Crowned with Glory
To God Be the Glory • Sermon • Submitted
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Prayer
Far Short of the Glory
There’s a fresco that was painted on the walls of the Sanctuary of Mercy church in Borja, Spain in 1930 by a Spanish artist by the name of Elias Garcia Martinez.
It’s an image of Jesus portrayed from his trial before Pontius Pilate from John 19:5, where Pilate brings Jesus before the gathered crowd, crying out, “Behold the Man!”, which in Latin would be Ecce Homo, which is the name of the fresco.
Over the years, the painting began to deteriorate as moisture caused the paint to begin to flake away. The priest and his parishioners were concerned and an attempt was made to restore the painting.
Unfortunately, the parishioner who took on the project, an elderly woman in her 80’s by the name of Cecilia Gimenez, had no experience in art restoration - nor much experience in painting, as it turns out.
The result was an unmitigated artistic disaster…it’s become an internet sensation often entitled, Ecce Mono, Behold the Monkey! Needless to say, it falls far short of beauty of the original painting.
This is exactly our issue. We too, were made to reflect great beauty and splendor, but have fallen far short. As Paul says it in Romans 3, There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...
Often, when this verse is referenced, the part we focus on is the idea that all have sinned.
We’re all sinners. No one’s perfect. GK Chesterton said that original sin is the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved…because, as he says, you can see it in the street!
Just look around, you don’t have to look for very long and you’ll see it - everywhere.
In fact, just on my street, I found out recently that it was one of our neighbors was the person who managed to drive off the road and knock down the street signs at the top of the hill…and never admitted to it. Just left them there. And there was a woman renting a house in our neighborhood over the last couple of years - she never bothered to pay rent. And, apparently, was engaged in prostitution.
But, of course, I don’t have to go down the street to see it. I can see it in my own home, looking in the mirror. I know I have sinned when I stubbornly insist on being right or first thing that pops into my mind when I see someone is a judgmental thought (certainly not one of care and love) or I get angry because someone isn’t acting the way I think they should be. All have sinned.
But there’s actually something beautiful hidden here in this verse, if we just look closely - it’s not just that we’ve all sinned, but that we have fallen short of the glory of God.
This verse is telling us that we were made for so much more. We were created with and for glory! From the very beginning, we were crowned with glory.
Out of all of creation, we alone were created in God’s image - to reflect who he is - as we talked about last week, God is the King of Glory. He’s filled with beauty and majesty and power and glory. There’s no shortage of kavod, of weight, when it comes to God…and we were made to reflect that glory as those made in his image.
We see it, too, in the authority we were given…we were given glory of ruling over the rest of creation…birds of the air, fish in the sea, flocks and livestock, animals in the wild…over all of it.
But, just like that painting, we’ve fallen far short of the glory God intended for us. It’s often hard to look at us and see any reflection, any likeness, to God himself. But here’s the point - it’s still there.
And this is our main point this morning…in spite of how difficult it may be to see at times, God has crowned us with glory. We were created for kavod, for honor, for notable achievements, for beauty, for magnificence.
Every single one of us. There’s not a human on earth, no matter how distorted it may be - that does not still retain the glory of God himself.
I want to take a few minutes just to think through a bit of what that means for us.
Crowned with Glory - Psalm 8 speaks to this very thing, let me begin with first few verses, 1-3
Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place...
David begins with praising God because he’s overwhelmed with God’s glory and majesty! He’s in utter awe as he sees it all around him, especially as the looks into the heavens, the skies. You have set your glory in the heavens!
You can picture David, maybe it’s when he was out watching over his flocks at night or maybe one of the many nights he spent out in the wilderness area on the run from Saul
But David is gazing up at the star-filled skies, with his jaw dropped open in amazement. God, you did this. You made all this happen, this is the work of your fingers, this moon shining brightly, the thousands of stars - all right where you set them. Wow...
And then, David, makes a shift, as he contemplates the glory of the heavens, it makes him realize an amazing truth (here we pick up again in verse 4)...what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Do you see what he’s saying here?! God, I’m looking at the wonders of the universe, right here before my eyes, and it makes my realize what a glorious and majestic God you are!
Knowing that, Lord, why do you even give us a second thought? Why do you care about us? Who are we, Lord, compared to you? We’re a hot mess. And you’re God of all splendor and wisdom and power.
And yet, and yet, this is what you did for us...
You made us just a little lower than the angels. In order of creation, we ought to be a lot lower, closer to the bugs, but you put us just under those glorious heavenly beings, just a little lower.
And on top of that, you crowned us with glory and honor. What did we do to deserve that? (Answer, of course, is nothing, God is just that gracious and good).
And it’s not just empty glory, you know, kind of like a meaningless job title, such as a Customer Experience Enhancement Consultant (shopping assistant) or a Gastronomical Hygiene Technician (dishwasher). No, there’s real power and authority here.
Over the entire earth, over all the amazing creatures you made - those sheep and goats and lions and bears and rabbit, the sparrows and the eagles, from the minnow to the ferocious shark to the great whale…God, you put us in charge of them all.
You gave us your kavod, Lord. I have no idea why, God - it makes no sense, but you did.
No wonder David closes right where he started, Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
When I was a student at UT, I liked to check out occasionally what was happening in the West Mall - that was the part of campus that was known for open speeches. One day it might be a rally for Anti-Apartheid movement (speaking against the white minority rule that was still in effect in South Africa), another day it might be a Christian apologist trying to make the case for Christianity.
But there was one couple who were notorious (turns out there are folks like this still visiting campuses today) - Brother Jed and Sister Cindy. They’d get their tatter torn King James Bibles and set to preaching. Except you couldn’t really call it preaching, it was more of ugly yelling.
They’d stand there and as students passed by, hurl names at them: whoremonger, slut. Ensuring those listening of the hellfire of damnation that awaited them.
Sadly, the only effect it seemed to have was solidifying the notion that Christian faith was worthy of mockery. They’d draw a crowd purely for entertainment reasons.
Brother Jed and Sister Cindy certainly had the “all have sinned” part down…though I have a sneaky suspicion it didn’t apply to them. But they were more than happen to tell everyone exactly how much and how terribly they’d sinned.
The tragedy of it all was how they missed beauty of Gospel, of the good news we know in Jesus.
We indeed have all sinned and fallen far short of the glory of God. But that’s only half the story (and not the good part). If you remember from earlier in the service, the last half of that verse…and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ.
Jesus did that because he knows what we were made to be. We were made for so much more - God made us to be glorious! God has crowned us with glory. We were made to be beautiful. Magnificent. To have power. To do great things.
I don’t think we can even begin to imagine how glorious God made us to be…and how glorious he still intends us to be. That’s what the Gospel is all about! That’s the part Brother Jed and Sister Cindy were missing.
The beauty of the Gospel is that Jesus came to make that possible, to make that a reality. To enable us to grow into the glory and honor God crowned us with from the very beginning.
2 Corinthians 3:18 - And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Jesus entered into our mess. He showed us what a truly glorious human life looks like - a life of beauty, of goodness, of humility, of power, of compassion, of love.
Tim Mackie says it this way: “Jesus is the version of myself that I pray I can become.”
We look at Jesus, we see his glory - and I hope our response is - that’s what I want to be like. Because that’s what we were made for.
That’s our main point. It may be hard to see at times - it may be really distorted - but we were crowned by God with glory and honor.
Challenges - So let’s talk for a few minutes about how we might grow into glory God intended for us.
Why one of our core strategies is spiritual formation…to engage in practices to help us know and become like Jesus. Change is hard - and because of that James Bryan Smith says that “The best approach is to keep soaking in the truth of our identity in Christ, practicing spiritual disciplines that deepen those truths and being part of a community that will reinforce those truths.
James Bryan Smith tells story of his friend, Carey, in his book, The Good and Beautiful God…Carey was on a road a fair bit for his job, and he struggled greatly with pornography. Always a huge temptation that he succumbed to in the staying in hotel rooms by himself.
As they talked through the struggle, Carey’s whole mindset was on first part of that verse…I have sinned. I’m a sinner. I keep sinning.
James kept emphasizing to him that he needed to soak in the truth of his identity in Christ. That Christ now dwells in him. That he has been forgiven and is a new creation. He has been crowned with glory.
It’s like guy getting out of prison, back in the neighborhood - no, that’s not who I am anymore. I’ve changed.
What Carey discovered, more he began to live into that truth, to see himself in light of his new identity in Jesus, temptation faded away. It didn’t fit anymore who he knew himself to be. I am one in whom Christ dwells. I am a child of God. I am crowned with his glory.
James Bryan Smith suggest spiritual discipline of solitude. Time alone, just being with God. In order to let God speak to you who you are. Identity he’s given you.
Verses to reflect on: Romans 8:1, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Colossians 3:4, Ephesians 2:4, 6 (raised with God, seated in heavenly realms).
Second soul training exercise: Watch the Chosen TV series - first of all, just because it’s excellent, you’ll be blessed in doing do. It’s not on any streaming service, you have to watch it either through the website, chosen.tv or by downloading the app, watching it through your phone (which is what I do). The Chosen is a series with each episode showing stories from the Gospels - how one of the disciples came to follow Jesus or experienced healing or salvation through Jesus.
Watch this series as a soul training exercise: Ecce Homo! Behold the man! Pay attention particularly at how Jesus sees the glory in every person he comes across, distorted as it may be.
Begin to see how God view us as well (and how we should be viewing others!).
Let me finish with this: Inspiration
C.S. Lewis lays out what lies in store for us, quite soberly - we either grow into the glory God made us for, glory God crowned us with…or we move further and further away from it:
“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”
To really think about what Lewis is saying there - it’s a sobering and humbling thought. Every person you meet will one day either be an immortal horror or everlasting splendor - either because we share in the glory God made us for, or we have rejected it.
My hope and prayer is that we would long to be people who are moving into direction of becoming everlasting splendors, those crowned with the glory of God.