What Really “Glorifies” God? (Pssst) Probably Not What You Think

I remember watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in the cinema back in the summer of ’89.  I was a 22 year old kid getting ready to embark on my first journey overseas as a missionary so the  Christian themes of the third “Indy” film were really resonating with me.

In the last scene, Indiana Jones as well as the enemy Nazi leader are forced to choose which cup from a multitude of ornate chalices was the cup Christ used at the Last Supper.  Of course the Nazi in the film chooses a particularly exquisite chalice declaring “This surely is the cup of the King of Kings” before dying a horrible and gruesome death.

He didn’t choose wisely!

 

Jones instead looks and finds a simple cup hidden among the the ornate chalices and declares, “This is the cup of a carpenter”  Indy of course lives and goes on to save the day.

Now my theology and understanding of God has come a long way since that summer of ’89 but even back then that scene where Indiana grabs a simple cup knowing that would be what Christ would use gave me chills.

I understood what God saw as glory and what we did were two completely different things!

 

How is God Glorified?

A few years back I was attending a conference highlighting social justice issues particularly in a Christian context.  As the first night’s session ended I saw a friend I hadn’t caught up with in a while.  I suggested we perhaps meet up the next morning for coffee before Day 2 of the conference started.  He quickly agreed and as we were negotiating a time to meet I said out loud we could even be a little late for the start as they would do at least 30 minutes of worship before the conference really got going.

Oh oh!!

Immediately another gentleman in earshot and eavesdropping on our conversation gave me and my friend a not-so-gentle dressing down asking how we could even consider skipping worship, that it was the most important part of the conference, and it was the time where we glorify God.

Ok, now leaving aside the debate on whether 30 minutes of group singing was going to be more important than exploring the crisis of sex trafficking, child exploitation, hunger, and poverty, in this person’s mind worship (in the evangelical understanding) is where God is glorified.

And fair enough, if what we call worship is where God is glorified then the guy was probably right.

But was he?  Is this where God finds “glory”?

Now I’m not going to unpack worship as I’ve done so here, here, and here but I do want to look at what does God really consider “glory”.

Name-Check Christianity vs. “Kenosis” Christianity

My friend Dave Griffiths is a singer – songwriter from the U.K.  A while back on the Beyond the Pale podcast (episode 039) we talked about what God was really looking for regarding glory and he shared with me some thoughts about the difference between what he called “name-check” Christianity and the Christianity of the Cross:

“I think that question comes down to what you base your theology of God on, is it the glory of God or the Cross?   And I think the two are like oil and water actually in some ways particularly in how we practise our faith because if you have a theology of glory then its all about God’s glory.  Most Calvinists and evangelical probably come from this school of thought… they knowingly or unknowingly operate from so thats why you have to “name-check” Jesus every time…thats why you do things in the “name of Jesus” all the time. 

That’s why its no good, it’s not real fruit unless you get someone saved, and into church, and discipled… cuz unless God gets direct glory…name-checking, and people ending up in church singing to him and telling him how great he is, it doesn’t ultimately count (but) the theology of the cross which is self emptying “other-centered” love…kenotic, kenosis self emptying other centered love”

So Jesus operates a few times …where he heals someone and says “Don’t tell anybody” because its not about him, it was never about him.  He doesn’t say, “alright, come on guys you’ve been following me for a few days now its time we had a worship service and you just need to bow down and worship me”…he doesn’t actually instruct his disciples to worship him, he says “Follow Me”  – Dave Griffiths

God came into his glory not by riding a warhorse surrounded by the praises of adoring worshippers and the blaring of victorious trumpets but rather through enduring the agony of the cross while loving and forgiving those who put him there.  He asks those of us who follow him to pick up our cross and do the same.

You want to know what God really desires?  What really brings him glory”?  It’s when we act like HE would act. When we LOVE like HE  showed us how to love.  Like any good father, God feels that warm tingly feeling when he sees his children putting into practice the parenting he instilled in them.  In the New Testament God is glorified not by dancing, singing, or “name-checking” but through mirroring the example of Jesus Christ starting with loving your enemies!

Peace,

Steve