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Romans 8:18

An “Eternal” weight

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
August 22, 2013

When I remember Moses descent from Sinai carrying the 10 commandments, I think of the shining glory he reflected after having spent time with God. I see this little reflection of God’s glory being a small reminder of what God 22 eternal weight2had created man to enjoy. If Moses’ face shined with God’s glory after having spent only 40 days with Him on the mountain, how much more glory was reflected in the appearances of Adam and Even. They walked with God daily on a regular basis. I think of the glory of the transfiguration when Elijah and Moses who appeared with Jesus all shone forth with great glory also. God created us to share in His glory, but sin has robbed us of our destiny.

Jesus broke the bonds of sin and restored God’s original intent for us to share in His marvelous glory. The New Testament teaches us all that we too will share in the same glory that Moses and Elijah shared. Colossians 3:4 says, “When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Further, each of us, who have placed our faith in Jesus will receive what the Bible calls “an eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17 KJV). The theological term for the destiny of all believers is “glorification.”

We are justified the moment we place our trust in Jesus. Jesus takes the penalty for our sins and intervenes with the father on our behalf and wins an acquittal for us. It’s “just as if” we’ve never sinned. We are justified! God loves us the way we are regardless of our sin and failure. But he won’t leave us that way. Through the presence and prompting of God’s Spirit which he sent to dwell within us, we are moved from stage to stage, from bad, to better, to better, to better, but never to best (or completion). This process is called sanctification. It’s the process where we begin to transform our thoughts, words, and deeds into the image of God’s son. This process is a painful one. It always requires suffering, pain, hardship and discipline. But we can endure it all because we know what’s coming! In Romans 8:18, Paul said, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” The phrase, “eternal weight of glory” draws to my mind an old fashioned scaled on which two items are placed; one on the left and one on the right as their weights are compared. How can these momentary afflictions even compare to “eternal glory?” They can’t! No comparison!

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1 Corinthians 10:31

To God Be The Glory

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
August 21, 2013

We give God Glory, or we glorify God, by trusting Him in the good times as well as the bad times. It’s impossible to please God without faith. We also glorify God when we confess sin and repent. We give God the Glory in our 21 glory to godpersonal worship, but with more passion, vigor, and enthusiasm in our corporate worship because we inspire each other to praise Him. There are other ways that we can glorify God as well. The Bible gives us many other ways by which we can give Glory to God.

Our good deeds can bring glory to God. John 15:8 says, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples’ The fruit Jesus had in mind is the fruit of good works. So give God the glory by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, healing the sick, loving the orphans, and helping everyone in need. When we share our faith in God with us we also give God glory. 1 Chronicles says, “declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.” We glorify God with our talents, gifts and abilities as well. Historically, great artists and composers focused their talents on making God central in their efforts. One man who did this was Johann Sebastian Bach, who signed his compositions “S. D. G.,” which stands for soli Deo gloria, “to God alone be the glory.” Another good example is the jazz musician Duke Ellington, who wrote Concerts of Sacred Music. Bach and Ellington wrote and played their music to the glory of God. Not many of us are as talented or gifted in any area as these two were in music, but whatever our gifts is we give glory to God when we use it for Him.

I like the way Ryken concludes his discussion on the many ways we can bring glory to God. He writes, “Glorify God in your play by resting in his goodness. Glorify him in your work by working with all your strength. Glorify him in the menial tasks of the home. God receives glory whenever a dish is washed, a floor is mopped, a newspaper is recycled, or even a diaper is changed in his name. In short, glorify God in any and every activity of life by doing it in his service and according to his will. “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31).

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Psalm 29:2, 66:2, 86:12

Light My Fire!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
August 20, 2013

The songbook of the bible, the Book of Psalms, often has sons with lyrics which call us to glorify God. Psalm 29:2 says, “Ascribe to the Lord the Glory that is due His name.” Psalm 66:2 says, “Sing the glory of his name; make his 20 ignitepraise glorious!” Psalm 86:12 says, “I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.” Yes, whenever we gather together and make God the subject of our singing we glorify God. Actually, we are doing exactly what we were made to do. God made us for community; the church. God made us to glorify His Name; Worship. It’s only in a healthy loving, learning and living community that we can truly become all that God intended for us to be. Surely having personal faith glorifies God. Confession and repenting of our sin glorifies God, but when we gather together to glorify God something bigger than ourselves takes place when we participate in corporate worship.

Kent Hughes had some interesting comments on this subject. He writes, “…if you absent yourself from church, you will encumber your ability to glorify God in worship. Congregational worship makes possible an intensity of adoration that does not as readily occur in solitude. On the tragic level, a mob tends to descend to a much deeper level of cruelty than individuals. It is also understood that the appreciation and enjoyment of an informed group of music lovers at a symphony is more intense than that of a single listener at home. This holds true for worship as well. Corporate worship provides a context where passion is joyously elevated and God’s Word ministers with unique power.” Martin Luther spoke of this when he confided, “At home in my own house there is no warmth or vigor in me, but in the church when the multitude is gathered together, a fire is kindled in my heart and it breaks its way through.” It’s only in a corporate setting that worship can really light my fire and keep my heart burning. We need each other!

The Westminster Confession says the purpose of man is “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” We cannot truly do that alone. We need a corporate setting. We need others to light a fire in our worship. Alone, we will just go out! We are like the embers in a campfire as long as we’re together we keep each other going. When we’re separated and dispersed our passion soon burns out. We need each other to keep our hearts burning within us as we love, learn, and live out God’s call on our lives.

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Joshua 7:19

Confession Glorifies God

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
August 19, 2013

We give glory, make God a heavyweight, in our lives by, first of all, trusting Him in all aspects of life. We not only trust Him for our destiny after death, we also glorify God when we trust Him with the choreography of our day to 19 bring glory to godday lives on earth. His sovereignty knows no bounds. He orchestrates the planets and the ants as well as every detail of our lives. Abraham trusted God and Paul says it was his faith that gave glory to God. Romans 4:20 says, “He (Abraham) did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, because he was fully convinced that what He (God) had promised He was also able to perform.” Confidence in God’s omnipotence and in His good intentions towards us regardless of the struggles we may be experiencing in life, gives Glory to God. He is the “heavyweight,” the important person in our lives.

There is another way to give Glory to God. The Greek word for confession is homologeo, and it means to say the same thing. Confessing means admitting that God is right about a certain behavior, conduct, or attitude that we have indulged ourselves in. We have to admit that God is right about it and that we are wrong about it. The Greek word for repentance is metanoia, which means to change one’s mind. So we can see that the two ideas are connected. When we change our minds about our sins, and when we admit that God is right (say the same thing) about our sins, we give glory to God.

Philip Ryken explains this very well. Let me give you his explanation. He says you can “…glorify God by confessing your sins. There was a man in the Bible who glorified God by confessing his sin. His name was Achan. He committed a sin that involved deceit, treachery, theft, and in a way, murder. When Achan’s sin was discovered, he was brought before Joshua, the leader of God’s people. What Joshua said to Achan is significant: “‘My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and give him the praise. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me’ ” (Josh. 7:19). Achan confessed his sin, and then he was taken out and executed for his crime.” Now, I realize that the story of Achan does not seem to inspire confession and repentance, but we don’t know if he and his household were granted “eternal life” after the confession and repentance. Maybe he was! Regardless, we must not miss the fact that Joshua argued that confession and repentance gives glory to God.

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Matthew 6:34

One Day at a Time!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
August 16, 2013

I quoted John MacArthur yesterday who said, “We live in a day when people worry about how long they will live. That’s a harmful practice because you can worry yourself to death, but not to life.” Kathy and I was sitting on our 16 one dayswing in the front yard worrying about how long we were going to live this morning. We were talking about healthy living and how it could impact our life span. Worrying, however does nothing. Of course, it’s Jesus who gives us the truly authoritative teaching on the uselessness of worry. The translations differ on their rendering of Jesus’ question in Matthew 6:27. Some argue that the question should be “who can add one cubit to his height” (See KJV, HCSV, AV, and ASV). Some translations say it refers to the adding a minute to one’s life span. The ESV translates this questions as “which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” The point is worry won’t accomplish anything of any value. Either translation makes the same point: worry won’t make you taller nor will it make you live longer!

The fountain of youth, or eternal life, is something we have all thought about and there have been times when we’ve searched for it. Back in the 16th Century, the Spanish explorer Ponce De Leon, set out to find the fountain of youth. I think he landed in Florida. If you would visit Florida today, you’d know there is no fountain of youth there! (Think about it!). But the wisest man in the world, Solomon, informs us that although there is no fountain of youth, there is something that’s really much more important. Proverbs 14:27 says, “The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, turning people away from the snares of death.” But my favorite verse talking about our longevity is in Proverbs 9:10-11. It leaves nothing to the imagination when it says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For by Wisdom your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.”

One way to view “the fear of the Lord” is to understand it as faith; trusting God to do what God does best, handle all the things that our outside of our control. We know that God is sovereign when it comes to the years of our lives. No one knows when our day will come, but we do know it will come. But we also know that God has good plans for us and He has blessed us with life and truly wants us to enjoy it. The only way to do that is “one day at a time.” Jesus concludes His dissertation on worry in Matthew 6:34. There He says, “Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

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Isaiah 42:12, Romans 4:20

Give God Glory?

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
August 15, 2013

15 give gloryThe scriptures often exhort us to “give glory to God.” Isaiah 42:12 cries out for the mountains, rivers, and all inhabitants of villages, cities and everywhere else to “give glory to the Lord!” As I mentioned before, the Hebrew word for Glory is “weighty.” It means heavy or important. Is it possible for mankind to add any weight to God? Can we make Him any more important than He already is? No, of course not! But we can bring attention to His Glory to the world around us. This is, perhaps, what is meant by “give glory to God.”

There are many ways one can call attention to God’s glory, but what seems to do it best is faith. Philip Ryken says, “How can you reflect God’s glory? First, by putting your faith in him. Until you trust God, it is doubtful whether you can glorify him at all. You have to begin by admitting that you cannot save yourself, that only Jesus can save you. Once you do that, then all the glory for your salvation will return to God.” Actually, Ryken is correct, and we see that in Romans 4:20, where Paul explains how Abraham gave glory to God. This passage says that Abraham “was strong in faith, giving glory to God.” Faith is not subscribing to a particular set of doctrinal beliefs. It is confidence in, trust in a personal being. In this case that being is God. We must trust God through all the joys and trials of life. That’s one way we “give Him glory.” Trusting God acknowledges His greatness and sovereignty and everyone can see that when we do it.

When a believer worries he takes glory from God. Well, at least he withholds attributing glory to God. Worry is such a worthless practice. Charles Mayo wrote, “Worry effects the circulation, the heart, the glands and the whole nervous system. I’ve never met a man or known a man to die of overwork, but I have known a lot who died of worry.” MacArthur adds to this thought when he says, “We live in a day when people worry about how long they will live. That’s a harmful practice because you can worry yourself to death, but not to life.” Finally, John Piper concludes my thoughts when he says, “sometimes we just have to get tough with ourselves and say, “Soul, this fretting is absolutely useless. You are not only messing up your own day, but a lot of other people’s as well. Leave it with God and get on with your work.” We magnify the Lord; we give Glory to God, like Abraham did, when we trust Him. When we’re strong in our faith, God is glorified.

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Exodus 33:20-22, Isaiah 26:3-4

The Everlasting Rock

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
August 14, 2013

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai after having seen only the back parts of God, his face was so brilliant that Aaron and all the Israelites fled from his presence. When Paul talked about the shining face of Moses, he made it 14 cleft for meclear that the “glory” that was reflected by Moses was really the Glory of God’s standards of the Law. In 2 Corinthians 3:7, Paul writes, “Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face…” It’s the failure of man to live up to God’s standard that brings such fear. That’s exactly as it is explained in Genesis. Just as Aaron and all Israel was afraid of God’s glory so too were Adam and Eve. Genesis 3:8 tells us, “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”

We sometimes think that Moses was the exception. After all, he was the one who God allowed to see a glimpse of His Glory. The glimpse was preceded by a solemn warning. In Exodus 33:20, God said to Moses, “… for man shall not see me and live.” Furthermore, we can’t miss the fact that it was only a glimpse and that it was preceded by God’s own protection. Verses 21 and 22 go on to described God’s provision, God’s protection from the unbearable standards of Glory that God was about to give to Moses to present to the people of Israel and to us. They tell us, “And the LORD said, ‘Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.’”

Moses life was at stake! Do you think he was afraid? I don’t! I think he was at perfect peace because he had God’s Word. God put Moses on a rock, an immovable object, that would be “cleft” in a way to protect him from the consequences that must befall every sinful man who stands in the presence of a gloriously righteous God. The scriptures make it perfectly clear that after death all of will stand before a Holy God. We need not tremble. We must stand on the Rock, rest in the cleft of it that God provides, and trust Him to cover us with His hand. This passage is the basis for our old Gospel Hymn, “The Rock of Ages.” Isaiah wrote about Him (the Rock) in Isaiah 26:3-4. He said, speaking directly to God the Rock, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.” The Hebrew phrase translated in this passage as “everlasting rock,” is more literally rendered as “the Rock of Ages.” Christ is the Rock of Ages.

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Exodus 34:30, Genesis 3:8, Psalms 8:5-9

Too Heavy for Me!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
August 13, 2013

Moses once asked to see God. God allowed him to see His “back” part only. From that vision of the back part of God, Moses face shone out with God’s glory. When Moses returned from his mountaintop encounter with God and 13 glory of godaddressed the people with God’s new given laws for life (the 10 commandments), the people could not bear to look at him. Exodus 34:30 says, “When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.” This must have been a dim reminder of what Adam and Eve must have looked like while living in the Garden of Eden before the fall. They enjoyed the fellowship with God and even walked with him in the Garden. Now I understand what happened to Adam and Eve when they sinned. Just as Aaron and all Israel was afraid of God’s glory so too were they. Genesis 3:8 tells us, “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”

But God had always intended to share His own “heaviness” (or Glory, see yesterday’s devotion at www.chucklarsen.com) with all mankind. This was such an important truth that David wrote a song about it. The Psalmist, in Psalm 8:5-9, is talking about man in general when he sings, “Yet you (God) have made him (man) a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” If Moses reflected the glory of God from simply being exposed to the back parts of God, can you imagine with Adam and Eve must have looked like before they sinned?

What Moses looked like when he came down from God’s mountain is simply a preview of what human beings were supposed to look like all along. Remember that Moses was carrying the 10 commandments when he came down. When Aaron and the people, (they had just built two golden calves) saw Moses and the Law they saw something that was only a reflection yet was so glorious that they could not even look upon it. They ran and hid! It was too magnificent, too glorious, and too heavy.” Truly, the Law as it reflects the perfect character and nature of God makes us all run and hide, but Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” He was referring to the heaviness of the Law.

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