Living for One purpose
John 17:1-5
Today I want us to think about the one sole purpose, the one passion that we live for. What is it that gets us out of bed in the morning and motivates us through the day
at the same time I want you to consider if that purpose is bringing you joy and fulfillment
In this passage today Jesus is getting really close to his arrest and going to the cross
He has finished his conversation with the disciples and he closes it with this pray, which he spoke out loud for the disciples to hear.
We have a lot of accounts of Jesus praying
He prayed on the mountain when he asked his disciples to watch and wait, he prayed in the garden, he prayed in front of the tomb of Lazarus but this pray is unique, in that we have all the words the he spoke
I personally think that chapter 17 should be labeled the Lords pray and the prayer that we commonly call the Lords prayer should be labeled a model prayer. The reason being in the model prayer he was teaching his disciples how to pray and he taught them to pray and ask the Lord for the forgiveness of their sins, that's not something that Jesus had to pray for because he was without sin
This prayer has three parts which we will look at over the next three weeks. The first thing that Jesus prays for is his glory, second he prays for the disciples and then he prays for all believers. We also should first receive Christ for ourselves and then reach out to those around us and then whole world
look again at these first five verses that we read this morning and notice how many times Jesus mentions the word “Glory”
in verse 1, “glorify your son, that the son may glorify you. Verse 4, “I have glorified you on earth and verse 5, “now father glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world began.”
Jesus mentions the glory of the father and his glory five times in these verses, no doubt he wants us to see this message
Jesus lived for one purpose, and this was it! Notice in verse 1 he says, “The hour is come.”
Jesus' sole purpose everyday was to give the father glory by doing His will.
Even as a young child Jesus told Mary and Joseph
Luk 2:49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?
Matthew lets us know that before Jesus went to the cross he also prayed to the Father and said
Mat 26:42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.
Notice again that Jesus' sole purpose was doing what the father wanted him to do in order to bring glory to God
Even in the model prayer that Jesus taught us to pray he closed it with
Mat 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
This word “Glory” is all throughout the Bible its even in our songs when we sing “To God be the Glory.” but what does it mean?
The word glory means “to magnify! give the highest praise , to worship, to put the spotlight on, to give first place “
Jesus was always putting the spotlight on the father by doing Gods will and showing us what the father really was like, that he wasn't like anything the religious people were teaching. Jesus lived in a way that magnified Gods greatness and at the same time magnified Gods grace and love to the lost world
Some people even in the church have trouble with this they say it makes God sound selfish, or one with an ego problem if he wants all the glory
but in reality, the reason he wants us to give him glory is for our good.
Its sort of like if you were walking by the beach and the ocean called out, “stop and look at me, see my greatness and my waves, look at the dolphins and the sunset.”
if you stopped and looked out over the ocean you get joy and take in its splendor you get joy for doing so. That's why people travel for hours to the ocean in the first place of hours to see the mountains or the grand canyon. Because we get satisfaction in doing so
The glory of God is the same. When we see his glory and give him that glory we find joy and fulfillment in life because it is the whole reason for our existence.
I really want you to grasp this truth today because when we do not live for the glory of God we waste our lives because we miss the whole purpose and meaning of life
Listen to what Solomon said,” Ecc 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this [is] the whole [duty] of man.”
here was a man who tried everything to find satisfaction In this world, he tried alcohol, money, women, other religions and he finally came to the conclusion that we were created to put the spotlight on God
lets look at three truths from Gods word today about Glory
We were created to give God Glory
Isa 43:6 "I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth,
Isa 43:7 "everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made."
we were created to give God glory
Sometimes my greatest frustration around the house is when I try to use a tool in a way that it wasn't created to be used. Like using a butter knife to remove a straight head screw, that's not what a butter knife was made for
and when we live our lives in a way that we were created it brings the greatest frustration and dissatisfaction with life in general. We were created to give God glory.
There are times we get confused and think that we exist to shine the spot light on our self, we say things like I'm going to be rich and famous. And you may achieve wealth and popularity but without shining the spot light on God you will not find satisfaction. There is a list of rich and famous people who have taken their own lives in pursuit of meaning and purpose
in the book of Revelation John said,
Rev 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
The psalmist said that even the stars were created to give God glory
Psa 19:1 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
The planets, the starts, the galaxies they aren't in the heavens saying look at me, they are shouting out to the world that there is a great God who created us, because look at what Jesus said in verse 5, “and now Father glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”
we look that stars and the planets and we know that they all go back to one supreme being who created it all and one who had glory even before they were spoken into existence
We were created for one sole purpose and that is to give God glory. Some people get confused when they look at how vast the universe is they can't refuse to believe that they could be significant to God just being one tiny speck in all His creation
so they try to find significance in the praise of men, a large bank account, a nice fancy job, a new car, a big house and the list goes on
but thats where they get it wrong the universe is so big because God is saying something about himself. He is great, awesome, powerful. The creation is about the greatness of God and our significance is found when we live to give Him glory
we were created for one purpose when we try to find significance in all those other things we get off track because we start to think that we have a thousand things to do and achieve.
But God has only given us one. Give him Glory.
That should be the one thing on our list to do. I will give God glory when I go to work, when I feed the kids, when I go to the store.
Jesus said the hour has come, not many different hours, but the hour indicating the one and only reason that he came to earth, to give God Glory which was done by doing his will at the cross
We can give God Glory in our lives and our death
Jesus said in verse 4, “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.”
To a large percentage of people life is just about getting up in the morning and going to work and coming home and trying to save up enough money that some day they can skip the going to work part of their routine.
But life to them has no higher calling or purpose and because of it has no joy
look at what Paul said
1Cr 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
Even in the smallest things of life eating and drinking we can do it for the glory of God. It doesn't necessarly mean we need a new job just a new perspective.
in order for us to live for the glory of God we have to pick up our cross and crucify ourselves so that we might live for Christ
Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Paul's whole purpose was to give glory to God by magnifying the cross of Jesus
1Cr 2:2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
And he never retired from that work until the Lord called him home
So often those people who exist to get up and go to work and come home are trying to find significance in what they do so they staving up for retirement and hoping that then they will be able to enjoy life
and sadly recent studies have found that a high number of people die within one year of retiring, they just decide that there was no purpose to life so they give up.
That's why if I'm doing what God has called me to do, why retire, I want to finish the race just as strong as I began if not stronger giving God glory
That's why I admire men such as Chuck Smith who pastors the calvary chapel in Costa mesa CA and had a radio program on the air every evening called the pastors perspective
Chuck was born in 1927 he is 82 years old and still going strong for the Lord
and the Apostle Paul who didn't quit until he ran the last mile of the race and said
2Ti 4:7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished [my] course, I have kept the faith:
we only get one life to life, lets not waste it trying to save up all our money so we can spend the last twenty years walking the beach counting sea shells
lets live it with one passion to bring glory to Christ
I can bring glory to Christ in my job by being there for my coworkers and others that God brings in my path, and by doing my best job to support my family and give to those in need. I can bring glory to Christ by visiting the sick and helping the needy but we never bring glory to Christ by living for ourselves and pursing our own dreams
we can also show honor and give glory to Christ in our death
Rom 14:8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.
One verse that I come back to often when I preach a funeral service is
Phl 1:21 For to me to live [is] Christ, and to die [is] gain.
This verse says a lot because you can't live for the glory of God until you first come to grips with death.
The person living the American dream and trying to find significance in their job and income will lose it all when they die. The person thriving on fame, and popularity will loose it all when they die
but the person who lived for the glory of God gains it all when they die because they finally get to see God in all his glory, that Glory that they tried their best to convey to the lost world
I mean look at what Jesus said here in verse 2, “you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.”
and in verse 5, “and now father glorify me in your own presence.” Jesus knew that he was going back to the Father, Paul knew that he was going to the father and for that reason they were able to glorify God in their death
the person living for the glory of God does not fear death, fight death, or ignore death one day our departure will be at hand, we will finish the race but we can glorify Christ even in our death
But when we live for ourselves when we die all people can say is what a waste
life is so precious don't waste it living for YOU, invest it living for Christ.
For me to live is Christ, he is the reason I press on and he is the reason that I will finish strong. Once we put our hand to the plow we don;t want to turn back, Jesus said the one who did was not fit for the kingdom of God. (Luke 9:62)
Gods Glory bring us our Greatest Joy
Just as great joy swells up inside of me when I look out over the greatness of the ocean and then I start telling other people to look out over there see that, giving the spot light to the ocean.
Great joy swells up inside of me when I give glory to God and start putting the spot light on him
we will find the greatest satisfaction in the life when we do what we were created to do. For too long too many Christians have been content to fall into the trap of this world and like Solomon have attempted to find purpose and meaning in all this world has to offer.
The great news is that you don't have to continue down that road, you can quit being a butter knife thats trying to be used as a screw driver and actually be used for what God designed you
which is giving him glory
Our kids have all played basketball in a church program called upwards that was held there close to our house and before each game they would have the kids come running out and all the light would be shut off and there was a person on the other side of the room operating a spot light and he would direct that light on each kid as they ran out onto the court. The guy operating the spotlight wasn't over there saying look at me look at me instead he was saying look at these kids
We were designed to operate the pot light and point it at the person of Jesus Christ and say to the world look at him
In the book of Revelation John bowed down to the angel that was giving him the vision and the angel quickly redirected John
Rev 22:8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me,
Rev 22:9 but he said to me, "You must not do that! I am a fellow servant [fn] with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God."
True Joy is only found in worshiping God, putting him first giving him honor and Glory
1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
In closing,
where do we begin?
the first way to begin is by glorying in the cross, magnify the cross by coming to be saved
Gal 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
You must lose your life to Christ in order to find it, thats what Jesus said, and after hearing this message it doesn't seem so crazy anymore
Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
Christianity is about dying to self and living for Jesus
