Shane Willard - The Glory of God

thank you very much you guys can be seated it's good to be back here with you and I love this church I love you pastor you guys got something special going on here and I want to do I want to do sort of an old-school Bible study with you tonight because it's Saturday night and you're in church and and you're leaders and and so really leadership is just a function of exerting influence over a group of people to do something now in this in this context leadership in a church context is exerting influence over a group of people to live in such a way that they bring glory to God now the problem with that is when we run out of language for that and so this was I don't know earlier in the year and and I my mind went blank at the end of a message and and and I I did an absolute sin I don't mind sharing you with that I it was it's absolutely wrong what I did but I I I couldn't I couldn't think of anything to say and actually the most authentic thing to have said would have been I've lost my place but I couldn't say that so I throwaway line and and I don't normally do that but I did that day and I said I was talking to a group of pastors and I said come on you guys ultimately should be using your influence to to motivate people to live for the glory of God we should be living for the glory of God right exactly what I got yeah yeah exactly but it was a throwaway line and and it's not that it wasn't true it's absolutely true but it was the throwaway line cuz I put absolutely no thought into it it was it was it was a result of my mind being blank and so a good friend of mine was in the room and and he's not the type to let me get away with that and so we we were chatting afterwards and he said that's not you man and I said what he said you used to throwaway line you know you used the throwaway line and I said I know he said you said we should be living for the glory of God I said well we should if it's gonna be throwaway line it may as well be true we should be living for the glory of God and he said what's that mean I said it means that when you're living you're living to give God glory and he just smirked and he said come on man he said I think this happened on purpose he said not that you did it on purpose he said I think this happened for purpose he said because I think I think you need to do your thing with what it means to live for the glory of God and he said because when you don't have the language for it he said believe you me we could use some language for that and so I sat around with him for a little while and we admitted together that we would tell people with all of our heart to live for the glory of God but when pushed for language on what it means to exert influence for people to live for the glory of God we had no language past we should be giving glory to God and that's not an effective even though it's true it's not an effective way to exert influence I want to talk to you about about this part of your leadership tonight I want to talk to you about what it means to live for the glory of God I want to get flanked which to that and and the more concrete language we give I mean this is gonna be a heavy duty Bible study night I'm gonna go through and show you these things so I'm gonna start in Philippians chapter 2 first a quick quick history context of Philippians there's this guy named Paul and he's chained to a wall he is being tortured on a systemic basis under the authority of a guy named Nero Paul is imprisoned because his brothers in Jerusalem turned him in to the Roman Empire for being a messiah named the Egyptian who started a secret revolt of 4000 secret assassins into the wilderness if you want to read about that you can read about that in acts 21 in acts 21 they could not cope with Paul's liberal theology because Paul was saying things like I know the Bible says to circumcise but let's not I know the Bible says don't eat bacon but we like it so much right so Paul Paul was trying to take this gospel to Gentiles who had no concept of these things and he was being very very loose with it according to the Jews in Jerusalem they couldn't cope and so they brought him back to Jerusalem to give an account for his preaching basically they said we celebrate the fact that anybody's coming to God but we question your method right and so and because they couldn't cope with them they turned him in to the Roman Empire because at that time there was a messiah they're by the way there were 24 different messiahs and 120 year period of time there was Menahem there was Simon Ben guar there was Simon Bar Kokhba there was this guy called the Egyptian right the the messiahs were anybody who claimed to be anointed of God to be king of Israel and kicked the Romans out right that was the idea right and they all they all got killed pretty violently but this guy the Egyptian they never knew if they got him and what he did is he fit in he just was an anonymous guy he figured out everybody dies he goes you know what I'm just the Egyptian right and he he hired 4000 secret assassins called the Sicarii and he led a secret revolt where they would fit in during the day but then at night they'd come out dressed in all black and they'd cut people's throats like high-ranking government officials people's like the corrupt high priests and then they would leave their little Zorro sign in the ground next to them so the next morning because there was no such thing as CSI Jerusalem they just oh well the Egyptian was here right and so how do you get rid of a guy who you can't cope with his theology well what you do is is you get him back to Jerusalem and then you tip off the Roman platoon that he's the Egyptian they've been looking for so when they arrest Paul they say are you not the Egyptian who started a secret revolt of 4000 secret assassins that's x21 verse 38 something like that and Paul's like no I'm not I by the way I'm a Roman citizen which means you can't execute me without a trial that's one and so he ends up in front of a guy named Felix Felix finds no reason to find him guilty but it says as a favor to the Jews in Jerusalem he kept him in jail for two years that's like oh that's one sentence but it's 2 years of a guy's life after two years he gets replaced with a guy named Festus highly unfortunate name Festus then says you know we're gonna keep hearing he said Paul says I appeal to Caesar so he appeals to the highest court and in the book of Acts ends with Paul in jail in Rome awaiting execution on the authority of a man named Nero now Nero was a particular narcissist he made everybody address him as to things kurios and so tear Lord and Savior so if you wrote Nero you had to say my Lord and Savior I beseech you if he wrote you back he would say your Lord and Savior compels you there was all these forced Olympic style games although the Roman Empire with forced pledges of allegiance to our Lord and Savior Nero Nero was a maniac he had a particular ritual he would do with Christians where he would take a wooden stick and he would impale them with it into their rectums trying to go through both orifices at once if you're a real masochist there's some artistic renderings of this he would then he would then cover you in tar and set you on fire to keep his backyard alight with human torches um so if you've ever thought man can you believe how bad this world's getting please read a history book this is the best time it's ever been to be alive these people were lunatics right so if you read if you if you read Paul's letter to the Philippians from the beginning he starts it something like this grace and peace be to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ this this is not a bullet point on a pamphlet to be affirmed this is a guy chained to a wall gonna be killed by a guy forcing everybody to call him Lord and Savior and he's going up yours Nero you're not gonna get the last word here right and if you read all the way to the end of Philippians he says it this way this is how he ends it all the Saints in Rome greet you especially those of Caesars household see you later like this is a guy absolutely starting an internal investigation in Rome because of something he's writing now in the middle of all this he changes gears and he and he brings it to Jesus and let me show you what he says here this is uh if you got area and being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross but by the way in the first century that would have been a swear word the word translated crossed there was an unspeakable where it meant to be cursed by God it was a it was it was like oh if when they read this out loud in the Church of Philippi there would have been a who was he allowed to say this there was no artistic drawing of the cross until 500 AD a hundred years after it was outlawed because it was just too it was just too terrible so it'd be like even that one therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name if you're a note taker what you denote that because that's very important for two reasons first reason is that Paul is a rabbi who is saying that geez his name is the summation of all the names revealed by God before see the Bible is not a static record of God if you want to ruin the Bible interpret it that way the Bible is a dynamic progressive revelation of what people thought God was that was leading to the final revelation of God in the risen Christ when Jesus showed up he was like a what you thought God was as bigger and better and kinder you thought God was this actually it's better than that the final word of God was the risen Christ so that the name of God's a great example the first name of God revealed in the Bible was el shaddai el shaddai el shaddai shows up to - to Abraham and then 400 years later Yahweh it's like all my name is Yahweh I'm the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and of course yahweh is unspeakable so that'd be like me you those vowels don't even go together in hebrew be like me saying my name is London from Buffalo father it just it doesn't go together and so yo y'all way yo you would have it that doesn't in Hebrew that that lit that would literally would sound like mumbling in Hebrew that would be like me saying my name is Lebanon but it it just it just doesn't go and so what they did to make it saleable is they took the vowels from Adonai and they put it between the four consonants and it says yahveh which which is I am of course the question is I am what well I am Rafa a healer I am Jireh provider I am Sid canoe I'm your righteousness I'm Shema your presence I'm Shalom I'm your peace it's so it's so there was this radical movement of a revealing of the name of God and Paul says actually if you look at it Jesus is the name above every other name written before so there was a spiritual thing going on but there was also political thing because the in in the Roman Empire everything was about the propagation of the Roman cult or the Imperial cult the idea that Caesar is Lord and He is God in flesh and he is empowered by the Spirit of the goddess Roma a female goddess of virtue who descended on a horse to the city of Seven Hills this this is what they believed and they believed that there was no other name given to posterity that would do anything greater than the name of Caesar we're gonna talk about that so there's this one huge theological move but in an another since it's Paul chained to a wall going no no no what you think is true about Caesar that's not the guy Jesus is the guy Jesus is the guy right a name above every name so that the name of Jesus every knee should bell when the Roman Empire every knee bow to Caesar so this this is a big thing in heaven oh oh and in case you don't just spiritualize it and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord look yet who made everybody call them Lord Nero every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father so evidently to Paul Jesus was bringing glory to God in his death and there's a sense I don't think anybody would mean to do this but there is a sense that sometimes gets intimated that that we're bringing glory to God when we're winning we're bringing glory to God like like it's like something really good happens there we go all glory to God and okay amen but actually to Paul it is just as much as important to bring glory to God in our suffering and in our death as it ever isn't us winning there's a subtle intimation in Christian circles that if you just had enough faith you wouldn't be going through that if you just had enough faith your children wouldn't be sick if you just had enough faith your marriage wouldn't be in trouble if you just said enough faith the client wouldn't have left you if you just had enough faith this if you just and look that's that's not new there's an ancient that's an ancient theology it's based in Latin it's bull of us crap of us okay great great faith it's not events only when we're winning great faith is events with keeping our head up our shoulders back our hands clean our hearts pure and our taste sweet in the middle of things in this passage in this passage evidently Jesus is bringing glory to God while being executed by a local government in the worst possible way humanly possible even that death even in that suffering there was glory to God evidently you can bring glory to God anytime you confront oppression even if it means you're suffering for it evidently that's reigning glory to God when we confront oppression even if it means we suffer for it so evidently Jesus was bringing glory to God in his death but he was also bringing glory to God in his birth check this out this is Luke chapter 2 next slide 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 men that's how I learned that passage in this translation it's peace amongst those to whom he is pleased but but in the original language it does say peace on earth and goodwill to all humankind to all to all humankind now this is the Christmas story which is Jesus's birth now to understand what's going on here we have to understand some historical arc okay we understand some historical context this story actually starts at 44 BC in 44 BC there was a guy named Julius Caesar Julius Caesar had successfully combined the whole world under one rule he was amazingly busy guy he also invented the salad he was an amazing day right right one day one day there was a civil war between him and Pompey and and Julius Caesar got stuck behind enemy lines in a place called Gaul that's a modern-day France and his great-nephew a guy named Octavius was brave enough to go save him from behind enemy lines this this moved Julius Caesar to adopt Augustus Caesar or Octavius at the time he adopted Augustus Caesars his adopted son because he saved his butt from behind enemy lines and named him the heir 42 BC a guy named Brutus stabbed Julius Caesar in the back very very popular for everything now they believe that Julius Caesar was the rule of the world they also believed he was fully God incarnate the Roman historian Virgil said that that in Caesar in Julius Caesar was the fullness of God in fleshly form and in no other name on earth by which men can be saved other than the name of Julius Caesar would you and Julius Caesar got I stabbed in the back that sort of hurt his God claims because the idea was is that if you were truly God you probably should have seen that coming right and this caused another another civil war between Caesar Augustus and Mark Anthony and Kassius and Brutus and so what ended up happening was Octavius took on the name Caesar Augustus to follow his logic his logic was if my dad was God then I I'm the son of God and if I'm the son of God then I should be worshipped now here's what's unbelievable and this is an astronomical fact it just so happens that at Julius Caesar's funeral the strangest star appeared in the sky for seven days it was a star that did not belong and it moved along the night sky astronomers know what it's called now they've actually named it it was a comet that came very close to Earth so close in fact that it lit up that one historian said it lit up the day and night sky for seven days obviously a bit of an exaggeration but astronomers have named that comet now Caesars comet there was a rock song written about it in the 70s now think about it in an ancient primitive world if a guy that said he was God died and at his funeral it just so happened that a strange star appears in the sky for seven days and nights what would you think well what they thought was was that that was proof that Julius Caesar was in fact God and he was taking his seat amongst the Council of the gods so Caesar Augustus he snaps on this and he's like hey hey see that is proof strange stars appearing in the sky that is proof that my father was God and if my father is God then I'm the son of God and I should be worshipped so Caesar instituted a 12-day celebration of his birth and he called it wait for it this is true Advent it was called the advent of Caesar Augustus and he said one day is not enough to celebrate the birthday of a God we need 12 so he instituted a 12 day celebration of his birth it lasted from December 19 to December 31st every year and it was called Advent on the first day of Christmas my true listen to know how do you get word from Spain to India that you are God and this has been confirmed by stars how do you do it no electricity no printing press town criers are highly unreliable what do you do the first century government announcements were printed on money if you're ever interested about anything going on in 1st century Rome look Google the coins good like that I don't know how else to say that Google the coins the coins will tell you what's been what's what's been going on I say this is a this is a coin here this is a this is one of the Advent coins there was four of them one of them said Caesar is Lord no other name on earth by which men can be saved one said Caesar is Lord the multiplier of bread for his people um one said Caesar is Lord and there will be peace on earth and goodwill to all men this is a common one here this was you can see on the Left that's the head side that Caesar Augustus you could obviously tell what that says on the right what do you see there a giant star this was called the seat if you just google Caesar Augustus Star Coin this is what comes up this was this was what they sent around to show that Caesar Augustus is deity was confirmed by giant stars and around the giant star that says God saves Caesar Augustus God saves God says can you see we're in the days of Caesar Augustus there was out of a decree that all the world should be taxed remember in Matthews version it says and strange stars appeared in the sky and even Kings from other nations saw it and came to worship the king of the Jews and it says in all of Jerusalem heard this with Herod and they were disturbed by this of course they were if word got around that there was a new king being bored to challenge this king when stars is it sort of like your guy has his star our guy has his hahaha right they think about how Luke think about how Luke writes it right for unto us is born this day in the City of David a savior and his name is Christ and he is Lord this is an unbelievable in-your-face confrontation to the oppression of the Roman Empire because they promised peace and virtue and they delivered oppression and horror and raping and pillaging and terror there's this one guy named John later wrote a book called revelation and ever in the Roman Empire they believed that Caesar was fully God incarnate filled with the spirit of virtue given to him by the goddess Roma and and in the coinage on roma roma is a woman of virtue coming down on a horse to the city of seven hills remember what john says in revelation about that he says and I saw a great horror coming down on a horse to the city of Seven Hills this is not a literal thing this is not even something about the future this is John who's in jail on the island of Patmos put there by the Caesars and he's like they say they're empowered by a goddess of virtue not only does she not have virtue she's the opposite of virtue she's actually a the woman you think is the goddess of virtue she's this is as offensive as you possibly can get in the first century when talking about a Caesar that they they actually changed they change the calendar to make the new New Year's Day centered around the end of Caesars birthday celebration which was why it's so so like this is this is a word-for-word translation from a stone tablet found outside of pre n which is ephesus explaining why the governor's changed New Year's Day they declared that Caesar Augustus his birthday would become the official New Year's Day at the calendar year here's an inscription from pre-and explaining why this is just word for word this is unbelievable check this out next slide 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 what surpassed all previous benefactors and lease posterity no hope of another surpassing what he has done a name above all names right and because the birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning of the good news the gospel for the world that came by reason of him can you see where the Gospel writers all four Gospels are in part a competing biography to the nonsense that Caesar was God in flesh it was essentially Caesar doesn't get the last word Jesus does he is not what he says he is guy is so evidently Jesus was bringing glory to God in his death by confronting oppression and he was giving glory to God in his birth Jesus's birth was an in-your-face confrontation to the oppressive regime of the Roman Empire now let's go a little bit deeper than that next slide so glory is the Greek word doxa I love this quote by Dallas Willard no relation to me he's a world-class philosopher I am a redneck Dallas Willard said it this way if the familiar becomes too familiar it becomes unfamiliar in other words like if we say come on glory to God everybody is that true yes but if that becomes too familiar then we lose the weight of it it loses its umph it's sort of like if we say hey Christ is forgiving us all is that true yes but if it's if we if that just rolls off our tongue without tears welling up but it wait like if right so so like right so all the presence of God is so here okay is that true yes but if that just sort of rolls off of us we don't want the familiar but too familiar because it becomes too familiar become unfamiliar that's a problem now-now-now in in Hebrew in Hebrew the word glory is kavod kavod so let me walk you through this this is Psalm 19:1 the heavens declare the glory the kavod of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork now there's 8,000 words in Hebrew there's 80,000 in English so so so Hebrew words have to have bigger broader meanings so so the word is weight or heavy or significance that the root word is actually a rich person weighted down like carrying his stuff around it's like what does your stuff way they would use it for that coke kavod was a weights and measures thing in a market place glory so in other words glory is the sense that you have to catch your breath from the heaviness of it so when I say we need to we need to live for the glory of God what I mean is is that if if the if the presence of God doesn't make us stop pause and catch our breath from wait a minute hold on hold on a second hold us so when I say we need to live for the glory of God I mean that we need to be intentionally confronting oppression everywhere we see it I mean that we should be regularly catching our breath in an awareness of the presence of God that the familiar shouldn't become too familiar because if it does it have become unfamiliar but you want it to be very familiar without it being too familiar that it becomes unfamiliar and there's a tension and all that neck next slide let's say this way kavod is when we look at the Stars that realize how small we are that's a great illustration the psalmist gives what's the glory of God the glory of gods like when you look at a star it's it's that so I was I do 7 rule tours a year now in Australia where I go out to the Outback I don't know if it's technically out back but Claremont's pretty out back more in bog I preached him good to windy this year is that out back tell me like that qualifies because if that doesn't I don't know so I was out when he's places that it's very dark at night this guy was very into astronomy now stay in his house very into it I he had that he had the largest telescope I've ever seen in my life in person there's bigger telescopes obviously but in someone's house this was enormous and he was into it and he had me out in the backyard and he had it set up and and he had this iPad and look I just assumed he's telling the truth why would anybody lie about this and evidently he's got an app that he could point the iPad at the sky and and pick the start you know tell you the name of the star how far it is the density the all this stuff right and so you say he'd point it like this and he'd hit the thing and then he'd find it in the telescope and he'd get me to look and he'd go you see it I go yeah I didn't really see it and I enjoyed the iPad better because I could just you know hit it and do that right and so so we picked the star and he goes he goes hey Shane you weren't yourself awesome I said yeah sure right he says uh I mean we're wherever we are there's nothing going on after five it didn't matter like like this literally had to be better than nothing right and he goes that star right there I said yeah he goes 150 thousand light-years away I was like wow he's really that means that means it's really flipping far away he goes he goes yes what that means is is that what we're looking at right now happened 150 thousand years ago there and the light has just got here so we could see it he said and that's one that's pretty close that's how much bigger God is than we can possibly imagine that's kavod kavod is get your head around that like no go back for me thank you yeah so the opposite would be thinking of ourselves as larger than we are kavod cannot be viewed as full by men the best we could do with kavod to see where it has been so 150,000 years that that God's glory was going on 150,000 years ago and it's just now getting to where I can see that little bit of it like like kavod is anytime I got to tell you I'm not into astronomy but I was I was in all at that moment of the bigness of God I was so so kavod glorious anytime we're okay being in all without effort to figure it all out I actually didn't want him to explain any more detail to me I didn't care I was actually in all despite not knowing much about astronomy at all I like that I like living in that mystery so what is living for the glory of God it's anytime you intentionally confront oppression even if it you suffer for it it's anytime you confront oppression intentionally speaking is it anytime we keep it's anytime we're aware of our place in his let's say that way um it's anytime I'm okay being an all despite not knowing at all let's say this way next line we only see we only know part of kavod by reminding ourselves out how small we are if we lose the deep sense of his weight we lose something about what it means to be human there's something about there's something that dehumanizes me if I take my place as a God sort of thing I have to keep my I got to keep hitting him there and me here and excited we tend to worship at the altar of the fad but we long actually do worship at the altar of the fixed something that comes and goes has no kavod that's how the ancient rabbis talked about it stars are fixed at least in in there from their observation they were fixed they're not moving there there there there there so something something that is here today and gone tomorrow that has no glory but something that is fixed that has weight significance that has that has kavod so when we when we live for something that has no kavod that just simply means if I was to say oh and this is where we have a language problem a whole goal tonight is to try to put language around this if I was to say are you living for the glory of God or not what one way to think about that would be are you living for temporary things or permanent things that's one way to think about it so like some temporary things the approval of people I love it I do I'd much rather you like me than not but it but it does come and go it's temporary there's no glory in that actually although it's nice good see the problem is is that some things that we can glory in they're not wrong they're just temporary they don't have glory it's not like they're wrong it's not wrong for people to like you and it's not wrong for you to rather than like you then not like you right like because if you actually don't care if people like you that makes you a sociopath right so but if we're getting too much value from that it comes and goes all my wife's pleased with me yes good I want her to be and I and you should want her to be but that does come and go but it does comes and goes it's temporary comes and goes right well my husband is completely happy with yep yeah I hope he is and I want you to want him to be but that's not there's no glory in that it comes it comes and goes money comes money goes promotion comes my promotion goes title comes title goes cars come cars go whatever like like it's it's it's this we tend to worship at the altar of the fad it's that the philosophical word for this is the lie of the sacred object I'm going to spend a few minutes on this the lie of the sacred object the lie of the sacred object is the thought that there's something outside of you that can make you more whole more like God I'll be more at peace the first I'm gonna stop and breathe and slow down because it's really important so in the garden the serpent tells two lies first lie is that the best way to live is to organize your life around good and evil right or wrong in other words if the only filter you have on decisions is is this right or is this wrong you'll destroy your life because there's a lot of things that aren't wrong but they will destroy you the better question is what is wise the enemy doesn't have to tempt you with over evil you're in church on Saturday night for most of us overt evil things are not tempting the things that will destroy our life is duplicity is that's what Solomon said he said unfaithful people are destroyed by duplicity not evil but most of us aren't tempted by evil but we can do lots of things that aren't wrong but they're not wise they're not getting us where we want to go that's the first light the second and biggest lie is is there's something outside of you Adam and Eve that can make you more like God it's actually a boring story they're in a garden full of food and the central antagonist is a piece of food in every case that's boring until you forbid it and once you've forbid it who it creates an obsessive unnatural irrational desire for the thing you're forbidding if you're a parent you totally get this I mean your four-year-old might not have touched that toy for six months if you forbid him from touching it they want it they they just want it it's the lie of the is it so Adam and Eve give in to the lie of the sacred object and they buy it they eat it it doesn't work out very well but instead of repenting for their need of something outside of them to make diffic another sacred object they just called it the law they said if you know it if you keep all those rules you'll be like God and that that worked terribly and then what they did is they created another sacred object they just called it the Holy of Holies they said God lives in there now how do you make God's presence appealing how do you make people want it you forbid it you put a big curtain and say you're not allowed in there that you'd go in there you'll die of course there's no record of that ever happening actually there's a record of the opposite of that it says Nebuchadnezzar went in there ransacked the place stole the furniture and didn't die take life police ransacked the place and he didn't die in 63 BC a guy named Pompey Magnus yes the Pompey Magnus showed up to a Jewish uprising and he said what's your problem and they said our God lives in there he said I'm gonna have a talk with him because he's a jerk right and they say you can't go in there you'll die he goes who's gonna kill me they said God will kill you he said your God will kill me if I walk in there they said yes he said I tell you what I'm gonna walk in there and if your God kills me all of Rome will convert to Judaism but if he doesn't you'll be faced with a hole in your belief system and Pompey Magnus in 63 BC walked into the Holy of Holies and didn't die and he wrote and Tacitus his book of history's book 5 that I found it untended it uninhabited and completely unimpressive right which 90 years later Jesus dies and brings glory to God and all four Gospels what's the first thing they write and the temple veil tore in other words what you thought would bring you closer to God actually now no no no it's net it's not in there it's much bigger than that what if Jesus didn't die to fill the gap between us and God what if Jesus died to show us it never was the error like God loved uses before the foundation of the world and he's asking you to return to that that the word for that would be repentance reception to receive Jesus the finished work of Jesus on the cross that that brings good that brings God out that maybe maybe the gospel 101 is passed like for us in this room the forgiveness of sins is not a question you've accepted Jesus maybe we need to talk about the side of the gospel that's asking you to repent from the need for the sacred object the idea that yes I'm saved but there's still something outside of me that I think will need to make me feel better oh oh if I just lost 15 kilos I'd feel better about myself no you wouldn't no you wouldn't and if you need to lose 15 kilos please do but if you're not enough without it you'll never be enough with it if you'll just be a 15 kilo lighter version of your discontent itself it does not work or if I just made this much money or if I just if I just met this person oh yes oh that that works right that that works because because because because the earth is filled with happy marriages that were forced between two miserable single people them right right right man we hated our life but man we've got married and fixed it all no no marriage doesn't solve problems marriage magnifies problems right so and so what what happens is is is if I could say it is simply is when we buy into the need for the sacred object then we put glory in things that that change it's uh apples and walls and and and and where does God live oh behind that curtain oh no he's here now and actually he never changed it's just your concept is moving and oh and oh and in that raise and that approval in that it's the lie of the sacred object it's it's it's it's believing here it is it's believing that if we get everything we want all the time our life will be better when actually it would be boring all of life is found in the process by which we attain the things that we think we want it's not in getting like what's what's more fun buying a house or shopping for one buying a car or test-driving all of them what's more fun getting to the end of knowing your spouse or the process by which you know you the greatest marriages on earth are not the ones who go yet we knew each other perfectly it's I don't understand her for nothing onerous but I love getting to know her right it's it's it's it's that it's it's the it's it's here's the book of ecclesiastes in one statement that successful people navigate the tension between depression and melancholy the depression is wanting something you don't currently have melancholy is getting what you think you want realizing it doesn't do what you thought it would do that that that at the end of the day at the at the end of the day if you get everything you want all the time it would be boring that all of life is found in embracing isn't its embracing the process which are you old bored nobody's bored good ok so because I want to tell you a story that's gonna elongate the thing a little bit but it's really good so so I got I got a chance I got a chance to sit with six Harvard grads and and they wanted to they were asking they showed up at this church and they were trained by God but but they were asking questions of the pastor and the pastor didn't feel educated enough to answer them because of the quality of the question so instead of pretending like he knew the answer he said I don't know but can I can I bring a guy in and they said yeah yeah sure it's so we sat down they said we want to talk about God I said great let's talk about God they said but with two rules rule number one you can't lose you can't use the Bible right guys we think it's a bit bubkis right so no Bible using and they said number two you can't use Heaven and Hell as primary motivators because we think that's bupkis too I'm like okay cuz rule number one in communication is find common ground and if they say the Bible's bupkis it's stupid for me to say but the Bible says right so when they tell you upfront we think the Bible's bupkis okay we'll just put that to the side right and here was their question without using the Bible and without using heaven and hell as primary motivators can you tell us what makes Christianity the best worldview in the world for quality of life compared to other worldviews I thought that was a good question so I said okay no Bible no heaven no hell what makes Jesus the best way to look at the world desire all of us have desire and desires made up of two parts object desire and object cause object desire is that what you want object cause is that which stands in the way of what you want and if you remove either one you have meaningless existence right Solomon said it this way he said I got everything I wanted Under the Sun and I found that meaningless because if you have object desire without any process at all then everything you want is meaningless right but if you have object cause without object desire you have meaningless suffering that that a meaningful existence is one that meshes clear goals with the process by which we get those goals but life is found in embracing the process not entertaining everything right and that's it so and by the way by the way that's how we stuffed heaven up I didn't say this to them but just so you know that's how Christians stuffed have enough because about 250 years ago people started saying heaven is a place you get everything you want all the time well that sounds horrendous like like when I was seven my Sunday school teacher said Shane heaven is when you get a white robe and a gold crown and you get to go to church all day I was seven and I was like oh no where's the door to hell that sounds awful we saw no heavens where you get see see even the twilight zone figured this out in 1937 and Twilight Zone put out an episode about an evil man named Robert Valentine Robert Valentine was a criminal who died in an accident and he wakes up in the afterlife and he's confused because he doesn't know he's dead because the afterlife looked the same and there's this angel there named pip and pip says hello I'm pip and Robert Valentine he thinks he's still alive so he reverts to his old ways and he goes to rob Pip and pip just sort of rolls his eyes and the weapon falls and he goes shut up Robert you're dead get in the car and I'm the angel to show you around so Robert gets in the car and pip takes him to this huge mansion he goes that's your house now Robert Robert confused he's like but I was wicked what am I doing here and he goes on by the way and that drawer is three million dollars in 1937 three million dollars may as well be saying infinite he says what do you like to do Robert Robert says I like to gamble he was good let's go to the after like casino so they go to the casino and Robert takes all three million dollars and puts it on one hand of blackjack which is his that would have been his way and he wins six million twelve man 24 million 48 man he's like I cannot this is um this is so then it goes blank and it says six weeks later in six weeks later Robert Valentine is losing his mind from boredom everything he wants he just gets he doesn't have to try it anything everything he's just bored he's just died he's he's pulling his hair out losing his mind from boredom and he says pep-pep you got to stop this man make it stop make it stop make it stop let me remind you I was a wicked man what did I do to deserve heaven and pip says heaven what makes you think this is heaven this is hell and it goes blank and it says and God condemned Robert Valentine was condemned by God for his wickedness to an eternity of getting everything he always wanted and that's what makes Christianity the most compelling worldview in the world because in Christianity what's our object desire the presence of God or the glory of God that's our that's what we're shooting for that's what we want right what's the object cause Jesus Jesus says you can't get into that except through me Jesus is standing in the way of us and our object desire but Christianity flips the script and Christianity says wait Jesus is the fullness of God so Christianity is the only worldview on earth that takes your object desire and your object cause and meshes them into one person which creates an eternity of meaningful exploration that's what makes it awesome all right now that's living for the living for the glory of God because life is not found in finding the fullness of the presence of God life is founding and embracing the Christ which is the fullness of the presence of God that's the glory of God let's say let's say it this way next light and the Lord said to Moses this very thing I've spoken I'll do for you know I found favor in my sight and I know you by name and Moses says please show me your glory kavod kavod and he said I'll make my goodness different word in other words God says you don't even know you're asking for you can't handle my iMac 'vote you really passed before you and will proclaim before you but my name the Lord and I'll be gracious to my gracious and show mercy do my show mercy nextslide but-but-but he said you cannot see my face for man I see me and live and the Lord said Behold there's a place by me where you shall stand on the rock and while my glory passes by kavod passes by I'll put you in the cluster I'll cover you in my hand until I past but I'll take my head away and you shall see my back when my face shall not be seen now love the way the rabbi's teach this they teach that in this moment God was letting Moses see his backside which would be the backside of light and the function of that side of light is holding pictures so God was letting him see the past that that in this instant God was letting him see what he had been up to in other words you can't handle what I'm going to do but you will handle what I've been up to so so in other words giving glory to God is anytime we confront oppression anytime we keep our place in his place anytime we live in all despite of being uncertain anytime we repent of the need of the sacred object and any time we give testimony to what God is up to in our world these are the things that what it means to be living for the glory of God we need to be using our influence to to lead people to confront oppression to keep their place in God's place in its right place to live in all despite not being able to figure it all out if we wait till we figure it all out to be able to enjoy it we will miss almost everything in life to give testimony to the goodness of God and to repent of our need of a sacred object something outside of us that we think will make us feel better it won't it won't that next slide so what did God do with his glory his kavod watch this this is Psalm 8 yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings now I do not have time to prove this just trust me I'll what lie is too easy to check anyway okay alright the word translated heavenly beings there is Elohim it's the same word for God in Genesis 1 in the beginning God Elohim created the heavens and the earth it's a plural form of the word God essentially essentially that I don't know why the translators can't translate it this way probably they just in their heart they have a hard time but literally what it says is it says that yet you have made him a little lower than yourself but you made him a little lower than God that's so that's us and crowned him with glory kavod and honor and you've given him dominion over the works of your hands and put all things under his feet so what did God do with his glory evidently he gave it away to us the question is is what are we doing with it we're living for the glory of God when we confront oppression when we keep our place in his when we live in all in spite of not being able to figure it all out when we repent of our need of the sacred object when we give testimony to the good things God is up to in our world and when we manage our world well when we use what he's given us and we take charge of the area he's given us and we manage that well that is living for the glory of God let's say this way when we when we are good stewards of the gifts on our lives and the talents on our life's that's living for the glory of God because God gave his glory away to us in exile this is from Jeremiah chapter 2 has a nation changed it's God's even though they are no God's and what a great observation like if you grew up in a country from this tall learning that something was God even with even when faced with proof that that thing has no power it's very hard to get away from it like like Pompey Magnus walks into the Holy of Holies they still didn't get it right the temple bear tears they still didn't get it right like like in Jeremiah's talking about other he says he says if you grow up learning somebody else's a God even when you're faced with proof there they're not God's very difficult for an entire country to change its guts it's very very difficult now watch what he says but my people have changed their God no no that's not he says he says my people have changed their glory in other words to Jeremiah it's perfectly possible to believe and serve the right God and live for the wrong glory and that's a problem the problem isn't in this room the problem isn't are we doctrinally incorrect that's not a problem it the problem the problem is that are you are you serving Jesus or not do you believe in Jesus or not that's not a problem in this room the problem in this room will never ever be we're serving the wrong God but what can be true is that we can serve the right God but live for the wrong glory and that's a problem when we're living for the wrong kavod right for that which does not profit notice he doesn't say what they're doing is wrong it says it doesn't profit it's not why so not it's not it's not smart he's not getting you where you want to go now watch the verbs around this this is serious verbs watch this appalled shocked desolate declares the Lord for my people have committed two evils now watch the two evils watch this next life they forsook me the fountain of living water in other words they first say it's a metaphor they forsook a fountain that never runs dry and put their value into cisterns for themselves but they were broken at the bottom and it's holding no water this is a brilliant metaphor in other words you had everything at your disposal that never ever runs out the fixed but you traded that in to put your value around the Fed and what you're finding is is the more you trust the sacred object the more you realize that thing leaks out the bottom and it never ever ever stays full their approval leaks your money leaks promotion leaks power leaks position leaks status leaks and they're not wrong it just leaks and Jeremiah saying God has called us to a better way to live a repentance of our need of the sacred object to truly embrace that okayness that never ever runs out why would we put our value in the fad when we've been we when we've been allowed to worship at the altar of the fixed that's the glory of God now let's say it this way next slide so in case in case you've um in case you got lost in all that I created a summary slide out living for the glory of God is one intentionally confronting oppression so if you were to say we live for the glory of God at Surf City good what does that mean could you could you tell me the last time you used your influence to motivate people to confront injustice and oppression and can you don't I'm not I'm not I'm not antagonizing you I'm not confronting you I'm asking you to confront yourself like huh we say we live for the glory of God but where have we confronted oppression well it was that or - where are we being conscious of his place in ours like I love your love for worship but does worship and auger eight the presence of God god I hope not otherwise it's entirely too much pressure on my friend here it's like come on bring the presents like where did it go because as soon as we do that we just make worship another sacred object right well when we get to the third song that's the magic that's when it happens this has to be the best right right actually worship doesn't start at ten worship started before the foundation of the world and at ten o'clock our little group of people's joining in with what's always been going on worship is not us is not an activity to get God to show up worship is anytime we cancel the white noise of our life long enough to be conscious of what's been right in front of us all along right if if worship isn't it is a ritual in order to get God to act that's witchcraft that's that's like profits of bail stuff that's that's all we shout at our God's name we shouted his name louder we sang and danced and turn into circles and then we frantically prophesied to his glory and then we shouted his name louder and then after that we cut ourselves well if you remove the cutting you've got a group of people singing shouting turning in circles dancing right right so just Pentecostal worship toe the line of ancient paganism yes but here's the thing it's not about method because God loves the praises of his people it's about motive in in second Kings in it says in order to get their God to act they did these things so if you're doing these things in order to get God to act that is witchcraft but if you're engaging in worship as an act to cancel the white noise in order to enter into a celebration of what God's already up to that's worship the only difference between worship and witchcraft is motive not method and only you know if you're engaging in it so my question is is are you a worship over or a warlock it's it's I I don't I I don't mean to be that funny but that's yeah that's I mean like worship for a warlock is only you know only Oh only you know did I just engage in worship because I think if I do the ritual right dawdle act on my behalf that's witchcraft whereas whereas worship is worship is wait a minute what's God up to and let's step into that right three living in the prayer in the glory of God is living in a sense of all in spite of not being able to be certain whereof we aware have we lost our opportunity to be in all of what God's up to at the altar of heaven to figure it all out number four living in the glory of God is declaring the goodness of God what has he been up to in our world Christians should be the people pointing out how good the world's going never how bad the world's going and by the way I would get in this tomb or tomorrow night but this is the best time ever to be alive and it's not even close like be with all you believe how bad this world is getting I just asked him name one place the world's worse than 400 years ago is there a public hanging tonight we can go to for entertainment no is there somebody gonna be publicly disemboweled because they came against the village no that used to be legal and it was performed by the church by the way it's better it's just better now we gossip on Facebook we're not there but it's better Lord five living for the glory of God is repenting for the need of the sacred object where we repent from I believe that'll make me feel better yeah well yeah well it's filling our life's value in something fixed instead of a temporary thing a sealed jar instead of a leaky one is that said next slide so in Luke it's God's doxa in Greek the word can mean how someone thinks about something God's doxa doesn't change our Ducks it does like we would say we we want to be kind our enemies until they're actually our enemies and hurting us it's one thing to go we forgive our enemies until they actually hurt us then they were forced to say I are and so to live for the glory of God is to move ourselves from our way of thinking to God's that's called repentance that's all that is can we align ourselves back under God's doxa now great teaching is not meant to be agreed with nor disagreed with if all you get out of this tonight is man I agreed with that oh I'd be so disappointed or if all you think is I hated that I disagreed with it I'd be disappointed as well great teachings not meant to be agreed with or disagreed with great teachings meant to be wrestled with it's meant to be journeyed through it's meant to be huh how does that it means to be more event --all next slide glory to God in the highest is attained by humans embracing and living out of his unchanging essence so let's ask a few questions to wrestle how have we treated the less fortunate in the last 30 days 90 days whatever the case may be how we ascribe glory to God and what in which of those six ways have we ascribed glory to God or maybe you've thought of another way that the Bible says gives glory to God cuz I can't cover them all and okay fair enough right we have been crowned with kavod what are we gonna do about it or are you just sitting are we just sitting on a boat waiting to go to heaven when we die are we just worshipping for worship say I mean really surely it's more compelling than that surely it next slide couple of those slides didn't go through so let me just read them to you okay that's okay here we go have we lost perspective on his place in ours have we lost perspective on his place in ours how big or how small where have we embraced the gifted kavod or where where have we neglected it like where have we embraced the cross that forgives us but neglected the part of our calling in God to live in kavod and if we've said yes to kavod where are we using it right now how are we using it next slide oh sorry it's not up there um it's habit um will we reclaim the kavod that we were crowned with maybe the invitation for us tonight leadership is is I'm not asking you say yes to Jesus again I'm asking you to say yes to kavod where will we use our influence for that where we placed passion in the temporary instead of the fixed at least wrestle with death where have we put our faith in the sacred object and found it empty boy that raised didn't do it I thought it would do boy that woman didn't do it I thought she'd do boy that man didn't do what I thought he'd do man that new-car didn't make me feel as good as I thought it would boy that new shirt sure didn't do it man boy that new song it was good but it didn't where where do we need to say yes to the gospel that frees us from the sacred object instead of just forgives our sins and that my brothers and sisters is all I know about the glory of God and it was my sincerest attempt to start the process to put language around when we say we need to give glory to God I don't want the familiar to become too familiar that it becomes unfamiliar so in our leadership may we be intentionally confronting oppression keeping a spot on his place in ours living at all instead of having to figure it all out may we be people who give testimony to his goodness everywhere we see it may we repent of the sacred object and may we test ourselves regularly have we believed in the right god but been living for the wrong glory and in so doing we can live for the glory of God thanks for maybe a party you know I can't wait for the weekend Grace and peace every day

Channel: Presence Church AU

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Keywords: SURFCiTY, Church

Id: aImC8XiLlYQ

Length: 59min 21sec (3561 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 03 2018