Man's Glory, God's Glory

Rom 2:6-10 Who will render to every man according to his deeds: (7) To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: (8) But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, (9) Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; (10) But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:

There is a contrast that is being brought out here in these few short verses and in fact it is the same contrast given in the bigger picture of the whole Bible. That contrast is a choice that each one of us must make. In this passage there are those who seek glory and honour, and imortality. And there are those who are self-seeking. This can be expanded to signify those who seek God and those who follow after the World.

If we look at this word Glory that is mentioned in this passage we will see that this is not our own Glory but the Glory of God. And God's Glory is so much more glorious than our Glory. God's Glory is greater than the heavens. It says in Psalm 19:1 that the heavens declare the Glory of God. And in Isaiah 6:4 we see that the whole earth is full of his glory. You see God created the universe and put his mark upon it and even though we live under a curse, because of man's sin, it is still a glorous creation.

This is a picture to us of what God is like. He has expressed Himself in creation so that we will turn to Him, not to ourselves or to the creation itself, but to Him. That is what it talks about it Romans Chapter one. “...Although they knew God, They did not glorify Him as God...” You know God, some of you may deny that but you do, because it is clear in the order of the universe, because it is clear in the smallest magnificent detail of the world, and because it is written on your heart.

But in our natural state we turn to our own glory. God created us humans as the pinacle of His creation, but we want to take that and make oursleves great. We know that man's glory is great! we see men glorified on Telivision or on Utube and we want that for ourselfves. People will go to amazing lengths just for 15 minutes of fame. But we all know deep down, that there is more to this life than the praise of others and any money we can get for it. In fact if we look around we see people who have attianed all that this world can offer, and we see depressed, substance abbusers, who are dissatisfied with their lives.

It is a little like winning the highschool basketball championship and feeling pretty estatic, until Kobe Brynt walks into the room. Your accomplishments are dwarfed by the much greater accomplishments, of Kobe. There is a comedian named Brian Regan, who talks about how being one of the 12 people to land on the moon would be an accomplishment that could not be topped. But let me tell you something, God is the one who created the moon.

When we start to put things in proper perspective we begin to realize what the Bible says about the glory of man. In Daniel 2:37 we read that God has given King Nebuchadnezzar his kingdom, power, strength, and glory. In 1 Peter 1:24 we read that all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.

So we see that God's glory is eternal and that mans glory is fading. Yet, when we seek God, He imparts glory to us. Psalm 8:4-5 says “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? (5) For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.”

If we return to our passage in romans we see that glory, honor, and peace are available to us, but we also see the consequences for our seeking unrighteousness. And this passage can get a little confusing because it talks about those who work what is good, but the truth is no one really works what is good without God. In fact in this same book Paul says in Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.”

So how do we enter into this Glory, how do we escape the temporal, superficial glory of this life. Again we turn to the word of God. And we see that the person sent to make His glory known to us is Christ. We read in John 17:22-23 “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.”

So who is he refering to when he says I have given it to them? His followers of course. “Those who by patient continuance...seek glory, honor, and imortality.” Those who believe Him and put there trust in Him. For we see in Hebrews 11:6 that those who come to God, must believe that He is and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him.

You see we are helpless in ourselfves, and we cannot attain this great salvation “But God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh.” (Romans 8:3) and he did this by allowing Himself to be Crucified on the Cross. He bled and died for our sins. The very glory of God being brought low so that we could be lifted up.

So we are left here with a choice. When Jesus was beginning His earthly ministry he went into the desert to fast and afterward Satan came to Him and tempted Him. If we look at Matthew 4:8-10 we see Satans temptation of giving Jesus rule over the whole earth, if Jesus would just bow down to Him. And let us be reminded that God has given this earth over to Satan so it was his to give back. Jesus was prepared and rejected the offer, repling “...Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” You have that same Choice. You can seek first the kingdom of God and gain eternal life, or you can seek the world and all it's pleasures, and end your life in eternal punishment. “For what profit is it, if a man gain the whole world and loose his soul.”(Matt 8:36)