In our culture today especially in America is alien to the thinking of the prophet and the Apostles. In fact the Apostle Paul said that people would especially in the last days be lovers of self, boastful, proud, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And what is that power of godliness? Paul says elsewhere, “The gospel is the power of God unto salvation.” Both for justification and for sanctification. It’s possible, Paul warns Timothy, to have a superficial form of religion, that is actually narcissistic, that is, focused on the self and its felt-needs. By contrast, the gospel calls us out of ourselves raising our eyes to God and his purpose for our lives, a purpose that we have fallen far short of reaching, but that he has nevertheless has secured for us in Jesus Christ.

For generations, millions of children have learned the first question and answer of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, “What is the chief end of man? Answer: The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” Notice the double emphasis here: created by God for God, his glory and our joy go hand in hand. God’s glory isn’t set over against our enjoyment rather our deepest joy is fully satisfied in God’s glory and God’s glory is most fully manifest in our salvation. Well, today it seems the new catechism goes more like this, “The chief end of man is to use God and enjoy himself forever.” It’s rarely expressed this brazenly, but a lot of popular presentations come pretty close. Think of some of the best-selling books, like Joel Osteen’s, Your Best Life Now, which offers a God who exists to make sure you are enjoying your self. Or, from a while back, Robert Schuller’s, Self-Esteem: The New Reformation. As R.C. Sproul has said, “the Great Awakening came when a whole generation was gripped by Jonathan Edward’s ‘Sinners In the Hands of an Angry God,’ but today it’s more like, ‘God in the hands of angry sinners.’” Instead of us being on trial before a holy God for our treason, God’s on trial for apparently failing to not give us what we want, when we want it. Instead of God saving us from his just judgment, the new gospel says that God saves us from loneliness, boredom, stress, and low self-esteem. The Bible tells a story of God’s victory over sin and death, casting us as new characters his play. American spirituality offers tips for gaining our own victory over our daily problems with God’s help. The Bible says that we’ve fallen short of the glory of God, the popular message today says that we’ve fallen short of realizing the American Dream.

As Columbia University historian Eugene Rice has observed, “The Reformation’s cry Soli Deo Gloria, to God alone be glory, represents the gulf between the secular imagination of the twentieth century, and the sixteenth century’s intoxication with the majesty of God.” You see folks, if God has saved us by his grace alone, by Christ’s merits alone, and even the faith through which we are justified is his gift, then God alone receives all the glory. That ‘s why all of the other solas, or “onlies” we have considered point ultimately to this one. What else can the truth that God alone saves yield than the exclamation of praise? As Paul says, “For of him and to him and through him are all things to whom be the glory forever and ever.”

- Michael Horton, The White Horse Inn, November 11, 2007 Broadcast – “Soli Deo Gloria”