Every Day Is for God’s Glory

Berean Baptist on June 4, 2018

In the text of Revelation 21, the glory of God is depicted in the Bible’s consistent manner which is its connection with light. The New Jerusalem is a place of brilliant light because of the unveiled presence of God. That same light would blind us if God were not hidden from us by a spiritual veil.

Glory is an expression of God’s holiness which is essentially the aggregation of all God’s attributes. Everything God is can be summed up with glory which is why we consistently teach that all of creation exists for God’s glory. The creation is an extension of God which helps us understand why God is intent to restore the world to its original perfection.

In this article, I want to speak about how we glorify God. Fundamentally, the method is worship. Since we are created for the glory of God, everything we do must be centered on worship. You may think it is not possible or necessary to worship in everything because only church is the place of worship. However, the scripture says, “whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). This means your work, your school, your home—wherever you are, is a place of worship.

I think we would all agree that of all places church is not a place for sin. Generally, we treat others better at church. We are friendlier at church. We are less likely to be angry at church, and we act like we care more at church. We pray, we sing, we read the Bible at church; and most of you will be sure to check your bad language at the door. I have pastored for a long time and although I have heard some bad language at times in church, I have yet to hear that anyone sat in the church service watching smutty videos on a smart phone. Why do we think God is only at church? More pointedly, why must worship be confined to church? I would submit if church is the only place you worship, the quality of your worship when you get here is very poor. We never have a pass on the glory of God and thus we do not have one on worship.

The biblical mindset for a Christian is to be alert, to be vigilant, to be holy, and to be ready. A song of praise or an utterance of worship should never be more than an instant thought away. Too often we think of church as the fulfillment of duty. We come to worship and get it over with and to finish our obligation. When the last amen is said at 12:30 on Sunday afternoon, we are through until next week.

This attitude is wonderfully changed when we get to heaven. It is objectionable to some because it seems far too boring to spend eternity in perpetual worship. And yet, heaven is the perfection of what we should be doing already. A perfect mind in heaven is locked on God’s purpose for us. When sin is completely removed, the mind can go nowhere else but to the glory of God. Perhaps this will help you understand that not worshiping at all times is sin. When you pat yourself on the back for the occasional good deed, are you really all that good? When we have done the best we can do, we’ve done nothing more than what we were told to do and what we were created for. There is no special commendation for the occasional good deed. You should always do the right thing.

This week think about worship. You don’t have to break out in song when you punch the time clock. You don’t have to preach a sermon at break. You just need to live in the light of God’s presence. Think on Christ and you will glorify God.

Goofy gods

Berean Baptist on April 3, 2017

Psalm 82

A few weeks ago I was sitting in my home office working on my Sunday sermon when I heard the doorbell ring. One of the reasons I work mostly from home is the lack of interruptions which greatly facilitates my productivity. I was not really pleased to go to the door especially when I could see through the sidelight of the doorframe there were two Mormons that were anxious to grab my attention. I related a little of this story before in some of my messages, but I was reminded again of my conversation with these two when I prepared Psalm 82 for our congregational reading.

I have always felt the best way to deal with Mormons is not to give them much chance to talk. Instead, I ask a lot of questions and as soon as I hear something a little odd I let them know they are way off track. When you keep hammering them, they begin to squirm. Many times one of them is in training and he’s the one I want to pick on. One of the questions I asked was, “Do you believe that you will become a god?”

Most Mormons do not like to have their doctrine exposed until they have had a chance to dupe their hearers into thinking they are orthodox Christians. Joseph Smith (no relation!), the founder of the Mormon cult, said that God was once a man just like us. His basic teaching was that people were pre-existent spirits that were sent to earth to learn and be enlightened and enlarged until they come to the place they can be gods.

I asked these two Mormon fellows if they believed that hellish doctrine to which they replied they did. The more inexperienced of the two went for his King James Bible to find his support verse but before he could find it, I quoted it for him. I knew where he was going because Mormons use Psalm 82:6 as a proof-text for their heretical teaching. The scripture says: “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.” Last week I wrote of the danger of pulling scripture out of context, which is a common tactic of cults and others that have little to no support for their doctrines. Most people would look at this verse without knowledge of scripture and would think the Mormons are on to something.

What did God mean when He referred to His listeners as gods? This is actually a reference to the rulers of the people who stand in the place of God to mete out justice. This is explained in Exodus 21:6 where the Hebrew word for judges is the same as the word gods in Psalms 82:6: “Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever” (Exodus 21:6). Romans 13 also teaches that rulers are ordained by God. The point in Psalm 82 is that all rulers will give an account to God for their stewardship. If they have dealt unjustly (82:1-2), God will strike them down. In the 7th verse, God says they will all die like ordinary men.

I never got far enough with these Mormons to have them answer to the Hebrew text. By this time they were too flustered with forty other questions I asked. Mormon doctrine is easily exposed when you compare scripture with scripture. The unorthodox heretical teachings of the Mormons is blasphemy. If someone tells you it is possible to be God and God was a mortal like you, be ready to slam the door. Second John tells you how to deal with them: “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.”

Most of us like to be nice to people. I prefer to make these charlatans as uncomfortable as I can. Do everything possible to discourage them.  Who knows—the next person may be caught in their trap. False prophets are not nice people. A clean-cut young man with a Bible under his arm may be a demon in disguise. Don’t fool yourself into thinking otherwise.

Pastor V. Mark Smith