Finish this statement: No guts…
No GLORY. There is something very powerful, very attractive about GLORY- something or someone or some event that is truly GLORIOUS. It draws us in and invites us to celebrate.
I’m sure most of us watched Michael Phelps this past summer in the Olympics. He is the kind of guy that we would say is a glorious athlete. He embodied the spirit of the Olympics, obliterating the standard for glory and excellence. The most gold any athlete has ever won, the most gold in a single Olympics ever won. It was truly glorious to just watch him do what he does- swim. To swim better than anyone else has ever swam before. To see a human that is almost more at home in water than on land. Quiet, meek, focused, listening to Little Wayne on his ipod. He takes his place on the podium, the buzzer would sound, and he would win. It got to the point where you just knew you weren’t so much watching a race, you were watching a win. We were glued to the set to see how this glorious swimmer would win his next gold. Would it be by a body length, or two body lengths, or just by a finger. It was like we all knew the victory has already been decided. We were just watching it play out. The victory has already been won through the hours of suffering through training and preparation and practice. The race was always his, the glory was his- he knew it, the competitors knew it, we knew it.
But one thing that amazed me was watching how Michael celebrated his glorious achievement. When he won a race he was obvious pumped- so thrilled to win. He always struck me as a gentlemen- never gloated, never said I’m number one, eat my wake suckers, in your face! He embraced the glory in a way that really showed some depths of character, I think. But what sticks out for me is how he reacted during his team events. During his first relay race, when his teammate took the lead in the last half-length of the final lap, he started going crazy. And when the team won, the place went nuts. I thought he was going to have a heart attack, or that his head was going to explode. He just went bonkers. There was nothing more glorious it would seem than when the team took that gold, and when he shared in the glory of that moment with others.
And that is the image I want you to hold in your mind this morning- that there is nothing more glorious than sharing the win. Sharing the victory. Sharing the glory. When we are part of something bigger than ourselves, something more than just us, and when we take the gold, the glory is greater than anything else in the world.
We are wrapping up this series that has walked us down the path of salvation as taught in the bible. We felt it was important to walk you through, in what we hope has been a very clear and compelling presentation, of the bibles explanation of salvation. Now on one level I never want to make complicated what is clear and concise. It should always be enough to say that it is enough to believe. It is enough the bible says to just believe. To just have faith. To say I believe in you God. I turn to Jesus as my savior and Lord. I give my self to you. That’s enough, and that’s really how it always starts. But how great that we have a very detailed and thorough explain of belief in the bible.
We started with the Petrified service. Here we examined the human condition. The bible says that on our own, left to ourselves, we are spiritually dead, and dead in our sins. And as spiritually dead beings, we find ourselves in a pretty helpless state. Just like a physically dead person cannot and does not spontaneously bring themselves back to life, so we, as spiritually dead creatures, do not spontaneously bring ourselves to spiritual life. We do not make the first move toward God. Instead, God takes the first move toward us. Ezekiel 36 gave us the promise:
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”So God moves upon us, gives a spiritual rebirth. It may happen when we are young and can’t even really remember. It may happen when we are an adult, and we can see the change has happened. It may happen instantaneously. It may be a very long and drawn out labor with lots of pushing and pulling and grunted and sweating and fighting God at every turn. The important thing isn’t ultimately the details of the birth, but that we are re-born, regenerated, that God takes our heart of stone, and replaces it with a heart of flesh.
The next movement is our justification. This is the one that theologians have worked to define, explain, teach and apply for centuries. It boils down to this simple (not simplistic) truth- once we are re-born, we repent and we put our faith in Jesus. We have faith that Jesus is the Son of God, that he died as an atoning sacrifice for our sins, that he satisfied the real need for justice to be done in the eyes of God. This is so important to embrace. Our God actually deals with the real problem of sin in the world and in our lives. There is sin. How do I know that- because people hunger. Women are raped. Children are molested. People are homeless. Wars are fought. The wicked prosper and the needy are forgotten. How do I know sin is real- because I feel it waging a war within my own body and mind. I’m not the way I’m supposed to be. The world is not the way it’s supposed to be. And our God does something about it- he has begun the process of eradicating sin and death. He justifies me, he justifies you, he justifies all his children on whom he sends His Spirit, on everyone who has faith that Jesus lived, he died, he rose, he is coming again.
So far God has done all the work. God gets all the credit. He has taken petrified people and given us rebirth. He takes sinful people and he says we can be justified through putting our faith in Jesus. Now we step into the process of salvation. Now that we are in this relationship with God we begin to work with God. It is called our sanctification. Now God can start to do something with us, and we get the blessing of knowing we are a part of the process. God doesn’t just want us alive, he doesn’t just want us justified, he wants us sanctified- set apart for his plans and purpose in the world and on into eternity. Justification fixes our fundamental problem- we’re dead in sin. Our sanctification is the ongoing work of fixing our fundamental issue- we don’t love God, and we don’t love our neighbors. Through the ongoing work of the Spirit in our lives we grow more and more into the image and likeness of Jesus. Touch somebody and tell them- I’m being sanctified!
Here is what’s so awesome about sanctification, and what leads us into glorification- when God takes the trouble, when God pays the price to breath new life into us, because let’s be honest, justification has cost God a lot- when God does this in our lives, it is very clear why. Please don’t miss this- it’s because he loves you. God loves you; there is no other reasonable explanation or understanding for why God does all this. And then second, it’s because he has a plan for you. He sets you apart and begins growing you in this relationship because he has a plan for your life!
You set things apart for which you have a plan. When there is only one serving of ice cream left in the carton I set it apart for a reason- so that I can eat it and my kids can’t. I set aside time to be with my family. I set aside money to save for a vacation or a new car. I set aside certain things I own because they hold a very special place in my heart- like my skis or my bike. To sanctify is to set apart for a very special purpose and plan, and that is exactly what the bible teaches that God does with us- he sets us apart for a plan and a purpose- for his plan and his purpose. And what is God’s plan and purpose for this whole process of salvation- our regeneration, our justification, and our sanctification, is for His and our glorification. It’s all about his Glory friends.
Of all the words that are abused and have lost their significance in our culture, I’m so glad that Glory hasn’t lost it’s meaning. I say I love my kids then I say I love my coffee. Now early in the morning I may in fact love my coffee more than my kids, but still, it degrades the word love, because really, I like coffee. I enjoy coffee. I don’t love it. I don’t have a mutually beneficial and blessed relationship with coffee. I love my kids. I say God is awesome, and then I say a movie was awesome. You know this, you do this, and it’s the evolution of language. But glorious has resisted this degradation. We seem to use the word glorious in a very guarded way. And that’s why it’s such a perfect word for this final step in our salvation process.
Let me say what glorification is, then apply it to our lives. I have printed an extended passage of scripture for you to follow along. I’m going to read the passage, and along the way, interject some explanation.
Romans 8:18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Have you suffered in this world, in this life? If not, let me know how you’ve done it. In this world we will have trouble, Jesus says. But take heart, I have overcome the world. The Christ follower, the person who has put their faith and trust in Jesus for life, has this amazing, revolutionary, transformed and transforming outlook- nothing we suffer in this world is worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed IN US. Did you catch that part- IN US. There is going to be something glorious revealed in us through God. God loves you so much he brought you to physical life. He breathed into you spiritual life. He has set you apart, and he is going to reveal a glory that will shine through your life that is going to rock our world.
And he goes on-19The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that[i] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
Do you realize how green our God is? How green our glorification is? The creation is crying out for the glory of God to be revealed. People have subjected the creation to frustration and degradation. Folks, this was written 2000 years ago. 2000 years ago the Christians looked at what people had done and were doing to creation, and they said the world is already longing to be freed from it’s bondage to decay. Those words were true then, and they are like exponentially truer now. What we have subjected the creation to because of sin is anything but glorious- it is heinous, it is horrific, it is wrong, and it will be changed. The entire creation is going to be brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. You don’t start living the full Christian life until you catch a vision for the redemption not just of your body and your life when Jesus returns- you must catch a vision for the redemption of all of creation! We should be leading the way, raising the bar and greening the way to the glorification of all of God’s creatures and creation!
It goes on: 22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
God have mercy this is like the most awesome passage ever! We go back to the re-birth analogy. But it’s more than just an analogy- it’s reality. We need to be reborn, and the whole creation, the whole world, needs to be reborn. The whole creation is in fact groaning, as if in the pains of birth. And we too are still in this birthing process. For though we are brought to life, we are justified, we are being sanctified, and we are yet to be fully and completely glorified. We have this hope that guides and directs and inspires our lives.
And so he pulls together this process in these verses. 28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Yes, God set you apart for a reason he is going to work everything out for good, in this world or in the one to come. Why…
29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
And the final step in the process of glorification is this endgame when Jesus is celebrated like the first born among many brothers and many sisters and all of us together, we are predestined, we are called, we are justified, we are being sanctified, and we will be glorified.
The endgame of the Christ-follower is glorious my friends. And Glory is most glorious when it is celebrated and shared. Michael Phelps cheered when he won gold in one of his individual events, but he went nuts, he lost control, he went glorious when he was on a winning team. And folks, glory isn’t glory when it all about you or just all about me. Glory is glorious when it’s all about God, and when we step into a relationship with God, and when God does something glorious with all of us together.
And just like watching Michael Phelps win each time, glorification is about the absolute assurance that in the end God will win. That God has already won, and we are just watching that victory play out. It’s just like our history folks- there was a D-Day,and a V-Day. D-Day was when the battle for Europe was decided- the allies forces would defeat the Nazis. But it still took a year of fighting, and many lost lives, for V-Day, for the final victory to be secured.
And that’s what is happening in God’s redemption plan. D-Day happened 2000 years ago when Jesus rose from the dead. The battle against sin and death was decided on Easter morning. But V-day, complete victory over sin and death doesn’t happen until Jesus returns. For those that believe we have this faith, that we are simply in the process of watching God play out His victory. We know God is going to take the gold. It may see like he’s falling behind sometimes, it may seem like evil and sin are winning in the world and taking peoples lives and wreaking havoc on nations, which in fact it is. But in the last stretch, whenever that stretch comes, God pulls ahead, and we pull ahead with Him. And the win isn’t by a finger, or a body length, or a by a mile, it’s by an infinitely immeasurable gap. Because in the end glorification is about the ultimate and eternity victory over sin and death- all sin, all death, all that separates us from God.
Glorification is our great hope as believers in Jesus. It is the hope that there is a purpose and a plan for all our lives, and for all of creation. Glorification is the hope that God will make all things right in our lives and in all of creation. Glorification is the hope that the final death will be the death of sin and death itself. Glorification is the hope that there is an end to the sanctification process, because there is a time coming when all things will be set apart for God, when in fact nothing we be set apart from God anymore, all things will be drawn back to him, back into a relationship with their creator and with one another. Glorification is the hope that the work of justification is no longer needed, for there is no longer any sin to separate us or anything from God. Glorification is the hope that the work of regeneration is not long needed, for all God’s children will live into eternity with our God.
So what does this all mean? Is this some sort of pie in the sky, a new world is coming and everything will be great and glorious then? Absolutely. The bible teaches that this is the trajectory of redemption that is playing itself out before our very lives. That there is a great hope and a great and glorious future for all the children of God, for all whom he calls, and that we can begin living into it right now. And that’s the rub folks. Don’t miss this- don’t miss the glory now. Don’t miss the kingdom now. Don’t miss Jesus now. No guts, no glory. You needs to have the guts, the gumption, the gall, to start living now for the glory of God.
I mentioned in our first service that the message that Jesus preached more than anything else was this- the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom, the glory, of God, is at hand. It is in your grasp. It is stand there before you. And the message of Jesus is still the same. The kingdom and the glory is at hand- take hold of it. Take hold of him.
When you go to Starbucks and you get the pumpkin spice caramel frappuccino, you get a taste of the glory yet to come. When you wrestle with your kids and fall to ground in exhaustion and laughter, you get a taste of the glory yet to come. When you hold your wife or your husband in your arms, and there is nothing between you- no pretense, no façade, no lies, nothing but love, you get a taste of the glory yet to come. When you experience being forgiven of something that has weighed you down with guilt and shame for a lifetime... When you offer forgiveness to a brother of sister and you see the weight lifted off their shoulders… when you reach out in love to a neighbor…when you offer a cold drink to a weary traveler…when you offer a meal to the weak and hungry…when you offer you coat to the cold…when you open you home to the hurting. When you know you are alive in Christ. When you know you are forgiven by God. When you know you are filled with the Holy Spirit and are being set apart by God. When you share your faith in Jesus with those you know and love, and when they start to taste the glory of God for themselves. When you know God has used you, and is using you, and will continue to use you. When you have the hope, you just have it in your head and in your heart and down into you bones that God has a wonderful future in store for all his children- you get a taste of the glory of God.
Centuries ago the church realized that this is what life and living for God is all about. They wrote a confession of faith that started with this bold statement- what it the chief purpose of life? To glorify God and enjoy him forever. To glorify God and enjoy him forever.
As we now wrap up this series it has been and will continue to be our prayer, and our hope, that you will taste the glory of God. That you will want your life to be glorious and glorifying to God in everything you say and do and think and believe and embrace and embody. And when you do this- that you will enjoy God, you will delight in God, you will embrace and love and laugh and live with God.
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