Romans 1:16-23, Our Purpose: To Glorify God (1)

When we ask, “what is the purpose of the Church,” most of us will quickly move to the supreme purpose of all things: the purpose of the Church is to glorify God.  It is proper to begin here, and we know this from such clear passages as Rom. 1:21: because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful.  In this context the Lord is telling us that the first step away from God is to fail to treat Him as God.  By Scripture and by definition, there is One God.  Since He is One, there can be no others.  Since He is One the only proper response of created beings is to acknowledge Him as the Creator.  Since He is One, then I cannot in any way be “god”!  This is simple; it is profound; and there is no other way to think about it.

Having established this with respect to all creation, we now ask, “What does it mean for the Church to glorify God?  How does the Church treat God as God?”  The answer is found in numerous ways in the NT.  Because the Church is made up of individual Christians, we can say that these truths apply to our personal relationship with God as well as with the corporate relationship of God and the Church.

·       John 4:34; 6:29,38; 17:4: We glorify God by having a concern for His will and work.  We will want to know what He is doing so that we can be His servants and not obstacles to His work.  Note Jn. 6:29. The work of God is that we believe in Him whom He sent.  We join God in His work by faith.  Any other approach to God dishonors Him.

·       John 14:31: We glorify God by loving God.  This can be expanded upon in many ways.  For example, we love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19); recognition of this fact honors God.  We love Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength (Mt. 22:37); anything less than “all” dishonors God.

·       Romans 9:11: We glorify God by recognizing His purpose in all things.  I do not mean we will always know what His purpose is; rather, we will always know He has a purpose and we will humble ourselves before Him.

·       Rom. 15:16; 1 Cor. 11:19: We glorify God by living for His acceptance or approval.  Our concern is not what others think of us or our decisions and actions.  If there is One God, we glorify Him by finding pleasure in His approval.  Many early disciples of Christ loved the praise of men too much and would not confess Christ (John 12:42-43).

·       2 Cor. 1:11; 4:15: We glorify God by thanking Him.  To glorify Him is to treat Him as God.  To thank Him is to acknowledge specific instances of His rich goodness to us.  Out thanksgiving should abound to the glory of God!