Defining God’s Glory

Christ Church Mission Statement: We exist to glorify God and make disciples of all peoples.

As a church that values transparency, we want to share why precise language was chosen and substantiate it with God’s help. For about nine months, this language was discerned and prayed over with a vision team, along with input from the church council, leaders, church staff, and church body members.

To comprehend the depths of our mission statement, we start by asking why we refer to God’s glory in it. In the next post, we’ll address why anyone would say a human being exists for God’s glory.

Before we answer that question, we need to set a foundation for what glory is. Glory is defined as honor or distinction extended by common consent, a height of prosperity or achievement, something marked by beauty or resplendence.

One of the things we all have in common is our attraction to glory. If we sat down for coffee and a conversation, we might discuss the glory of Warren Buffet’s portfolio, the glory of a nation, such as ancient Rome, or gold medalist Olympians who defy seemingly impossible physical achievements. We’re wired to give glory to things, achievements, esteem, and so forth.

However, to answer our question, we must go beyond human glory and examine God’s glory. Before we can even begin defining His glory, we must acknowledge that whatever terms or attributes we use to describe it, there is always more. When we speak of an infinite God, there’s always something our description overlooks; That’s part of what makes God glorious.

In an attempt to define it, pastor Christopher Morgan describes God’s glory as “…the magnificence, worth, loveliness, and grandeur of His many perfections, which He displays in His creative and redemptive acts to make His glory known to those in His presence.” Another pastor defined it as all of God’s attributes woven together.

While our human attempts to define it come up short, the centrality of God’s glory is pronounced in His Word. Throughout Scripture, we see it defined and demonstrated. Here are a few key verses that illustrate God’s glory and stood out in our discernment process:

“‘And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.’ And they did so.” Exodus 14:4 (emphasis added)

“I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.” Isaiah 42:8 (emphasis added)

“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.” Isaiah 48:11 (emphasis added)

“Indeed, for the sake of His great name, the LORD will not abandon His people, because He was pleased to make you His own.” 1 Samuel 12:22

“For the sake of Your name, O Lord, forgive my iniquity, for it is great.” Psalm 25:11 (emphasis added)

“Yet He saved them for the sake of His name, to make His power known.” Psalm 106:8 (emphasis added)

“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name be the glory, because of Your loving devotion, because of Your faithfulness.” Psalm 115:1 (emphasis added)

“To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:21

“And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!’” Isaiah 6:3 (emphasis added)

Based on those verses, we can determine that God is serious about His own glory.

Now, you may read those verses and ask the logical question: What does God exalt above Himself? For God to exalt someone or something above Himself, wouldn’t that indicate He has an idol? And for that to be true, it would violate His commandment, “Thou shall have no idols before (Exodus 20:3).”

There’s nothing higher than God, and we must recognize that He exalts His glory. However, He does this because God recognized that the exultation of His glory is also in the best interest of His creation. This is exemplified throughout Scripture, such as in 1 Samuel when Israel wanted to be an earthly king. “For the Lord will not forsake His people, for His great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for Himself (1 Samuel 12:22).”

We also see it in the Psalms when David began to grasp God’s nature. When David asks God to forgive him, he wrote, “For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great (Psalm 25:11).” Again, in Psalm 106:8, David wrote: “Yet He saved them for His name’s sake, that He might make known His mighty power.”

When the Apostle Paul wrote about what the Church of Jesus Christ is designed for, called to, and developed in, it was for Him to be glory in the Church. This is no minor matter. When we worship together as a church body through song, liturgy, communion, prayer, or teaching, it’s no minor matter for the Body of Christ to come together and glorify God.

His Glory is Everywhere

The entire earth is full of His glory, and in our Western enlightenment, we can overlook it if we don’t slow down and enjoy it. There are examples of His creation everywhere we look. For example, let’s highlight one tiny facet of His creation. Consider the engineering of a grasshopper’s eyes. Consider the technical creativity that had to go into one minuscule facet of creation. Yet, there’s also the distinctiveness of the engineering of about 10,000 different species of grasshoppers found throughout the planet.

Expand that to our own creative bodies. Consider the engineering and complexity of the human eye. Consider how the anterior chamber works in conjunction with the pupil and iris. All of these components are suspended in a gelatinous material that comprises the eye. These relatively small body components translate visuals to the brain in real-time. Ophthalmologists and optometrists could give us even more depth, as that barely scrapes the surface of the scientific realities of how complex our eyes are.

Let’s expand this concept even further by considering space.

The Boss (Wall) supercluster of galaxies is more than one billion light-years across, making it the largest structure observed in the universe so far. This wall is made up of 830 separate galaxies that gravity has corralled into four superclusters. Additionally, while it lurks 4.5 to 6.5 billion light-years away, the Boss has an estimated mass 10,000 times greater than our own Milky Way.

Additionally, do you remember the model you did in junior high of the solar system? It leaves you with the sense that planets are suspended in a spectrum of space, rotating around the sun. However, that’s only partially true. The sun and our entire solar system move through space like a helix at 450,000 miles per hour.

Why would the Creator spend time imagining something so vast, majestic, and surreal? Fortunately, we have an answer in Psalm 8:1:

“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens.”

When we peer into creation, we get to recognize that it exalts His creation. Psalm 19:1 echoes that with, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” And Hebrews 1:10 reminds us, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands.”

The Creator created something vast, majestic, and surreal so that we could see the created order and glorify the Creator. This brings us to Hebrews 1:3: “He (Jesus) is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power.” When we take a step back and ponder this, we realize that this is mind-boggling! God upholds the universe by the word of His power!

While this verse can tell us many things, let’s focus on the indication that Jesus not only bled and died for our sins but, by the word of His power, is holding together the universe at a subatomic level for the glory of His name. That should encourage us to step back and ponder how that wasn’t just anybody up there when Jesus hung on the cross for our sins.

We also see in Hebrews 1:3 the use of the word “radiance,” which isn’t a static term. It tells us that Jesus is still active in ministry. This is elementary, but radiance means to radiate or to emit waves of energy or light. We see this exemplified every day when the sun radiates heat and energy. So when the Bible describes the radiance of the glory of God, we can call it The In-Exhaustive Radiance of the Glory of God.

Attracted to Glory

We’re hardwired as humans for glory. We thirst for and enjoy glory. We are fascinated by things that we glorify. Something deep within our DNA craves awe and wonder; in other words, we’re attracted to glory.

While many glories fascinate us, there are also countless glories that don’t satisfy us. C.S. Lewis said, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”

While there are many glories in creation, and we can strive for achievements and noteworthy performances or accolades, ultimately, they don’t satisfy our deepest desires for glory. They all point to our hunger for glory, but they point to our real and greater glory, which is the glory behind all glories. Our hunger for temporal glory indicates that we’re designed for greater glory. Ultimately, that glory is found in the one who created us for His glory.

In his book, Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ (p.15), John Piper writes:

“We are all starved for the glory of God, not self. No one goes to the Grand Canyon to increase self-esteem. Why do we go? Because there is greater healing for the soul in beholding splendor than there is in beholding self. Indeed, what could be more ludicrous in a vast and glorious universe like this than a human being, on the speck called earth, standing in front of a mirror, trying to find significance in his own self-image? It is a great sadness that this is the gospel of the modern world.”

This is the gospel of our modern world and is the root of many problems. It all started with the fall, which caused humanity to fail to see and delight in God’s glory. In His love, Jesus Christ seeks to restore that in us. We’re to see, know, delight, and be fully satisfied by enjoying, knowing, and moving with God in His glory. The theologian Jonathan Edwards referred to what we’re discussing as the unlimited expanse of divine reality that can affect and transform our lives for God’s glory.

Exposed to God’s Glory

In 2 Corinthians 3:18, Paul writes:

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

We’re being transformed into the same image from which we were born: One degree of glory to another. Every time you practice a means of grace, whether that’s prayer, communion, fellowship, studying God’s Word, or any other spiritual discipline, you’re exposed to the glory of God.

God declared that when we expose our hearts and lives to His glory, we’re being transformed, as the text in 2 Corinthians 3:18 said, “one degree to another.” We must posture our hearts into a willingness that allows Him to change us. We’re transformed by unveiling our faces before God. This means no pretension but being honest with God through confession and repentance. This posture looks like, “God, I can’t do this on my own, and I need you. Help me glorify your name through my weakness and your demonstration of strength.” That’s what it means to be unveiled before God, and through our realness, we get to meet the real God.

This is what Edwards refers to. When we practice 2 Corinthians 3:18, we begin to grow in the delight of being God-centered in His glory and finding soul satisfaction because we’re in communion with the Prince of Peace. Through experiencing His glory, we discover a satisfaction greater than any sin we could engage in. In Christ, we’re being conformed to the image of his Son (Romans 8:29). C.S. Lewis said, “Our desire is not only to see glory, but to participate in the glory we see.”

God invites us to participate in His glory. Consider the profound depth of that opportunity.

As believers in the West, we need to practice caution as there’s a sense that our Christianity needs to be re-enchanted. There’s something enchanted and mysterious about a believer’s source of light and life. When God’s glory moves through us, it enchants our hearts. There’s a mystery to that enchantment and power that we don’t need to reinvent. This is one of the many reasons John Wesley encouraged Christians to drink deeply from the beauty of the glory of God. In Sermon #109, “What is Man?” he said”

“Remember! You were born for nothing else. You live for nothing else. Your life is continued to you upon earth, for no other purpose than this, that you may know, love, and serve God on earth and enjoy him to all eternity. Consider! You were not created to please your senses, to gratify your imagination, to gain money, or the praise of men; to seek happiness in any created good, in anything under the sun. All this is ‘waiting in a vain shadow;’ is leading a restless, miserable life in order to a miserable eternity. On the contrary, you were created for this, and for no other purpose, by seeking and finding happiness in God on earth, to secure the glory of God in heaven. Therefore, let your heart continually say, ‘This one thing I do,’—having one thing in view, remembering why I was born, and why I am continued in life,—‘I press on to the mark.’ I aim at the one end of my being, God, even at ‘God in Christ reconciling the world to himself.’ He shall be my God forever and ever, and my guide even unto death.”

Hebrews 1:3 tells us, “After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Jesus not only died on the cross for our sins, but now, He sits at the Father’s right hand and advocates for us so that we can be reconciled to our Creator.

Because of this, our mission as a church family is to glorify God in Jesus’ name.