Glory Thieves

The Westminster Shorter Catechism opens with the famous question, "What is the chief end of man?" To which the answer is, "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever." If this is true, and I believe that it certainly is, then all sin is stealing God's glory. We sin whenever we fail to give God the glory that He is due by not obeying and loving Him supremely.

There are a number of very distinct examples of glory thieves in the Bible such as Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar. Pharaoh was seen as godlike in Egypt and he was furious at the demands of Yahweh's servant Moses that Pharaoh was to obey this greater authority. The children's movie account of the Exodus "The Prince of Egypt" portrays Pharaoh's self love so well when Pharaoh says, "I am the morning and the evening star." Pharaoh exulted in his power and position, but God was unrelenting in His demonstration of His sovereign power and Pharaoh's hardness of heart brought about his demise.

King Nebuchadnezzar had the truly incredible kingdom that was even portrayed as the head of gold on the statue of his dream. But that was not nearly enough for Nebuchadnezzar and so he had an entire statue of gold made and demanded that it be worshiped. God demonstrated His incredible rescue of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego which caused even Nebuchadnezzar to respond with respect to their God who saved them from the fiery furnace. Yet in the very next chapter we read of Nebuchadnezzar's rejoicing in the incredible kingdom that he had built when a voice from heaven spoke to him saying that he was to turn into a wild beast and eat grass until he knew that the Most High truly ruled the kings of the earth.

Immediately the word was being fulfilled as Nebuchadnezzar turned into a beast until the end of the time when he finally gave glory to God saying "...I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and He does according to His will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay His hand or say to Him, 'What have you done?'"

Though Nebuchadnezzar's end was far better than Pharaoh's, it is more than clear from these two examples that glory thieving is something that God takes very seriously. But many people will respond by saying, "Of course these guys were glory thieves! They were literally seeking for people to worship them, but I am nothing like that."

But as I said above, ALL sin is an attempt to steal God's glory, so let's narrow the focus. Throughout the gospels Jesus and the Pharisees have numerous back and forth's, but while recently reading through the gospels again this stood out to me in a vivid way. As Jesus goes about healing people, usually the result is that the person healed and/or the witnesses are amazed, awestruck, and some even respond in reverent fear. When Jesus forgives the sins of the paralytic and heals him he responds in like manner, however the Pharisees were filled with hate. Similarly when Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead, everyone was rejoicing and awestruck, but the Pharisees response was to plan to kill both Jesus and Lazarus.

This seems like such a strange result, but you see the Pharisees wanted the attention, recognition, and exultation of the people. They were glory thieves. Jesus addressed this when He spoke of them desiring the chief places at the table and how they loved the praise of men. The Pharisees' goal in life was to be recognized as being the most devout, the most holy of all the people. They weren't literally seeking worship, but they were stealing God's glory by desiring people look to them instead of pointing them to God. Their appetite for glory was far less drastic than Pharaoh or Nebuchadnezzar, but they were still glory thieves.

To narrow this a step further we can even say that any form of legalism is glory thieving. Legalism is when we attempt to add to God's gracious gift in salvation. To say that Jesus' perfect obedience in our place and sacrificial death was not enough is the epitome of glory thieving. The Father has bestowed upon Jesus the "name that is above every name" and our response should be to join with creation and sing His praises. But often times as both saint and sinner we spend far more time thinking on our good behavior and how we are just a little bit better than the "worldly sinners." Though it disguises itself under the banners of "Christian maturity" and "sanctification" this behavior is still legalism, looking to our goodness and not Christ's.

On the other side of the isle, so to speak, there are those that refuse to follow any rules and only care about living lives of pleasure or freedom. Though at first this may seem to be quite different from the legalism that we just considered, this sin actually ends up being quite similar. Rather than adding to the already established law, they simply create their own rules from start to finish. This too is stealing God's glory by removing from God His authority and lordship over our lives, which as Creator He is more than deserving of.

Whether we are trying to earn our way to God by following all the rules and being law keepers, or whether we are blowing off all the rules and creating our own, both paths dead end at the same place of stealing from God the glory that He is due.

In the first three chapters of Paul's letter to the Romans he builds the case that we are all guilty. There is none righteous, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We are all glory thieves. The final question we must ask is, "If we are all guilty glory thieves as Paul says, how can we hope to overcome this?" This is especially challenging because even obeying all the rules with the wrong motivation leads to glory thieving as we have seen.

When I got a commercial licence to drive the church bus I was given a great piece of advice from a truck driver friend. He said, "When you are driving down the freeway, look as far ahead as you can and you will drive straight and true. If you look down trying to focus on staying in your lane you will end up swerving back and forth, over correcting one way and then the other." This is often how we get in trouble, we see legalism and try to avoid it but we over correct and end up being more liberal or vice-versa. Instead we need to focus on the victory that Christ has won for us.

Colossians 3:1-4 says, "If you have been raised with Christ, seek things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you will appear with him in glory."

Notice how Paul uses the present tense, "...your life IS hidden with Christ in God." By keeping our eyes on the Savior we come to see what He already knows to be true of us, that our glory and worth is only found in Him and in what He has done for us. He is the glorious King and when He appears we will finally be able to see what He has already made us, co-heirs with Himself.

Christ Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the law to the uttermost but still died for our sins. Then He rose from the grave securing and clothing believers in His righteousness. When we take our eyes off of ourselves and focus on the victory already won for us in Christ, then we will find freedom. This is why the gospel must be central to our daily lives because it reminds us that our very nature is to focus on ourselves stealing God's glory, and the only cure for a glory thief is to look daily upon the glorious victory that the Savior has wrought for us.