Discerning God's Voice: Does It Honor God?

Let's start off today talking about art. I am no artist but I appreciate art. When we look at a piece of art, we don't marvel over the canvas that it's painted on, or the type of paint that is used. We marvel over the artist. I am amazed how an artist can paint his thoughts on a canvas, or how he can envision something in his or her mind and produce these amazing sculptures.

Think about the sculpture David by Michelangelo. It's considered to be one of the finest sculptures in the world. But no one looks at this sculpture and marvels over how white the marble is. Even though it is considered to be an exceptional piece of white marble, people are amazed and drawn to what Michelangelo did with it. The

sculpture is almost seventeen feet tall. This was no weekend project. Michelangelo worked for 2 years on this sculpture.

But we don't glory in the sculpture; We glory in the Sculptor. It's not simply David, It's Michaelangelo's David. It's hard to look at the sculpture and not think of Michaelangelo and his amazing talent.

As God's creation, our lives are supposed to point to the glory of our Creator. God calls us to live for His glory. And it's in His glory that we find our greatest purpose.

For the past few weeks, we have been talking about discerning God's voice in what we hear preached or taught or what we read. Yet another way to discern the voice of God is to ask the question, “Is it honoring to God? I ask, " Can people discern God's voice by listening and watching you?" Let's talk a little bit today about how we can honor God. PRAYER

On Wednesday nights, for the past two plus years, we have been studying the Gospel of John. We are now in chapter 17 of John. As we were studying that chapter, it came to my attention that this chapter explains to us how we can honor God through what Jesus prayed. Let me explain that. We will be using John 17 today.

The passage that we will look at today comes at the end of Jesus's upper room discourse that actually began in John 13. The Passover meal was over and Judas had left to betray Jesus. Jesus looked up to heaven, which was the traditional way to pray. People typically prayed with their eyes open while looking toward heaven. Jesus prayed to His Father, which was His preferred term for God when He prayed.

John 17:1-2 – “Jesus spoke these things, looked up to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you gave him authority over all people, so that he may give eternal life to everyone you have given him.”

Notice that Jesus mentioned “the hour has come.” He was very aware of what was coming in the next few days. His mock trial and crucifixion were just hours away. He didn't ask God for anything too soon or too late. But he asked exactly in God's perfect time.

He prayed that God would glorify the Son. This might sound self-centered to some? But it was an extremely God-centered request. The way that the Father was going to glorify the son was to have Him crucified. It would be on the cross that Jesus would bring the greatest glory to His Father. When Jesus prayed for His time on the cross to come, He was accepting His Father's will even though it meant torture on the cross.

Jesus used to the word ‘glorify’, which also means to magnify or to lift up. It gives us the idea of taking a closer look at something to see it more clearly. So, in this prayer, Jesus was asking His Father to lift Him up on the cross so that people could take a close look at Jesus and come away with a higher view of God, the Father, a view that draws them to faith and trust.

As we think about our walk with God and how close our relationship is with Him, we should pray a similar prayer. "God let people take a close look at my life. Particularly when I am suffering so that they can be drawn to glorify You."

As we stand back and look at this prayer, we see that Jesus prayed that His Father would glorify Him on the cross so He could provide life to everyone His father had given to Him. His prayer was very unselfish. Can you see that He prayed, that by going to the cross, He would glorify His Father and bring eternal life to those who believe? His prayer continues.

John 17:3 – “This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent —Jesus Christ.”