The Glory of God

I pastor Matt listen thank you for downloading or streaming this sermon pray that it blesses your heart two quick things that I want to lay before you before we get started in the proclamation of God's Word the first is and I love that you're dialing in to hear what the Lord's put on our heart here at TVC but I ask that you would only consume these messages as supplemental and in no way replacing your commitment and your listening to your local church pastor these are good gifts of God's grace for the people of God to grow in and yet they are not to replace ever meant to replace our belonging to a covenant community of faith where we are the the second thing want to lay before you is is that there are a lot of man-hours that men and women here at the village church put behind not just the creation of this but the creation of all kinds of resources that are meant to help you grow and develop as a disciple of Jesus Christ and so if this blesses you or the other resources that have been created have blessed you would you consider giving back to the village church to support not just these things with the creation of even more resources for you and really for anyone who wants to indulge in them now I pray that God stirs your affections for Jesus Christ as you listen now to the proclamation of God's Word [Music] well good morning it's good to see you if you have your Bibles good and grab those are going to be in Psalm 24 in fact we'll camp out there for the entirety of the sermon last week we started our fall series we just entitled marks and we wanted to talk about how God marked his people because he he does it differently than how the world categorizes things and so what makes us distinct as the people of God it's not our ethnicity it's not our socioeconomic status it's not our history it's not our intellect it's not our education that what makes us distinct what marks us as different from the world around us is that God has named us he has given us a name and it's a name that feels like it doesn't fit and then he grows us into more of what He has called us over a period of time and so we looked last week Matthew five that Jesus says you are the salt of the earth you are the light of the world he doesn't say you will be he says that you are so he gives us this name that doesn't feel like it fits where we don't feel like we're being sold we don't feel like we're being light but Jesus says you are and you are because I am your you not because you're awesome but I'm awesome and I'm saying you are salt you are like and I'm going to immerse you in this community of faith and over a period of time you will become more salty you will become brighter light and I argued last week that it is in the confidence of believing that what God has called us we actually are all real spiritual growth actually occurs it's in that place and I said this this is going to be difficult for us because we live in an achievement based culture what that means is that the measure of our worth is found in what we can produce and so we looked a little bit at Brene brown research last week and Barnea spot-on brilliant and she's saying this like women in an achievement culture feel completely crushed because the demand is perfection without effort so perfect mom's perfect lives perfectly sexy perfectly beautiful perfectly talented able to jugging without ever stressing never freaks out never write that like that that's what you've got to be in men bear the weight in an achievement based culture of don't ever be weak don't ever look fragile always have the answers don't be questioned get it done and so the pressure on us all is dududududu more more more more more and everything around us is a constant reminder that we don't measure up right I mean that's everything we see on TV everything we see in our neighborhood everything certainly you're scrolling through before you go to sleep at night is a reminder that you have not measured up to the standard of our day perfection or ultimate strength right you need only go to your Instagram feed ladies to figure out you are not a great mom so you got to do you've got to read a new book you don't have to even trust your internal feelings just open up your Instagram Organic goldfish took their kids swimming seven kids all in a different activity and they managed it without sweating right look at her body apparently she got that working out for seven minutes a day and eating M&Ms and right and and men we can kind of drink in and and see they were not allowed to be weak and we better have all the answers we've got to carry the burdens of our family and we've got to succeed at work and all we have to do is look around and see that that family went on a different vacation or that that that family has nicer clothes or they've got a better car or we were in the same neighborhood at one point they've moved on to multiple other neighborhoods and we'll still in what they call a startup neighborhood whatever that is like well growing up there wasn't a start-up neighborhood there was praise God we got a house all right and so it wasn't until I moved here there's like a startup they were like what is a start-up neighbor well it's where you start like I thought it's where you finished like when you had a house so you were finished like you had shelter that's one of the ways that we survive over time right and so this is the culture in which we live so I said it's really important fact it's imperative for us to understand that God sees us differently than we see ourselves and that God's economy is not an achievement based economy it's not how his words he is demand is not do do do do do is demand is that we rest in Jesus is done we rest in Jesus's finished work and really I'm just going to keep arguing that the way that spiritual ethical moral transformation actually occurs it's not via your striving but rather your being more than it is you doing doing doing it you learning to rest in what God has called you in Christ so I'm not making this up if you think I'm a liberal let me read the Bible to you 2nd Corinthians 3:18 says this and we all with unveiled face so we all Christians with unveiled face seen clearly are beholding the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another for this comes from the Lord who is the spirit so let's let's talk about this like completely counterintuitive text here's what he just says with we all Christians with unveiled faces are beholding the glory of the Lord and are being transformed from one degree of glory to the next into the image into Jesus's image by behold enjoy so how does spiritual transformation occur by looking at ourselves and well I don't measure up I don't have enough of the Bible memorized I'm still struggle with this I got this issue this is really a wrestle for me I've got anxiety still so frustrated have a hard time trusting God want to punch that guy I'm a terrible driver I freaked out when people are in the left lane going thirty right like all of that or does the Bible say no no we all with unveiled faces by beholding the glory of God we're transformed from one degree of glory to the next into the image of the son so how do we become more like Jesus by striving no by being I'm a mechanical Stef's but by organic growth resting in what God has called us and his promise to make us more of what we already are and in the key the victorious Christian living is found in this truth but but here's the deal like how can we believe that's true I mean how counterintuitive is that like when I read in the Bible that God says that I'm holy blameless spotless that I'm a son that I'm a worshiper that I'm a servant that that I'm a community that I'm like like how am I supposed to believe that when everything else in my world everything else in my world demands that I produce demand that I climb the ladder that I do more that I am more that I write like how am I supposed to believe that well I said this fall what we're going to do is walk through our mission vision statement again but we were going to come at it via the lens of identity rather than the lens of doing and so here is our worship our vision mission statement again we exist to bring glory to God by making disciples through gospel centered worship gospel centered community gospel centered service and gospel centered multiplication and so what were the way we're going to approach this this falls to walk through this again except walk through it with the lenses of this isn't what we do it's actually who we are that we are worshipers that we are a community that we are servants and we are multipliers that the God uses us to duplicate the good work he's done in us in the lives of others and so we're going to attack it that way this fall least for the next six weeks so so really the way and the place that we get confidence that all of this is true it is by according to the Bible looking at beholding the glory of God now glory of God is kind of religious language and then it's kind of this ethereal thing like what exactly is the glory of God I'm glad you're asking that because I've got about 35 40 minutes on that so glad that you did it now let me just define it quickly and then we're going to dive in the glory of God is the thing Buhler splendor of god and its consequences for humankind that's just we'll we'll dig in it a little bit more but there's our definition the singular splendor of God and its consequences for humankind if you have your Bible let's look at Psalm 24 this is what we camping out as we look at the singular splendor of God and its consequences for humankind the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof the world and those drue dwell therein for he has founded it upon the Seas and established it upon the rivers who shall ascend the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place he who has clean hands and a pure heart who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully he will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the god of his salvation such is the generation of those who seek Him who seek the face of the God of Jacob lift up your heads o gates and be lifted up o ancient doors that the king of glory may come in who is this King of glory the Lord strong and mighty the Lord mighty in battle lift up your heads o gates and lift them up o ancient doors that the king of glory may come in who is this King of glory the Lord of Hosts he is the king of glory sayla right so say let me stop right say let me don't check it off your reading list and move on to the next song say let me stop dwell think consider and what we see in this text is the glory of God the singular splendor of God and its consequences for humankind so let's look at what we can see as the singular splendor of God that the glory of God is an attribute of God that only God possesses so humanity might have some form of glory but it is a poor reflection of a greater reality so I think the primary way that you and I get insight into the glory of God Christian or non-christian is via the common grace of creation in fact that's how the song began with back at verse one the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof the world and those who dwell therein free has founded it upon the Seas and established it upon the river so that the glory of God is seen in a common grace way available to all men and women in the beauty of creation I think that's lost on many of us because we live in Dallas so I want to show you some pictures but I don't want to frighten you let me show you this like there are places like this in the world those things in the back of that that's a mountain all right and then this right here this is not a reservoir all right a man didn't back oh this mug and fill it with water for clean water and showers that God put that there you just put it's called a lake you just put it there not a reservoir a lake and have you ever been to a place like this it kind of makes the soul ache I'll show you another picture like this it's stunning like this exists nowhere around here but it exists it's out there right now existing and the human soul is drawn to physical beauty all over the world like we want to go check out the Grand Canyon we want to go see mountain ranges were drawn to the beach we're drawn to the ocean we love things we would never articulate this we love things that remind us that we're small I mean like you know vacation to Dallas I don't think unless you're like watching a football game or something all right you vacation in these places this is what like there's no kind of scrolling Instagram account that's just pictures of like you know like mesquite trees and the suburbs and I like that doesn't exist or it shouldn't and and yet man there's all sorts of places we can go to see this kind of imagery in the human soul is drawn to it CS Lewis said that nature creates a longing in the soul of man that it cannot fulfill not a great idea like like we go to Everest we feel smaller like surely there's something bigger than me there's something mightier than me there's something transcendent about the universe but then the mountain doesn't solve the longing it just helps us sense there's something about standing in front of the Pacific Ocean hearing the roar of the waves that makes you feel small makes you believe that maybe there's something bigger makes you feel safe but a little bit scared for a moment we're drawn to it stirred up by it and and Moses and Deuteronomy we go hey man you think the Grand Canyon and Everest or a big deal let me lay this on you so in Deuteronomy chapter 10 starting verse 14 Moses writes this behold to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens the earth with all that is in it and so like like Moses wants to up the game he's like okay you've seen the sunset over the Red Sea you've seen Mount Sinai you've seen all it but keep this in mind brothers and sisters but not just our heaven but the heavens of the heavens of the heavens they belong to the Lord also so on top of the physical beauty of the creative order on earth Moses rolls that out to the expanse of the universe and so here is a picture of a nebula that was sent back to earth from the Hubble telescope now this gives us insight into the expanse of the universe like our solar systems like this little baby solar system in the immensity of the expanse of infinite space are you tracking with like maybe this would help our Sun is considered a tiny Sun in the scope of the universe this nebula is like a trillion size times the size of our solar system 1.3 million earths can fill into the mass of our Sun and it's a baby Sun in it like the God of the universe to use the small and insignificant to show his glory it just really is like all on repeat he is not picking the team that we would pick like this little speck of dust it'll be there that I let my magnificence be seen I'll show you another picture but never you like these things exist they're not paintings or portraits like right now as we're spending like a million something miles an hour held onto this little speck of dust via gravity all this is roaring and raging out there and if that that's still like like good joke he wants to weigh in and here's what job says behold these the the universe all of the creative order are but the outskirts or fringes of his ways how small a whisper do we hear of him but the thunder of his power who can understand so I love what job's getting at Jones get a menu you think the expanse of the universe is a big deal you know easy that was for God you know easy that was for the Creator like if you read the narrative God just said do it and it happened like everything obeyed him and the force of that let there be has been so significant and so powerful that to this very day it is expanding in every direction imaginable and it's all telling what the glory of God it is important to note once again that all of this glory that we're talking about right now this singular thing that we're seeing in the creation itself is all in the category of common grace what do I mean by that I mean you don't have to be a Christian to see it I think it's awesome like you snow that's right it'd have to be a Christian to take a picture and use your filter on Instagram of the Sun setting over a body of water like you cannot love Jesus you can be a different religion you can do all of that with no concern for the things of God at all you can even have that ache and longing in your heart these kind of beautiful things create and know nothing of the God of the Bible the Creator God of the Bible and it's called common grace it's good things given to all mankind humankind regardless of their belief it's one of the marks of the kindness of God on humankind so this is one of the places we see it but that's not the only way the glory of God is seen the second one is a little bit more difficult for people to understand or at least to to celebrate but but I I just want to be really honest with you because the God that created all that one day judge me for how well I've served you and so I'm just going to preach the full counsel here and entrust him with the results not only does God's glory refer to the majestic beauty and splendor of creation but God's glory tied to his holiness is the ethical moral plumb line by which all humankind will be judged all right so the glory of God is not just seen in the common grace beauty of the creative order but the glory of God is also seen in His Holiness that the glory of God is the moral ethical standard by which all humankind will be judged this is why the Bible says that sin is falling short of the glory of God and again the psalmist is tying us in to that look at his question who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in the Holy Place so in this glory in the sight of this glorious this powerful this mighty this ferocious God who can stand in his presence who can hang out with him on his holy hill who could be in the presence of this God and he answers it like this he who has clean hands and a pure heart who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully that should discourage you because that just disqualified everyone in the room pastor included all right who can dwell this text might as well read who could dwell in the presence of that glory nextslide no one reading this right if I could paraphrase it that that's why they not us I mean that's kind of disappointing right so let's pray I'm just kidding we're just getting started right now let's look he he the person that can dwell who has clean hands who had the pure heart who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully he will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the god of his salvation such is the generation of those who seek Him who seek the face of the God of Jacob sin is falling short of the glory of God everyone has fallen short of the glory of God no one in this room who is outside that verdict we all of us have what theologians call the sin of imputation which means that we are sinners because we are in the line of Adam and when Adam sinned death entered in to humankind and therefore death reigns in us all if you're a parent you see this all the time you are not born with a bent towards righteousness you are born with a bent towards iniquity you don't have to teach children to be disobedient all my parents said amen you ain't got to teach that it's just their right and so you see here that we all have this sin of imputation we were born broken we were born King David said it like that surely I was brought forth in iniquity okay and in sin did my mother conceive me and and then if it's not that sin of imputation which everyone has there's the personal sense of omission and Commission so sin can be I know this is right and I'm not going to do it but sin can also be I know this is wrong and I choose to do it and all of us are guilty of that there's no one in this room that's not guilty of both of those if I had more time we would do the Ten Commandment test that we've been doing for 15 years right liars anybody liar in here I mean come on okay anybody lie I know you're not a liar you never admit to that but anybody lie okay so we lie or not liars right you covet and and come it doesn't feel like a big deal until you stop for a second and think what it is when you covet you make an accusation against God that he's not good and then he doesn't know what he's doing you covet what your neighbor has your accusation is you don't know what's good you have not done right by me you are ruling and reigning in a way that's unfair inconsistent and I'm calling you out on it now coveting feels like a bigger deal huh yeah yeah you're not you're not pushing over fainting goats you're slapping the Lion of Judah that's different it's different and hear me on this God hates sin imputed personal omission Commission the type of white-hot wrath he has against sin is so significant cannot be overstated he is not indifferent any version of God that has him fluttering about like a fairy never bothered by what is explicitly sinful is inconsistent with the Bible would be inconsistent with multiple other philosophy like like to love greatly is to have the possibility of wrath and again I could appeal to my parents you know this you love your children which is why if anyone were to ever try to harm them you would feel wrath flare up and you would you not why because you love them in fact the absence of Wrath reveals the absence of love so God who is infinite in his love abounding in steadfast love according to the Bible sees the damage of sin both imputed and personal omission and Commission he sees the carnage that it wreaks on his creative order which is all there to bring glory to his name and joy to his people and he hates it will judge it and will ultimately destroy all of it and if you need to know how serious he is you need only look to the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and the reality of Hell both are public realities that help reverberate through our minds and souls just how much God hates sin and just how serious he is about eradicating it and destroying it forever so God's glory becomes the moral ethical plumb line by which all humankind will be judged we have been judged and here's the pronouncement here's the verdict on us all we have fallen short so at this point you're probably thinking this is a terrible sermon like am i living I'm sitting here and you're just telling me that I've fallen short of the glory of God and I've got hell and the cross I'm just so confused like oh my god I don't know what you're talking about and so just hang in there there's good news coming now we need to move too if we've talked about kind of the singular splendor of the glory of God now we need to move to its human consequences or its consequences for humankind the question I want to answer is how has God revealed his glory to his people so we saw in the first section of this sermon that the way God has revealed that glory to all humankind via common graces through creation but theologians would also talk not just about common grace to all mankind and humankind but rather a special grace that he reveals to his people his present his power his glory for his people alone to see to reflect and to be beacons of reconciling light so how does he do that well throughout the Scriptures we read of this this glory that the Hebrews would call the Shekinah glory right and there's a kind of glory the presence and power of God among his people would show up as a fire or as thunder or as a flame or as that there would be a visible manifestation of the presence of God they knew he was there not not in kind of his omnipresence are you talking about like God omnipresence as a doctrine says God is everywhere always in his totality which means God is all here in the same way that he is all at the outskirts of the universe right now he is everywhere at once in his fullness that's his omnipresence and we're talking about Shekinah glory that's not what we're talking about we're talking about manifest presence visible presence not it's different than omnipresence it's the Lord's here and so we see that throughout the Bible in fact the first place we actually see Shekinah glory is in Genesis 1 where the Bible says this and the Spirit of God hovered there's kind of going hovered over the waters before creation begins I've got to cover the Old Testament about three minutes so hang in there the smoking fire and flaming torch seen by Abraham as he walks through the sacrifice as he's called to be the father of many nations remember before he didn't have any kids and had to wait 25 years he had away from 92 to 2017 if you were here last week that was the Shekinah glory the burning bush has seen by Moses that's the Shekinah glory the presence of power of God is seen in the cloud and pillar of fire in the book of Exodus is the Shekinah glory the people of God camped around the tabernacle and Exodus communicated the concept of Emanuel odd with it so if you were here we studied Exodus for nine months if you were here in that what happened the tabernacle was erected and what happened a cloud fell the glory settled on the tabernacle and the people of God knew that the presence of God was there and they fell on their face and they worshiped in that cloud and that pillar of fire stayed with the people of Israel II kept them from rebellion it provided manna it provided water out of rocks and the presence of God was there in such a way that it humbled the people of God later in the book of her Samuel in a battle and ill witted battle that God had not called the people of God into people got her constant like taking on causes that aren't the causes of God having in the Bible happens to this day and they they're in this tiff with the Philistines and the Ark is actually taken from the Israelites and so the cloud departs and during that time there was a son named Ichabod which means the glory has departed in the cloud no longer settled on the temple and the pillar of fire was gone and then when they got the ark back after the building of the new temple by Solomon the cloud descended once again fire fell from the sky and burned up the sacrifices on the altar now from there Israel begins even with the presence of God visibly there they began to rebel so I want you to try to get your mind around this you got the presence of God physically manifest in this cloud nestled over the temple and the people of God continue now to rebel against God and worship other gods and give themselves over to perversion and began to behave as though they are smarter than God and began to break the law of God in the presence of God so I don't know about you I know my kids do shady things they don't do shady things in front of me I'll tell you that I mean there's certainly repercussions you do try to be shady in front of me you might try to go behind my back and then I've already prayed that the Lord would give me a word or just bust you out right but but ultimately like they're just doing it right in the face of the presence of God like like the cloud is there and they're worshiping other gods they're giving themselves over to versions in there and so what God does is he just takes away the presence and sends his people into exile right it's literally the cloud goes away the physical manifestation the presence of God vanishes and the people of God are sent into captivity for the purification for the glory to once again return and something really cool happens in Ezekiel one I know I probably don't need to read that I think it zekiel as many people's favorite book let me read this to you Ezekiel 1 27 and 28 so I'm really significant is happening here and upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal like the appearance of fire and closed all around and downward from what had the appearance of his ways I saw as it were the appearance of fire and there was brightness around him like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain so was the appearance of the brightness all around such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord and when I saw it I fell on my face and I heard the voice of the one who was speaking so let me tell you what's significant about Ezekiel 1 up until this moment the manifest presence of God is cloud it's gleaming light it's flashes of lightning is thunder and rumbling and what is Ezekiel see all of that embodying embodied in a human did you hear it from from his waist I saw metal it was flashing like file I saw a brilliant illuminated cloud from his waist from his body we began to see and he's eager to the glory of God when it comes again will not come as a cloud and rest on the tabernacle in fact from that moment the people are sent in to exile even when Nehemiah comes back and builds the wall and reestablishes the temple that the cloud never falls on it again what we get is Ezekiel saying the glory of God next time it shows up will come as a man and then John the Baptist shows up declaring that the kingdom of God is at hand and the glory of the Lord is in our midst in the book of Hebrews would say this about Jesus Hebrews 1 starting in verse 3 says this he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature and he upholds the universe by the word of his power after making purification for his sins he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high so let's walk through this real quickly the first thing to note about Jesus as the glory of God is this text says that he is the radiance of the glory of God so here here's the good news like as Christians we no longer need clouds to settle we no longer need thunder in the distance we don't need flashes of lightning Christ has come he has saved us he has filled us with His Holy Spirit so that the cloud of God's manifest powerful 12 inside us as the people of God it's not an outside manifestation and is manifested inside of us and so here's here's what I think is important to note I think a lot of us would just kind of mend maybe rather have the cloud and so yeah I mean that's kind of cool but how cool would it be I mean just think for a second faster if you just got up in the morning there was a cloud and you just followed the cloud around use knew God was present I mean let me just that didn't go well for Israel I don't know why you think that's going to go well for you I mean that cloud being there certainly did not did not stop Israel from worshiping Bale from worshiping other gods even as the cloud was present because we are filled with the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Jesus dwelling inside of us it frees us up to do two things one I I am Baptist oh you just got to know that alright so I beloved believe the sufficiency of Scripture we're gonna preach the Word of God but I got a little castle in me too all right I want to see the power of the Holy Spirit do miraculous and beautiful things I want to see people healed of these I want fire to fall I want all of that I'm hungry for it and I pray and please and I can leave disappointed I can leave having wanted God to do more than he did because I know he's an inexhaustible well and so I just want him to work I also want to hold that intention because I know I've been here for like a second knees eternal right so I want to walk in a great deal of humility but I want it but this frees me up to see the ordinary days of my life as being supernatural and divine let me try to walk you to it because I think in an achievement based culture everything is measured by how big it is how flashy it is how excellent it is and I think some of God's and we talked about this in Exodus some of God's most significant works take place over a long period of time in just everyday faithful presence so let me give some examples some that will look and feel spiritual and some the dome it just looks like play so it is not it is a supernatural thing for me to climb into bed with my eight-year-old daughter and say prayers at night now I've never done that had an angel of the Lord show up I've never just prayed with Nora look how can I pray for you what's going on okay let's let's pray and in the middle of our prayer like a glowing angels show up that made us both fall on our faith for fear of death never happened I've never been praying when Nora and had her give me a prophetic utterance I've never way I'm just climbing in bed and praying with my ear old and I just have to believe that in the years to come that will produce a kind of harvest that's transcending the five minutes that takes in the evening earlier this week I was at the kitchen island and I was muscling through where I am in my Bible reading plan right now is its first Chronicles and so I it's an awesome book it's just men muscling through those first couple of chapters where I don't know I'm this is my person I need to know who this guy is so I'll go back to Genesis like oh my gosh he's not even named anywhere it's well why would God just put this one random name here we don't know anything about this guy I need answers and there aren't any as I okay it's inerrant Word of God I know it's in here for some reason I'm just gonna let it go move on and and so I'm muscling through that no Bible open and my son walks in now I've been honest like I'm not I'm not in first Chronicles 1 & 2 going oh the glories of God so don't bother me right now the Shekinah glory is descending on to the no no it's just my son got to see his daddy in the word it's just my son got to see and then if we want to take it out of the world of spiritual and and just highlight some things that are spiritual that you might not think of as spiritual realities is Friday night about my guess is around 9:15 9:30 my youngest Nora came in and just said hey dad I invented a game do you want to play it so I was like okay yeah you have to play it in the pool okay so now again I don't know how you're wired what you're doing Friday night at 9:30 I'm working my way towards bed I am certainly not working my way towards pool party with an eight-year-old and so just I mean just to be clear 90% of the time I'm saying no to that 90% but for whatever reason I said you know what let's do it and I went and dove in the pool with Nora game made no sense still don't understand it I lost every time the rules changed every time like I was saying stuff like well last game these were the rules and she literally like lets out shady that's all girls pray for us she said well the rules change as the game progresses shady shady I already covered depravity that's an example so here's what we did I went out and I played this ridiculous game for about 45 minutes then we got out we dried off she went to bed I went to bed and all we did was play but but surely something in my eight-year-olds little soul got a glimpse of God's grace got a glimpse of God's playfulness got a glimpse of God's love by knowing her old man doesn't like to get in the pool at 9:30 at night but did this warm time so we don't think of things like that as Holy and yet I'm telling you those are the things that God uses to shape and to produce a fruit that's beyond well we could dream see all this desire for big bold and fast and famous and large and Silver Bullet miracles I want you to long for those things but never despise the ordinary because Jesus is right this beautiful radiance of the glory of God in the Spirit of God lives inside of saying your prayers at 9:00 hopping in the swimming pool giving yourself over to love and to serve our means of grace that God is using to shape they're not boring they're beautiful be steadfast be steadfast that's not all it says about Jesus as the glory of God he's not just the radiance of the glory of God he is also the exact imprint of his nature so I'll just say it if you want to know the nature and character of God read the Gospels watch the life of Jesus if you struggle with self condemnation if you cannot show yourself compassion because in our achievement based culture you will be hyper aware of where you fail you can't help it this is where I don't measure up this is where I fall short this is what I wish I was more of this is what like of all of that just is choking you and it's seeped into how you understand God relates to you there's hyper where all the ways that you've fallen short in all the ways that God can't love you and wide and this and that and then just go read the Gospels like watch what Jesus does to the woman caught in adultery watch how Jesus has the conversation with the woman at the well in John chapter 4 pay attention to how Jesus interacts with Zacchaeus Zacchaeus is a terrible human being there is no moral equivalent that I know of in the United States of America as to what Zacchaeus and the other tax collectors were despicable deplorable disgusting human beings deserving of death and what does Jesus do Zacchaeus a man can have lunch at your house we should eat let's go eat and what did the religious people do they grumbled for Jesus eight with the tax collectors sinners right you want to know what God's lying pay attention to Jesus because he is the exact imprint of his nature and then I love this all that common grace beauty it's held together by the word of his power so this makes the incarnation stunning right so Jesus who's the active agent of all that creation those nebulae those sunset those mounds of Jesus that puts all that together and then Philippians 2 says that he empties himself of power and he puts on this right like this physical body fragile weak limited grows weary needs food has to have sleep like Jesus Coe eternal with the father he'll sleep you know nothing of the limitations of humanity until he emptied himself of that power and put on flesh to dwell among us here we are again God with us Emmanuel the manifold presence of the glory of God among his people Jesus second person of the Trinity Son of God and and why why is he putting on this flesh as the one even who upholds the universe by the word of his power well the next line tells us after making purification for his sins he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on I love the fact that he sat down well you just put him down put his feet up so here's what happens he empties himself of this power and he puts on flesh and dwelt among us and here's what the book of Romans tells us about all that right that there is now no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus why because Christ did what you and I could not do weak as we are in the flesh and that he kept the law perfectly now keep in mind where we are in the song who may ascend who may dwell who may be in the presence of this glory he us clean hands he who has a pure heart he was not lifted his soul to idols who have not defiled himself with lies well again we've already covered it you're disqualified all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God but Jesus did what we could not do weak as we are in the flesh so if men if you're you don't have a background in church let me just lays because man I I didn't I was really confused at what the death of a Jewish guy 2,000 years ago had to do with me like what does I have to do with my life that makes zero sense he was a great teacher and a moral philosopher like like what is him dying on the cross have to do with me it's like saying that Gandhi's going to change my life to the starved himself to death right like what like what does that have to do with me well here's what it has to do Jesus comes and he does what we cannot do and as Adam imputed to us sinfulness Jesus now is going to impute to us righteousness and cleanliness and what's going to happen on the cross is as they care the flesh off his body as they beat him till he's bloody and his eyes are closed up and the cramp nails through his hands a crown of thorns through his skull and spit on him and mock him and belittle him he is absorbing all of God's wrath willingly absorbing all of God's wrath towards those who would believe and repent in his name and that sacrifice was so sufficient that it paid for the sins past present and future all of the sins past present and future for all who would believe upon the name of Jesus and were confident of this because he resurrected from the grave so what what are the wages of sin death well Jesus isn't dead he rose again and according to the text his work is finished not only does Jesus say on the cross last word it is finished what is he talking about talking about this this text is like he just sitting down next to the right hand of the Father and Majesty done I don't know watch this because our culture is like do-do-do achieve achieve achieve grow grow grow grow grow and Jesus like sitting down feet up done finished complete now this is where look like this is so hard for us like like really so here's here's what God sent your holy you are blameless you are spotless achievement based culture immediately takes my mind here oh no I'm not I am hyper aware of where I fall short of all of that so what should then be our response look back at the psalm starting in verse 7 lift up your heads o gates and be lifted up o ancient doors that the king of glory may come in who is this King of glory the Lord strong and mighty the Lord mighty in battle lift up your heads o gates and lift them up o ancient doors that the king of glory may come in who is the king of glory the Lord of Hosts he is the king of glory salem and so how are we to respond to Jesus being the glory of God made manifest in us via the Holy Spirit the answer to an achievement based culture that would have you doing rather than being operating out mechanical steps rather than surrendering to organic growth the key is to lift your heads up the key is to look up because as he says you're holy you're blameless you're spotless and you know I'm not I'm really not and so let me go over here and try to be that for you God instead God's gonna know look up at me look at me I am able I am perfect I am the king of glory I am mighty in battle you're not mighty in battle I am mighty in bow they enough creatine monohydrate out there to save you from the spiritual realities that urine war with right there ain't enough achievement out there to match my perfect glory so I'll do it for you you are mind lift up your heads and look at me you fix your eyes on me I am the author and I am the Perfector of your face you will be transformed from one degree of glory to the next and the image of Jesus by beholding my glory get your heads up talk about this all the time this is the only right response to the glory of God Tim Keller said the founders of every major religion said I'll show you how to find God it was Jesus alone that said I am God who has come to save you you're the difference in that Keller says that that all the profits of all the other world religions say here are the steps to find God and it is only Jesus that shows up and says I am God and I've come to save you that's wildly different wildly different so here here's my question and then we're going to pray are you more aware and driven by the knowledge of your shortcomings and failures then you are aware of and driven by God's mercy and grace to you in Jesus Christ it is not a bad thing to know where you fall short of the glory of God remember God hates sin but being aware of those things does that drive you into the grace of God are you so aware of those that you have minimized the grace of God and you have left Orthodox Christian faith and you're out here trying to earn what you will never be able to earn perfection belongs to Jesus it doesn't belong to you strength belongs to Jesus it does not belong to you and in the mercy of God all of that has been made available via the glory of God it's just right there for the surrendering into or I mean you could keep doing it your way how's that going just a thought just at all God is up to something in your life Christian I know you might have a whole list of reasons right now what God is saying about you cannot be true and I am Telling You that the Bible says that this is how he regardless of how you see yourself and that not only does he call you that but he is making you more of this over time as he has immersed you into his community of faith this is what we celebrate and rejoice him we push past and remind ourselves of the gospel as we become more and more aware of where we have fallen short and we just trust that God is able I mean we can just look out at the stars we can look out at sunsets we look at like some crazy like an eclipse I don't know something like that and just marvel at the fact that the God who spoke all that into being manages all of that upholds all of that has set the plumb line for moral and ethical judgment has said of us you are my sons you are my daughters you are fully freely and forever forgiven by the blood of Jesus let's pray father I thank you for your glory we want to behold it we want it to shape us and mold us and thank you that it is out of this understanding the true spiritual transformation takes place not in our striving and doing but in our resting and being this is hard it's counterintuitive Spirit will you teach our souls these things not our minds we don't want talking points we want your spirit to shape us for my brothers and sisters who are in this room and just exhausted just hyper aware of how unloved they are or how unworthy of love they feel hyper aware of where they fall in short what they've done where they've been mastered by shame crushed by guilt let's pray that all of this would land like warm water on the soul today I might leave this place convinced all the more of your goodness all the more of your grace you free my brothers and sisters from the bondage of Orman's and into the rest of being sons and daughters of the king of glory mighty and battle strong and kind help us for your beautiful name I pray amen

Channel: The Village Church Resources

Views: 21,126

Rating: 4.810811 out of 5

Keywords: Matt Chandler, The Village Church, The Glory of God, Marked, Week 2

Id: TYEEnlloJfY

Length: 53min 5sec (3185 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 21 2017