Behold His Glory!

Rob Laukoter

To God Be the Glory • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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Prayer

There are times when things seem dark, news is troubling

I have to confess that I was greatly discouraged when I found out that someone else had made an offer on the building we were looking at, and that offer has been accepted.

And, of course, those things go far beyond just the personal - almost gotten buried with a lot of other news happening, but Haiti just experienced a massive earthquake. The official death count as of Thursday was 2,100, but there are estimates that it may be in the tens of thousands.

But the events that have been weighing most heavily upon me - and many others - are the events that have unfolded in Afghanistan over the last two weeks. And in particular, the utter evil that is being enacted by the Taliban as they solidify their rule over the nation.

People are suffering, and they are suffering terribly. And that’s going to continue for a long time for a lot of people.

Those Afghans who worked alongside Americans - their lives are in danger, many of them will likely be killed.

Women who’d been living in the cities with a great deal of freedom are going to lose those freedoms - ability to drive a car, go to school, work outside the home - even the way that they dress is going to be restricted. They will be forced to cover themselves entirely by wearing a burqa in public.

A story that came out of the Frontier Alliance International, a Christian ministry, said that Christians in Afghanistan are already fleeing to the mountains out of fear. The Taliban are actively hunting them out, even checking cell phones for Bible apps. People are being killed for their faith and girls as young as twelve are being taken as sex slaves. According to the story, some husbands and fathers have given their wives and daughters guns - so that when the Taliban comes, they can either try to kill them or kill themselves, their choice. It’s heartbreaking.

In midst of such darkness and evil, where is God? He seems absolutely hidden. We’ve been talking the last few weeks about our glorious God, the King of Glory, beautiful and majestic. Where is that beauty and glory in the midst of such terrible evil, such dark cruelty?

I want to share a story from Acts that gives us an idea of where God’s glory is in the midst of such times - and why it’s so essential that we look for God’s glory - why we want to keep our eyes open to recognizing the glory of God all around us. Because it’s always there, even in the midst of darkness times.

This is our main point this morning - more we look for the glory of God, more we will see it. And not just see it, but be transformed by it.

Eyes Wide Open - Our passage this morning is Acts 7 - it’s a long chapter, so I want to set up briefly what’s happening, and then we’ll pick up it towards end.

Stephen, one of the early followers of Jesus, is in the city of Jerusalem proclaiming the good news of Jesus.

There are a group of Jews who don’t like what he’s doing, so they start stirring up opposition to him by making false claims about the things he’s saying.

Their strategy works - the crowd gets worked up and Stephen is dragged before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council, on charges of blasphemy (very serious charges, punishable by death).

Stephen gets his chance to defend himself before the Sanhedrin, and he does so by recounting the history of the Israelites, what we sometimes refer to as “salvation history”, the way God called this group of people as his chosen people, and how we rescued them over and over again.

He goes through the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Solomon (it’s a long chapter).

As Stephen goes on with their story, he starts including more and more how Israelites kept turning away from God, refusing to obey him, turning to worship of idols - how they were continually disobedient to God.

Then he takes it up a notch - and that’s where we’re going to pick up the story, Acts 7:51-54.

Now, remember the context here - Stephen is by himself, he’s been dragged before the officials on charges of blasphemy

You’ve heard the old adage - the best defense is a good offense? That’s exactly Stephen’s strategy. He goes right after them - you stiff-necked people. You’re stubborn and hardheaded - your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised!

God’s been trying to get through to you for centuries, sending prophet after prophet, and you’re rejected them all. Persecuted them. And to top it all off, when God sends his Son, the Righteous One, you betray and murder him.

Turns out, they don’t really care for his defense. The text says that they were furious and gnashed their teeth at them (wondered what they looked like?!).

Let’s see what happens next: Acts 7:55-8:1.

In midst of this confrontation, Stephen is prompted by the Holy Spirit to look up to heaven - and what does he see?

He sees heaven opened up and the “glory of God” and Jesus right there with him, standing at his right hand. I don’t know exactly what that means, to see glory of God - but it’s clear that Stephen is getting a glimpse into heavenly realm, he’s seeing realities that are hidden to us most of the time, God’s glory and power and brilliance. Stephen is seeing the kavod of God.

And he’s in absolute awe of what he sees, he can’t help but blurt it out, “Look, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

The others, of course, cannot see it. Their hearts and eyes are closed off to glory of God, they are blind to it. As far as they are concerned, he’s shouting blasphemy, so they cover their ears, yelling out (blah…blah…blah, I can’t hear you). And they rush right at him, dragging him outside of city with one express purpose…to stone him to death, because that’s the punishment for blasphemy.

I don’t want to get graphic here, but stoning is a horrifically brutal way to die. Several years ago someone shared with me a video of an actual stoning. It took place on the streets of Haiti, a man had been caught sexually abusing a child.

Mob went after him, first yelling, chasing after him, and then someone throws the first rock, then another, and then the rocks come crashing down on him. He was dead within moments. It was terrible, I wish I could unsee it.

I share that because I want you to get a sense of what exactly is happening to Stephen here. Because it makes his response all the more incredible.

While they are stoning him, Stephen prays, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

While they are stoning him, Stephen falls to his knees and cries out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against him.”

In the midst of being pummeled to death by rocks, Stephen surrenders himself to Jesus, and then cries out, asking for mercy and forgiveness for the very people who are bludgeoning him to death. How in the world is that even possible?!?

It’s possible because of one thing - God in his glory.

God, in this beautiful act of mercy, graces Stephen with glimpse of the fullness of his glory. Heaven opens up and Stephen sees it - sees his Lord Jesus, who he’s been so faithfully serving, sees majesty and splendor of God - and it transforms him. He’s so taken by it, absolutely mesmerized.

To the point when they start stoning him, he doesn’t even care. Do what you want to me - I know what awaits me. I know who awaits me. And nothing you can do can compare to the glory I will enter into. I’m so ready, take my spirit, Lord.

To the point where he actually feels sorry for them, he pities them! “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” As far as Stephen is concerned, they are poor, blind souls who have no idea what they are missing. His encounter with the glory of God enables him to forgive them while they’re are murdering him.

It’s absolutely astounding - and absolutely like Jesus (I hope you see the parallels here with Jesus as he hung on the cross and prayed for those crucifying them, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Here’s difference. Those who are open to and see the glory of God - and those who don’t. They are hardened to it, or too distracted, too busy focused on other things, can’t see it around them.

Stephen lived with an openness, an expectation of the glory of God. He proclaimed the good news of Jesus. He had seen signs and wonders - he had performed them! He recognized glory of God throughout history of the Israelites - from Abraham to Joseph to Moses and on and on.

That’s what Stephen was trying to tell them, your hearts and eyes are uncircumcised. God’s been trying to get through to you for years and years and years. He freed you from slavery, he brought you into Promised land, he made you a great nation, he sent prophet after prophet and prophet…you kept rejecting them. You kept rejecting him.

Finally, he sent his own Son. He came, in person, to us, to reveal God to us. But you couldn’t see it. So you rejected him. You murdered him.

It’s interesting to note that at the very end of the story, we’re introduced to Saul, standing there, approving of their killing him.

Soon after this, Saul will make his way to city of Damascus with the authorization of the high priests to seek out and arrest followers of Jesus. That is until he encounters Jesus on the road, until he sees glory of risen Christ himself, and then everything changes.

If you remember the story, Saul (who we know as Paul), is blinded for three days until Ananias comes to pray for him, and then the something like scales fall from his eyes and he can see again.

It’s a beautiful metaphor for the blindness of our hearts, our inability to see and recognize the glory of the Lord all around us.

As Jesus says in Matthew 13, quoting from the book of Isaiah: “‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”

Will we become people whose eyes are open, whose eyes see and recognize the glory of God? That’s our main point this morning - more we look for the glory of God, more we will see it. And not just see it, but be transformed by it.

Because, if we have eyes to see, God’s glory is all around us. As the seraphim declared to Isaiah, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory.” This world, this universe, reflects the glory of God. We should expect to see it - and we will, if we have eyes to see.

My hope is, that we want to be people who see it. Who recognize the glory of God. Who see his power and beauty and splendor. And therefore, we’re actively looking for it. All around us - because it is.

Disciplines - How can you open yourself to glory of God, to see it all around you? How might you actively and intentionally open yourself to the glory of God. (By the way, are putting these teachings into practice??)

Begin with prayer, asking that God would reveal his glory to you - and then look for it. Let me offer a couple ways to do this

As a spiritual discipline, go spend time in nature. Immerse yourself in God’s creation, with an openness to his glory. Great thing about living in West Virginia, doesn’t take long to get out in woods (Mountain Meeks trails, go to local park, spend at least an hour)

Here’s why: Psalm 19 - The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.

This past week, I took 5 of the guys camping. There we were, spending a couple of days in a beautiful state park - but even then, it’s easy to get distracted (weather wasn’t great, lots of rain; one of the guys was a bit of a complainer - complaining can blind you to God’s glory, then there was distraction of cell phones, faces buried in front of those screens). But there were wonderful moments of discovery…a waterfall, a cliff overlooking a valley, a herd of deer grazing in a meadow).

Here’s point, the heavens are declaring God’s glory. All of his creation does! But if we don’t stop and listen, pay attention, look for it, we won’t see.

Years ago I spent an afternoon visiting a zoo, decided not to read any of the information, but just to marvel at all the animals as God’s glory. One of my best visits to a zoo.

So, go find a way to spend some time gazing at God’s creation, even if it’s in your own backyard (put phone away!).

Here’s a second thought: 2 Corinthians 4:6 - For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

God shines his light in our hearts so we can know his glory displayed in the face of Christ.

When I was a teen, I remember going to church services during the season of Lent and hearing the story of Jesus’ suffering and crucifixion. And being deeply saddened by how terribly tragic and unjust it was.

But that was the extent of it - it was just deeply sad. Here’s problem - I saw it, but I didn’t see it.

I didn’t see the glory of it. This was hour for Jesus to be glorified. The glory of cross, glory of God himself, willingly laying down his life to rescue the world. God saying to us, I love you this much, that I would die for you, that you might have life.

So much has changed...Experience of ATM tour, Mayan sacrifices - Jesus you did this for us

Make it a discipline - look at Jesus! Spend 10-15 minutes every day this week reading through one of the Gospels. Pay attention to Jesus. What does he say? How does he treat others? What does he do? Let his glory shine through.

Inspiration

I began our message this morning talking about some of the terrible dark things we’re seeing, especially what’s happening in Afghanistan right now. How easy it is to get discouraged or fearful, to succumb to it.

That’s why the story of Stephen is so powerful - he is facing the darkest moment of his life. His fellow Jews working against him, being dragged before the authorities, finally, facing terror of being stoned. And yet, in that moment he was never more like Jesus. He was at absolute peace. So ready to surrender himself to the father, Lord, here I am receive my spirit. And then to forgive! It really is astounding, to pray for God to forgive those pelting him with rocks.

One thing made the difference. One thing. He saw the glory of God. He saw God in his beauty and majesty and power and nothing else mattered in comparison.

Let’s have eyes to see it. Let’s live with an expectation that we can and will see it. And it will indeed be absolutely glorious - because he is absolutely glorious.