To God Be the Glory – Words: Frances J. Crosby, Performed: Stuart Townend
All Glory Be to Christ – King’s Kaleidoscope
Welcome back to the WORD in Music! This month’s post marks the end of our journey through the five solas. In review, we are saved by grace alone and not our own merit, through faith alone and not any work we can achieve, in Christ alone and not through any other mediator, and last month we looked at two songs that echoed the principle that all this is according to scripture alone. So what is the point of all this? Why has God given us salvation? Why did he even create us? It is not like Greek or Roman mythology, where the gods’ power was dependent on the prayers of his people. God stands alone perfectly content in all things, and contrary to the Church’s thinking when the reformation began, it wasn’t for Mary and the other saints. It was to the Glory of God Alone. As the graphic displays below God’s glory stands paramount above all!
We first look at the classic hymn, To God Be the Glory, written by the great Fanny Crosby (don’t have time to go into detail on her, but I highly encourage you take a few moments and read her bio at Hymnology Archive). In this great song we see that it’s not about us and how great we are, or that God needs us to believe in Him, but he does it for His name’s sake (1 John 2:12) to His glory!
“To God be the glory, great things He has done / So loved He the world that He gave us His Son / Who yielded His life an atonement for sin / And opened the life-gate that all may go in” If I wanted to condense this five part series in to one post I could have just written about this verse! Echoing John 3:16, the plan of salvation is laid out plainly yet beautifully! It is a great thing God has done, not because we deserve it, but in spite of never being worthy God saved us anyways. In the chorus Fanny expresses what our attitude should be in the face of such mercy and grace, giving Glory to God! “Praise the Lord, praise the Lord / Let the earth hear His voice / Praise the Lord, praise the Lord / Let the people rejoice / Come to the Father, through Jesus the Son / Give Him the glory, great things He has done.”
Our next song is All Glory Be to Christ, by King’s Kaleidoscope. Set to the melody of Auld Lang Syne, like the previous song, it points our hearts and minds to what it’s all about. The opening verse is another packed one, “Should nothing of our efforts stand / No legacy survive / Unless the Lord does raise the house / In vain its builders strive / To you who boast tomorrow’s gain / Tell me what is your life / A mist that vanishes at dawn / All glory be to Christ!” This quotes from two passages of Scripture. First Psalm 127:1, “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” Without God all we do is for nought. And the second passage continues this theme “yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” (James 4:14) When it comes to eternity our lives are but a mist, here and then gone in the blink of an eye! This isn’t said to depress you, but rather to point you to the things that matter. Christ said, “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:20). He’s not talking about making sure your investments are sound or that our accounts are somehow linked to heaven, but that we would turn our hearts to the things that matter (Matthew 6:21). What higher purpose can there be but the glory of God!
I want to be clear that God working for his glory is not an act of narcissism or vanity. But if we recognize that God is the utmost good, the most perfect being in the universe then there is no other reason for Him to work. And praise God we get to be a part of it. The third verse lays it out plainly, “When on the day the great I Am / The faithful and the true / The Lamb who was for sinners slain / Is making all things new. / Behold our God shall live with us / And be our steadfast light / And we shall ere his people be / All glory be to Christ!” Christ came that we might be restored to the Father! No more separation, no more tension!
These five solas, though focused on the issue of salvation, have a much broader application in describing how we should live our lives as Christians. For as we sin God’s grace is there (Romans 5:20), we are to live by faith and in Christ (Galatians 2:20), all we do should be according to scripture (Joshua 1:8), and all is done to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). Salvation is not the end of our journey, but simply the beginning. So as you listen to these songs again, search your heart and determine the motives of life. Is it to glorify yourself, your family, your friends? Or is your life pointing upward to God in all you do?
Finally I’ll end with the second verse of All Glory Be to Christ, “His will be done / His kingdom come / On earth as is above / Who is Himself our daily bread / Praise Him the Lord of love /
Let living water satisfy / The thirsty without price / We’ll take a cup of kindness yet / All glory be to Christ!” May the glory of God be center of all we do, and we seek him first for all sustenance and satisfaction!
Thanks for joining us through this dive into the five solas, come back next month as we return to our regular rhythm of looking for themes of Scripture in Christian songs. Until next time, keep looking for the WORD in music! #CultivatingFaithOrg
Photo by Rueben McChristian on Unsplash