Shane Willard | Glory of God

[Music] [Applause] [Music] all right good evening everybody feels like let's follow an actual Bible Philippians chapter 2 we're gonna get there in just a second it's always been an honor this week always flies by for me so we you know when you're down with your friends and and everything just sort of clicks you're not feeling like you're working so hard and it's it's just it's it's a really really good really really good thing as always our resource table is out at the back the thing I would ask you to do especially tonight is if you're gonna get something would you do so immediately afterwards and like in the first five minutes would be great because we got to pack it up tomorrow I'm gonna speak in more Ambala and then I've got to go to Makai for the weekend and on Monday night I'm doing two different regional meetings for the Assemblies of God and then fly back Tuesday have to drive out the pits Worth and then I'm in pits Worth and goondiwindi and Dalby and Warwick and then the weekend in Toowoomba and then in a little place called Clifton that I think would fit in this room and then and then back then I got to go to Adelaide so it's really really busy so so you can you could pray for me if you'd like that's it's it's a busy season for me at this point so but if you could go out and grab those things this is how we take care of the poor and the afflicted and and it also honors our team back there and and it allows us to to to not it allows them not to be here so long because they all have over an hour drive home so you can do that for us tonight all right so I have something I've tried to over the course of the week I've tried to not I I don't like to ever get cornered into one thing like I don't want to be known as the Hebrew guy right or the or the or the or the psychology guy or the encouraging guy or the funny guy I like to be all of it right and so and so this week I've tried to in in the theme of let's talk about the cross and resurrection but not as a doctrine that's boring the cross and resurrection is a fundamental way of seeing our world right and so what we try do I've taken the role a couple times as a teacher and a couple of times as a comedian and I thought I thought I was decent right a couple times a couple times as a psychologist a couple times as as tried to be inspirational couple times try to be encouraging I tried to do all these things and so tonight though I want to do some straight Bible teaching so if you're into Bible teaching you're gonna really love tonight all right you're gonna really really really like this all right because what inspired this Bible teaching was actually a sin it was a sin I committed and I'm gonna tell you about it right so no don't look so surprised yes I sin right I send pay I send people oh right no no of course I do right right and here's what I did I used a throwaway line here's what happened right I lost my place and went totally blank in my head as to what to say and I know that might surprise you that happens to me from time to time I'm up here hey for those of you who file you have you ever seen me use notes really I mean I just I I try to memorize everything before I get up here and I try to I practice hard and I do the stuff but you know from from tomorrow night to Monday night I'm doing 15 sessions 15 different sessions and so sometimes when you do 15 sessions in 5 days what happens is is you get confused as they have already said this or did I tell that joke already this is seeming familiar right because you're practicing it in the hotel room and you're delivering it somewhere else and so anyway I got lost and so in my lostness instead of just embracing the lessness I used to throw away line and this was the throwaway line I said come on now we should be living for the glory of God right now now is that true yes did I have any idea what I meant by that no it was an absolute throwaway line and thank goodness one of my best friends was on the front row and called me out on it later right no they didn't call me out on in front of everybody they waited and they said oh you used to throwaway line I said I did not what are you talking about he said all you know what you did you said we need to be living for the glory of God and I said right we should you taking issue with that he said not at all I think we should I just think you don't have any idea what that means he says okay go ahead what does it mean to live for the glory of God and I said come on man like it means like as we're living we're living to give glory to God he said right he says you just talked yourself in a circle that is terrible and I said so what's your point he said my point is person who investigates that and put some language around what that mean obvious things if we don't have language as to what that even means and so if so I sat down and I started studying and I traced this all the way through the best I could and so my attempt tonight is to do a Bible study on in Scripture what does it mean when we say we're living to the glory of God what does that actually mean for today 2019 in the Gold Coast when we say we live for the glory of God if your pastor said and heritage of faith we live for the glory of God right if if daughter Jerry Savelle said hey hey we live for the glory of God what do we actually mean by this and so so I want to start um but with this scripture from from Philippians chapter 2 and this is a Paul trying to put some framing around the meaning of the cross and resurrection here's here's what he says and being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross now in the first century when they were reading this in public because member only 3% of people could read and it was illegal they would have just they would have just brought this out in secret and read it to a group of people the word translated cross there was sort of a swear word in the first century it was a it was it was semi crass it was like oh there would have been a feeling like was he allowed to you know to say that like it would be that the reason is is because the cross was so violent it was considered profane if you were on a cross you were considered cursed by God it was that kind of that kind of thing as a matter of fact there's no artist renditioning of the Cross in existence until the 500s ad which was a hundred years after that after that practice was banned for being inhumane in other words no one who ever saw a crucifixion drew it spoke of it it became a so so for him to say Jesus humbled himself to the point of death oh yeah even that one right this is like an extra like an extra an extra humility an extra sort of cursing he says therefore God highly exalted him so definitely the more you humble yourself the more eventually God exalts you there's this process going on there therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him a name that is above every name I don't tell him to go through this here tonight but I've done this here before about 14 years ago but this is a massive statement both spiritually and politically for him to say Jesus was the name above all names was an in-your-face confrontation to Caesar spiritually it was also a big thing for a rabbi to say because there was a progression of the name of God as revealed in the Old Testament from El Shaddai to Yahweh to Jehovah Jireh to jehova shamma to Jehovah said canudas Jehovah micced eshton and so for him to say there is a name that is above every other name written before it in other words in Jesus was the encapsulation of all the character traits of God ever revealed it was in that so there's the spiritual aspect to it there's also this very political aspect to it written by guy chained to a wall by a guy who said his name was the name above all names literally Caesar so you've got this but stood on him a name that is above every name sin the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth that includes Caesar and under the earth and every tongue we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord remember now Nero he made everybody call him Lord and Savior so for him to be using this is a guy chained to a wall doing some in your face confrontation stuff to the glory of God the Father so evidently in Jesus's death he was intentionally confronting oppression in his humility and evidently that intentional confrontation of oppression was giving glory to God so in one sense Jesus was giving glory to God in his death in another sense he was giving glory to God in his birth let me show you this one this is from Luke chapter two and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and goodwill to all man kind so evidently in Jesus's death he was bringing going to God and evidently in Jesus's birth he was bringing glory to God and this is chock full of absolute profound historical implications let me give you just a quick history lesson to catch us up on this more than 50 more than 40 years before Jesus was born the world was ruled by a guy named Julius Caesar Julius Caesar was an amazing guy he successfully combined the whole world under one rule and he invented the salad very good right he also was a particular narcissist he said that he was the fullness of God in flesh that the Roman historian a poet Virgil said that only in the name of Caesar was the full God incarnate and no other name on earth by which men can be saved other than the name of Caesar in the infant 42 BC or so Julius Caesar was killed by being stabbed in the back by his best friend a guy named Brutus now if you're paying attention that sort of hurt his deity claims the idea was was that if you were actually God you should have seen that coming nonetheless he died at the hands of Brutus at his funeral though something amazing happened at his funeral a strange star appeared in the sky historians say that it was such a bright star it lit up the day and night sky for seven continual days obviously a bit of an exaggeration astronomers actually have tracked it and they know where it is it was actually not a star it was a comet but if you're a first century person and there's no telescopes you sort of understand hey look look that's a star moving across the sky so what they said was was that this proved that Julius Caesar was God and this star was proof that he was taking his seat amongst the Council of the gods so astronomers today have named that comment Caesars Comet it was the name of a rock song in the 70s Caesar's comet the idea was was this comet came so close to Earth that it lit up the sky in such a weird way and to people who looked at the sky for signs this was a big one so Caesar Augustus Julius Caesar's adopted great nephew who saved his butt from behind enemy lines in a place called Gaul said no no my father is God first of all it wasn't his father it was his adopted great-uncle that's first that he was adopted so that sort of was legal his name was Octavius and he became Caesar Augustus and he seized upon the moment he said see my father is God therefore I am the son of God and if I'm the son of God I should be worshipped and if I'm the son of God I should be worshipped primarily so Caesar Augustus instituted a twelve day celebration of his birth it lasted from December 19 to December 31st every year and he called that celebration Advent it was called the advent of Caesar Augustus and it lasted 12 days first day right right right right and he instructed the the Roman proconsul to change the calendar to change New Year's Day to center around the end of Advent which celebrated his birth now how do you get word from Spain to India with no electricity and no printing press that you are in fact God here's what you do you print it on money and money was the thing that went around the Empire and your job as a community person was to look at your money in those days the print on the money was the government broadcast system and if there was a new message you were meant to call your community together and read the message so Caesar Augustus made three Advent coins one Advent coin said Caesar is Lord no other name on earth by which men can be saved another one said Caesar is Lord there will be peace on earth and goodwill to all men and a third one simply said Caesar Augustus God saves God States let me show you one these coins that would have run around the Roman Empire take this out this is if you just google Caesar Augustus Star Coin this will come up it's as common knowledge you can read this in most ancient history books there's a lot of these things but you got you got Caesar Augustus on one side that's obviously the head side you don't need any training to see that says Caesar Augustus right and on the right side what do you see you see a giant star now what on earth gave credibility to Caesar's gods claims evidently a giant star appearing in the sky so they printed this star on coins and around that star it says in Latin God saves God say there's this one time this one time where they're trying to trap Jesus in treason and they say what do you say we do about all these taxes right remember Jesus goes he goes oh oh I don't have a coin I don't I don't have somebody give me a coin so I give a coin right and somebody goes oh I have a coin now hang on a second if you're Jew right what's the second command don't carry images of other gods right essentially he's going oh I don't have I don't have a year you're you're trying to trap me because they had like a first century private investigator over in the reeds like with the first century movie camera right Ken right here's you're you're trying to trap me in treason but you're the one carrying idols around in your pocket I would whose face is on the coin Oh Caesars oh I would render to Caesar what is Caesar's but I'd make sure I kept gods with gods if I were you that's a which is like a first century rabbi kung fu like that is that is something else that is sathya i remember remember in one of the christmas stories what does they say says wise men came from the east and they asked herod we're searching for the king of the jews why because we saw his his star his sorry your guy has a star our guy evidently has a star we saw his star and it says inherit and all of Jerusalem were disturbed by this of course of course they were are you kidding me think about the Christmas story now for unto us is born this day in the City of David Savior and his name is Christ and he is Lord part of the Christmas story is not simply about God becoming flesh it's about God becoming flesh in such a way that is an in-your-face confrontation to the oppression of Caesar and what they were doing to people all over the world the whole point of Luke chapter 2 is Caesar doesn't get the last word Jesus does and evidently that brings glory to God check this out when the Roman proconsul changed the calendar to center around Caesars birth of course they had to explain to the whole world why they were doing this because of Caesars narcissism and they did these things on these stone inscriptions well archaeologists found about a hundred years ago they found the unencrypt outside of a place called pre n in an archeological dig which is right outside of Ephesus and it was an intact tablet explaining why they changed the calendar to center around Caesar Augustus his birth let me show you this this is a straight translation word-for-word into English from it let me show you this it just ask yourself does it need this sound familiar check this out so they declared that caesar augustus his birthday would become the official New Year's Day of the calendar year here's the inscription from pre in explaining why here we go ready because Providence has set all things and most perfect order by giving us Augustus whom she filled with virtue that he might benefit humankind sending him as a savior both for us and for our descendants that he might end war and arrange all things well and because he sees her by his appearing surpassed all previous benefactors and leaves posterity no hope of another surpassing what he's done a name above all names and because the birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning of the good news gospel for the world that came by reason of him that was in 42 b.c do you see where the Christmas story and Jesus's birth was an in-your-face confrontation to oppression to live for the glory of God is anytime by which we humble ourselves or by which we inject our life into something that we are intentionally confronting oppression and injustice any where we see it evidently Jesus was giving glory to God in his birth and in his death but where else do we see this idea of glory to God let's do this so the glory the word glory in Greek is the word doxa this is a great quote from the great philosopher Dallas Willard no relation to me he's a world-class philosopher I sort of come from rednecks this guy this guy's amazing if the failure if the familiar becomes too familiar it becomes unfamiliar in other words if we get too familiar with deep meaningful things we can it can lose even though we still believe it it can lose its power like God is good hey jesus loves you hey Jesus they all these things are true right right but what we want to guard our heart against is being too familiar with familiar things that they lose their they lose their power they lose we lose it's up if the familiar becomes too familiar becomes unfamiliar and I'm afraid that this is a phrase that I think's become too familiar glory to God man oh oh that happened glory to God oh oh oh we give glory to God now are all those things true yes there's nothing untrue or bad or wicked or horrible about that I just don't want the familiar to become too familiar in the that it becomes unfamiliar I want to recapture some of that beauty here tonight here is here is a scripture from Psalm 19 the heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork so in the Psalms and the poems they weren't writing science books they were writing songs about how in all they were of creation and one of the words they use is the word glory now the word glory in Hebrew is kavod kavod in greek it's doxa in hebrew it's kavod now kavod just means now remember there's 8,000 words in Hebrew there's 80,000 in English all right like it's you you got it you've got to have a lot of meanings to one thing just to keep it all together kavod can mean weight heavy significance that the root one is a rich person weighted down by his really can't carry his stuff around that's kavod so let's put some language around this so glory is a sense that you have to catch your breath from the heaviness of it like when you think about the bigness of God you have to stop and catch your breath from how big it is let's say it this way that that kavod is when we can embrace all and wonder while admitting we don't have one clue of figuring it all out right like like whoever the closest to God is in the room we haven't scratched 1/10 of 1% of what God is yet it's not it's not even close and so when we think about the bigness of God glory is anytime we're able to be in all of something without necessarily having to figure it all out kavod is realizing how big he is and how small I am compared to how big his it's keeping it's keeping each of us in the right place let's let's say it may be this way Kubota is when you look at the Stars and realize how small you are that's what the poet saying say if you want a sense of how small you are look at CERN's and we understand so much more about astronomy now and actually how so small the earth is in compared to the entirety of the universe if you if you had a scale map of the entire universe here and you tried to find earth it would be the size of the head of a pin and then if you tried to find yourself on that head of the pin that that's what we're talking about kavod is when you look at the Stars and go my goodness I am I need to keep God in his place in me and mine I was uh I was out in the country in the outback and I was speaking for a pastor who's really into astronomy like really into it like he could tell you stuff he could tell you the molecular weight of certain star is it's down you know if that's a proper term I'm making stuff up this guy this this guy knew stuff about stars that you cannot believe and so he took me to his it was a clear night and he took me to his backyard and he had the largest telescope I have ever seen in person now there are lots bigger ones I understand that but for a personal telescope this was the biggest thing I ever like is this necessary are you serious he was really really into it so he had his iPad and this telescope and he he would he would aim the telescope and ask me to look through it right he goes check this one check this one and I gotta be honest I was looking through it and because he was so excited I wanted to be excited because I didn't want I wanted to honor what he was excited about but I couldn't see what he was seeing so I look at the telescope like whoa Wow whoa I had no idea what I was looking at right no idea hey so yet he had the iPad there and and the iPad was much better because evidently there's an app on an iPad that you can you put in your latitude lunch you line or something and then you point at the sky and all of a start and you can click on the star and they'll tell you its name it how far it is all kinds of stuff right so so he pulled he pulls the the telescope out and he and he lets me look which I saw nothing but I acted like I did and he goes let me show it to you on the iPad now that's a lot easier and he shows it to me on the iPad and he clicks on it he sees joint let me tell you something amazing here is that this guy was so side he's like hey check this check this right right he said check this out right that star that you pretended to see and couldn't see that one right check this out it's a hundred and fifty thousand light-years away he said you know what that means I said it means it's really flippin far away he goes yes he goes but bigger than that it means what we're looking at tonight happened 150,000 years ago he said think about that and he said in that star is relatively close in astronomical unit terms he said can you imagine how much bigger God is than we could ever think that we're seeing something he did a hundred and fifty thousand years ago and we're still partaking in it I thought that that's that's kavod that's when you get the sense of and here's the thing I had no trouble being in all of that without having to know all the details of it I don't need to know the lot and I think we need to get our head around that because in a world run by information the senses can quickly become if I can't understand it I can't be in awe of it and that will destroy us like would you rather see someone healed or would you rather understand how it happened I would just rather see it if I can understand it cherry on top but I would just rather see would you rather understand all the intricacies of the theology of worship or would you rather get lost in it that's the idea the idea is is that you don't have to fully understand something to be in all of it in the opposite way to say that is this is we should never lose our ability to be in awe of something at the altar of not being able to understand it all that's the idea that's that's kavod will say this way is the opposite would be thinking of ourself as larger than we are like kavod cannot be viewed in its full by men the best we could do with kavod is see where it's been like I saw where that was 150 thousand years ago that's that's the best we could do that that's it that's it we only know a part of kavod by reminding ourselves of how small we are if we lose the deep sense of his weight we lose something about what it means to be human if we we become less of what God made us to be if we lose our sense of how big he is and how small we are by making rules like if I don't get it I can't believe it if I don't fully understand and I can't be in awe of it that is the opposite of the glory of God so what's the glory of God the glory of God is anytime we confront impression anywhere we see it whether it be by humbling ourselves or by inserting our life the glory of God is anytime we're aware of our place in his in the universe the glory of God is anytime we're willing to be in awe of something instead of having to figure it all maybe we can say it this way we tend to worship at the altar of the Fed but we actually long to worship at the altar of the fixed we tend to worship at the altar of the Fed but we actually loan to worship at the altar of the fix something that comes and goes has no kavod but things with kavod are fixed and here to stay that stars fixed it's here to stay it's here to stay and that one and that one and that one and that one something that is fixed has wait something that comes and goes has no way which makes me wonder how much of our worship is actually the altar of the fad instead of the fixed and for people who come to church on a Wednesday night I want to challenge us here because our our challenge could be well there's nothing wrong with that yeah but that's not the question there's a more profound question than right or wrong the more profound question is temporary or permanent the more profound question is is it wise there's a lot there's a weight remember Jesus remember that the guy asked Jesus he said what must I do to inherit eternal life and Jesus goes well don't do he just he just quotes the commands like oh well don't commit adultery and don't do this and he quotes about three or four commands and remember the guy said well the don'ts I've got that down like what are you talking about I haven't I haven't stole something I haven't I haven't committed adultery like what what I mean what no I'm okay I've got that he goes okay well if you've got the nose down then move into the yes so what you have and give it to the poor the the idea is is there's a way you can do nothing wrong in your whole life but still have done nothing that that's that's the idea the idea isn't right or wrong it's it's temporary or permanent it's or it's what is wise look in the Garden of Eden right and in the Garden of Eden poem right here's the here's what happens there's a there's a serpent in a tree and that serpent tells two lies maybe more but the two I want to focus on the two lies are it's best your best life is found in organizing your life around the knowledge of good and evil what is right and what is wrong second lie is is that there's something outside of you that you don't currently have that if you just had it you would be more like God those are the two lights the two lies are your best life is found in navigating good and evil well that's not true that's absolutely not true if if if your only filter for what to do is is this right or is this wrong you will destroy your life because there's a lot of things that aren't wrong that aren't wise and they will destroy you that is just effect eating 5,000 calories a day might not be wrong but it's definitely not wise and you will die early right that's the idea the idea is the serpent is always asking what is right and what is wrong God is asking something more profound God is asking what is wise what is wise that gives you much less Wigram it's so that this creates something that in philosophy they call it the lie of the sacred object the lie that the sacred object is anytime we believe that there's something outside of us that we don't currently have that if we just had it we would be more like God more at peace more whole and it's just never the truth even if it's a good thing losing weight good thing but if you're not enough without it you'll never be enough with it there's no such thing as well now that I've lost those 15 kilos I feel better about myself no you'll just be a 15 kilo lighter version of whatever you were before money is a good thing but getting more money doesn't make you different it just makes you more of what you are right if if you're if you're a jerk and then you get a lot of money you're just a rich jerk if you're a generous kind person and you get a lot of money you're just a generous kind person who happens to have a lot of money right it's not it's not gonna make you feel better or different about yourself this is true of a spouse or a raise or or a house or a car or anything it's called the lie of the sacred object the idea that if I just detain that one more thing that I don't currently have I'll feel better about myself and some people go into horrendous amounts of debt to get that thing some people do awful stuff and I think about the story right Adam and Eve buy the life they go we need that forbidden fruit and actually if you think about the story it's actually kind of a boring story like if you have a story that takes place in a garden and the central antagonist is a piece of fruit it's not a great story until you forbid it once you forbid that fruit whoo now you've created an irrational obsession with that fruit that's if you've ever parent it you get that right you have a 4 year old who hasn't touched that toy in 3 months if you want them interested in the toy what do you do forbid it right now they can't wait to play with the toy it's exactly that Adam and Eve eat the fruit and how does that work out it doesn't and instead of repenting for the need of the sacred object what did they do they just create another sacred object they called it the law and they said hey if you keep all these rules you'll be more like God and that worked out terribly and so instead of instead of repenting for that sacred object they just created another one they said we're gonna put the presence of God in the middle of a tent right now once again that's not interesting but how do you get people interested in the presence of God how do you do it you forbid it you go the answer to all your problems is in the middle of that tent but unfortunately you can't go in there right now everybody wants to go in there right and okay and then of course they forbid it so much they say if you go in there you'll die you'll die of course that never happens right and then actually the opposite of that happens Nebuchadnezzar in second Kings 25 goes into the holy of holy steals the furniture and doesn't die take lap police' ransacked the place heck today the Muslims own the place right in 157 BC Antiochus Epiphanes took over Jerusalem and to show there was no power in the Holy of Holies took pigs into the Holy of Holies and sacrificed pig's blood all over the holy of holies just to prove he had fully conquered the place in 63 BC Pompey Magnus showed up at her Jewish revolt in Jerusalem and he said what's your problem they said our God lives in there he's Hama had chat with him then right and they said you can't he said why not they said you'll die he said I'm Pompey Magnus who's gonna kill me they said God will kill you he said your God will kill me he said yes they said I'll tell you what I'm gonna go in there and I'm gonna move stuff around and if your God kills me then all of all of the Roman Empire will convert to Judaism but if he doesn't you're gonna be faced with a hole in your belief system and lumpy Magnus in 63 BC walks into the Holy of Holies and in Tacitus his book of history's book 5 he wrote I found an untended uninhabited and completely unimpressive which is why 90 years later Jesus dies in all four Gospels what do they say and the temple veil tore the temple veil tore in other words in other words part of the Gospel story was where you thought God lived he's not there but resurrection says where is God always there and there and there and there and there and there and there part of the gospel is the forgiveness of sins but another part of the gospel is the freedom from the pursuit of the sacred object it is God loves you and calls you okay just as you are it's the freedom from the pursuit of the object outside of ourself that we think will make us whole only to get it we realize it doesn't make us whole here is the book of Ecclesiastes in one nutshell the book of Ecclesiastes is successful people successfully navigate the tension between depression and melancholy depression is wanting something you don't have melancholy is getting what you think you wanted only to realize I didn't do what you thought it would do that successful people learn to rest in the Spirit of God knowing that they are full and complete just as they are free from the pursuit of the the cross does not free us to pursue the sacred object the cross frees us from the pursuit of the sacred object the cross doesn't allow us to pursue wholeness the cross frees us from the pursuit of wholeness and says you are okay just where you are what does it mean to live for the glory of God it means it means to be free from the pursuit of the sacred object there's something inspiring about someone who's internally content with with no more objects there's somebody there's something inspiring about somebody who's so okay in their own skin with God with what God says about them that they don't need to pursue more sacred objects they don't need to do that it's any time we confront oppression it's any time we're in all despite our lack of ability to understand it's that let's say it another way let's say this way this is from Exodus 33 and the Lord said to Moses this very thing I've spoken to you all do Prof you found favor in my sight and I know you by name and Moses said please show me watch his question show me your go Gouri your kavod your weight and he said I'll make my goodness pass before you two different words in other words you're asking for glory you can't handle my glory you're kidding me you don't have you don't have near the capacity to handle my weight you have a you have a you have you have a massively inflated view of yourself Moses you you you think you could head on my glory no way the best you could handle is my goodness that's the best you could do right I'll let my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name the Lord and I'll be gracious to him I'm gracious as show mercy to him I'll show mercy in other words don't think you're special I'm just I do this for people right watch this but he said you cannot see my face for man shall not see me and live and the Lord said bold there's a place by me where you should stand on the rock and while my glory passes by in other words my full glory is gonna pass by you can't see that that's ridiculous can't do that well my glory passes by I'll put you in the cleft of rock and cover you with my hand until I pass by then I'll take away my hand and you shall see my back but my face shall not be seen now for the sake of time and relevance I can't go through how they come to this but it's just a great rabbinical teaching the rabbi's teach that when God did this he was actually showing Moses the backside of light which would have been the past he was showing him what he had been up to in the world and that fits with the context Moses says I want to see her glory God says no you'll see my goodness how is God going to show Moses his goodness unless he gives a testimony to all the things he had been up to that Moses was not aware of right so here so in other words I think I feel I went too fast with that okay so I'm gonna take a deep breath and all right so if God is light and in him is no darkness at all the function of light is to hold pictures like it's just in us to put form on everything like like God's hand but actually the Bible forbids us from putting human form on God you can't do it whether it's fish or fowl or human you can't it's actually forbidden when a Hebrew person said the hand of God or the arm of the Lord or the eyes of the Lord heat they weren't talking about literal eyes that was forbidden they were talking metaphorical function like what does a hand do a hand hold tides comfort so I sees it's it's this kind of is this kind of thing you got to be very careful reading this literally because it says God hit Moses in the crevice of the rock with his hand well how big is God's hand really really big right but then it says then he passed by and showed him his backside well if God's hand is big God's but would be enormous right but when a Hebrew writer write stuff like this they're not writing with form they're writing with function they're right with function so the function of light is to hold pictures and so the way the rabbi's teach it is that is that God was showing him what he had been up to in the past he was he was showing Moses his story up to that point this is hey you think you know you don't know how active I've been in the world let me show you what I've been up to so when we say to live for the glory of God here's what we mean we mean anytime we're confronting oppression intentionally anywhere we see it that's what we mean what we mean whether by humility or by injecting our life we're gonna confront oppression anywhere we see it we mean being in all of God despite not being able to understand all of it we mean being humble enough to go I haven't touched the surface of everything even close to everything God God is it's it's keeping in mind of our place and in his is it's that and actually we could even make it simple in that we're living for the glory of God anytime we give testimony to his goodness anytime we start talking about everything he's up to in the world to go back to Sunday we don't want to be the group of people focusing on the one piece of mud we want to talk about all the water that's being held back everywhere we want to talk every Christian should be the people pointing out the goodness of God in the world not everything going wrong that should be our point and that's how we live for the glory of God is we give testimony to everything God's up to in the world we find something good and we post that on Facebook that's what we do or we tell somebody that over coffee we are giving glory to God when we do that let's look at another way this is um Psalm chapter eight so what did God do with this glory evidently he gave it away watch what happens yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings now I have no reason to lie to you as I've never intentionally lied to you ever you could go look this up if you want or you could take my word for it if you go look that up in Strong's it is the original language there is and he made us a little lower than Elohim now they translated heavenly beings because I think the translators felt funny about saying but the actual translation there would be God made us a little lower than himself or or actually more appropriately because Elohim is plural and by the way you realize every word for God in Genesis 1 including pronouns verbs and nouns are all plural let us make man in our image let us make man in our image right so it's it's that kind of thing so that what the Hebrew people believed was that God was a relationship between three acting as one that although there's one it's a perfect relationship between three so actually the better translation would be God made us a little lower than themselves which I realize is incredibly confronting but it's not confronting doctrinally all of us would believe in the Trinity it's confronting to our imagination of the doctrine like everybody has doctrine and then everybody has an imagination of what that doctrine is and when there's a gap that's when anxiety happens right so oh so all of us would believe we're forgiven by the finished work of Christ right but in our imagination if we imagine ourselves guilty we'll feel guilty even though we believe we're forgiven and and that's a problem so all of us would believe God is three in one but in our imagination we picture a single white dude on a throne which is more Zeus or so we have we have Orthodox doctrine but pagan imagination and so and so to bridge that gap a little bit it can be challenging so so some the psalmist says God has made us a little lower than himself God made us a little lower than God and crowned him with kavod and honor and then gave him dominion over the works of your hands and put all things under his feet one of the challenges with Scripture is essentially every bit of glory God had he gave it to you now the question is is what are you gonna do with it are you gonna hold it to yourself are you gonna just be a part of something or are you going to take that glory and change the world with it it's so so what does it mean to give glory to God it means to confront oppression anywhere we see it it means to stay in all of his place in ours it means to keep it means to be in all something we can't quite understand it means to be free from the pursuit of the sacred object it means to give testimony to His goodness and it means to be intentional about taking the gifts of God he gave us and changing our world let me say it one more way to check this out this is from Jeremiah I love this observation that he makes has a nation if you need the reference because you're in taking notes or something it's Jeremiah - okay Jeremih 211 has a nation changed it's God's even though they are no gods what a great observation in other words if you were born believing something was God even when you're faced with incredible evidence that what you thought was God isn't God it's very hard to shift very difficult to shift the Jews face this a lot right the Jews thought God lives in the building and the Nebuchadnezzar takes the building and then they're faced with the confrontation of maybe our idea of God needs to get bigger than what we thought right maybe God is bigger than what we thought he was and so there's this confrontation right and so Jeremiah makes this point if you grow up thinking something's gone and you're faced with direct evidence that your concept of God is off it's very hard to shift that very to ship that watch watch what he says but my people have changed their God no my people have changed their glory now - Jeremiah it was possible to believe in the right God but live for a different glory and that's the danger that's the danger and that's what applies to us is have we had faith in the correct God but our life is living for a different glory that's the question we have to ask ourselves all right for us in this room my question for you is not do you believe in the right God that's ridiculous my question is not do you believe in the right God my question is does your belief in that God has it led you to a life of living for his glory or have we believed the right God but our glory has been changed for something else right and that is very very confrontational that is very that's jeremiah being in your face to a group of jews and i think ironically it's still a little bit in our face isn't it it's still like oh i can have faith in the right god but be living for something else i need to challenge my heart to make sure that's not that's not the case watch what he says but my people change their glory for that which does not profit no notice he doesn't say they change their glory for something wrong uh-uh they changed the glory for something that's just not profitable it's not it's not profitable well what and then watch his verbs be appalled that's a big verb be appalled oh heavens shocked desolate declares the Lord like that's that's bad to believe in the right God and be living for another glory to say it my way it's it's to believe in the right doctrines but it not fundamentally shift the way we live our life shocking appalling desolate the world might say hypocrisy something like that watch watch what he says for my people have declared two evils now watch the evils what does it mean to change your glory for something else watch what it is so so applicable watch this they forsook me the fountain of living water and you don't cisterns for themselves but the sisters were broken that could hold no water what an imagery in other words they believe in the right God but then they put their value in something that leaks out the bottom like God never runs out but then they put their value in approval or promotion or remembrance or money or fame or position or popularity all good things the problem is is when we took too much glory in the good things it leaks out the bottom and before we know it we believe in the right God but we're chasing a glory that's leaking it's not that it's wrong it's just leaking its we long to ought to worship at the altar of the fix but we're worshiping the altar of the fad something that's not wrong but it's leaking raises and promotions aren't wrong I hope we all get them and I'll operate in faith that you do but if our value is in that that leaks your bosses your boss's approval of you leaks and I hope you all have it but that can leak right whether your husband is being is being perfect towards you today or not is a good thing but it leaks it leaks your wife's approval of you leaks when you forget your anniversary leaks drips it just drips it's your strips mind you some years are forgettable right it's fine right but here's the thing it's just leaks it's just it's just it just leaks right listen listen whether your children think you're awesome or not it's a good thing but when they turn 14 leaks it's just yeah yeah tell them they can't have the chocolate leaks leaks it leaks it's a good thing the approval of your children is a good thing but it leaks it leaks and that's Jeremiah's point Jeremiah's like wait a minute it's possible to believe in the right God but until you've shifted to something more profound to where you put all your value in an unbroken vessel instead of something leaking out of the bottom then you could change your glory and the problem would change our glory is most of the things we could change our glory for aren't necessarily in the sin list they're good things that actually just don't belong in that cistern it's it's good to have it's good to furbish it's good for I hope your boss likes you more than not like you I hope your wife likes you more than not like you hope your husband likes you more than not like you hope your children love you more than not love you those are good things but when our value is in those things then we've got our faith in the right God but our glory in something that leaks out the bottom maybe maybe we can if you thought if you think okay Shane you're right that was heavy right that was that was you as a Bible teacher okay and if you think well maybe I got a little lost in that okay so I summarized it for you because all great rabbis summarize things and I'm not one but I'm gonna summarize one anyway right what what does it mean when we say when me or pastor I entered pastor Diane or Shawn or Megan or anything right in me if they say if they say come on let's give glory to God right well what what do we mean by that well what let's what what is that actually what does that actually mean so that the familiar doesn't become too familiar to become unfamiliar right it's anytime we're confronting oppression we see injustice so we do something about it it's being conscious of his place in ours it's living in a sense of all in spite of not being able to be certain it's that the enemy of faith is not dealt the enemy of faith is sight it's not we walk by faith enough I doubt it's we walk by faith and not by yes it's only going by what you see it's when your perspective is is so focused here that you can't see the bigger picture and sometimes doubt creates the questions that actually strengthens faith um it's it's declaring the goodness of God what has he been up to in our world where has God actually been good don't buy into that stuff don't buy into that stuff that oh there's so much bad going on the road Oh like I was sitting with a group of friends the other day and I promise I had not looked but I went to the top two rated news outlets in America and I read the top five headlines and hand on heart there was literally nothing going on so much so that they were telling about Rihanna's date somewhere it was uh it was on in the top five headlines as who Rihanna took to a banquet what right don't buy into that we should be the people pointing out all the good stuff God's up to in the world and that gives glory to God let's say it this way it's repenting from the need for the sacred object it's it's the if the realization that we're free from the pursuit of the say I am whole right now remember Jesus says to the guy so what you have in in other words if you if you if you lost all the objects you have you'd still be okay and actually at that point you'd actually be finding life whoa weird huh what with it's filling our life's value in something fixed instead of something temporary a sealed jar instead of a leaky one now what's this mean for us let's wrestle a little bit okay let's wrestle with it let's check this in Luke it's God's doxa in Greek this word can mean about how something thinks about something so God's doxa doesn't change but our Ducks it does so the question is can we align ourselves back sunk back under God's doxa like all of us believe we should be kind to our enemies we should turn the other cheek all of us believe that but in our life have we so connected with Christ that we can actually be kind to someone not being kind to us we all would believe that we should treat people as they are worth and never as they deserve but when the rubber meets the road does that belief then translate into I can actually treat someone as they are worth and never as they deserve you don't love your wife because she deserves that you love your wife because she's worth it you don't respect your husband because he deserves it you respect him because he's worth it right you don't you know obviously if we haven't journey past this like I was watching something the other day at a Christian ask an atheist this don't ever do this is so dumb as Christian ask the atheist hey hey he looks so stupid hey if there's no God what keeps you from raping and murdering everybody you want and the atheists said nothing I have raped and murdered every person I want that number just happens to be zero and if you need to be afraid of punishment or expect to rape and murder people you're a psychopath right it's it's it's it's the most it's the more profound yes that you're not doing the right thing because you expect reward nor you're doing the right thing cause your fear of punishment you're actually doing the right thing because you're living for a different glory the idea is can we align ourselves not just in doctrine but in life it's easy to believe this as like a bullet point but can it change our life let's say it this way glory to God in the highest is attained by humans and bracings and living out of his unchanging essence how have we treated the less fortunate like all of us would believe we should treat less fortunate well that God's caused it but have we actually done it how have we ascribed glory to God hey we have been crowned with kavod what are we gonna do about it God gave us this boy where we gonna do what we could do about it in this world this world needs the body of Christ interjecting love and compassion and generosity everywhere we see it we need to do that let's say it this way have we lost perspective on his place in ours how big or how small where have we thought of ourself a bit too big like hey this is not indictments a question how many of us when we use the word God we're just really talking about ourselves with a giant megaphone like I'm not for this if God must not be and I I'm for this of God must be for this well how big and how small how big and how small where have we embraced the gifted kavod and if we've embraced it I'm not talking about a belief I'm talking about where if we embraced the glory and then if we've embraced it how are we using those are two different things let's say this way will we reclaim the kavod that we were crowned with like like maybe your life just going through the motions and I would like to encourage you to say God has gifted you his kavod let's go do something about it it's better don't sit on your butt waiting to go to heaven when you die that's boring unless you're 107 like if you're 107 it's fine wait to go to heaven when you die it's just right there but listen if you're not 107 there's still infinite possibilities for our life what are we going to do with that listen that maybe we can say this way where have we placed passion and the temporary instead of the fixed wit this is a this is a more profound question than is it right or wrong where have we placed passion in things that are right but temporary instead of the fixed instead of the fixed let's say this way where have we chased the sacred object and found it empty where have we thought if I just detained that much money I'll feel better you get that much money no if I just got that card feel better if they do you get that you don't if I make it through a week without doing this behavior I'll feel better and then you make it through the week without doing that behavior and it's the same and it's some and it's some going in your life will get better if you don't do destructive things but at some point you end up at an altar or end up on your knees and you go you know what if I'm not okay without the objects I'm chasing then my life is depressing and meaningless that's the conclusion the writer of Ecclesiastes came to he says wait a minute Jeremiah they were all onto this they were like Lena you can believe in the right God but be living for a different glory my challenge and my encouragement to us tonight that there's a better way to live there's a better way to live so I bless you my brothers and sisters to not just be people on your way to heaven when you die I bless you to be people who live for the glory of God I bless you to be people who don't just believe in the cross and resurrection but you allow the cross and resurrection to be a fundamental way of seeing our entire world I bless you to be people who do all things without grumbling or disputing I bless you to be people who end hostility between each other that we're so committed to the Cross is so connected to the cross that we don't allow the thought that I could hurt somebody because of somebody it's something they've done I don't treat people as they deserve we treat people as they're worth I bless you to be people who keep going and do what you're doing for God because if you do it for God it's never ever wasted ever I bless you to be people who never do something out of duty but always see yourself as a living sacrifice and make the sacrifice make it sacred I bless you to be people who don't just find yourself waking up one day in heaven but every day for the glory of God so that when you do wake up in heaven you don't get whiplash until I see you again next year grace of peace everybody god bless what a wonderful service we've just had we've experienced the presence of God and I know his presence and I know him personally and I want to ask if you've been watching this do you know Jesus personally I want to invite you to become a part of the family of God I'll have to ask you to pray live if you've watched love service and you say but you know what I don't know Jesus but I would love to know him this prayer is for you salvation is now don't put it off don't leave it come along with me and pray this with me and say Lord Jesus come into my life take care of me Lord wash me clean of my sin bring me into your family Lord make me the head and not the time take me from darkness into light from sickness into health thank you Jesus you've paid the price that I may have eternal life with you and the father and the Holy Spirit but more on that I can live a successful life here on earth thank you farming in Jesus name if you prayed that and and you'd like to we'd love to be able to actually send you some resources if you would like that please contact us via phone or email we'll have to get some things into your hand and if you're in the local area we'd love for you to join us for our next Sunday service we're open all are welcome god bless and if you prayed that welcome to the family

Channel: Heritage of Faith Church Gold Coast

Views: 3,345

Rating: 4.6999998 out of 5

Keywords: Heritage of Faith, Gold Coast, We are Heritage, Shane Willard

Id: 1D6IS34lNrA

Length: 58min 41sec (3521 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 07 2019