Category Archives: God – Giving glory to

Soli Deo Gloria (2)

Reformation Sunday ended as it began, with thoughts of soli deo gloria. We tuned in to the evening service from Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, PA. The music was uplifting (as ever), but the overwhelming sense of the service was that it was all soli deo gloria. That was so clear from lance Lewis’s exposition of Romans 3: “A Theology for the City”. We sang James Montgomery Boice’s hymn Give Praise to God, and Philip Ryken gave Romans 11:33-36 as the benediction.

The challenge today (Monday morning) is how to continue living soli deo gloria.

Soli Deo Gloria (1)

Apparently this is what J. S. Bach wrote on every piece of music he wrote.

As I think and write on Reformation Sunday morning 2006, in another part of our home the strains of

and glory give to God alone.

It captivated him, just as it did the Apostle Paul in Romans 11:33–36, and the prophet Isaiah before him. No wonder the Westminster Divines placed it at the start of the Westminster Shorter Catechism:

Man’s chief end is to glorify God.

Undoubtedly Bach wrote SDG on his music as more than an acknowledgment that he wanted to bring glory to God through his music; it was an acknowledgment that soli deo gloria was his principal purpose in life—his chief end.

So the question is what is my chief end in life? Is it PFW or XYZ or SDG?