Mark #5: Giving Glory to God

Today, we come to the fifth and final mark of the church and the individual Christian found in Romans chapter 15:1-6.  The church is called to do all things to the glory of God. Verse 6 reads, “So that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Okay, this sounds simple enough.  Give glory to God.  Do everything to the glory of God.  So, here’s the question what exactly is glory?  Have you ever stopped to think about it?  What does it mean to give glory to God?

Sure, we’ve all heard about giving glory to God.  We’ve sung about giving glory to God.  We’ve sung about God’s glory.

“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!”
“Angels from the realm’s of glory!”
“Glory to God in the highest, and peace to His people on earth.”
“All glory, laud and honor, to you Redeemer King!

You will notice that there’s a bit of a difference in terminology there.  You’ll notice that on one hand when we sing about giving glory to God, it’s essentially that we are giving God praise.  We are exalting God.  On the other hand, we see that glory is something that God already has.  God has glory.  We see His glory.  It can be a bit confusing.

So, let’s clear it up a little bit.  The word glory in the Bible–particularly in the New Testament comes from the Greek word, doxa.  This is where we get the title to the hymn we sing after we take up our offerings: the doxology.  That’s just a bit of trivia for you this morning.  But interestingly enough, the word doxa, denotes “divine and heavenly radiance” the “loftiness and majesty” of God, and even the “being of God.”  It highlights “divine honor”, “divine splendor”, “divine power”, and “visible divine radiance.” 

So, if this is the case.  If the word glory means “divine and heavenly radiance”, the “loftiness and majesty of God”, “divine honor”, “divine splendor”, “divine power,” and “visible divine radiance,” what does it mean that a church does everything for this?  What does it mean that we live our lives to give this to God?

Well, my brothers and sisters, fortunately, we do not have to turn to Google for help here.  In fact, I am quite sure that Google will lead us astray.  Fortunately, we have a word from God that helps us see what it means to give glory to God–the one who is already full of glory.

Let me read to you a portion of Exodus chapter 33 beginning in verse 18.  You see, Moses and God are having a conversation up on Mount Sinai.  They have talked long about a great many things, and Moses makes a request of God.  “18Moses said, ‘Show me your glory, I pray.’ 19And God said, ‘I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, “The Lord”; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20But’, he said, ‘you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.’ 21And the Lord continued, ‘See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock; 22and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; 23then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.’”

So you see, my brothers and sisters, God’s glory is too much for us to comprehend.  God’s glory is too much for human eyes.  God’s splendor and majesty is too powerful for us to be able to look upon.  It is so overwhelming; it is so powerful; it is so beautiful; that were we to gaze upon it, we would die.  And so, Moses was not allowed to see the fullness of the glory of God–even though he deeply longed for it.  Moses was not allowed to look into the face of God.  God covered Moses’ face as He passed by.  So, Moses only got to get a glimpse of God’s glory.  Moses only got to see a smidgen of the overall beauty and majesty and power of God. But what effect did that have?

Well, we need to move on to chapter 34 of the book of Exodus.  We need to see what happened after Moses encountered God.  We need to see what happened after Moses got to see a glimpse of the glory of God.  Here we go, we begin in verse 29, “ Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. 30When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. 31But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. 32Afterwards all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; 34but whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.”

Did you catch what was happening here?  Did you catch what was happening to Moses after he talked with God?  Did you catch what Moses was like once he had met God and encountered God’s glory? 

Moses shined.
Moses was radiant.
Moses was beautiful.

Not with his own light.  Not with his own power.  Not with his own beauty.  Not with his own glory.  No.  Moses was shining the glory of God, reflecting it to the people of Israel.  Think about that a minute.  After encountering God and God’s glory, Moses reflected that glory to the rest of the world.  This was not something that Moses did on his own.  This was not something Moses decided to do. Moses simply asked to see God’s glory, and after encountering just a smidgen of the glory of God, God made Moses shine!

Do you see the connection to the church?  Do you see the connection to you and your life?  We radiate the glory of God.  This what it means to give Him glory.  This is what it means to do everything to the glory of God.  Because we have encountered God.  Because we have seen the glory of God, we shine that into the world in everything that we do.

But this is kind of where we get into trouble.  This is kind of where we miss the mark.  Because oftentimes we tend to be more concerned about talking about ourselves than we are showing the glory of God.  Now, I know that statement isn’t the nicest statement to say in regards to churches and individual Christians.  Believe me, I am well aware that when I am pointing the finger out, there are three more pointing right back at me.  I’m as guilty as anything of that statement.  I know for most of my life, I’ve been more concerned with me and what I want.  I’ve been more concerned with growing a church so that I could get recognition.  I’ve been more concerned with attaining goals and status than I have been with showing forth Jesus.  Don’t think that I’m innocent in this.  I’ve been more than wrong.

And there are many churches that have fallen into this kind of stuff too.  We focus on the wrong things.  We focus on simply getting members to join our churches.  We focus on growing our programs.  We focus on making sure enough money is flowing into our offering plates.  We focus on our music and on our youth.  And while none of this is necessarily bad, where is God in the midst of this?  Where is our giving glory to God.  Are we going to give glory when our churches and our programs grow, or are we going to give glory to God first and then watch what happens when that glory is reflected into the world?

And this just makes sense.  I mean, when Jesus gathered his disciples on the hill outside of Jerusalem and was lifted up into heaven, he said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”

Now, what kind of disciples do you think Jesus wanted his followers to make? What kind of disciples do you think Jesus expects us to make?  Do you think he wanted us to make disciples of St. John Lutheran Church?  Do you think he wants us to make disciples of Pastor Haug?  Of Christa?  Of Ralph?  Of Rick, or Debbie, or James?  Do you think Jesus wants disciples of WELCA or Lutheran Men in Mission?  No!  He wants people to follow Him!  He wants people to have Him enthroned in their hearts!  This church can’t give people what Jesus can!  We can’t give people what Jesus can!  We can only point the way to Jesus so that they can fall in love with Him!

And so we give glory to God.  We help people encounter God.  And you may ask, “Where can I find God? Where can I encounter Him and His love? Where can I point people so that they can encounter Him?  Where can we encounter God so that we reflect His glory just like Moses reflected His glory?”

And the answer my brothers and sisters is this: there are many places we can eventually encounter God, but if you want to meet Him and come to see His great love, look no further than the cross.  Look no further than the place where the God of this universe took your sin upon Himself and died for you.  Look no further than to the place where He loved you when you were unlovable.  Look no further than the place where He hung and said, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.”  Look no further than the place where Jesus emptied Himself so that you and I may be filled.  Look no further than the place where “sorrow and love flowed mingled down.  Did ere such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown.”

For you see, my brothers and sisters, when you gaze upon the face of the one who died for you in your brokenness; when you look into His eyes and see His disappointment in your sin but also the depths of His loved; when you have your heart touched by Him, oh, oh you see that Jesus is the most beautiful; most awe inspiring; most wonderful thing that you can ever behold.  You long for Him to reveal Himself to you.  You beg like Moses begged, “Lord, show me your glory!”  And He does.  Yes, He does.  And when He shows you His glory, then that glory shines off of you.  It reflects off of you, and it draws people to Him.  And then they will say, “There is no way we can account for what we see here other than to say that God’s hand is at work.  There is no way we can account for the love, respect, care, and compassion that we see at work here.  These things just don’t happen in the world.  There must be something else at work. There must be something else that has brought these things to fruition.  There must be a power that is real and greater than anything we have ever seen.  There must be a God.” (Keller) This is the mark of a Christian.  This is the mark of a church–that it gives glory to God so that others are drawn to Him.  Amen.

Radiating Jesus: Romans 8:1-4

This past week I did a wedding on Wednesday, and it was a very unique  wedding, at least for me. This couple had been trying to get married for a couple years. However each time they tried to get married something would happen. Twice, the groom was arrested.  I kid you not.  And the last time he was arrested, they had already gotten the marriage license. They still wanted to get married, so the bride’s brother was going to stand in for the groom.  I did some checking on that and found that such a practice was illegal unless one of the parties was in the military.  We had to reschedule once again.  The bride in this ceremony had her own set of issues.  We had helped this woman several times through our community care fund by giving her food and paying for her electric bill a couple of times.  But the last time she asked us for assistance, we called the light company and found out that she hadn’t paid her own light bill in over a year.  Someone else had always paid it for her.  We didn’t help her that time, and we haven’t since.   But, she does have a relationship with me, and she wanted me to do her wedding.

And so, Wednesday afternoon, out in Raccoon Bend, I stood at the porch of a dilapidated shack with two people.  One with a long criminal record.  One who had been playing the system for years, and with flea bitten dogs and puppies running around my feet, I presided at their wedding.  It was indeed a unique wedding, but I noticed something at that moment which is generally universal at all weddings.  I looked at the bride and groom as they stood gazing into each other’s eyes.  I looked at them as they made their vows and as they kissed afterward.  And they radiated love for one another.  No matter their past.  No matter the uncertainty of the future, the love that these two people had for one another was undeniable.  You could see it.

Perhaps you have seen such glimpses of this at times.  Perhaps you have seen someone who radiates love and life.  Perhaps you have glimpsed someone who is filled with an otherworldly spirit of hope, and it radiates into all that they say and do.  I have known several people like this, and I marvel at them. It’s one thing to get a glimpse of such a thing at a wedding or some other sort of function, but it is another thing to see someone who lives their life in such a fashion.  I want to spend time with people like that because when I do, I too feel full of hope.  I too feel full of joy.  I too feel full of peace.  And here is the question I want to pose to you this morning: shouldn’t our churches be full of such people?  Shouldn’t we radiate this kind of love, joy, and peace to others?  When folks walk into our buildings and meet us, shouldn’t they come away thinking, “Man, those folks are full of something otherworldly.  They are just different--in a good sort of way.”?

Folks who are like this; churches that are like this are because the Gospel has sunk in.  The Gospel has weaseled its way deep into their hearts and changed them from deep within.  The joy, love, and peace these individuals and churches have are not fleeting moments; they are lasting manifestations because folks have come to know the great love that God has poured out to them when they least deserved it.

Today, we begin Romans Chapter 8.  As I have begun my study of this chapter, one continuing commentary has been front and center.  Over and over I have heard, “Romans 8 is one of the greatest chapters in the entire Bible.”  If verses one through four are any indication, then indeed, the next few weeks will be a thrill ride.

The chapter begins with these words, “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  Stop a moment and think about those words.  Know that in the Greek, St. Paul uses some of the strongest possible language in this sentence.  Paul says, if you have been baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; if you have Him as your representative; if you are joined to Him, then you do not stand condemned.  Nothing you have ever done; nothing you are currently doing; nothing you will ever do will bring condemnation down upon you.  Nothing.  As long as Jesus is your representative; as long as you are in Him, you are right with God.  Those times when you took that extra drink?  No condemnation.  Those times when you lusted after someone who is not your spouse?  No condemnation.  Those people who took their own lives by suicide?  No condemnation.  Those times when you gossiped and lied about others?  No condemnation.  Those times when you thought you were doing everything right only to find that all that you had done was wrong?  No condemnation.  Those times when you held another person in contempt because they didn’t believe the way you believed?  No condemnation.  You are in Jesus Christ.  You are right with God.

Because, as Paul now says, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”  Paul means here that because of all those things you once did, and will do, mind you, you deserve condemnation.  You deserve God’s wrath and anger.  If you break a law, you deserve punishment.  If you sin, you deserve to die.  That’s just the cold, hard facts.  But, when you are in Christ Jesus, there is another law that prevails.  There is another court of justice.  There is the law of the Spirit of life.  That doesn’t seem to make much sense until we go onto the next verse.

“Because God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh…”  Now, let’s try and wrap our heads around this for a moment.  What Paul is saying here is that the law could not turn us into good people.  The law could not make us behave.  The law could not change our hearts and make us say, “I’m going to do the right thing because the law told me to do so.”  No.  We saw earlier that whenever the law is given to us, there is something that rebels within us--the power of sin.  That power causes us to do the exact opposite of what we know to be right.  This is how the law was weakened by sinful flesh.  There is nothing wrong with the law, there is something wrong deep within us.  And here is the part that gets fascinating.  At least it’s fascinating to me.  God did what the law could not do by sending Jesus in the likeness of sinful flesh--mind you, Paul does not say that Jesus’ flesh was sinful or that Jesus was sinful.  Jesus came to earth in the flesh.  This is noteworthy because Paul says that Jesus condemned sin in the flesh.  What does that mean?  

It means that Jesus went to war with the power of sin, and he was not corrupted by it.  Whereas we become corrupted by the power of sin, Jesus was not.  Whereas we lose the battle and do what we know we shouldn’t do, Jesus won the battle and did what He was supposed to do.  In so doing, Jesus cornered the power of sin in His flesh; He took sin into His very being, and He condemned it.  He gave it a death blow.  He overcame it.  And he became a sin offering in the process.  I know you didn’t read that in the text that is in your bulletin, but the phrase “and to deal with sin” should probably be translated “became a sin offering.”  This means Jesus offered up himself to atone for our sins--to ensure that justice is served, and, here is where things get really, really cool…

Verse 4, “so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”  Now, if you just read this superficially, you might get the idea that all of a sudden, we will be able to fulfill God’s law perfectly.  We will be able to be perfect people who do everything correctly.  This is a wrong reading.  That’s not what Paul is getting at at all.  No.  In the Greek, the verb be fulfilled is a passive verb.  It is not an active verb.  This means, the fulfillment is not done by us.  The fulfilling of the law is not done by us.  We are powerless to fulfill the law.  There is only one who has fulfilled it.  There is only one who has accomplished it, and that is Jesus.  So, how can Paul then say that it might be fulfilled in us?  How in the world can it be fulfilled in us?  Here’s the cool part.  When we walk by the Spirit; when we have Jesus as our representative; when we are joined to Jesus: there is an interchange that takes place.  One of my commentaries put it this way, “Christ becomes what we are so that we might become what Christ is.”

Listen to that statement again because it sums up what happens when we are in Christ Jesus.  “Christ becomes what we are so that we might become what Christ is.”  Jesus takes on the likeness of sinful flesh, has the power of sin enter into him and try to corrupt Him--in this fashion, He becomes just like us.  But, He defeats sin.  He stays uncorrupted, and then offers Himself up for us as a sin offering.  In so doing, He covers all of our sins.  He makes us right before God, and then He places Himself on and in us through the power of the Spirit.  Jesus puts Himself on you and in you through the power of the Spirit.  

You may say at this point, “Well, that’s all well and good, but how come I don’t feel like Jesus?  How come I don’t have peace and joy and radiate love?  How come I can’t make those things happen in my life when I want them so badly?  I want to be peaceful.  I want to be joyful.  I want to radiate love.  How come I don’t?”

I think the answer is: you are trying to accomplish it yourself.  You are focusing on your actions and what you think you have to do to become joyful; peaceful; and radiate love.  What Paul is trying to convey to us here, I think is this: the answer to living a holy life full of love, peace, and joy is not to try harder.  It’s not to focus on my actions and what I do.  It’s to trust Jesus more; to turn my heart and my head toward Him and what He has done by His death and resurrection; to realize that He fulfilled the law for me; to realize He defeated sin for me; to realize that He won eternal life for me when I least deserved it.  And the more you turn to Him; the more you think about what He did on the cross for you; the more you reflect upon being joined to Him in His death and resurrection; the more and more you will become like Him.  And oftentimes you won’t even realize it because He is the one transforming you from the inside out!  

I have also come to believe what can be said about individuals can also be said about churches.  For years, I was told that a more business model of churches was what was needed to help our congregations grow.  Get a good, solid mission statement.  Implement long range planning.  Make a plan of how to welcome guests and visitors.  Implement a plan for programming so that it will grow along with your congregation.  I’ve seen a lot of congregations implement these things.  I’ve seen a lot of congregations who have the perfect plan for welcoming visitors and guests.  I’ve seen congregations with wonderful long range plans and fantastic mission statements.  And I’ve seen a few of these congregations grow.  Many more remain stagnant and even decline.  Why?  Where is the focus? What are these congregations emphasizing?  They are emphasizing and focusing on what they are supposed to do.  They are trusting in themselves to grow their churches--and for a time it might work.  It did at my previous congregation right up until the time disagreements broke out.  Right up until the time folks began arguing about what programs were right and what programs were wrong.  That is what inevitably happens whenever you focus on what you are supposed to do.  Folks can and do disagree about such things, and oftentimes with just cause.

However, there really is no argument about what God has done for us.  There really is no argument about what Jesus has accomplished for us on the cross.  There really is no argument about how He poured Himself out for us while we were still sinners.  When a church focuses on Jesus and what Jesus has done; when He becomes the full sum and substance of why a church worships, fellowships, teaches, programs, and the like; when Jesus dominates everything and the Gospel permeates the thoughts and minds of a church’s members, the doing comes naturally--because Jesus is transforming us into His image and likeness.  How do we become people who radiate love, peace and joy for more than just a few moments?  How do we become a church that radiates love, peace and joy for more than just a few Sundays?  The answer isn’t do more--it’s remembering that in Christ there is no condemnation because He has become like us and defeated sin and death so that we can become like Him.  Amen.