Let us turn together in our Bibles
to 1 Peter chapter 4. And as we have done for several
Lord's days, we will read verses 7 through 11 of 1 Peter chapter
4. But the end of all things is
at hand. Therefore be of sound mind and
be sober unto prayer, above all things being fervent in your
love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of sins, using
hospitality one to another without murmuring, according as each
has received a gift, ministering it among yourselves as good stewards
of the manifold grace of God. If any man speaks, speaking as
it were oracles of God. If any man ministers, ministering
as of the strength which God supplies, that in all things
God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory
and dominion forever and ever. Amen. I'm wondering if you, and by
you I mean moms and dads, older men and women, boys and girls,
I wonder if you've ever asked yourself the question, what,
if anything, do I have in common with the sun, the moon, the stars,
and even the distant galaxies? Have you ever asked that question?
What, if anything, do I have in common with the sun that shines,
the moon that reflects the sun's light at night, the stars that
are scattered across the heavens, and then those massive displays
of God's might and power and immensity, the distant galaxies? Well, there are some and they
are not a few. who would answer that question
in our day in this way all that we have in common with the sun,
the moon, the stars and the distant galaxies and even with the fish,
the birds, snails and earthworms all that we have in common is
that we are different parts of a measureless universe that came
into being who knows when that exists for who knows what and
that will continue for who knows how long and the people who give
that answer to the question what if anything do we have in common
with these other realities of stuff and things that we see
animate and inanimate many of them have PhDs next to their
name They have tremendous facilities to analyze everything from the
galaxies to the earthworm. And yet at the end of the day,
when asked what do they, the thinking scientist, the thinking
astronomer, the thinking philosopher, the thinking physicist, the thinking
anthropologist, what do they have in common with the things
that they are constantly trafficking in? Many would say, the only
thing we have in common is that we are different piles and arrangements
of cosmic dust. We have no idea of when all this
came into being, why it exists, and how long it will exist, and
to what end, if anything, it exists. Well, while unbelieving
philosophers and physicists and anthropologists and astronomers
stumble in their futile attempts to answer this question, humble
believers from children to people tottering on the edge of the
grave through that affliction that will overtake all of us
called old age. That's one affliction that's
not covered by your medical insurance. We're all going to get it. Old
age. And there are within the full
range of that age bracket, those who in humble faith in the word
of God, they know the answer to that question. What do I have
in common with the stars, the sun, the moon, the galaxies,
the fish, the snail, the earthworm, unseen subatomic particles? We all have this in common. We
are the created realities of God and each of us created for
a different purpose and yet all of it together created to the
end that the God who created it and us might be glorified
in that which he has created. and tucked away in the midst
of a passionate pastoral letter seeking to comfort and encourage
distressed and persecuted saints, Peter locks into one of those
marvelous statements in which the reality of the Christian's
conviction about All that exists is so beautifully stated, look
at the words, the end of verse 11, that in all things God may
be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen or Amen. Now it's those
words that I want to attempt to unpack this morning, but since
they come as the concluding statement of a paragraph, I must take just
a moment to pick up the threads of thought that lead into it
and precipitate it. You've been reminded again and
again that beginning with chapter 3 and verse 13, Peter has come
to the heart of his pastoral and apostolic burden for these
believers scattered throughout Asia Minor One commentator suggesting
gathered in at least probably 10 different churches whose presence
and existence is recognized in other parts of the New Testament.
And as Peter is writing to them, seeking to give them the stuff
by which they will not merely endure and make it through difficult
times of affliction and persecution, but that the gospel may be validated
and God be glorified, he has unpacked one principle after
another, and that which is found throughout all of them is a constant
reference to Christ as the great sufferer. the substitutionary
sufferer, the exemplary sufferer, the one whose sufferings we share
as we bear reproach and opposition for his name's sake. Now in the
midst of giving that instruction, he starts in verse 7 through
11 to make it plain that whatever happens in the way of external
opposition to the people of God, it is not to disrupt their commitment
to the norms of healthy church life. And so he's going to give
them some directives concerning their horizontal relationships
to their brothers and sisters within the fellowship of the
church. And so he begins in verse 7 by saying the end of all things
is at hand. The next great event in redemptive
history is the coming again of our Lord Jesus. the consummation
of the ages in the coming of Christ. And in the light of this,
Peter says, you are to maintain a sound mind and you are to be
spiritually sober, resulting in a life of prayerfulness. It
is only, Peter is saying, as your vertical relationship is
kept warm and vibrant in the light of reality, a reality continually
perceived with a sound mind and a spiritually sober heart, Then,
he said, out of that intimate, warm, vibrant, fruitful, vertical
relationship, you will be able to relate to one another as you
ought, even in the midst of your suffering and your opposition.
and so he tells them then in the directive to mutual love
verse 8 above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves
a love that will cover sin a love that will constrain you to be
hospitable one to another then he gives the directive concerning
mutual service and we looked at that last Lord's Day The directive
concerning mutual service, there's the foundational assumption that
each has received a gift. The heart of the directive, ministering
it among yourselves, looking upon every gift as a call to
the basin and the towel to serve your brethren. And then the governing
perspective, we are to exercise those gifts conscious that we
are stewards. We have had something entrusted
to us to be administered according to the will of the Master. And
we have this passion to be recognized by the Master as good. stewards
not unfaithful wicked or unprofitable stewards and then he gives two
specific examples two major categories of those gifts speaking gifts
and serving gifts now then we come to verse 11b in which we're
going to consider together what I'm calling the ultimate purpose
for these divine directives. Peter, why have you enjoined
the people of God in the midst of their present and even intensified
future suffering that he's going to address starting in verse
12? Why are you telling them out of the crucible of warm intimate
communion with their God to have fervent love among themselves?
A love that will cover sin, that will cause them to cultivate
an open heart, an open door, and a shared table, hospitable
one to another. Peter, why are you anxious that
the people of God heed this directive to mutual service? Each one soberly
recognizing his gift or gifts. and seeing every gift or gifts
as a call to the towel and basin to serve one another. Peter,
why are you so anxious that in that service they constantly
remember their identity? They are stewards of the manifold
grace of God. Why should they have this passionate
desire to be recognized by the Lord in the last day as good
stewards? Peter, what is the motive for
these things? Yes, you've given the directives,
fervent love, mutual service, but Peter, why? Well, may I suggest
that Peter could have answered, follow these directives that
you may have peace and joy in your life together. And that
would be a legitimate motive. It's a motive that is addressed
in other portions of the Word of God which enjoins similar
duties upon the people of God, but Peter doesn't say that. Or
he could have said, these directives are to this end in order that
you as a community of God's people may be a convincing witness and
validation of the Gospel. He says something similar to
that two other places earlier in the epistle. But that isn't
what he says here. Or he could have said do this
that you might together grow up into true spiritual maturity
in Christ. Even as Paul suggests in Ephesians
chapter 4. But Peter does none of those
things. He goes beyond each of those and many others that are
set out as legitimate purposes to comply with divine directives
to the people of God in their corporate life. And he goes to
that crowning purpose, that supreme, that pinnacle motivation with
these words. All of these things, Peter says,
is to this end. In order that, you Greek students,
a hymna, clause of purpose. All of these things, hymna, in
order that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is
the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Now I want to
attempt to open up this that I'm calling the ultimate purpose
for these divine directives under four headings that come very
naturally out of the text. First of all, the ultimate purpose
identified. It is identified as to its essence
and to its extent. Look at the language of the text.
In order that everything I have told you in this particular section
of my letter is to this end that God may be glorified in all things. Now what is the essence of this
ultimate purpose? It is that God may be glorified. And in this context, to glorify
God is to extol, exalt, honor, or praise Him for who He is and
for what He has done. And to the extent that we see
who he is in what he has done, we take the unfolding of his
gracious work as the springboard to magnify, to praise, and to
extol his glorious being. Think of it this way. God's essential
glory is the outshining of all that he is as God. And in that
sense, God has been a glorious God from eternity. I know it
strains the brain of the most brilliant person here and of
the most simple-minded child to think of a being who has no
beginning. Everything we deal with had a
beginning. God has no beginning. The little
child asks, Mommy, God made all things? Yes. Next question. You've
heard it. I've heard it as a parent. Who
made God? And you have to say, no one made
God. He just always was. From everlasting to everlasting,
the psalmist says, you are God. And because God has always been
and has always been what He is, And He is the same yesterday,
today and forever. He is the God who is and the
God who shall be. His essential glory, the outshining
of His perfections has always been the same. God being who
He is, the outshining of His glory has always been an accompaniment
of His being. Now when God creates, what he
creates is a manifestation, it reflects something of that glory. The psalmist celebrates it with
these words, the heavens declare his glory and the firmament shows
his handiwork. Now what happens when the creature
perceives some of those beams of the outshining of who God
is and what He is? The heavens declare His glory.
The heavens capture some of the beams of God's beauty and God's
glory and God's magnificence. We see His wisdom, His power,
His kindness. And when we see those beams of
glory, and we trace them back to the central sun from which
they come, God himself, and we give vent to what we perceive,
then we are glorifying God. We are magnifying, extolling,
honoring, and praising Him for who He is, particularly when
what He is is revealed in what He does. You see, this is the
great indictment there in Romans chapter 1. what may be known
of God is manifest in them. In other words, God has revealed
himself in his creation. And the indictment Paul brings
is this. They did not glorify him as God,
but became vain in their imaginations. Their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and they changed
the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like unto
man and beast and four-footed beast and creeping things. What's
the indictment? The indictment is that all men,
when they look up and behold the expanse of the heavens, even
with the naked eye, when they see what God has made, as they
look up and see sun and moon and stars, there is an outshining
of God's glory. There is a revelation of aspects
of who He is. Paul says even His everlasting
power and His Godhood or His Godness So that they know if
they are to glorify this God they must praise Him that He
is bigger and greater and grander than anything in His world. But
instead what do they do? They bring Him down into an image
and they bow down to that which they've made with their own hands.
They do not glorify Him as God. Now all of that is simply to
give us a fresh feel for what Peter had in mind when he said,
in all of these things, these directives that I've given to
mutual love and to mutual service with all of the qualifying aspects
is to this end that in all things God may be glorified. That what you are and what you
do In your relationships one to another, as you keep up a
sound mind and are spiritually sober, engaging in a life of
prayerfulness, and out of that intimate, warm relationship with
your God, you grow in fervent love one to another, a love that
delights to cover sin and to show hospitality, a love that
engages you in mutual service. As you do this, there will be
an outshining of God's glory. And he said, I'm urging you to
do it, that in response to that outshining of God's glory, God
will be praised. God will be magnified. God will
be extolled. God will be honored. When men
see in you that which has no explanation, but the grace of
God working in you, the God who has worked it is then praised. And then not only notice the
essence of that ultimate purpose, but the extent of it. Peter writes,
in order that in all things. Now the word we translate in
all things may be a masculine or a neuter. In the Greek, that
particular form can either be masculine or neuter. And some
would suggest that what Peter is saying, in all people, that
is, those who manifest love one to another, those who engage
in being hospitable, those who speak as oracles of God, and
those who serve out of the strength that God supplies, that in them
God will be glorified. But there are a number of other
commentators and I side with them that this is a neuter that
looks back not only over the remain or the previous part of
verse 11 or verse 10, but the entire paragraph. This is the
capstone motivation that Peter puts before these believers.
The ultimate purpose, when they sit in the pew, when they sit
where they are sitting when the letter is read, and anyone asks
the question, yes, in the light of the fact that the end of all
things is at hand, and I am by God's grace determined to give
myself to that prayer which is the handmaiden in the accompaniment
of sober-mindedness and soundness of mind, And through the grace
of God I will seek to increase in love to my brethren in being
hospitable and covering their sins. Right down through the
whole paragraph, Peter wants them to leave that morning with
this conviction. I have heard how I may be an
instrument to bring more glory to God in all things. As this goal or purpose was fixed
in the mind and heart of the apostle, giving these directives
for no less an end than the manifestation of God's glory. His concern ought
to be our concern. And this is not something that
is unique to Peter. We will see God willing when
we read 1 Corinthians 10 next week. that when Paul is coming
to a concluding statement on this whole issue of what shall
I eat and what shall I drink and what shall I not eat and
not drink not only what do I have liberty before God to eat and
drink but what will advance the gospel what will cause unnecessary
offense what may embolden the conscience of another to partake
of something that he still believes is wrong and thereby jeopardize
his soul Paul gives this great crowning motive verse Corinthians
10 31 whether therefore you eat or drink do all to what end to
the glory of God you see that's plunked down not in some great
profound theological statement about the decrees of God, the
eternal, free, sovereign, electing love of God. It is stuck right
down in the midst of this issue. Shall I buy that hunk of meat
and eat it or shall I not? Shall I drink that glass of wine
or shall I not? Paul says let this be the governing
principle. the glory of God. Will what you
indulge in or what you refuse to indulge in, will that redound
to God being seen in some aspect of his glorious being? Will it
precipitate praise and honor and adoration of God? If not,
it's to have no place in my life, in your life. As God's chief
end in all that he does is the manifestation of his glory. So
that's to be the chief end in all that we do. What is man's
chief end? Question number one of the Shorter
Catechism. Man's chief end. Man's supreme
end. Man's apex of motivation and
goal is what? To glorify God and to enjoy him
forever. So here in this very practical
section we are taken again into the very nerve centers of those
matters that lie close to the heart of God. Well having noted
the ultimate purpose identified, now notice secondly the ultimate
purpose qualified. The ultimate purpose qualified.
You English grammar students know that a qualifying word or
phrase is one that limits or modifies a word or a group of
words. And that's precisely what we
have in our text. That in all things God may be
glorified, and he could have jumped right over to whose is
the glory, but he didn't. There's a qualifying phrase that
in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. Now what does that qualifying
phrase mean? As surely as all of God's love
and grace and saving power all come to the people of God, how? Through the person and work of
the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus. You agree with that, do you not?
You have no distinct spiritual blessing conveyed to you in any
other conduit by any other medium but through Christ, Ephesians
1.3. The Apostle breaks out in a eulogy and says, Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed
us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. Where? In
Christ Jesus. All that God funnels down to
us in the way of distinctive, redemptive privilege and blessing,
He funnels through Christ. And He has ordained that as we
receive those blessings, and as the blessings of His salvation
are worked out in us, that we in return through Christ will
bring glory to the God who conveyed those very blessings to us through
the Mediator. So without appearing crassly
material, if you can think of it this way, that in all of God's
approaches to us in grace and mercy, Christ stands between
God and us, Himself God, but in His appointed place as mediator,
and all the blessings come down to us through Christ. And we
stand here and acknowledge that they come down to us from the
Father of lights with whom is no variable nor shadow of turning. He's the giver of every good
and perfect gift. But it does not come to us unmediated. It comes through Christ and therefore
in our returns we don't bypass Christ. We through Christ glorify
and magnify and praise our great and glorious and gracious God. So that when these virtues that
are worked out in his people are manifested and God is to
be extolled and to be praised here is the qualification that
in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. You remember back in chapter
2 when Peter was using the imagery of believers being brought into
vital union with Christ and they are made living stones in a living
spiritual temple. Notice verse 5 of chapter 2.
You also as living stones are built up a spiritual house to
be a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God. How? Through Jesus Christ. Peter does not envision even
these living stones, who are no longer dead sinners, but they're
live sinners. They've come into living union
with Christ. They are part of a living temple.
But they do not offer their spiritual sacrifices unmediated. They offer them through the Lord
Jesus. Do you see children, this is
why those of us who lead in prayer, so often in the opening prayer
we will ask God to accept our praise and our worship as we
come in the name and in the righteousness and through the merit of Christ.
That's not just language we learn from somebody else and we're
parroting it. That's the consciousness that those of us who sit in this
place, including those of us in the pulpit, if we were to
come before God with unmediated praise, it would be utterly unacceptable
to Him. He must smell the fragrance of
the perfect righteousness of His Son, of the present intercession
of His Son. Everything that we offer upon
a spiritual altar unto God is to be fragrant with the consciousness
that we offer it through Christ. Hebrews 13, 15, similar emphasis. Hebrews 13 and verse 15, through
Him. That is Christ who suffered without
the gate. In fellowship with His sufferings,
we live, we labor, we worship. Verse 15, through Him, that is
through Christ, through Him then, let us offer up a sacrifice of
praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which make
confession to His name. How do we offer up acceptable
praise? It is through Christ. And then
even when we are unable to do those works that are pleasing
to God, How are we able to do them? Look at Paul's prayer in
Philippians chapter 1 for one final parallel passage. Paul
writes to the Philippians, takes them into his prayer closet and
lets them know what he's praying for them. Verse 9 of Philippians
1, This I pray that your love may abound yet more and more
in knowledge and discernment. So that you may approve the things
that are excellent, that you may be sincere and void of offense
until the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness,
now notice, which are through Jesus Christ unto the glory and
praise of God. It's like Peter and Paul sat
down and said, let's compare notes. Even the fruits of righteousness
in the context of 1 Peter chapter 4. That fruit of righteousness
called fervent love. Love that covers a multitude
of sins. Love that disposes us to the
open heart and the open door and the shared table. Love that
disposes us to discern our gifts and gird ourselves with the towel
and take the basin to serve our brethren. That which brings praise
and honor to God. These works are through Jesus
Christ unto the glory and praise of God. And as it is the grace
of God and the enablement of God funneled to us in virtue
of our union with Christ, I can do all things through Him, through
Christ who strengthens me. So when God is glorified, that
praise returns through Christ unto God. and so our text sets
before us first of all the ultimate purpose identified that in all
things God may be glorified the ultimate purpose qualified through
Jesus Christ and I want to make this word of application at this
point do you see how once again as we've seen again and again
through Peter's letter that the person and work of the Lord Jesus
are foundational and central to the entire fabric of the Christian
faith and life. Christ is not just there on the
front end with respect to forgiveness and the marvelous privileges
of justification as we heard in the previous hour and as we
shall hear of adoption but no matter where Peter is taking
these people in Asia Minor in their thinking from the opening
words right through to the end of the epistle whether he's focusing
upon redemptive privileges in a heightened way the forgiveness
of our sins, redemption through his blood Or whether he's talking
about having an open door and a shared table and manifesting
our commitment to serve one another with our gifts. Christ is there,
wherever you turn, Christ pops up, Christ pops out. And so,
Peter is reminding us, even in this section, that Christ is
central in the entire fabric of saving religion. I had a little
fun. I don't often do this because
quoting numerical instances of certain words in the Bible doesn't
prove too much. But it may point to something.
And if you were to take your concordance, take your strong,
exhaustive concordance, And look up Jesus Christ, particularly
the word Christ, either with or without Jesus. For you have
in the first part of 1 Peter 4 just Christ, not Christ Jesus
or Jesus Christ. You would find that in the book
of 1 Peter, that official title, that's not one of his personal
names, that's the name of his official title. He is Jesus Messiah. He is Messiah, Jesus, God's anointed
prophet, priest, and king. You would find in 1 Peter, 20
times he uses Christ. This is the 16th time in this
relatively brief epistle. that that official title that
designates Christ as God's long-awaited and finally revealed final prophet,
priest, and king, Peter's bringing him in again and again and again
and again and again. But on the other hand, he does
not have a view of this foundational and central place of Christ that
obscures, let alone does not obliterate a consciousness of
the activity of God the Father. I took the same concordance and
looked up every reference to God. And where you have a generic
reference to God, unless the context indicates otherwise,
we're to assume it is a reference particularly to God the Father,
sometimes to the entire Godhead. But here in 1 Peter, there are
39 references about God. This one in this text is the
29th. So in the same letter, where
up to now there are 16 explicit references to Christ there are
29 references to God the Father now what's that tell us? I hope
you get the message while Christ is central in the whole fabric
of revealed religion in the Christian faith and while his presence
and place must never be obscured The Christian faith is not a
Jesus-only cultism, where everything is Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,
and you would have no notion that Christ has come to reveal
who? The Father! He that has seen
me has seen the Father. No man can come to the Father
except through me. When we pray, say, dear Jesus,
no. That isn't how he taught us to
pray. There are times when in private prayer it is right to
pray, dear Lord Jesus, Second Corinthians 12, Paul says, for
this thing I sought the Lord three times. Clearly a reference,
not to the Father, but to Jesus as the supreme healer. But the
basic pattern of scripture is beautifully stated in Ephesians
chapter 2. For in one spirit, we have access
through Christ unto the Father. Lord, teach us to pray. And Jesus
said, when you pray, say, our Father who is in the heavens.
Now people, this is not just playing with words. If you want
a little litmus test to assess any specific climate that purports
to be a reflection, albeit imperfectly, but genuinely and truly of Biblical
Christianity, look for those realities of the place Christ
has. and the place the Father has
in the prayers, in the praise, in the preaching, in the interaction
with the people. Some of you come out of a background
where everything was God, not even as Father, but God as His
exalted, transcendent, majestic, sovereign, enthroned, might and
power. And you can remember how you
were offended when you first came to this church and you heard
some of us pray addressing God as Father. Some of you sitting
here, you've made that testimony to me. You see, that was a distorted
view of God. And when people have a God at
a distance, you can always count on it that Christ doesn't have
His proper place. But when Christ has His proper
place, then the desire of the Father is realized. John chapter
4. God is Spirit, and those who
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. For such
does the Father seek to worship Him. To worship Him. And so, as you think of these
matters, as you think of your own prayer life, ask yourself,
does Christ have the place accorded to him in scripture? And is he
in that place as the one through whom and in whom I have communion
and fellowship with my gracious, loving, heavenly Father? One
other text, Philippians 3, Paul says, we are the circumcision
who worship God in the spirit who glory in Christ Jesus and
who put no confidence in the flesh. And wherever you have
true and vital and saving religion, all three will be present. Worship
God in the spirit, glory in Christ Jesus, put no confidence in the
flesh. or the praise recorded in Revelation
5 and verse 13. I said one more, I must quote
this one as well. And every created thing that
is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea
and all things that are in them heard I saying unto him that
sits on the throne and unto the Lamb be the blessing and the
honor and the glory and the dominion forever and forever. And here
the praise of heaven is focused upon him who sits upon the throne
and unto the Lamb. Frankly this is what disturbs
me, disturbs me about the movement in our day that is away from
a lot of shallowness and into a more intimate, heart-engaged
form of praise. But it seems to me that so many
of the praise songs and praise choruses have an imbalanced preoccupation
with Jesus and do not naturally lead through Jesus to the Father. I only issue a caution, particularly
for young people. I know you feel much more at
home with contemporary music. And that's not all to be faulted.
But remember the music is the medium to float the text into
your mind and heart. Beware of contemporary praise
songs that will distort the emphasis of Holy Scripture in this area. And don't get upset with me as
a crotchety old man. It's God's honor through Jesus
Christ that I want jealously to promote. Well, we move on
from the ultimate purpose identified, in order that in all things God
may be glorified. The ultimate purpose qualified
through Jesus Christ, now the ultimate purpose exemplified.
Notice what Peter does, no sooner does he set out that purpose,
give the qualifying statement, but he breaks out into a doxology
himself. Whose is the glory and the dominion
forever and forever. This is the ultimate purpose
exemplified. Peter thinks about the divine
purpose in those directives. He identifies it that in all
things God may be glorified. He qualifies it through Jesus
Christ. And when he thinks of those realities,
he can't move on to his next subject. In verse 12, he's got
to pause and break out in praise to God. Whose is the glory and
the dominion or the power forever and forever. Now just a moment,
without being pedantic. What does he mean when he says,
whose is the glory? Our English word for doxology
is made up of two words, doxa, which is, excuse me, glory, and
logos or logia, not certain which was in mind, a saying or a word.
So a word that glorifies God is a doxology. Doxology is defined
in our English dictionary as a hymn of praise to God. And
this is what Peter does, he breaks out in doxology and he says that
these two things belong to God. Whose is, not whose may be or
whose ought to be, but whose is right now and ever has been
and ever shall be. Whose is the glory and the dominion. Whose is the glory or the splendor
and the dominion. that is the rule, the sovereignty,
the power, or the might. Now, these words, particularly
the first one, glory, is not a simple word to try to precisely
define, and I felt frustration even when I left the study about
10 o'clock last night. One of my commentators, Selwyn,
a more technical commentary, has a section of an appendix
with very, very tiny print, I mean the kind that almost makes me
think I've got to go to trifocals. five pages sorting out all of
the subtle nuances of the meaning doxa, glory. Then I went to Hendrickson's
commentary, page 74 of Romans. Lo and behold he demonstrates
at least ten categories of significance with the meanings of the word
duksa so it's difficult and I don't want to be simplistic but the
basic concept is whose is the glory that is whose is the right
to receive praise and honor and blessing He who alone contains
in himself those things which in their outshining are worthy
of the praise and adoration of all of the creatures. And so
he says this thing is his, whose is the glory and the might, the
dominion, the power, the rule, the authority. Most commentators
suggest that in this setting perhaps what Peter is doing is
saying as we contemplate all that God has done in redeeming
a people and as he has established them in these different provinces
of Asia Minor and as Peter contemplates all that they have in Christ
as he has written of it in the preceding chapters and now as
he gives them these directives about their life together and
thinks of what will come out of those assemblies to the watching
principalities and powers in the heavenly places, Ephesians
3.10 What will come forth from them of praise and honor that
what he is saying is to this God, to this God is the glory. He contains it all in himself
and this is but the unfolding of a few dimensions of that glory
that is essentially his and then that redemptive power and might
that has made it operative in those people to whom I write. But then the question comes,
to whom does this pronoun refer? Whose is the glory? Is that Jesus
Christ? Or is that God the Father? Well,
grammatically it could be Christ. Theologically it could be Christ. You have several doxologies in
the New Testament where Christ is clearly the focus of the doxology. And I want you to look at a couple
of them. I hope this is not tedious, this is my task to try to make
you at home in your Bible. Second, Peter, notice the same
writer, Peter, under the same inspiring spirit, yet he writes
in his last words of the third chapter, the end of the second
epistle, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ to Him And there is no question who
the only antecedent is. It is our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. To Him the glory both now and
forever. There's a doxology directly ascribed
to Jesus Christ. And either Christ is essentially
and truly God or Peter was fostering idolatry. No middle ground. Revelation 1 in verse 6. We have
a similar doxology. clearly directed to Christ himself. Look at verse 5, John says, I'm
writing to the seven churches and this message comes from Jesus
Christ who is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, the
ruler of the kings of the earth. unto Him that loved us and loosed
us from our sins by His own blood, and made us to be a kingdom priest
unto His God and Father, to Him. Now who is the subject of all
that preceding context? It is Jesus Christ, faithful
witness, ruler of the kings of the earth, the one who loved
us, loosed us from our sins, made us kingdom, a kingdom of
priest unto His God and Father, to Him. be the glory and dominion
forever and ever behold he comes here obviously it is Christ who
is in focus though the father is the immediate antecedent grammatically
it is clear from the context Christ is the subject and therefore
Christ is the object of this doxology well in the same way
We come back to this passage, and it is my present understanding
that Christ is not the focus of this part of our text. Three times God has been mentioned. Verse 10, according as each hath
received a gift, ministering it among yourselves as good stewards
of the manifold grace of God. If any man speaks, speaking as
it were oracles of God. If any man ministers, ministering
as of the strength which God supplies. God is the dominant
subject in this section. I therefore believe with many
of the commentators that it is God the Father who in a special
way is in focus when he says that in all things God may be
glorified through Jesus Christ whose is the glory and the dominion
forever and forever. Now what happened to Peter? He's
fulfilling his role as an apostle commissioned by his Lord to feed
his sheep feed his lambs to shepherd his sheep. And as he is seeking
to give them instructions about facing their present and future
and more intensified sufferings, he is paused, as it were, to
digress for a little bit into the area of their corporate life
as the people of God in that very real situation, saying in
essence, persecution and opposition in the cause of Christ is no
call to lower your commitments to one another in the fellowship
of the church. Crank them up and intensify them. fervent love
among yourselves, ministering your gifts among yourselves,
and all to this end, that God may be glorified through Jesus
Christ. And when Peter comes to that
statement, Peter the apostle becomes Peter the worshipper.
And from instructor to others, he now becomes worshipper himself. Several of the commentators have
stated this very, very strongly, that here we have the passion
of the truly pious heart. Here we have the outbursting,
as it were, of a man who was not a mere talking head or a
writing hand under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He was a
thoroughly Christian man suffused with the wonder and the glory
of what he's seeking to convey to others. And what a lesson
he is to all of us who are privileged to instruct others, fathers and
mothers. When you speak of God and living
to the glory of God and all that God does is to the end that he
may be glorified. Is this a present, deep, inward
passion within your own soul? Or is it all just stuff you've
said it so often you can say it without present feeling? And
I choose my words carefully. you can say them without present
feeling you cannot convincingly communicate the truth of God
to others on the basis of past feeling in conjunction with that
truth it will be hollow, it will be unconvincing Peter writes
out of the pressure not only of a mind enlightened and supernaturally
guided by the Holy Spirit in the choice of his words, but
he writes out of the pressure of present religious feeling
and passion. He can't speak of the great end
of God's works without making it plain that his heart is aligned
with that end in all of its energy and in all of its faculties.
Whose is the glory and the dominion and for how long is he worthy
of this? Unto the ages of the ages. The phrase used 21 times
in the New Testament always refers to eternity. The picture is of
one age being swallowed up by the next. and those two being
swallowed up of the next, and they being swallowed up of the
next. It is the closest thing to the
concept of eternity found in the New Testament. And when Peter
thinks of the purpose for which these directives have gone out
to those believers, and that great end of God being glorified,
his own heart runs out in deep sympathy, and he says, whose
is indeed the glory and the dominion forever and forever? And that
brings us finally and briefly to what I'm calling the alternate
purpose, not only identified, qualified, and exemplified, But
the ultimate purpose, ratified. Ratified. Now you know when you
do and you ratify something, you put your seal of approval
upon it. An amendment is proposed, an amendment to the Constitution.
It must be ratified by a certain number of the states within the
United States. And when the states ratify it,
they embrace it. They make it plain that they
accept it as a statement of their conviction and their perspective.
Now that's exactly what Peter does here. You say, where does
he do that? The last word. Amen. Now some would look upon the
presence of this word as simply a kind of a little liturgical
throwaway. No, it's not a liturgical throwaway.
When Peter has expressed his mind with respect to the will
of God for those believers, that they are, by the grace of God,
to be of sound mind, spiritually sober, in a context of prayerfulness,
Constantly increasing in fervent love one to another, love that
covers, love that is hospitable. They are to discern and exercise
their gifts one to another, all to the end, that God may be glorified
through Jesus Christ. And then when he gives vent to
his own internal desire that God be glorified, He says, and
I want you to know I really mean this, so to these words I add
my what? My ratification, my amen, my
so be it, my yes let it be. Lenski perceptively says this
is not an expression of mere intellectual conviction but of
an exalted God praising conviction of faith placed at the end and
meaning truth so be it this amen is a solemn confessional expression
of the Apostle Peter now think with me for a minute use your
imagination When John is completing two of his epistles, the 2nd
and 3rd epistle of John, you remember what he says in verse
12 of 2nd John, similar words at the end of 3rd John. Having
many things to write to you, I would not write them with paper
and ink. He would not write them with
the existing tools of written communication. Parchment, called
here paper and ink. Now obviously, if you're going
to get the ink on the paper, you need a what? Children, what do
you need? If you're going to get the ink
on the paper, what do you need? A what? A pen. A pen, right? You need a pen. You don't just
take the inkwell and A and B. You need a pen. So when he says,
I didn't want to write, I would not write with paper and ink,
but I hope to come and speak face to face. Then in verse 13
of 3rd John, I have many things to write to you, but I'm unwilling
to write to you with ink and pen. Here he tells us the third
commodity in the communication. Paper, ink, pen. Pastor Martin,
you must be getting hungry. Where are you going? Well, you
follow with me now. I'm not hungry yet. Any of you written with
a quill pen? You ever had the privilege of
actually writing with a quill pen? Someone took a feather from
a bird and shaped it so that it would hold ink and dispense
it at the end. And they put a little split on
it. Now if you want to make a letter light, what do you do? You lift
up on the pressure of your quill. You want to make a bold statement,
you press down. Even my ink pen that I've had
for 20 to 25 years that transfers the thoughts that I want onto
my notes. If I want something to be bold,
I put a little more pressure on it and more ink flows out.
Now I want to ask you a simple question. As Peter comes to the
end of this part of his epistle, and he has articulated under
the guidance of the Holy Spirit the great purpose for all of
these directives about their internal life, their corporate
life, and he says the great end is that God may be glorified
through Jesus Christ whose is the glory forever and ever. How
do you think he wrote that next word? Amen in Greek, at least Erasmian
pronunciation of Greek. Our Greek friends can tell us
what current modern Greek pronunciation is. But the Erasmian pronunciation,
Amen, very similar, one of those few words coming over from the
Hebrew. A word like Hallelujah and Amen,
almost in any culture, in any linguistic context, they seem
to be the rallying cries of the people of God in every language.
Amen and Hallelujah. How do you think Peter wrote
it? Do you think he lifted his pen up a bit and said, well the
last thing in the world I want is for anyone to think I'm overly
enthusiastic. No, we have every reason to believe
he pressed down when he wrote the letters. So be it! With all of my heart
I'm committed to this great end that God has in all of His works
of both creation and redemption and that is that He will be glorified
through Jesus Christ for to Him and to Him alone belong all glory
and all power and dominion forever and forever. Amen. I set my seal
to it. And He ratifies. that purpose. Now what does all of this say
to us? Well, I hope, I hope it gives a fresh sense of focus
for us as God's people. That's the in word now in athletics,
you've got to keep focused. Well, if anything, should keep
us focused, dear people, in every facet of life, but in this context
in particular, seeking to live out the directive to mutual love
and the directive to mutual service. It's that the glory of God is
at stake in these matters. And we who love the God revealed
to us in Christ cannot regard with indifference whether or
not he is glorified in the life and ministry of this assembly.
Men come and go, but there is one to whom belongs all glory
and might and power, whose is the glory, and that is our great
and glorious God. whom we approach through the
Lord Jesus. But as I reflected upon this,
I thought in a very real sense it's a text like this that perhaps
more clearly than many others will really show you where you're
at spiritually. If you find someone in your presence
praising with enthusiasm a person or a thing you detest, what does
it do to you? It stirs up the negative feelings. For example, some of you guys,
when you get together and talk baseball, some of you are avid
Yankee fans. You know what can draw out your
Yankee zeal more quickly than anything else? Let somebody start
bragging about the Mets. And when they're bragging about
the Mets, when you say you're bragging about any team in the New York
metropolitan area, it's Yankees or nothing. Doesn't it draw out
your anti-met feeling the more enthusiastic the Yankee fan talks? And maybe your teams are the
Giants and the Jets. What happens in the presence
of someone whom you envy? Towards whom you have that bitter,
horrible, hellish spirit of green-eyed desire for what God has given
them and not given you. What will stir up that envy more
quickly than someone in your presence speaking in a commendatory
way about that person and the very things in that person that
you envy. That'll stir up your envy into
a wild internal passion, doesn't it? Am I the only one? Now, we've
been thinking for the last 50 minutes about Peter's great desire
to unfold to these believers that the ultimate purpose for
all of God's works and His works especially in grace and redemption
as they terminate upon His people is that He would be glorified.
What's been your disposition as you've had to listen to this
whole spate of stuff about God being glorified? Have you found
it stirring up your heart saying enough is enough already? If
so, that's proof of Romans 8.7. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. It is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can it be. So then they that are in
the flesh cannot please God. And you've sat there irritated
to the gills because somebody's had the nerve to stand up here
and say, the end of all God's work is not you, it's Him. His glory, His praise. And that's the last thing in
the world you want. But my dear unconverted friend,
listen to me. You will glorify God. Either by stacking arms and going
to his dear son and pleading for pardon and mercy. But when
God cast you into hell, it's frightening. I read the words
earlier this morning from Revelation 19. As you descend into hell,
you will be the choir master to call out the praises of heaven
for your judgment. Yes. That's not my imagination. That's not an unwarranted rhetorical
flourish. Listen to the language. And after
these things I heard as it were a great voice of a great multitude
in heaven saying, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power
belong to our God. For true and righteous are His
judgments, for He has judged the great harlot, her that corrupted
the earth with her fornication, and has avenged the blood of
His servants at their hand. And the second time they say,
Hallelujah, and her smoke goes up forever and forever. when you compare this with Revelation
14 you know that that smoke that goes up forever ever is the smoke
of the torment of all those who are cast into hell and God will
be glorified in your damnation but glorify God you shall and
you must but all my unconverted friends Now, while the door of
mercy is open, glorify God for the infinite patience that He
has shown towards you. For the amazing grace that we
heard about in the previous hour, that God Himself conceives and
implements a way whereby, through the giving of His own dear Son,
all of the wrath we deserve is swallowed up by Him. And He invites
us to come and by faith lay hold of His Son and all of the salvation
that is in Him. May God grant that even this
day you might seek the Lord while He may be found and call upon
Him while He is near. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank You for
Your Holy Word. We thank you for this portion
of your word and for the very clear reminder that your own
glory manifested and then perceived and returned in praise and honor
is the great end of all of your works. And how we pray that this
great principle will be written upon our hearts by the Spirit
through the word And we would be bold to plead that those who
have no desire to glorify you would this day see the folly
of their way, repent of their self-centeredness and their creature
worship, and fall down before you in true brokenness and faith,
and lay hold of the salvation so freely offered in Jesus Christ. We pray that you will have mercy
upon us as a congregation that as we seek to work out obedience
to these directives to brotherly love and to mutual service that
we will ever keep in view the great end for which you have
required these things of us and therefore we are bold to pray
that for greater glory to be brought to yourself through Jesus
Christ increasing us our present measures of brotherly love Increase
in us our commitment to serve one another in the exercise of
our gifts. Help us, O God, that these will
not be more words that just pass through our minds and out into
space, but may they filter down into our hearts, regulating thought
and life and motivation. Help us, our Father, we plead,
Accept our thanks for the privilege of once again being able to open
your word unmolested. Thank you that we have our Bibles
in our own language. Thank you for the gift of being
able to read. Oh Lord, for all of your mercies,
we give you thanks and praise through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.