THE HEAVENS DECLARE THE GLORY OF
GOD
Psalm
19:1-6,
Introduction: Let me begin with some words from the
famous American colonial missionary to the Indians, David Brainerd, who died at
the age of twenty-nine. His diary reveals a young man intensely committed to
God. Brainerd once said to Jonathan Edwards: I do not go to heaven to
be advanced but to give honor to God. It is no matter where I shall be
stationed in heaven, whether I have a high seat or a low seat there. My
heaven is to please God and glorify Him, and give all to Him, and to be wholly
devoted to His glory."
The greatest musician of the 1700 AD
Johann Sebastian 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." 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).
Brainerd and
Bach remind us of our ultimate purpose in life and in the life to come is not to
live for ourselves but to live to glorify the one and only God, the father of
us all who is worthy of all glory and power. Our mission statement at Hope
Church reminds us every week of this very fact: “Glorifying God by becoming
devoted followers of Jesus.” Do we really know and understand the depth
and the scope of our mission statement?
When people see or hear our mission
statement they may think what a lofty statement. It may sound great but it
would do nothing if it remains on the Church board outside or on the bulletin.
But it can make all the difference when we understand what it means to glorify God,
and what it takes to become a devoted follower of Jesus.
Before we look at what is to glorify
God we need to understand what is the glory of God and how is it manifested in
the world, and why we should give glory back to God in all that we do. Let’s
begin our Journey. Psalm 19:1-6
I. WHAT IS GOD’S GLORY?
It is very difficult to define what
the glory of God really is. It is like defining the word Beauty. We say
something or someone is beautiful because we see them. We can point. But if we
try to explain beauty in words it would be very difficult. Similarly, when it
comes to explaining the glory of God. In the Biblical history people after
seeing the powerful manifestation of God’s glory, fell short of words in
explaining it. All they could come up with two words.
The Hebrew word Kabowd means, weight, honor esteem, glory, abundance and wealth.
The Greek word, doxa from where we
get the word doxology, means: appearance, reputation, glory, recognition
belonging to a person, honor and renown. It also means, magnificence,
splendor, grandeur, majesty, and greatness often attributed to God.
John Piper attempts to explain this
difficult concept, “The glory of God is the infinite beauty and greatness of
God’s manifold perfections. The infinite beauty and I am focusing on the
manifestation of his character and his worth and his attributes, all of his
perfections and greatness are beautiful as they are seen, and there are many of
them.”
In essence the glory of God is, all
that comprise of who God was, is and is to come, and what he did, is doing and
all that he will be doing during his final revelation. Let’s see how God’s
glory is manifested in the nature, in mankind and in His Son Jesus Christ our
Lord.
When we look at the star light sky in the night or clear bright
blue sky in the day, what comes to our mind? When we look at the luscious green
valleys, or colorful flowers, beautifully snow caped majestic white mountains, who do you think created
this beautiful world?
How absurd it is for anyone to think that all these wonderful
wonders came into existence by chance or due to a BIG bang in the cosmos? Or may be a better way to respond is to say
what a splendid world we are living in, who is the architect and the sustainer
of this wonderful world, how do I get to know Him? Well we, see the handiwork
of God, in all that he has created.
II. THE NATURE SHOUTS GOD’S
GLORY
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day
after day they pour forth speech; night
after night they reveal knowledge. They
have no speech, they use no words; no
sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes
out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the
sun. It is like a bridegroom coming
out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.” Psalm 19:1-6
The heavens
are telling the glory of God and the skies are speaking of the work of his
hands. What does that mean? It means God is shouting at us. He shouts with
clouds. He shouts with blue expanse. He shouts with gold on the horizons. He
shouts with galaxies and stars. The Psalmist is saying, in this passage, “Yet
their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”
The heavens are shouting that God is glorious. God is shouting at us through
all that he has made saying I am glorious. Are we opening our eyes and see this
marvelous creation of God? Are we opening our ears to hear God’s voice shouting
through his creation?
III. THE PEOPLE DECLARE
GOD’S GLORY
Not only God is the master architect
who designed this wonderful earth for us to call our home, but he also sustains
it by his powerful hand. Among all his handworks, he created man, and endowed
him with his glory, so that they will declare and reveal his glory on the
earth.
The Psalmist was amazed
at the wonder of man was created, “When I consider your
heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which
you have set in place, what is mankind that you are
mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?
You have made them a little lower than the angels and
crowned them with glory and honor.” Psalm 8:35
That was how God created man, so
that man can reflect and represent God’s glory on the earth. But man sinned
against God and had fallen short of God’s glory God got involved again to
display his power and glory to man through his wondrous works so that man will
glorify Him.
“O give thanks to the Lord, call on his
name, make known his deeds among the peoples. Sing to him, sing praises to him,
tell of all his wonderful works. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of
those who seek the Lord rejoice. Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his
presence continually. Remember the wonderful works he has done, his miracles,
and the judgments he uttered, O offspring of his servant Israel, children of
Jacob, his chosen ones.” I Chron 16:8-13
Let’s recount some of God’s
wonderful works: Sending unbearable
plagues on Egyptians to let them see the power of God. Parting of the red sea so that his people
could walk on a dry ground. Bringing water from the rock and feeding 600,000
people for 40 years with food from heaven, breaking down the walls of Jericho,
conquering the land of Canaan to mention a few.
The
Israelites witnessed these awesome acts of God, so one would think that they
would be grateful, right? Yet they failed to recognize and give God the glory.
This Psalm one way was a rebuke and a call to repentance. Elsewhere the Psalmist
laments, He saved them from the hand of the foe; from the hand of the enemy he
redeemed them. The waters covered their adversaries; not one of them survived.
Then they believed his promises and sang his praise. But they soon forgot what
he had done and did not wait for his plan to unfold…. They exchanged their glorious God for an
image of a bull, which eats grass.” Psalm 106:10-2-
III ARE WE DECLARING GOD’S
GLORY?
So far, we
talked about, what the glory of God is like, how the nature declared God’s
glory, and how His people who were redeemed and set free from bondage, quickly
turned away and exchanged God’s glory to an image of a bull, which eats grass.
What is going through your mind as you hear this message? Are you declaring
God’s glory as you were meant to?
Living in a
postmodern world it is very hard for us to recognize the work of God in our
lives let alone to pause and give him the glory and praise. Weather we admit or
not we all are being jaded, tired, bored, and lacking enthusiasm when it comes
to worshipping the true and living God. What can we attribute this modern-day
malady that seem to be affecting all of us?
Pete
Scazerro in Emotionally Healthy Spirituality says, “the global culture like a
beast threatens to swallow us these days. The core values of the twenty first
century tend to scream at us for attention for example computers, billboards,
televisions, DVDs, I pods, music, schools, newspapers, movies, magazines and so
on.” We falsely believe the notion that happiness is found in having things,
the more things we have the more we will be happy. We work hard, sacrifice
relationships in order to acquire things but in the end, we are more
dissatisfied than before.
How can we
say no to the pressures this culture is putting on us? It can only happen when
we can regain what was the original purpose that God created us for. Let, me
reiterate what I said, earlier, our ultimate purpose in life and in the life to
come is not to live for ourselves but to live to glorify God. That’s why St.
Augustine cried out, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord and our heart is
restless until we find rest in thee.” I want to challenge you with these
questions. What is truly valuable to you? Who are you living for? Are your
restless? Have you discovered the purpose for which God has created you? Are
you willing to keep God at the center of your life, and worship him in spirit
and truth, giving him all the glory? Amen
