For God’s Sake
While most people believe God saves people for “people’s sake” (i.e., because of his attraction to them and his inner compulsion to promote and honor them), Psalm 106:8 tells us that God is in the business of saving sinners for “his own name’s sake” (i.e., for his own honor, promotion and glory). In considering his grace and mercy toward his people, God repeats through the prophet Isaiah: “For my sake, for my sake, I do this” and “I will not yield my glory to another” (48:11).
This is where we find ourselves most uncomfortable with the biblical view of God, in this case because his acts of love and mercy are shown to be self-centered – and self-centeredness, we presume, is such an ugly trait. Our discomfort in the face of these kinds of truths about God reveals our desire to see him as a human benefactor instead of the transcendent and sovereign God to whom all glory belongs. “All” is the operative word because he “alone” is the “central One.” “He alone is the Lord” who made all things (Neh.9:6). As heaven sings, “You alone are holy” (Rev.15:4). “There is no one holy like the Lord, there is no one besides you” (1Sam.2:2). “No one is good, except God alone” (Lk.18:19). We see then that God is not like a human benefactor or a human savior – he is not like us at all. Self-centeredness is an ugly human trait, but God is not human.
While we may be tempted to think that we are the “center” of God’s life (as modern doting parents aptly illustrate), God loves for his own sake, as the exclusively holy Being in the universe, rightly maintaining himself as the center of his actions. This does not detract from our feelings of being loved and cared for by God, it only helps us to retain God as the center and the exclusive purpose for all of his divine actions. We will after all worship him for saving us not with inflated chests, but “to the praise of his glorious grace” (Eph.1:6). So then: “To the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen” (Jude 25).
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Thank you Pastor Mike for presenting a high view of God which our finite minds find hard to comprehend since God is not like any other and we are limited to human thought.
I get it, truly I do. Jesus came to save that which was lost, and yes, So that God is glorified, but he also did to save that which was lost.
As a gardener, it helps me understand better if I relate it to my earthly garden. I spend hours caring for my garden, preparing the soil, planting, weeding, nourishing, rearranging, pruning, harvesting, simply because it brings me great joy. While I care for each plant individually, I don’t do it for the plant’s sake. I do it because when the garden is in full bloom, the result of my handiwork “glorifies” me every time I look at it. Imagine being able to “glorify” the master gardener, God himself?!!
We are the elements of God’s garden, matter derived from the dirt, with wily characteristics – a free will – and a propensity toward infestation by pests and disease. Being a human gardener, I avoid putting these types of plants in my garden because they are relentless work, give me unpredictable results and a lot of grief. I prefer the hybrids that have these negative traits diluted out of their DNA. Thankfully, God, being not human, seems to take joy in the challenge, for his own glory. And, that’s ok with me, for, as anyone who has a wisteria vine in their yard knows, God DESERVES the glory for sticking with us all these centuries!!