Sermon Tone Analysis

Chapter 02

 

The Marks of A Christian

 

*An Unending Preoccupation with the Glory of God*

/John 13:31-38/

*[Slide 1]* In Galatians 6:7 , Paul wrote, "...I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus."

Paul’s body was heavily scared—scares from beatings, shipwreck bruises, and marks from imprisonments.

These marks set him apart because they spoke of his unbending commitment to the Lord Jesus.

Historically, Christians have displayed a number of different kinds of symbols to mark their identity as believers.

Lapel pins and neck chains with gold crosses are nothing new.

They have been used almost since the beginning of Christianity as marks of identification for believers.

In recent years, bumper stickers, posters, tee shirts, decorated Bibles, and jackets with embroidered insignia all have been used by people trying to identify themselves as Christians, they are fine symbols, but superficial‑‑only as deep as the surface they are attached to.

As a Christian, whether you wear a button, display a bumper sticker, or use any other kind of visible symbol has little, if any real consequence.

More important, and infinitely more definitive than all the pins and stickers and buttons, are the internal, spiritual signs of a true believer.[1]

* *

*[Click]* That’s what Jesus was getting at when He said  in Matthew 16:24NASB95 “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.

So Paul writes in  Galatians 2:20NASB95 “I have been crucified with Christ; . .

.[2] In Romans 6:11, “Even so you [also] consider yourselves to be dead . .

.”

So the first mark surely is a mark of death embedded deep into our hearts, our minds, and our bodies.

*I.

The Marks of the Committed Christian*

In John 13:31‑38, Jesus gives three more distinguishing marks that sets a Christian apart.

We will only highlight one of them this morning.

When we come to John 13 Jesus' earthly ministry was coming to an end.

It was the night before His death.

And He was spending those last hours with His disciples to prepare them for His leaving.

He had just dismissed Judas to leave His presence eternally.

With Judas gone, Jesus turned to the eleven remaining disciples and gave them a His farewell speech.

When therefore He had gone out, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself and will glorify Him immediately.

Little children, I am with you a little while longer.

You shall seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, I now say to you also, "Where I am going, you cannot come.'

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, where are You going?"

Jesus answered, "Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you shall follow later."

Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You right now?

I will lay down my life for you."

Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a cock shall not crow, until you deny Me three times."

That passage introduces Jesus' last commission to His disciples before He went to the cross.

His ‘final’ message, which continues through John 16, contains every ingredient we need to know about discipleship.

In fact, the basics of Paul's teaching on the subject of discipleship come right out of this portion of John.

Thus these concluding words of our Lord on His last evening with His disciples are strategic to our understanding of what Christ expects of us as believers.

Lets look at the first of the three marks of a Christian in Jesus’ final challenge to His disciples

  

*[Slide 2]** A. An Unending Preoccupation with the Glory of God *

Following the mark of death,  the committed Christian is to be preoccupied and absorbed with our Lord's glory.

The very purpose for which we exist is to give glory to God.

Jesus is concerned *only* with living to give glory to God.

He's not concerned about himself.

He's not preoccupied with his own glory.

He's not worried about what brings honor to him.

He's not on a popularity binge.

He's not trying to climb the ladder, to get something bigger and better for himself.

And so it is to be with His Followers.

The greatest concern of a Disciple is our Lord's glory.

We live so that whatever we do brings glory to our Lord.

We realizes that it doesn't matter what people think of us, but only that they glorify God.

Our motives, our theme, our goal, our reason, our purpose is to give the Lord glory in everything we do.

Our lives are to reflect in some way the attributes of God, and God is praised by the way we live out our lives.

Jesus taught His us that perspective both by example and by precept:

 

     When therefore [Judas] had gone out, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself and will glorify Him immediately.

Little children, I am with you a little longer.

You shall seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, I now say to you also, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.'

Reading that first phrase, we can almost sense a sigh of relief from our Lord.

Now that Judas was gone, He could speak freely to His disciples.

God incarnate, Jesus Christ, had come to earth in humility.

He had restricted the full manifestation of His glory and subjected Himself to human frailty, though He never sinned.

For thirty‑three years His glory had been shrouded in human flesh.

By tomorrow He would be in His glory again.

All the attributes of God would be on display in Him.

With His coming glory in mind, Jesus makes three distinct statements.

Each is unique and important.

!!! [Slide 3] 1. V31a, "Now is the Son of Man glorified."

The first is in v31, a great statement of anticipation: "Now is the Son of Man glorified."

Judas had already begun to set everything in motion.

He had already initiated and been paid for the betrayal, and he was out moving about, getting everything set.

In just a few hours, Jesus and the disciples would go into the Garden of Gethsemane, where Christ would continue His teaching.

There Judas would march in with the soldiers and set in motion the events that would lead to Jesus' death.

It was right around the corner, and Jesus was ready to die‑‑to be glorified.

Even though the cross looked like shame, disgrace, and disaster, it was glory.

At first it may seem difficult to understand how death can be glory, especially death by crucifixion.

In His death our Lord experienced the deepest kind of shame, humiliation, accusation, insults, infamy, mockery, spitting, and all that men could throw at Him.

He died hanging between thieves, receiving the agony of sin and separation from God.

Yet knowing He was facing all of that, Jesus could say, "Now is the Son of Man glorified."

How was there glory in the cross?

There Jesus performed the greatest work in the history of the universe.

§         In His death He brought to pass the salvation of damned sinners, destroyed sin, and defeated Satan.

He paid the price of God's justice and purchased for Himself all the elect of God.

§         In dying for sin, He rendered His life a sweet‑smelling savor to God, a sacrifice more pure and blessed than any sacrifice ever offered.

And when the offended justice of God and the broken law were fully satisfied, Jesus concluded His work by saying, "It is finished."

He had accomplished the redemption of the human race, satisfied the justice of God, repaired the broken law, and set men free.

§         In all heaven and earth, no act is so worthy of praise and honor and full glory.

!!! [Slide4] 2. V31b, And God is glorified in Him.

Jesus makes a second statement about glory.

Not only was He glorified, but God was also glorified in Him.

God is glorified through the details of the gospel.

When Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him," He was speaking of His death, burial, resurrection, exaltation, and coming again.

All the glory He was speaking of came through those things.

And those things are the elements of the gospel message.

[Click] a.

One of the greatest ways we can give glory to God is declare the gospel.

The message of the gospel radiates the glory of God like nothing else in all the universe.

When we declare the gospel we are declaring the clearest and most powerful aspects of God's glory.