The Reason for Everything, by Rick Warren (Thoughts on the Side) Part 2

The following reading is taken from Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life, chapter 7, The Reason for Everything. This is part two, covering the section “How Can I bring Glory to God?” You can find part one here.

Jesus told the Father, “I brought glory to you here on earth by doing everything you told me to do.” Jesus honored God by fulfilling his purpose on earth. We honor God the same way. When anything in creation fulfills its purpose, it brings glory to God. Birds bring glory to God by flying, chirping, nesting, and doing other bird-like activities that God intended. Even the lowly ant brings glory to God when it fulfills the purpose it was created for. God made ants to be ants, and he made you to be you. St. Irenaeus said, “The glory of God is a human being fully alive!”

We honor God by fulfilling our purpose on earth. Is this what Scripture teaches? Surely, Jesus did glorify God by doing what He commanded, but that was in the context of loving relationship. Jesus delighted to do the Father’s will, always being in trusting relationship with Him. And what that means (for Jesus to be “doing everything you told me to do”) is expressed in what Jesus says in John 17:3, the verse immediately before what Rick Warren quotes. John 17:1-4 reads:

¹When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, ²since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.

Is this anywhere is Warren’s paragraph? All I see is an insistence upon activity. Just be you (as God intended you to be) and you will glorify God? Surely the point is that Jesus made known His Father – revealed who God is so that we might be in a loving trusting relationship with God? Is that not the thread that runs throughout the whole of John 17?

As for Irenaeus’ quote, it seems to be a misquote. The original is complicated, and exceeds the scope of this post, but you can read the full text by Irenaeus in the footnote.[1] The more exact translation is “For the glory of God is a living man; and the life of man consists in beholding God.” From the context, as very technical doctrine on the nature and purposes of the incarnation, the quote seems to be referring to Christ as the God-man. Whatever the case, being “fully alive” is tied not to ourselves, but to beholding God (as the former paragraphs from Irenaeus specify; though his writing is complicated and confounding at times). God is glorified, in the biblical sense, by us beholding Himself. It is trust in Him that glorifies Him, as we have insisted on from the beginning.

There are many ways to bring glory to God, but they can be summarized in God’s five purposes for your life. We will spend the rest of this book looking at them in detail, but here is an overview:

Yes, there are many things we can do to glorify God. Whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we can glorify God (1 Corinthians 10:31). But there is only one way to bring glory to God in all things, and that is by being in a loving and trusting relationship with Him.

We bring God glory by worshiping him. Worship is our first responsibility to God. We worship God by enjoying him. C. S. Lewis said, “In commanding us to glorify him, God is inviting us to enjoy him.” God wants our worship to be motivated by love, thanksgiving, and delight, not duty.

It is a strange thing that Warren should emphasize that “our first responsibility to God” is to worship Him, and then call for it not to be motivated out of a sense of duty but delight. It is not that this is essentially wrong, but just to say that there are unanswered questions underlying this.

John Piper notes, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”

Worship is far more than praising, singing, and praying to God. Worship is a lifestyle of enjoying God, loving him, and giving ourselves to be used for his purposes. When you use your life for God’s glory, everything you do can become an act of worship. The Bible says, “Use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God.”

Note again the words “used for his purposes,” “you use your life for God’s glory.” The central mover here is the human being, not God. The quote from Romans 6:13 is interesting, especially since the context is not referring to what Rick is after. And even the verse, I would argue, is mistranslated by the NLT. But let’s set that aside. Simply see that the engine of sanctification is the human being, and the onus is on each person to do things that will glorify God.

We bring God glory by loving other believers. When you were born again, you became a part of God’s family. Following Christ is not just a matter of believing; it also includes belonging and learning to love the family of God. John wrote, “Our love for each other proves that we have gone from death to life.” (1 John 3:14) Paul said, “Accept each other just as Christ has accepted you; then God will be glorified.” (Romans 15:7).

It is your responsibility to learn how to love as God does, because God is love, and it honors him. Jesus said, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Being a Christian means to have Christ – to be in Him, to know Him, trust Him, love Him. All of this is only for those united to Him, and that is by faith. There is no moving on from believing, no higher way than trusting. Looking to Christ in faith, the casting of one’s soul on Christ, is the only inner-engine that the Holy Spirit uses to truly grow His children. Yes, when someone becomes a Christian, it is a process to adjust to this new life, and this new family of God. There is a lot to learn, a lot to explore. There is inner change to be ever-going, never ending until we see Jesus’ face to face! If we lay the living of this new life on ourselves, we won’t be truly living. We will be going back to the old way of doing life without trusting in Jesus. We must not do this! We cannot bear the crushing weight of the responsibility to love like God. We are called to be imitators of God (Ephesians 5:1a), but that isn’t accomplished by trying to lift ourselves up to God’s level! No, as beloved children,” imitate your heavenly Father (Ephesians 5:1b). So, let me quote in full Romans 15:1-7,

¹We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. ²Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. ³For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” ⁴For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. ⁵May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, ⁶that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁷Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

See that Jesus is not just the example of loving well, but as the motive – seeing Christ upon the cross in love stirs our hearts to love! The love of Christ for His Father, as seen on the cross (see what Paul is quoting from in Romans 15:3 -> Psalm 69), is what Paul brings in. Then in verse 4, he says that the whole testimony of God in the Scriptures speaks to His heart for us, and His steadfastness towards us, that we might have hope today in hardships of all kinds. It is this God that Paul prays to, that He might give the love which the Christians to whom he writes need. In light of all of this, or “Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” If we do not see that it is the Spirit who stirs us up to Christlike hearts by pointing us to Christ, we will feel the weight of trying to prove our salvation by our works.

We bring God glory by becoming like Christ. Once we are born into God’s family, he wants us to grow to spiritual maturity. What does that look like? Spiritual maturity is becoming like Jesus in the way we think, feel, and act. The more you develop Christlike character, the more you will bring glory to God. The Bible says, “As the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more.” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

God gave you a new life and a new nature when you accepted Christ. Now, for the rest of your life on earth, God wants to continue the process of changing your character. The Bible says, “May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—those good things that are produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.” (Philippians 1:11).

Is it obvious that 2 Corinthians 3:18 mean that the Holy Spirit works to move us, and make us Christlike? Or is that meaning muddled by what comes before: “he wants us to grow to spiritual maturity… becoming like Jesus in the way we think, feel, and act. The more you develop Christlike character….” Warren emphasizes our action, but what of the Spirit’s work and Christ’s love of which Paul spoke in Romans 15? How God changes our character is not clear.

Now I’m skipping two paragraphs and going directly to the third section of the chapter: What Will You Live For?

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[1] The glory of God is humanity “alive”. From Adversus Haereses (Against Heresies), 4. 34. 5-7. https://web.archive.org/web/20170126222027/http://earlychurchtexts.com/public/irenaeus_glory_of_god_humanity_alive.htm