What does it mean to glorify God?

Scripture  Reading:  1 Chronicles 16:28-29

OPENING:  To “glorify” God means to give glory to Him … The word glory in the Old Testament carries with it the idea of greatness of splendor … In the New Testament, the word means "dignity, honor, praise and worship." …  Put the two together, we find that glorifying God means to acknowledge His greatness and give Him honor by praising and worshiping Him … He, and He alone, deserves to be praised, honored and worshipped. God’s glory is the essence of His nature, and we give glory to Him by recognizing that essence …

     If God has all the glory, how do we “give Him” glory?:

          The key is found in 1 Chronicles 16:28-29  “Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength, ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.”

          Do you see the two actions on our part that make up the action of glorifying God? … First, we “ascribe” or give glory to Him because it is His due … No one else deserves the praise and worship that we give to glorify Him. Isaiah 42:8  "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.”

          Second, we are to “bring an offering” to God as part of the worship that glorifies Him … What is the offering we bring to God to glorify Him?

          Agreement, obedience, submission, and rehearsing His attributes or extolling Him … Glorifying God begins with agreeing with everything He says … Isaiah 42:5  “I am the Lord God. I created the heavens like an open tent above. I made the earth and everything that grows on it. I am the source of life for all who live on this earth, so listen to what I say.”

          Listening and agreeing with Him will not glorify Him unless we also submit to Him and obey the commands contained in His Word.  Psalm 103:17-18  “But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children—with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts” … Jesus reiterated the idea that glorifying and loving God are one and the same in John 14:15  “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”

          We also glorify God by rehearsing His attributes and His deeds … Stephen, in his final sermon before he was killed, told the story of God’s dealings with Israel from the time Abraham left in obedience to God’s command, to the coming of Christ …

          When we give our testimony, speak of the miracles in our lives, tell of how prayer worked for us, we glorify Him to others … Even though others don’t always want to hear our glorifying God, He is more than pleased by it … The crowd who heard Stephen hated what he said, covering their ears and rushing at him to stone him …  Acts 7:55  “But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God”

CLOSING:  To glorify God is to extol His attributes, His holiness, faithfulness, mercy, grace, love, majesty, sovereignty, power, and omniscience … Everyday, our goal should be to Glorify God every chance we get … Like the child that wants to please their daddy, do you want to please your “daddy”?