Sola Del Gloria Series

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.