Do you see (know) your glory?

Hey Friends…

​ There is a massive risk that my teaching could come across as just another self-help, humanistic, pep-rally “Ted Talk” designed to make you feel better about yourself. There is plenty of that blather out there on YouTube and in podcast-land; none of it has changed your life. Which means it does not work. What I have to offer you is NOT more positive self-esteem. We have something so much greater: a profound theological truth revealed in the Word of God that must change our minds. I’ll tell you more about it in Deeper Thoughts below…
 
But first….
 
·      You don’t want to miss this… RSVP now! NEXT Saturday, April 27, we are having a “Freedom in Christ” day-retreat to walk through seven specific steps to actualize our healing, freedom, and identity being in Jesus Christ. Everything we have been learning in our study of Romans leads to these seven specific steps that Pastor Chris Campbell will lead us through. Join us for intensive learning, reflection time, and guided steps to take. Next Saturday, 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. at the church. Continental breakfast and lunch included; no cost! But please click here to RSVP today!
 
·      Next up for women: Starting Thursday, April 25th, join us for a seven-week women’s study called “Knowing Rediscovered” to learn how to hear God’s voice, discover our identity in Christ, and nurture the relationships we have. Click here for more info and to RSVP!
 
o   And… mark your calendars for the next women’s social event—breakfast and a prayer walk, Saturday, May 25. Click here for more details!
 
·      Next up for men: Saturday, May 4, 8:00 – 9:00 a.m. a quick and focused men’s challenge morning. We’ll do a simple continental breakfast (coffee, donuts, snacks and such) and dive right into our discussion, prayer, and challenge time. C’mon out… but would you RSVP by clicking here?
 
·      Young Adults (20-somethings): Come hang out together NEXT Friday evening, April 26. Click here to email Sherri Eads for details!
 
OK…that’s it today for you email skimmers and those who don’t want to like themselves more. BUT…
 
 
Some Deeper Thoughts…
 
You were made for glory.
 
That’s not a word we typically use outside of religious circles, so I imagine most of us don’t have a clue what that really means or how it is useful to our lives.
 
“Glory” in its most simplified form means “the full identity of someone.” It speaks of the individual’s greatness, their fullness, their truest selves. When someone is seen for the entirety of who they are--no masks, no pretending, no façades—we see their glory.
 
You might have used the word this way: Your precious three-year-old son goes streaking through your living room in his birthday suit while you have a few sophisticated dinner guests over. Everyone nervously laughs and says, “well, there he goes in all his glory!” Nope…nothin’ hidden there! In our crude and vernacular sense, that’s “glory”.
 
When God unmasked Himself for all of humanity to see, it wasn’t a shameful revelation like your little kiddo offered you that fateful dinner-party evening. No, it was the stunning revelation of the wonder and fullness of His character, His identity, His nature. Nobody had ever seen God before. When He pulled the curtain back, we saw exactly who He is. And it was good.
 
The event took place on a mountain 15 miles southwest of Jesus’ home in Capernaum. Prior to that bewildering day, Mt. Tabor was just another rolling hillside in the fertile Jezreel Valley of Galilee. But on this day, it would be the site where God made Himself fully known—where He revealed His glory. The barrier between this world and His was removed, Jesus’s body was transfigured, and God spoke directly about his identity (Luke 9:28-36).
 
Another time they saw his glory: Jesus was at a wedding minding his own business. Either poor planning by the caterers or a super thirsty crowd had drained all the wine bottles. But they were only halfway through the reception. Jesus’ mom put the problem on his shoulders. (Was he the best man? Was he somehow responsible for the open bar?)
 
His solution? Serve water. Lots of it. One hundred and eighty gallons of it. (Did you read that right? Check out John 2:6 and do the math.)
 
As the servants followed his direction, they found those 180 gallons of water were no longer water. They were now 180 gallons of the best wine ever tasted. That’s nine hundred bottles worth. John Bar-Zebedee records that Jesus “thus revealed his glory” (John 2:11).  
 
Jesus wasn’t revealing the glory of his winemaking skills. He was revealing two things: His authority over the periodic table of elements—he transformed H2O into C2H6O (Google it… you’ll see). AND, more importantly, he was revealing how lavishly he solves our problems—900 bottles worth of lavishness. Bam. Mic drop.
 
Where are you going with this, Chris?
 
Here’s the punchline: John 17:22. Jesus is praying for both his immediate disciples and us—all who would follow him in the centuries and millennia to come. His prayer? “God, I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one.”
 
Do you see it? You have been given glory—the same glory God gave to Jesus.
 
Hold the phone. What?
 
Yep. Jesus’ glory--his truest self, his fullness, his greatness—was shaped by God and given to him. And when that identity was fully unmasked, no façade, it reveals who God is. Then, in turn, Jesus hands over that very same glory to you and to me. The result? We see God manifest in us and it makes us an “us”—we become one body, unified directly with Jesus as we are unified with each other.
 
Fast forward to our study of the Book of Romans: Uncharted Territory, Taking Life Where You Have Never Been. You’ve likely never thought of yourself so highly that you would possess the full glory--the same glory—as Jesus. This is somewhere you have never been. But Jesus has given this to you. What does it look like?
 
Romans reveals that it is found in the measure of faith God has given you. We are to think very soberly about it (Romans 12:3). Since that same verse tells us to not think too highly of ourselves, we pass that test with flying colors (so we think) and assume we could never have this kind of glory in our lives. But a sober analysis of what God has really done will help us see that it is not we who are so glorious. It is God’s glory manifest in us as we accept by faith whatever He has placed in us. And sober analysis cannot reject God’s work by saying: “oh, I’m nothing special; God cannot use me; God is not interested in me; I don’t have any gifts…”
 
To the contrary, if we recognize by faith what gift God has placed in us through Jesus, we can begin to use it to reveal God’s glory through us. This unified body of believers in which we live is all one big collection of individuals who have been given God’s glory--God’s identity—through our faith in Jesus. We see it by faith; we step up by faith; and in accordance with that faith, we begin to exercise the specific aspects of that glory.
 
Confused yet? Do this: Read carefully Romans 12:1-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:1-31. Then come hang with us Sunday—10:00 a.m. in-person (best!) or online-livestream (if necessary). Let’s make some sense of this together!
 
Can’t wait to unpack this with you Sunday…
 
Chris Eads
Mt. Hope Pastor
Friend