Enjoying His Glory

 

PastorMark

Enjoying His Glory

In the recent weeks the Spirit has been pointing my heart toward the subject of the glory of God. The instrument He has used is the book A Body of Divinity by Thomas Watson.
I have been both convicted and awed at the subject. I have been reminded that the life of the believer is to always be focused upon one primary thing: glorifying God and enjoying His glory.
I want to address the subject of enjoying His glory in this blog.
There are 2 dimensions of this enjoyment; the earthly and the heavenly.
We can enjoy God’s glory while on earth in various ways. But the question that dominates my thinking is this; how wicked is it to enjoy earthly lusts rather than enjoying God? I’m afraid the life of too many professing believers reflects that they are in pursuit of enjoying the temporal rather than enjoying God. This idolatrous pursuit is most evident in how we spend our time. What do we find ourselves doing in our “free” time as a default? What do we automatically go to for satisfaction and fulfillment? TV? Internet? Friends? Family? Games? Church activities?
Now none of these things are particularly sinful in themselves, but can become sinful anytime we seek enjoyment in them more than we do in God.
Oh, we may enjoy the things of God but does this always mean that we are enjoying God? We can certainly seek satisfaction in religious activity while missing out on the enjoyment of the Person of God.
I think this stems from a misunderstanding of who God is. It is a fearful thing to think of entering eternity having worshipped a god manufactured by our minds; a god that suits us; a god that does not demand justice or righteousness or holiness from His creatures. But the God of the Bible is so transcendent above us that He never gives us His name, but told Moses and all of us that He just IS. I AM THAT I AM! There is no earthly name that can describe His fullness! He just IS!
This is the God we are to enjoy. He is infinite. He is more than we can conceive yet is solely what He has revealed to us. I don’t know about you, but in 48 years of knowing God I still have never fully understood I AM THAT I AM. It is beyond us all.
And this is one of many reasons why we should live our lives seeking enjoyment in Him. There is so much to enjoy!
The Psalmist shared my sentiment when he said, “My should thirsts for God, for the living God” (Psalm 13:2).
What is your soul’s thirst? Truly.
Watson stated, “The higher the lark flies the sweeter it sings: and the higher we fly by the wings of faith, the more we enjoy of God.”
Yet we are often like the lark who has clipped wings; he is earth-bound. He never enjoys the great heights of God’s glory because of it. We can be so earthly minded that we miss the precursors of the joy of heaven while on earth.
 
How true is Watson when he says, “He that enjoys much of God in this life carries heaven about him.”
So now let’s think about the actual enjoyment of God in heaven.
I’ll begin it by saying that the chief end for which God’s elect were created is to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. I agree with John Piper in saying that we actually glorify God BY enjoying Him forever.
And when we behold God in His glory with new bodies that will be able to not only behold His glory with glorified eyes, but we will enjoy the fullness of it. Watson said that as the sponge sucks in wine so will the glorified saint suck in His glory.
He goes on to say, “We shall be made able to bear a sight of that glory. We could not now bear that glory, it would overwhelm us, as a weak eye cannot behold the sun; but God will capacitate us for glory; our souls shall be so heavenly, and perfected with holiness, that they may be able to enjoy the blessed vision of God.”
And this glory cannot be exhausted! As God is infinite, so His glory must be infinite, for God and His glory are inseparable. His glory is the effulgence of His person. It is how he reveals Himself to us.
Yet in the mind of the holy angels I’m sure it is inconceivable that we who have been bought with such a great price as the blood of Jesus Christ could ever order this valley of tears and death to the mountain of transfiguration!
Watson says, “Had we a sight of that land of promise, we should need patience to be content to live here any longer.”
Let this encourage every child of God. In the midst of trials, distresses, tragedies and persecutions, remember that shortly you will enjoy God, and then you will have more than you can ask or think; you will have angels’ joy and glory uninterrupted. We will never enjoy ourselves fully till we enjoy God eternally.


A Note from Pastor Mark

PastorMarkIt is such a joy for me to pastor such loving and faithful people as I have found here at Grace. God has given me a church that is easy to pastor. Why? Because of the evident self-sacrificial love for one another and the desire to grow through the preaching and teaching of the Word. Grace is a special place where one will find a sweet family of caring people who love Christ and believe in keeping the gospel to be the priority of their lives.
As I look back on the first 10 years of our ministry here, it is clear that we have seen God do some amazing things. Miracles! And by miracles, I mean the greatest of ALL miracles… giving hell-deserving sinners like me eternal salvation! God is so gracious to allow us to see people repent and put their trust in Christ for their eternal salvation. And now I am anticipating even greater things, believing that God is going to continue to transform lives through the gospel preached in truth.
I have a strong conviction that for God’s people to live the life Christ intended, they must first have the proper foundation. I believe that this foundation is doctrinal truth.
 
When grounded in doctrinal truth, the believer will find that the practice of that truth will be consistent and effective. So it is my goal that what comes from the pulpit of Grace Baptist be primarily expositional and that the gospel be the main focus.

It is my passion to see God’s people being fed from God’s Word and growing by it. I Peter 2:2 says, “Like newborn infants, long for the spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.” Nothing thrills my soul more than to see this longing in the local church.

I hope that you will find in Grace Baptist Church a fellowship of Christ-followers that have a love for Christ and a love for people.

Come and grow with us!

– Pastor Mark



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