is Scripture. Scripture alone. The church doesn’t judge the Scripture. Scripture judges the church.
(2) Sola Gratia. Grace alone. Martin Luther grew up in a world that believed you had to work for your salvation. Because the world was so messed up and because we are so messed up you had to work it off in your lifetime. You had to do good things in order to work off the guilt of your sin. And if you didn’t, do enough in your lifetime to work off the effect of sin that you went to purgatory. And there, no one knew for how long, you would be purged from your sin. And you could help others and yourself while you were alive if you bought things from the church. Luther saw all of this and was furious and said according the Bible we could never do enough to earn our salvation. It is by grace alone. God has done for us what we could never do for ourselves. The difference between the messages of religion and the message of Jesus, has always been wrapped up in the difference between the word DO and the word DONE. It is not about what you and I must do
(3) Christ Alone. Not a priest. Not a pope. Non-mass. I don’t need another mediator, I don’t need to pray to a saint, I don’t need to go to the mother of Jesus. It is through Christ and Christ alone that I made right with God. He does alone deserves my worship. Christ alone.
(4) Faith alone. We cannot earn it. We simply believe and receive it by faith.
The cry of the Reformation is that we are made right with God by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone so says the Scripture alone. Now one more. And it is found in Romans. You could divide the book of Romans and the two parts. Romans 1-11 and 12-16. Just to give you a quick summary of the first 11 chapters:
• 1-3 Shut up. No excuses. No one bats 1000.
• 4-5 How can we be made right with God?
• 6-8 How do we live this out?
• 9-11 Heavy questions.
And then at the end of chapter 11, before he goes into the second half of the letter, he breaks out in a song. At this point he is like the man who has hiked for miles and miles and suddenly he comes upon the Grand Canyon in his mouth just drops open and he has no words. He is speechless. Now you can stand there and lecture about the Grand Canyon... Are you could just stand there and be overwhelmed by. Paul is standing there now and it’s like he says, can you even believe this?
Romans 11:33-36
It’s like, can you believe this? Can you believe how much God loves us? So much that he sent his own son into the world to die for us? To take my place? I can’t believe it! It’s unbelievable. Who can understand a God like this? To him be the glory for ever and ever.
One of the questions that has repeated itself for centuries-everyone asks this question at one time or another and it is this: what is the meaning and purpose of life? And the answer is right here. Your greatest purpose in life is to glorify God. The reason I live, the reason you have breath in your lungs, the reason your heart beats is to glorify God for from him and through him and to him are all things. (v. 36) Your entire reason for living is not to glorify yourself ... It is to glorify God.
1 Corinthians 10:31
Psalm 115:1
We are saved... Alone... For the glory of God alone. I what does that mean? First of all we have test the question what does it mean to glorify God? It means the focuses on God not me. We live for ourselves or we live for God. We either live to glorify God or we live to glorify man. We either glorify the creature or we glorify the creator. And all of life comes down to that choice. Will I live to glorify God or will I live glorify myself?
Look at v. 33. God is unsearchable. God is untraceable. It is like tracking a wild animal in the mountains. You go higher and higher, to wear down, not enough oxygen even breathe. The snow was so deep you can no longer see his tracks and finally you say he is untraceable. Job said, who has known the mind of God? No one. We come to the edge and cannot trace him anymore. So we must walk by faith.
From him... God is the creator of everything. All things. Through him... Are all things. He is holding it all together. Scientists even look at the University what they called dark matter that is somehow invisibly holding everything together. I always laugh when someone says I’m a self-made man. I think oh really, will first of all alike talk to your mom about that. I like to see you make anything... Out of nothing. You can’t. But God did. God stepped out into nothing and spoke the universe into being.
• From him are all things
• through him are all things
• to him are all things
My life is made for him. Your life is made for him. And what if your Creator just happens to know that everything you need, that everything you long for, that everything we require to have real joy, real life, to have everything we hunger for... What if our Creator knows that all of that is found in him? What if he knows you can only find that in a relationship with God. So to invite us to glorify him is to invite us to find our lives. To discover our purpose. Jesus said when you give your life away, that is when you find it. We all exist for man; we exist for God.
1 Cor. 10:31
Can you imagine how different life would be if we always asked, can God be glorified in this? By my attitude? By my actions? What if we begin to live our lives, not for ourselves but to glorify God? That is what it means to focus on God. But let me help you with something here. When we focus on God, the blessing is on man. When we exalt God, God blesses us. Glorifying God is the secrets really living. Man is not blessed with God is not glorified. The problem here is that too many people think they know something God doesn’t know. Are you have a need God can’t meet our problem God can’t fix. You know I know what will make me happy. Matt Chandler says “as if you know what will make you happy! No one has been a greater cause of misery in your life then you have. You have pursued your own happiness at the detriment of your own joy. When you’re not aware of that and want to blame others, you’re simply being self-deceived.”
People of hurt you, but trade you, wrong do you; it is sinful broken world but you have been the greatest enemy of your own joy and God is trying to actually lead you to it. I know some of you have been hurt more deeply that I could describe the day. Some of you have been victimized. But he is right. When we have sought our greatest happiness we have become our greatest enemy. The more we try to grasp it, the more it eludes us. Man is most blessed when God is most glorified.
Romans 8:31
If God will give you his Son, do you not think he will give you everything you long for and pray for? When this began to take place, look what God did.
• We received the Bible and a common language. For over 1000 years the Bible it been reserved for the clergy. For the experts. Professionals. Written in Latin, the people couldn’t even read it. In that day no one had held a Bible.
• Luther translated into German, Tyndale translated into English. Calvin into French. By 1611, King James authorized a version. And people began to read the Bible. Didn’t have to be a priest.
• Printing press was made. Me ask you, what is the difference in people who have no Bible to read so they don’t read it and people who have one but they don’t read it? In both cases, the word of God sits unread. But isn’t it worse if we have it available and don’t use it?
• Congregational singing started. For years only to professional same. Luther started writing him was. He wrote his first hymnbook in 1524.
• Family life. Clergy was not allowed to be married. Luther received letters from nine nuns who said could you help us escape from the monastery? Nine. So he did. Now he’s got nine single women... And he found husbands for all of them. Except one. He found one for her and he refused. He found another one and she refused. So Luther said I’m going to marry her just to spite the devil. That’s a real romantic proposal isn’t it? But that only valentines card and see how it goes. Match.com. They had six children. And he grew to love her deeply.
• Education/literacy. Scripture cannot be understood without languages and languages cannot be understood without schools. In 1635 a school in Massachusetts was started for training Christian ministers. And that is where the University system came from.
There is no limit to what can happen when God is given the glory and man stops taking the glory.
There are really two choices we have here. (1) We can focus on ourselves. Here is how that works. I came across this article this week. Title: how to be miserable. “Think about yourself. Talk about yourself. Use the word “I” or “me” as often as possible. Expect everyone to appreciate everything you do. Be very suspicious of everyone. Never forgive anyone. Trust nobody. Demand that you are always right and tell everyone they must agree with you. Sulk if people don’t agree with you. Do as little as possible for others.
(2) Focus on God. Talk about Him. Think about Him. Trust people. Forgive others. Forget about always being right. Only God is always right. And do everything you do for His glory. And you will be blessed.
Johann Sebastian Bach was born into a musical family. But by the age of ten, both of his parents were dead. He was determined still to write music … and write it for the glory of God … so he did. Most everything he wrote was very Biblical. He was once called the fifth evangelist, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Bach. At age 17 Bach became the organist at the church; and then was given charge of the entire music ministry. I am sure he had no idea that that almost 300 years later we would still know his name and his music. Ever wonder what you will be remembered for? What legacy will you leave?
At the beginning of every authentic manuscript one will find the letters “J.J.” This stands for Jesu Java (Jesus help me). At the end of each original manuscript you will find the letters “S.D.G.” This stands for Soli Deo Gloria (to the glory of God).
