As we finish up the last of the “5 Solas of the Reformation,” we finally arrive at the answer to the major question: Why has God done everything He’s done? Whether it’s creating the world, sending Christ, or saving each individual person, there’s one simple reason that God does anything. And as people who love and serve Christ, we also want this to be our reason for everything we do.
The answer to “why” is simple – Soli Deo Gloria (glory to God, alone)!
(You can read much more about the “5 Solas” by reading about the importance of the Bible, faith, grace, and Jesus Christ)
Why the reformers had to fight for Soli Deo Gloria
We’ll discuss why God deserves all the glory. However, it’s important to quickly examine why it was so important to teach as people like Martin Luther started to challenge the teachings of the Catholic church.
As we’ve discussed in my previous articles, Christianity had lost its way in two major ways. First, it had lost its emphasis on the Bible and instead found a lot of its beliefs in the various traditions that had sprung up since the time of the apostles. Because of that, there was a growing emphasis on our need to do something to earn salvation. People believed that Christ had created a path for salvation, but it was up to us to stay on it or else.
God’s good gift of salvation had become something we needed to work for. And if we were saved, it was because we deserved it.
But if there was some good in us capable of saving ourselves, then that means we deserve a pat on the back, no matter how small. It means that we are somehow better than those who reject Christ because we took advantage of what Christ did in order to save ourselves.
If salvation is by works, then that means we deserve a bit of praise for saving ourselves. It means God certainly deserves glory for saving us. However, He needs to share a little bit of it with us because we are good enough to deserve it.
Through careful study of God’s word, and a clear understanding of how depraved we truly are, we agree with the early reformers who said “glory to God, alone.”
What does “glory to God” mean?
The weight of the word “glory” can easily be lost on us. We sing about it in church, we drop it in our conversations, and we nod our heads when our pastor talks about it from the pulpit. But what does it really mean to give God glory? And just as importantly, why should we?
If we break it down, to give something “glory” is surprisingly simple. It means that we recognize the incredible value of something and then respond to that value with worship. People give glory to their cars by waxing them regularly, installing the best parts, and making sure people know just how much that car means to them. We can do the same thing with our kids, our hobbies, and quite often ourselves. We focus on things that we find glorious, and because of that we will regularly center our time, money, and lives around serving them.
But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31)
Giving God glory isn’t just a feeling in our hearts. It’s not just saying we believe in Him, or shouting “amen!” when the pastor tells us to give our lives to Him. Our actions prove what we truly believe. And when we believe God deserves glory, when we believe that He is ultimate and far above everything else, we will desire to give Him glory by how He transforms our lives.
You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4)
Of course, living a life that glorifies God isn’t all that appealing to a broken world. If it was, sin wouldn’t be so frustratingly powerful in our lives. The reality is that glorifying God requires us to sacrifice our sinful desires and replace them with a desire for Him. It’s rejecting the idea that we deserve anything, and instead embrace the truth that God, alone, deserves worship. Soli Deo Gloria is simple, but living it out is the greatest struggle we’ll ever know because it goes against everything our flesh wants.
But why not live to glorify ourselves? Why bother hating sin and loving righteousness when sin seems far more pleasurable? What makes God so worthy of glory that He’s worth sacrificing everything to follow?
Why God deserves all glory
Glorifying God requires us to see how great He is. As we grow deeper in our understanding of Him, we stand in even more awe. His goodness, His power, His mercy… everything about Him is so far beyond our limited understanding.
It humbles us as we see how worthless we are compared to Him. It humbles us even more when we see how much value He still chooses to place on us, sending Jesus Christ to take the punishment for our sins so that we could gain Christ’s righteous standing before God.
There is much to be said about why God deserves glory. Indeed, there’s an entire book called “The Bible” that explains why that’s true. For now, let’s look at reasons God deserves glory.
God is sovereign and powerful
The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. (Psalm 19:1)
Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass,
Unless the Lord has commanded it? (Lamentations 3:37)
It’s easy to view God as just a bigger version of us. In our culture of independence and self-empowerment, we easily make the mistake of thinking that things just happen, and it’s up to us to change the outcome.
However, we serve a God who is not only powerful, but all powerful. The very existence of the universe is evidence of His greatness. God didn’t have to work to create the order and beauty around us – everything exists merely because He told it to. There is nothing too hard for God.
Yet that same God who can create and destroy without effort is the same God who chooses to be intimately involved with His creation. He didn’t just wind up the universe like an old clock and step away.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)
God not only cares what happens, but He is intimately involved in it. Every good thing is a gift from Him. Evil, even though He hates it, is still used to bring Him glory. God uses everything for the greatest good. And the greatest good for God isn’t our personal happiness, but pointing to His glory by showing people their daily need for Jesus Christ.
Most amazing of all is that God doesn’t have to constantly run around and try to make the best of a bad situation. God perfectly uses everything for good, and as His people we can trust that even things which seem to have no good in them are being used by God for His ultimate glory.
God is just and merciful
The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He. (Deuteronomy 32:4)
Today, people want to apologize for God. They want to soften the hatred He has for sin and excuse all the “mean talk” about things like Hell. God’s justice makes people feel bad, and we lower God by emphasizing His mercy while being ashamed of His justice.
Yet we love God for His justice. God has set justice in our hearts so that we love good and hate evil. We mourn when someone is wrongfully hurt or killed. Likewise, we cry out in anger when someone gets away with evil. We understand a very small taste of what it means for God to love justice.
Yet because God loves justice, He cannot let the wicked go unpunished. We inherently understand that murderers must pay for their crimes. Those who break the law must be punished by it.
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. (James 2:10-11)
Each of us is a murderer, adulterer, liar, and thief. We’re all blasphemous idolators. No amount of good we do will overcome the evil we’ve done. God’s justice demands that criminals face the punishment they deserve. Criminals like us deserve Hell.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) (Ephesians 2:4-5)
Yet the justice of God that people are ashamed of is precisely why God’s mercy so overwhelming. God is rich in mercy because the debt of our sin is so vast. Christ didn’t take the punishment for our sins to fix a small problem with God, but to pay for a list of crimes so large that only an eternity in Hell could pay for it.
God’s mercy is beyond what we may ever be able to comprehend. Our complete inability to do anything to save ourselves shows how glorious God is, and why He deserves our worship.
God is pleased to save us
He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy (Titus 3:5a)
God doesn’t save us because He has to. He would be good and just to let the entire world sit under His judgment. Yet He doesn’t. And most amazingly of all, it has nothing to do with how awesome we are.
We’re saved by faith alone, through grace alone, by the sacrifice of Christ alone. The thing that links all of these together is that we have nothing to do with any of it.
God gives mercy to people who put Jesus Christ on the cross. He took each individual sin that we’ve committed – whether it’s a lustful thought, a moment of gossip, or the murder of another human being, and treated Jesus Christ as though He’d committed every single one of those sins.
Let that sink in.
God looked at His perfect, innocent Son and punished Him as though Christ was guilty of everything we will ever be forgiven for. Every sin we committed yesterday was placed on Christ. The sin we’ll commit tomorrow was paid for on the bloody cross.
God sent Christ to do all of this for one reason – because it brought God glory. It shows every ounce of His goodness, grace, mercy, and love. He didn’t do it because we are just so good and amazing – He did it because we are so wretched and vile.
Yet He still did it.
If there is one thing that can change someone’s life, it’s understanding that single truth. We bring God nothing, yet He gave everything. How can we not live a life of worship to a God is deserves so much glory?
Soli Deo Gloria changes our lives
If there’s one sola that could be seen as the biggest one, I believe this is it. Everything about the Bible, indeed everything about human history, has always been pointing to God’s glory. He has done everything necessary to take His enemies and make them His children.
This great and mighty creator of the universe demanded justice, and in His mercy He sent Christ to take our place under God’s wrath. Yet it’s not enough that Christ took our punishment – He also gives us His righteousness. God looked at Christ as though He was guilty of our crimes, and now he looks at us as though we’d lived the perfect and obedient life of Christ.
Why did He do it all? For His glory. Everything God does is for that purpose.
It’s also why God created you. And me. He created us for His glory. To love and serve Him, because He is worthy of our love and faithful service. He is the almighty God of the universe. God the Father sent Jesus Christ to take the punishment for our sins. When we repent of that sin and ask Christ to save us, we are given the Holy Spirit who continually lets us choose God over sin, making us more like Christ every day.
How will we let that change our lives? If we know that God gives us each day of our lives so that we can bring Him glory, then let us live each day with that in mind. Let us never forget that our greatest joy isn’t found in pursuing money, comfort, or pleasure, but in bringing glory and worship to the only One who deserves it.
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (Galatians 2:20)
