Series Pt 5 – The Five Transcendent Truths
Sola Del Gloria
24 Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth. 25 Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake: 26 For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof. 27 If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake. 28 But if any man say unto you, this is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof: 29 Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience? 30 For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks? 31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 32 Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: 33 Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. (1 Corinthians 10:23-33).
Introduction: For the last five weeks we’ve been considering the 5 Transcendent Truths of the Reformation. They are Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Sola Christus and today’s title, Sola Del Gloria. What does our sermon title mean? It means God’s glory only or God’s glory alone. It would not be possible to understand the purpose for Paul’s words in our text without looking into the context of his letters to the church at Corinth. No church gave Paul more trouble than this church. It was an immature group of believers and Paul dealt with several issues including the motives for worship, giving and service.
Today we are going to talk about a question that has perplexed even the most intelligent people on earth for thousands of years. It's a question that has been widely debated by scholars and philosophers and yet simply ignored or even scoffed at by scientists and atheists. That question is "what is the meaning of life?" What is the true reason for our existence? As a race and, more specifically as individuals? Why are we here?
Now, the Christian community is pretty much in agreement that we were created by God and that God indeed has a specific purpose for our lives. But what that purpose is, seems to be quite debatable-even among those claiming to be born again Christians. And that difference of opinion is often times made quite clear through the music, prayers and sermons of our worship services.
If you're like me, you've noticed that many worship services today seem to be more about entertainment and self-help rather than reverent, Christ-centered worship? The objective seems to be to get people so pumped up and excited about themselves, that they can't wait to come back the following week for another uplifting emotional experience.
In August of last year, Victoria Osteen, wife of mega-church minister Joel Osteen and co-pastor of their gigantic Church in Houston, Texas, made some remarks during a Sunday morning service that, to me, clearly gives us insight into what really motivates a lot of people to worship and even what they believe our entire purpose in life is.
Addressing a huge congregation, with her husband standing by nodding his head in agreement, she said, “"I just want to encourage everyone of us to realize when we obey God, we're not doing it for God – I mean, that's one way to look at it – we're doing it for ourselves, because God takes pleasure when we're happy.
So I want you to know this morning: Just do good for your own self. Do good because God wants you to be happy. When you come to church, when you worship Him, you're not doing it for God really. You're doing it for yourself, because that's what makes God happy. Amen?"
Joel and his wife pastor the largest Christian church in the country as far as average weekly attendance is concerned. They usually have around 43,500 every Sunday. To me, that's amazing. But what's sad is that when she said what she did, tens of thousands of people enthusiastically shouted "Amen"!
Now let me just say, I'm not here this morning to single out and condemn a person or even a particular church. But the Lord has impressed me to clearly identify and unmistakably condemn a widely accepted but deadly teaching that is sweeping through mainstream Christianity like wildfire, and is endangering the souls of countless people as it rages.
Many of you know that Joel and his wife are prosperity preachers. They basically teach that if we worship God and live a certain way, God will reward us with good health, wealth and prosperity. (Scripture certainly doesn't teach this by the way…)
We can usually identify a prosperity preacher pretty quickly, but blatant prosperity preachers are not the only ones advocating the dangerous false teaching that is creeping into the church. It comes in more subtle forms from pulpits you would never expect to hear prosperity preaching.
Keep in mind that this false teaching is built around a principle rather than a strictly dogmatic doctrine and I believe that principle was clearly illustrated by the words of Miss Osteen. If you noticed, she deliberately took the focus OFF of God and onto OURSELVES. You heard her say, "..just do good for your own self; " When you come to church, when you worship Him, you're not doing it for God really. You're doing it for yourself"
Now, please don't misunderstand me, I know that our worship of God is extremely beneficial to us; not only spiritually but also, emotionally and even physically.
That said, we must understand that our worship of God is NOT ABOUT US. Our primary motivation of worshiping God should NOT be what we can get out of it. You see, many churches today, whether they realize it or not, are promoting self-centered worship & living instead of practicing biblical self-sacrificing worship and life style. The message they are sending is that our worship, our good works, our entire lives should be driven by a desire to prosper, promote or otherwise benefit OURSELVES- and that God is happy to be merely a means to help us attain that end.
If our relationship with God is driven by this kind of selfish motivation, I dare to say that our worship and service to God is unacceptable to Him. In fact, we are essentially committing the original sin of self-exaltation and even self-worship.
Dwight Davis
I. The Foundation of Sola Del Gloria
26 For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.
This verse is the foundation for God’s glory alone. He is the Creator God and everything belongs to Him. He is the sole proprietor of everything He has created. Therefore we give Him the glory He deserves when we acknowledge this foundational truth.
"During the construction of Emerson Hall at Harvard University, president Charles Eliot invited psychologist and philosopher William James to suggest a suitable inscription for the stone lintel over the doors of the philosophy department. After some reflection, James sent Eliot a line from Greek philosopher Protagoras: ‘Man is the measure of all things.’ James never heard back from Eliot, so his curiosity was piqued when he spotted artisans working on a scaffold hidden by a canvas. One morning the scaffold and canvas were gone. The inscription? ‘What is man that thou are mindful of him?” Those two inscriptions represent the difference between a God-centered worldview and a human-centered worldview.
This illustration was taken from a sermon by Richard Tow entitled, "Greeting Fellow Believers" whose source was Fresh Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching edited by Edward Rockwell.
II. The Formation of Sola Del Gloria
31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
Even things as mundane as eating and drinking are to be done for His glory. The most menial tasks are to be done for His glory.
LUTHER ON SWEEPING STREETS LIKE MICHELANGELO
Martin Luther was approached by a working man who wanted to know how he could serve God. Luther asked him, "What is your work now?" The man said, "I’m a shoemaker."
Much to the cobbler’s surprise, Luther replied, "Then make good shoes and sell them at a fair price."
Luther didn’t tell the man to make "Christian shoes." He didn’t tell the man to leave his shoe business and become a monk.
Six months before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King spoke to a group of Jr. High School students at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia and this is what he said: "If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: 'Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.'"
(From a sermon by Monty Newton, Bowed Knees, Confessing Tongues and God Glorifying Lives, 12/24/2010)
Glory to God is expressed by John as he describes the eternal heaven. Revelation 21:23 says, "The the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp." What a miraculous place heaven will be, illuminated by God's glory! Believers are called to bring glory to God in everything.
III. The Fruition of Sola Del Gloria
33 Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.
Conclusion: What is the conclusion of the whole matter? The wisest man who ever lived wrote that the whole duty of man was to fear God and keep His commandments.
THE SECRET OF HAPPINESS
Christopher Parkening is regarded as the world’s greatest classical guitarist, and he’s played guitar with orchestras the world over, even for several presidents in the White House. He’s also a world-class fly-fishing champion.
By his own testimony, he writes, "By age 30, I’d achieved all my dreams in the musical world, but I was tired of hotel rooms, performances and recording sessions. It was time to go fishing, so with the money I had earned, I found my dream stream on a ranch in Montana. I bought the ranch, called my management group at Colombia, and told them I had no desire to play anymore. I had earned enough money that I didn’t need to work anyway.
"So for several years, I did what I wanted, but as time went by, my life became more empty. I found out that when you have everything you thought would make you happy, and it doesn’t– you start asking questions like: What’s missing?
"While in California visiting friends, I attended a church where I heard a sermon entitled, "Examine yourself whether you are in the faith." The preacher said that you could know all about Christ, the Bible, even pray to God, and Jesus could still say, ’Depart from me, you worker of iniquity, I never knew you.’ I was convinced if I had died that night, Jesus would have spoken those words to me.
"So I walked down the aisle, surrendered my life to Christ, and was baptized. I read the Bible when I was a kid, but I never wanted a Lord to obey unconditionally. I went home that day broken over my selfish ways.
"That night, I couldn’t sleep, so I got up and started reading the Bible, and I developed a great hunger for the Word. Soon I came across 1 Corinthians 10:31 that said, "Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." I realized there were only two things I knew how to do: fly fish and play guitar. I am playing the guitar today for God’s glory, and that’s what I tell my students at Pepperdine, where I teach. I now have peace and joy unspeakable that I never had before. My life has purpose and I’ve learned the true secret of genuine happiness! Have you?"
(From a sermon by Gene Edwards, "Who Does God Bless?" 2/16/2009)
BACH AND THE GLORY OF GOD
J. S. Bach said, "All music should have no other end and aim than the glory of God and the soul's refreshment; where this is not remembered there is no real music but only a devilish hub-bub."
He headed his compositions: "J. J." "Jesus Juva" which means "Jesus help me."
He ended them "S. D. G." "Soli Del Gloria" which means "To God alone the praise."
(Kingdom Conflict, J. Stowell, Victor, 1985, pp. 77ff)
HAYDN GIVES GLORY TO GOD
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) was present at the Vienna Music Hall, where his oratorio The Creation was being performed. Weakened by age, the great composer was confined to a wheelchair. As the majestic work moved along, the audience was caught up with tremendous emotion.
When the passage "And there was light!" was reached, the chorus and orchestra burst forth in such power, that the crowd could no longer restrain its enthusiasm. The vast assembly rose in spontaneous applause.
Haydn struggled to stand and motioned for silence. With his hand pointed toward heaven, he said, "No, no, not from me, but from thence comes all!" Having given the glory and praise to the Creator, he fell back into his chair exhausted.
(From a sermon by Gordon Curley, In his father's footsteps, 11/18/2010)
