Tag Archives: Soli Deo Gloria

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Soli Deo Gloria

Being With Jesus:
John 21:19

Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

The disciples were reeling with the resurrection—in both delightful and disappointing ways. That Jesus rose from the grave was the ultimate game changer for them. This proved beyond all doubt that Jesus was who he claimed to be—God in flesh, the Lord of life and Savior of the world—and it removed any question that he would do what he said he could do—forgive sin, cure disease, deliver the demonized, give abundance and in fact, grant eternal life. For them, this was the truly greatest news ever!

Yet Jesus wasn’t quite fulfilling their expectations of a resurrected Lord. He wasn’t throwing off the yoke of the Roman Empire and reestablishing Israel as the world’s super-power. He hadn’t wiped out sin and instituted the rule of God’s kingdom on earth. He didn’t set the disciples up as ruling governors in his ascending government. To their disappointment, the disciples woke up post-resurrection to the mundane realization that they needed to go back to work to make a living—and even that wouldn’t be easy:

Simon Peter told his fellow disciples, “I’m going out to fish.” And they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. (John 21:30)

And even while Jesus kept appearing in the banal grittiness of their post-resurrection reality, both proving his sovereignty over life and death as well as providing fresh miracles in their daily toil, he also kept forcing difficult conversations on them. Jesus was continuing to ferret out their selfish desires and false expectations and limiting ideas of what was next.

Peter, in particular, was getting roughed up. In order to restore Peter after he denied Jesus three times on the night of his arrest, Jesus sat with Peter and point blank asked him three times if he truly loved the Lord—much to Peter’s discomfort. (John 21:15-17) Then, when Jesus was satisfied with his response, he revealed to Peter the cheery news that he was going to die a very undignified, unpleasant death:

“When you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” (John 21:18)

Then we are told something that is most unusual, although, which at this point, should come as no surprise, either to Peter back then, or us right now: “Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.” Then Jesus followed that difficult statement up by saying to Peter—and to you and me, by extension: “Follow me!” (John 21:19)

As we have seen all along in the Gospel of John, the glory of God was the most important theme in the life and message of Jesus. There has been no more passionate pursuit, no greater focus, no greater investment than to use his earthly time to promote God’s glory. And it is clear that he expects his disciples to take up this very theme in their lives, through their message and even in their deaths. Yes, even in the way that Jesus will arrange for them to die, with their dying breath they will lift glory to Almighty God.

What we learn from this, among other things, is that sooner or later, to be an authentic follower of Christ, we must come to grips with the fact that God’s agenda is quite different than ours. Peter had to learn it; so must we. Truth be told, until our dying day, we will wrestle with a sin nature that continues to insist on our own way, that our will be done, that God fulfill our ideas of how his kingdom should play out.

Yet the Resurrected Lord will remind us, for as long and as often as it takes, that we are not the center of the universe, God is, and that God does not exist for our sake, but we exist for his glory alone. And when we get that—as Peter ultimately did—we will be well on our way to living out the ultimate purpose for the transference of Christ’s resurrection power and life to us: for the glory of God alone.

Soli Deo GloriaThe Gospel of John ends with the reminder that all the books in the library of human language can never contain the story of Jesus—not by a long stretch. (John 21:25) Truly, how could the glory of God ever be contained? It can’t—especially when untold myriads of fully devoted Christ followers every day throughout the world for the rest of time are living out their lives for the glory of God alone!

As Jesus said to Peter, he says to you and me, “Follow me—in life and in death—soli Deo gloria!”

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“When you draw on God’s grace to put off your self-centered attitudes and act on His principles, you put His glory on display. Your life points to His vast wisdom, compassion, and transforming power, and as you look for God’s glory, the impact reaches far beyond yourself because you give everyone around you reason to respect and praise God. Glorifying God is not about letting others see how great you are. It’s about letting them see how great the Lord is.” (Ken Sande)

 

Getting To Know Jesus: Go about your day today with this purpose: To let others see through you how great God is. Make “Soli Deo Gloria” your life’s theme!

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The Unceasing Doxology

Being With Jesus:
John 17:1-5

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”

Let me listen to the content of your prayers and I will describe your theological grasp of God as well as the level of your spiritual maturity. Not that I want to throw a wet blanket over your access to the throne room of your Heavenly Father nor make you second guess the kinds of things you are praying for.

Obviously, we have been invited to “ask for what we wish” in prayer (John 15:7), to “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence” (Hebrews 4:16) and to freely “pour out your hearts to God, for he is our refuge.” (Psalm 62:8) Nothing, no one nor any teaching should ever cause us to shrink back from the privilege of openly and authentically connecting with our loving Heavenly Father in prayer.

Nevertheless, the kind of prayers we consistently pray reveals the kind of Christian we are. So if you are concerned about becoming more like Christ in your spiritual journey—as we all should be—then the content of your prayers over time must turn toward the kind of focus Jesus had every time he prayed.

In this prayer recorded in John 17—what we call Jesus’ “high priestly prayer”—the last recorded prayer he offered right before his arrest, trial and crucifixion, we see an intense, passionate yet calm, centering supplication being lifted to God. We get a glimpse of that which was most important to Jesus—his priorities—of how clear he was about the divine plan—his submission to God’s will—and of what he understood about his Father’s character—his theology.

As important as anything in this important prayer was Jesus’ passion for the glory of God. He uniquely understood the glory that emanated from the eternal God, for he had shared in that unfettered glory from the beginning of time (“the glory I had with you before the world began”, John 17:5). He was fully committed to his own life—and death—reflecting that glory to the world (“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you”, John 17:1) He had perfectly and completely testified to the glory of God through his thirty-three years as an earthly man (“I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do,” John 17:4). And now Jesus rightly expected that the Father would restore all the past and future glory of the of eternally existent Son, second person of the Holy Trinity, to him as he submitted, body soul and spirit, to the cross for the sin of the world (“Now, Father, give me back the glory that I had with you before the world was created.” John 17:5, CEV).

Yes, what Jesus prayed revealed who Jesus was, how he believed and what was most important to him. His final prayer tells us that he believed there was no greater theology that the glory of God. It also shows us that there was no more important focus in life than the glory of God. And it reminds us that there was no greater commitment, no greater expenditure of energy, no greater sacrifice for Jesus than to use his one and only earthly life for the glory of God alone.

What do your prayers reveal about you? Your anxiety about God’s competence to care for the details of your life or your desire for the temporal things of this world or your passion for quick fixes, pain avoidance, comfort and prosperity? Over the course of the next few days, pay attention to the content of your prayers to get an honest assessment of what they reveal about your theology and your spiritual maturity. Like me, you will probably realize that your trust, obedience and understanding need to go much deeper in God.

God's GloryWhat if you and I began to shift the focus of our prayers (and our lives) to the glory of God alone? Truly, there is no greater theme in all creation than God’s glory. And if we will begin to passionately invest our praying and our living toward that end, we will not only fulfill the purpose for which we were created, we will be well on the way to sharing in the glory of the One who rightly deserves it all.

At the end of the day, may it be said of us that the glory of God alone was our unceasing doxology.

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“To live and work for the glory of God cannot remain an idea about which we think once in a while. It must become an interior, unceasing doxology.” (Henri Nouwen)

 

Getting To Know Jesus: The early church father, Irenaeus, wrote in his magnificent work, Against Heresy, “The glory of God is the human being fully alive, and the life of the human consists in beholding God.” Spend some moments in prayer asking your Father to make you a living example of a fully alive human being bringing glory to God alone.