Dale Partridge - Real Christianity #152： Are you Stealing God’s Glory

00:00:00.000 Welcome to this episode of Real Christianity. My name is Dale Partridge, where each week

00:00:13.120 I offer 15 to 20-minute answers to tough theological and pastoral questions. This is

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00:00:37.580 forward slash house. Welcome to Real Christianity. My name is Dale Partridge. 0.97

00:00:44.140 For those of you who don't know, the show notes for these episodes are always available at

00:00:47.780 relearn.org. Thanks for joining today. I will be touching on some of the doctrinal features

00:00:54.780 of the great Reformation pillar, Soli Deo Gloria, which is Latin for glory to God alone.

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00:03:40.300 So the title of today's episode is, Are You Stealing God's Glory?

00:03:46.540 This is an important question.

00:03:48.860 I've received this question from several people.

00:03:52.440 Sorry, I should say I've received the topic of this question from several people,

00:03:57.020 trying to understand what it means to give God glory.

00:04:00.900 I wanted to talk about the Westminster Shorter Catechism,

00:04:05.220 which is the catechism that came out of the Westminster Confession.

00:04:09.380 You can actually buy little booklets of the Shorter Catechism.

00:04:12.320 It's a really great tool to take your children through.

00:04:16.460 There are versions that have been simplified in modern language for younger audiences as well.

00:04:24.520 There is also another great catechism that's the Reformed Baptist Catechism.

00:04:29.380 You can get that at founders.org.

00:04:31.100 Um, and, uh, but the Westminster Shorter Catechism opens with, I think, the most important question

00:04:37.940 of all time. It asks, what is the chief end of man? Or what is the ultimate purpose of man?

00:04:48.920 The answer in the catechism is man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

00:04:56.840 Now, I don't believe many of us in the church are against enjoying God.

00:05:03.640 I expect that we, generally speaking, also desire to give God glory.

00:05:11.120 But I'm realizing that our self-focused, me-centric culture,

00:05:17.780 combined with a church that really has weak biblical and theological comprehension,

00:05:25.240 has generated an environment for Christians where I see pretty often a reveling in our own

00:05:33.540 accomplishments while failing to recognize and honor the source of those accomplishments.

00:05:41.040 I'm going to tell you a quick story. This past week, I was on the internet and I had someone

00:05:48.800 write me a message. And they complimented me on the delivery of my episode I did here at Real

00:05:56.820 Christianity on this podcast on predestination. And I responded back with them or to them and I

00:06:04.920 wrote, thank you. That means a lot. I spent many hours preparing that episode. But as soon as that

00:06:12.740 last word left my keyboard. I felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit. You see, what I just did is

00:06:21.100 I just received the glory for the fruitful work that God accomplished through me in that episode.

00:06:28.660 And ultimately, in the flesh, we can do this often. You know, whether it's in our work or in

00:06:37.480 our parenting, or in our creative talents, or in our communication skills, or even in our ministry,

00:06:44.200 we hunger for and willingly receive the compliments, the congratulations, the awards, the commendations,

00:06:53.000 the admiration, the affirmation, the popularity, the public praises, the applause, the honor,

00:07:01.040 and ultimately the glory for the good works accomplished in our lives.

00:07:06.700 But to be frank, when we look at this, at the posture of a heart that is hungering for

00:07:16.740 and willingly receiving these things, it's sin. It's subtle, but it's sin.

00:07:24.140 And too quickly, we forget Jesus' words in John 6, 63 that explicitly states,

00:07:32.060 it is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing.

00:07:37.900 Now, let me explain where I'm going with this.

00:07:41.280 If you produce something fruitful in your life,

00:07:48.840 it is not a product of the flesh, but a product of the Spirit.

00:07:54.140 That's why it's fruitful, right?

00:07:56.920 Thus, if the praiseworthy work that you produced is of the Spirit and not of the flesh,

00:08:05.400 what are you doing accepting a compliment or the honor or the admiration for the results?

00:08:13.600 How are we looking in the mirror when we should really be looking to the King who dwells within us?

00:08:24.140 All right, people, we must discipline ourselves to deflect the glory of our fruitful works

00:08:34.740 to God. We must learn to give credit where the credit's due. And we all struggle with this.

00:08:46.000 But this actually, this concept of giving God the glory goes actually much further

00:08:50.920 than just our daily earthly accomplishments.

00:08:55.480 Think about this for a second.

00:08:57.280 Every sin that you have ever conquered,

00:09:00.520 you cannot attribute to your own self-discipline

00:09:04.500 or self-commitment or self-motivation or self-control.

00:09:08.360 You do not slay your sin.

00:09:11.400 Christ in you slays your sin.

00:09:14.620 Okay, in fact, you have never overcome a sin

00:09:17.840 in your life in the flesh.

00:09:20.100 It is only through Christ that you have been sanctified and quickened to conquer sin.

00:09:27.180 I mean, this goes even further.

00:09:28.560 It's not you who glorifies God.

00:09:31.500 It's Christ in you who glorifies God, right?

00:09:34.880 You don't even have faith in Christ.

00:09:38.240 The faith that you have is a gift of God in his plan to redeem you.

00:09:43.820 There's just so much that we have to recognize on this concept here.

00:09:48.860 And then walk in a knife blade of comprehension here, of balancing basically God's sovereignty and man's responsibility.

00:09:58.560 And so there might be some gray areas like how should we accept compliments or, you know, what does that really look like?

00:10:05.480 And we'll try to talk about that as I go on here.

00:10:08.240 But I just want to recognize that I know those questions might be arising here.

00:10:13.520 The Bible teaches us that as Christians, we have two paths that we can walk.

00:10:18.860 we can walk by the flesh, or we can walk by the Spirit.

00:10:24.100 Galatians 5.16 tells us,

00:10:25.800 But I say to you, walk by the Spirit,

00:10:28.780 and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.

00:10:33.660 When we walk in the Spirit and produce spiritual fruit,

00:10:39.300 we can't accept the glory for it,

00:10:43.400 because it's not our faculties that we've accomplished these things.

00:10:48.860 but through the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.

00:10:52.900 I just want you guys to grasp that.

00:10:54.940 Every good thing that we accomplish, every fruitful thing,

00:11:00.200 and I use the word good in a holy sense, in a righteous sense,

00:11:03.800 we have to look to Christ who is the one, the Holy Spirit,

00:11:10.180 that's bringing that power through us.

00:11:13.060 Therefore, He gets the glory for all of those good things that we produce.

00:11:18.280 And when we fail, when we sin, that's when we get to look in the mirror.

00:11:25.060 That's when we get to repent.

00:11:27.040 That's when we get to stand before the Lord and say,

00:11:29.780 oh, I have denied your ways, Father, and I have followed my flesh.

00:11:33.600 Father, forgive me and bring me back to follow you.

00:11:39.920 I've said in previous episodes about asking to pray.

00:11:46.840 It's not about increasing your own personal desire to pray.

00:11:52.780 It's not increasing your own personal will to worship more.

00:11:58.780 It's not increasing your discipline to read the scriptures more.

00:12:05.180 It's not about those.

00:12:06.920 That's not what we should be praying.

00:12:08.360 What we should be praying is, Father, give me the hunger to want the scriptures more.

00:12:15.640 Father, help me have a yearning to pray more.

00:12:20.140 Father, come into me and tell me, tell my heart the value of worshiping you.

00:12:28.520 Father, you do that work in me.

00:12:30.740 Change my appetites so that I might long for these things more.

00:12:35.660 You do that work in me.

00:12:39.020 It's not about us doing more, but asking God to do more in us.

00:12:44.700 okay psalms 115 1 the psalmist writes not to us oh lord not to us but to your name

00:12:56.520 give glory because of your loving kindness because of your truth

00:13:00.600 uh hebrew poetry often uses repetition as a way to express enthusiasm

00:13:06.560 um the psalmist says it twice right not to us oh lord not to us

00:13:12.800 He knows that we in the flesh are prone to accepting the glory.

00:13:20.620 And we have to reorient our hearts to see that all that good work accomplished by us

00:13:26.540 is not through us, but Christ in us.

00:13:32.180 One of my favorite worship bands is City Alight.

00:13:38.940 They have some really great songs.

00:13:41.280 They released a song in 2018 titled, Yet Not I, But Through Christ in Me.

00:13:47.380 And I just want to read, I'm not going to read all the lyrics, but I want to share a few stanzas with you as I read through them.

00:13:55.360 It says,

00:14:10.800 To this I hold, my shepherd will defend me. Through the deepest valley he will lead.

00:14:18.480 Oh, the night has been won, and I shall overcome, yet not I, but through Christ in me.

00:14:26.960 To this I hold, my sin has been defeated. Jesus now and ever is my plea. Oh, the chains are

00:14:35.360 released, I can sing, I am free, yet not I, but through Christ in me. To this I hold, my hope is

00:14:44.420 only Jesus, all the glory evermore to him. When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat,

00:14:51.680 yet not I, but through Christ in me. I think this song echoes Paul's words in Galatians 2.20. Many

00:15:00.920 of you have this passage memorized. It reads, I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer

00:15:06.640 I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I live now in the flesh, I live by faith in

00:15:13.480 the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. In 1 Corinthians 4, we see Paul is warning

00:15:22.420 the Corinthians about desiring distinction or to be distinguished, right, based on the spiritual

00:15:29.080 gifting or the position that they've been given in the church. And in verse 7 in chapter 4,

00:15:36.020 Paul reminds them of the source of all things. He writes,

00:15:40.920 For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive?

00:15:46.740 And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

00:15:52.760 People, our health, our sight, our hearing, our ability to breathe and to laugh and to play and

00:15:58.020 love are all from God. Our income and our job and our family and our friends are all from God. Our

00:16:04.900 clothing and our books and our personalities and our opportunities are all from God. There is no

00:16:10.660 good thing in your life that wasn't given to you by God. There wasn't even a bad thing that hasn't

00:16:18.180 been used to sanctify you, to make you more like His Son. You know, think of the passage in Romans,

00:16:25.520 I believe it's eight, right? God works all things together for those who love him and are called

00:16:31.620 according to his purpose. I should say that actually one more time. God works together

00:16:37.040 all things for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

00:16:43.840 But really this whole concept of all things, all good things given to you, all things that come

00:16:53.320 out of you that are good, all of it, we need to give glory to God. We need to deflect and reject

00:17:02.460 the praises of men. We need to examine our hearts that they're not hungry for glory,

00:17:12.040 that we don't yearn for the compliments. Romans 11.36 says,

00:17:18.000 For from him and through him and to him are all things.

00:17:22.820 To him be the glory forever. Amen.

00:17:25.960 That's an amazing statement.

00:17:29.340 Let's just say that we're going to take this literally

00:17:32.760 because we're Christians and we look at the Bible,

00:17:35.040 we have a literal hermeneutic of the text,

00:17:37.400 and we believe this is true and it's authoritative.

00:17:41.740 This passage says,

00:17:42.900 for from him and through him and to him are all things.

00:17:49.180 The ant walking across the ground

00:17:51.500 is from him and through him and to him.

00:17:54.500 The strings on your guitar are from him

00:17:57.340 and through him and to him.

00:18:01.240 The sweat on your forehead is from him

00:18:04.720 and through him and to him.

00:18:07.360 The drink in your hand is from him

00:18:09.460 and through him and to him.

00:18:11.440 This is an amazing statement.

00:18:14.460 So really, what's the application of this concept of giving glory to God?

00:18:19.280 And are we examining our hearts to not steal the glory for the good things produced in us?

00:18:27.600 Practically speaking, we need to increase our use of the phrases,

00:18:33.320 to him be the glory, or praise God, or only by God's grace was I able to do that,

00:18:38.560 or not me, but Christ in me.

00:18:41.940 That, these can't be statements that we just say

00:18:46.360 they need to come from a place of genuine conviction

00:18:50.480 when we get the compliment.

00:18:53.460 Just deflect straight, oh, pray, it's to him be the glory.

00:18:56.520 By God's grace, I was able to do this.

00:18:59.100 If the Lord wills it, I'll do these things.

00:19:02.460 But to him be the glory, not me.

00:19:03.920 If it was just me, I would be dead in my trespasses and sins. 0.99

00:19:11.400 I would be over there with the drug addict and the prostitute, 0.95

00:19:14.900 and that's where I would be without Christ. 0.99

00:19:19.520 I would be hellbound without Christ.

00:19:22.100 Anything good that comes out of me is not from me.

00:19:24.100 It's from Christ in me.

00:19:27.120 Now, at the heart, you know, it could even be more.

00:19:30.440 I'm going to give you a quick little story that Jesus talks about

00:19:33.780 in Matthew, I think it's 23, 5 through 12, talks about people who seek glory and who seek honor.

00:19:45.160 And he says, in response to the Pharisees, he says, but they do all their deeds to be noticed by men,

00:19:52.020 for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels on their garments.

00:19:56.420 they love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues and respectful

00:20:04.060 greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by men but do not be called rabbi for one

00:20:12.060 is your teacher and you are all brothers do not call anyone on earth your father

00:20:17.640 For one is your Father, he who is in heaven.

00:20:22.660 Do not be called leaders, for one is your leader.

00:20:26.740 That is Christ.

00:20:29.400 But the greatest among you shall be your servant.

00:20:33.560 Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled,

00:20:36.420 and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

00:20:41.160 So I want you to pay close attention to that last verse.

00:20:44.360 Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled.

00:20:47.640 And whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

00:20:51.800 I want you to examine your heart today.

00:20:54.880 What are the motives behind your work?

00:20:59.380 What are the motives behind why you are the best mom?

00:21:03.840 Or the best dad?

00:21:05.440 Or the best CEO?

00:21:06.740 Or the best graphic designer?

00:21:09.180 Or the best preacher?

00:21:12.000 Or whatever it may be that you're doing.

00:21:15.320 What are the motives for you being the best?

00:21:18.940 Is it because you're working as if you're working for the Lord?

00:21:23.280 Or are you secretly desiring applause and approval

00:21:26.600 from your friends and family and coworkers?

00:21:33.060 What we need to be doing is seeking only the approval

00:21:37.440 and the applause of God alone.

00:21:40.600 That's the application for these things.

00:21:43.220 the motives for why we hustle, the motives for why we work righteously and thoroughly

00:21:53.020 and well, and we labor in love. The reason we do those things is to give God the glory.

00:22:03.900 It's not so that we can be appreciated or popular or our platform can be built or that we can be

00:22:11.280 well-known or that we can be honored. Many of us have these insecurities that

00:22:18.360 need to be filled and we're filling them with these issues of these applause of

00:22:22.140 men instead of the love of Christ coming from the gratitude for what he's done

00:22:26.640 from us. First Corinthians 10 31 says, whether then you eat or you drink or

00:22:33.360 or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

00:22:38.040 And so when our focus is not on the acceptance or praise of others,

00:22:44.980 that's when we can faithfully and humbly work for the Lord.

00:22:51.660 And when we approach our work in this posture,

00:22:55.680 we're not looking for compliments, but we're just going,

00:22:58.820 Lord, watch me.

00:23:00.280 I'm going to work for you, Father, because of what you've done for me.

00:23:03.360 that humble

00:23:06.800 and faithful spirit

00:23:08.240 the Lord says he'll exalt us

00:23:10.060 we don't know what that looks like

00:23:12.280 it's definitely not a carnal

00:23:15.580 definition of exaltation

00:23:17.420 but he will exalt us

00:23:19.840 and that's all that matters

00:23:22.320 so hopefully this episode was helpful

00:23:25.760 in examining your own heart

00:23:27.900 and that we would be

00:23:29.480 even more effective

00:23:31.960 at recognizing our attempts to steal God's glory

00:23:36.700 and that He would work in us

00:23:40.840 and sanctify us,

00:23:42.680 that we would glorify Him more

00:23:44.660 and not by our own strength,

00:23:46.660 but by the strength of Christ in us.

00:23:50.280 So thank you for listening to this episode

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00:24:26.960 on that note thank you so much for joining us in your faithful listenership it really does

00:24:33.480 mean a lot to our ministry my name is dale partridge and we'll see you next week

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00:25:18.360 this episode of Real Christianity. We will see you next Wednesday.

Dale Partridge - June 30, 2021

Real Christianity #152： Are you Stealing God’s Glory

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