{"id":603,"date":"2017-01-17T06:22:23","date_gmt":"2017-01-17T11:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/?p=603"},"modified":"2017-01-16T23:34:51","modified_gmt":"2017-01-17T04:34:51","slug":"theater-for-gods-glory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/2017\/01\/theater-for-gods-glory\/","title":{"rendered":"Theater for God’s Glory"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Theater<\/a><\/p>\n

Calvin rightly called the world a \u201ctheater for the glory of God\u201d [Institutes<\/em> 1.5.8 and 1.14.20]. We are a part of this display. Our lives are to be a display and an offering for His glory. In all things<\/em> we live to His praise. And that includes all things<\/em>\u2014what we do, what we say, and what we think. David prayed in Psalm 19:12-14 that he would be kept from sinning. He prayed that the words he spoke would be honoring to God. He prayed that the thoughts resounding in his heart would be pleasing to God. And not just his thoughts when he was in gathered worship with the people of God, or his words when he was singing praise, or his steps when he felt near to God, but all his thoughts and words and steps through life as he walked in the world.<\/p>\n

We must learn to see the world this way, and live in the world this way.\u00a0Our world is fallen and broken.<\/p>\n

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).<\/p>\n

Our world is at enmity against God. But God does not intend that we hide away or abandon the world. He intends for us to be salt and light. He intends for us to live as Christians\u2014a humble and grateful people who have been rescued from sin and death.\u00a0And He intends for us to live out in the world as trophies of His grace for His glory.<\/p>\n

Sometimes we can get messed up in our thinking\u2014if we start thinking of church<\/em> as where we meet with God and serve God, and the rest of life<\/em> as out in world\u2014our jobs, our recreation, our families. We can mistakenly assume that God is only glorified when we do sacred things\u2014things like coming to church, praying, reading our Bible, or witnessing. And God is pushed aside or drowned out when we do secular things\u2014things like our jobs, chores around the house, school, and sports. He is pleased and draws close when we are endeavoring to do sacred things, but less pleased and distant when we turn to what is secular.<\/p>\n

The word \u201csecular\u201d comes from a Latin word meaning \u201cworld.\u201d It refers to the here and now<\/em> in which we live\u2014our immediate concerns as we live day to day.<\/p>\n

But we must not separate the here and now<\/em> from God. All of life is sacred.<\/strong> It all belongs to God. We cannot take a breath unless God gives it to us. He is there, with us in every situation, in every activity, in every circumstance. By His design \u201call things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose\u201d (Romans 8:28).<\/p>\n

There is no separate place for God and another for the world. It\u2019s all His\u2014the world is His and we are His. He is at work\u2014in every trial, in every triumph\u2014in every joy, in every sorrow\u2014shaping us and fashioning us for His glory. Our lives are on display. He has made the world for Himself. And He has placed us on the stage of the world to be a vessel of His grace and mercy, to be a testimony to His presence and power.<\/p>\n

We need to see our world this way\u2014in the spheres in which God has placed us\u2014in our vocations, responsibilities and roles. These are but platforms on which to magnify Him\u2014arenas in which we are called to display His glory and make Him known.<\/p>\n

[This excerpt is from a Bible Study of Psalm 19\u00a0entitled \u201cTheater for God’s Glory.”\u00a0You can\u00a0read the full Bible Study\u00a0here<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

See\u00a0more\u00a0Sermons and Articles<\/a>\u00a0by Ken Puls<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Calvin rightly called the world a \u201ctheater for the glory of God\u201d [Institutes 1.5.8 and 1.14.20]. We are a part of this display. Our lives are to be a display and an offering for His glory. In all things we live to His praise. And that includes all things\u2014what we do, what we say, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[82,49],"tags":[56,100,136,137,57,135],"class_list":["post-603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-study","category-psalm","tag-evangelism","tag-psalm","tag-sacred","tag-secular","tag-witness","tag-worldview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4lLgO-9J","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":606,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603\/revisions\/606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}