Misplaced Glory: Part Four

Certainly the most common and most damaging misuse of praise, esteem, and honor involves no small idol. In fact, the worship of Buddha, the goddess Diana, Apollo, or Brahma combined could not compare en masse with the amount of worship and glorification that often is given to the Self.

There is indeed a danger when we take our eyes off of God and His kingdom and place them on us and ours! Glorifying our vessel rather than glorifying God through our vessel can often be a very close draw!

Consider the Pharisees during the days of Jesus’ earthly ministry. While their fasting practices may have begun in the right spirit, seeking to touch heaven, they ended up being a way of appearing more spiritual among the laity. Scripture tells us that the Pharisees would make their faces white, perhaps with ash or some other cosmetic ingredient, so that they appeared to be starving on behalf of the people!

Jesus drew attention to them because they were no longer fasting to give glory to God but rather to secure the praise of men for how ‘holy’ they looked!

Consider when you worship that, while we indeed have freedom to praise, it should not be an effort to draw attention to ourselves. If people are noticing you rather than getting in touch with God themselves, you might want to check your spirit!

Sometimes, praying in a back corner or knelt in one’s pew is more beneficial than dancing across the front of the service; indeed, it depends entirely on the intents of the heart! And trust me…or rather, trust God’s Word…God knows the intents of the heart!

Consider Herod, a great orator and powerful ruler during the time of the Roman Empire. In Acts 12: 22-24, we find how God feels when we accept praise for our successes without giving glory to Him.

“And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.”

What a frightening predicament! Notice, Herod never said he was God himself, but because he did not correct those who praised him above God in error, he was found guilty! How many times have we taken credit for a good sermon, an anointed song, or a successful outreach program without passing the glory on to the one who gives the increase?

How many times have we measured our own worth by our teaching or preaching ability, our musical talents, and our contributions to the church? Shouldn’t all glory be to the Lord? If he hadn’t lifted us up out of the pit of sin, we could never work in those ministries. Furthermore, although we may have the voice, we are a vessel—an instrument—that God uses. We rarely praise the trumpet of Louis Armstrong; rather, we recognize the man who introduced an entire new genre of music through his skill. The trumpet was simply an instrument being used by the master to affect his purpose!

Similarly, we are the instruments that God uses to save the lost! Let us always remember where our talent, our calling, our abilities, our anointing, and even our very being originate! All glory be to God!

Many throughout scripture have struggled between glorifying themselves versus the Lord. I am reminded of a time when King Saul was about to go into battle. For years, the leaders of Israel as well as this first king were expected to wait for the prophet of God to offer a sacrifice before the battle.

Perhaps it was due to Saul’s impatience because the prophet Samuel was running late…or perhaps Saul felt he could set his own precedents of behavior since he was the first king of Israel…or perhaps, like so many today, Saul thought his reasoning trumped God’s!

Whatever the reason, King Saul decided to offer the sacrifice himself. My question? How can God accept a sacrifice that is in direct violation of His command? How could God bless the Israelites in battle or Saul in his kingship when the very sacrifice the man offered was cursed?

Too often we offer cursed sacrifices as well. We sacrifice by giving our voices and talents to create dynamic music programs all while we live in sin the rest of the week! We bow down at the altars or shout in the aisles but refuse to relinquish the sinful habits that estrange us from the God we supposedly praise. How can God bless a cursed sacrifice?

For Saul, we find several mistakes in his act of offering the sacrifice in place of Samuel. Not only did he subvert the ministry in his life but he also failed to utterly destroy the Amalekites and their animals as God had previously instructed.

• First, Saul side-stepped God’s authority structure. The man of God was to lead the sacrifice and Saul took it upon himself instead.

• Second, Saul glorified himself in the eyes of his army by pretending to be close enough to God to perform the functions of the prophet himself.

• Third, Saul justified his actions, which were in direct opposition to the command of God, by saying the sheep he kept were for sacrifices to God…another cursed sacrifice!

Now, one might ask, ‘Shouldn’t repentance fix it though?’ Can’t we always just turn around and repent?

Let us study this incident for clarification. In 1 Samuel 15:24-25, Saul admits he is wrong in front of all the people. However, it may be assumed that his ‘repentance’ was not performed in the right spirit.

Instead of forgiving him, we find this exchange: “And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou. And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent” (1 Samuel 15:26-29).

Why? Why was there not to be a reconciliation?

He said the right words and seems, on the printed page, to have spoken them respectfully. However, as Matthew 15:8 says, “they worship me with their lips but their heart is far from me.”How can we assume that his heart was not in his apology? Let’s look at Saul’s motivation in 1 Samuel 15:30… “Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God.”

Saul was obviously afraid the people would know he had sinned if Samuel did not return with him. It was not a plea for God’s forgiveness but rather a means to save face. In fact, if you notice the phrasing, Saul did not even claim God as his God. He refers to Jehovah as Samuel’s God!

So what was God’s response?

• Did he send a lightning bolt? No

• Did the enemy attack? No

• Was Saul struck down with some horrible disease? No

Instead, God allowed Saul to continue to pretend until he had deceived himself into thinking he was okay. Like Samson, he “wist not that the LORD was departed from him” until it was too late (Judges 16:20). It seemed to be all covered over and Saul worshipped in front of the people as he always had but…

• “Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel” (1 Samuel 15:35).

• There was no more visitation from the Lord for Saul.

• Why? As 1 Corinthians 1:29 says, “no flesh should glory in his presence.”

How sad that this man, who was once chosen as the first ruler of Israel due to his humility and godliness, should cause God to repent of calling him!

We must ever be mindful that our ministry does not bring glory and praise to us rather than God.

We know we are to be servants…but I ask you, who do your actions serve? You or God?

We know we are to be ambassadors …but whose cause are we representing?

It’s important that we daily re-assess our motives so that we are a vessel of honor for the kingdom. Will He be able to say “Well Done, My Good and Faithful Servant,” or will we have become a competitor for His glory?

Lucifer attempted to become God’s competitor, drawing attention to himself for his bright and jeweled beauty as well as his musical ability. Could we fall into the same trap?

When we sing, worship, minister, do others see Christ or do they see us? If we want revival, we must re-evaluate our ministry and our life; is it simply glorious or does it direct glory to Him? Are we building a kingdom or God’s kingdom?

For this reason, it is important that we revisit what the purpose of our ministry in this world is.  Hmm, I sense another installment of this study at some point!