Sermon: To the Glory of God

#1676B
Martin G. Collins
Given 08-Oct-22; 36 minutes

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I do not know where this quote came from. I tried to find out the author of this, so I will just say this is from "anonymous," but it does have a a tie-in with the sermon, a good introduction. This person said, "It is at the whole world's expense that man pursues his own glory."

We see it in our prayers. We pray for ourselves much of the time. And even when we pray for others, it is often with a view toward what they can do for us or be toward us because we all still have human nature to overcome. So, much of what we do, even in prayer, has at least some element of selfishness motivating us.

Please turn with me to John 17. In contrast, Jesus is never selfish, nor are His prayers selfish. It is true, however, that He prayed for Himself and even the caption at the head of chapter 17 in my Bible says, "Jesus Prays for Himself." In His prayer recorded in John 17, He begins by praying for what concerns Himself, and rightly so.

John 17:1 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You."

But even here, the request is never for Jesus' interests as opposed to those of others. He asks to be glorified in order that He might in turn glorify the Father. Nor are these requests improper or even especially magnified. In Roman 16:27 Paul says, "To God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen."

Now one way glory is given to God through Jesus is that it is only through Jesus Christ that God can be known by us, and only through Jesus can we know God's glory in its fullest sense. In the upper room shortly before His arrest and crucifixion, Jesus gave His final teaching to His disciples and He spoke about going away from them, trying to prepare them for His death.

John 14:5-6 Thomas said to Him [you are very well aware of this], "Lord, we do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

This was puzzling to the disciples. That must have shown on their faces as He said this. But eventually Phillip voiced a deep desire which was and has always been the deepest longing for God's people. It was the desire Moses expressed on Mount Sinai when he asked to see God's face.

Exodus 33:18-20 And he [Moses] said, "Please, show me Your glory." Then He [the Lord] said, "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will be have compassion on whom I will have compassion." But He said, "You cannot see My face, for no man shall see Me and live."

We all have a strong desire to see God. But He is only revealed through Jesus Christ. And when Jesus revealed the Father, He said:

John 14:7-10 "If you had known Me, you would have known the Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father?' Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak of My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works."

So this was a clear and unmistakable statement that if we want to know what God is like, the place where we are told to find Him is by looking at Jesus Christ: His example, His character, His wisdom, His love, and His holiness.

Later in John's gospel, Jesus said the same thing. He is praying to the Father in what we call His High Priestly prayer and the theme of His prayer is glory.

John 17:2-5 "As You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I [Christ] have glorified You [the Father] on earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was."

This has to do with the honor given to the Father by Jesus Christ through His obedience, and the glory to be given to the Son by the Father through His resurrection and return to heaven.

Now, Jesus gives a reason for His prayer in the last half of John 17:10. There He says, not only do I pray for them because they, that is, the saints are Yours. And not only do I pray for them because We have a mutual interest in them. I also pray for them because I am glorified in them. So Jesus Christ is glorified in us as we live our lives as Jesus Christ lived His and taught us to.

How is Jesus glorified in us? There are several ways, if not many. He is glorified in us by saving us. It is His doing and the glory of it must rightly and inevitably go to Him.

II Timothy 1:8-9 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.

The second way that Jesus is glorified in us is that Jesus is glorified by our trusting Him in this life.

II Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.

Now the fulfillment of all the promises which God has made to His people, resulting in His glory and praise as a God of truth.

His making of such promises is an act that reciprocates His own glory back to Him—since it was of His grace that they were made; and the fulfillment of these promises in and through the church, helps produce a sense of all of His trustworthiness and goodness. And these things help us to live our lives as Jesus Christ did and glorify Jesus Christ and God the Father in living Their way of life.

There are many ways we show we do not really trust Him completely. We do not trust Him if we complain about our circumstances. We do not trust Him if we always worry about the future. And we do not trust Him if we are fretting over small disappointments every day, the frustration that we feel as we go through life and it does not work out the way we would like.

On the contrary, you trust Him and thus glorify Christ when you say, "I am His. I will live His way of life whatever the circumstances, whatever the sorrow."

Third, Jesus is glorified in His own people to the degree that we live a holy life (which I have been expressing). In I Peter 1, verses 13-16 the caption in my Bible says, Living Before God Our Father.

I Peter 1:13-16 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, '"Be holy, for I am holy."

You almost have those verses memorized. Holiness is the attribute of God most mentioned in the pages of the Word of God. That is quite surprising.

To hear most people talk about God today, you would think that the attribute most mentioned about Him is love, which is not true. Actually, holiness is. Love is substantially important and ultimately important. But as far as the Scriptures are concerned, they mention holiness more often, and various wordings of holiness.

Certainly God's love is a wonderful attribute and it is all the more wonderful because we do not deserve it. There is nothing in us that could possibly merit the love of God. He just loves us because that is who He is and that is the way He is. But He certainly loves us as His people as we begin to obey Him and He loves us in a deeper sense. This makes the love of God particularly wonderful. But even with this wonder, it is not the attribute of God most mentioned in the Bible, which was surprising to me of course, and I am sure it is to you. The attribute most mentioned His holiness.

So if we would glorify Him, we must make His holiness known by being willing for Him to work through us as we attempt to live upright, dedicated lives. If we live in spiritual adultery, compromising with the values of society, if the priorities of this non-Christian culture becomes our priorities, we are not living away that glorifies Him. But if, by contrast, the priorities of the Word of God motivate our thoughts and actions and we strive for righteousness in our lives, then we do glorify Him.

We can ask ourselves the question: Are there other things in my life things that I want or pay attention to that take up more of my time than my attention to Jesus Christ and God the Father? And there are times during our lives when that happens. It might be just for a moment or it might be a longer period and that is something that we absolutely have to work on overcoming. God must be our priority in everything—everything. How can you go beyond everything?

The fourth way that Jesus Christ is glorified is we glorify Jesus Christ by our witness of Him before the world. It is essentially important for us to believe in Christ as Savior and trust Him. It is equally important to live a holy life and it is especially important as we are at the Feast of Tabernacles because we are in a larger group and we have a greater opportunity to set a fine example of God's way of life. And we have already done that here in the last five years that we have been here at this hotel. Their staff just love us here and it is because of, they said, we have no problems at all with your people. And so that is the way we glorify God, by setting that example and we can especially do that as a group.

The fifth (and final) way we may glorify Jesus Christ is by our dedication to promoting the announcement of His soon-coming Kingdom. Not just verbally, but also by our actions in support of God's church.

In John 17, we see Jesus Christ praying for us and as He does, giving the reasons for His intercession: because we belong to the Father, because He and the Father have a mutual interest in us, and because He is glorified in us. Before we go to John 4, let me make a statement first. Jesus prayed for His disciples and for the future church that would come into existence through their testimony. And His point was that He had made God known to them. So Jesus summed it up in John 17:22 saying, "And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one."

So we not only have to individually set an example in order to glorify God, but we have to do it corporately. We have to do it as one body. In other words, God is glorified through Jesus Christ because the nature of God has been made known to God's people through Jesus' life and testimony. It is only through Jesus that we can go to God in spirit and in truth to worship, because worship means praising and glorifying God.

John 4:23-24 "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Later, Jesus adds this qualifier in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

Now, there is a wonderful illustration of this truth in the Old Testament and you are familiar with it. It is the Shekinah Glory that was a visible manifestation of the presence of God among the children of Israel during the days of the wilderness wandering—the cloud that guided the people in the desert and settled down upon the Tabernacle when they camped. By day it was a pillar of cloud and by night it was a pillar of fire. And when it came to rest upon the Tabernacle and entered the Most Holy place of the Tabernacle to abide between the wings of the cherubim above the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant, it became a bright light, a very bright light.

This was a symbol of the intense holy presence of God that was so pure and so terrifying that no one could enter the Most Holy place and live. In fact, if anyone attempted to to do so, they would be immediately struck down except for the high priest following the instructions of God.

This was what any Israelite would immediately have thought about when a person spoke of God's glory, an unapproachable earthly symbol.

Exodus 33:20 [God replied] "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me and live."

And that is what they had in mind when they saw the Holy of Holies or knew what was there.

In Matthew, 27:51, Matthew tells us that when Jesus died, at that moment the curtain of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The curtain separated the room of the Temple known as the Holy Place from the room known as the Most Holy place, which housed the Ark of the Covenant. So the tearing of the veil showed that the way into the presence of God, into the very presence of His glory, has now been opened up to us by the death of Jesus Christ. Apart from His death for our sins, none of us could approach God and live.

But now, because of His death and through faith in Him, even the poorest and least distinguished of God's people can approach God joyfully and without fear and offer worship that the Father will accept. What a wonderful blessing that is compared to what the ancient Israelites had in the separation that was with them.

All this is possible only through Jesus Christ. It is through Him that we can know God, it is through Him that we can come to God, and it is through Him alone that we can give God glory. In I Corinthians 10:31 Paul admonished us, "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Do all to the glory of God.

Is there ever a time where we are not held responsible for not glorifying God in the way we are living? We may not speak it every time, but the way we are living and going through life, in the way of our example and witness, we are glorifying God and that glorifying God is through Jesus Christ. The phrase, the glory of God is, in a sense, equivalent to the honor of God. And the direction is that we should act this way in all things as to honor Him as our Creator, our Lawgiver, and our Sustainer. And in this way we will lead others, by our example, to praise Him and to embrace His truth.

Every aspect of every Christian's life has the potential to honor God. We have the ability, we have God's Spirit in us, we have the ability to glorify God in all that we do. A child honors his father when he appreciates and respects and humbly serves him, when he abides by his rules, when he is thankful for his advice, when he supports his plans and his interests for his family, and when he acts in a way that upholds his father's dignity. He dishonors him when he has no respect for his authority, when he breaks his rules, and when he acts in a way that causes others to disrespect him.

In the same way, we live to the glory of God when we honor Him in all the situations in which He sustains us, when we keep His laws, when we share His blessings thankfully, when we faithfully depend on Him, when we sincerely pray to Him, and when we humbly live our lives in a way that shows the excellence of His goodness and His mercy and His holiness.

I mentioned there sharing His blessings thankfully. That is definitely a specific thing that we can do here at the Feast, as we heard in the other earlier messages. Whatever plan or purpose that will promote knowledge of His Kingdom and will show Him in the best possible light will be to His glory.

Here are five essential principles concerning glorifying Him.

The first one is glory, including holiness, is universal. There is no limit to it. It extends to everything. And even if it involves small matters such as eating and drinking, we should honor God and we should honor Him in all things.

Luke 16:10 "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much."

The second way is that God designed glory, including holiness, to be the constant rule of conduct and we must be reminded of it often. Eating and drinking must be accomplished often to sustain our lives physically; and the role of holy conduct requires that we are reminded of it often to sustain us spiritually, so that we do not forget it. That is why we have the messages that we do during the year and the material we have to read about God's Word and God's Word itself—to read and read and read and study every day—so that we are reminded of this constant rule of conduct, that we have to be holy to glorify God in it.

Deuteronomy 6:6-8 "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes."

Well, we are a family here today. And for the next 7-8 days we are going to be a family closer than we are when we are separate. And so we have this opportunity to be encouraging one another with God's Word and encouraging one another to be the good example and to help others.

The third way is that God commands us to glorify and honor Him in our families and among friends, which I was just talking about. We eat with them. We share the abundance of God's blessings. And God requires that we honor Him when we receive His mercies. Our daily lives should be sanctified by a constant effort to glorify Him. The longer we live God's way of life, the more it becomes natural to us. And the more we glorify Him without even thinking about it, as far as thinking that, "Oh, this is glorifying God." We do do that and we should. But when it is our way of life we are glorifying God constantly.

The fourth way is, we should apply the strength we have received from the abundant blessings He provides to His glory and in His service. He gives us food. He makes it nourishing. He invigorates our bodies. And that strength should not be applied to sinful efforts. It extremely dishonors God when He gives us the strength and we apply it to own wishes or to something that may be sinful or may be a greater priority than God.

Psalm 18:32 It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect.

We must rely on the strength God gives us and the blessings God gives us.

The fifth way is we have to pass along the principle of glorifying God. The principle of glorifying God is designed to be the primary directive of our lives. This goes along with setting God and glorifying Him as our highest priority. It must guide all our conduct. That constitutes a test by which to try all our thoughts and actions. Whatever can be done to achieve glorifying and honoring God is right; whatever cannot be done with that end may be wrong. Whatever plan we form that will glorify and honor God is a good plan, and whatever we do, do all to the glory of God.

Deuteronomy 8:11-14 "Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied [and all of that is God's blessing]; when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage . . .

Deuteronomy 8:16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end—

Whether God brings suffering upon us or whether He brings blessing, it does good in the end. No matter what happens to us as God's children, having God's Holy Spirit, no matter what happens to us, it ends in good. It may be down the road some or might be shortly afterwards, but it always ends in good.

Deuteronomy 8:17-19 then you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.' And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods [or if you have a higher priority that is not God], and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish."

Those are very strong words, some of the strongest words in the Bible, and they are terrifying. Actually, if we are not wanting to do God's way of life, this is the answer to why God allows to both suffer and also blesses us. He does this so we do not forget Him, to humble us, to test us, to perfect our spiritual character, and to stop us from thinking that we can do anything meaningful apart from Him.

I am going to change gears here for just a moment. The broad purpose of the book of Ezekiel is to remind Israel and their descendants of the cause for their destruction and of their coming national restoration. Central to that hope is the departure of the glory of God from the Temple in Jerusalem in Ezekiel, chapters 9 through 11, and the prediction of its ultimate return in Ezekiel 43. The glory of God is the revelation of the character and presence of God and it is the manifested perfection of His character, especially His righteousness.

A major reason the glory of God departed from the Temple in Jerusalem is that there had been a famine of the fruit of righteousness, resulting in Sabbath breaking, idolatry, and violence in Israel. They had not glorified God by the way they lived their lives. As a result, the Gentile nations did not receive an accurate picture of God's way of life. And since Israel had not represented God with righteousness, God's glory was not visible to the Gentile nations and God was not being glorified. Therefore, His glory departed from the Tabernacle.

Sadly, the same thing can happen to any Christian individual or church that does not provide a good witness of God's way of life. God expects us to actively glorify Him by reflecting His glory in our attitudes and actions as an example of righteousness to others. Glorifying God is a requirement of God's church, according to the apostle Paul.

I Corinthians 6:20 For you were bought at a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.

God owns us. We have not a choice in this, we have to do it. We want to do it because we have God's Holy Spirit, the mind of God in us. Jesus revealed an important aspect of glorifying the Father.

John 15:8 "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples."

Christ is referring to the fruit of the Spirit and righteousness.

Galatians 5:22-23 The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Our attitudes should reflect this fruit.

Self-control is definitely something we need at the Feast, having so much money and so much food and things like that. But we are to feast, that is what this is for. But we have to do it with self-control.

The fruit of the Spirit grows in peace and produces more peace. And the lack of spiritual fruit produces violence. That is why Israel had so much violence during their history. James 3:18 says, "Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace." So as members of God's church and as individuals with God's Holy Spirit here at the Feast, we are to make peace. If there is any contention between any of us is, if there is any hard feelings between any of us, rectify it, make peace. That way the fruit of the Spirit can be produced in us as individuals and as a group, as God's church, as the bride of Christ.

Our homes should be peaceful places, not full of contentions. If peace is not present, the fruit of righteousness will struggle to grow, if at all. A crop needs a certain kind of climate to grow in, and righteousness needs a peaceful climate. God's church, as individuals and as a whole, is enabled by Jesus Christ to produce the fruit of righteousness and peace. And the result is that it glorifies the Father.

Philippians 1:11 Being filled with the fruit of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

For a final scripture, please turn to Hebrews 1. The glory of God is the revelation of the character and presence of God through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Christ is the brightness of God's glory.

Hebrews 1:1-3 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

What a glorious picture that is! What a magnificent thought that is. And we are going to be able to do that with Jesus Christ. Not sit at His right hand, per se, but we will be able to appear before His very throne. And I certainly look forward to that.

Jesus Christ reflects God's glory. God's church reflects Christ's glory, which reflects the Father's glory, similar to the way the moon reflects the sun in its brightness.

May each of us individually and as the bride of Christ reflect the bright light of Christ to the glory of our God and Father.

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