Healthy, Growing Churches (7)

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10.31

Baptismal Instructions 6.10
John Chrysostom (344-407)
“Let all the things which you undertake and accomplish have this root and foundation, namely, that they tend to the glory of God.… When Paul said ‘If you do anything’ [‘whatever you do’], he has enclosed our whole existence in a single word, desiring that we never perform any act of virtue with an eye to human glory.”

Glory! Here is a word every Christian knows. We praise God for His glory. We say, “Glory! Glory! Glory!” to our God and King. We want God to get the glory. We are Christians, members of the body of Christ, joints supplying what we have been given for the edification of the whole. And all for the glory of God! But whenever I’m with Christians and glory comes up, I wonder if the Spaniard’s observation to the Sicilian in The Princess Bride might not be in order: “You keep on using that word. I’m not sure it means what you think it means.” I’m not sure we understand the meaning of glory, and as long as that’s true, we will not realize the purpose of our existence, and of our “joint” efforts to build-up our church as the body of Christ. The glory of God is simply the presence of God, suddenly and unmistakably known by its weighty, awesome, fearful, and thrilling manifestation. Think of the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration. In the presence of Christ, manifesting His glory, they’re terrified! But they want to camp out there forever. Until we know the glory of God as a living and weighty presence, we’ll not be able to live for His glory, nor grow our church together for His glory. Let us strive to be a people for whom one word encloses our entire existence: Glory!

When are you most aware of the presence of God in His glory in your church?

T. M. Moore

Healthy, Growing Churches
Our assessment tool, Twelve Questions that Could Change Your Church, can help you discover the extent to which you are building the Lord’s church as He intends. Use this tool with your church leaders to discern the health of your church, then to plan the next phase of your growth as the Body of Christ. You can download Twelve Questionsfor free by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Quotations from Church Fathers are from the Ancient Christian Commentary Series, published by InterVarsity Press.