Thursday Morning Bible Class

This morning Lip Sync Coordinator Nick Paden continued our daily theme of “More Than Conquerors: Glorified” as he taught Bible study.  Here are notes from his class:

• Introduction
  • Romans 8:28-30 – God calls those who love Him, justifies those who are called, and glorifies those who are justified. Today we will look at what it means for God to glorify us and what that means for us.
  • What does it mean to “glorify”?
    • “To cause to be or treat as being more splendid, excellent, etc., than would normally be considered.”
    • “To honor with praise, admiration, or worship; extol.”
  • Who do we usually refer to when talking about being glorified? We usually talk about how we should be glorifying God and Jesus.
    • This type of glorifying would go along with that second definition above.
    • How do we glorify God? Matthew 5:16; I Corinthians 6:19,20 (good works, the way we live); John 12:27,28 (prayer and praise); Acts 4:21 (praise and thanks)
  • Our knowledge on “glorify” is likely centered around what we do. We glorify God by praying and respecting Him, praising Him, doing good works, and living like we should.

 

• Glory Through Adoption
  • Romans 8:30 states that God glorifies us. How does He do this? By adopting us.
  • First off, let’s make sure we understand that the way God glorifies us is not close to the same way we glorify Him.
    • The first definition of “glorify” is what God does to us. He does not worship or praise us.
    • We do not deserve to be glorified. Because we sin, lie to, and disappoint God, we don’t deserve to be glorified by Him. We don’t deserve to be justified or called His child.
    • Spiritually, we should be considered as worthless, but God allows us to be more splendid and treats us more excellent than we deserve.
  • Overall, the way God has done this is by choosing to adopt us. We are not His literal children, but we can be children of God if we choose to follow His plan and be justified, or made right, with Him.
  • Ephesians 1:3-6
    • “Predestined” refers to the plan God had to save us through Christ. Those who are holy and blameless are the ones God chose from the beginning of time to adopt.
    • Paul states here that God adopted us. Think about a physical adoption. When my family adopted Kaitlyn, my parents made a choice to adopt a child. We wanted to help a girl from China who would likely end up working at a hotel cleaning rooms at age 5-6. Kaitlyn is not my biological sister, but she is every bit a daughter to my parents as the other three.
    • We are not God’s literal children. In fact, we have no reason to be called His child. However, God chose to adopt those who submit to His will. God glorifies us because He has chosen to adopt people who are not deserving.
    • God’s adoption of us is so much more important that a physical adoption. It has greater implications and requires more love.
    • Did my sister do anything to deserve to not be adopted? No. Did she do anything that caused her to be placed in an orphanage? No.
    • We have done everything to not deserve God’s grace. We have done everything to deserve to not be called God’s children. However, because he chose us “in love” (v. 4), we can be glorified as His children.
    • As we talked about yesterday, we must be justified with God first before He adopts us.
  • Ephesians 2:1-10
    • These verses put our glorification a little more into context.
    • The reason we are glorified by being adopted by God is because of the state we were in before we became His children (vv. 1-3).
    • What are some of the characteristics of man we see here? Dead in sins, walking according to own lusts, children of wrath, spiritually disobedient. Without God in our lives, this is what we are.
    • What are the characteristics of God seen here? Rich in mercy, loving, gracious, kind, giving. Even when we aren’t acting the way we should, even when we don’t have God in our lives, He still loves us and will make us His children if we do our part first.
    • As if that wasn’t enough, our glorification is explained more in depth in verses 5-7. All of this is a gift of God. We have to do our part (v. 8), but in the end, we have a debt that we can’t repay; only God’s grace can glorify us like we read here.
    • My parents have given my adopted sister everything a parent would give a child. They do this because they love her – she is their daughter. She has done nothing to not deserve their love. And yet, while we disappoint and sin against God, He still chooses to adopt man as His children and glorify him.
    • This sobering reality should motivate us even more to glorify God.
  • Ephesians 1:11
    • My sister will receive the same inheritance that I, my brother, and my other sister will receive. Why? Because she is my parents’ child.
    • As adopted children of God, we have an inheritance as well (Romans 8:18). This inheritance is heaven.
    • Physically adopted children will obtain the inheritance simply because they are children. Spiritually adopted children will only obtain this inheritance if they remain faithful children (II Timothy 4:7,8).
    • We don’t deserve this inheritance, either. This will be the ultimate glorification – eternal life in heaven.
  • We are glorified by God because He chooses to adopt us as His children. God holds you and I in a high regard – if He didn’t then He wouldn’t have done all of this.

• Our Work to Be Adopted
  • Being glorified by God is an effect – there must be a cause that comes first.
  • Simply put, in order for God to glorify us, we must glorify Him first.
  • Common causes and effects
    •  We glorify God (praise, worship, prayer, good works, baptism) and He glorifies us (grace, adoption, inheritance)
  • Romans 8:29,30 – we must first conform to the image of Christ
    • Christ glorified God (He submitted to God’s plan and will; John 8:49,50) and the God glorified Christ (Romans 8:32, 34).
    • Notice that Christ did not glorify Himself (Heb. 5:5). We can’t glorify ourselves and be glorified by God. God is the only one who can truly glorify us.
  • If we want to be glorified by God, we first have to conquer sin. If we do this, we become justified. If we become justified, then God immediately glorifies us. We don’t have to wait in an orphanage for 19 months like my sister did. God will glorify us through adoption immediately.
  • Romans 8:38,39 – the greatest gift of all is the promise made here. By being God’s child, we can have this strong of a bond with Him.

• Conclusion
  • We are more than conquerors because we are glorified by God.
  • We don’t deserve these blessings, but God will give them to us if we glorify Him
  • The song “Victory in Jesus” illustrates the ultimate glory we will have.
    • Verse 2: When we obey His commands, He makes us conquerors
    • Verse 3: The inheritance we receive when we conquer sin and Satan

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