By show of hands this morning, let’s see how many of you remember these catch phrases from your childhood (my guess is that you responded to these, like I did, with an exaggerated eye roll but now you say some of them yourself):
• Money doesn’t grow on trees.
• Were you born in a barn?
• They sure don’t make them like they used to.
• No pain, no gain.
• No guts…no _________ !
This last phrase can be traced way back to 1955 to Air Force Major Frederick Blesse who was involved in air-to-air combat. And he actually wrote a manual on air-to-air combat that is still used today called “No Guts, No Glory.” Decades later and we are all the beneficiaries of the guts, or courage, displayed by those who have defended our freedom and ensured our safety. And there is a need for Christians to live courageously in a culture that moves further and further away from a Biblical worldview.
But here is where we would give nuance to the “no guts, no glory” sentiment. For those who are following Jesus, we know that the end game is to live in such a way that our lives are consistently pointed towards Jesus getting the glory. Several years ago, evangelist and pastor Greg Laurie told the story of the time when he got to ride in the car with Billy Graham after one of his crusades. And he said what he learned about Billy Graham is that it was impossible to pin a compliment on him. He said every time he tried, Graham quickly gave the credit (and thus the glory) to something God had done, not something he had done. But this is not the norm…and the reason that it’s so hard to live that way is because author Paul Tripp was right when he said, “We are all hard wired to be glory thieves.”
Turn with me to John 17 as we continue our series Red Letter Prayers where we go from looking at a prayer of agony last week in the Garden of Gethsemane to a prayer for God’s glory to be displayed in Jesus’ life, and for victory for the disciples who will carry the work forward on his behalf.
John 17:1-5
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
John 17:11b-17
Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
Today’s prayer is commonly known as the “High Priestly Prayer of Jesus.” And if we were to take the time to study the book of Hebrews, we would really come to understand the position Jesus is praying from. In Hebrews, Jesus is our Great High Priest who died once and for all to take away the sins of the world. And in John 17, Jesus is just about ready to make THAT sacrifice for the sins of the world. And so he prays this long, deep, beautiful prayer with his eyes lifted toward heaven and with the glory of God in mind. And in this prayer, we want you to see two clear truths that the affections of our heart should zero in on…
1. DON’T WASTE YOUR LIFE – vs 1-5
Upon first glance at these first five verses, there is a temptation to cast them into the “theologically rich, but practically useless” category. Jesus is talking about his oneness with the Father and their shared glory in verse five (hard for me to relate to). Jesus is praying for his own glorification in verse 1 (I also nothing in common there). Jesus is talking about the authority he was given over all flesh in verse 2 (a friend of mine reminded me recently that he doesn’t even have authority over his own dog). Jesus talks about eternal life being made possible through an experiential knowledgeable of himself in verse 3 (I remind you often that you have ZERO ability to change anyone’s standing before the Father).
So there is a temptation to look at these verses as “theologically rich, but not practically helpful.” But upon careful examination of the text, here is what Jesus is praying for that should serve as a model for OUR prayers as well...look back at verse 1: “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.” Do you see that? Jesus was NOT praying for his own glory for the sake of getting glory. Jesus was praying that he might be glorified so that he in turn could display the glory of the Father. Jesus was Billy Graham before Billy Graham was cool!
Now, at some point, I am assuming that everyone got up early this morning (and even threatened your kids on the way to church) because at some level, you have a desire to glorify God. But here’s the problem – knowing that we are glory thieves, and that our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked, we can be deceived about the true motives of even our OWN spiritual efforts. That’s what we see in the example of the Pharisees. There was not a lack of activity or religious effort on their part, but their motive was their OWN glory and NOT the glory of the Father.
So how DO we know when our activity is right, but our heart is wrong when it comes to glorifying God? A key indicator that we are living for our own glory, is that we are crushed when the attention and the accolades and the glory does not come. Let me repeat that.
And I would argue this morning, that living for our own glory, living for our own likes and retweets and shares, is a complete waste of life, because it will not last in the life to come. All of that false glory will be swallowed up by the all-consuming glory of God the Father at the Bema Seat of Christ. And when our good works that were done for our own glory are burned up as wood, hay, and stubble, then we’ll have nothing of value to cast back at the feet of the Father. And the reason why we’ve taught about the Bema Seat (or the Judgment Seat of Christ) is so that we will grasp onto these truths and reorient our lives around glorifying God in the everyday, ordinary lives that we are living. And if you don’t do that, then you are wasting your life on things that will not stand in the weight of eternity.
Randy Alcorn, in his incredible book on generosity, titled The Treasure Principle, tells the story about the discovery of King Tut’s 3000-year-old grave in 1922. And he describes how King Tut was buried with solid gold chariots and thousands of golden artifacts. His gold coffin was found within gold tombs within gold tombs within gold tombs. The burial site was filled with TONS of gold. This man’s tomb glittered with unimaginable wealth. And yet now, he is in the misery of a Christless eternity…all because he held too tightly to things of no eternal value. But do you want to know what’s worse than that? When a Christian spends all their time collecting and hoarding the same things…it would be the equivalent of time-travelling back to the Civil War to collect Confederate money as an investment. That’s exactly what we are doing when we are living our lives for our own glory. We are investing in something that has no lasting value – in fact, we wouldn’t just call this a bad investment…we would call it a total waste.
So how does Jesus glorify God in this text? And how should we seek to glorify God in our lives? Look back at verse 4: “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.” Jesus has now arrived at his “last hour.” He has lived a perfectly sinless life, and as we saw last week, he is getting ready to drink the cup of God’s divine wrath as the means of atonement for the sins of the whole world. And his only motive now is to push through the sacrifice and suffering that accompanied the task given…and to use his own death as a vehicle to transfer glory back to the Father. Quite literally, he lived AND DIED, for the glory of the Father.
Can I confess this morning that these words roll off my tongue much easier than actually living this out? Because living for someone else’s glory is not only counter-cultural, it also runs counter to my own heart’s desire. Why? Because my heart is hard-wired to be a glory thief and there are no exemptions because I am a pastor. As a matter of fact, I sometime think there is more temptation when doing the Lord’s work to take credit for when God chooses to display his glory right here in the midst of our church? See, it’s not enough to “accomplish the work he has given us to do” (to use the language of the text), it has to be done with the right motive. And if it’s not do with the right motive, you will become frustrated with the work when the recognition, and the accolades, and the glory from others does not come.
And so we pray that Jesus would reorient the affections of our hearts so that our motives become more aligned with bringing the Father glory. On the macro level, we are investing our lives into the local church because the church, and its gathered saints, will exist for all of eternity – remember, the church is God’s plan A to take the gospel to the nations (that’s a macro level). But on the micro level, we each have specific gifts and personalities that are not to be hidden or lay dormant, but are to be used to advance God’s mission and to bring him much glory.
• How has God wired YOU?
• What are YOUR gifts?
• What is something you enjoy doing, and how can you use that to point others to Jesus while doing it?
I love that last question because it says, “Lord, how can I glorify you in this common endeavor?” And if THIS is the theme of your life, then no matter how significant (or insignificant) your accomplishments are, you have been successful because you chose to invest your life by pursuing things for HIS glory…and not your own.
Now, when you think about the fact that Jesus left us with this eternally significant assignment, it’s a little daunting isn’t it? That’s why we Jesus told the disciples, “I’m getting ready to leave,” and they responded with, “That’s a terrible idea.” But in verses 6-19, Jesus tells us through his prayer to…
2. BE CONFIDENT THAT YOU ARE FULLY RESOURCED – vs 6-19
The reason we don’t have to be crushed by the weight of our assignment is because, as is true with every other spiritual endeavor, Jesus is doing the heavy lifting. One of our favorite quotes on staff is this: “God does not call you to ministry because YOU are able. He calls you to ministry because HE is able.” HE is the one who reorients our hearts on the inside. HE is the ones who guards us from the enemy from the outside. HE is the one who sustains by offering us grace upon grace for the work in front of us. Not just saving grace, but empowering grace. He is even the one interceding for us before the Father. Think about that – the Jesus that you pray to is interceding for YOU!
And here’s the thing…it’s because of Jesus’ prayer that we can have more confidence and more courage in carrying out the work that he has already called us to do. Look at the end of verse 11: “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”
What Jesus later alludes to in this text is the fact that he is going to be departing to be with God the Father, but his disciples will be left in the world where they will be hated and tempted by Satan. So you can see the focus of Jesus’ prayer. While Jesus was on the earth, HE was keeping them and protecting them from close range. They could see and touch and feel his protection.
But now that he’s departing, Jesus is praying that GOD will guard them as they embark on their upcoming mission to preach the gospel in a hostile world. This past week my girls took their first big trip without me…they drove to visit their cousins and grandparents and to spend a week playing on the shores of Lake Michigan. And since they were travelling on their own without me, I was praying that God would protect them in every way imaginable. Now if I’m honest, I was also thanking God for a few days of solitude…because one of them is really messy. But regardless, I was praying for them as they embarked on their journey.
Back in verse 9, Jesus says, “I am praying for them.” Think how encouraging it must have been to hear Jesus – God in the flesh – praying for them as they embarked on their journey to change the world. And in the same way, how comforting is it to know that Jesus, God the Son, is praying right now on our behalf as our Great High Priest. I believe he’s praying a very similar prayer to the one he prayed on that day for us as we go and make disciples. And part of the prayer he prayed was for God to “keep the apostles in your name” and to “sanctify them in truth.” Jesus is literally praying for their preservation and their sanctification.
Let’s camp out here for just a second. Jesus is praying for his people, in the midst of living in a hostile world with a hostile message, to be preserved and protected. He’s knows that, even for the disciples, there would always be a temptation to unbelief…in fact, as long as we’re carrying this flesh around, we will face the same temptation. The temptation to say at times, “I know what the Bible says, but…” (someone just told me that this week). This is a form of unbelief that Jesus is asking for God to protect his disciples from.
He was also praying for the very tangible threat that his followers would face from those who are the enemies of the gospel. In fact, the same people that put Jesus to death desire today to stomp out every evidence of his influence. But even in the midst of the “cosmic powers over this present darkness,” Jesus, our Great High Priest, is praying that we will be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Let me make this simple to understand…every time you wrestle with “I am not good enough or strong enough to do the work God has called me to do,” meditate on the truth of verse 9 – Jesus is praying for me. In fact, say that with me. And it’s his intercession, not our strength, that is the source of our preservation.
And secondly, look at what else he offers us for the journey – look at verses 17: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.” Sanctification is literally the process of becoming holy. Progressive sanctification means that each day, I long to be more holy than I was yesterday…not just in my actions, but in the affections of my heart. And Jesus is praying for us in THIS process. And how are we sanctified? Through the truth of his Word.
Think about this for a second – not only do we get the great privilege of joining Jesus in his effort to glorify the Father, we are set up for success in the task before us because Jesus is praying for our protection, and he has given us his Word as our guide. My success is not because I have a seminary degree or experience in public speaking, but because Jesus himself is praying for me and helping me become more like him through the Word of God which is alive and powerful. This should give you incredible confidence that it is possible to do the work, regardless of the lack of applause by men, regardless of the natural temptation to be a glory thief, because God has resourced us for the task and Jesus is covering us with his prayers. Amen?
So how do we know that we are availing ourselves to the resources he offers us? The text gives us one thing to look for…and this is by no means an exhaustive list, but it certainly is insightful. Look back at verse 13: “that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” Part of the evidence that a person’s life is being sanctified is that in the midst of great suffering, when we are on the brink of a daunting moment, we might have joy. Experiencing joy while living for someone else’s glory in the face of temptation (from within) and opposition (from without) is the evidence of Christ at work supernaturally producing in us something that cannot be naturally explained.
Would people describe you as a person of joy? Boy did this question beat me up this week. As I was studying this week, I realized how much I’ve allowed my joy to be based on my circumstances THIS WEEK. How my joy has been dependent on whether or not I was receiving some measure of glory. And Thursday afternoon at 5:30 PM, I repented of the fact that in the previous week, I have not availed myself to the resources that God is offering me.
And if you’re a passenger in the same boat that I’ve been driving this week, here’s the good news of the gospel – Jesus can produce IN you what does not come natural TO you. One of the things that pastors often talk about is living with an eternal perspective. And truthfully, we probably don’t talk about it enough…because it is incredibly hard to NOT be weighed down with all the expectations and responsibilities, both perceived and real, on this side of eternity. And to be honest, I’m exhausted by all the expectations and responsibilities. And if you’re exhausted too, let me encourage you with the same truth that I was encouraged by this past week in my own study – if you leverage your life for eternity, you won’t be disappointed when you get there. This fallen world is designed to disappoint you (how’s that for some encouragement?). But my counsel is not meant to discourage, it’s actually meant to be an encouragement to use these truths to stir your affections and reorient your planning for heaven, which will not disappoint. Because NO ONE will regret living for GOD’s glory, once they arrive in the actual presence of his glory!
