THE GLORY OF GOD IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST...the heart of biblical worship

"Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thes. 1:11-12).The Christian life is not first and foremost about man and his needs, but about God and His glory! As John Calvin so poignantly pens in his institutes, "The sum of the Christian life is denial of self [to the glory of God]." God won't share His glory with another, beloved, and we must use all our gifts, talents, and abilities ultimately for one preeminent purpose-not to magnify ourselves or further our own name, but to glorify the Lord and Him alone!The greatest songwriter in the Bible, David, exclaimed, "Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; talk of all His wondrous works! Glory in His holy name…(Psalm 105:2-3) The centrality of glorifying God is also proclaimed in Psalm 29:2, "Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31)We are not to seek this glory from man (Matthew 6:2, 1 Thes. 2:6) for the glory of man quickly passes away (1 Peter 1:24); nor are we to glory in our own wisdom, might or riches (Jeremiah 9:23), but to glory in understanding and knowing the Lord (Ibid. 24). This glory is given by God (Psalm 84:11), secured in Christ (John 17:22), is the work of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18).All the heavens declare the glory of God for they demonstrate His eternal power and divine nature (Psalm 19:1-6, Romans 1:20-23).God is the only One worthy of praise, worship and glory, "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to Your name give glory, because of Your mercy, because of Your truth" (Psalm 115:1). Lucifer fell from heaven because he would not glorify God and tried to exalt himself above God by desiring worship for himself (Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28). King Nebuchadnezzar lost his throne and was driven to insanity for seven years for not giving God glory (Daniel 4:19-36). Herod in Acts 12:20-23 was struck by an angel of the Lord, eaten by worms, and died. Why? "Because he did not give glory to God" (verse 23).Nowhere, however, is God's glory more magnified and exhibited than in the incarnation, life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 17:1-5). Jesus Christ is the full expression of the glory of God. "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6). But He is just not a reflection of God's glory-for He, Himself, is God of very God (Phil. 2:9-11, Hebrews 1:8). "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Col.2:9); "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made the Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36); and as the writer of Hebrews affirms when describing the supremacy of Jesus Christ, "Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Hebrews 1:3