Episode 76 - Created for God's glory

[00:00:00] Tim: We are back. You're back. It must be that time again. This is The Unveiling this week, episode 76. Calling this one "Created for God's Glory". Now, we've been talking the last couple of weeks about our purpose. What's God's purpose for creating us and God's purpose for us overall? This is kind of an offshoot of that conversation. It could possibly be a part three, but we decided to make this, it's all very specific topics, so what we're talking about tonight is. The phrase, "We are created for God's glory". Now, this is a term I've heard a lot growing up in the church and, and venturing out into the Christian and religious world, and I never really, I'll be honest, never really totally understood it. So the context I took it in for the most part is that it reflects our understanding that, we believe we were created by God and our purpose, our ultimate goal in life is to glorify or honor God through our thoughts, our actions, and, just merely , even our existence. But over the years Christianity, now, I'm not even gonna say that religion has taken that phrase and really turned it on its ear. It really seems to have brought two points of that to the fourfold. One that. God created you, therefore you owe him. And two, we have to work to repay him. Well, geez, that doesn't sound like a really good relationship either. So this concept of. Living for God's glory. With these as the overwhelming thoughts kind of refer to where we have to commit acts of worship, we have to pray, we have to serve others, we have to spread love and kindness. Share my faith. Now, none of those things are bad. I don't think you guys would disagree with me. None of those things are bad. But not in the context of this is what we have to do because we owe God and we have to somehow do something to make him more. I, he's God, you can't make him more. I don't get where that thought comes from, but it's very prevalent in just the way this whole thing kind of comes about. So that's where I think we are today, at least as far as most people's understanding of that. And I think I would like, I'm hoping that we can disassemble and reassemble that a little bit into something that makes a little bit more new covenant sense, so to speak. A little bit more gracious. So Ajai, why don't you get us started on the right path. [00:02:36] Ajai: Thank you Tim. Good to see you both again. I couldn't agree with you more about what you said and know how people interpret glory, Tim, so I want to pick up from , where you ended and then unpack this a little bit. If you ask generally an average Christian or somebody in the church, why did God create you? We typically get these answers or created me for his glory. And the second one we often hear is, he created me for his worship. So I'm going to address the second one real quick and then I think we can dive into glory and then I'll pass it to you. The idea here is that when they say God created us for his worship, it's like, God is lacking something. He is not complete without our worship. So he created us so that. We can worship him 24/7, before God on the throne. And then keep worshiping him and singing Glory, glory, glory, Lord God Almighty. And of course we will do that, but that is not the purpose. I want to quickly go to Acts 17 when Paul was in Athens, and then as he was walking around, he sees this inscription to the unknown God. Then Paul picks that up and he says, as then he talks about it, so far as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God, therefore the one whom you worship without knowing him, I proclaimed to you God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor he is worshiped with men's hands as though. He needed anything since he gives to all life breath and all things. So here you see in the context of worship, he's saying that he is not worshiped with men's hands as though he needed anything. So many of us think that God created us for worship as though you know God is lacking in self esteem, or his ego needs to be boosted, or somehow he just wants this confirmation about his goodness. But that is far from the truth. Like we have discussed before, we are created simply to be children. We are created to be the bride of Christ. And of course, when we realize our purpose and the goodness of God, we will end up worshiping him. But God did not create us for his worship. So I'm gonna stop here and Mark before we go to glory. [00:05:04] Mark: Sure. I'll just be honest. I'm looking to learn from this podcast as much as everybody here. Because , the word glory doesn't tend to have a lot of specific meaning, and I think people use it in many different ways to mean many different things. Many of those ways are just wrong. I, I just found a scripture here in Revelation though. It's Revelation four 11, and this is the Living Creatures. It says. That this is them worshiping God with the 24 elders. It's a picture of worship in heaven. And, and this was revealed to John and these living creatures worship him by saying, , you are worthy, our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things and by your will they were created and have their being so I think this is a great simple verse that reveals what glory is not, because there seems to be a contradiction. If he created everything, then what do I have to give him? How can I give him glory? How can I give him honor? How can I give him power when they're all already his and my entire being is only sustained by Him? So it can't mean that we're giving something of ours to him. The only thing we can ever give to him is what's his. You see what I'm saying there? If he created everything and we give him something we're, you know, it's like when you buy your kid a present and he, when he is real little and he wraps it up and gives it back to you for Christmas or something, we don't have anything to give and I don't think these living creatures that are worshiping him are somehow trying to say, All glory and honor and power aren't yours. We've got some and now we wanna give it to you so you can receive it. So to me, that just clears it up a little. And I love the title cuz it's created, what was it Created for? My glory or his glory? [00:07:14] Tim: His Glory [00:07:16] Mark: Created for God's glory. Right? Isn't that what it was? [00:07:19] Tim: Yeah. [00:07:19] Mark: And the word God is spelled G O D apostrophe S which means possessive, it's God's glory. And from , the thinking I've done on this and some of the searching in scripture, it's my personal opinion, and I need more searching on this and maybe through the two of you guys tonight. Tonight, I'll come to it. But to me, glory is a lot like righteousness. None exists except for God's. I mean, that was the core. , of the reformation was justification, which is another word for righteousness in we have none. It's all Gods. The Latin for that is extranos which means outside of our self. And I would say glory is the same way. Extranos it's an alien. Glory, just like his righteousness is an alien glory. We can receive it and reflect it back. We don't have any of our own, [00:08:16] Tim: , I've been sitting here listening to you two guys, and I gotta tell you that this, it struck me when you said, , God isn't made for our worship. The old Roman and or Greek deities that were worshiped, , thousands of years ago, literally were defined as being made strong by the worship of the people. And the less people to worship them, the weaker they got until eventually if they fell out of. Fell out of vogue and nobody was worshiping them anymore. They would literally quite literally disappear and be, that would be the end of 'em. That's how you killed the God. That's not how our god works. Totally. Our God created us to give us His glory. Now , it's hard to read sometimes some of the verses, which seemed to indicate otherwise. Isaiah 43, 7, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made now that. Phrase, whom I created for my glory new definition under the New Covenant and under grace, it's not whom I created to give me my glory, but whom I created to put my glory upon . That's my opinion. Those aren't the , literal biblical words, but that's how I see it in the light of the, of the gospel. [00:09:32] Mark: You just said something, Tim, that was right on my mind and , it goes even more to just. Than glory, what lens are you reading the Bible through? Are you reading it through the law or are you reading it through the gospel? The message of God's grace. That clears up a lot of misunderstandings and I think it really helps inform us. On the nature of God's glory, [00:09:54] Tim: and it might help us to go over this in the future, but it also depend a little bit upon who the words that we're reading at that particular point were to. Because some of the words are meant for the Jews never were meant for the Gentiles, and some of them were. Under the law and some of them were under grace. So maybe we'll have an episode in the future where we talk about some of those differences. I'm sorry, Aja, you looked like you were about to say something and I cut you off. [00:10:19] Ajai: No, no, no. All good. Mark and Tim, you know, I couldn't agree with you more again. So Tim, can you please read that was some Isaiah again? Let's unpack that a little bit based on a New Testament scripture. [00:10:31] Tim: Isaiah 43, verse seven, everyone who is called by my name. Whom I created for my glory whom I formed and made. [00:10:41] Ajai: Even I, before I came to the understanding of grace of God I interpreted it like this, and many of us interpret like that. So God created us for his glory. For many, it means doing things for God so that he gets glory from what we do. But you know, let's look at the scriptures, we always go back to the scriptures in the second Thessalonians two 13 to 14, I'm going to read it in NIV. It's even clearer. But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, loved by the Lord, because God chose you as first fruits to be saved. Through the sanctifying work of the spirit and through belief in the truth, he called you to this through our gospel that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, that's what it means. What is meant by God created us for his glory. He called you to this through the gospel that we might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So God is actually called us to share. In the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it is. You know how beautiful it is, and it is confirmed here in Romans chapter eight 28 to 30. , you know, Mark mentioned glory is like righteousness. In fact, righteousness is the condition of sharing in God's glory. If we are not righteous ,we cannot share in His glory because a sinful man, the wages of sin, his death, it's not glory. So we had to be made righteous. And that is also clear in this verse, Romans 8 28 to 30, and we know all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose, for whom he foreknew. He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the first born among many brethren. So here the predestination is he wants us to conform to the image of his son so that he becomes our elder brother and we all become his younger brothers. And how do we conform to his image? It's explained in the next verse. Moreover, whom he predestine. He also called whom he called. He also justified and whom he justified. He also glorified by glorifying us. He is conforming us to the image of his son. Like we discussed before, right? In order to have true fellowship with anybody, we need to share the same nature. , we should be on the same plain, right? Same nature, same thinking same heart and same feelings. Unless we can relate to the other person, we cannot really have true fellowship. So you fallen man with a sinful nature can never have true fellowship. The Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, the Bible says, In I think in Corinthians one of the Corinthian letters, we are called for fellowship with his son, with God and his son. So unless we are also made glorious beings like our Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot have fellowship with him and he cannot be our brother. And that's why through the gospel is calling us to share in his glory. And back to your point Mark, unless we are made righteous, we cannot have his glory and all of the righteousness is of Gods. And all of the glory is also of our Lord Jesus Christ. [00:13:57] Mark: Yeah, and what's interesting is the way we get our righteousness is the same way we get our glory. It's all Christ. John 17, five, this is right, right before Jesus went to the cross, he said He's praying to God. And now Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. So Jesus is telling us there that when he came to earth incarnate, he left that heavenly glory with the Father. , and now he's saying, , glorify me in your presence now as he goes to give his life to the world. And then he, he says right before that, he says, father, the hour has come. Glorify your son, that your son may glorify you. And I love that because we've discussed this time and time again just recently, we talked about who we are and what our purpose is. It's to be his sons and daughters, his children. And even Jesus is saying, give me your glory that I might glorify you. There's a giving of glory to the Father. And then right here in Colossians 1 26, it says, The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord's people, to them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. The only hope we have of glory is Christ's glory in us, and that's God glorifying us. So I see us as almost like a mirror , reflecting God's glory as we turn our gaze upon him and let his spirit work in our lives. [00:15:48] Ajai: Amen. So Mark, you know, you and I had a scripture from John 17. , he not only says father glorify me, right? And then in John 17:22 it says, and the glory which you give me, I have given them. That they may be one just as we are one. See here, ? Who is sharing the glory? Is Jesus sharing his glory with us? Or are we trying to get more glory to Jesus by what we do? Clearly he's saying, the glory the Father gave Jesus, he has given us. And what is the purpose of that? Again? Our union with our largest Christ. That they may be one just as we are one. So we cannot be united with our Lord Jesus Christ and share the same nature and fellowship until we also share in his glory. It's amazing, , we are fallen creatures. We are dead in our trespasses and sins. Then he's saying, Hey, you know, I've created you from the beginning for my glory. To share my glory with you so that we can have fellowship and we can have union with you, the Father, son, and the Holy Spirit. They want to have fellowship with us, ? They want to come sit with us, eat with us, have fun with us, and they cannot do that until we share the same glory that our Lord Jesus christ. [00:17:07] Tim: You know, that's a very interesting point, Ajai, because , when God first created Adam in the garden, He created somebody he could fellowship with. That's why he created Adam and to a certain extent, that passed down to all of us. He wants to have that fellowship and communion with us. And we kind of messed that up as everybody knows famously in the garden. So now he's given us Jesus, he's given us complete forgiveness of sin, cleans us up, given us righteousness, gave us the Holy Spirit, and he's put us back into that communion with him and he shares what's his with us. So what's the outcome of that? The outcome of that is we are reflecting Jesus now in everything we do. We've reflect. The glory he's heaped upon us. And that's how we attract people. We don't go out in the streets and throw Bibles at people and yell about how you're gonna go to hell. And , this is the result of your lives, we're not gonna beat people in the heaven. We're not gonna scare people in the heaven. But when they see that irresistible force, that glory, that holiness, that righteousness coming out of us, they're gonna want it. They're gonna wanna know more. They're turning this from, I made you to make me more glorious into. I am created you so I could share my glory. Makes a lot more sense in the new covenant world. [00:18:33] Mark: You know, it just occurred to me, think about this. It is impossible for an unbeliever to give glory to God. . Why? Because they can't do enough good works. No, because they don't have Christ in them. He is our glory. He is our only hope of glory. And it's got nothing to do with how, cuz there are, there are probably unbelievers out there that do a lot more good works than I do, I'm sure. But they still can't bring glory to God cuz they don't have Christ in them. Who is our, our, our whole only hope of glory, [00:19:11] Tim: you're absolutely right, mark. I know a lot of people who are philanthropic, who are kind, who are patient, who are. Who express a lot of the, the ideals that, , love is and things like that, who, like you said, I would have to judge as being better human beings at some level than I am. But that doesn't get you into heaven. There's only one way in heaven, and that's through Jesus Christ. , I know that's not our topic tonight, but it was such a good point about the people who. Are out there going, well, I'm a good person. Yeah, you are. You're a good person, but you're not a saved one. . I would like to quickly double click a little bit into glory, , when we say God's glory, what does it mean? I think there are many aspects to it. But there is one specific scripture in the Old Testament. , when , Moses asks God. God show me your glory. And then, we might be expecting, okay, you know, God comes and shows himself in bright light, right? Unapproachable light. And that's the idea of our glory. , shining light and the halo. But it's interesting very interesting actually. , when God responds, Hey, you know you cannot see my face and still live, but , you can see me from behind. And then he says, I will. Make all my goodness pass before you. You know, God's goodness is his glory and his goodness is manifested to us as His glory. And when we share, I think Tim, like you're saying, , when we share in his glory, We are emanating his glory to others is basically we are emanating his goodness and his loving kindness. His loving kindness is his glory and in Ephesians also. Again, I think everything comes back to our grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. What is the glory in Ephesians one six? It says, "to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which he has made us accepted in the beloved". So the term is the glory of his grace. His grace is his glory. And in some of the scripture it says he will give you grace and glory. I think it's in Psalms. So again, his grace is His glory. And in fact, in John chapter one, verse 14, that's a beautiful scripture. . It says and the word has become flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld is glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. , see again, you see how closely his glory is tied to his grace. It says We beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace, and his grace is his glory. Go ahead. [00:21:53] Mark: That that's an awesome point. Can you read, you read a scriptural a little earlier, I think it was out of John 17, about the father giving Jesus his glory so that he could give his glory to us. Can you read that again? [00:22:05] Ajai: John 17:22 And the glory which you gave me, I have given them that they may be one with us. Just as we are one. [00:22:14] Mark: , I love that because to me it makes glory a very tangible thing. It's like, just imagine God holding his glory in his hands, passing it to Jesus and then Jesus passing it to us. To me, I can get my teeth into that and it just, I think it only backs up the fact that all Glory belongs to God and he gives it to people. As a gift, it is probably his pleasure to do that. You know, he want, he wanted Jesus to give us his glory, so he gave it to him and said, give it to them. . Very tangible thing. Yeah. [00:22:51] Ajai: If you guys don't mind, I want to just touch on one more point. Mark your favorite scripture, in second Corinthians, chapter three, 17 to 18. Now, the Lord is the Spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is. There is liberty. But we all, with unwell face beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as by the spirit of the Lord. So here the scripture says, we behold God's glory. When we behold God's glory, we are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory again. The point to note is, , he doesn't say from sin to glory. Sin to righteousness, but we go from glory to glory. That's awesome. So I want to make one point , where do we behold God's glory? So Mark, it goes back to the scripture that , you read from John 17. So back at you. Do you have it, John 17, five. [00:23:46] Mark: Yeah, I can read that for you. And now father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. [00:23:57] Ajai: When he said, now, father, it was just before going to the cross, he says, , now glorify, , Jesus is glorified on the cross. And in fact in I believe it's in John chapter 13:30, I believe. After, when disciples meet in the upper room and Judas Iscariot walks out, and then the Lord Jesus says this, having received the peace of bread, he then went out immediately and it was night. So when he had gone out, Jesus said, now the son of man is glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and glory him immediately. So here he is referring to his cross. So our Lord Jesus Christ is glorified on the cross and is sharing his glory with us. And the way he glorified God is by taking away our sin, ? He crucified our old man, and in his resurrection, he brought about a new man. And now the Bible says, Lord Christ is glorified. He's sitting in glory in heaven and the way he accomplished it is through the cross. So that's why I always say when you go to Jesus when you go to heaven and see Jesus. In fact, in revelation when the angel said to John, the lion of tribe of Judah has prevailed, and then John looks on the throne. Probably he's expecting a lion, right? A roaring lion. But is this a lamb? That was one slain. So that is the lamb slain, the Christ crucified. He is the glory of God When we behold Christ and him crucified, specifically, we are beholding the glory of God again, coming full circle to Christ and him crucified. [00:25:42] Mark: So I think Luke two. Really goes well with what you just shared, Ajai, when it says, "and there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shown around them and they were terrified". And then I love this. It says that the "...great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest heaven. And on earth peace to those on whom he rests". And I did some research on that. That's a saying, glory to God in the highest heaven means to the nth degree, the highest possible degree of glory is in the Son and whom he gives it to. He is our glory. He's our only hope of glory. Amen. [00:26:36] Tim: So I think I'm beginning to see this. Well, I began this trip earlier and sooner than this, but I'm beginning to see more and more that this whole idea of bringing glory to God really isn't about us doing something. If for no other reason, then we have nothing to give to God. God has given us everything, so all the best we can do is reflect any of that back out into the world or back to him. So we have nothing to give him. And yeah, I, I just, this has been a great discussion on this tonight, guys. But unfortunately the, the big wheels keep on turning. So we're approaching the end of our time for tonight giving you your normal opportunity to summarize and get ready to close the episode. Mark, you wanna start us off? [00:27:23] Mark: Sure. I'm gonna summarize by a couple short verses here, Tim. Hebrews one, three says, the son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being. You can just see that the son is emanating, he's the radiance of the glory of God. It's his own glory, but he's proceeding out toward us. He became, Incarnate came to earth and even as he hit the earth, heaven tore open and the glory shown glory to God in the highest to the nth degree. And then I'll also read a little bit of Ephesians one 12 says. "In him, we were also chosen, have they been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ might be. For the praise of his glory". I just love so many times as scriptures are putting the glory in the possessive form, that it's God's glory When Jesus gave us. His glory. He was giving God's glory to us because God gave it to him and said, give it to them. Now, of course it was his glory too, but as he mentioned, that glory, he left with God as he came to earth and then returned to the same glory he had. And we can also just a little afterthought, think about the transfiguration where we were given just a little bit. Of a glimpse of God's glory and the glory of the Son and the spirit too, obviously, who's the one that really is the good deposit that gives us Christ and us the hope of glory. [00:29:12] Ajai: Amen. Amen. Mark you mentioned last time, no matter what topic we discuss, it goes full circle and comes back to our Lord Jesus Christ. Just like they say all roads lead to Rome. , everything we discuss lead to our Lord Jesus Christ. Again, like you mentioned, Christ in us, the hope of glory simply put. Jesus is our glory. And I'm looking at Psalm three, three, easy to remember. But thou O Lord, artist shield for me my glory and the lifter of mine head, you know, the Lord Jesus himself is our glory. And we get His glory are we partake His glory by partaking of Christ himself. By being in Christ, we share in His glory. [00:29:58] Tim: Well guys, thank you. This has been a great discussion and. If you listening here today, got something out of this, and I sure hope you did because this has been a topic that has confused and confounded people throughout time. , we hope you understand that giving God glory doesn't mean that you have to take something of yourself and give it to God because. You can't build God up from where he is, but you can take the what he gives you. Remember at the beginning, I think Mark said God's, which is g o d, apostrophes, it's his glory that he gives to us. And those, those little pieces of the scripture were very important. Whether it's a, a two letter word or a a literally a grammatical mark. These are. The big changes that come to you when you understand the new covenant and the grace of Jesus Christ, and we hope you're getting that. As always, if you have any questions, feedback, contact us. There's multiple ways you can hear it in the outro as we leave tonight and we pray that you have been uplifted and blessed, and we look forward to talking to you again the next time.