Glorifying God

How to “Hallow” God’s Name

/ Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

The first petition of the model prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray was “hallowed be your Name”. We are instructed to pray that God would act in such a way that his name would be recognized, revered, valued, and celebrated by Peoples throughout the whole world.

As the Westminster Shorter Catechism in Modern English expresses it:

In the first request (“hallowed be your name”) we pray that God will enable us and others to glorify Him in everything He uses to make Himself known and that He will work out everything to His own glory.

The Heidelberg Catechism, from the Dutch tradition, is a bit more elaborative:

“Hallowed be your name” means: Help us to truly know you, to honor, glorify, and praise you for all your works and for all that shines forth from them: your almighty power, wisdom, kindness, justice, mercy, and truth. And it means, Help us to direct all our living – what we think, say, and do – so that your name will never be blasphemed because of us but always honored and praised.

Only recently, as I was preparing for a series of messages from the Lord’s Prayer, did I notice that in Psalm 8 King David provides a wonderful example of what it looks like to have the hallowing of God’s name as a heartfelt passion and priority. Notably we see through Psalm 8 several aspects of David that are essential characteristics of anyone who hallows God’s name:

  1. An awareness of how unfathomably awesome Our Father in Heaven truly is;
  2. An appreciation for the transcendent beauty of all of God’s Creation;
  3. A personal humility rooted in an awareness of his own nature, especially in comparison with the incomparable holiness of God;
  4. An awareness that his hope and significance come only from God;
  5. A thankfulness for God’s gracious promises and provision;
  6. A consequential desire that God’s name be glorified throughout the earth.

“O Lord, Our Lord, How majestic is you name in all the earth!“

7 Principles for Conduct

/ Dennis Griffith / 2 Comments

Reaching

“The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.”

C.J. Mahaney has compiled the following questions and relevant scripture passages to help in determining whether or not a particular activity is glorifying to God.  I find these to be very helpful questions.

1. Does it present a temptation to sin?

Romans 13.14 -“Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”

2 Timothy 2.22 -“Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”

2. Is it beneficial?

1 Corinthians 6.12a -“‘Everything is permissible for me’—but not everything is beneficial.”

1 Corinthians 10.23 -“‘Everything is permissible’—but not everything is beneficial. ‘Everything is permissible’- but not everything is constructive.”

3. Is it enslaving?

1 Corinthians 6.12b – “‘Everything is permissible for me’—but I will not be mastered by anything.”

4. Does it honor and glorify God?

1 Corinthians 10.31 – “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

5. Does it promote the good of others?

1 Corinthians 10.33 – “even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.”

6. Does it cause anyone to stumble?

1 Corinthians 10.32 – “Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God”

7. Does it arise from a pure motive?

Jeremiah 17.9 – “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”

Don’t Waste Your Sports

/ Dennis Griffith / 5 Comments

There are seemingly few resources that help the athlete and the fan channel an enthusiasm for sports to the glory of God.  Many misapply Philippians 4.13, taking it out of context, disconnecting it from it’s gospel purpose, and using it as if it is merely a self-help positive thinking slogan.  Others assume that sports are just “worldly” banality that, while enjoyable, have no redeeming spiritual value, except perhaps for the platform provided to accomplished Christian athletes in this sport idolatrous culture.

As a life-long sports enthusiast, and former coach and athlete, I have longed for a substantive bridge that connects athletic endeavors with spiritual formation, yet that avoids the shallowness usually exhibited.

Two relatively recent resources provide the connection and substance I have long looked for:

Both these resources help show us how we can redeem our involvement with sports to God’s Glory and our spiritual development, whether an athlete or a fan.

Two related audio resources:

Signs of Living to Please God

/ Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

In Galatians 1:10, the Apostle Paul asks a semi-rhetorical question: “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God?”   

 At this time of the year most of us see the opportunity for a new start. Whether you are one who makes New Year’s Resolutions or not, there seems to be a sense of a“Do Over” that comes almost as soon as that ball drops in Times Square, and the Bowl season begins to make way for the roundball & puck.   

The Apostle’s question raises another, more fundamental question: Who is it that we are to live to please?  

I want that to be a question that will be given consideration for this new year (… and every year).  

It would not be appropriate to suppose Paul suggests affirmation from the people around us is a bad thing. On many occasions Paul expressed his thankfulness for having been well received, for the friendships he enjoyed with many among whom he had lived and labored.  Yet his question should remind us: “The primary purpose of man is to glorify and enjoy God”. (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q. 1)

While earning esteem at work, in your neighborhood, or among family members may often be a good thing, Paul reminds us that it is when this is our driving motivation that we may be out of accord with the very purpose for which we are created, and for which we are redeemed.   

So how do we know when we are falling into this? (Yes, when, not if.)   

The great English Puritan, Richard Baxter, provides us with some thoughts, and exhorts us: “See therefore that you live for God’s approval as that which you chiefly seek, and as that will suffice you.”

You may discover yourself by these signs: 

  1. You will be careful to understand the Scripture, to know what pleases and displeases God
  2. You will be more careful in the doing of every task, to fit it to the pleasure of God rather than men.
  3. You will look to your hearts, and not only to your actions; to your goals, and thoughts, and the inward manner and degree.
  4. You will look to secret duties as well as public, and to that which men do not see as well as those which they see.
  5. You will revere your conscience, paying close attention to it, and not slighting it; when it tells you of God’s displeasure, it will disquiet you; when it tells you of His approval, it will comfort you.
  6. Your pleasing men will be charitable for their good, and pious (holy) in order to please God, not proud and ambitious for your honor among men, nor impious against the pleasing of God.

Baxter Goes on to say:

Whether men are pleased or displeased, how they judge you or what they call you, will seem a small matter to you, as their own interests, in comparison to God’s judgment. You don’t live for them. You can bear their displeasure, and comments, if God is pleased.