“It’s not about you” Sermon
I. Introduction
a. Tell me if these statements sound familiar to you.
i. I am happy if things are going well.
ii. My marriage is great if my needs are being met, if I am getting my way.
iii. My job is great if I am being treated well and there is no conflict.
iv. My day was good if I got what I wanted today
v. God is good if He is answering my prayers.
b. We are a part of a very narcissistic society, a very “me” centered world. For most of us, our actions betray a sense of “it’s about me” attitude.
i. There is a saying that has been around for a few years that says, “it’s NOT about you!”
ii. The bible says the same thing.
c. So if “it” (life) isn’t about me, then what is it all about?
II. Glory
a. I think that God really would like more of us to ask that question.
i. If we would ask it and wait for an answer, we might be surprised to learn that God has a single word answer for it.
ii. Glory!
1. Yes, that is what “IT” is all about.
iii. We see the word everywhere in the bible, we hear it in the hymns and chorus’ that we sing, yet most of us haven’t a clue about what it means and why it is so important.
b. What is God’s glory?
i. The greek word, Doxan is most commonly translated glory, its fullest meaning being “splendor, brightness, excellence, pre-eminence.”
ii. The bible uses the word to describe God’s most exalted state or condition.
iii. It means God’s pre-eminence, His being Higher than the Highest.
iv. If we were to try to define the Glory of God, we would have trouble, because the glory of God is beyond definition just as it is beyond the human capacity to see it unveiled.
1. The best we can do is to describe the Glory of God as encompassing ALL of the Attributes of God.
2. This simply put means that everything about God’s attributes, His characteristics, His holiness, His love, His grace, they all are elements of His great glory. Just as we can never completely comprehend his Attributes, neither can we comprehend His glory.
c. Yet God’s glory is something that is mystical, wonderful, and bright beyond any light.
i. We sometimes hear the glory of God described as the Shekinah glory of God.
ii. the Jews, over time, gave a name to this.
1. They called it "Shekinah [she-kee-nah]."
2. Or, as most of us Gentiles mispronounce it: "Shekinah [she-ki-nah]."
iii. The word Shekinah is not in the bible, but it is so closely related to the word “dwelling” that we have come to associate the Glory of God with this term.
1. It came to mean, over time, instead of literally "residence," or "dwelling,"—"God’s visible presence."
a. That word "visible" is very important—God’s visible presence.
b. Shekinah: , "The visible Majesty of the Divine Presence."
2. All descriptions of the Shekinah say that it was a most brilliant and glorious light enveloped in a cloud.
3. So, when the Bible describes it as a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire it is splitting into two what was actually one. It was always a pillar of fire and it was always a pillar of cloud.
III. Seeing God’s Glory:
a. Moses asks to see God’s glory. Moses was the only person we know of in the bible to ever ASK to see God’s glory.
i. (Exodus 33:19-23) “Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said,” you cannot see my face, for no-one may see me and live.” Then the Lord said, ‘There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”
1. God himself described his glory as his “goodness” yet says that His face must be concealed because there is no living thing that can stand to look into the brightness of His face. Then God covered Moses with his hand (to protect him) until He passed by, and Moses was able to see the glory of God from behind.
2. This is an incredible mystery as to what actually happened. God is Spirit, and cannot be contained even in His creation. Yet, to Moses, God reveals His splendor, in a partially concealed manner. And the result is that Moses’ face reflects the partial glory of God that he had seen.
ii. Ex. 34:29-30, 33 “When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the two tablets of the Testmony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant, because he had spoken with the Lord. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant and they were afraid to come near him. …v33 When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face.”
1. In verse 33 we also discover the most common response to a sighting of God’s glory.
iii. God’s Glory causes fear and reverence..
1. That fear is a manifestation of the recognition of our creature-ness and God’s holy, wholly, otherness.
2. The prophet Ezekiel had the same reaction: Ez 3:23 “So I got up and went out to the plain; and behold, the glory of the LORD was standing there, like the glory which I saw by the river Chebar, and I fell on my face.”
3. When the prophet Daniel saw a great heavenly vision, his strength drained from his body and he fell into a deep sleep (Dn. 10:8-9)
4. The temple: 1 Kings 8:10-11 “When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the GLORY of the Lord filled his temple.”
5. This is what is so hard for our modern sensibilities to grasp!
a. We think, why don’t these people go and investigate this phenomenon. The unbelieving, those who have never encountered God would tell us that they would go and “check it out” as if it were some natural, science fiction phenomena.
i. But the glory of God is unlike anything of this creation.
ii. His glory is not like a burning bush, which He used to get Moses’ attention.
b. His glory makes searchlights, strobelights, sunlight and even atomic blasts seem pale in comparison.
c. Because the glory of God is more than a mere phenomenon.
d. It is quite literally the manifestation of His Awesome, Holy presence.
e. This is a uniquely spiritual experience, not just a physical manifestation.
f. The soul and spirit of man sees with more than his eyes when the glory of God is revealed, our very core is touched by this presence that is not merely a physical appearance.
g. We are touched in our core, and not only will tears appear at our eyes, our knees will weaken and we will fall upon our faces when we confront the glory of God! Remember…The glory of God is quite literally the physical manifestation of His presence!
h. That manifestation may be a bright light
i. Such as Saul (who later was to become the Apostle Paul)l, who was struck down from his horse on the way to Damascus. The bible says in Acts.9:3 “As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a LIGHT from heaven flashed around him.”
ii. He hears a voice ask him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
iii. His response is clear. He knows it is God! When he says, “Who are you Lord?” he is recognizing that he is in God’s presence…the God who he does not at this moment know.
iv. Paul’s reaction is still that of fear and reverence. He knows He has encountered God and spends the next three days in the dark, wondering if he will ever see again. The next three days are probably the longest days of his life. Seeking God. Repenting. Asking for God’s mercy. Three long days of darkness and fear. Three days of judgment. Three days of lonliness, without hope.
6. And many people think that angels are frightening subjects, because they see “fear” in response to the sighting of many angels. I believe that there is another reason.
a. Most angels are not mystical, heavenly winged creatures hovering around with harps. That is a thing of medieval artwork.
b. The Greek word for angel is translated literally as “messenger.” In fact, many people who were visited by angels did not know they were in fact angels at first.
c. Look at Luke 2:9 where an angel makes the pronouncement to the shepherds:
i. Lk 2:9And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.
ii. You have to look carefully. What made them frightened was not the angel’s doing. It was the “glory of the Lord shining around them.”
iii. Probably much more intense than “Touched by an Angel” where the soft light glows on top of Monica’s head.
iv. When the glory of God shines, it is a frightening thing! And the shepherds saw the glory of God shining!
7. This same glory of God is what guided the Israelites through the desert. They saw from a distance, a pillar of fire during the night, and a pillar of smoke by day. They saw on the mountain where Moses went to receive the Law a great fire surrounded by a cloud. And they asked Moses to go up to the mountain, as they were afraid to even hear God’s voice after such a sight, at even a great distance.
b. God’s Glory comforts His people
i. Stephen:
ii. Before you think that fear is the only reaction to God’s Glory, you might think about Stephen. Stephen was the first martyr of the church, stoned for testifying to the fact that Jesus was the Messiah.
iii. Look at Acts 7:54-58 “The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists in rage. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily upward into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. And he told them, "Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!" 57Then they put their hands over their ears, and drowning out his voice with their shouts, they rushed at him. 58They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.
iv. Did you notice…he experienced several powerful things:
1. Filled with the Holy Spirit
2. Gazed steadily upward INTO heaven
3. And SAW the GLORY OF GOD and he saw Jesus standing…
4. Any one of these three things would have been powerful. I believe the first one is one that any and all of us should experience. Control of the Spirit of God. The second isn’t so common, but the third is rare indeed.
5. He saw the Glory of God. What an amazing sight! It was so real that he said, “Look…I see…”
6. That is the power of the reality of God. And in this case, it provided comfort to Him in his time of trial.
c. God’s Glory Leads us to Worship Him
i. David
ii. Psalm 63:2 “I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory”
iii. David beheld God’s glory and power. We don’t know how full that vision was, but it led him to worship.
iv. In Isaiah 6:1, the prophet encounters God in His Temple. “In the year that King Uziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple…v4: At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke”. (smoke & clouds are a manifestation of the Glory of God, concealed)
1. The seraphim were worshiping God, calling out “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of His glory.” (v3).
2. Likewise, Isaiah also experiences fear as he declares, “Woe to me, I am ruined. For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
d. Two effects of encountering God’s Glory:
i. A change in our relationship with God.
1. GOD REVEALS HIS GLORY TO US TO TRANSFORM US!
2. As he did for Moses. A strange thing happened to Moses whenever he entered into the Tabernacle to worship God, to pray, to seek God’s face and his truth and will and purpose for his life and for his people. He somehow absorbed the glory of God. When he came out of the tabernacle his face shined. The people realized that he had been in the presence of God and that they were looking upon the glory of God and asked Moses to put a veil over his face because they could not look upon the glory of God. So... Moses did. Like Moses God wants us to absorb his glory into our lives, our souls, our beings.
3. Yet, unlike Moses we are not to cover up the change that is coming over us. We are to reflect that glory to others. And, that’s
4. That’s the challenge from God today- to look into the face of Jesus. Yes, to take a good hard look into the face of Jesus and tell yourself what you see. The more we behold Jesus... the more we will desire him... worship him... desire to follow him... desire to become like him... We will not tell the Lord what we would like to do or become... We will realize that iIt’s not about US and what We want!
a. How do you “behold Jesus”?
b. Seek Him. Get on your face, your knees, your seat, and call and cry out to Him. Ask Him to reveal His presence to you. And stay on your knees or face, calling out to Him.
c. He will flood you with His presence as you draw nearer to Him. You will know you are in His presence.
d. In a very spiritual way, you will be seeing His GLORY, in a spiritual manner of speaking.
ii. A change in our countenance (See Moses)
1. Have you ever seen a pregnant woman whose face seems to glow? I recall when I worked at Nabisco, (before I was married) looking across the line I was working and suddenly seeing the most beautiful face I had ever seen in my life. I was amazed by the sight. So I went to investigate. As I got closer, I saw she was clearly pregnant (and married). But I learned something. There is a glow that accompanies carrying new life.
2. So it is with a Christian, who has experienced the new life in Christ. Maybe you have seen people with a countenance of glory on their face. They shine, they glow, their eyes radiate…because they have spent time before the face of God!
IV. Why the Glory of God?
a. God’s glory is His priority. Revealing His glory is His top priority.
i. Isaiah 40:5 says, “And the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all mankind will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
ii. God’s to-do list has one thing on it:. “Reveal My Glory”
iii. Let me give you a few scriptures…I suggest you write down these references and go back to study them. We will look at them in more detail this evening.
1. Isa. 43:7 Why God created us.
2. Ps. 19:1 Why the heavens exist.
3. Ex. 14:4 Why Pharoah’s heart was hardened.
4. Jer 13:11 Why God chose Israel.
5. Is. 10:6-8 Why God rescued Israel.
6. John 17:4 Jesus’ purpose on earth.
b. I saw a great quotation while researching this: “The almighty priority of the Almighty is the Almighty.”
i. Simply put, God does not exist to make much of us.
1. We exist to make much of Him.
2. John 17:1 “Jesus looked toward heaven and prayed. “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.”
3. Jesus had one major priority. To bring glory to His father.
ii. Ephesians 1:6-7 tells us that we were saved not for our personal benefit. We were not saved simply to rescue us from Hell. We were saved to bring forever glory to the Father.
1. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus IN ORDER that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
a. Maybe you have personalized John 3:16 like I have…”God so loved Bob, that He sent His only Begotten Son, so that if Bob believes in Him, he will have everlasting life.”
b. This is so true. But we forget that the when Adam and Eve sinned, God wasn’t saying, “Bob, I am sending my Son for you, I am coming to get you…its all about you Bob.”
c. That is humanistic thinking that has only become prevalent in the past 100 years.
i. When Jesus was hanging on the cross, yes, he had you in the cross hairs of his heart.
ii. But Jesus wasn’t going to the cross for you.
iii. He went to the cross for the Father.
iv. His entire priestly prayer was to glorify the Father through obedience.
v. He wasn’t focused on himself or even you and I.
vi. He was focused on the Father.
vii. So should we be! For our lives to be fully used and full of power, we need to be focused on God’s will and not our own desires. We must be centered on glorifying God in the world and not glorifying ourselves.
iii. Before you get to thinking that God is awfully vain, consider a pilot of a lifeboat.
1. He too better be boasting in his boat and his ability to save the drowning.
2. If you are floating in the water, ready to drown, you want to hear the voice of the pilot who says, “I can reach you. I can save you.”
3. You want his voice to be louder than all others.
4. You want to hear confidence in His voice.
5. His voice brings you hope.
6. You also hope that those who are already rescued are boasting about the pilot of the boat.
a. They better not be bragging about themselves. They better be bragging about how this pilot of this boat is going to rescue you! That will bring you comfort. And when you are rescued…you will do the same!
V. Closing:
a. God is the STAR of the show! The marquis in front of the theatre has His name on it, and his name alone. You and I have bit parts in this eternal drama!
b. Non-churched folks often look at God and wonder why He lets bad things happen to them, why God doesn’t just make their lives peachy.
i. As if God exists exclusively for their happiness and comfort!
ii. If that is so, they are gods and God isn’t!
iii. And when God doesn’t give them what they want, the great genie in the sky, then they grow angry and say, “this God stuff isn’t all its cracked up to be.”
c. Even church folks do this! We act and live as if somehow, God exists for us.
i. But it is the other way around. We exist for Him!
ii. He meets our needs because He knows it will draw us into an intimate relationship with Him. He meets our needs because He chooses to love us.
iii. But He doesn’t exists for us. We exist for Him.
d. We tend to reverse the roles.
i. We want it to be about us as well.
ii. Bumper stickers “God is my co-pilot” God has no copilot. God doesn’t come on board to be your assistant, to meet your needs. God’s plane has only one seat…and you and I aren’t in it. He is! We get to be on board! He is the pilot. He doesn’t exist for our agenda.
e. REPEAT AFTER ME: “I, hereby resign as ruler of the universe!” (doesn’t that feel better).
f. Recenter with God. God is at the center of the universe, not you. For the sake of the kingdom, let us say, it is not about me.
g. Are you going to come to church to GET or are you going to come to church to GIVE…give worship to God, give yourself to Him and His service for His Glory? Are you coming to be served or to serve? Are you God or is He?
