John 15:8 English Standard Version (ESV) By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

All that we have read about being a disciple of Christ can bring us to a point of forgetting where we began and the point being made. There is so much information to be digested. As a reminder, this is the third point to be made, God the Father is to be glorified.

Romans 16:27 English Standard Version (ESV) to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.

Over the decades that we have worshipped God it might be noticed that there are some of us that glory in themselves and their own accomplishments. This verse in Romans 16 is to be believed that God the Father can only be glorified through our obedience of faith in Jesus Christ. We can only glorify God the Father in the presence of the abiding Christ. This is why the words “in Christ” appear so often.

This is where Paul warned that the gospel can be preached out of envy. That does not mean that the gospel being preached will not have its full effect on the hearer of the Word. The effect of the gospel on the lost is the purview of God and God alone.

As disciples of Christ we should be aware of the biblical definition of glory and not steal God’s glory for ourselves. That is not a matter of salvation, it is a matter of relationship.

Vine’s Expository Dictionary on glory Strong’s number 1391 “glory” (from dokeo, “to seem”), primarily signifies an opinion, estimate, and hence, the honor resulting from a good opinion. It is used (1) (a) of the nature and acts of God in self-manifestation, i.e., what He essentially is and does, as exhibited in whatever way he reveals Himself in these respects, and particularly in the person of Christ, in whom essentially His “glory” has ever shone forth and ever will do, John 17:5, 24.

In the ways He reveals Himself is God’s glory.

John 13:35 English Standard Version (ESV) By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

The second is the issue of a change of heart. This gives us the ability to feel what Jesus feels when He seeks to love the lost in ways we never could have done without the abiding presence of His love in us.

Ephesians 3:17 English Standard Version (ESV) so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

Ephesians 6:6 English Standard Version (ESV) not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,

A bondservant is one who gives himself up to another’s will those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing His cause among men. Source Vine’s Encyclopedia.

Note the wording, “whose service is used by Christ”. In this manner Paul rightly said in Galatians 2:20 ^“It is no longer I, but Christ who lives in me. I live by faith in the Son of God.” Text edited to hi-light the important relevant issues.

The 13^th chapter of 1^st Corinthians is the love chapter that defines agape love, God’s perfect love. If we judge ourselves by that standard we will discover that we come up short of that perfection over and over again. Failure leads to disappointment and self-incrimination. In order for the love of Christ, which abides now in our hearts, to love the unlovely, we must surrender ourselves to His will.

In order to know His will we need to allow our faith to identify His will and be obedient by faith.

Romans 16:25-27 English Standard Version

Doxology

²⁵ Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages ²⁶ but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— ²⁷ to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.

The third issue is that God the Father is glorified.