As we observed in last week’s letter, when we live for God’s glory, our situation does not define us. We often allow our circumstances to dictate our joy and destiny. Yet, when we recognize and live for God’s glory, we understand that our circumstances are inconsequential. We don’t lose heart with our lot in life. Instead, we realize that the things of this world are temporal. Instead, we live for the eternal things of God. When we make decisions purely to advance our present comfort or perceived wants, we end up sadly disappointed. We ask these things to do something they were never intended to do. However, when we live for God’s glory, we can find fulfillment because the things of God never pass away.

Sally returns home again to an empty apartment after attending a party with friends. As she turns the light on and sits alone on the couch, she wonders if she could ever be happy. If only a guy would take an interest in her. Then, she could find some fulfillment in life. Hank exits his boss’s office. Once again, his boss passed him over for a promotion. Although Hank works hard, he can’t seem to get ahead. He needed the raise that promotion would bring, but now he is back to pinching pennies. If only his boss could recognize his value. Then, he could find some fulfillment in life. Frank and Ann look on with a tinge of jealousy as their neighbor pulls into the driveway with a new car. Their cars are ten years old. They still work, but certainly don’t look as nice. If only they had more money to buy some new things. Then, they could find some fulfillment in life. Conner is excited to head to college and play basketball. The college he will attend has a chance to win some championships while he is there. If they do that, he will certainly find some fulfillment in life.

Our entire life should reflect God’s glory. Every aspect, every deed, and every thought should bring God glory. So, what might it look like when we seek to glorify God in every part of life? As each life is different, applying this principle is different for everyone. However, we can examine some distinct biblical principles to illustrate what this might look like.

· “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).

· “And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley” (Ezekiel 8:4).

· “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” (Exodus 33:21-22).

· “They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass” (Psalm 106:20).

· “They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things” (Romans 1:23).

Using these passages and many others, theologians have sought to define God’s glory properly. Charles Ryrie informs us that the glory of God is “the awesomeness, splendor, and importance of God seen in some way.”[1] Jim Berg focuses on God’s greatness when he states that the glory of God is “that unique excellence that makes Him supreme – towering over everything else.”[2] Norman Geisler views God’s glory as “the outward radiance of His nature, and in this light is displayed the outward expression of the inward character of God.”[3] John Piper states, “God’s glory is the beauty of his manifold perfections.”[4] While Wayne Grudem takes a broader tact and attempts to draw in all that Scripture says about God’s glory. In one sense, “God’s glory is the created brightness that surrounds God’s revelation of himself.” This visible brightness is the “manifestation of the excellence of God’s character.” In another sense, the word glory means “honor” or “excellent reputation.”[5]

We can understand the magnitude of God’s glory in the many definitions. I think we can also create a working definition for ourselves. God’s glory is the picture and perfection of the absolute magnitude, greatness, and goodness of our unique God. When we understand God’s glory, we can begin to understand what it means to glorify God.

To glorify God means that we live in such a way that we acknowledge that our existence depends on God.[6] I often say that we glorify God by making Him look as good as He really is. When we live a life that glorifies God, our life paints an accurate picture of all God is as we seek to point to and replicate God’s character. This helps us understand God’s purpose in creation. God created all things to demonstrate who He is. To fulfill that purpose, we must live in such a way that we make God look as good as He really is.

As we study God’s Word and allow it to train our conscience, we find two opposite actions take place simultaneously. We discover that we add restrictions to our conscience. We find that certain beliefs or actions we did not take seriously are, in fact, to be taken seriously. At the same time, we discover that we remove restrictions from our conscience. We learn that some specific actions are not sinful but were engrained into us through tradition or held due to a misunderstanding of God and His Word. Last week we examined what it looks like when we allow God’s Word to train our conscience that some things we previously thought were sin are not sin.

On the other hand, training our conscience also involves adding to our conscience. Sometimes, our conscience should bother us regarding sin, but it fails to do so as we have seared it. It is necessary in these cases to allow Scripture to inform us that our views need to change. We must conform our conscience to God’s Word by refraining from these actions.

Corinth was known in the ancient world for its sinful atmosphere. As a result, the Corinthian church often had to adjust their conscience so that their conscience would convict them of sin. In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul takes the church to task for such an incident. Apparently, a church member became engaged in gross, incestuous immorality. Instead of addressing the issues, the church celebrated the fact that this was taking place. The individual did not view his action as a sin. The church members took pride in including this individual. Rather than mourn over sin, they rejoiced over sin. Their conscience was so misinformed and seared it allowed this evil. Paul instructed the church to purge the evil from their midst and to seek righteousness.

Unfortunately, these kinds of instances happen often in the church today. Rather than confine sex to marriage, churches celebrate when couples move in with one another. We allow our feelings and excitement to inform our conscience rather than God’s Word. Instead, we should instruct our conscience with texts like Hebrews 13:4 and seek purity. Only when we fill ourselves with God’s Word can we stand with a clear conscience against the world’s corruption.

As our world becomes more politically divided, we find ourselves falling back into the pattern seen in the Roman Empire. While we indeed should obey God over man, and there are times to resist our government leaders when they violate clear Scripture, we must always seek to honor our government leaders. Yet, honoring bad civil leadership goes against our natural tendencies. We must train our conscience with texts like 1 Peter 2:17 so that our conscience will sound the alarm when we are tempted to engage in conversations and actions that denigrate our civil leaders. As we come to understand God’s Word better, we will arrive at more opportunities to add rules to our conscience and weed out bad rules from our conscience because we will come to a greater understanding of what pleases God.

[1] Naselli and Crowley, Conscience, 64–65.

To use the God-given alarm system of the conscience, we should teach our conscience what those good, right, and true things are. The word discern in Ephesians 5:10 refers to the idea of putting to the test. We should constantly evaluate the situations, thoughts, beliefs, and convictions we come in contact with to understand what pleases God. This testing must have a standard against which we examine all we come into contact. Unfortunately, we often measure our experiences and beliefs according to our feelings. As a result, our conscience responds either by excusing our actions or making dark accusations against us. “Error, human wisdom, and wrong moral influences filling the mind will corrupt or cripple the conscience.”[1]

How, then, should the Christians train their consciences? The writer of Hebrews informs us through one of the most glorious passages of Scripture. In Hebrews 10, the writer demonstrates that Christ has perfectly fulfilled the Law for us. He is the great and better High Priest who has procured our atonement by sacrificing His perfect blood. For millennia, God required sacrifice to atone for man’s guilt. However, these sacrifices did not atone for man’s sin. Instead, they pointed to the perfect atonement that would come through the sacrifice of the Sinless Christ.

Because we no longer stand in condemnation before God (Romans 8:1), we can now confidently enter God’s holy throne room through prayer. As we enter with confidence, the writer of Hebrews challenges us to come with consciences sprinkled clean and washed with pure water. Christians seek to find what pleases God to approach God with a clean conscience. Verses 26-31 reveal that we strive to refrain from sin. While verses 32-39 reveal that we do this by understanding our faith and the sacrifice of Christ.

The author of Hebrews is building off the concept that Paul presented to the Ephesian church in Ephesians 5. As Paul presents a picture of a biblical marriage relationship for the church, he reminds them that marriage is to be a picture of the Gospel. In verse 26, Paul reveals that God has redeemed His church (us) and will present us blameless before God by washing us with the water of the Word. So, we can see that the primary way we train our conscience is through God’s Word. We understand what pleases God by understanding God through His Word. This means that we must constantly study God’s Word. And, as we study, we must do so, not just to re-enforce what we already think, but to challenge, refine, and change what we believe.

Pastors often teach their congregations to allow God’s Word to adjust their framework. We all have a framework by which we think and act. Our default position is to force our framework onto Scripture and use Scripture to bolster our ideas. If we come across a text that challenges our framework, we ignore it. Yet, when we do this, it has tragic results on our conscience. Our consciences remain uncalibrated and give us wrong results. So, we must read Scripture with humility so that it can change our thinking.