All Glory Be To Christ
Dustin Kensrue
Should nothing of our efforts stand
No legacy survive
Unless the Lord does raise the house
In vain its builders strive
What if everything that you’ve built over the course of your life -your company, your body of work, your family’s wealth- is all undone within a couple of generations.
What if, one day, you’re remembered on earth for the very last time?
What if that was ok?
What if your life was about something more than you and your legacy?
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. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. Psalm 127:1-2
To you who boast tomorrow's gain
Tell me what is your life?
A mist that vanishes at dawn
All glory be to Christ!
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 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 4:13-14
There is no higher act of vanity nor lower exercise in futility, than to spend your gifted life scheming and planning and striving to gratify yourself.
Your own life is not enough to satisfy your thirst for Life.
You were made for more than yourself, you were made for the kingdom.
All glory be to Christ our king!
All glory be to Christ!
His rule and reign we’ll ever sing
All glory be to Christ!
Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! Why should the nations say,“Where is their God?” Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them. Psalm 115:1-8
What is he like? This king of the kingdom that we were made for? If we become like who we worship and glorify and trust in then what can we expect to become?
Well, for starters, the king of the kingdom that we were made for is a living king. He has a mouth and he speaks, he has ears and he hears, he has a nose and he can smell, he has hands and he feels, he has feet and he walks. But that’s just for starters.
His will be done
His kingdom come
On earth as is above
What are the bounds of this kingdom? How far does this king’s dominion reach and where does it end?
It is boundless. It reaches to the heights of heaven and to the depths of earth and everything in between. It encompasses all space created and it has no end, in space or in time.
Who is Himself our daily bread
Praise Him the Lord of love
And what about the character of the living king of the endless kingdom that we were made for? What is he like?
He is love. And he is not just “love in idea”, he is love in action.
He has loved and he is love-ing.
He has made his love tangible and manifest. He has made himself tangible and manifest that we may know his character, for his character is the law (and the only law) in the kingdom that we were made for.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 1 John 4:7-12
Let living water satisfy
The thirsty without price
We'll take a cup of kindness yet
All glory be to Christ!
What good news! What great joy! We, who could not satisfy our thirst for Life with our own lives, are now being confronted with the endless Kingdom of Life, and it is moving towards us.
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 4:17
All glory be to Christ our king!
All glory be to Christ!
His rule and reign we’ll ever sing
All glory be to Christ!
And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.
And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. Luke 6:17-22
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
What if everything that I’ve built over the course of my life is all undone? What if, one day, I’m remembered on earth for the very last time?
What if that was ok?
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. Revelation 21:1-7
Behold our God shall live with us
And be our steadfast light
And we shall ere his people be
All glory be to Christ!