Sunday Message
Shared Glory
John 17:1-5
Pastor Wes
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What does the word glory really mean? We all have images that come to mind when we hear that word, but for many of us, it’s probably a difficult word to define. Some might think of a king’s glory, sitting down in his marble palace, on a shiny gold throne, dressed in elaborate clothes, as people bow before him. Or the glory experienced by a NFL quarter back and his team, just after he throws the winning touchdown with seconds remaining in the Super Bowl. A glorious moment in history, as the beaches of Normandy are bravely charged, leading to the eventual end of World War II. Perhaps you think of some of the old western movies- going down in a “blaze of glory”- like Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid, at the end of the movie- storming out against the surrounding army firing on them. But what is glory exactly?
If you google the word glory, it is defined as: high renown or honor won by notable achievements OR magnificence and great beauty. The Greek word for glory is doksa, literally meaning: that which evokes good opinion, something that has natural, important worth. It corresponds to the Old Testament Hebrew word Kabo which can also mean “to be heavy.” So, glory could be thought of as “having heavy value and worth, evoking good thoughts/feelings/opinions.” So naturally, the word glorify, would mean to project onto someone or something else: heavy value and worth, that evokes good thoughts/feelings/opinions. The King is glorious because of his value to his county, and he is glorified by his people that think good thoughts of him. The quarterback and his team are glorious because the great accomplishment and significance of what has just been achieved, and they are glorified by the fans cheering and celebrating them. The event of D-Day on the beaches of Normandy was glorious because of the great cost of the brave lives, that ended up stopping the spread of Nazi Communism, and we glorify that event because of the sacrifice of those who courageously altered the course of history.
So, in addition to “having heavy value and worth, evoking good opinion” we could probably add to our definition of glory, phrases like “distinguished honor,” “celebrated achievement,” and “triumph through great sacrifice.” The bible speaks much of the glory of God, and of glorifying Him. When we sing songs about the Lord, we attempt to glorify Him- assigning great value, honor, worth to His name. Through song we celebrate His accomplishments, His triumph through great sacrifice, giving Him the distinguished honor as THE supreme being, THE creator God, THE master and Lord of our lives. And it’s not that our words, actions, and songs are what give God the “glory value”- no He already possesses the substance that makes Him glorious. So, when we glorify Him- we are only admitting and proclaiming the value, honor, glory that He already possesses. He is still glorious and worthy of being glorified- He is still worthy of awe, wonder, honor, and good opinion- whether we choose to glorify Him or not.
In John 17, Jesus voices a prayer for His disciples, and for His future disciples (that’s us!)- just minutes away from His arrest by Roman soldiers. At the beginning of His prayer, He mentions the word glory, glorify, or glorified 5 different times, all within the first 5 verses of the chapter. He even ends His prayer mentioning again glory, His glory and also the glory He gives to His disciples and to us as His, and at that time- future disciples.
Being these are Jesus’ final words before His crucifixion, and that this is the one record in the gospels we have of Jesus specifically praying for you and I- I think it therefore important that we truly understand glory, and glorifying, as it pertains to us, Jesus, and God. If according to 1 Corinthians 10:31- in whatever we do, we are to do to the glory of God- then we better understand glory. As we’re about to read in John 17, if God glorifies Jesus, and Jesus glorifies God, and the glory of Jesus is also given to us, (v 22) then we better understand glory. I hope today, to ascribe glory to God, to His son Jesus, and to His spirit as I attempt to awaken your senses to glory and to the idea that Jesus wants to share that glory with you.
Here in verse one, we are presented with a bit of a tension concerning our concept of glory. John 17:1… We all know what is about to happen. Jesus says the hour has come- the time has arrived- when He will be arrested by Roman soldiers, who will then bind Him up, strike Him in the face, wrongfully accuse Him, scourge Him with whips that have bits of glass and ceramic pieces on the tips, jam a crown of thorns onto His head, spit in His face, nail spikes through His wrists and feet, suffocate Him on a cross, then spear Him in the side. Now that doesn’t sound very glorious, does it? But it was. It was glorious in the way D-Day was glorious- it was great bravery, cost, sacrifice, that lead to an end result of incredible value and significance. Through Jesus’ gruesome death on the cross, God accomplished the seemingly impossible win, throwing the insane touchdown that would forever win the game against the opponent of death. His gruesome death on the cross would lead to His resurrection, and ultimately to Him seated as King in the splendor of His heavenly Kingdom, with worshippers all bowed before Him.
Jesus wants glory, God wants glory, God wants glory for Jesus, Jesus wants glory for God, but listen- God and Jesus want glory for you and I as well. Skip over with me to verse 22 where Jesus says “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one.” If you glance back at verse 20 and 21, as I mentioned earlier, you’ll see that Jesus is not just praying this prayer for His disciples there in that moment, but it is a prayer for all future disciples as well- including you and me. Jesus wants you to share in His glory. 2 Thess. 2:14 echoes this, stating “It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 8:17 says those in Christ Jesus are “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” I like the idea of sharing glory with Jesus, but I don’t like that word “suffer” in that verse. Doesn’t that make you feel a little uncomfortable? We want to glorify God and be glorified with Christ- we want to share in Jesus’ brilliance, honor, reward, achievement- but we probably don’t like so much John 17:1 connecting glory to Jesus suffering on the cross, nor Romans 8:17 stating it plainly that the path to glory may be one of suffering.
This is one of the hardest, yet richest truths of Christianity. God wants great things for you. He wants you to be glorified. But the path to glory is filled with hardship. You and I will experience many ups and downs on our spiritual journey. Some of the hardship we create ourselves, by making wrong decisions- and then suffering the natural consequences of our actions. Sometimes hardship comes as a result of just living in this messed up, fallen world. And sometimes hardship comes even as a result of doing the right things, the good, God-honoring things. Jesus had done no wrong, yet hardship lay before Him, and yet He chose to focus on the glory.
Despite life’s hardships, if you have surrendered your life to Jesus- seeking to glorify His name- He will in return one day share with you His glory. There’s an exchange that takes place. Not that we of ourselves really have anything worthy to offer God in exchange for something He has, but what He gives us can be given back to Him, and in the end, we benefit according to our stewardship. It’s almost like a spiritual retirement plan. Throughout our lives, we give God the glory- we honor Him with our lives, our words, our actions, our finances, our time- even through life’s pain and suffering- and in the end, we reap an amazing, compounded, glorious return on our life’s investment. We are to live with our focus on the end result. Everything we do and experience has to be filtered through the lens of the glory that is to come. Now look with me at verse 2…
Part of the glory of Jesus, is his authority and command over every being and His authority to give those beings eternal life. Think about the glory of Michael Jordan, or any other NBA favorite of yours. Think about their incredible, unique, gifting/talent/skill, their charisma, their 30-40 million dollars a year salaries. Pretty glorious, right? How much more glorious would they be if they could just impart to anyone their same skillsets? Jesus defeated death- rose Himself from the grave after 3 days- as glorious as that is, how much more glorious is He that He has the power and desire to give that same death conquering ability to you and to me? That is amazing glory. The ability to give eternal life.
And all throughout this gospel book, John has placed special emphasis in recording Jesus talking about this eternal life. Even towards the last chapter he makes sure the reader understands why he has written these words, John says: “these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” (John 20:30-31) That life is eternal life- John set out to record the events and teaching of Jesus’ life so that whoever would read his words would believe them and choose eternal life through Jesus. And now in verse 3, Jesus is going to define that eternal life…
Anyone seeking the glory of eternal life, must know God- must recognize God- as the only true God, Creator of the universe, AND they must know (recognize) Jesus Christ whom He sent. This is a pretty defining moment of exclusivity for Christianity. Jesus says there is only one true God, and to go to Heaven (have eternal life) you must know Him (the one true God) AND Jesus Christ. Period. Jesus is THE way, THE truth, THE life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him. (John 14:6) Buddha is not the way, Confucius is not the way, Mohammed is not the way, good works is not the way, man seeking to glorify himself is not the way. Verse 4…
This is really an interesting verse. What Christianity might consider as the greatest work of Jesus, dying on the cross and 3 days later resurrecting, hadn’t yet at this time been accomplished- yet Jesus says I have accomplished the work which You have given me to do. Even before He died, He cries out the words “It is finished.” (John 19:30) Yes, Jesus’ death and resurrection should be included in His great accomplishment, but Jesus had lived His life with purpose from day 1 and all the preparations for His death were already in motion at this time. He had preached repentance that leads to forgiveness and eternal life, He had proved His validity as the Messiah, He had discipled those who would continue His message and carry it to the ends of the earth. With this last prayer, He was giving His final words and instructions to us before leaving, and there was nothing left to be done- but to return to God.
If only we as His followers could do the same. To faithfully accomplish all that He would have us to do in this life, and not wait ‘til we see death on the horizon to get busy about the things we should be doing. May we do all that God has for us to do, and when our time comes, have nothing left to do but die and wake up into the glory of our King Jesus. Don’t wait until your later years to make a relationship right, to forgive, to share Jesus’ message, to get involved in ministry, to financially support a Kingdom cause, to teach your kids God’s word- to daily give God the glory. Live your life so that on your death bed, you can honestly say without any hesitation, Jesus words here in verse 4 “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.” We should all live so that this verse could be written on our tombstone. Verse 5…
Again, God wants you and I to receive glory, but the thing about God and Jesus- they’ve always had it. Jesus wasn’t just a man that had good teaching and a little of God’s power, who did something worthy of glory. No, He was glorious from the beginning of time, He was glorious with God from the beginning of time, He was gloriously God from the beginning of time. (John 1:1) Jesus left glory to enter into this corrupted world, so that He could rescue those willing to be rescued, and then return to His glory, throwing open the doors so that those rescued could share in His glory.
The bible begins with the glory of God being displayed through His creation of the heavens and the earth, and all that they contain. Created in His image, mankind was glorious. The environment God gave mankind to live in was glorious. But that glory was taken away. In one act of disobedience, the glory ended. But the bible ends with a re-creation of glory. The dead in Christ will be raised and given a new- glorified body. And a new heaven and earth will be revealed, a new glorious place for our glorious God to dwell with those who glorified Him with their lives. The glory comes full circle. But those who lived seeking their own glory, and not the glory of God, they will be cast out from the glorious presence of God, where there will be deep regret- weeping and grinding of teeth. If you have yet to make the decision to live a life that glorifies God- which will lead to you sharing in Jesus’ glory- make that decision today and surrender your life to Him. Ask that He would show you what to do, in order to accomplish the work He has given you to do before you pass from this world into the next. As we walk daily through this broken world, may your focus be on the glory that is to come, and may you seek to glorify God in all that you do.