Introduction:
A. You’ve heard it said: “There are two sure things in life: #1 – There is a God, and #2 – You are not Him!”
1. In our new series that we began last week, we are working to understand those two realities – there is a God and you and I are not Him.
2. We must realize that it’s not about us, rather it’s all about God.
3. Life and reality don’t revolve around us, rather they revolve around God.
4. Last week, I tried to give us a couple of handles to grasp this truth.
a. One handle is the illustration of the moon - we must be the moon that reflects the Son of God.
b. The other handle is the example of John the Baptizer who said, “He must increase, I must decrease” – John understood it was all about Jesus and not about him.
5. Last week, I mentioned that in the first half of this series, we will be focusing on our great God and will try to behold God, experience God and grasp God.
a. Then in the second half of the series, we will focus on how to reflect a God-centered mindset in our everyday lives.
B. So, today, I want to help us to begin to grasp the glory of our God.
1. As I mentioned last week, if we don’t rightly grasp who God is, we can’t rightly reflect who God is.
2. People often misunderstand God and try to put him in a box of their own making.
3. Even believers can be guilty of inaccurately portraying God.
a. Some people wrongly view God as “God the cowboy” who is ready to gun us down if we get out of line.
b. Some people wrongly view God as “God the good buddy” who is just a great friend.
c. Some people wrongly view God as “God the clockmaker” who wound up the universe and it just letting it run out on its own.
d. Other people wrongly view God as “God the good luck charm” who they only pull out when their in trouble.
4. There are many other inaccurate portrayals of God that we might end up with, and that’s why it is so important that our view of God is based on God’s true revelation of Himself.
5. Today, I want to take us on a short journey back to three moments in time when God revealed something of His glory.
6. I pray that these glimpses into God’s glory will help us begin to grasp the glory of our God.
I. Moses’ Glimpse of God’s Glory
A. Let’s start our journey today in Exodus 33, where we find an anxious Moses pleading with God saying: “God, you tell me, ‘Lead this people’ but you don’t let me know whom you’re going to send with me…and are you traveling with us or not?” (Ex. 33:12, 16)
1. We can hardly fault Moses’ fears, right?
2. Moses had just spent 40 days on the mountain and during that time, God gave Moses the law inscribed by the finger of God on two stone tablets.
3. What an incredible mountain top experience that must have been for Moses, but then what did he find when he came down from the mountain?
4. He came down to find the Israelites, the people he was leading, had created a golden calf idol and were worshiping it with dancing, drinking and revelry.
5. Moses had to intercede for the people, asking God to forgive their sins, and God did forgive them, but He also punished them with the sword and with a plague.
6. So it is no surprise that Moses would be anxious about leading God’s people at this time.
B. But thankfully, God gives reassurance to Moses with these words: And he replied, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest…I will do this very thing you have asked, for you have found favor with me, and I know you by name.” (Ex. 33:14, 17)
1. Those are pretty special words of reassurance, and you’d think that this would be enough for Moses, right? But it wasn’t.
2. Moses wondered if God might indulge him one more request.
3. What do you think Moses would ask for?
4. Keep in mind all that Moses has already seen God do…
a. Moses saw what God did in the 10 plagues…the Nile becoming blood, the air thick with gnats, the ground covered with locusts, the noonday blackness, the hail-pounded crops, the people covered with boils, and the funerals for the first born of Egypt.
b. Moses saw what God did at the Red Sea…how God turned the Red Sea into a red carpet for the Israelites, but turned it into a red velvet casket for the Egyptians.
c. Moses has seen that God provides for His people…manna and quail, and water from a rock.
d. And Moses has seen and heard God declaring the Law and writing it on stone tablets.
e. So, Moses has seen a lot, wouldn’t you say?
5. And yet, Moses needs more, and Moses makes one more request: “Show me your glory.” (Ex. 33:18)
a. Moses’ deepest desire was not to see or receive more things from God, but to see and understand God Himself.
b. This is the essence and bottom line of the transition from me-focus to God-focus.
c. It’s all about God and wanting a greater grasp of God.
C. Now here’s the wonderful thing: God said, “Okay, I will answer your prayer.”
1. The Bible says: 19 He said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim the name ‘the Lord’ before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 20 But he added, “You cannot see my face, for humans cannot see me and live.” 21 The Lord said, “Here is a place near me. You are to stand on the rock, 22 and when my glory passes by, I will put you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take my hand away, and you will see my back, but my face will not be seen.” (Ex. 33:19-23).
2. And that’s exactly what happened.
a. The next day Moses went up the mountain to be with the Lord.
b. Moses brought two new stone tablets that he had to chisel himself to replace the two he had broken when he had come down from the mountain and witnessed their idolatry.
c. The Bible says: 6 The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed: The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, 7 maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation. 8 Moses immediately knelt low on the ground and worshiped. (Ex. 34:6-8)
3. We can only imagine what this scene must have been like.
a. Moses standing in the cleft of a rock, with the umbrella of God’s hand covering him.
b. Then the moment when God passed by and God’s hand lifted and Moses eyes caught a glimpse of the backside of God’s glory.
c. Picture Moses having grabbed the rock wall to settle himself, and as the wind died down and his long grey hair settled on his shoulders, we see the impact of this glimpse of God’s glory.
d. We see that Moses’ face is gleaming as if it was backlit by a spotlight.
4. Unknown to Moses, but undeniable to the Israelites, Moses’ face radiated with God’s glory.
a. The Bible says: 29 As Moses descended from Mount Sinai—with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands as he descended the mountain—he did not realize that the skin of his face shone as a result of his speaking with the Lord. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face shone! They were afraid to come near him. (Ex. 34:29-30)
b. From that time on, Moses would wear a veil over his face when with the Israelites, but would take off the veil whenever he went into the presence of the Lord.
5. Moses had seen a glimpse of God’s glory and it had made a profound impact on him.
II. Stephen’s Glimpse of God’s Glory
A. Let’s continue our journey to Acts 6, where we are introduced to a disciple named Stephen.
1. Stephen was one of seven men who were chosen to serve the daily distribution of food to the widows.
2. We are told in verse 8 that Stephen was full of grace and power and was performing great wonders and signs among the people.
3. But then opposition arose against him from certain synagogue leaders, but they were unable to stand up against Stephen’s wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking.
4. So when they couldn’t defeat Stephen fairly, they made some false accusations of blaspheme against him, and so Stephen was seized and brought before the Sanhedrin – the religious rulers of the Jewish people.
B. As Stephen sat and listened to the false witnesses, the Bible says that when the Sanhedrin looked at him they could see that he had the face of an angel.
1. What does that mean? What does the face of an angel look like?
2. I don’t’ think this has anything to do with Stephen being especially handsome.
3. There was something about Stephen’s countenance that prompted comparisons to angels who stand in God’s presence and reflect God’s glory.
4. So, when Stephen stood before his accusers, glowing with the face of an angel, he was radiating God’s wisdom and heaven’s glory.
5. Without speaking a word, Stephen’s countenance gave witness that he was the Lord’s faithful servant.
6. This may have caused those Sanhedrin members to remember Moses’ shining face.
7. It was as if God was saying, “This man is no blasphemer! He is like Moses, My loyal servant!”
8. The connotation of Stephen having the face of an angel was that he, like Moses and Jesus (at the transfiguration), was a witness to and a reflection of the glory of God’s presence.
C. Now, when it was Stephen’s turn to speak, he began with the words: “Brothers and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham…” and proceeded to give them a brief history lesson about God’s faithfulness and about Israel’s rebellion.
1. Stephen’s presentation culminated with these truthful but hard words: “You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 7:51)
2. The Sanhedrin was enraged and gnashed their teeth at him, and decided to stone him to death.
3. The Bible says: 55 Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 He said, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” (Acts 7:55-56)
4. And as Stephen was being stoned to death, he knelt down and prayed that God would not hold this sin against them (sounded like Jesus on the cross!).
5. How wonderful it is, that when Stephen was in his moment of greatest need, that God’s glory showed up – it showed up on Stephen’s face, and it showed up in a glimpse of the heavenly glory of God’s throne.
6. That glimpse of God’s glory gave Stephen the strength and courage to remain faithful unto death.
III. Paul’s Glimpse of God’s Glory
A. I want us to end our journey today in Acts 9 with Saul of Tarsus, who became the apostle Paul.
1. Saul of Tarsus was there that day giving his approval when Stephen was stoned to death.
2. And from that day forward, a great persecution broke out against the church and the persecution was led by Saul of Tarsus.
3. Saul began destroying the church by going from house to house and dragging Christians off to prison.
B. And in Acts 9, with the blessing and authority of the high priest, Saul of Tarsus was on his way to Damascus to find Christians and take them as prisoners.
1. The Bible says that as Saul neared Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him and he fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
2. Can you imagine how scary a moment this must have been?
a. One minute you are walking along the road, or riding along on horseback, and the next minute you blinded by a light from heaven and thrown to the ground.
b. Before you can ask yourself what just happened you hear a voice that calls you by name and who asks an unexpected question: “why do you persecute me?”
3. Saul had no idea who it could be or what they could mean, and asked, “Who are you, Lord?”
a. The last answer that Saul expected to hear was the one he heard: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”
b. Saul had believed that Jesus was a false prophet and a blasphemer, and certainly not the Messiah.
c. That’s why Saul had devoted his life to persecuting Christians – He thought they were wrong and sinful and deserved punishment.
d. But in that moment, Saul knew just how wrong he had been, and that his life would never be the same.
4. Jesus then said to Saul, “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” (Acts 9:5)
5. When Paul later gave his testimony in front of King Agrippa, he shared more of the message Jesus gave him that day: 16 “For I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” (Acts 26:16-18)
6. The glimpse of glory that Paul saw that day changed him, and the glimpses of glory that Jesus would later share with Paul would change the lives of others.
C. I want to wrap up our journey today of these glimpses of glory with the words Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, starting in 2 Corinthians 3:2.
1. This is a long reading, but it pulls together these glimpses of God’s glory for Moses and Paul, and points out the difference it makes in our lives through the glory of the Gospel of Jesus.
2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 3 You show that you are Christ’s letter, delivered by us, not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God—not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
4 Such is the confidence we have through Christ before God. 5 It is not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God. 6 He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7 Now if the ministry that brought death, chiseled in letters on stones, came with glory, so that the Israelites were not able to gaze steadily at Moses’s face because of its glory, which was set aside, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 9 For if the ministry that brought condemnation had glory, the ministry that brings righteousness overflows with even more glory. 10 In fact, what had been glorious is not glorious now by comparison because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if what was set aside was glorious, what endures will be even more glorious.
12 Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness. 13 We are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from gazing steadily until the end of the glory of what was being set aside, 14 but their minds were hardened. For to this day, at the reading of the old covenant, the same veil remains; it is not lifted, because it is set aside only in Christ. 15 Yet still today, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts, 16 but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.
1 Therefore, since we have this ministry because we were shown mercy, we do not give up. 2 Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful things, not acting deceitfully or distorting the word of God, but commending ourselves before God to everyone’s conscience by an open display of the truth. 3 But if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’s sake. 6 For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us. (2 Cor. 3:2-4:7)
D. I know that was a long reading, but it is so powerful and so informative.
1. It’s all about God and isn’t about us, because we are just jars of clay.
2. But when we know God and God’s glory, then we, jars of clay, are containers of God’s glory.
3. God lives in us and works through us.
4. God has shone His glory into our hears to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory.
5. The old covenant came with glory, but the new covenant comes with even greater glory.
6. And through the Holy Spirit living in us, we are being transformed into the image of God, from glory to glory.
Conclusion:
A. Moses needed a glimpse of God’s glory.
1. Stephen needed a glimpse of God’s glory.
2. Saul of Tarsus needed a glimpse of God’s glory.
3. Do you or I have any less a need for the glimpse of God’s glory?
B. Moses needed a glimpse of God’s glory because of a desert and 40 years of great challenges that lay ahead.
1. Stephen needed a glimpse of God’s glory to remain faithful in the midst of false accusations and the rocks of martyrdom that fell on him.
2. Saul of Tarsus needed a glimpse of God’s glory to bring him to repentance and enable him to become God’s chosen instrument to spread the good news of Jesus Christ in the face of all kinds of hardship and persecution.
3. And all of us desperately need a glimpse of God’s glory to carry us along in life and ministry.
a. We are all living in dying bodies, existing on a decaying planet, surrounded by a self-centered, anti-Christian society.
b. These are no small issues, and thankfully we have no small God.
c. Our God is great and full of glory, and we need a greater grasp of God’s glory.
C. I want to end with a personal story told by Max Lucado at the end of his chapter on this subject.
1. Max tells about his childhood experience at the funeral of his uncle.
a. Max remembers sitting with his father, side by side in the chapel.
b. Max was wearing his only suit, the shirt-collar was rubbing his neck, and the pew felt hard on his bottom.
c. The site of his uncle in the casket left him and everyone speechless.
2. Max was nine-years-old and this was his first funeral and nothing in his nine years of life had prepared him for death.
a. His aunts, who were usually so jovial and talkative, now wept loudly.
b. His uncles, who were usually quick with a word and joke, now stared wide-eyed at the casket.
c. And Uncle Buck, his uncle with meaty hands, big belly, and booming voice, now laid whitish and waxy in the coffin.
3. Max remembers the fear that gripped him at that time.
a. His palms moistened, and his heart pounded.
4. He didn’t know where to look.
a. The weeping ladies frightened him.
b. The glassy-eyed men puzzled him.
c. His dead uncle spooked him.
5. But then Max looked up and saw his father’s face.
a. His father smiled softly and said, “It’s okay, son.”
b. Then, Max says he somehow knew it was okay.
c. His family was still wailing, and Uncle Buck was still dead.
d. But if dad, in the midst of it all, says it’s okay, then that’s enough.
6. At that moment, Max realized that he could look around and find fear, or he could look at his father and find faith.
a. Max chose his father’s face.
b. So did Moses, and Stephen, and Paul.
c. And so can you and so can I.
d. Even just a glimpse of God’s glory can make all the difference in the world.
e. Let’s keep seeking a glimpse of God’s glory so we can find strength, peace, and joy in the midst of our challenging journey.
f. It’s not about us; it’s all about God.
Resource:
• It’s Not About Me, Max Lucado, Thomas Nelson, 2004
