I got to thinking about Jesus and whatever He did. Jesus kept the "glory principle" perfectly. Every time He ate He glorified God. Every time He drank He glorified God. Every time He spoke He glorified God. Every action was for the glory of God. That's incredible! There was simply not a moment in His life when He glorified Himself over the Father.
Jesus put it like this in John 8:28-29, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; He has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases Him."
WOW!!
The verse for Jesus would be written like this..."So whether He ate or drank or whatever He did, He did it all for the glory of God." No wonder God cracked the sky open on several occasions just to say "This is My Son in whom I am well pleased." Jesus was perfect in glorifying God. He never fell short in hitting the target. In whatever He did it was for the glory of His Father.
So, what did Jesus do? He glorified His Father. So, if I follow Him, what should I do?
5 comments:
Beautiful insight, Pastor Chris. Thank you. A couple of discussion opener questions, perhaps?
Why did Jesus glorify the Father? What was his motivation for doing so?
What is "glory?" What is the purpose of glory?
Just curious :-)
Good to hear from you Brother Chris. I enjoyed your insight. I enjoy John 17 where Jesus is praying to the Father. He stated He had completed the work the Father had given Hime to do. Keep in mind this statement is pre-calvary! In this same discourse He states that , "this is eternal life, that they may know the one true God." Jesus brought God the Father eternal glory by revealing the Father. Therein we also bring glory to the Father when we, "are imitators of the Father as dearly beloved children." The work of Jesus is twofold, calvary is the propitiation which satisfies the wrath of God toward sinners; secondly, He revealed the Father in order for us to know the Father-eternal life referenced in John 17. God bless Chris.
Brother Gary Horton
Jesus' example shows us that our main purpose of existance is to glorify Him. God created the universe for the purpose of displaying his splendor. What is glory? I would cite the example that Jesus, the perfect man, gave up his throne in heaven to come lower himself here on earth and put my sins on a cross and die as a sacrifice to our God for my sins so that I might live. I suggest that definition for "glory".
In leadership, a most common tactic to enlist and create like behaviors is to "model" the behavior yourself. Could it be that Christ glorified our Father to model that behavior for us. Do what I do rather than do what I say.
To My Anonymous friend with some really good questions...
What is glory? In the Hebrew, the primary word for glory is kabod. It literally means to "be heavy." The idea is abundance, honor, riches, fame, etc. For example, God is the Heavyweight (King of Kings, Lord of Lords). He is number 1. In relation to creation He stands alone as the heavyweight : Father-son, Creator-creature, Master-slave, King-servant, Shepherd-sheep, etc.
In the New Testament, the primary Greek word is doxa. It means "opinion". (Opinion is belief - how i weigh it) What I think and what others think of me. In other words, my opinion is how I weigh God. Is He my Heavyweight? How Heavy is He in my life? My opinion (glorifying) is demonstrated/reflected in my belief and my behavior. Weight determines worth. My worth-ship is given to God or something else. Therefore, I do whatever I do for the glory of _____________.
The Bible speaks of glory in two ways, intrinsic glory and ascribed glory. Intrinsic glory is the weight something or someone has. Ascribed glory is the weight we give something or someone. God is glorious. The quesiton is "Do we ascribe Him the glory that is due to Him?" Ascribing would be love, praise, etc. All of life is ascribing, worship, etc.
Jesus glorified the Father for the sake of glory. Glory is the motivation. It is the purpose for everything that God does and that Jesus did on earth. In one unceasing refrain from the beginning of time God says as the Father and through the Son "All this I do for my glory." (Isa. 43:7, 48:11, Jn 7:18, 13:31, 17:1-10).
This is the motivation of God and all of humanity. I would say that everything you and I do is grasping for glory. The issue is in what or in whom do we find our glory? In Christ? in money? our children? in accomplishments? our relationships? or whatever?
The motif is glory. God seeks His glory for His own sake. If I want to find glory I must find it in Him through Jesus Christ.
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