Soli Deo Gloria

“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory…”  ~Psalm 115:1

Have you ever wondered what God’s chief end is? Does He have one? I think He does. God’s raison d'être is His own glory. Everything God does, whether we understand it or not, whether we want to accept it or not, is for His own glory.

Take, for example, God’s dealings with Israel. Why did God create a people for Himself? He created them “for [His] glory” (Isa. 43:7). Why did He deliver them from Egypt? “That [His] name might be proclaimed in all the earth” (Ex. 9:16). Why did He lead them into the promised land? “[He] acted for the sake of [His] name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations” (Ezek. 20:9). Why did God not destroy them when they rejected Him? “The Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake” (1 Sam. 12:22). And why did God refine Israel? He declared, “For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another” (Isa. 48:11).

And what is true of God’s dealings with Israel is true of His dealings with the Gentiles. Why out of one lump did God make some vessels for honor and some for dishonor? For His own glory (Rom. 9:18-24). Why did God predestine His people? Why me? To the praise of His glorious grace (Eph. 1:5-6, 11-12).      

If God’s chief end is His own glory, then of course Jesus’ chief end is to glorify God. That’s why He came into the world (Rom. 15:8-9). That’s why, ultimately, He died on the cross: “For this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name” (John 12:27-28).

So, we can say that the purpose of God is His own glory. He created, He sustains, He directs, He redeems, He foreordains whatsoever comes to pass, and He will judge — all for the manifestation of His own glory. And if God is committed to His own glory, then should we not be committed too?

We should be devoted to the “glory” (i.e. kâbôd, literally weightiness) of God in everything. When we repent, for example, we repent to His glory: “For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great” (Ps. 25:11). When we pray for deliverance, whether it be from enemies or even disease, it is for His glory (Ps. 79:1-4, 9-10). When we pray for the salvation of others, or for the church in general, it’s for the glory of God: “For your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate” (Dan. 9:17).  

In short, as we awake, pray, eat, drink, study, work, parent, recreate, procreate, share, sing, give, plant, play, perform, watch, workout, vote, suffer, repent, sleep, live, and die, let us do all fueled by a desire to redound to the kâbôd of God. In everything, let us say: “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory...Why should the nations say ‘Where is their God?’” (Ps. 115:1-2). Soli Deo Gloria!

Rev. Rob Dykes, Pastor of Preaching & Congregational Care