“If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
to whom [Jesus Christ] belong the glory
“To whom belong the glory” = Glory and dominion belong to Jesus, not us. The focus is on the person of Christ.
“Glory” primarily signifies an opinion, estimate, brightness, splendor, radiance — magnificence, splendor, fame, renown, honor. The implication is of external appearance, glory, splendor, and effulgence. Glory is anything that catches the eye and hence, the honor resulting from a good opinion. Glory has to do with credit. Jesus receives the credit because of his work on the cross and provisions in time. The credit or glory belongs to him. He gets eternal renown from his work for us.
“Glory” also implies the manifestation of power characterized by glory – – glorious power, incredible might (Ro 6.4). It is that which causes wonder or that which causes people to marvel about our Lord.
The New Testament uses “glory” of the nature and acts of God in self–manifestation. Glory is what He essentially is and does as exhibited in whatever way he reveals Himself. The Person of Christ notably revealed his glory, in whom essentially His glory has ever shone forth and ever will do (John 17:5, 24).
He. 1:3, “Who [Jesus Christ] being the brightness of his [the Father] glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
John 1:14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
The issue in the glory of God is not so much what God is in his essence, but what his essence becomes in manifestation. We manifest God’s glory through the use of our gift.
PRINCIPLE:
God’s purpose for our ministry is to glorify God.
APPLICATION:
What is your motive for ministry? Do you do what you do for yourself? Are you self-centered or God-centered? The message here is that God wants us to be God-centered. Everything we do is for the glory of God.
Our motive for ministry ought to be what we do for God. This is the same motive that moves God. God is motivated by his nature, by his glory.
