Thomas Watson: How May We Glorify God?

I. It is glorifying God when we aim purely at his glory. It is one thing to advance God’s glory, another thing to aim at it. God must be the Terminus ad quem, the ultimate end of all actions. Thus Christ, ‘I seek not mine own glory, but the glory of him that sent me’ (John 8:50). A hypocrite has a squint eye, for he looks more to his own glory than God’s. Our Saviour deciphers such, and gives a caveat against them in Matthew 6:2, ‘When thou givest alms, do not sound a trumpet.’ A stranger would ask, ‘What means the noise of this trumpet?’ It was answered, ‘They are going to give to the poor.’ And so they did not give alms, but sell them for honour and applause, that they might have glory of men; the breath of men was the wind that blew the sails of their charity; ‘verily they have their reward.’ The hypocrite may make his acquittance and write, ‘received in full payment.’ Chrysostom calls vain-glory one of the devil’s great nets to catch men. And Cyprian says, ‘Whom Satan cannot prevail against by intemperance, those he prevails against by pride and vainglory.’ Oh let us take heed of self-worshipping! Aim purely at God’s glory.

We do this,

(1) When we prefer God’s glory above all other things; above credit, estate, relations; when the glory of God coming in competition with them, we prefer his glory before them. If relations be in our way to heaven, we must either leap over them, or tread upon them. A child must unchild himself, and forget he is a child; he must know neither father nor mother in God’s cause. ‘Who said unto his father and mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren’ (Deut. 33:9). This is to aim at God’s glory.

(2) We aim at God’s glory, when we are content that God’s will should take place, though it may cross ours. Lord, I am content to be a loser, if thou be a gainer; to have less health, if I have more grace, and thou more glory. Let it be food or bitter physic if thou givest it me. Lord, I desire that which may be most for thy glory. Our blessed Saviour said, ‘Not as I will, but as thou wilt’ (Mat. 26:39). If God might have more glory by his sufferings, he was content to suffer. ‘Father, glorify thy name’ (John 12:28).

(3) We aim at God’s glory when we are content to be outshined by others in gifts and esteem, so that His glory may be increased. A man that has God in his heart, and God’s glory in his eye, desires that God should be exalted; and if this be effected, let who will be the instrument, he rejoices. ‘Some preach Christ of envy: notwithstanding, Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice’ (Phil. 1:5); they preached Christ of envy, they envied Paul that concourse of people, and they preached that they might outshine him in gifts, and get away some of his hearers: well, says Paul, Christ is preached, and God is like to have the glory, therefore I rejoice; let my candle go out, if the Sun of Righteousness may but shine.

II. We glorify God by an ingenuous confession of sin. The thief on the cross had dishonoured God in his life, but at his death he brought glory to God by confession of sin. ‘We indeed suffer justly’ (Luke 23:41). He acknowledged he deserved not only crucifixion, but damnation. ‘My son, give, I pray thee, glory to God, and make confession unto him’ (Joshua 7:19). A humble confession exalts God. How is God’s free grace magnified in crowning those who deserve to be condemned! The excusing and mincing of sin casts a reproach upon God. Adam denied not that he tasted the forbidden fruit, but, instead of a full confession, he taxed God. ‘The woman whom thou gavest me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat’ (Gen. 3:12); if thou hadst not given me the woman to be a tempter, I had not sinned. Confession glorifies God, because it clears him; it acknowledges that he is holy and righteous, whatever he does. Nehemiah vindicates God’s righteousness;. ‘Thou art just in all that is brought upon us’ (chapter 9:33). A confession is ingenuous when it is free, not forced. ‘I have sinned against heaven and before thee’ (Luke 15:18). The prodigal charged himself with sin before his father charged him with it.

III. We glorify God by believing. ‘Abraham was strong in faith, giving glory to God’ (Rom. 4:20). Unbelief affronts God, it gives him the lie; ‘he that believeth not, maketh God a liar’ (1 John 5:10). But faith brings glory to God; it sets to its seal that God is true (John 3:33). He that believes flies to God’s mercy and truth, as to an altar of refuge; he engarrisons himself in the promises, and trusts all he has with God. ‘Into thy hands I commit my spirit’ (Ps. 31:5). This is a great way of bringing glory to God, and God honours faith, because faith honours him. It is a great honour we do to a man when we trust him with all we have, when we put our lives and estates into his hand; it is a sign we have a good opinion of him. The three children glorified God by believing. ‘The God whom we serve is able to deliver us, and will deliver us’ (Dan. 3:17). Faith knows there are no impossibilities with God, and will trust him where it cannot trace him.

IV. We glorify God, by being tender of his glory. God’s glory is dear to him as the apple of his eye. An ingenuous child weeps to see a disgrace done to his father. ‘The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me’ (Ps. 69:9). When we hear God reproached, it is as if we were reproached; when God’s glory suffers, it is as if we suffered. This is to be tender of God’s glory.

V. We glorify God by fruitfulness. ‘Hereby is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit’ (John 15:8). As it is dishonouring God to be barren, so fruitfulness honours him. ‘Filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are to the praise of his glory’ (Phil. 1:11). We must not be like the fig tree in the gospel, which had nothing but leaves, but like the pomecitron, that is continually either mellowing or blossoming, and is never without fruit. It is not profession, but fruit that glorifies God. God expects to have his glory from us in this way. ‘Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit of it’ (1 Cor. 9:7)? Trees in the forest may be barren, but trees in the garden are fruitful. We must bring forth the fruits of love and good works. ‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven’ (Matt. 5:16).

Faith sanctifies our works, and works testify our faith; to be doing good to others, to be eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, much glorifies God. Thus Christ glorified his Father; ‘he went about doing good’ (Acts 10:38). By being fruitful, we are fair in God’s eyes. ‘The Lord called thy name a green olive-tree, fair and of goodly fruit.’ (Jer. 11:16). And we must bear much fruit; it is muchness of fruit that glorifies God: ‘if ye bear much fruit.’ The spouse’s breasts are compared to clusters of grapes, to show how fertile she was (Song of Solomon 7:7). Though the lowest degree of grace may bring salvation to you, yet it will not bring much glory to God. It was not a spark of love Christ commended in Mary, but much love; ’she loved much’ (Luke 7:47).

VI. We glorify God, by being contented in that state in which Providence has placed us. We give God the glory of his wisdom, when we rest satisfied with what he carves out to us. Thus Paul glorified God. The Lord cast him into as great variety of conditions as any man, ‘in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft’ (2 Cor. 11:23) yet he had learned to be content. Paul could sail either in a storm or a calm; he could be anything that God would have him; he could either want or abound (Phil 4:13). A good Christian argues thus: It is God that has put me in this condition; he could have raised me higher, if he pleased, but that might have been a snare to me: he has done it in wisdom and love; therefore I will sit down satisfied with my condition. Surely this glorifies God much; God counts himself much honoured by such a Christian. Here, says God, is one after mine own heart; let me do what I will with him, I hear no murmuring, he is content. This shows abundance of grace. When grace is crowning, it is not so much to be content; but when grace is conflicting with inconveniences, then to be content is a glorious thing indeed. For one to be content when he is in heaven is no wonder; but to be content under the cross is like a Christian. This man must needs bring glory to God; for he shows to all the world, that though he has little meal in his barrel, yet he has enough in God to make him content: he says, as David, ‘The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance; the lines are fallen to me in pleasant places’ (Ps. 16:5).

VII. We glorify God by working out our own salvation. God has twisted together his glory and our good. We glorify him by promoting our own salvation. It is a glory to God to have multitudes of converts; now, his design of free grace takes, and God has the glory of his mercy; so that, while we are endeavouring our salvation, we are honouring God. What an encouragement is this to the service of God, to think, while I am hearing and praying, I am glorifying God; while I am furthering my own glory in heaven, I am increasing God’s glory. Would it not be an encouragement to a subject, to hear his prince say to him, You will honour and please me very much, if you will go to yonder mine of gold, and dig as much gold for yourself as you can carry away? So, for God to say, Go to the ordinances, get as much grace as you can, dig out as much salvation as you can; and the more happiness you have, the more I shall count myself glorified.

VIII. We glorify God by living to God. ‘That they which live should not live to themselves, but unto him who died for them’ (2 Cor. 5:15). ‘Whether we live, we live unto the Lord’ (Rom. 14:8). The Mammonist lives to his money, the Epicure lives to his belly; the design of a sinner’s life is to gratify lust, but we glorify God when we live to God. We live to God when we live to his service, and lay ourselves out wholly for God. The Lord has sent us into the world, as a merchant sends his factor beyond the seas to trade for him. We live to God when we trade for his interest, and propagate his gospel. God has given every man a talent; and when a man does not hide it in a napkin, but improves it for God, he lives to God. When a master in a family, by counsel and good example, labours to bring his servants to Christ; when a minister spends himself, and is spent, that he may win souls to Christ, and make the crown flourish upon Christ’s head; when the magistrate does not wear the sword in vain, but labours to cut down sin, and to suppress vice; this is to live to God, and this is glorifying God. ‘That Christ might be magnified, whether by life or by death’ (Phil. 1:20). Three wishes Paul had, and they were all about Christ; that he might be found in Christ, be with Christ, and magnify Christ.

IX. We glorify God by walking cheerfully. It brings glory to God, when the world sees a Christian has that within him that can make him cheerful in the worst times; that can enable him, with the nightingale, to sing with a thorn at his breast. The people of God have ground for cheerfulness. They are justified and adopted, and this creates inward peace; it makes music within, whatever storms are without (2 Cor. 1:4; 1 Thess. 1:6). If we consider what Christ has wrought for us by his blood, and wrought in us by his Spirit, it is a ground of great cheerfulness, and this cheerfuhiess glorifies God. It reflects upon a master when the servant is always drooping and sad; sure he is kept to hard commons, his master does not give him what is fitting; so, when God’s people hang their heads, it looks as if they did not serve a good master, or repented of their choice, which reflects dishonour on God. As the gross sins of the wicked bring a scandal on the gospel, so do the uncheerful lives of the godly. ‘Serve the Lord with gladness’ (Ps. 100:2). Your serving him does not glorify him, unless it be with gladness. A Christian’s cheerful looks glorify God; religion does not take away our joy, but refines it; it does not break our viol, but tunes it, and makes the music sweeter.

X. We glorify God, by standing up for his truths. Much of God’s glory lies in his truth. God has intrusted us with his truth, as a master intrusts his servant with his purse to keep. We have not a richer jewel to trust God with than our souls, nor has God a richer jewel to trust us with than his truth. Truth is a beam that shines from God. Much of his glory lies in his truth. When we are advocates for truth we glorify God. ‘That ye should contend earnestly for the truth’ (Jude 3). The Greek word to contend signifies great contending, as one would contend for his land, and not suffer his right to be taken from him; so we should contend for the truth. Were there more of this holy contention God would have more glory. Some contend earnestly for trifles and ceremonies, but not for the truth. We should count him indiscreet that would contend more for a picture than for his inheritance; for a box of counters than for his box of title deeds.

XI. We glorify God, by praising him. Doxology, or praise, is a God exalting work. ‘Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me’ (Ps. 50:23). The Hebrew word Bara, to create, and Barak, to praise, are little different, because the end of creation is to praise God. David was called the sweet singer of Israel, and his praising God was called glorifying God. ‘I will praise thee, O Lord my God, and I will glorify thy name’ (Ps. 86:12). Though nothing can add to God’s essential glory, yet praise exalts him in the eyes of others. When we praise God, we spread his fame and renown, we display the trophies of his excellency. In this manner the angels glorify him; they are the choristers of heaven, and do trumpet forth his praise. Praising God is one of the highest and purest acts of religion. In prayer we act like men; in praise we act like angels. Believers are called temples of God’ (1 Cor. 3:16). When our tongues praise, then the organs in God’s spiritual temple are sounding. How sad is it that God has no more glory from us in this way! Many are full of murmuring and discontent, but seldom bring glory to God, by giving him the praise due to his name. We read of the saints having harps in their hands, the emblems of praise. Many have tears in their eyes, and complaints in their mouth, but few have harps in their hand, blessing and glorifying God. Let us honour God this way. Praise is the quit-rent we pay to God: while God renews our lease, we must renew our rent.

XII. We glorify God, by being zealous for his name. ‘Phinehas hath turned my wrath away, while he was zealous for my sake’ (Nu. 25:11). Zeal is a mixed affection, a compound of love and anger; it carries forth our love to God, and our anger against sin in an intense degree. Zeal is impatient of God’s dishonour; a Christian fired with zeal, takes a dishonour done to God worse than an injury done to himself. ‘Thou canst not bear them that are evil’ (Rev. 2:2). Our Saviour Christ thus glorified his Father; he, being baptized with a spirit of zeal, drove the money-changers out of the temple. ‘The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up (John 2:14-17).

XIII. We glorify God, when we have an eye to God in our natural and in our civil actions. In our natural actions; in eating and drinking. ‘Whether therefore ye eat or drink, do all to the glory of God’ (1 Cor. 10:31). A gracious person holds the golden bridle of temperance; he takes his meat as a medicine to heal the decays of nature, that he may be the fitter, by the strength he receives, for the service of God; he makes his food, not fuel for lust, but help to duty. In buying and selling, we do all to the glory of God. The wicked live upon unjust gain, by falsifying the balances, as in Hosea 12:7: ‘The balances of deceit are in his hands;’ and thus while men make their weights lighter, they make their sins heavier, when by exacting more than the commodity is worth, they do not for fourscore write down fifty, but for fifty, four-score; when they exact double the price that a thing is worth. We buy and sell to the glory of God, when we observe that golden maxim, ‘To do to others as we would have them do to us;’ so that when we sell our commodities, we do not sell our consciences also. ‘Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence towards God, and towards men’ (Acts 24:16). We glorify God, when we have an eye to God in all our civil and natural actions, and do nothing that may reflect any blemish on religion.

XIV. We glorify God by labouring to draw others to God; by seeking to convert others, and so make them instruments of glorifying God. We should be both diamonds and loadstones; diamonds for the lustre of grace, and loadstones for attractive virtue in drawing others to Christ. ‘My little children, of whom I travail, &c.’ (Gal. 4:19). It is a great way of glorifying God, when we break open the devil’s prison, and turn men from the power of Satan to God.

XV. We glorify God in a high degree when we suffer for God, and seal the gospel with our blood. ‘When thou shalt be old, another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not: this spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God’ (John 21:18). God’s glory shines in the ashes of his martyrs. ‘Wherefore glorify the Lord in the fires’ (Is. 24:15). Micaiah was in the prison, Isaiah was sawn asunder, Paul beheaded, Luke hanged on an olive tree; thus did they, by their death, glorify God. The sufferings of the primitive saints did honour to God, and made the gospel famous in the world. What would others say? See what a good master they serve, and how they love him, that they will venture the loss of all in his service. The glory of Christ’s kingdom does not stand in worldly pomp and grandeur, as other kings’; but it is seen in the cheerful sufferings of his people. The saints of old ‘loved not their lives to the death’ (Rev. 12:11). They embraced torments as so many crowns. God grant we may thus glorify him, if he calls us to it. Many pray, ‘Let this cup pass away,’ but few, ‘Thy will be done.’

XVI. We glorify God, when we give God the glory of all that we do. When Herod had made an oration, and the people gave a shout, saying, ‘It is the voice of a God, and not of a man,’ he took the glory to himself; the text says, ‘Immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory, and he was eaten of worms’ (Acts 12:23). We glorify God, when we sacrifice the praise and glory of all to God. ‘I laboured more abundantly than they all’ (1 Cor. 15:10), a speech, one would think, savoured of pride; but the apostle pulls the crown from his own head, and sets it upon the head of free grace: ‘yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.’ As Joab, when he fought against Rabbah, sent for King David, that he might carry away the crown of the victory (2 Sam. 12:28), so a Christian, when he has gotten power over any corruption or temptation, sends for Christ, that he may carry away the crown of the victory. As the silkworm, when she weaves her curious work, hides herself under the silk, and is not seen; so when we have done anything praiseworthy, we must hide ourselves under the veil of humility, and transfer the glory of all we have done to God. As Constantine used to write the name of Christ over his door, so should we write the name of Christ over our duties. Let him wear the garland of praise.

XVII. We glorify God by a holy life. A bad life dishonours God. ‘Ye are an holy nation, that ye should shew forth the praises of him that hath called you’ (1 Pet. 2:9). ‘The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you’ (Rom. 2:24). Epiphanius says, ‘That the looseness of some Christians in his time made many of the heathens shun their company, and would not be drawn to hear their sermons.’ By our exact Bible conversation we glorify God. Though the main work of religion lies in the heart, yet our light must so shine that others may behold it. The safety of a building is the foundation, but the glory of it is in the frontis-piece; so the beauty of faith is in the conversation. When the saints, who are called jewels, cast a sparkling lustre of holiness in the eyes of the world, then they ‘walk as Christ walked’ (1 John 2:6). When they live as if they had seen the Lord with bodily eyes, and been with him upon the mount, they adorn religion, and bring revenues of glory to the crown of heaven.

Excerpt from Chapter 1. Man’s Chief End.
Body of Divinity Contained in Sermons upon the Assembly’s Catechism, Thomas Watson.

Tagged as: Contentment, Doxology, Faith, Fruitfulness, Glory, God, Jesus Christ, Salvation, Sin, Thomas Watson, Truth