In part 1 of this two-part article on glorifying God in our music-making, we laid the theological foundations for answering this essentially practical question by looking at how the Bible understands 'glory' and thus also 'glorifying'.
Though noting that often the Bible speaks of 'glory' synonymously with 'splendour' and 'glorifying' with 'honouring', we saw that fundamentally, God's glory is His infinite excellence, splendour and brilliance, encapsulated by His name, experienced in His presence, and embodied in the person of Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God. We concluded therefore that our present (as well as future) experience of glory must ever be connected to, indeed must be experienced in our union with, Christ.
All that laid the groundwork for answering the big question: what does it mean to give glory to God, to glorify Him? And these theological keystones actually reveal a surprisingly simple answer: to do something for the glory of God means to do it for Jesus.
To play your oboe for the glory of God means to play it for Jesus, seeking to honour Him.
To glorify God in your composition means to compose that piece for Jesus, seeking to honour Him.
To sing in your choir to God's glory means to sing for Jesus, seeking to honour Him.
To write your ethnomusiciology essay for the glory of God means to write it for Jesus, seeking to honour Him.
To glorify God in your harmony exercise means to do it for Jesus, seeking to honour Him.
To practise your harpsichord to God's glory means to practise for Jesus, seeking to honour Him.
That's all very well in theory, but what does this look like in practice? Let me suggest seven practical ways in which you may glorify God.
1. Praise
Sing to the LORD, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day. ...
For great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods. ...
Splendour and majesty are before him;
strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
One way in which we glorify (or honour) God is, obviously, by praising and worshipping Him, not least in song. And to give God glory is to ascribe to Him that which He already is/has, such as 'splendour' and 'majesty' (v.6) and the fact that He is 'great' (v.4).
Think about it: when we honour someone publicly, we simply declare their excellence, normally based on their actions. To do so with God is to 'give' Him glory - 'give' here being in quote marks to remind us that it is not a substance which God is lacking and which He needs us to provide for Him. Rather glory is a quality of who He eternally is, and so in praise, we merely declare that to Him as an act of worship.
So, if you consciously in your heart play your instrument (whether alone practising in your room, amongst your peers in a college masterclass, or on stage performing in front of hundreds) as a deliberate act of praise to Jesus, you glorify God in it, even if only He knows.
Witness
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvellous deeds among all peoples. ...
Ascribe to the LORD, all you families of nations,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to his name;
bring an offering and come into his courts.
Worship the LORD in the splendour of his holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth.
There is an evangelistic edge to the praise! Verse 3 tells us to go and declare God's excellence (His glory) to those who don’t yet acknowledge it. And verses 7-9 are an example of doing just that. So another way to glorify (i.e. honour) God is to tell others of Him and of how great and glorious He is, inviting them to join in our praise of Him.
If the Psalmist could declare this hundreds of years before the incarnation, how much more should we do so now, having experienced the saving power of Christ's cross and resurrection!
So, as you go about your music-making, if you seek to take every opportunity presented to you to share something of the goodness and love of Jesus and of the saving grace and power of His cross and resurrection such that they might come to worship Him themselves - whether that be amongst your peers (or even teachers and tutors) at music college, your colleagues in the choir, orchestra, or band, or the audience members who come to hear you play, you glorify God in it, even if nobody ever responds in repentance and faith.
3. Church
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Another way of glorifying God (and one which we might not immediately think of) is to prioritise His people. Paul's culmination to his grand gospel overview that takes up the first half of his letter to the Ephesians is to pray that God would have 'glory in the church and in Christ Jesus'. Here we learn that God’s infinite excellence may be, and indeed should be, exhibited particularly evidently in the church. Therefore no understanding of our present experience of glory is complete without having church, the people of God, at the centre of it.
So, if in your musical career you consciously choose to make getting stuck in at church a top priority, serving others and seeking to build them up and point them to Christ, and so much so that you are willing to turn down work that clashes with it, then you glorify God in it, even if your career suffers somewhat.
4. Service
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
Though Peter originally wrote these words in the context of instructing his readers about church life, the principles here remain: we are to use all that we have been given to serve others, rather than to big ourselves up, i.e for self-glorification. Notice that the end result Peter envisions is that God be praised and given glory as a result. This tallies with 1 Peter 2:12.
So, if you consciously choose to use your drumming not to draw attention to yourself and to feed your own ego but rather (in awareness of your complete indebtedness to God for giving you the talent and all the opportunities you have had) to serve others, be that the audience that comes to listen to your gig, the underprivileged children at the local primary school who normally lack opportunities for musical tuition, or the congregation at church as they lift their voices in song to God, you glorify God in it, even if others praise only you.
5. Suffering
But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
Peter indicates that if we do indeed use our gifts to serve others rather than ourselves, we will get mocked, or possibly scorned, or even actively persecuted for it. Yet in the very moment of being insulted because of the name of Christ, you are, Peter declares, 'blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.' Amazing words.
Glory is (obviously) glorious, yet since 'people love darkness instead of light because their deeds are evil' (John 3:19), those who exhibit glory should expect to suffer at the hands of unbelievers.
So, as you share the gospel with colleagues in the choir, or turn down gigs so as to be at the church home group to which you have committed, or choose to serve the old folks in the local care home - if you are mocked, or looked down upon, or have nasty gossipy slander about you spread behind your back, or lose out on potentially career-defining or lucrative roles, or are subject to false accusations, or are hounded out of your orchestra because of the name of Christ, and you bear it all patiently and trustingly, even 'rejoicing because [of being] counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name', you glorify God.
6. Prayer
Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
As Jesus forewarns His disciples of His imminent departure (via the Cross), He gives them this marvellous promise, that He will accomplish whatever they ask in His name. However, this is not a carte-blanche to ask Him for whatever we want, as though He were a genie in a bottle (the "name it and claim it" idea that appends every prayer with "in Jesus' name" as though that will do the trick) - no, rather there is a condition: that whatever it is may lead to the Father being glorified in the Son. Thus anything that is asked in line with God's will and which will honour (glorify) Him, Jesus promises to accomplish, and so to pray to Jesus at every opportunity concerning absolutely anything is another way to give Him glory.
So, as you stand in the wings before entering the stage, or as you wait for the invigilator to permit you open the music history exam paper, or as you sit down prior to several hours' worth of piano practice, or as you await the arrival of the untalented private pupil who never practises - if in those moments, and hundreds more, you pray to Jesus that however nervous, excited, or reluctant you feel, He would help you nevertheless to honour Him in your thoughts, words and deeds, you glorify Him, even if you do not consciously think of Him once throughout the musical task you then perform.
7. Waiting
For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ
These verses recall just how central the return of Christ is in terms of glory - that it will be a moment, from an earthly perspective, of unparalleled glory, manifest in an unmistakable way. And thus one other way in which we glorify God is consciously to wait for that future glory to appear, chiefly through the living of 'self-controlled, upright and godly lives' (v.12).
So, if, as your bandmates share lewd comments or photos on their phones to pass the time backstage, you consciously choose uprightness and godliness by looking away and not participating, conscious that Jesus is alive and that 'each of us will give an account of ourselves to God' (Romans 14:12); or if, as your orchestral colleagues begin slandering the conductor who is admittedly something of a hot-headed tyrant, you choose to remain self-controlled, reining in your tongue and refraining from joining in even when it would be so easy to, aware that the Lord Jesus hears all and is coming back one day soon; or if, as you are offered gigs, you accept them and put them in the diary with an inward acknowledgement that they may never take place because Jesus may return 'and all the angels with him' (Matthew 25:31) beforehand, you glorify God, even if the Second Coming takes place long after you die.
Conclusion
Some of you will have noticed that all seven of those things, connected in Scripture with glory in one way or another, are also really just standard elements of the Christian life. And hopefully this helps to demystify what it means to do something, and in our case specifically our music, “to the glory of God.”
There is no great mystery here – it simply means to do whatever it is for Jesus Christ, seeking His honour - it is to praise Him, to seek to introduce others to Him, to prioritise your local church as a place where you might do that, to serve others in whatever music-making you do, to expect and when necessary endure suffering because of His name, to pray to Him in all things, and all the while persevering in godliness as you consciously wait for Him to return.
In short, it is all about Jesus, and the wonder of the gospel is that because in salvation we are united to Him such that He lives in us - 'Christ in you, the hope of glory' (Colossians 1:27) - and we live in Him, therefore both our present and future experience of glory is orientated around Him receiving glory. And that happens as we do everything for Him. Not least our music.
