Several years ago I was told by a seasoned servant of God, “When you don’t know what to preach - PREACH CHRIST.” Those words have rung in my ear and stuck in my heart ever since. The truth of that statement is just as true today as it was then, because our focus must be on the Lord Himself. However, this is becoming increasingly hard to find sometimes as the philosophy of our modern Christian era seems to be the comfort of the hearer. We see this in the modern church growth movements which tell us that we need to make church more “relevant” to the hearer, thus, asking the the local churches to change and shift from truth to what people feel they need or want. Now it is true that this “relevant” movement will garner numbers and these modern church movements are seeing large growth numerically, but is that what we are supposed to be work toward, numbers? Or is our task to glorify the God of Heaven?
One of the most quoted verses in various teachings today is 1 Corinthians 10:11, which states “…do all to the glory of God.” Some want us to think that Paul is telling the church at Corinth that God is glorified by all that we do and we should not limit what people want to do in serving the Lord as it does not matter as long as their heart is in the right place. In other words, if a person believes in their heart that secular sounding music glorifies God then who are we to say it doesn’t. In some minds, who are we to say that a person cannot continue to live in fornication and still glorify God. But is that really what the verse in 1 Corinthians 10:11 is teaching?
No!
What 1 Corinthians 10:11 teaches is very simple - DO ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD! This does not mean that all we do will be to the glory of God but that our actions should be driven by the purpose of glorifying our God. The context is Paul reminding the believers at Corinth that though all things are lawful to do (1Corinthians 10:23), meaning he will not lose his salvation by doing them, but that all things have an effect on others (1 Corinthians 10:24-30) and our main motive MUST be the put God first in all our actions. Paul directly states that our actions must be driven by the glorification of God in such a way that no one can accuse that we are NOT doing what glorifies God best and in that goal and clearly seen purpose, men will come to Christ in salvation (1 Corinthians 10:32-33).
When our church does what it does, it must be based upon the glory of God and not for the praise of men or for the comfort of mankind. It must be that the glorification of God is causing the decisions that we make to be lived out. It is why we have the dress standards that we do, the music standards that we do, and the daily practices that we follow. We must never seek to just do things that make people feel comfortable or at ease as that is an error in judgment (Amos 6:1). We must take a stand for God and do it ONLY for His glory.
However, it is also true that when you take up the mantel of glorifying God as your purpose that there will be a few who will use the mantle of God’s glory as a cloak of maliciousness (1 Peter 2:16). In other words there will be a few who will place standards and guidelines upon others in the name of “God’s glory” but are doing it for their own personal conscience’s sake. These are the ones that will set a standard for themselves based upon their conscience but then assume that anyone who has a “lesser” standard is somehow not as close to God as they are. Thus these “spiritual” people have used the glory of God their theme but in reality are using their liberty to be malicious (1 Peter 2:16 again). This is just as wrong as letting cultural desires drive the actions of the churches.
God wants us to put His glory first and foremost in our actions and motives. He created us for that purpose and anything less than His glory if failing in that.
May today be a day that we each as individuals commit to serve the Lord and glorify him with all that we say and do….and let each other believer have the same liberty as well.
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