Christian Purity and The Glory of God

(The Glory of God: The Foundation of Christian Purity)

God Ordains All For His Glory

As we consider Christian purity, we must first give a compelling reason for us to be pure. Every house needs a good foundation, or it will fall. It is the same with each and every position we take about how to live our lives. It is absolutely essential that we know, not only how to live, but also why we should live in that particular manner. In this article let us consider the “why” of Christian purity. That “why” is the glory of God.

At first glance, it may seem somewhat odd to say that the glory of God is the foundation for moral purity. On the other hand, the glory of God is the foundation for all that God does and commands. All that God does is for the glory of His name: that His name might be recognized, and that His fame and worth be spread abroad in the sight and hearts of all men. David stated, “Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation. The works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honourable and glorious: and his righteousness endureth for ever. He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the LORD is gracious and full of compassion.” (Ps 111:1-4) God is worthy of praise. This is why He does all things so that He might be praised. It is His due. “Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” (Ps 29:1,2) God’s commandments are even given that we might love and worship Him. “He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.” (Ps 78:4-8) The word of God has been given to us that we might learn to praise God and trust in Him. Not only so, but we find that the great commandment is about God’s worth. “Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.” (Mt 22:35-38) The glory of God is the foundation for all things God does.

As we consider God’s glory as the foundation for all He does, we must consider why God made the world. Again, we find that God’s creative purpose was that creation might show forth His glory. “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” (Rom 11:36) Everything that exists today was in its original, un-corrupted state, made by God. (See Jn 1:1-4) God made all that He made so that we could all see that everything comes from Him. When we realize that all comes from God, we should trust God and praise God for His great goodness. God has made the world that He might receive honor and glory from our joy in Him. Paul tells us that “all things were created by him, and for him.” (Col 1:16b) The world has the specific purpose of showing and enjoying the great glory of God. One of my favorite passages dealing with this subject is found in the book of Revelation. “The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” (Rev 4:10,11) The wonderful thing about this passage is that, not only are the words true, but also the setting emphasizes the truth of the words. As John receives his revelation of Jesus, he observes a worship service taking place. The text we have just read is the words spoken during this worship service. Their act of worship was to fall down before the Lord, cast their crowns at His feet, and acknowledge that the Lord is worthy of being praised. Why is He worthy of being praised? Because He created all things for His pleasure. God’s pleasure (as we have seen in Rom 11:36) is that He will receive glory forever. This passage (being prophecy) demonstrates that God’s purpose of receiving glory forever will be fulfilled. God has ordained all things to His glory.

Finally, we must see that God will not allow this purpose to be thwarted. God has told us “I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.” (Isa 42:8) God will not allow the honor that is due Him to be given to another. God passionately pursues His honor and glory in all that He does. God’s glory is the foundation of all that He does and commands.

Purity: God’s Intentions And Man’s Inventions

As we consider the fact that God does all things to the exaltation of His glorious name, we know that He must have had holy intentions in giving, ordaining, and instituting marriage and the home. Let us examine this truth.

As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian church concerning marriage, he stated that the things he wrote had a deeper meaning than marriage alone: “No man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.” (Eph5:29-33) Marriage was given for a specific purpose! This purpose was that it might show the great love of Christ for His church! Even before the New Testament church was established, God made a way for His love for us to be shown to those around about us. This was done by the example set forth in marriage. Marriage was given to us that we might mirror forth the glorious love of Christ for His church, and the delight of the church in her savior.

We also find that God established marriage and instituted the home for the purpose of populating the world with people who love and worship Him. “This have ye done again, covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand. Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.” (Mal2:13-15) The command to “be fruitful and multiply” was more than a command to bear children. The command extends to bearing and raising children who will honor and glorify God in their lives. God made one out of two (by marriage) that He might be honored and exalted in the lives of those who come into the world as a result of this union.

Finally, we see God’s intention in the following: “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” (Heb13:4,5) Marriage demonstrates our joy and contentment in God. The basis of marital faithfulness in the life of Christians is contentment in God. So long as we are content with the possessions God has given us as well as the spouse with whom He has matched us, we will be faithful. In the ups and downs of life, we find ourselves struggling many times. Every marriage faces its troubled times. It would often be easy to walk off from our troubles and our spouses in these times. It takes much grace to remain faithful, especially when the going is hard. If we will look to God for grace and be satisfied with the fact that He shall indeed give us the greatest of all satisfactions, if we will be content with Him, His will, and His match for us in life, we will experience the greatest of joys this side of Heaven. Marriage is intended to glorify God by demonstrating how satisfied we are with God, His will for our lives, and His choice of our spouse for all of our lives. This exalts God by demonstrating His value and His ability to supply all our needs, while giving us deep, intense, and lasting joy in all circumstances.

Unfortunately, man has corrupted God’s way. While God has holy intentions, man has unholy inventions. “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.” (Ecc7:29) We are living in a society in which divorce, infidelity, and every perversion imaginable (and many not imaginable to moral people) is perpetrated in the name of love. Man has indeed taken God’s wonderful creation and corrupted it. This is both dishonoring to God and degrading to man. As Paul wrote to the Roman church about the gospel (Rom1:18-32), he had to explain to them the reason there was a need for man to be justified. In so doing, Paul declared that man was under the wrath of God due to the fact that man refused to give God glory. Man did not give God the honor due to Him as the all powerful, benevolent Creator. Neither did man thank God for the simple blessings of life. Man ignored the One who gave them the very breath of life! This led to three trade-offs that mankind has made. The first trade was to trade the glory of God for the likeness of a man, or a simple, brutish unintelligent animal (Rom1:23). Next, mankind traded the truth of God for a lie (Rom1:25). Not content to have God and His glory, man seeks his pleasure in the worship of idols. Going further down, man trades the truth of God for a lie which enables him to freely follow the lusts of his flesh. This degrades and dishonors him. Fornication and adultery enter the world because man does not give God glory by being satisfied in Him (See Rom1:22-25). Because of continuing in such a state without repentance, God allows man to go farther into sin by trading the natural, fleshly desires [which God ordained to be enjoyed within the bonds of marriage (See 1Cor7:1-5;Heb13:4)] for that which is unnatural. Men and women turned to homosexuality. What a horrible trade! What a bad deal for mankind! Man has yet to see the results of trading the glory of God for the worship of fleshly lusts. The Lord used Paul to tell us that there are results that come from these ungodly and unnatural unions: “God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.” (Rom1:26,27) There is a payday that will come as a result of sin. Homosexuality and the underlying rejection of God will be punished by God. One way in which it will be punished is, if men will not repent of it, they will lose every chance to be saved and will allow them to go so far as to ruin all of society and civilization. “even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” (Rom1:28-32) How sad it is that mankind has come to this point. How troubling it is to see our great nation (The United States of America), as well as many other nations, traveling down the wicked path of sin and degradation. Just as surely as this forgetfulness of God destroyed Rome, it will destroy us, too. “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” (Ps9:17)

There is a remedy for this horrible malady of sin. The remedy is found in God’s word: “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” (Rev22:17) Man has only to come to Christ for the satisfaction of His deepest needs. In doing so, man will find that all the other things in this world are worthless in comparison. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” (Jn6:35) If we will trust Christ, He will lead us out of sin into righteousness and satisfy the deepest longings of our soul. May God help us all to turn from our unholy inventions and desires and seek the only One who can give us true joy. Let us seek His will and His way, and we shall experience His pleasures.