For His Glory
This is the third lesson in the course on finding our purpose in the purposes of God. We started previously with the Mission of God, seeing that God’s plan was that his image, and now the image of Jesus should fill the earth.
Then we saw that God’s intent is that his blessing should come upon all nations.
Now, we want to ask and answer the next questions: Why is God doing this? Why is he going to all of this trouble?
Created to Glorify God
Let’s start by reading from the book of Isaiah:
Read Isaiah 43:5-7
Question: According to these verses, why did God create people?
Discuss this question together as a group and then click on this box and read the answer below.
Through Isaiah, God is saying that his people have been made by him and will come from the ends of the earth back to him. Those people whom God made and that called by name, he is now calling all of them back to himself.
But God says something interesting in the midst of calling the people back. In verse 7, he says WHY he created them. He says that he created them for his glory.
As God’s people, created in the image of God, we are created for a purpose. That purpose is to give God glory.
Killed to Glorify God
At the end of Jesus’s life, he begins to teach and prepare his disciples for his death. As he speaks about his death, he admits that carrying out this mission even is difficult for him, and yet…
Read John 12:27-28
Question: What does Jesus say that he is doing by completing the work that the Father has given him to do?
Discuss this question together as a group and then click on this box and read the answer below.
Jesus’s overriding concern is that God would be glorified. Even if he is troubled. Even if it means difficulty or pain for him. Even if it means that he would lose his life, the most important thing is that God would be glorified. This is the overriding purpose for Jesus and for all of God’s people: To give glory to God.
What about me?
Now let’s apply this to each of us. What does this have to do with me? If I believe in Jesus and am one of God’s people, what is my purpose?
As you probably have guessed by now, we must also live our lives to bring glory to God.
Let’s read what the apostle Paul said in the book of Romans:
Read Romans 15:8-9
Question: What is the reason that Jesus came?
Discuss this question together as a group and then click on this box and read the answer below.
Jesus came to confirm the promises that God gave to the patriarchs and that the Gentiles would glorify God for his mercy.
But what does this mean? Paul is saying that the blessing that God promised to Abraham and others would be fulfilled. God told Abraham that he would bless him and that all of the nations on the earth would be blessed through him. Jesus was a Jew and came from the line of Abraham meaning that God fulfilled his promise to the patriarchs, starting with Abraham, through Jesus.
This blessing would bring salvation to the Gentiles as God displays his mercy upon them through Jesus’s sacrifice, cleansing them of their sins and relieving them of the wrath of God for their disobedience. The result of this mercy is that the Gentiles will give glory to God!
Question: What does this mean for me? What is my purpose here on earth?
Discuss this question together as a group and then click on this box and read the answer below.
God created us for a purpose. That purpose is to give glory to him. All across the face of the earth, God wants people to live as disciples of Jesus Christ, bringing glory to him.
How does God receive glory?
Do you know what it means to give God glory? Let’s take a look at one of the passages in the Bible where we see God the Father and Jesus the Son receiving glory for what they have done.
Read Revelation 5
Question: What can you learn about giving God glory from this passage?
Discuss this question together as a group and then click on this box and read the answer below.
In what ways can we see God receiving glory in this passage? Here are a few observations:
First, we see declarations of God’s greatness, his might, and power.
Next, we see that the angels and the creatures are praising God for what he has done for the people on earth. Jesus purchased the people with his blood and his is being praised and given glory for what he has done.
And third, we see that there is participation from all living things. The angels, the creatures, and all things on earth. They are specifically praising God because of what Jesus has done, purchasing with his blood people from every tribe, tongue, and nation!
Therefore, we can learn that to give glory to God is to bring our worship to him, although we can bring EVEN MORE glory to God by bringing people from other tribes, tongues, and nations to know Jesus as they also will worship him!