“Whatever”
June 3, 2007
1 Corinthians 10:31
We are going to take a one-week break from the Book of Numbers to give a word of challenge to our graduates of the Class of 2007.
And we’re going to do it with this one verse: 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 31.
While you’re turning there, I have a funny story about this verse. When I was a youth pastor, the youth pastors in Zion, Illinois were in charge of putting together the Baccalaureate service for the High School.
And the guest preacher was to preach on our text for today which says, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
However, they had printed the wrong text in the bulletin. It actually said, 1 Corinthians 10:13. And I saw that just as a high school senior [who was like the Senior Class President or something] got up to read the text before the speaker got up.
Well, I thought that’s a typo, but it won’t be bad because 1 Corinthians 10:13 is a great passage, too, and on the same page. Anyone have that one memorized? “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
I figured that the speaker could make something of that and transition into his planned message.
But this young lady didn’t know what the abbreviation “1 Cor.” stood for. She thought it stood for 1 Chronicles.
And so she read 1 Chronicles 10:13 with an absolutely straight face from the King James: “So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it.”
And not knowing that she’d done anything funny, and probably wondering what a ‘familiar spirit” was, she got down and took her seat, leaving the guest speaker to try to pick up the pieces from there.
And I was busting a gut!
So, if we have the right text in front of us. This is the Apostle Paul summing up an argument and putting the cap on it. 1 Corinthians (not Chronicles), chapter 10, and verse 31. A message for our graduates (and for all of us):
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
We live in a “Whatever” society.
It seems to me that people don’t take life very seriously.
And they don’t take God very seriously.
The common refrain is “Whatever!”
As in, “I don’t care.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
But that’s not the attitude that God wants us to have.
He doesn’t say just “whatever.”
He says, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
The word “so” indicates that this is part of a larger point that Paul is making.
He’s teaching the Corinthians about how to handle sensitive issues and make decisions about what they should or shouldn’t do.
The specific issue at the time was whether or not to eat meat sacrificed to idols.
Paul believed that they were free to do so as long as they were worshiping God in their hearts and not worshiping idols.
But he also believes that they should be considerate of others and eat in love. If it was a struggle for a weaker brother, perhaps someone recently saved from idolatry and not completely understanding the freedom we have Christ, it might be better to abstain.
And at the end of all of that, Paul tops it off with this consideration.
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
Whether you eat or not.
Whether you drink or not.
And whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
The glory of God is to be the overriding motivation for all of our decision making.
And that’s not just on the big things.
This isn’t just, “Let the glory of God be the motivation for making the big decisions of your life.”
What job to take.
What career to follow.
What person to marry.
The glory of God should be paramount in those decisions.
But Paul uses that little word with the big meaning: A-L-L.
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
Whatever!
Whatever you do.
Eat. Drink. Nap. Drive. Kiss. Email. Phone. Watch T.V.
What you read.
What you buy.
What you sell.
What you do with your free time.
Writing a paper for school.
Taking out the trash for Mom.
Cutting the lawn.
Reading the news.
Playing soduku.
Fill in the blank.
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
This is because all of life is spiritual.
I used to believe in what I call the “pie-chart fallacy.”
You know what a pie-chart is, right?
It is a big circle divided up into little pie-pieces the divide up whatever your circle is.
In this case, your circle is your life.
And we divide it up:
Your friends, your work, your hobbies, your church activities, your family, etc.
And I used to think that one big slice should be your “spiritual life.”
Is that right?
It sounds right.
Make sure that you give a big slice to God. The Big Rocks, right?
What’s wrong with that?
The fact is that the Whole Pie is Spiritual.
Your whole life is your spiritual life. The whole pie spiritual.
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
Does that change anything for you?
I think that this is a piece that is missing for so many professing Christ-followers.
We say we believe. We have gone through some motions.
We may even attend church.
But are we living for the glory of God?
This has recently been on my mind because of a lot of deaths in our family.
In the last month, my wife lost her grandmother. I lost a cousin, a great aunt, and this week, my grandfather.
And with death knocking so closely on our door, we get to thinking about ultimate things, like purpose. Why am I here? What difference am I making? What am I living for?
And God has given us answer:
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
Why?
Because God is worth it.
That’s what God’s glory is. It is the beauty of the sum of His infinite perfections.
It is the credit He gets for being awesome in every way.
He deserves all the glory.
He made us.
Sometimes we forget that. But we are creations. And we were made for God’s glory to reflect His glory.
He made us.
And He saved us.
We didn’t reflect God’s glory like we should have. We sinned and fell short of the glory God.
But He didn’t leave us in our sins. He sent Jesus to be a mighty mighty Savior and rescue us from Satan, sins, and self.
He deserves all the glory for that!
He loves us!
God demonstrates His own love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died
for us.
He loves us!
He deserves all the glory for that!
And He is making all things new!
What we see is not what will be. One day all the cemeteries of the world will be emptied and Christ will return and set up His Kingdom.
And He will make all things new!
He deserves all the glory for that!
He is God!
He deserves all the glory just for that!
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
Do it so that He gets the credit.
The great composer J.S. Bach used to put 3 little initials on every piece of music that he wrote.
Do you know what they were?
S.D.G.
Does anyone know Latin and can say what those initials stand for?
Soli Deo Gloria.
“To God Alone Be Glory.”
Could you put those initials on every email that you write?
Could you put those initials on every mile you drive your truck?
Could you put those initials on every paper that you write for school?
Could you put those initials on every project that you undertake at home?
S.D.G.
Soli Deo Gloria.
“To God Alone Be Glory.”
I know that I can’t. I fall short of that standard all of the time.
But that’s what I want to be.
I want to be S.D.G.
And I want that for you, our 2007 graduates.
Be S.D.G.
And I want that for our church.
That we would be S.D.G.
In both motivation and in action.
In what we do.
In how we do it.
And in why we do it.
What difference would it make it if every decision that we made as individuals or as families or as a church or a community or a nation if we first asked, “What would bring God the most glory?”
That’s really what is behind W.W.J.D. What Would Jesus Do?
He lived for God’s glory. Perfectly! Praise the Lord, it was perfect. Because He gives us His perfection on our account!
What if every one of our decisions was measured by what would bring God the most glory?
And even if we didn’t know the answer to that question, or we differed on it, what a difference it would make if we just agreed that that should be our motivation!
Not just what we do.
But why we do it.
So, what’s going on in my heart? Am I doing what I’m doing FOR the glory of God?
You know sometimes, we do the right thing, but we do it for the wrong reason, the wrong motivation.
Sometimes, I do my work (I’ll admit this) simply for the paycheck that comes every month.
If I stop doing my work, the paycheck stops coming.
So, I do my work.
But God says, “do it all for the glory of God.”
That should be my motivation.
And not just for pastors. This is for everybody in everything that we do. It is all encompassing.
“Do it all for the glory of God.”
And not just what we do and why do it but how we do it.
Are we doing it in a God-glorifying way?
Many of you know that one of my favorite authors is John Piper.
And Dr. Piper once wrote a short article on: “How to Drink Orange Juice to the Glory of God.”
Orange juice!
Listen to what He says:
You might be wondering how this relates to work. Many of you work long hours for your employer and it’s not always easy to connect up the dots to how glorify God at work.
In the book we gave the graduates, Don’t Waste Your Life, Dr. Piper has an entire chapter on “Making Much of Christ from 8-5.”
“Do it all for the glory of God.”
S.D.G.
And this kind of living is attractive, too!
Who do you know that lives for the glory of God?
Aren’t they the most impressive people to be around?
I think of Tony Dungy this year’s SuperBowl coach.
S.D.G.
I think of missionary friends that I have who are putting it all on the line for Christ.
And I think of many of you.
Choosing each day to live S.D.G.
Soli Deo Gloria.
Not, “Yeah, whatever.”
But “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
June 3, 2007
1 Corinthians 10:31
We are going to take a one-week break from the Book of Numbers to give a word of challenge to our graduates of the Class of 2007.
And we’re going to do it with this one verse: 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 31.
While you’re turning there, I have a funny story about this verse. When I was a youth pastor, the youth pastors in Zion, Illinois were in charge of putting together the Baccalaureate service for the High School.
And the guest preacher was to preach on our text for today which says, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
However, they had printed the wrong text in the bulletin. It actually said, 1 Corinthians 10:13. And I saw that just as a high school senior [who was like the Senior Class President or something] got up to read the text before the speaker got up.
Well, I thought that’s a typo, but it won’t be bad because 1 Corinthians 10:13 is a great passage, too, and on the same page. Anyone have that one memorized? “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
I figured that the speaker could make something of that and transition into his planned message.
But this young lady didn’t know what the abbreviation “1 Cor.” stood for. She thought it stood for 1 Chronicles.
And so she read 1 Chronicles 10:13 with an absolutely straight face from the King James: “So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it.”
And not knowing that she’d done anything funny, and probably wondering what a ‘familiar spirit” was, she got down and took her seat, leaving the guest speaker to try to pick up the pieces from there.
And I was busting a gut!
So, if we have the right text in front of us. This is the Apostle Paul summing up an argument and putting the cap on it. 1 Corinthians (not Chronicles), chapter 10, and verse 31. A message for our graduates (and for all of us):
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
We live in a “Whatever” society.
It seems to me that people don’t take life very seriously.
And they don’t take God very seriously.
The common refrain is “Whatever!”
As in, “I don’t care.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
But that’s not the attitude that God wants us to have.
He doesn’t say just “whatever.”
He says, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
The word “so” indicates that this is part of a larger point that Paul is making.
He’s teaching the Corinthians about how to handle sensitive issues and make decisions about what they should or shouldn’t do.
The specific issue at the time was whether or not to eat meat sacrificed to idols.
Paul believed that they were free to do so as long as they were worshiping God in their hearts and not worshiping idols.
But he also believes that they should be considerate of others and eat in love. If it was a struggle for a weaker brother, perhaps someone recently saved from idolatry and not completely understanding the freedom we have Christ, it might be better to abstain.
And at the end of all of that, Paul tops it off with this consideration.
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
Whether you eat or not.
Whether you drink or not.
And whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
The glory of God is to be the overriding motivation for all of our decision making.
And that’s not just on the big things.
This isn’t just, “Let the glory of God be the motivation for making the big decisions of your life.”
What job to take.
What career to follow.
What person to marry.
The glory of God should be paramount in those decisions.
But Paul uses that little word with the big meaning: A-L-L.
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
Whatever!
Whatever you do.
Eat. Drink. Nap. Drive. Kiss. Email. Phone. Watch T.V.
What you read.
What you buy.
What you sell.
What you do with your free time.
Writing a paper for school.
Taking out the trash for Mom.
Cutting the lawn.
Reading the news.
Playing soduku.
Fill in the blank.
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
This is because all of life is spiritual.
I used to believe in what I call the “pie-chart fallacy.”
You know what a pie-chart is, right?
It is a big circle divided up into little pie-pieces the divide up whatever your circle is.
In this case, your circle is your life.
And we divide it up:
Your friends, your work, your hobbies, your church activities, your family, etc.
And I used to think that one big slice should be your “spiritual life.”
Is that right?
It sounds right.
Make sure that you give a big slice to God. The Big Rocks, right?
What’s wrong with that?
The fact is that the Whole Pie is Spiritual.
Your whole life is your spiritual life. The whole pie spiritual.
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
Does that change anything for you?
I think that this is a piece that is missing for so many professing Christ-followers.
We say we believe. We have gone through some motions.
We may even attend church.
But are we living for the glory of God?
This has recently been on my mind because of a lot of deaths in our family.
In the last month, my wife lost her grandmother. I lost a cousin, a great aunt, and this week, my grandfather.
And with death knocking so closely on our door, we get to thinking about ultimate things, like purpose. Why am I here? What difference am I making? What am I living for?
And God has given us answer:
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
Why?
Because God is worth it.
That’s what God’s glory is. It is the beauty of the sum of His infinite perfections.
It is the credit He gets for being awesome in every way.
He deserves all the glory.
He made us.
Sometimes we forget that. But we are creations. And we were made for God’s glory to reflect His glory.
He made us.
And He saved us.
We didn’t reflect God’s glory like we should have. We sinned and fell short of the glory God.
But He didn’t leave us in our sins. He sent Jesus to be a mighty mighty Savior and rescue us from Satan, sins, and self.
He deserves all the glory for that!
He loves us!
God demonstrates His own love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died
for us.
He loves us!
He deserves all the glory for that!
And He is making all things new!
What we see is not what will be. One day all the cemeteries of the world will be emptied and Christ will return and set up His Kingdom.
And He will make all things new!
He deserves all the glory for that!
He is God!
He deserves all the glory just for that!
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
Do it so that He gets the credit.
The great composer J.S. Bach used to put 3 little initials on every piece of music that he wrote.
Do you know what they were?
S.D.G.
Does anyone know Latin and can say what those initials stand for?
Soli Deo Gloria.
“To God Alone Be Glory.”
Could you put those initials on every email that you write?
Could you put those initials on every mile you drive your truck?
Could you put those initials on every paper that you write for school?
Could you put those initials on every project that you undertake at home?
S.D.G.
Soli Deo Gloria.
“To God Alone Be Glory.”
I know that I can’t. I fall short of that standard all of the time.
But that’s what I want to be.
I want to be S.D.G.
And I want that for you, our 2007 graduates.
Be S.D.G.
And I want that for our church.
That we would be S.D.G.
In both motivation and in action.
In what we do.
In how we do it.
And in why we do it.
What difference would it make it if every decision that we made as individuals or as families or as a church or a community or a nation if we first asked, “What would bring God the most glory?”
That’s really what is behind W.W.J.D. What Would Jesus Do?
He lived for God’s glory. Perfectly! Praise the Lord, it was perfect. Because He gives us His perfection on our account!
What if every one of our decisions was measured by what would bring God the most glory?
And even if we didn’t know the answer to that question, or we differed on it, what a difference it would make if we just agreed that that should be our motivation!
Not just what we do.
But why we do it.
So, what’s going on in my heart? Am I doing what I’m doing FOR the glory of God?
You know sometimes, we do the right thing, but we do it for the wrong reason, the wrong motivation.
Sometimes, I do my work (I’ll admit this) simply for the paycheck that comes every month.
If I stop doing my work, the paycheck stops coming.
So, I do my work.
But God says, “do it all for the glory of God.”
That should be my motivation.
And not just for pastors. This is for everybody in everything that we do. It is all encompassing.
“Do it all for the glory of God.”
And not just what we do and why do it but how we do it.
Are we doing it in a God-glorifying way?
Many of you know that one of my favorite authors is John Piper.
And Dr. Piper once wrote a short article on: “How to Drink Orange Juice to the Glory of God.”
Orange juice!
Listen to what He says:
“One answer is found in 1 Timothy 4:3-5: ‘[Some] forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.’Do it all to the glory of God! Even drinking orange juice.
Orange juice was ‘created to be received with gratitude by those who believe the truth.’ Therefore, unbelievers cannot use orange juice for the purpose God intended-namely, as a occasion for heartfelt thanksgiving to God from a true heart of faith.
But believers can, and this is how they glorify God. Their drinking orange juice is ‘sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.’ The word of God teaches us that juice, and even our strength to drink it, is a free gift of God (1 Corinthians 4:7; 1 Peter 4:11). The prayer is our humble response of thanks from the heart. Believing this truth in the word, and offering thanks in prayer is one way we drink orange juice to the glory of God.
The other way is to drink lovingly. For example, don't insist on the biggest helping. This is taught in the context of 1 Corinthians 10:33, ‘I try to please all men in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved’ (RSV). ‘Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ’ (1 Corinthians 11:1). Everything we do–even drinking orange juice–can be done with the intention and hope that it will be to the advantage of many that they may be saved.”
You might be wondering how this relates to work. Many of you work long hours for your employer and it’s not always easy to connect up the dots to how glorify God at work.
In the book we gave the graduates, Don’t Waste Your Life, Dr. Piper has an entire chapter on “Making Much of Christ from 8-5.”
He says, “secular work is not a waste when we make much of Christ from 8 to 5. God’s will in this age is that his people be scattered like salt and light in all legitimate vocations. His aim is to be known, because knowing him is life and joy. He does not call us out of the world. He does not remove the need to work. He does not destroy society and culture. Through his scattered saints he spreads a passion for his supremacy in all things for the joy of all peoples. If you work like the world, you will waste your life, no matter how rich you get. But if your work creates a web of redemptive relationships and becomes an adornment for the Gospel of the glory of Christ, your satisfaction will last forever and God will be exalted in your joy.” (Pg. 154)It’s not just what you do, or why you do it, but how you do it, too.
“Do it all for the glory of God.”
S.D.G.
And this kind of living is attractive, too!
Who do you know that lives for the glory of God?
Aren’t they the most impressive people to be around?
I think of Tony Dungy this year’s SuperBowl coach.
S.D.G.
I think of missionary friends that I have who are putting it all on the line for Christ.
And I think of many of you.
Choosing each day to live S.D.G.
Soli Deo Gloria.
Not, “Yeah, whatever.”
But “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment