So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.Whether therefore you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
11 sermons cite this verse
… Now, if you want to know God and make sense of his world and find lasting pleasure, you need to know that all that God does, he does from his fullness of glory and for his glory and that he means for his creatures to do all that they do for his glory. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 31. Whether you eat or whether you drink or whether you study, I'm adding that, or compete or date, do all to the glory of God. So number one, God made you for a purpose, for his glory. And it's so good. It is so clarifying. It is so stabilizing to a human soul to know your purpose. And to know that your purpose is not just a purpose, it's the purpose of the universe. So helpful. So SBU, in your classes, in your student life, learn your purpose. Know it. Love it. Live it. Number two, God made you for pleasure, which might feel in tension with the first. He made you for his purpose. …
… in everything we do and say not limited to the speech everything we do and say think first corinthians 10 31 whether you eat whether you drink or whatever you do do all to the glory of god now you might be thinking is it really this broad is the third commandment which seems to apply to speech primarily is it really this broad in everything that we do or say? Well, we shouldn't be surprised because last week, or two weeks ago rather, we learned that idolatry is more than just worshiping a statue or an inanimate object. Anything that takes God's place in our affections becomes an idol. Paul even calls covetousness, idolatry. So we shouldn't be surprised that the third commandment itself has a broader meaning for us to be following. So just as there's a wide all-of-life application for the second commandment, idolatry, so there is a wide all-of-life application for the third commandment, profanity. We are called to not take the Lord's name in vain, but rather, as the first petition of the Lord's prayer says, we are called to hallow it. So you can think of that first petition of the Lord's prayer as the positive side of obedience to the third commandment. In fact, if you think about the Lord's Prayer. The first three commandments are all present in the first petition of the Lord's Prayer. Our Father, you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourselves an idol who is in heaven, who does not live in temples made by man or consists of stone or gold or a …
… he's provided and seek to be a good steward over them, all for the glory of God. I love how simple Paul was in 1 Corinthians 10 31. He said, whether you eat or drink, he says, do it all for the glory of God. There's nothing you can't do for the glory of God, and I believe you are called to enjoy God's gift of life. Years ago, there was a sweet lady at our church, and if you were to ask her, hey, how are you doing? She would always say, oh, I am too blessed to be stressed. And it's just awesome, and it's true. Too blessed to be stressed. Psalm 128 verses 1 and 2. blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his way. And this verse two would surprise some people. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy and it shall be well with you. The New Testament speaks of this simplicity of life, this quietness, just enjoying the life that God's given us. Now listen, enjoying life as a gift from God versus pursuing enjoyment as the goal of this life are two very different things. Jesus did say that in the pursuit of your life, you'll lose it. But we can often go so far in the other direction. Ecclesiastes 2.25, I think the NASB 95 gets it really well. I think the new King James misses it a little bit. …
… I've had you turn to 1 Corinthians 10, Paul speaking. He says, so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, Do it all for the glory of God. Our goal today is to understand how we can move from what is normal in our culture and in our world and in our lives, what our flesh is going to point us to, what will take no resistance. Let me tell you something. You don't have to set out to be a glutton. If you just live in this world following your appetites, that's just automatically like it's like a moving cyborg. You just stand there and, you know, it's just that's where that's the default. all, okay? But we have to be fish swimming upstream to go against the current that's going to be the norm in this world to eat, like Paul says, to the glory of God. So Lord, would you help us to do that? Would you open up our eyes to see the power in your word? Would you give us strength, God, to make the hard yes where we need to? And we pray, God, that you would help us to see that As we follow you, your way is always better. …
… you're gonna see maybe a familiar verse but you're gonna see disciple making the center of it maybe for the first time look at first Corinthians chapter 10 verse 31 it's a very very common verse first Corinthians chapter 10 verse 31 Paul guys writing this says whatever whether you eat or drink or whatever you do do it all for the what glory of God so we do everything we drink orange juice to the glory of God. We do everything to the glory of God. Now what does that look like? Well, that's what he says next. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks, or the church of God, even as I try to please everybody in every way. Listen to what he says. This is the heart of a disciple maker. For I am not seeking my own good, but the good of many, so that they may be saved. He's living for the sake of the glory of Christ and others. Now listen to what says in 1 Corinthians 11, 1, follow my example as I follow the example of Christ. What a bold statement for Paul to come on the scene and say, you guys follow me and you will be following Christ. …
… and that means he wants us as his creatures to do all we do to his glory first corinthians 10 31 whether you eat or whether you drink or whatever you do do all to the glory of god we're going to come back to verse 13 in a minute because we need to see what that word it is. That's our key tonight. If you want to mark it and put your finger there, we need to know what the it is. What's the it in verse 13 that will make a name for God, that will glorify God. But for now, see that God made the world and he made you, and one day he'll remake the world for his glory. That's number one. He does all he does for his glory. Number two, God made you to long for and seek real joy. Or you could say, pursue satisfaction. Our subtitle in our theme, pursuing satisfaction in God. This is more surprising to many Christians than truth number one. …
… And why can he command us to do everything we do for his glory? Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Why can He do that? it's because he's worthy of all the glory more than we could ever give him more than the sun and moon and stars and mountains could ever say and because his glory is the best news in the world for people like us why do I find so much hope and comfort in him seeking worshipers? It's because when this God finds a worshiper, he gives us the spring of living water in him. Worship is our well of living water. And if he wasn't seeking, we would never find him. That's how blinding sin is. This God reveals his glory by satisfying the dry and weary souls of the undeserving of the sinful. That's the kind of God I want. And that's the only God there is. and this father was so relentlessly committed to finding you knowing you saving you that he sent his son into the world to die for you the woman says verse 25 I know that messiah is coming he who is called Christ when he comes he will tell us all things and Jesus says to her maybe you the clearest, most shocking statement that he makes about himself in all the Gospels. …
… He'd read it many times before, but it really spoke to him. It's 1 Corinthians 10 31, where Paul writes, whatever you do, you should do it all for God's glory. And it really speaks to his heart. And he says, from this time on, I want to try to do everything that I do for God's glory. And this becomes a driving passion of Methodists, to be real Christians, to seek to do God's will in everything, so to honor God. And I just want to ask you, you young adults and all of you, I'm looking right in the camera at every one of you and saying, what would happen in your life if every day you woke up and said, I want to do everything today for God's glory? Now, are you going to do it perfectly? No, you're going to mess up and you're going to ask for God's forgiveness later on. But what if that became one of your aims in life? Not how much money will you have in your retirement fund or, you know, what your house is going to be like somewhere, but instead my driving passion, my magnificent obsession is to honor God with my life. And that really was a driving passion of Methodism. It's part of our DNA. …
… You were bought with a price. Glorify God in your body. Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. I don't think there's any question from cover to cover that the dominant way that the Bible talks about the purpose of God in providence, in salvation, in creation, in redemption, in consummation, is that he aims for his glory to be known and loved and praised. and what we love to emphasize here at Bethlehem College and Seminary is that he created us that we might enjoy his glory. knowing his glory. Yes, essential. Loving his glory, delighting in his glory. Now, if you believe what we believe about this, it raises the affections, not just the thoughts, but what happens in your heart, not just your head, your affections, it raises them to the highest possible level because we argue that God is not glorified as he ought to be until you are satisfied in him as you ought to be. …
… is God's glory. So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, obviously that knocks out a whole bunch of things because he says do it all for the glory of God. It's not about what you do, it's about why you do what you do. It's not stressing over the decision about grad school. And whatever you do, whatever you do, and maybe this is a word today, somebody's stressing, I'm going to grad school and I got these two options left and I don't know which one God wants me to do and I'm so stressed out right now, please pray for me that I can find God's will. Am I supposed to go to Pepperdine? That's way too big for me. To which I would say, probably if you've been out there, that'd be strong yes for me. nothing wrong with Malibu or am I supposed to stay closer to home and go to grad school at George Tech mom and dad said oh you choose honey they're going dear God please send her to Tech and you're like, man, I don't know. …
… And again, 1 Corinthians 10 is a good place to find the answer to that, because it's right at the end of the chapter, 1 Corinthians 10, verse 31, whether then you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God. You don't want to offend anyone. You don't want to harm your testimony, because that's what comes in the next verse. Just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking My own profit, but the profit of many, so they may be saved. I don't want to do anything that's going to cause somebody to think I'm not a believer. And if I conduct myself with alcohol the way the pagan world does, that may cause someone to be indifferent to the gospel. And then a final question. Would it wound my conscience if I did it? You don't want to wound your conscience. This again is Romans 14. …