Shane Willard | Living the Glory | 14.4.18

eyes enjoyed that procession I'm really coming at it as from the heart and the style of a teacher as you noticed I wasn't really going for it that's a couple reasons for that is is that in a morning like this I'd much rather you get the deeper concept then be moved by atmosphere there's a time to be moved by atmosphere but when I wanted to come as a teacher for that reason and the other reason is is to save my throat for the whole day right because I have to I have to pace I have to pace my throat so if you're thinking geez a bit more soft-spoken than normal well if you saw the schedule you would know that your pastor believes in me more than any body on the earth and in sand that's very moving I'm very moved by that I'm very moved by that so so my attempt today is to put language around what we call the gospel right and so in the first session we talked about how the gospel is not just forgiveness the gospel is the end of hostility what I find is is that for particularly the younger generation we need to have language around the gospel that does not include heaven or hell okay and it's not that we don't believe in heaven and it's not that we don't believe in Hell it's just the more compelling language around why we follow Jesus is found in language that's different than that and so and so I think it's a very compelling gospel to say that the gospel is the end of hostility the gospel the gospel compels entire community of people to put people's ears back on their heads and never take it off that the gospel compels us to turn the other cheek the gospel compels us to go the extra mile that God the gospel compels us to be peacemakers so this session I want to put language around something and I am really going out on a limb here because this is brand spankin new but so here's what here's I'm saying is that if this sucks if you could please consider my entire body of work instead of one plotted point now this is my attempt to put language around the glory of God so the gospel compels us to live for the glory of God once again something we struggle with language around like do we believe in the literal glory of God yes what does that mean mm-hmm-hmm now we got a problem now we've got it now we got a problem with language we don't have a problem with the truth of it see the way the way behavior works is this all behavior is based on a belief somewhere the theological word for that is doctrine the the real deep word for that would be orthodoxy so orthodoxy is right belief right but then on the other side of that is behavior or practice the theological word for that would be orthopraxy so orthodoxy is right belief orthopraxy is right practice or right behavior and the bridge between orthodoxy and orthopraxy is imagination right and so we all we all believe certain things but what's what's actually more important than what we believe is how we picture that playing out because how we picture that in our head playing out is what's going to determine how we're actually going to behave like I'll give you a great example of this okay how many of us believe that we're forget that we're forgiven by the finished work of Jesus on the cross all of us will believe that but how many of us in the last 30 days have imagined ourself guilty so if we if we believe we're forgiven but we imagine ourselves guilty then our practice will reflect our imagination more than it will the doctrine right I'll give you another example how many of us believe that God exists as three distinct persons acting in one unit that's called the Trinity that's us Orthodox belief forever okay all right so we believe our doctrine is God is three in one and I promise you I'm not trying to trick you here okay I'm gonna just pick on you because you're right in front of me right when you when you pray and I promise I'm not setting you a trick I have a reason to do this when you pray we all have an imagination when we pray when you pray to God what do you picture in your head I'll father okay that's the second most common answer I've asked that all over the world that is the second most common answer so father so what sort of father like sort of like like an ambiguous father right which would be a great song by the way you're an ambiguous father it's who you are who you are right right so so a father all right well what do you picture hey don't be that'll be stressed atheist hey I picture nothing so that so the second most common answer is a father but then if I push that I go what kind of father it's a right the first most common answer is a guy on a throne all right now here's the problem with that we believe that God exists in 3 and 1 as 3 acting as one so we believe God exists in a relationship right but then our imagination pictures a single white dude on a throne which is pagan that's Zeus Apollo her means like that's that's that so if our doctrine is 3 and 1 but our imagination is a single white dude on a throne how could that possibly not skew our practice right and actually now that I'm on it if you go look at Genesis 1 every word for God in Genesis 1 is plural every word every every noun in Genesis 1 that refers to God is plural every pronoun is plural and every verb defining those nouns and pronouns are plural let us make man in our image in the beginning God in Hebrews says Bereshit bara Elohim Elohim is plural it actually is in the beginning God created the heavens in the earth let us make man in our image plural plural plural three-in-one no four three to act as one what does that take it takes a perfect symbiosis of when to step up when to step back when to honor when to submit when to take your turn when to give somebody else their turn remember the three-legged races where they tie you to somebody right imagine doing that with two people the perfect symbiosis it would take to move in tandem in the 200s they came up with a word for this Trinity before the 200s the word Trinity did not exist the word Trinity was an attempt to name something that existed before the earliest word used to define that divine relationship was Perry Currie psious Perry circle perimeter Karissa's choreograph dance they called it a circle dance or a divine dance that and you see this all through the scripture somebody calls Jesus good he's like don't call anybody good except the father don't do that that's god's that's the father's job but then the father exhausted his son but then the son promotes the holy spirit but then the holy spirit points back to the son right it's a perfect symbiosis of wind to step in see if our imagination is a single white guy on a throne then it enables us to create our world because we create our concept about God and then our concept of God creates us and we force people to bow to our concept of God and if our concept of God is a single white dude on a throne we can justify setting up our whole life as us on top and everybody else underneath us you see this a lot in a submission to Authority books and things like this right right and there's something about it you go right there's something about that that's going wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute and the problem isn't the doctrine we all believe God is three and one the problem is our imagination into how that doctrine works out like I love the way that the most ancient theologians wrote about this in Genesis one that that the three were in a perfect symbiotic relationship and they wanted a fourth dance partner so they created you the early question about God was not will you be forgiven it was will you dance will you step into the divine flow or will you be out of step with the song will you will you it's not really about the serpent asks is this right or wrong God asked is this wise is this in step is this moving with where God's moving and so and so there's a doctrine and then there's an imagination and oftentimes what we do this is why this is why you find debates between atheist and Christians so boring and you would never sit around and watch them it's because both people are actually arguing the same thing from the different side of the same coin and they're both fighting about the doctrine when actually what they need to be talking about is how we imagine like have you ever talked to an atheist who said I do not believe in God and you say tell me tell me what you don't believe well I don't believe I don't believe God is this this this this and this and you're thinking yeah me neither if that's what an atheist is on one right and the issue is that the doctrine it's their imagination about how that doctrine plays itself out so let's talk about the glory of God and see if we can get to the literal the meaning and the event Allah Eicher of this this is Philippians chapter 2 and being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him a name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father in the God gave him a name that was above every name but then that ended up glorifying God this is a massive statement for a first century rabbi to make because the names of God is revealed in the Bible were progressive remember the Bible is not a static record of God if you want to ruin the Bible talk about it that way the Bible is the dynamic progressive revelation of what people thought God was at the time that was such a dynamically forward to the final revelation of God in the risen Christ that God gave it life by breathing on it and what you find in the Bible is that God's first name that was ever revealed was El Shaddai and then later he revealed his name is Yahweh and then of course y'all way just means I am which leads to all kinds of questions like I am what and then they started adding words to that Yahweh name first they made it saleable they put the vowels of Adonai between the four letters of Yahweh and it says Jehovah and then Jehovah what well jehova rapha jehova sidqa knew jehovah mick adesh jehova shamma jehova sholom the idea in the ancient Hebrew world is that when you talk about God the answer is yes and the idea is that if you could think of it it ain't God if you could get your head around it not God is God love yes but not your definition of love bigger than that is God kind sure but never limited to your definition of kindness it's that it is God peace yeah is he mercy yeah is he righteousness yeah so it was like yes and and yes and yes and oh what else oh and yes and it was an endless exploration of yes and until you get to Jesus and the writers of the New Testament talk about Jesus as the name that was above every other name in other words Jesus Christ is the final revelation of the word of God that in Jesus was all the names written about God before that the full manifestation of the divine has now been manifest in bodily form we have seen it with our own two eyes that is Jesus and it somehow glorifies God so evidently part of the Gospel story is to live like Jesus in order to glorify God now you see this but let's look at it now once again I admit this is gonna get a little ethereal but let's talk about this Luke chapter 2 and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace amongst all those whom he is pleased actually in one translation it says peace to all men now why is this so revolutionary to understand this we got to understand century rome first century rome was ruled by a guy named caesar actually the first verse of Luke chapter 2 is in the days of Caesar Augustus now to understand this we got understand a little bit about Caesar Augustus Caesar Augustus followed a guy named Julius Caesar Julius Caesar was amazing he he combined the whole world under one rule he invented the salad mazing guy incredibly busy he claimed to be God in flesh they didn't believe that Caesar was simply a man they thought he was the fully divine God incarnate actually the Roman historian and poet Virgil said that in Caesar was the full incarnate divine life in fleshly form and in only one name on earth by which men can be saved other than the name of Caesar Caesar if you know your history and 44 BC Caesar Julius Caesar was killed by Brutus by being stabbed in the back this sort of put harm to his deity claims the idea was is that if you were actually God you probably should have seen that coming but nonetheless no at his funeral this is amazing at his funeral a comet came so close to earth that it lit up the sky in the day and night one historian said that the star they didn't know to call it a comment they said a strange star appeared in the sky it was so bright it lit up the sky day and night for seven days obviously an exaggeration but nonetheless that's what the historian said right today astronomers have named that comment they figured out where it was they can tell you where it is in the universe right now they called it Caesars comment there was a couple rock songs written about it right right so Caesars comment it happened this is unbelievable Caesar's comet came so close to Earth yet it coincided perfectly with the seven days of mourning put aside for Julius Caesar's funeral in an ancient world where they were superstitious anyway for a strange star to appear in the sky during a guy that was God and fleshes burial that proved that he was God and of course a comet does what mu moves and it said see he is God and now he is taking his seat amongst the counsel of the gods well caesar augustus capitalized on this caesar augustus name was Octavius Octavius was not Julius Caesar's son it was his great nephew who saved his life from behind enemy lines in Gaul and in so-and-so Julius Caesar was so moved by this he adopted him and made him the heir to the throne Caesar Augustus then said see my father not his father my father is God therefore I am the son of God and since I'm the son of God I should be worshipped and says I'm the son of God I should be worshipped primarily so Caesar Augustus instituted a 12 day celebration of his birth it went from December 19th to December 31st every year it was a 12-day celebration of his birth and he called it wait for it hmm Advent it was called the advent of Caesar Augustus on the first day of Christmas no Caesar Augustus had to get the propaganda around the Empire and how do you get word from Spain to India that you are the new son of God how do you do that no electricity no town criers are highly unreliable what do you do the government in the Roman Empire printed government correspondents on money because money got its way around the Empire Caesar Augustus had three coins printed up to his own honor one coin had his face on the front of it and it said Caesar Augustus on the back of it was a giant star and it said God saves Caesar Augustus God saves so they they validated Caesars God claims by strange stars appearing in the sky can you see how when Matthew goes there were wise men coming from the east because we saw the star of the King of the Jews that is Matthew going in your face Caesar you've got your star our guy his own Caesar Augustus printed a second coin with a Advent slogan Caesar is Lord no other name on earth by which men can be saved no other name on earth there was one historian named Ethan Bert Stouffer in which honestly if your mom named you Ethan Bert Stouffer you better be good at writing history cuz you're not gonna have a whole lot of luck with the ladies right Ethan Bert Stahl first said that that during the Advent season all over the Roman Empire the slogan roared out from the crowd Caesar is Lord Caesar is Lord Caesar one of the propaganda slogans was Caesar is Lord and there will be peace on earth and goodwill to all men so when Luke wrote the problem was there wasn't they were raping pillaging and destroying most people right and so when Luke wrote this story when Luke's writing the Christmas story down he's like oh they're stars and multitudes of eight heavenly hosts oh and there will be peace on earth and goodwill to all men in other words one of the messages of the Christmas story is that Caesar doesn't get the last word Jesus does you also see this later with Paul Paul was writing under the under the authority of a guy named Nero Nero was the Caesar and Nero forced everybody to call him to things kurios and so tear Lord and Savior historians have found documents where people wrote him as my Lord and Savior Nero even his own wife was forced to call him my Lord and Savior Nero they found documents that Nero wrote and he had any addressed it from your Lord and Savior Nero do you see how the guy that imprisoned Paul and eventually killed him forced everybody to call him Lord and Savior so when Paul wrote prison epistles and he opens them all with this line Grace and peace be to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ this was not meant to be a bullet point on a pamphlet this was an in-your-face you've got me in jail and I know you're reading this before it goes out grace and peace be to all of you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in other words Nero will never get the last word here Jesus will if you read the end of the book of Philippians how does it end he says the same in Rome all greet you especially those of Caesars household see yeah that is like that is like that is so in-your-face stuff that part of living for the glory of God was being an in-your-face confrontation to the oppression in this world part of the Gospel story if someone says why are you following Jesus I would say because I want to wake up every day saying yes to the infinite new possibilities to confront oppression in my world that's what I want to do that living for the glory of God is confronting oppression it's confronting oppression let's say it another way this is from the great philosopher Dallas Willard no relation to me he's a world-class philosopher I'm a redneck um this this is this is what he says if the familiar becomes too familiar it becomes unfamiliar in other words if we get too used to oh we believe in Jesus Oh glory to God hey glory to God brother right if we get too familiar with this language we lose the meaning of us so what is glory know that the Greek word for glory is doxa but it has its roots and something else that is the Hebrew word kavod right let me let me show you this so this is Psalm 19 verse 1 the heavens declare the kavod of God in the sky above proclaims his handiwork so this is this is evidently that that when you look up at the sky there's glory so let's talk about that for a second kavod remember there's only eight thousand words in Hebrews 80,000 in English so you got to expand the meanings a bit to get it kavod means weight heavy significance the root is a rich person weighted down with his riches carrying all stuff around good glory is a sense that you have to catch your breath from the heaviness of it it's sort of like this glory is when we embrace being in awe of what God is instead of having to figure it all out like have we ever lost the opportunity to be in all of what God is instead of having to know all the answers to it but in one of the ways you can do that is go out at night and look up at the sky and realize that one of those stars is a hundred and thirty and light-years away and you can still see it can you explain that no do you need to explain it to be in all of it no would you rather see someone healed or would you rather understand all the doctrines of healing I just rather see him healed right if God lets me understand it fine but I just would you rather see someone delivered or understand it I just rather see it would you rather understand all the elements of worship or would you rather just be able to be in all of the atmosphere of it right so kavod is to live for the glory of God is to live in constant all so so once since we could say to live for the glory of God is living everyday to confront oppression in another way we could say to live for the glory of God is to live everyday in all of what God is despite our lack of ability to explain it it's that that this is what is fundamentally wrong with with people who give their life there's nothing wrong with people it's the idea that if I give my life to explain the literal 'no something that it somehow makes it better no you should be able to be in awe of something without having to explain it all that's that's that's glory so kavod is when you look at the Stars and realize how small you are so the opposite of living for the glory of God would be too high of a view of ourselves so glory in one sense is confronting oppression glory in another sense is being in all despite our lack of ability to understand it glory in another sense is living with a proper assessment of our place that I am I am here got like like I am in the scheme of things I'm pretty small I'm a pretty small I'm a pretty small thing kavod cannot be viewed by its full and its full by men the best we could do with kavod is to see where it's been here's another place that word kavod is used in the scriptures let's say this way 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 so I'm gonna go slower here and so in one sense living when we say we live for the glory of God that means we're confronting oppression somewhere where we are waking up with the infinite possibilities of what it means to to confront injustice in another sense its living in all despite of our lack of ability to understand it in another sense it's it's it's a proper consciousness of our place I love this this this is a state this way we tend to worship at the altar of the fad but we long to worship at the altar of the fixed that kavod stars are fixed they're there they're put there by God fads come fads go which leads me to all kinds of questions like where if living for the glory of God is living for the fixed where have we been disappointed with the fed there's lots of fads approval of people comes and goes happiness can come and go money can come money can go that's the opposite of the glory of God like something that comes and goes has no kavod something that's here today gone tomorrow there's no glory in that it's its glory is found in the fixed which brings me to the lie of the sacred object the lie of the sacred object so the lie of the sacred object is this that there's something objective out there that will make you like God it'll give you internal peace Shalom harmony contentment now what was the first sacred object in Scripture don't think too hard about that it's really early in the story it's the forbidden fruit okay so the idea was is you have perfect oneness with God but you can be like God if you just ate that if you just and if you read the story it's not even that compelling is it like you're in a garden full of food what would be so compelling about a piece of fruit it's not even interesting why would you even pay attention to it what made the fruit compelling the fact that it was forbidden right you if you want to ensure people will do things forbid it Paul's entire transformation strategy was all things are permissible all things are permissible I'm gonna remove the forbiddance and when I removed the forbiddance memory he says he says the purpose of the law was to make us aware of sin which caused us to sin so I'm just gonna remove the forbiddance of the law which should set people free to behave but right right if you want to ensure like for forbiddance actually creates an obsessive desire that is greater than necessary about whatever object it is like you don't you don't have to look very long in children to see that children children want to eat all the chocolate and and your mom you're the mother says you get it you need all the chocolate which makes them want chocolate even more but actually if you just gave them one day where they could eat all the chocolate they wanted they would throw up until they'd lost their taste for chocolate so it's it's that it's the the live the sacred object is if you eat that fruit you will be like God and of course they buy into that they eat it and it actually destroyed them it the it was it was a lie it wasn't what it was cracked up to be and it's just in us to pursue the forbidden sacred object maguet out of the garden and what did what do they eventually do they create another sacred object what was that the law the idea was is it if you could keep all these rules you'll be like God which once again was a lie all it did when you bought into that was it made people aware of where they missed it and that's still true today if you make a thousand decisions in a week and 999 em are good and one was bad what do you go to bed thinking about the bad one and so the first sacred object was the was the Apple or the forbidden fruit or whatever that was right it's it's you could be like god if you this the second one was the law then they then they made another one they made the temple and they said ok God lives in there but I forbid you from walking in there or you'll die which only made people want to go in there more right and the idea was was fullness and the full presence of God it's all it's all behind that curtain that no one can know I could go in there and of course that wasn't true either you could see that three times in Scripture and one at least one time in history in second Kings 25 it says Nebuchadnezzar walked into the Holy of Holies stole the furniture and didn't die oops not there's another king that it said ransacked the place and it had to be rebuilt and then of course in 63 BC Pompey Magnus was responding to a messianic revolt in Jerusalem 63 BC Pompey Magnus was responding to a messenger revolt in Jerusalem he's like what's the deal with you guys and they were like well our God lives in there he goes in there and he said yeah he said I'm gonna go speak to him then they said you can't you'll die he said who who's gonna kill me he said God will pump a Magnus said okay I'll tell you what I'm gonna walk in there and if I die write this down if I die all of Rome will convert to Judaism but if I don't you're gonna be confronted with a hole in your faith and Pompey Magnus the head general of Rome walked into the Holy of Holies and in 63 BC he walked out with a piece of the bread and he said I found it unintended and unimpressive he wrote that in book 5 of Tacitus as history's then of course you see it again in the Bible in Jesus Jesus dies on the cross what's the main thing that happens it is finished what's the first thing the temple veil tears into it's like all the presence of God was actually not limited you see in another place in the Bible with Ezekiel Ezekiel has a vision of the full glory of God we're at the khabar River in Babylon so Ezekiel starting to understand that the presence of God is not limited to one place it's the lie of the sacred object the idea that if I could that there's something outside of me that will give me peace glory contentment I could be like God to understand this we have to understand a bit about how desire works the desire has two elements if you remove one it makes desire irrelevant okay this is how it works desires made of two elements element number one object desire so object desire is that which is what I want so I want that water right that would be my object desire object cause is that which stands between me and what I want so for instance a child wants to eat all the chocolate that's object desire object cause would be his mother his mother is forbidding him from eating the chocolate and getting what he wants and actually the forbiddance the object cause is what gives more meaning to the object desire the truth of it is is that is that if we ever here's okay here's the book of ecclesiastes in one statement here it is ready the whole book of ecclesiastes in one statement successful people navigate the tension between depression and melancholy right so do some of you got that all right so so depression is wanting something I don't have melancholy is getting what I think I want and it didn't do what I thought I would do Ecclesiastes the wisdom of Colette is is that successful people learn to navigate the tension between depression and melancholy that actually real life is found in the object cause not in the object desire it's actually more fun to shop for a house than it is actually sign for it it's actually more fun to shop for a car than it is to actually buy it it's actually more fun to test-drive one than it is actually it's actually it's actually more fun it's actually more fun to date than it is to be married it's actually it the process of getting actually successful relationships aren't found when people go I fully understand them successful relationships are found when I love them so much despite mine not understanding them it's it's life is found real life and energy is found in the object cause this is this is how Christians have stuffed heaven up so Christians have said heaven is a place where you get everything you want all the time that sounds horrendous like even the twilight zone figured this out in in 1938 there was at while very famous about a criminal named Robert Valentine Robert Valentine was a horrible man and he dies in an accident when he dies he wakes up in the afterlife but he doesn't know it's the afterlife because it looks the same and there's an angel there named pip an e an imp it's job is to escort him into the afterlife and of course Robert Valentine doesn't know he's dead so his first inclination is to Rob pip so he pulls out a weapon to rob pip pip rolls his eyes does like that the weapon falls he's like shut up Robert get in the car unit so Robert gets in the car pip drives him to a mansion Robert says is this where you live pip he says no this is where you live and by the way in that drawer is three million dollars which in 1938 he may as well live as a in la blah blah right and so Robert Valentine says is amazing pip says what do you like to do he says I like to gamble pip says let's go to Atlantic City let's do it so they take the three million dollars they go to Atlantic City he plays a game and wins plays the next game and wins plays the next game and wins place the next game and wins place the next game and wins place the next game and wins he's loving it he can't lose if flash-forwards six weeks later six weeks later Robert Valentine is living losing his mind from boredom because everything he wants is just being given to him with no object cause with no struggle with no process with no anything he's losing his mind from boredom and he says to pip pip change this please and let me remind you I was a horrible person on earth I don't deserve heaven and pip says heaven who told you this was heaven this is hell and the screen went blank and it says so Robert Valentine was condemned by God for his wickedness to an eternity of getting everything he always wanted because when you remove the object cause you removed the meaning of desire which by the way that's what makes the gospel so compelling ready here we go so makes the gospel so compelling the object desire for any person is the presence of God in Christianity the object desire is we want to know the presence of God the object cause is Jesus Jesus is saying you can't get to the Father except through me but then Christianity turns the whole thing on its head and says Jesus is God Christianity is the only worldview in the world that wraps your object cause and your object desire up in the same person which creates an eternity of meaningful exploration that's the gospel the gospel is an endless possibility of endless expression when we get to what we think is the end there's another door and that door has a thousand more doors and I can't wait to see them all and I'm gonna embrace the journey along the way it's that it's the lie of the sacred object actually the glory of God is repenting to live for the glory of God is repenting from the thought that there's something objective that can make me like God that's living for the glory of God the glory of God is confronting oppression the glory of God is being in all the glory of God is repenting from the lie of the sacred object here's another way this is used this is from Exodus and the Lord said to Moses this very thing that you've spoken I'll do for I felt for you found favor in my sight and I know you by name now watch Moses is arrogance this is such a humble gracious God show me your glory your kavod your weight show me what I can't possibly understand in other words and he said I'll make my goodness pass I love that in other words God's like I'm gonna give you I'm gonna give you some space there cuz I realize you're too dumb to realize what you're asking you're asking for my glory you can't handle my glory I'll let my goodness I'm not gonna show you my glory I'll show you my goodness how about that so so to live so one way the scriptures frame glory is to live for the glory of God is to be a testimony to God's goodness it's that it watch what happens I'll let my goodness pass for him from a claim before you might name the Lord and I'll be gracious tone gracious and show mercy to whom I'll show mercy watch watch what happens but but he said you cannot see my face for man shall not see me and live and the Lord said Behold there's a place by me you'll stand in the rock and while my glory passes by I'll show you my goodness but I'll only show you the backside of my glory when my glory passes by I will put you in the cleft of the rock and I'll cover you with my hand until I pass by in other words I'm going to your eyes I'm gonna pass by and then I'll take away my hand and you shall see my back but my face shall not be seen that is a great way the rabbi's teach this that in God there is light and in him there is no darkness at all so what Moses would have seen see it's against the law to anthropomorphize God you can't put any human attributes to God so so when when a writer said the hand of God or the face of God or the back of God they're only using metaphors they weren't allowed to talk about literal things when it comes to God is that it was forbidden in their law you can't do that so they great people think form Hebrew people think function so when a great person hears hand they think a hand when a Hebrew person hears hand they think what does a hand do a hand holds hides comforts this this sort of thing so what Moses was seeing there was the backside of light know the function of light is to hold pictures so if you see the backside of light what are you seeing you're seeing the past you're seeing where God had been but the rabbi's teach about this is that God was gracious enough to Moses to show him where he had been at work in the world up to that time so Moses could testify to it that to live for the glory of God is to see the goodness of God in the glory of where God has been and testify to it what is glory it's confronting oppression it's saying yes to the infinite possibilities and confront oppression it's being an all despite our lack of ability to understand it it's repenting from the lie of the sacred object it's repenting of that it's it's it's reminding ourselves our place we can't see his glory but we'll see where as goodness has been and testify to that that God is at work in this world let's say in another way ascribe to the Lord of families of the people ascribe to the Lord glory and strength ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name bring an offering and come before him worship the Lord in the splendor of His Holiness tremble before him all the earth yes the world is established it shall never be moved let the heavens be glad and let them say amongst the nation the Lord reigns in other words a testimony to what God is up to that's the glory of God let's say it another way what did God do with his kavod what did he ooh with his glory this is Psalms chapter 8 yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings by the way if you go look that up in Hebrew the word is Elohim he made him a little lower than Elohim same word for God in Genesis 1 essentially he's saying he made human beings a little lower than himself or themselves yet you've made him a little lower than Elohim and crowned him with glory and honor so what did God do with his glory he gave it away he invited you into the dance he gave it away which leads to this question if God gave his glory away what are you gonna do about it to live for the glory of God if God gave us glory away aren't we to be giving glory away aren't we to be promoting others instead of ourselves aren't we to be taking our place in the dance say this way this is uh Jeremiah has a nation changed it's God's even though there are no guns and in other words I love this observation if you live in a country where there's a lot of God's even if you realize that they're not really gods it's very hard to change what you've been taught your whole life has a nation changed it's God's even though they are no guns watch this but my people have changed their what not their gods their glory their kavod for that which does not profit be appalled o heavens at this that's a big word when somebody trades their Glorian it's appalling be shocked be utterly desolate declares the Lord my people have committed two evils watch how he frames this they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and hewed out cisterns for themselves broken cisterns that can hold no water what's his metaphor around this when we trade our glory for something else it's the sacred object it's putting our faith in something that holds no water we put all of our meaning all of our everything we're dumping it into this sacred object but there's a hole in the bottom and no matter how much we put into it it's gonna dump out the bottom it's gonna fall out the bottom that is appalling to the Lord there's there's an offer and that's why we got to be so careful that as Christians we do not present Jesus as simply another sacred object right if we present Jesus as just another forbidden fruit just another temple holy of Holy's just another just just just another law unto itself if we present Jesus like that he's just another sacred object and then you cannot be surprised when people are disappointed with the result you can't present Jesus says oh just come to Jesus you want any problems anymore and just come to Jesus no no no that's not what jesus promised us let me read you oh man could you hand me my phone I am III I cannot quote this word-for-word yet I'm working on it but this is it's so good for instead of God being that which fills the gap at the core of our being we shall soon discover something more amazing and liberating namely that God testified to in Christianity exposes the gap for what it is obliterates it and invites us to participate in an utterly different form of life that's the gospel the gospel is realizing God gave his glory away and there is no sacred object that's gonna hold the water it's a broken cistern what a brilliant observation by Jeremiah there I realize it sounds jeremiah was brilliant yes that was it's almost like he had help um so let's ask a few questions about this in Luke it's God's doxa in Greek this word can mean how we think about something the root word ox at glory is a mindset how it can front furnace is is is is mindset but doxa can be how how we it's what we talked about earlier there's what you believe that's not glory but how we think about what we believe that can be ducks as well because how we imagine what we believe determines the behavior around it okay so God's doxa doesn't change our Ducks who does evidently God's kind regardless of how people are treating him our tendency is to change how we treat others based on how they treat us evidently that's not true of God evidently God's putting people's ears back on that are trying to kill him evidently God is forgiving people at the foot of the cross who are nailing in there evidently evidently God's kindness isn't determined by our response but rather his character evidently that's glory the question is can we align ourselves back under God's doxa his way of thinking to live for the glory of God is confronting oppression it's being in all its repenting of the lie of a sacred object it's it's testifying to the goodness of God it's it's admitting when we put our value in something they can't hold water things like money or approval or that relationship or that car or that shirt or that promotion or that title or whatever it is that doesn't hold water anything that can come and go anything that's free anything that's not fixed anything that's a Fed where can we repent of those things glory to God in the highest is attained by humans embracing and living out of unchanging essence so how have we treated the less fortunate in the last 30 days what have we done about that how we ascribe glory to God we've been crowned with kavod what are we going to do about it the gospel is a community of people living for the glory of God what does that mean it means we're intentionally confronting oppression we're embracing the all something instead of the understanding of it it means that we've repented of the lie of the sacred object it means that we're giving testimony to God's goodness all over the world that out of a Christians mouth living for the glory of God should never come can you believe how bad this world's getting no we're testifying to the goodness of God not to the places that there's still work to be done what we repent of where we put our value into sisters they can't hold water that's glory of God that's the glory of God it's it's it's it's coming back on a reasonably recent basis and a regular basis of going where is my mindset different than this where does my mindset change where have I put my faith in the fad instead of the fixed where's that have we lost our perspective on his place in ours how big and how small where we embraced the gifted kavod he gave it away where are we using it or are we just simply sitting on our butt waiting to go to heaven or how are we using it will we reclaim the kavod that we were crowned with like one of the invitations of the gospel is not do something so you can attain a place but rather embrace something that's been true since before the foundation of the world and reclaim it it's not claiming it's reclaiming it where have we placed passion in the temporary instead of the fixed where if we chase the sacred object and found it empty where where have we walked into the Holy of Holies thinking God's in there only to realize yeah wherever we eaten the Apple thinking that'll make me like God no I could just feel that one more time ya know it's a broken cistern God is not that which gives us meaning God is that which enters into what we think meaning is and obliterates it and invites us into an entirely new way of living that's the gospel that's my destined to putting language around what it means to live for the glory of God I hope that was worth keeping if it wasn't it was my best effort and please consider I have two things if you thought that was the luckiest thing you've ever done Shane I would just ask two things one that you would consider my whole body of work instead of the one in a second

Channel: Gateway Church Tasmania

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Length: 48min 17sec (2897 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 21 2018