For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. Rom. 11:36
The last cry of the reformers in their faith statement was that of Soli Deo Gloria which means, to God alone be the glory.
This sola is a summary statement. It’s like an umbrella that houses all the content, goals and declarations of the preceding four solas.
This is worthy of note and our consideration as today we live in a world that is so caught up in pursuing its own glory as the means end of all things. Even the church is so seduced into pursuing its business, its purpose and goals where the ‘end game’ is a glory that is heaped upon itself or its leaders. This can come in many subtle forms including, attracting big congregations, filling the financial coffers, producing mega star preachers, and even being the most proactive church planting church.
We must never loose sight of the truth that glory belongs to God alone or as one theologian said “God’s glory is the central motivation for salvation, not improving the lives of people—though that is a wonderful by product, God is not a means to an end—he is the means and the end.” Or, as the Westminster Catechism says, the chief purpose of human life is “to glorify God and enjoy him forever.”
Let me finish again with what James Montgomery Boice says of Soli Deo Gloria.
“It is what the apostle Paul expressed in Romans 11:36 when he wrote, "to Him be the glory forever! Amen. "These words follow naturally from the preceding words, "For from him and through him and to him are all things" (v. 36), since it is because all things really are from God, and to God, that we say, "to God alone be the glory." [monergism.com]