21 Days of Prayer: Day 19

Missions: Consumed with God's Glory


“My glory I give to no other"

READ ISAIAH 42:1-10.
 
In our twenty-one days of prayer, we now turn to pray through our last segment of the Discipleship Pathway – Missions. Some may wonder at the title of this devotions and think, “Consumed with God’s glory? Why are we talking about God’s glory? I thought missions meant hopping in a car or on a plane to travel somewhere and tell people about Jesus?” While missions do involve traveling to other people groups (though it is certainly not limited to that), just telling others about Christ for the sake of telling them is NOT the purpose of missions… The purpose of missions is that God be glorified through Jesus Christ. In other words, we preach the gospel to non-believers so that they will worship God. The gospel is God’s plan to spread his glory among all nations in Jesus… That begs the natural question – “What does it mean to glorify God? What is God’s glory?”

“Glory” is a theological word that is thrown around a lot in our churches. But what does it mean? God’s glory is the outward display of His thrice-holy nature, character, and ways. And though all creation is full of God’s glory, the glory of God is revealed to us primarily and most fully in the Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6) … So when we talk about glorifying God, we are not giving anything to God (God does not need anything; see Acts 17:24-5), but we are reflecting His transcendent beauty and righteousness to a watching world… But why are we talking about being consumed with God’s glory?

The answer is because God is consumed with His own glory. In our text today, God says through the prophet Isaiah, “My glory I give to no other…” God will not allow anything else to receive the worship He deserves. When we hear this, if we are being honest with ourselves, our knee-jerk reaction is to balk at this idea. We turn up our noses at this idea of God being consumed with His own glory and think “that is so arrogant of God.” And this thinking would be true… if we were talking about any other person.
By definition God is the most transcendent, the most beautiful, the most righteous being, in existence. Therefore, God is the greatest good. If God would glorify another person or thing, He would cease to be good because He would be giving worship to something that does not deserve it… Indeed, God is consumed with His glory because it is right and fitting that He alone be praised… But God’s zeal for His own glory affects us too…

God’s zeal for His own glory achieves our greatest good… The Reverend John Piper is helpful here: “God’s commitment is to His own glory and… this is the basis for ours.” In other words, God’s zeal for His own glory is what achieves our glory as His people. Think about this – if God taught us glorify something besides Himself, He would not be giving us the greatest good. But, since God does teach us to glorify Him, He gives us the greatest good (Himself)! God shares His glory with us by commanding us to worship Him! Brilliant!... But how does God share His glory with us?

God shares His glory with us through His Son. The LORD says through Isaiah the prophet: “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him…”  The LORD continues to prophecy that His servant will bring about justice, to open the eyes of the blind and set the captives free… And several centuries later, the servant comes onto the scene and reads this Scripture in the synagogue: 

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor… to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind…  (Lk. 4:18; see Lk 4:16-22)

Jesus is the Lord’s servant whom Isaiah prophesied about! Jesus came to save people from sin and its consequences. Christ came as the servant to fulfil the promises of God… But at what cost?... Isaiah described how the servant would achieve God’s promises to save His people: 
He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed… the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isa. 53:5-6)

Christ served God and His people through SUFFERING. Christ died so that sinners would be saved from sin to glorify God. The Son of God paid the penalty for sinners on the Cross so that we would be consumed with God’s glory… God is so consumed with His glory that He died so that sinners could experience that glory! The beauty of the gospel!
If God is so consumed with His glory, what should His people be about? We get a glimpse in the New Testament book of Acts. Jesus has already paid for human sin on the Cross, resurrected, and ascended to His Father in heaven. Now His apostles are spreading the glory of God by preaching the gospel… and they REJOICED because they were BEATEN for sharing the gospel (Acts 5:41).
Followers of Christ from the earliest days were so consumed with God’s glory that they celebrated suffering for God… Wow.
Christ suffered to save a people for God’s glory. The people of God have suffered to spread the news of Christ – so that this end would come:

For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your offspring and your name remain. From new moon to new moon and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the LORD. (Isa. 66:22-3)

God suffered so that ALL peoples would come and glorify Him. At the end of time, people from every tribe, tongue, and nation will glorify God in Christ. God suffered so that all people would share His glory. God is so consumed with His worship that He died to share it… Therefore, missions exist – to spread the glory of God to those who do not share it. 
The question is – will we be consumed with God’s glory? 
 
Personal Questions:

  1. What do we mean when we talk about God’s glory?

  2. Why is it not arrogant for God to be consumed with His own glory?

  3. Why is it good news for us that God is consumed with His own glory?

  4. What was the cost that Jesus paid so that we could share His glory?

  5. Are you consumed with sharing God’s glory – to the point of suffering to spread it?

Prayer Points:

  • Pray that you and our church would understand that it is a good thing for God to be consumed with His own glory.

  • Pray that you and you church would more and more realize the preciousness of the gospel – that the Son of God died so that we would share in His glory.

  • Pray that you and our church would be so consumed with God’s glory that we would spread it – from our neighborhoods to the nations.

  • Pray that you and our church would be so consumed with God’s glory that we would be willing to suffer for it.