Soli Deo Gloria - final Sola for Sunday School

Soli Deo Gloria

Book recommendation: Attributes of God or Sovereignty of God by A W Pink, gets us outside of our sinful carnal desire to dwell on ourselves & spend time meditating on who God is & how “other” or unlike ourselves He is.

Solas Review:

1. How is a person justified before God? Answer: Through Faith Alone
2. What is the sole authority for the Christian in matters of faith and practice? Answer: The Scriptures Alone
3. Upon what basis are we made righteous before God? Answer: By Grace Alone
4. Through whom are we made righteous before God? Answer: In Christ Alone, which is a GREAT modern Hymn by the way

Today, we will answer the following question: What is the reason for man's salvation? The answer to that question is the glory of God. All things are done for the glory of God, and it is to God alone that all glory belongs.

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Review Key Verses:

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Soli Deo gloria emphasizes the glory of God as the goal of life. Rather than striving to please church leaders, keep a list of rules, increase our material possessions, our goal is to glorify the Lord. The idea of soli Deo gloria is found in 1 Corinthians 10:31: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

So what did the Reformers mean by the slogan "To God Alone be the Glory?" This slogan gives us the reason, or the goal, of God's saving activity. The reason why God justifies mankind by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone is to manifest and make known to all the world the glory of God in the salvation of his people.

In a previous class, we looked at Ephesians 2:8-9. In that passage, we see that we are saved by grace through faith and not by works "so that NO ONE may boast!" In salvation, all boasting is silenced! No one can claim any credit when it comes to salvation (I believe) because even the faith we exercise to make salvation a reality is graciously granted to us by God.

God's glory is the totality of all his attributes made manifest. In Exodus 33:18, Moses asks God to show him his glory. God responds by giving him a glimpse of his glory (for no one can see God's glory in its fullness and live):

The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation." (Exodus 34:5-7)

In this brief glimpse Moses gets of God's glory, Moses learns of the infinite graciousness and mercy of God as well as the infinite justice and holiness of God. God is glorified in showing grace and love and mercy to the righteous, and he is glorified in showing judgment and wrath and justice to the wicked.

The glory of God is also something that is manifest all throughout creation. (Psalm 19:1) & (Romans 1:20). The universe, being the work of God's hands, shows forth his glory in a multitude of ways.

God's glory is made even more evident in the creation of mankind who was created in his image (Genesis 1:26-27). The ultimate display of God's glory and his "exact imprint" is Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:3) who fully manifests the glory of God among mankind.

We could go on talking about God's glory for quite some time, but for our purposes here, the glory of God is manifest in the salvation of his Elect. If God's glory is manifest through the display of his attributes, then we get a good picture of this in the Salvation of the Elect and the Damnation of the Wicked. The Salvation of the Elect demonstrates God's love, grace and mercy; whereas the Damnation of the Wicked demonstrates the holiness, wrath and justice of God (Romans 9:22-23).

Much of the bad theology that exists in American Evangelicalism today ultimately comes from a failure to acknowledge the glory of God in all things. This was the central focus of the Protestant Reformers over against the glorification of man found in Renaissance and Enlightenment thinking or the glorification of Mary, the church and her saints in Roman Catholic thinking. The Reformers were constantly zealous to protect the glory of God in their theology and practice.

So, how does this relate to Christians living in the 21st century? No different than it did for Christians living in the Reformation or at any other point in history. The glory of God is the ultimate purpose for everything that exists. Paul told the Corinthian church that whatever they did, they needed to do it to "the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31). That exhortation is as true today as it was the day it was first penned. The particular problem we face in the 21st century is that the church is infected with a lot of man-centered theology. From Theological Liberalism to the Seeker-sensitive movement to the Emergent church movement; all of these philosophies are infected with a man-centered approach to doing church. They may have begun with the best of intentions, but once you untether the glory of God as your basis for doing anything, you deviate from the God-ordained means and methods for doing church. We need to return to a more God-centered focus in our practice – preaching the word faithfully, administering the sacraments regularly, living God-honoring lives day to day, and trusting the Holy Spirit to do his work. Only then will we see the glory of God manifest in his church.

Conclusion:

The final sola is the great underlying reason behind the importance of the first four. The Reformers knew the Biblical truth that: “from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36, ESV). They were held captive by a passion for God’s glory, and a conviction that He Himself would “not give [His] glory to another” (Isa. 48:11). And they knew that to depart from the Word of God and compromise the Gospel of Salvation by Grace alone, through Faith alone, in Christ alone, was to cast contempt on God’s glory.

John Calvin, writing to the Catholic Cardinal Sadolet, thus said: “You . . . touch upon Justification by Faith, the first and keenest subject of controversy between us . . . . Wherever the knowledge of it is taken away, the glory of Christ is extinguished.”[vi] Oh, that we would have such concern for the glory of our Savior!

My prayer is that this brief remembrance of the Reformers and the great truths they preached will stir within your heart a passion to faithfully spread this glorious Gospel of Salvation by Grace alone, through Faith alone, in Christ alone. We need a host of Luther-like men today - and a host of churches to stand behind them in their proclamation of the Gospel. Were the Reformers perfect? No. Did they have some obvious faults? Yes. But considering the time in which they lived and the darkness from which they were delivered, they were very great men.