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ED BANGHART

declaring God's Glory
It's what you are created for.

     My 5 year-old granddaughter, Hannah, asked my wife one day, "Did God make God?" That's a profound question for such a young philosopher! Do you know how hard it is to answer that question to a 5-year old ("Well, Hannah, God created everything, but God Himself is uncreated and eternal, without beginning or end."). Hannah accepted that explanation, and I don't think  she lost any sleep over it. But it reminded me of a truth that is so easy to forget and yet is so important to remember:

    The purpose of all creation is to declare and display
                                  the glory of God.

                 God created all things for His glory.

      All of creation exists to showcase the glory of God. Man, the crowning achievement of God's creation, has been set apart to make known the glory of God and to "proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9).

      The psalmist, while contemplating the vastness of our universe, pens the words, "The heavens declare the glory of God..." (Psalm 19:1). When you look up at the night sky and consider the billions of stars in our galaxy and the billions of galaxies in our universe, the sheer immensity of the space-time universe we inhabit is mind-numbing. 

​      THINK ABOUT IT: we share the celestial cosmos with countless galaxies, stars and planets, supernovas, black holes, meteors, comets, and who knows what else. 

      The heavens don't just declare the glory of God, they shout it out with a deafening sound!


​
     How much more should we, His people, declare and display His glory. It is the reason we exist.

Consider the following scriptures:


​"Ascribe to the Lord the GLORY due His name" 
(1 Chronicles 16:29).


"There is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we EXIST for Him" (1 Corinthians 8:6, NLT).

"Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but  to your name be the GLORY" (Psalm 115:1).

     Everything that God does is for the sake of His great name, and to the praise of His glorious grace so that He might be our All in All--for all things are FROM Him, and THROUGH Him and TO Him (Romans 11:36:1; 1 Cor.15:28).

He is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,          the Beginning and the End and Everything in between.

     History is HIS STORY--the unfolding of God's eternal purpose in this present evil age. It's not about our glory, our name, our honor or our greatness. It's not about me; it's not about you; it's all about God! 

     An astronomer once quipped, "When scientists discover the center of our universe, a lot of people are going to be very disappointed that it isn't them!"

      The Bible is essentially a story about God, not a story about us. A key theme of the scriptures is the redemption of fallen mankind, however, the ultimate value of salvation is not to be seen in what we are saved FROM ; it's value is in what we are saved FOR!

Steven C. Hawthorne points out that, "The rationale for mission is the colossal worthiness of God...Since God is supreme, every creature should bow down in subjection" (Perspectives: The Story of His Glory, pg 50).

      In American culture, we have trivialized the God of transcendent glory and pushed Him out to the periphery of our lives. 

Donald W. McCullough proposes that we "Visit a church on Sunday morning and you will likely find a congregation comfortably relating to a manageable deity who fits nicely within precise doctrinal positions or who lends almighty support to social crusades...but reverence and awe have been replaced by a yawn of familiarity" (The Trivialization of God, pg 13).

God has set us apart as His people to make known His glory. His eternal purpose is to bring many sons to glory, who would share His life, His nature, His purpose and His glory.

Declaring and displaying the glory of God--it's what you were created for!

A God of Hope

4/20/2019

2 Comments

 
The message of Easter is a message of hope. God is a God of renewal, a God of new beginnings, and a God of second chances.

That is why the apostle Paul could pray, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope" (Romans 15:13).

One of the greatest expressions of biblical hope is found in Romans 8:28: "We know that God causes all things to work together for good..." In others words, God is such a great God that He can weave even the dark threads of our experience into the tapestry of our life, and create something beautiful.

God doesn't cause bad things, but He can cause all things, even bad things, to work toward His purpose in our life.

God is a God who specializes in redeeming what is lost and restoring what is broken. We serve a God who can bring life out of death, hope out of despair, victory out of defeat, and triumph out of tragedy.

Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the gospel is a message of hope. We are "born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3). The message of the gospel doesn't end with the cross, it ends with an empty tomb. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is God's validation that Jesus is who He claimed to be -- the Perfect, Sinless, Son of God -- and therefore He will do what He claimed to do: forgive our sins and give us new life.

I want to invite you this Easter season, not just to commemorate an event that happened a long time ago, but to experience the power and reality of the resurrection life which He makes available to us today.

​I can think of no better time to renew your commitment to a living faith in a Risen Christ.

2 Comments
Jason Griffin link
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Michael Allen link
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    Founding Pastor of Montclair Community Church.  Internationally unknown author and speaker.

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