Glorify

Glorify – John 17: 1 - 11

Intro: In the 1930’s Christian Herter was governor of Massachusetts. When he was running for a 2nd term it was a difficult campaign. One day, after a busy morning, Mr. Herter arrived at a church cookout. It was late afternoon and he was famished. As he moved down the serving line, he held out his plate to the woman serving chicken. She put one piece on his plate and turned to the next person in line. “Excuse me,” Governor Herter said, “Do you mind if I have another piece of chicken?” “Sorry,” the woman said, “I’m supposed to give only one piece of chicken to each person.” To that Herter responded, “But I’m famished.” “Sorry,” the woman replied, “Only one piece to a person.” At that point, the governor decided to throw his weight around. “Do you know who I am?” he said. “I am the governor of Massachusetts.” The lady responded, “Do you know who I am? I’m the lady in charge of chicken so move along, mister.”

I These verses from John 17 are part of what is commonly known as “The High-Priestly Prayer of Jesus” which concludes the “Farewell Discourse” found in Chapter 14 – 17.

A The word in Hebrew is Kabod and is most often used in combination with the word YAHWEH. The two words put together mean glorify God often meaning the presence of the Lord as in Numbers 14: 10. “Then, the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites.”

B The GK word is doxazo / d????? which can mean to render or esteem glorious / full of glory / honor / dignity / praise/ to recognize / to give anyone importance.

C John uses the word glory / glorify to refer to God who is the revelation and manifestation of all that God has and is.

II Come individuals may have difficulty fully understanding the concept of Glorifying or glory. So .et me make it a little clearer for you. It might be helpful to think in terms of a flashlight.

A I can shine the flashlight on myself, thus “glorifying” myself. Obviously, in our society we are very focused on glorifying ourselves. Social media is directed at this. Most who use social media are trying to get attention drawn their way, thus shining the flashlight on themselves.

B I can shine the flashlight on others elevating them as examples of what we admire and aspire to be. We can glorify celebrities, politicians, pastors, or sports figures holding them up as examples.

C I can also shine the flashlight on God. We do that by publicly expressing our faith in God, by focused and proper worship or by serving others thereby showing the love of Christ.

III VS. 10 “All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.” This prayer (Ch. 17) is not the words of the instructions of Jesus to the faith community; but it is the words Jesus offered to God in prayer. Jesus speaks here exclusively to God. There are 3 theological themes here:

A Jesus speaks to God on behalf of the faith community entrusting them, us, and the future to God.

B We hear the intimacy of the relationship of Jesus with God that is possible for us as well. As Jesus came from God, so do we for we are also the children of God.

C We are invited to contemplate the possibility of eternal life with God. As Jesus returned to be reunited with God, we can also by our faithfulness and nearness to God enjoy eternal life.

Concl: Glorifying God means we must be willing to take ourselves out of the “limelight,” and center our lives more and more on God, God’s word, and our personal relationship with God. It is as we share the light of Christ with the world that God is glorified. This is the lesson that Christ Jesus came to teach his disciples, us, and our world. We glorify God as we live closer lives with Jesus by sharing his life, love, and teachings.