The Glory-Driven Life
John 17:1-5
Rev. Brian Bill
7/14/10
To follow-up with turning 50 last week, someone sent me this story. A young couple invited their elderly pastor over for Sunday dinner. While they were in the kitchen preparing the meal, the minister asked their young son what they were having. “Goat,” the little boy replied. “Goat?” replied the startled man of the cloth, “Are you sure about that?” “Yep,” said the boy. “I heard Dad say to Mom, ‘Today is just as good as any to have the old goat for dinner.’”
We’re beginning a three-part series today called, “What Jesus Wants For You” from John 17. This chapter divides easily into three sections. Jesus prays for himself in verses 1-5; He prays for His disciples in 6-19 and He concludes by praying for all believers, including us, in verses 20-26. Martin Lloyd-Jones preached 48 sermons on this chapter but we’re going to spend just three weeks in it.
Here are some introductory comments.
* While there are some 650 prayers recorded in the Bible, none match the splendor and majesty of this one, which is the longest recorded prayer in Scripture.
* This is truly the “Lord’s Prayer” because it’s prayed by Jesus. The other prayer in Matthew 6, commonly called “The Lord’s Prayer” is probably better titled, “The Disciples’ Prayer.”
* Jesus prayed this prayer out loud for the benefit of others. When Beth and I lived in Rockford we led a small group made up of a lot of new Christians. Invariably, when we would pray together as a group, one of the husbands would pray an “imprecatory prayer” against his wife, for all of us to hear. It would go something like this: “God, would you help us to forgive and not keep bringing stuff up just because a husband might not do what he’s supposed to do around the house and would you help those who spend too much money shopping to stop doing that and begin listening their husbands.” I think that’s the only time that I’ve actually interrupted someone’s intercession. Jesus didn’t do that but He often prayed for the benefit of other people and it’s our privilege to overhear this prayer. We also see this practice in John 11:42 when He prayed to His Father: “I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
* The setting for this prayer comes right after Christ’s words of comfort regarding the sending of the Holy Spirit and takes place either in the Upper Room or on His way to Gethsemane. In John 13-16, Jesus talked with His followers; In John 17 He talks with His Father. Preaching and prayer always go together (see Acts 6:4).
A Prayer God Will Answer
We’ve all experienced the agony of unanswered prayer. That reminds of the preacher’s 5 year-old daughter who noticed that her father always paused and bowed his head for a moment before starting his sermon. One day, she asked him why. “Well, Honey,” he began, happy that his daughter was so observant. “I’m asking the Lord to help me preach a good sermon.” To which she replied, “Then how come He doesn’t answer your prayers?”
When Jesus prayed, His requests were granted. Let’s see how Jesus lived the glory of God-driven life. Please turn in your Bibles to John 17:1-5 as we draw out some prayer principles that if followed, can revitalize our own prayer lives. But first, listen with awe and reverence as I read the opening lines: “After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: ‘Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.’”
1. Consider changing your prayer posture. Look at the opening words of verse 1: “After Jesus said this, He looked toward heaven and prayed.” Granted, there are times when you and I should pray with our heads down, like the man who cried out for mercy in Luke 18:13: “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner’” but there are other ways to pray as well. Moses raised his hands, Daniel knelt, others bowed and some fell on their faces.
While there are many postures for prayer in the Bible, Jesus liked to look up when He prayed. This might feel awkward or odd for us because we’ve been taught to bow our heads and close our eyes. But brothers and sisters in Christ, we can look up because we have been justified and now enjoy a righteous standing before God because of what Christ has done for us. Psalm 123:1: “I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven.”
2. Call out to God by name. God goes by many different names in Scripture but the favorite one that Jesus used was “Father.” As Pastor Jeff reminded us a couple weeks ago, we can call out to Him as Father only when we are His children. In this prayer alone, the name “Father” is used six different times.
About a month ago I sent out a note on Facebook asking for people to make some sermon suggestions. I received a ton of responses. I really liked this one: “Praying for needs as a church and equipping the body to continue that prayer through the week. The prayer email is a great resource. That has enriched my prayer life. But we don’t pray together at church!”
In commenting on John 17, one person said this: “So let us learn from our chapter at least this – to pray.”
We’re going to hit the pause button in preaching right now and transition to a time of prayer. Let’s break our time into three phases.
Phase #1: First, take out the full-page insert from your bulletin. You’ll notice that there are names of God and His attributes listed for each letter of the alphabet. Using this sheet as a tool, go through the alphabet and silently choose one of these possibilities for each letter and pray them back to God.
Phase #2: This next phase may feel a bit awkward for some of us but here’s what I want you to do. Go through the alphabet again and pick a characteristic or attribute of God and pray it back to Him, out loud and without using the insert. If you get stumped, simply go on to the next letter.
Phase #3: And now, I’d like to pray for you, using the first five verses of John 17 as a guideline.
Now that we’re finished praying, let’s debrief. What were some of your thoughts related to our time of prayer?
R.C. Sproul, summarizing John Calvin’s understanding of prayer, said this: “The chief rule of prayer is to remember who God is and to remember who you are. If we remember those two things, our prayers will always and ever be marked by adoration and confession.”
By the way, this insert is designed for you to use as a tool for your family so that you can grow in your appreciation for the expansiveness of God’s character. We did it as a family about a month ago, just going through the alphabet of attributes as a prelude to our prayer time.
3. Align yourself with God’s timetable. How many of you like Daylight Savings Time? How many of you are hurting because you missed that hour of sleep? How many of you just woke up? We see how God’s redemptive calendar has unfolded in the next phrase of verse 1: “…the time has come.” Our timing is not always God’s timing, is it? If you’re like me, you want things to happen according to your calendar and your clock.
I take great comfort in knowing that God has a time in which He accomplishes His activities. And, as someone has said, “He’s never late and seldom early because He’s always on time.” I was reminded of this recently when I read Genesis 21:2 during my Quiet Time: “Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.”
Let’s take a walk through some passages that show how God’s countdown clock moved closer to the exact time that His Son was scheduled to die on the cross. This helps us see that God is writing history; He’s doing what He planned to do a long time ago.
* Jesus was born on time. Galatians 4:4: “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son…”
* His mother couldn’t change the time. When Jesus was at a wedding reception and the wine had run out, Mary wanted Jesus to do something about it. Check out what Jesus says in John 2:4: “Dear woman, why do you involve me? My time has not yet come.”
* No one could kill Him before His time. Look at John 7:30: “At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come.”
* The death of Jesus was scheduled, not an accident. Jesus was not killed against His will because He came in order to die and thus bring glory to the Father. We see this expressed the night before the Triumphal Entry in John 12:23: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”
* When the hour came, it couldn’t be changed. Jesus said this to those who had come to arrest Him in Luke 22:53: “Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour -- when darkness reigns.”
Are you struggling with God’s timing today? Line yourself up with His calendar and His clock.
4. Go after God’s glory. We see this in the last part of verse 1: “…Glorify your Son, that your Son my glorify you.” Drop down to verse 4: “I have brought you glory…” and to verse 5: “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had…” This is really what Christ’s life was all about and should be our only aim as well. Let me ask you some questions. What is it that drives your life? Success? Fear? Work? Family? Money? Possessions? Recreation? Guilt? Need for approval? Resentment? Anger? Materialism? Sports?
I want to propose that there should be only one thing that drives our life and that’s the glory of God. Here’s what I want us to hold on to today and every day: Live the glory of God-driven life. Or to say it another way: The greatest good we can do is to always seek God’s glory. Friends, you and I exist for one primary purpose and that is to give glory to God.
I love the answer to the very first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
Q: What is the chief end of man?
A: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy Him forever.
The word “glory” is one of those religious words that we use often but may not know what it really means. Let me take a shot at explaining it. It literally means, “To be heavy or weighty” and has to do with “reputation, fame, splendor and prestige.” It’s also related to the word “magnify” which means that when we give God glory we’re really helping people see how big and beautiful He really is.
The opposite of giving glory to God is selfishness. If I’m interested in taking credit or focusing just on myself, then God doesn’t get the glory. And according to Isaiah 42:8, God is not interested in sharing His glory with others: “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another…” Isaiah 48:11 says: “For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.”
The Greeks equated “glory” with “opinion.” When someone had a high opinion of someone, they were giving him or her glory. The Hebrews on the other hand, would think of the brilliance of God’s Shekinah glory, as the sum of all His attributes. To put it all together, to give God glory means that our opinion of him is heavy and weighty and He is brilliant in His beauty. One thing to keep in mind is that God already has glory innately; we simply acknowledge and magnify what He already has.
Charles Ryrie puts it this way: “God’s glory is His reputation. To live for God’s glory means to live so that God’s reputation is enhanced (heightened in quantity and quality) and not diminished in any way.”
I read part of a sermon written by Thomas Watson, a Puritan from the 1600s, to the staff this week. I want to share some of it because it’s so helpful. In answering the question, “How shall we know when we aim at God’s glory?” Watson offered three answers (puritansermons.com).
* When we prefer God’s glory above all other things.
* When we are content that God’s will should take place, though it may cross ours.
* When we are content to be outshined by others in gifts and esteem, so that His glory may be increased.
Our role then, to borrow from Watson, is to respond with appreciation, adoration, affection, and subjection. In particular, when people look at us, they should see the weightiness and beauty of God on full display in our lives because Colossians 1:16 says that we have been created by God and for God. One clue that we care about God’s glory is when we can say along with Isaiah 26:8: “…Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.” I pray that I can live out the truth of Psalm 115:1: “Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory.”
5. Embrace eternal life. Take a look at verses 2-3 where Jesus defines eternal life for us, which is actually the only specific definition found in the Bible: “For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” Simply put, eternal life is defined as a relationship of “knowing,” which is both intellectual and experiential. It’s also in the present tense, which means we should “keep on knowing.” There are two different words for “know” in the Greek, one has to do with observation and the other has to do with an active relationship. It’s the second one that’s in mind here. Too many Americans have made observations about God but they’ve never encountered Him in a personal relationship through His Son Jesus Christ.
I came across something this week that I posted on the blog (www.pontiacbible.org) and got a lot of comments about it. Some churches are considering using a hologram of their pastor to appear at their multi-site campuses. This holy hologram would do the preaching but the pastor would be present somewhere else. One person left this comment: “I guess it would be a problem if the congregation were all holograms too!!! How would we shake your hand after the service?” Another person posted this: “Real fellowship requires interaction between believers…I think technology makes things so impersonal sometimes! I for one need social interaction with ‘live’ people! How can we be there for one another if we aren’t really ‘there’?”
Friend, a relationship with God the Father through the sacrificial death of His Son is designed to be personal, but you must receive Him into your life in order to experience eternal life. You see, eternal life is not just quantitative, meaning that it will last forever. It is also qualitative; when we have a relationship of knowing, you and I can experience abundance right now. That’s what Roy Koenig shared yesterday at the Men’s Breakfast. He received some help from AA but he said it wasn’t until he was saved that God gave him complete freedom.
Do you know that it’s possible to be religious and yet never have a relationship with God? Flip back to John 8:55 where Jesus says: “Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word.” And, even close proximity to the person of Christ does not guarantee that you know Him personally. We see this in the tough words Jesus had for one of his own disciples in John 14:9: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?” There’s a point in which propositional truth must become personal truth.
Have you entered into a personal relationship with God though Jesus Christ? If you have, are you growing in your knowing of Him? Hosea 6:3: “Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him.”
6. Rest in His finished work. I talked to someone this week who told me that he has to keep trying and working in order for God to accept Him. Not true. What Jesus accomplished on the cross is complete and totally finished. Look at verse 4: “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” Right before Jesus died, He cried out in John 19:30, “It is finished,” which means that the debt has been paid, the mission accomplished.
Jesus is obviously looking ahead a few hours to the finished work on the cross but I think His words “completing the work” refer to something else very significant. Jesus’ strategy for reaching the world was to pour himself into people. Men were His method. People were more important than programs. Related to that, begin praying about who God wants you to invite to our Good Friday and Easter Sunday services here at PBC.
7. Gaze into the glory to come. In verse 5, Jesus can’t wait to go back to the glory He had with the Father before He voluntarily laid it aside to come to the earth and then die for our sins: “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” Jesus is praying for full restoration of his pre-incarnate glory and fellowship. The cross is the way home to the Father, the gateway to glory, where Jesus will be restored to the “full blazing glory that He knew before He humbled himself” (John MacArthur).
Friends, if you know Jesus Christ relationally, there is glory to come for you as well. Romans 8:18: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
Summary
1. Consider changing your prayer posture.
2. Call out to God by name.
3. Align yourself with God’s timetable.
4. Go after God’s glory.
5. Embrace eternal life.
6. Rest in His finished work.
7. Gaze into the glory to come.
Taking it Home
1. Work at doing everything for God’s glory. 1 Corinthians 10:31: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” This means that it’s not just church-stuff but everything. How you do your job. How you interact with people you disagree with. How you treat your spouse. How you talk to your kids. How you talk to your parents. How you spend your free time. I wrote this down: Instead of just living for TGIF, let’s instead develop a TGBTG mindset – To God Be The Glory. I hear people say all the time that they’re just living for the weekend. It’s time for us to live for His glory.
2. Is there anything you’re doing right now, that does not bring glory to God? Have you said anything to someone that does not bring glory to God? If so, confess it as sin and ask Him to help you turn it around for the Almighty’s glory. Here’s a good question to ask when you’re faced with a decision: Can I do this activity or say what I plan to say to the glory of God? If you can’t do something for God’s glory, than you shouldn’t do it.
3. In this situation (fill in the blank) I want God to be glorified more than anything else. I was challenged this week by John 11:4 because it reminded me that even in sickness and in sadness and in stress, God can still have the glory, if we don’t short-circuit the process: “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it.”
4. Parents, teach and train your children to live the glory-driven life. You may even want to have them memorize the first question and answer in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. That’s what we’re going to work on as a family this week.
Q: What is the chief end of man?
A: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy Him forever.
5. It’s impossible to live for the glory of God without complete surrender, declaring Him sovereign over every area of our lives. Have you ever surrendered to Christ? Is there something you’re holding back?
In his book, “It’s Not About Me,” Max Lucado writes that we live in a me-centric world where everything revolves around my happiness, my wants, my pleasure, me. Up until 450 years ago, everybody believed that the universe, and the sun, and the planets revolved around the earth. Then, in 1543, Copernicus told them that the earth wasn’t the center of the universe. 50 years later, Galileo said that the planets revolved around the sun. They were so opposed to this idea, that they threw him in prison, and kicked him out of the church. The very idea that we weren’t the center of the universe was unthinkable!
God has a very important lesson in all of this…the world doesn’t revolve around you…or me. God’s priority isn’t your comfort, happiness or pleasure. The truth is…it’s not all about you or me…it’s all about God and His glory.
