28 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
29 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name;
Bring an offering, and come before Him;
Worship the Lord in holy array.
30 Tremble before Him, all the earth;
Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved.
31 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
And let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
32 Let the sea roar, and all it contains;
Let the field exult, and all that is in it.
33 Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the Lord;
For He is coming to judge the earth.
34 O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Message: Ascribing Glory to God
Time: 1 Chronicles has a mystery writer and focuses on David's reign though doesn't repeat David's sin with Bathsheba. It was written in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah or 538-333 BC while the Jews were dispersed throughout Persia, some having returned from Israel. The book lists genealogies, priests, Levites, armies, temple officials, and other leaders of various ministries and devotes significant attention to proper worship of Yahweh and adherence to the regulations of the Law. It focuses on obedience that results in God’s blessing, the priority of the temple and priesthood, and the unconditional promises to the house of David.
What the Lord is Saying: "Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him." To ascribe is to attribute something to. A part of our purpose as His followers, His children is for me to identify glory due His name. It is to bring an offering before Him, which for me today, is to bring myself as a living sacrifice.
Romans 12:1-2 - Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
I am to come before God unfettered or unrestrained or with no association to anything else.
“How is the body to become a sacrifice? Let thine eye look upon no evil thing, and it hath become a sacrifice; let thy tongue speak nothing filthy, and it hath become an offering; let thy hand do no lawless deed, and it hath become a whole burnt offering. But this is not enough, we must do good works also; let the hand do alms, the mouth bless them that despitefully use us, and the ear find leisure evermore for the hearing of Scripture. For sacrifice can be made only of that which is clean; sacrifice is a first fruit of other actions. Let us, then, from our hands, and feet, and mouth, and all our other members, yield a first fruit unto God” (St. John Chrysostom - 347-407 AD)
When I pray, I often close with the request to give glory to God, in everything I say, in everything I do. This is the plea of me. My goal is to live in such a way that I should never have to apologize. For me, it is to have patience when people are talking and to not hope that they would not talk anymore. It is to accept people's words without inside thinking, "I'll show them." I am finding that there is a lot of patience in doing good. It is serving my wife, my father, without wishing I didn't have to serve him. It is also to do all of these things without complaining, without making fun of him behind his back. It is speaking always with the idea that the person I am speaking about is in front of me, hearing what I am saying. O God, so much of how I live and breathe and operate is thinking I am holy and yet speaking in a dishonoring way about others. And then it is also doing. It is calling Scott when I think about it versus just continuing to bury those thoughts. I think of telling people that I don't respond to them when I am busy. Does this busy including sitting in front of the TV for multiple hours watching TV? Last night I told my oldest son something that he did not find welcome, but at least I voiced it without just speaking about him behind his back.
This is how I am to live, because I want to give glory to God. I am not to live like this with the motivation of gaining acceptance by God.
James 1:16-17 -- Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
This is how I am to live. It is not simply showing up at a service and lifting my hands up to show I am praising God. It is that, but so much more.
Summary: In the way I live - speak, look, act - my life is to ascribe to God the glory due Him.
Promise: We do not design worship for unbelievers but for the glory of God and the edification of His people.
Prayer: O Lord, how wicked I am and holy that You are. For me to truly give glory to You, I must yield my entire life to You. I want to do this. I will fail, but I have a goal to glorify You in all I do and say which includes my thoughts. Lord you deserve this and I pray my life is honoring to You.
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