How can we glorify God?

The final question we must consider in reflecting on glory is: how can we glorify God?

We are instructed to glorify God in all that we do, so there are, of course, countless ways we can do so. Puritan Thomas Watson expounded on 17 ways. I won’t give you quite as many, but I will borrow a few from Watson.

1)      We glorify God when we prefer him over all other people or things. When we truly exalt God and have no other idols before him, he is glorified in our lives.

2)      We glorify God when we proclaim his goodness despite hardships, persecution or suffering we may face. We must remember that for those who love God, he causes all things together for good.

3)      We glorify God when we obey him. Though some commandments in the Bible belong to past covenants, not all do, and God’s holiness stands forever. When we obey his commandments we show his holiness and he is glorified.

4)      We glorify God when we confess and repent of our sins. We are called to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. This is the process of sanctification, and when we submit to God’s work in our lives to sanctify us, his glory is made known.

5)      We glorify God when we are fruitful with what he has given us. The church has been given many gifts with which to build up the body of Christ and serve those around us. When we make use of these gifts we show God’s glory to others.

6)      We glorify God by living in his joy. Whatever trials we face in life, our joy is to lie in Christ’s sacrificial love and knowledge that we will spend eternity with him.

7)      We glorify God when we share and defend his truth to others. We are called to contend earnestly for the faith that was delivered to the saints and we are called to preach the gospel that others may come to know God and his glory.

8)      We glorify God when we are good stewards with what he has blessed us with. This includes not only money and time, but also our relationships. When husbands take seriously their calling to lead their families and raise God-fearing children, they and their families glorify God.

9)      We glorify God when reflect his character in our lives. We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, but by God’s grace, we do not always sin. Those who strive for honesty, purity and integrity will glorify God in their thoughts, words, and deeds.

10)  We glorify God when we care for one another. Jesus prayed for his disciples saying that the unity of his people will cause others to believe he was sent by the Father. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves, but as Christ’s followers, we are especially to love one another for the sake of the gospel and for God’s glory to be demonstrated among his people.

There are, of course, many other ways we can glorify God, but I will end there so that we can move on to the second half of the sermon. We have explored how glory and glorification are used in the Bible, who is supposed to glorify God, and how we can glorify God. Now we will look to the first topic in our series on Soli Deo Gloria: how God is glorified in creation.