Believe and glorify God
Believe Again: Gospel of John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 57:54
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· 11 viewsJesus’ purpose in coming to earth was to to go to the cross. You might think that Jesus’ goal was the cross, but there was another goal beyond that one - to glorify God. Jesus showed us the goodness and beauty of God against the backdrop of His own suffering and death. Now our goal is to reflect the same. As we walk through these chapters, we will be paying close attention to how Jesus glorified God and how we can glorify God.
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Our theme for 2022 is “Begin Again”
This series is called, “Believe Again”
You may have already believed the gospel, but it is time to believe again.
We began with “Believe in Jesus”
Then we talked about believing in spiritual reality.
We talked about how an encounter with Jesus leads to transformation, living in both realities.
We talked about life - remember the great circle of life - God’s life in us and flowing through us?
We talked about light and how light displaces darkness and exposes what is hidden.
We talked about truth and freedom. - that knowing the truth about God and about yourself sets you free from guilt and condemnation.
We talked about how Jesus shows us the Father as a Good Shepherd who loves us and who has a plan to redeem us.
We talked about God’s power and how true power is found in obeying God.
last week was about believing and abiding.
Abiding is consistently dwelling on love, hope and joy.
We are getting toward the end of our series.
We will cover another three chapters today, Jesus’ prayer, his arrest and crucifixion.
Jesus’ purpose in coming to earth was to to go to the cross.
We see hints of it all through Johns Gospel.
31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’
We know that Jesus had to die on the cross to break the curse of sin over humanity.
Mankind had become entirely selfish, violent and corrupt.
Jesus had to do the opposite, lay his life down, to take back the authority that mankind was given on earth.
You might think that Jesus’ goal was the cross, but there was another goal beyond that one - to glorify God.
Jesus is constantly saying that His purpose is to glorify God.
That is our purpose as well.
The Westminster shorter catechism (1647) is famous for its first question and answer.
Quest. 1. What is the chief end of man?
Ans. 1. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.
What is glory?
Glory is the full manifestation or realization of God’s goodness.
18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.
God’s glory is his goodness, His name and his attributes.
To glorify God is to see those things and to make them known.
The glory of God is the splendor and brilliant beauty that shines through all of the divine attributes but is especially evident in the crucified and risen Christ.
Jesus showed us the goodness and beauty of God against the backdrop of His own suffering and death.
Through Jesus, we see what real love is and God’s love for us.
Now our goal is to reflect the same.
Sure, we might encounter suffering too - Jesus as much as promised that we would.
But suffering is not the goal - glorifying God and enjoying His goodness is the goal.
As we walk through these chapters, we will be paying close attention to how Jesus glorified God and how we can glorify God.
Glorify God with what Jesus gave you.
Glorify God with what Jesus gave you.
John 17 is Jesus’ High Priestly prayer.
He is praying for us, His followers and His follower’s followers.
1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
The irony is that Jesus’ darkest hour is also going to be His most glorious.
What Jesus is about to do is going to re-establish His authority over heaven and earth.
But the rest of the prayer is not about Him, but about us.
Glory is not just about being great, but making other people greater.
You can live your whole life for your own glory, but will anyone remember you?
What about the person who lives to lift other people up, to make them better people?
That person will be remembered for the glory that they gave to others!
Jesus wants to be remembered for what He gave.
As I read this chapter, what jumped out at me was the things that Jesus gave us.
The things that Jesus gave us are what we use to glorify God.
He gave us His name.
He gave us His name.
6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.
Just as Moses on the mountain was hidden in the Rock while God passed in front of him and declared His name, Jesus manifested (made known) God’s name and His attributes.
What that means is that unlike Moses and the Israelites, who were never allowed to actually say God’s name, you can know God!
Agnostics are people who, though they may believe in God, believe that God cannot be known.
Of all the gods in the world, it all sort of blurs together.
Which one of them is the real God, or what is He like? Who knows!
But you can know God, because He is fully revealed in Jesus.
God looks like Jesus.
And to the extent that you look like Jesus, He look like you too!
10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
We are his representatives.
We bear His name.
We bear His image.
We belong to Him.
We reflect His glory.
Knowing who you are in Christ is what gives God glory.
He gave us His Word.
He gave us His Word.
14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
We talked last time about how we shouldn’t be surprised if the world hates us, because the world is in rebellion against God.
Notice that Jesus is not praying to have us taken out of the world, but to be preserved in the world.
Jesus is praying that we would be able to do our job, which is to finish his work.
We are entrusted with his Word.
What is God’s Word? - The Bible?
Yes, it’s the Bible and its more that the Bible.
The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself - it’s the written Word.
Jesus Himself is the living Word, that makes the scripture make sense.
But we also have the Holy Spirit who is the indwelling Word.
26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.
The Holy Spirit is the Sprit of truth.
The Spirit helps us recognize the truth.
The Spirit helps us apply truth to our lives.
The Spirit helps us separate truth from error.
16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
Being entrusted with the Word of God is not just about doctrine and ideas, it is about the way that we live our lives which proves that God’s way is best.
What glorifies God is more than just knowing His Word and speaking His Word - its living His Word, especially in the midst of a corrupt world.
He gave us His glory.
He gave us His glory.
22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
When I preached on “believe in the Father” I said that you are in union with God through Christ.
The religious leaders wanted to stone Jesus because He said that He was One with the Father.
30 I and the Father are one.” 31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.
Now Jesus is explicitly saying something that He implied in chapter 10.
Not only are Jesus and the Father one, but He brings us into the mix.
No, we are not the third member of the Trinity - the Holy Spirit is that!
And we, both individually and corporately, are how the Holy Spirit does what He does.
We experience the glory of God through the Holy Spirit.
We manifest God’s attributes - no, we are not all knowing and everywhere present.
But God’s character is being formed in us by the Spirit - that’s the fruit of the Spirit.
And God’s power is manifest in us, both personally and corporately - those are the gifts of the Spirit.
A Holy Spirit filled church are the representatives of God’s presence on earth carrying out Jesus mission until He returns.
So how do we do that, practically speaking?
Glorify God with what life gives you.
Glorify God with what life gives you.
We live in a fallen world. This world does not always reflect God’s goodness and glory.
Representing God in the world is going to involve taking what comes to us and turning it around to glorify God in some way.
This list could be much longer, but here are some point that come right out of chapter 18 which is Jesus’ arrest.
This was a dark and difficult moment, but Jesus glorified God.
Embrace suffering for godly reasons.
Embrace suffering for godly reasons.
4 Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” 5 They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6 When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” 8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.” 9 This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.” 10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) 11 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
I really think that Judas arranged this whole thing to force Jesus to use his power to overthrow Rome.
But we don’t see Jesus resisting arrest.
In fact, what Jesus says is another in a series of “I am” statements recorded by John.
Ἐγώ εἰμι - “I am, who I am”
Does that sound familiar? It’s God’s declaration of His name.
The result was that they fell backward.
Sometimes we pray for people and they fall out in the Spirit and people say, “where is that in the Bible” - right here!
Why do they fall? because they can’t stand up.
When the power of God is so real and so present, you literally can’t stand it.
2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.
If Jesus could do that, he surely could have walked away, but He didn’t.
Jesus knew that he had to suffer and die to fulfill his purpose.
John wants us to know that what Jesus did, he did willingly!
What does that mean for us when we suffer?
Well, first of all, I don’t believe that all of our suffering is from God.
Some of it may be just bad choices, or bad choices of others.
There is a kind of suffering which has nothing to do with our choices, it’s just part of life in a fallen world.
But it should cause us to ask ourselves, is this something I should be resisting or will it glorify God more if I just embrace it, not necessarily as God's will, but as something God wants to use for His glory.
Most of you know that I had a spouse who died of cancer. I don’t believe that was God’s will, but it was something that we were faced with and had to deal with. Once we knew what we were dealing with, we had to decide how we were going to navigate it.
We decided to trust God for healing. But I already told you that she died. Yes, but it was the pasture that we took that glorified God. We accepted whatever treatment seemed reasonable, but we were ultimately trusting God for His healing. His healing came as ultimate healing. And we continued to glorify God through grief and loss.
You can endure whatever life throws at you if you are living for something beyond this life.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
I'm’ not saying that we should want to suffer if we can avoid it.
But there is a time, like Jesus, to face suffering and embrace it.
Especially if we can glorify God through it.
Speak the truth, even if it hurts you.
Speak the truth, even if it hurts you.
19 The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. 20 Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. 21 Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.” 22 When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?”
Don’t you hate it when people twist your words and use them against you?!
That’s exactly what they are doing to Jesus.
Have you ever had a cop pull you over and ask, “do you know what you did wrong?” - How do you answer?
If Jesus had a lawyer, he would have told him to say exactly what he said - “tell me the charges and I will answer them, but don’t ask me what I did wrong.”
But while Jesus is not allowing them to trap him in his words, he is not denying anything that he said.
The words that Jesus spoke, He spoke in public.
Some of them were pretty harsh criticism of the religious leaders.
34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Was Jesus wrong to call them out for their hypocrisy?
It was only wrong as a point of order, not because it wasn’t true.
As as a point of order, it would only be wrong if they were higher authority than him …and that is what they are trying to get him to say …to tell them who He is so they can deny it.
But Jesus knows their game and refuses to play it.
The truth speaks for itself.
Sometimes we are punished for speaking the truth by those who think they can decide what is true.
Just like Jesus before the High Priest, people make themselves to be the arbiters of truth.
But truth belongs to God - its part of His glory - He is truth!
People can say whatever they want, but it doesn't change the truth - it only obscures the truth.
You don’t don’t make the truth, the truth makes you.
Put your circumstances in heavenly perspective.
Put your circumstances in heavenly perspective.
36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
The exchange between Jesus and Pilate is fascinating and deserves a closer look, which we don’t have time for now.
Here you have a Roman Ruler with absolute authority to do pretty much whatever he wants and he seems intimidated by Jesus.
Why? Because Jesus is not intimidated by him.
It’s not that Jesus is fighting him, its exactly that, Jesus is not utilizing whatever power might be his prerogative.
I remember looking at Jesus’ trial in seminary with one of my professors - we spent several day on the subject.
The conclusion was that Jesus could have been exonerated based on the evidence, but was convicted based on statements like this that he made, which He did not need to make.
The conclusion is that Jesus voluntarily went to the cross.
17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
Jesus is not being cornered at trial - He is in complete control of the situation.
No ordinary human in this situation wouldn’t at least try to save their own life, but Jesus had a secret purpose.
He knew all along that He was going to have to die, and that it was the only way to save us.
From heavens perspective, Jesus was greater than Pilate, and Pilate seemed to know it.
But Jesus knew what Pilate could not comprehend - the truth.
37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
Glorify God to the end.
Glorify God to the end.
When I say the end, I don’t really mean the end.
Jesus glorified God by submitting to death, but death isn’t the end.
The end is whatever we perceive the end to be, as in the goal or the ultimate outcome.
The final outcome for the believer is to glorify God.
So glorifying God to the end is also to say that the end is to glorify God.
God has the final authority.
God has the final authority.
10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
Who do you believe is in charge of everything?
Is God in control of the world?
Are we in charge of our own destiny?
It’s actually some of both, God’s let’s us be in charge, but he is ultimately in control.
We have delegated authority.
Pilate had delegated authority.
The Jews had delegated authority.
Jesus had direct authority.
A person with delegated authority can use it however they want, but it would not be advisable to try to use it against the one who delegated it.
The one who delegated it has final authority.
I don’t know why God intervenes sometimes and not at others.
But I’m not in a place to tell God what He should or shouldn’t do.
But I can take comfort in knowing that He knows what he is doing.
I’m just here to glorify God with what he has given me.
Tell the whole story.
Tell the whole story.
19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’ ” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”
Pilate may have been a powerful man, but we get the impression from John’s gospel that he really didn’t want to crucify Jesus.
But even powerful people don’t get to do whatever they want sometimes.
In terms of history, the winner is whoever gets to tell the story.
The Jewish leaders wanted to amend Pilates declaration to make sure that it would be understood as a mocking statement.
But Pilate let it stand, so that we can’t be sure who he was really mocking.
John wanted us to know this.
Part of telling the whole story is letting people know the impact that Jesus was having on a man like Pilate.
Giving glory to God is telling the whole story.
Not just what happened, but how it happened.
Most of all, where is God at work almost imperceptibly, and often behind the scenes.
God is the author of this story of life.
And if you know the ending, you must include whatever leads to the ending.
If the end of the story is the glory of God, then tell whatever gives glory to God.
Finish well.
Finish well.
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Those three words carry such enormous impact, “It is finished.”
In the Greek, John specifically chose a word that lets us know that he means not only Jesus death, but that the end-goal of God is accomplished.
God is glorified in the death of His son because of what it means for the world.
When it was happening, I don’t think anyone on earth knew just how glorious this event was - it seemed so tragic.
What was finished?
The penalty for sin was paid.
Our redemption was sealed.
The curse of death was broken.
Satan’s domination was ended.
A new humanity was born.
I think it is often that way for the believer.
We say that our chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
Glorifying God means finishing well or finishing in a way that God gets the glory in the end.
Questions for reflection:
Questions for reflection:
When you read Jesus’ prayer, do you know that it is you He is praying for? Do you know who you are in Christ? Are you aware of what He has given you?
Who is in control of your life? Do you see God as responsible for suffering or as redeeming suffering? Do you see your circumstances as an opportunity to glorify God?
What is the goal of your life? How do you want the story to be told? Are you glorifying God and enjoying Him forever?