The New Testament speaks often of honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ. We can read of how He was GLORIFIED by others and that He is worthy of OUR honor and GLORY. 
Scripture also instructs us how and when WE, as God’s people, can give the Savior what He deserves. Jesus Himself illustrates this principle in John 12:21-23. “Then the men came to Philip… and asked him saying, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus’. Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus. But Jesus answered them saying, ‘The hour has come that the Son of Man should be GLORIFIED”. These Greek men had come to Jerusalem to observe the Passover and wanted to see the Lord. Jesus, however, said it was the appropriate time for something else – His GLORIFICATION. Of course Jesus was speaking of His impending crucifixion on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, which was His ultimate GLORIFICATION from the Father. However, it is now the appropriate time for ALL to GLORIFY our Savior.
Since the Day of Pentecost, the Scriptures have made it clear that Christians are to GLORIFY Jesus Christ in their lives because of His atoning sacrifice and victory over the grave. Let us consider why we are commanded to do this and the reasons given for bringing GLORY to the name of Jesus in all that we do.
Why Are We To GLORIFY The Name Of Christ?
1-Because God has GLORIFIED Him – In the second Gospel sermon Peter preached, He reminded the multitudes of what Jesus did and what God then did for His Son. “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, GLORIFIED His servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go”. (Acts 3:13) If the Father GLORIFIED His Son for the suffering He bore and sacrifice He made for YOU and ME, how much more should WE be honoring, praising, and GLORIFYING His name daily.
2-Because the Holy Spirit GLORIFIED Him – The very words of the Savior told of the Holy Spirit GLORIFYING Him. “However, when He, the Spirit of Truth has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will GLORIFY Me, for He will take of mine and declare it to you”. (John 16:13-14). In these verses Jesus stresses the close relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Then He emphasizes that the Spirit in all His workings will not GLORIFY Himself, but will promote the GLORY of Christ.
3-In His humility, Christ did not GLORIFY Himself – With all His power, His honor, His miracles, His life-changing teachings, His exaltation by the Father, and His elevation to serve as our High Priest, Jesus did not GLORIFY Himself. “So also Christ did not GLORIFY Himself so as to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You’; just as He says also in another passage, ‘You are a Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek’. In the days of His flesh, He offered both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered”. Possibly more than any other, this passage confronts US with the lowliness, the humility, and the selflessness of our Savior. Yet He would not GLORIFY Himself! WE have an obligation to GLORIFY Him now with ALL OUR heart, soul, strength, and mind.
Specific Reasons To GLORIFY Jesus And Ways To Do It
1-We have the EVIDENCE of what Jesus accomplished on the earth and can easily show that evidence to others so that He can be GLORIFIED – All of us have copies of the inspired Scriptures in our homes that record Jesus’ life, His miracles, His teachings, His death on a cross, His burial and resurrection, and His ascension into Heaven to intercede for us. We have eyewitness accounts of all these things and events. We have His creation that declares to all His presence from the Beginning. WE have the EVIDENCE, so WE need to talk about it to others and show them the Scripture’s GLORIFICATION of Jesus so that He may be GLORIFIED in ALL OUR lives. “Therefore we also pray always for you that OUR GOD WOULD COUNT YOU WORTHY of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be GLORIFIED in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ”. (II Thess 1:11-12). The conclusion of these two verses is that if WE use the EVIDENCE that WE have for Jesus to talk to others about Him, He will be GLORIFIED and God will COUNT US WORTHY OF THIS CALLING.
2-Christ called US by His Gospel so that WE may have salvation and gain His GLORY – WE, as frail humans, have been chosen of God to partake in His GLORY. “…Because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the Truth. It was for this He called you through the Gospel that YOU may gain the GLORY of our Lord Jesus Christ”. (II Thess 2:13-14). Through His Word, the Lord constantly calls US so that WE may “Possess for ourselves the splendor of His GLORY” (NEB). What a blessing! What a thought!
3-If WE GLORIFY Christ in this life, WE will appear with Him in His Glory when He returns – If WE focus on eternity, this is a promise WE have from Him. “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth; For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in GLORY”. (Col 3:2-4). WE all need to look at life from Christ’s perspective and to seek what He desires for us. Through His sacrifice, He has given US the power to live for Him now and the hope of Heaven one day. “WHAT A DAY, GLORIOUS DAY THAT WILL BE!”
We can GLORIFY Christ: In OUR joyful and sincere WORSHIP; Letting OUR light shine and being an EXAMPLE to all; HONORING Him as Lord and Savior in every aspect of OUR lives; TALKING about Him to OUR children and grandchildren; and TALKING about Him to lost souls. OUR GLORIFICATION of Jesus Christ is commanded and is a privilege for US to perform. Let US take it personal and accomplish it.
“I am so wondrously saved from sin, Jesus so sweetly abides within,
There at the cross where He took me in; GLORY to His name.
Oh, precious fountain that saves from sin, I am so glad I have entered in;
There Jesus saves me and keeps me clean. GLORY to His name;
GLORY to His name, GLORY to His name;
There to my heart was the blood applied; GLORY to His name.”