You are worthy, O LORD, to receive glory and honor and power: for you have created all things, and for your pleasure they are and were created. Revelation 4:11
Here is the very foundation of worship: That God should be worshiped and receive all the glory bcos He created us. Meaning: Creatures should acknowledge that they are created, and acknowledge Him who created them, and be thankful He created them. He is worthy of this.
Then, they should understand WHY He created them : For His good pleasure. This text goes deeper than merely stating that God just decided to create us, and that’s that – or, that’s all there is to it. No, it’s deeper than that, when we consider God’s reasons for doing things. If we just leave it at that, that God just decided that and that’s that, then we dishonor Him.
We need to look at the meaning of His actions to see into His nature. Why did He create man? The text here says that He thought it a good thing to do. Why was it a good thing to do? Bcos it reveals His glory. As His creatures we can say that it was a good thing He did, that He made us. Aren’t you glad that men and women exist? That you exist? Wasn’t it a good idea?
And…. here’s the heart of this text: The joy in the heart of God over the sons and daughters He has made. God is love, so it was only fitting that men and women be made in His image so that they can know His love and love Him.
So… If God made us for His pleasure, then shouldn’t He be our pleasure? If we are His pleasure, shouldn’t He be our pleasure?
He takes pleasure in us, shouldn’t we take pleasure in Him? No matter where you end up, or whatever happens to you, can’t He still be your pleasure? Can’t you still take pleasure in Him, no matter what happens to you?
And, when the opportunity presents itself for you to take pleasure in sin and indulge that pleasure, will you take more pleasure in God?
Having God as your pleasure : That’s different to an outward conformity to the word of God, which does not spring from a heart of love.
All the law is fulfilled simply in this, that He is our pleasure, that we love Him (Matthew 22:37-40). Not the things He created, but Him alone. He is your exceeding great reward (Genesis 15:1b).
(Then, in the next chapter [Revelation 5:6-14] the focus then shifts to the worthiness of The Lamb.)
Ian Vincent 
May 15, 2012 at 12:52 am
Here’s an old post: https://ianvincent.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/we-were-created-to-glorify-god/
We were created to glorify God
The twenty four elders fall down before Him that is sitting on the throne, and worship Him that lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, You are worthy, O LORD, to receive glory and honor and power: for you have created all things, and for your pleasure they are and were created. Revelation 4:10-11
That is the only reason He created us. Yes, you can say that He created us for fellowship, to be His children, yet, ultimately, in glory, we will understand that even that fellowship was designed for His glory, and that it is right that it should be so (When you live for His glory, YOU don’t miss out on anything. It is only the immature or carnal Christian who thinks that they would be missing out if they lived for God’s glory alone, and at this point we are tempted, and our flesh resents this fact).
Therefore, really, our sole responsibility, in this life, is to find out HOW He wants us to glorify Him : To find the specific path and work He has ordained for us, to find out which gifts He has given us, as His chosen means to glorify Him, according to the grace He has given us in Christ, and according to the measure of faith He has given us, and then joyfully and faithfully carry out that work and complete it, just as our LORD Jesus was obedient to His Father and finished the work that was given Him, and as Paul could say, …I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith… 2 Tim 4:7.
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of ministries, but the same LORD. And there are diversities of workings, but it is the same God who works all in all. 1 Corinthians 12:4-6
Notice that God works in His people by giving them each specific gifts. If each individual functions within the gift/s he has been given, only then is he glorifying God. (This is where religious ambition is a man’s undoing, it unravels him, bcos it does not glorify God, it is seeking one’s own glory)
Therefore, to suppress the gifts of the Spirit, in the members of the body of Christ who assemble together in Jesus name (church), is to suppress the glory of God. It is REBELLION against God to suppress the individual gifts of the Spirit, which God has given each Assembly, for His glory. It is to rob Him of glory. Tradition suppresses the gifts.
The true Christian life, as a disciple of Christ, boils down to this : Know that you were made for His glory – Know that the very reason He has redeemed you is for His glory and His glory alone. Once that is settled, then simply keep seeking His will, and as He reveals the specific work He has allocated for you, then do it, for His glory alone.
And in every facet of life, never forget that it is His glory which is the issue. It is far more than our work which brings Him glory, it is how we live in this world – how we face up to the pressure of being Christ’s ambassadors in a hostile world – how we bear up to persecution, hate and slander, etc.. No cross, no glory. No victory, no glory. No overcoming sin, the flesh and the devil, then no glory. No warfare, no glory. No pain, no glory. No struggle, no glory. No suffering for doing right, no glory.
Anyway, nowhere does the NT separate a man’s private life from his work and his public ministry – it is all incorporated as one life, at the judgment.
To recap, find out how He wants to be glorified in your life, and then do it, no matter how unglorious it may appear to christendom.
Lay all self-seeking down, and repent in tears, if necessary.
A simple life-test is to ask, Does Jesus get ALL the glory?
When He is glorified, that is reward enough.
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To Jesus, who was crucified in my place, who suffered for my sins, who was cut off from God in my place, when it should have been me that was condemned, and who paid for the sin of the world – to Him be all the glory, and to His Father, forever, amen.
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Do you see the glory of God? I do. He is all glorious above.
I was singing this old song yesterday:
…All over the world, there’s a mighty revelation, of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea… (Hab 2:14)
God is not glorified by us trying to live in a glory cloud, as many charismatics have been taught. It is a deception. It is sensuality in a spiritual disguise.
See His glory, yes, and then, in the light of His glory LIVE and do His will, and then, that heavenly glorious vision of who Jesus is, results in glory in our life in the way that we live and live together in love as Christ’s own people.
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John 21:19 This spoke he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said unto him, Follow me.
Rom 15:9 And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to you among the Gentiles, and sing unto your name.
1Co 6:20 For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
1Peter 4:16 Yet if any man suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
May 15, 2012 at 4:33 am
From my Facebook discussion:
http://www.facebook.com/ian.vincent.5
It would be a losing cause to try and convince sinners that sin is not pleasurable. They would just think we are nuts and not listen anymore. They need to be convicted that they have been purchased/redeemed by the precious shed blood of Jesus, redeemed from sin unto Him. In this case, then, they are NOT denying that sin is pleasurable (it is) but they ARE denying their “right” to indulge it, for the sake of another. So, then we understand that God sovereignly allowed for sin to be pleasurable, so that when a man repents of his sin, he is really glorifying God, for he esteems God as greater than his own sensuality. He is then willing to die to what he loves, for the love of another, and then his heart is changed toward sin, so that he no longer loves it, but hates it, in relation to Jesus.
Another point: In the LEGITIMATE GOD-GIVEN pleasures of life we can glorify God by being thankful and acknowledging that He gave them. Like good food, a good house, good clothes, shoes, good friends…. and on and on. These are all God-given pleasures He wants us to enjoy and thank Him for, as He fellowships with us in all things good, pure and lovely. ………………………….When we acknowledge His goodness in every good gift, then He becomes our pleasure more than the things He gives.
May 16, 2012 at 10:28 am
Nice One!