1503-22P 1
THE GLORY OF THE SON
(John 17:3-5)
SUBJECT:
F.C.F:
PROPOSITION:
INTRODUCTION:
A. Several years ago, a Christian ministry organized a nationwide evangelistic campaign. To attract people and pique their interest, the group rented billboards in major cities and printed a simple message with contact information at the bottom. The message read, “Jesus is the Answer.” In one of the cities, a vandal sneaked up to a billboard platform and added a message of his own. In large letters, he wrote, “What was the question?”
B. And, in truth, it doesn’t really matter very much, because ultimately most every question leads in the same direction, and the question behind all these questions findsits answer in the God-man, in Jesus. Most every question relates to some kind of human need or lack. Some expose our lack of understanding: “Why?” Others have to do with our inability: “How?” And still others are concerned with our pain, our suffering, or guilt, or shame: “When?” or “How long?” And these deeper questions find theirresolution not so much in an explanation or in an increase of power or resources, but in a “who,” in a person. Jesus is the answer.
C. And that’s what we’ve been finding in our study of John’s Gospel. The continual question that permeates the text is one of identity: “Who really is Jesus?” And what we’ve been finding is that he is the end and the answer to our deepest longings and our most pressing and persistent needs. The questions you’ve been asking, and the desires you’ve been both feeling and pursuing are leading you to him, whether you yet realize it or not.
Here in the heart of his communion with his Father we find his identity unveiled and his majesty on display. But we find more. We find that he really is the one to whom we must apply if we would find satisfaction for all our questions and needs and yearnings. And as we saw last time, it is Jesus Christ himself who alone can be our everlasting satisfaction, for nothing else can forever fulfill the infinite chasm in our souls, the “God-shaped vacuum” as one person described it, which can only be filled by God himself.
I. IN CHRIST WE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.
A. We are looking for this eternal life. God made us for this life, and we instinctively miss it when we don’t have it. We know that we do not have it. So what we experience instead is a severe lack which cannot truly be alleviated by anything in this fallen and temporal creation. One of the most prominent preachers of the last century was Dr. Billy Graham who preached to millions in the open air. He once said that whenever he rose to address any particular group of people, he assumed that there were four needs present in people he spoke to: fear of death, loneliness, emptiness, and guilt. The first three of these speak directly to our inescapable sense of lack, that we were made for this true life, but that it always eludes us.
B. The phrase “eternal life” which we frequently meet in John’s Gospel has a double meaning. That this life is “eternal” speaks of its enduring quality, literally “life of ages,”life that continues through all ages, hence is everlasting and has no end. But it also refers to a different quality of life, and that speaks directly to this situation. Think of it, we would have no way of distinguishing mere existence from eternal existence if it were exactly the same kind of experience. How would we tell if it was going to end or not? But the point is that this “eternal life” is of a different kind altogether, a new, previously unknown quality of life that does not share in the disappointing brokenness and unfulfillment that is so common, but life that truly satisfies and brings healing and restoration of the soul.
Again, if Jesus truly is the answer, then think of all the families of questions that would be resolved through the possession of this eternal life. “Why do I feel so empty?” “What happens after we die?” “How can I live with confidence and assurance for the future?” “Is this all there is to life?” “What’s the point of it all?” The brokenness of our fall into sin forces us to ask these hard questions, because we know deep in our hearts that we were created for something more, and the brief years ofmisery we are given are not enough.
C. And this eternal life is in knowing God and in knowing the One he has sent to reveal him. And we intuitively know this as well, I think, because our deepest satisfaction to be found in this life comes not in piling up pleasures and possessions, but in knowing others, in friendship and fellowships where we know and are known. People on their deathbed do not ask to be surrounded with their treasures, but with the people they have known and loved who are of greatest comfort to them.
“3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” This knowledge of God is not in the mere intellectual apprehension of certain propositions about God, though it certainly must include that. We cannot know someone without knowing about them. But rather it comes in relationship, in the personal commitment to know and worship and submit and honor and obey. Theologically we would say that knowing God means that we enter into union with him. Since he is the true source of all life, think both in terms of quality and quantity, eternal life, and since there is no real life apart from him, then our possession of and the enjoyment of eternal life can only occur when we are in union with him, that is, truly and vitally linked to him.
And we should not think of eternal life as something which is entirely future, but which begins in the present. Union with Christ, knowing God is something we enter into through faith in him in this life. The point is that we can enjoy this eternal life right now, this new and abiding quality of life in the present, lift that is not interrupted by the death of the body.
II. IN CHRIST WE HAVE PERSEVERING GRACE.
A. Jesus makes a remarkable statement in verse 4: “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.”Jesus glorified the Father on earth. He revealed the glory of the Father through his incarnation and his life of perfect obedience, so completely that he could declare that he accomplished the work the Father had given him to do. How could this be seeing he had not yet gone to the cross? Most understand this to mean that the cross was inevitable, that he would certainly endure its shame for us, and so he would accomplish the Father’s work. Interestingly the word translated “accomplish” is from the same Greek term Jesus used when he said from the cross, “It is finished,” or “accomplished.”
B. And here we find the wonder of God’s persevering grace in Jesus’ accomplishing the work the Father gave him. One of the lines of questions we all wrestle with is that of guilt. Remember that was the fourth need that Dr. Billy Graham assumed was in the hearts of the people every time he rose to preach: fear of death, loneliness, emptiness, and guilt. We know ourselves to be sinners; we really don’t have to be told that we “fall short of the glory of God.” God has a standard, and though we may try to excuse ourselves or shift the blame to others, to our cruel parents, uncaring spouse, insensitive friends, or ungrateful children, yet deep down we know that we bear at least some of the responsibility.
Jesus is the answer for our guilt, and his answer is grace. And we have to understand that grace is not assistance in exploring excuses or locating loopholes or rigging up rationalizations. Grace is harder and sharper and stronger than that. Grace helps us to come clean, to own up to our guilt, and then provides true forgiveness, remittance, and release from both the obligation and the penalty.
C. One of the verses I often employ when it comes to that part of our worship when we have confessed our sins and we hear the words of assurance that our sins are forgiven is 1 John 1:9:“If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” It seems pretty simple, and it is, but the hardest part, the part that stops many people from enjoying salvation and a clear conscience is, grace, the first part: “If we confess our sins….” The word translated confess there is the Greek “ομολογeω” (homologeo). You know the parts of that compound word: “logeo,” “logos,” “to speak,” and “homo” which means “the same.” To confess our sins is to “speak the same” about them as God does.
God certainly knows what our sins are. He knows the depths of our wicked deeds, and words, and thoughts and the sinful affections of our hearts. He knows that we really didn’t mean it for the good of the other person when we chewed them out as we did, but did it because we were angry and wanted to unload on them. God is quite objective about our sins: he does not try to put the best face on our sins or pretend that we couldn’t really help it—that others made us do those things. I gave a seminar a couple of times on why you can’t forgive yourself. It’s a play on words. Obviously we cannot forgive ourselves and don’t need to forgive ourselves because we don’t really sin against ourselves, but against others and ultimately against God. So we really need to seek the forgiveness of other people and of God.
But when people say that they “cannot forgive themselves” what they normally mean is that they are so surprised and embarrassed at their failure that they cannot really believe it or own up to it. They never imagined that they were capable of such a sin, which means that they had too high of an opinion of themselves and they are ultimately trying to excuse themselves because, obviously, they are “not that kind of person.” But what that moral failing revealed is that they actually are that kind of person. And if they will only admit it and own up to it, there is real grace to forgive that sin, too. As long as they hold out and refuse to own up to it, there is no forgiveness. But when they do, they will gloriously find that what the Son of God accomplished at the cross counted for that sin as well, and they can enjoy reconciliation with God and a truly clear conscience. Jesus is the answer to guilt, and his answer is “grace.”
III. IN CHRIST WE HAVE UNVEILED GLORY.
A. Last time I suggested that even in heaven, redeemed and glorified as we will be, stripped of all sin, and restored to the holy image of Christ, we still will not behold the unveiled glory of God. Not even the mighty angels are able to bear that wonder, but possess a pair of wings designed for the sole purpose of covering their faces in the presence of God.
But to this point, Jesus says something shocking and remarkable. “5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”
B. All through the gospel of John, people have scratched their heads and wondered at Jesus. He kept doing that which only God could do, yet at the same time, he was obviously a man, a man who ate and slept and walked about as ordinary men do. And what Jesus reveals at this point is that his enfleshing, the incarnation of the Son of God into the person of Jesus the Christ was a veiling of his glory, hiding, covering, muting his glory. We should not think that only the glory of God the Father would be too great for us to bear, but that the glory of God the Son would be tolerable. No, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are co-equal in glory. All that is true of the Father is true of the Son. All of the attributes of the Son are true of the Holy Spirit. So if the Son of God had descended without the veil of humanity, he would have slain all creatures and torn the earth to pieces. But now he prays that the veil would be removed, that Jesus would again be clothed with not only his pre-incarnate glory, but his glory as co-equal with the Father before all worlds began.
People crave this glory. They may not know this, but they do. It’s similar to our desire for eternal life which we instinctively know we do not possess. We long for glory, wonder, amazement. We go to great lengths to be excited, astonished, and entertained. In the US alone, tourism is either the first, second, or third largest employer in 29 states. In 2014 the entertainment industry in the US generated over half a trillion dollars.
C. But the point is not that we should try to downplay or diminish our desire for wonder and glory, but that we should fan it into flame. John Calvin was the founder of the Reformed faith. Often the Reformed faith is thought to be dry, dull, stuffy, and unemotional. But when you read John Calvin, especially his commentaries, he often uses phrases like “excites us to love and gratitude.” Here is Calvin’s definition of piety, which he deems to the heart of true Christianity, from his Institutes: “I call piety that reverence joined with love of God which the knowledge of his benefits induces. For until men recognize that they owe everything to God, that they are nourished by his fatherly care, that he is the Author of their every good, that they would seek nothing beyond him--they will never yield him willing service. Nay, unless they establish their complete happiness in him, they will never give themselves truly and sincerely to him.” (p. 41)
Later Calvinist and Puritan scholar, John Owen comments on a certain passage from Hebrews:
“The apostle uses the incomparable excellency of the Author of the Gospel as the basis of his argument. He reminds them, and us, in general, that in handling the doctrines of the Gospel about the person and work of Jesus Christ, we should not be satisfied with mere intellectual assent, but should endeavor to have our hearts set on fire by them through faith, love, obedience, and perseverance.”
The point is that when Jesus asks his Father “glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed,” we haven’t half a clue of the wonder of that glory, but that’s what we’re really after. That’s what we’re seeking, and that deep desire cannot be answered or satisfied by all the tourism and all the entertainment the whole world has to offer. We could be distracted for a long time, perhaps for a lifetime, and many people are, but we could never be satisfied, and deep down, we know it.
CONCLUSION
It is Christ that we are craving: his life, his grace, and his glory. It’s not in accumulating possessions, but in knowing a Person that we find comfort and hope, the person of Christ. It’s not in self-defense nor the self-delusion of our self-righteousness, but in the astonishing, persevering grace of the Son of God who accomplished the Father’s rescue mission for us. It’s not in exciting experiences or empty entertainment, but in the true and infinite and all-satisfying glory of the Son. It’s in Christ: life grace and glory.
1 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.
1 ¶ ταυτα ελαλησεν ο ιησους και επηρεν τους οφθαλμους αυτου εις τον ουρανον και ειπεν πατερ εληλυθεν η ωρα δοξασον σου τον υιον ινα και ο υιος σου δοξαση σε 2 καθως εδωκας αυτω εξουσιαν πασης σαρκος ινα παν ο δεδωκας αυτω δωση αυτοις ζωην αιωνιον 3 αυτη δε εστιν η αιωνιος ζωη ινα γινωσκωσιν σε τον μονον αληθινον θεον και ον απεστειλας ιησουν χριστον 4 εγω σε εδοξασα επι της γης το εργον ετελειωσα ο δεδωκας μοι ινα ποιησω 5 και νυν δοξασον με συ πατερ παρα σεαυτω τη δοξη η ειχον προ του τον κοσμον ειναι παρα σοι
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