Revelation
4:11 (AMP)
11“Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to
receive the glory and the honor and the power; for You created all things, and
because of Your will they exist, and were created and brought into being.”
When
talking about ‘Glory and Honor’ there is only one that is worthy of such praise
and affection and that is Christ Jesus. Jesus is God! Not just a
good person who sacrificed everything for everyone, but the author of life
itself who willingly gave up the greatest and most precious gift that God had to
offer, His very life itself.
Some
Eastern cultures really struggle with the concept of “…Why did God have to
die?” We can easily take it for granted in our Western culture citing chapter and
verse talking about why God had to die, but the truth always comes back to the
only way God could remain integrious with what He had declared since the
beginning of creation, was for Him to personally become the sacrificial means
of redemption and salvation rather than man being involved in the
process. Sin always begets sin, and sinful man could never please a holy
God. You could truthfully say that God is never wrong or capricious, and yet
He always knew He would have to die for the sins of mankind, even from the
beginning of creation.
As
sinful man is drawn to the mercies of God through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus
on the cross, man now can come to Christ and be reborn. Another way to
put it is man’s spirit is birthed and is alive by the Holy Spirit, much like a newborn baby being brought into the world through natural childbirth, so the Holy Spirit
breathes spiritual life into the natural man who was dead because of sin but made alive unto Christ. The rebirth or born-again
process in the life of a man is truly God’s glory in action.
I have covered the topic of 'Glory' in detail in a previous post which can be accessed here.
I have covered the topic of 'Glory' in detail in a previous post which can be accessed here.
Psalm 50:23
(AMP)
23“He who offers a sacrifice of praise and
thanksgiving honors Me;
And to him
who orders his way rightly [who follows the way that I show him],
I shall
show the salvation of God.”
The
descriptions for the word honor in the Old and New Testaments are described
in two different ways:
Strong’s
Concordance defines honor from the Old Testament: “to be heavy,
be weighty, be grievous, be hard, be rich, be honorable, be glorious, be
burdensome, be honored”
Vines
Expository Bible Dictionary defines ‘honor’ in the New Testament like
this: “"a price paid or received," of "the preciousness of
Christ" unto believers, 1Pe 2:7, i.e., the honor and inestimable value of
Christ as appropriated by believers, who are joined, as living stones, to Him
the cornerstone…”
Matthew
11:29-30 (AMP)
29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me
[following Me as My disciple], for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you
will find rest (renewal, blessed quiet) for your souls. 30 For My
yoke is easy [to bear] and My burden is light.”
Honoring
the Lord isn’t something that we would normally do out of our own desires, why
would we? The natural man is always at war against the Lord.
The
burden of ‘honoring the Lord’ always costs us something…
- It costs us our Time
Psalm
43:3-4 (AMP)
3 O send out Your light and Your truth, let
them lead me;
Let them
bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your
dwelling places.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God, my
exceeding joy;
With the
lyre I will praise You, O God, my God!
- It costs us our Energy
Notice
that the scripture in Psalms 50:23 uses the word “sacrifice” to describe our
praise to the Lord. When we respond to the unction or moving of the Holy Spirit within us it is a
giving away or sacrifice of our energy and focus to reflect
with gratefulness on the Lord’s love to us and for us by Him giving us His peace and
rest and us entering into it. That is our inheritance that we may gain Christ.
Colossians
3:23-24 (AMP)
23 Whatever you do [whatever your task may
be], work from the soul [that is, put in your very best effort], as [something
done] for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing [with all certainty]
that it is from the Lord [not from men] that you will receive the inheritance
which is your [greatest] reward. It is the Lord Christ whom you [actually]
serve.
- It costs us our Money
1 Timothy 6:17-19 (AMP)
17 As for the rich in this present world,
instruct them not to be conceited and arrogant, nor to set their hope on the
uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly and ceaselessly provides us with
everything for our enjoyment. 18 Instruct them to do good, to be
rich in good works, to be generous, willing to share [with others]. 19
In this way storing up for themselves the enduring riches of a good foundation
for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
...and also this passage which is in the
gospel of Mark where Jesus is comparing the different types of giving:
Mark
12:41-44 (NIV)
41
Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the
crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in
large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small
copper coins, worth only a few cents.
43
Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow
has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave
out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had
to live on.”
This isn’t to say that having
resources is a bad thing, but something that God has given for the enrichment
of all―not just for the enrichment of one. One can say that this sounds a
lot like communism, and it is! But it was communism (communal-ism) in it’s purest form without the politics. The early
church did share a common purse so that so that anyone who had need could be
taken care of.
Acts
2:44-45 (AMP)
44 And all those who had believed [in Jesus
as Savior] were together and had all things in common [considering their
possessions to belong to the group as a whole]. 45 And they began
selling their property and possessions and were sharing the proceeds with all
[the other believers], as anyone had need.
Our time,
energy, and money are the things by which we bring honor to the Lord, and when
done with a grateful heart, He also receives the glory.
Glory and Honor is what we offer to the Lord out of our clear conscience and pure hearts, for He alone was able to accomplish by His sacrifice what we could not; our redemption back to God.
He is worthy of such adulation. He deserves it all!
Romans
11:34-36 (AMP)
34
For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? 35
Or who has first given to Him that it would be paid back to him? 36
For from Him [all things originate] and through Him [all things live and exist]
and to Him are all things [directed]. To Him be glory and honor forever! Amen.
Blessings to you!
Stephen Barnett
God
is good all the time―all the time God is good!
Glory
and Honor To God
(Words and Music by: Terry
Butler)
Text taken from Romans 11:34-36
Glory
and honor to God
Glory
and honor forever
Glory
and honor to God
Glory
and honor belong to Him
He
who formed the heavens
He
who knows the stars by name
Author
of all life
Full
of wisdom, full of love
Glory
and honor to God
Glory
and honor forever
Glory
and honor to God
Glory
and honor belong to You
Who
compares to You?
Who
has been Your counselor?
Author
of all life
Full
of wisdom, full of love
Glory
and honor, glory and honor
Glory
and honor, forever
Copyright
© 1993 Mercy/Vineyard Publishing. All rights reserved. International copyright
secured.
These lyrics are copyrighted by the respective artist(s) and are presented here for educational purposes only and not for profit.
These lyrics are copyrighted by the respective artist(s) and are presented here for educational purposes only and not for profit.
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