THE WHY – WEEK 3
GLORY – IS GOD A MEGALOMANIAC?
FEBRUARY 1, 2026
ISAIAH 42:1-8 – Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. 2 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; 3 a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. 4 He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.
5 Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it: 6 “I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, 7 to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. 8 I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.
ISAIAH 42:8 – I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other.
ROMANS 1:22-23 – Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
JAMES 4:6 – God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
PROVERBS 16:18 – Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
EXODUS 3:14 – “I AM WHO I AM.”
PSALM 90:2 – Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
ACTS 17:24-25 – The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
ISAIAH 42:8 – I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.
God’s glory and your joy are not competing goals.
They are inseparable.
“Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.”
Westminster Shorter Catechism
PHILIPPIANS 2:6-8 – Though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
PHILIPPIANS 2:9-11 – Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
A megalomaniac demands glory at the expense of others.
God secures glory by giving Himself for others.