Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– John Piper
He Deserves It
Who deserves the glory in our salvation? Surely it is God because He has caused us to be born again, or as the Greek says, “born from above” (John 3:3-7). None of us had any say in our being born. We couldn’t have caused our physical birth any more than we could have caused our spiritual birth (John 6:44, 65). The Apostle Peter knew this and wrote, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1st Pet 1:3).
He is Full of Glory
Isaiah the Prophet got a rare glimpse of the glory of God and did what most of us would do; fall flat on our face. He writes of God, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3). All Isaiah could say was “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:5). The earth is full of God’s glory and creation glorifies Him. The problem is, most of the unsaved don’t see it, even though “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).
He Doesn’t Share it
Once again we turn to Isaiah the Prophet, who it seems was always wrote about the glory of God, just as he does in Isaiah 42:8, where God says, “I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols” (Isaiah 42:8). If we do any good in this life, we must give the glory to God because, what do we have that we didn’t receive from God (1st Cor 4:7), so always give glory to God because He says, “My glory I will not give to another” (Isaiah 48:11).
He Lets us do It
What I mean by saying, “He lets us do it,” is He allows us to glorify Him on this earth. How can we glorify God? We know He desires that we live lives of holiness. I don’t mean sinless perfection, because that’s not possible this side of heaven (1st John 1:8, 10), but we should be sinning less over time. That is our reasonable service to God considering “you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1st Cor 6:20). Its God’s will to be glorified in our lives, and “this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality” (1st Thess 4:2).
Conclusion
John Piper is right in saying, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” God surely deserves all the glory because He is full of glory, and He will not share this glory with us, but He still allows us the pleasure of glorifying Him by living lives that reflect the glory of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
