by Perry S. Fuller
"WHETHER, THEN, YOU EAT OR DRINK OR WHATEVER YOU DO,
DO ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD (First Corinthians 10:31"
Charles Spurgeon was a cigar smoker. That godly London pastor of a more than century past, who was as renown for his piety as he was for his pulpit ability, puffed on big black stogies for quite a number of years. And what is even more surprising, he claimed he did so for the glory of God. The year was 1874. During an evening service at the Metropolitan Tabernacle Spurgeon was preaching about prayer. He made the point that seemingly innocent habits may pose a serious threat to true fellowship with God. Upon concluding his sermon he suggested that a guest pastor from America, Dr. George Pentecost, speak to the same point. Pentecost—who probably did not know Spurgeon was a cigar smoker—related his own past enslavement to cigars and his subsequent deliverance, which he accredited solely to God. He felt smoking was a sinful habit requiring repentance. When the nicotine-free pastor from America had finished Spurgeon stood up and said, "Well, dear friends, you know that some men can do to the glory of God what to other men would be a sin. And, notwithstanding what Brother Pentecost has said, I intend to smoke a good cigar to the glory of God before I go to bed tonight." A good cigar to the glory of God! Did Spurgeon flinch, or was he dead on target?
Life Is A Bitch And Then You Die, so says the bumper sticker. This philosophy is so pervasive as to be axiomatic. Thus, in reaction, people waste days and nights, weeks and years in the relentless pursuit of pleasure rather than purpose. Such a manner of living is hollow and meaningless. Personal happiness has become the god of our age, whose countless minions here, there, and everywhere sacrifice their souls upon its altar. But Jesus said, "What profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul (Matt. 16:26)?"
"Who am I, and why am I here?" are ancient questions with contemporary significance, nevertheless they now trouble the conscience of nearly no one. Pleasure rather than purpose so consumes the interest of most folks that they rarely give serious thought to the claims of their Creator. Many never consider the reality of hell until they feel the flames. They may have gained the whole world, or at least a small part of it, yet they have lost their souls. No profit, just eternal loss.
The choice, however, does not have exist between pleasure and purpose. A few thousand years ago a very wise king disclosed the secret to having both. King David declared, "I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved (Ps. 16:8)." Purpose and pleasure meet in God because the chief end of man "is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever." Certainly King David never heard the words of the Westminster Shorter Catechism's first question and answer, but his steadfast focus upon God shows that he probably would have understood their meaning. In the same psalm, Psalm 16, he prays, "O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance (Ps. 16:5-6)." David knew what we can know. He understood our primary purpose is to glorify God; he knew, also, that our ultimate pleasure is to enjoy Him forever.
Our chief goal in life is to glorify God, but what does this really mean? The essence of glorifying God is captured in the response of Jesus to the Pharisees when they asked him, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law (Matt. 22:36)?" Christ answered by saying, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment (Matt. 22:37-38)." To glorify God is to make Him alone the preeminent object of our thoughts and our affections. It is to subject all of our motives and our methods to His revealed will. It is to maintain a clear conscience before Him at all times and in all things. To glorify God is to do what King David did: It is to set the Lord before us, always.
God categorizes human behavior as either obedience or disobedience to his revealed will. We live out our lives before an all-knowing God who sees everything we do and why we do it. Nothing escapes his knowledge. The Bible warns us that "there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account (Heb. 4:13)." We bow our intellect, emotion and will before the Sovereign over all or we rebel, but no matter what nobody goes unnoticed. Whole-hearted obeisance is the practical manifestation of glorifying our glorious God. First Corinthians 10:31 tells us to what extreme we are to take our submission: "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
It is very important to note that I Corinthians 10:31 is contextually located in a passage dealing with Christian liberty, specifically 10:23-31. The question being asked at the time was, "Under what circumstances is it lawful for a follower of Christ to eat food that has been offered to idols without committing idolatry himself?" The Apostle Paul carefully addressed the issue by equating deliberate participation in any pagan religious feast as idolatry (1 Cor. 10:14-22). Eating the food that had been offered to idols in that specific situation would be unlawful for a Christian. However, in those days it was common practice for the leftovers to sold to a meat market, wherein the sacrificial food would be resold to the public. Under those circumstances the victuals lost their ritualistic character and were perfectly legitimate table fare for any Christian who wanted to score a bargain and eat the stuff. Paul tells the Corinthian believers to enjoy whatever they purchased and, for conscience’s sake, not to ask questions about where it originally came from (v. 25). He also tells them to chow down at a pagan's home, again asking no questions for conscience's sake (v. 27). Paul goes on to emphasize that if eating meat once offered to idols involves a risk of troubling the conscience of the host, then abstinence is absolutely required (v. 28). The general principle laid down by the Apostle is this: In matters of Christian liberty—those things which are not definitively forbidden by God—do not practice what will violate your conscience before God, or what will offend the conscience of another person while in his or her presence. For example, the Word of God does not forbid me the pleasure of a cold beer on a hot summer day. I am free to enjoy a bottle of Sam Adams provided in so doing I neither offend my own conscience before the Lord nor the conscience of anyone in my company. Because there is a definite danger of slipping from the use to the abuse in matters of Christian liberty and, thus, into sin, God governs the freedom of his people by limiting it to what can be done for his glory. Therefore, under the influence of divine inspiration, the Apostle Paul wrote, "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
The apostolic exhortation to glorify God is not limited solely to the issue of Christian liberty. Paul enjoins the Corinthian believers to glorify their Lord in whatever they do. The whole spectrum of life is colored by this command. From the mundane to the monumental we must conduct ourselves in a manner consistent with God's redemptive purpose in Christ. Jesus came into the world to save his people from their sins. We exhibit the reality of that salvation by trusting Christ alone to save us from our sins and by seeking God's will instead of our own. Glorifying God in whatever we do means taking the lordship of Christ so seriously that our desires and decisions are controlled by the Cross. We consider the cost of redemption and we walk in grateful obedience to the Word of God, thankful that Christ died so we may live. Glorifying God in all things involves looking constantly to the resurrected Christ for the reasons why we must resist the world, the flesh and the devil. We see ourselves in our risen Savior, seated at God's right hand, and we realize our true citizenship really is in heaven. Because the present life is preparation for the next, consistency is essential to continuity.
Criticism is a loaded firearm, sometimes pointing right at our heads. After his remark on that fateful night in 1874, poor Spurgeon was looking down the barrel of an elephant gun. He was the most famous preacher in the world at the time. Everything he said and did pleased or displeased somebody. He could not escape the scrutiny of the public eye. Spurgeon had no choice but to defend his "scandalous" comment: "Together with hundreds of thousands of my fellow-Christians, I have smoked, and with them I am under the condemnation of living in habitual sin, if certain accusers are to be believed. As I would not knowingly live even in the smallest violation of the law of God, and sin is the transgression of the law, I will not own to sin when I am not conscious of it . . .When I have found intense pain relieved, a weary brain soothed, and calm, refreshing sleep obtained by a cigar, I have felt grateful to God, and have blessed His name: that is what I meant."
Few of God's people would condone Spurgeon's cigar smoking, although none should condemn him for lighting up. Although we may not approve of his practice, we must certainly appreciate his heart attitude. No detail of his life was reserved for self indulgence.
Publicly, when he stood in the pulpit preaching a sermon, or privately, when he sat on the edge of his bed puffing on a cigar, Spurgeon tried to set the Lord before himself always. He clearly saw the trajectory of life was to glorify his King in the tiniest of details. Perhaps this is why he carefully emphasized before a huge congregation of saints and sinners alike that he intended to smoke a good cigar to the glory of God.
Source here.
"WHETHER, THEN, YOU EAT OR DRINK OR WHATEVER YOU DO,
DO ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD (First Corinthians 10:31"
Charles Spurgeon was a cigar smoker. That godly London pastor of a more than century past, who was as renown for his piety as he was for his pulpit ability, puffed on big black stogies for quite a number of years. And what is even more surprising, he claimed he did so for the glory of God. The year was 1874. During an evening service at the Metropolitan Tabernacle Spurgeon was preaching about prayer. He made the point that seemingly innocent habits may pose a serious threat to true fellowship with God. Upon concluding his sermon he suggested that a guest pastor from America, Dr. George Pentecost, speak to the same point. Pentecost—who probably did not know Spurgeon was a cigar smoker—related his own past enslavement to cigars and his subsequent deliverance, which he accredited solely to God. He felt smoking was a sinful habit requiring repentance. When the nicotine-free pastor from America had finished Spurgeon stood up and said, "Well, dear friends, you know that some men can do to the glory of God what to other men would be a sin. And, notwithstanding what Brother Pentecost has said, I intend to smoke a good cigar to the glory of God before I go to bed tonight." A good cigar to the glory of God! Did Spurgeon flinch, or was he dead on target?
Life Is A Bitch And Then You Die, so says the bumper sticker. This philosophy is so pervasive as to be axiomatic. Thus, in reaction, people waste days and nights, weeks and years in the relentless pursuit of pleasure rather than purpose. Such a manner of living is hollow and meaningless. Personal happiness has become the god of our age, whose countless minions here, there, and everywhere sacrifice their souls upon its altar. But Jesus said, "What profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul (Matt. 16:26)?"
"Who am I, and why am I here?" are ancient questions with contemporary significance, nevertheless they now trouble the conscience of nearly no one. Pleasure rather than purpose so consumes the interest of most folks that they rarely give serious thought to the claims of their Creator. Many never consider the reality of hell until they feel the flames. They may have gained the whole world, or at least a small part of it, yet they have lost their souls. No profit, just eternal loss.
The choice, however, does not have exist between pleasure and purpose. A few thousand years ago a very wise king disclosed the secret to having both. King David declared, "I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved (Ps. 16:8)." Purpose and pleasure meet in God because the chief end of man "is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever." Certainly King David never heard the words of the Westminster Shorter Catechism's first question and answer, but his steadfast focus upon God shows that he probably would have understood their meaning. In the same psalm, Psalm 16, he prays, "O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance (Ps. 16:5-6)." David knew what we can know. He understood our primary purpose is to glorify God; he knew, also, that our ultimate pleasure is to enjoy Him forever.
Our chief goal in life is to glorify God, but what does this really mean? The essence of glorifying God is captured in the response of Jesus to the Pharisees when they asked him, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law (Matt. 22:36)?" Christ answered by saying, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment (Matt. 22:37-38)." To glorify God is to make Him alone the preeminent object of our thoughts and our affections. It is to subject all of our motives and our methods to His revealed will. It is to maintain a clear conscience before Him at all times and in all things. To glorify God is to do what King David did: It is to set the Lord before us, always.
God categorizes human behavior as either obedience or disobedience to his revealed will. We live out our lives before an all-knowing God who sees everything we do and why we do it. Nothing escapes his knowledge. The Bible warns us that "there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account (Heb. 4:13)." We bow our intellect, emotion and will before the Sovereign over all or we rebel, but no matter what nobody goes unnoticed. Whole-hearted obeisance is the practical manifestation of glorifying our glorious God. First Corinthians 10:31 tells us to what extreme we are to take our submission: "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
It is very important to note that I Corinthians 10:31 is contextually located in a passage dealing with Christian liberty, specifically 10:23-31. The question being asked at the time was, "Under what circumstances is it lawful for a follower of Christ to eat food that has been offered to idols without committing idolatry himself?" The Apostle Paul carefully addressed the issue by equating deliberate participation in any pagan religious feast as idolatry (1 Cor. 10:14-22). Eating the food that had been offered to idols in that specific situation would be unlawful for a Christian. However, in those days it was common practice for the leftovers to sold to a meat market, wherein the sacrificial food would be resold to the public. Under those circumstances the victuals lost their ritualistic character and were perfectly legitimate table fare for any Christian who wanted to score a bargain and eat the stuff. Paul tells the Corinthian believers to enjoy whatever they purchased and, for conscience’s sake, not to ask questions about where it originally came from (v. 25). He also tells them to chow down at a pagan's home, again asking no questions for conscience's sake (v. 27). Paul goes on to emphasize that if eating meat once offered to idols involves a risk of troubling the conscience of the host, then abstinence is absolutely required (v. 28). The general principle laid down by the Apostle is this: In matters of Christian liberty—those things which are not definitively forbidden by God—do not practice what will violate your conscience before God, or what will offend the conscience of another person while in his or her presence. For example, the Word of God does not forbid me the pleasure of a cold beer on a hot summer day. I am free to enjoy a bottle of Sam Adams provided in so doing I neither offend my own conscience before the Lord nor the conscience of anyone in my company. Because there is a definite danger of slipping from the use to the abuse in matters of Christian liberty and, thus, into sin, God governs the freedom of his people by limiting it to what can be done for his glory. Therefore, under the influence of divine inspiration, the Apostle Paul wrote, "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
The apostolic exhortation to glorify God is not limited solely to the issue of Christian liberty. Paul enjoins the Corinthian believers to glorify their Lord in whatever they do. The whole spectrum of life is colored by this command. From the mundane to the monumental we must conduct ourselves in a manner consistent with God's redemptive purpose in Christ. Jesus came into the world to save his people from their sins. We exhibit the reality of that salvation by trusting Christ alone to save us from our sins and by seeking God's will instead of our own. Glorifying God in whatever we do means taking the lordship of Christ so seriously that our desires and decisions are controlled by the Cross. We consider the cost of redemption and we walk in grateful obedience to the Word of God, thankful that Christ died so we may live. Glorifying God in all things involves looking constantly to the resurrected Christ for the reasons why we must resist the world, the flesh and the devil. We see ourselves in our risen Savior, seated at God's right hand, and we realize our true citizenship really is in heaven. Because the present life is preparation for the next, consistency is essential to continuity.
Criticism is a loaded firearm, sometimes pointing right at our heads. After his remark on that fateful night in 1874, poor Spurgeon was looking down the barrel of an elephant gun. He was the most famous preacher in the world at the time. Everything he said and did pleased or displeased somebody. He could not escape the scrutiny of the public eye. Spurgeon had no choice but to defend his "scandalous" comment: "Together with hundreds of thousands of my fellow-Christians, I have smoked, and with them I am under the condemnation of living in habitual sin, if certain accusers are to be believed. As I would not knowingly live even in the smallest violation of the law of God, and sin is the transgression of the law, I will not own to sin when I am not conscious of it . . .When I have found intense pain relieved, a weary brain soothed, and calm, refreshing sleep obtained by a cigar, I have felt grateful to God, and have blessed His name: that is what I meant."
Few of God's people would condone Spurgeon's cigar smoking, although none should condemn him for lighting up. Although we may not approve of his practice, we must certainly appreciate his heart attitude. No detail of his life was reserved for self indulgence.
Publicly, when he stood in the pulpit preaching a sermon, or privately, when he sat on the edge of his bed puffing on a cigar, Spurgeon tried to set the Lord before himself always. He clearly saw the trajectory of life was to glorify his King in the tiniest of details. Perhaps this is why he carefully emphasized before a huge congregation of saints and sinners alike that he intended to smoke a good cigar to the glory of God.
Source here.
