Just listened to a sermon called “Glory Thieves” by Matt Chandler and I thought this was an awesome excerpt. It’s super long, but trust me it’s worth reading:
Most of us have been told that God created the universe, created all that is and used His riches and His knowledge and His wisdom to create the world, to create the universe because He desired fellowship with man. Has anybody heard that? It’s a great idea if it weren’t for the Bible, and it’s almost blasphemous. That God, in His infinite perfection, was lonely, and His response to that loneliness was to create a bunch of glory thieving rats? That was the infinite God solution to His loneliness? You are not created for fellowship. That kind of makes you the centerpiece of the puzzle I’m afraid. We’re not that close to center. There are two ways to view the Scriptures. One way is that this is a book about living. And so, should we drink? Let’s find that in here. And so, we say yes or no, depending on how fearful you are. Then we look in here and say, “Should I see this kind of movie or that kind of movie?” And we see and we find some texts about not eating meat sacrificed to idols and says, “No, we shouldn’t.” And then we flip around and we say, “Should I….?” And this is a book about life. In fact, we’ve heard this, that this is the road map to life. Now, there are maps in here. This is the Dead Sea. This is the Sea of Galilee right here. This is the Temple Mount. So, there are maps in here, but I’m afraid that if this is the road map of life, it’s a very difficult one to read and might outright be a crummy one. Now, there might be some hairs bristling, but in the end, I get a call from Highland Village First Baptist Church four years ago that asked me if I’m interested in throwing in a résumé and becoming their pastor. Let me see…[thumbs through Bible]…alright, I don’t know. I meet an incredibly attractive godly woman who I’ve tricked into liking me. Should I marry her or not? I’ll just look up her name in the index. Unfortunately, Lauren isn’t in here. So, this is a pretty crummy road map of life if everything I’m trying to figure out I should do or go or be I can’t find in here. Then there are always those who will help you find it in there. What if this wasn’t about us at all? What if we weren’t the story in here at all? Now, there are definitely some commands in here that have to be obeyed and some demands from God almighty that need to be examined and looked at and submitted to. But in the end, there are two ways to view this. One is that it’s a book about life and the other is that it’s a book about God. And this book, from beginning to end, will unpack for you that the desire of God’s heart is not your salvation but rather the glory of His name. That is what drives the universe, that is why everything exists, not so that you and I might be saved or lost, heaven or hell, but that God might be glorified in His infinite perfections.
Now, I know that this is very contrary to what most of us have learned, so let me do this. I’m going to rip off for you 35 texts of Scripture, and I want you to see if you can pick up on a theme here. Ezekiel 20:5-9 says that God did not destroy Israel in the desert for the sake of His name. Psalm 106:6-8 says, “Yet he saved them for his name’s sake.” So, why are men saved? For the name of Christ, for the namesake of God, that He might make known His mighty power. Exodus 14:4, 18 says that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened for the glory of God. 1 Samuel 12:19-23 says the beginning of the Israeli monarch was about the glory of God. Psalm 25:11 says, “For your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great.” Psalm 23:3, if you live in the Bible Belt, everyone in this room has a bookmark or a coffee cup with the 23rd Psalm on it, and it says, “He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” 1 Kings 8:41-45 says Solomon dedicates the temple for the glory of God. 2 Samuel 7:23 says Israel became great and powerful among the nations for the glory of God. Isaiah 48:9-11 says God does not destroy Israel when they deserve it because He did not want His name blasphemed among the nations. In Malachi 2:2, He decides to destroy Israel because they would not lay it in their heart to give glory to His name. John 17:4; 7:18; 4:34 says that Jesus’ life and ministry was about the glory of God. John 12:27-28 says the cross of Jesus is about the glory of God. Ephesians 1:3-6 says that you and I are saved to the praise of His glorious grace. 1 Corinthians 10:31, 1 Peter 4:11, Matthew 5:16 says that the Christian life is about the reflection of the glory of God off of our lives into the universe 2 Thessalonians 1:9-10 says the second coming is about the consummation of the glory of God. Revelation 21:23 says the consummation of all things is that God might be praised. This is the story of the Bible, not you, not me, God, God alone, God’s name alone, God’s glory alone, God who is deep in riches, God who is deep in wisdom and knowledge, not you and me. And I could take these 35 verses
and plug in 35 more verses because this is the message of the Bible. God and God alone stands as supreme. There is no court you could complain to, there is no high court that you could argue with Him in. He and He alone is God and has created all things for the glory and exaltation of His name. Which means God gives us the gift of sex, and it’s a great gift. Now, He did not give us that gift however so that joy might be consummate in the act itself, but rather in the gift given to us, we might be overwhelmed by the goodness of God within it and that it would create worship towards Him in it. Or God gave us…and we could go on and on and on here…God gave us food and wine, not so we could guzzle it down and gorge ourselves on it, but rather as we took a bite of good food or we took a sip of great wine, something would occur in the deepest parts of our soul where it didn’t terminate on that but rather went deeper than that and there was an awe and a joy resulting in worship of God’s name.
