Matthew 15: Who gets the glory?

This is what verse 31 says…

So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.

The world is still adjusting to the age of social media, but one thing it does do is give you a window the lives of others who you know but really don’t know, people from the past, your high school, old home towns, that sort of thing. This has been a mixed blessing in my life. As a believer in Jesus Christ and a pastor I have been both encouraged and troubled by things I have read.

In the past few months I have been troubled by posts from people who I used to go to church with. I’ve moved on from that church, of course, but so have they. They are attending a very popular church in the area, and the posts I see them make about their church seem to never cease praising their pastor or others who have spoken in their church.

One of the sinful tendencies I know about myself is my tendency to be hypercritical and pessimistic, especially when I am suspicious about what I perceive to be a lack of zeal for the truth of the word of God. I believe such a lack of zeal for truth exists in this church — a belief, or suspicion, that has been confirmed over and over again in recent days, and one in which those Twitter and Facebook friends have been quick to post praises about their pastor, their guest speakers, and the excitement about “what is going on” at their church.

What is missing is glory to the God of Israel. And as I read Matthew 15:31 I am struck by the crowd seeing Jesus give speech to the mute, restore the crippled, etc. (all things Isaiah 35 points to in the Messiah, by the way). How did the crowd respond? By glorifying the God of Israel.

I don’t write this to condemn anyone, although to be quite frank I have serious issues with the church I allude to; however, but I challenge anyone who reads this to think about who they give glory to when they see and hear of great things in their church or any other church. God is the only One worthy of glory, so when we give glory to anyone else, even our pastors who labor mightily in the word (hopefully), we are in fact worshiping an idol. Give glory to the God of Israel alone!