Pastor Scott Jonas
11/4/17
Glory to God Alone
We are on our
third edition of the Sola Series. Sola
is the latin word for Alone. We started
with Scripture Alone. Last week on
reformation day we focused on Faith Alone.
This weekend we celebrate All Saints Day and our gaze turns to Glory to
God Alone.
Martin Luther
said, “The lust for glory is deeply rooted in humankind. No one is so firm in repelling the most
deadly vice of vain-glory (self centered glory) that he does not need constant
prayer in order to be able to do so.
For, whoeven when he is pious, does not delight in the praise people
accord him? The Holy Spirit alone is
able to keep us from being infected with this pest, vain-glory.
Little did Luther
know that modern day America would revel in vain-glory. Although we call it another name, Self
esteem. Since the 70s, our culture, our
parenting experts, and our schools have promoted self esteem as vital to a
healthy child. They took that human
delight in praise and systematized it. I
remember as a child having a record album called free to be you and me by Marlo
Thomas. There was a free to be song with
the lyrics,
I see a land bright and clear, and the time's
comin' near
When we'll live in
this land, you and me, hand in hand
Take my hand, come
along, lend your voice to my song
Come along, take
my hand, sing a song
For a land where
the river runs free
For a land through
the green country
For a land to a
shining sea
For a land where
the horses run free
And you and me are
free to be you and me
Every boy in this
land grows to be his own man
In this land,
every girl grows to be her own woman
Take my hand, come
with me where the children are free
Come with me, take
my hand, and we'll run
The
basic concept was to encourage post-1960s gender neutrality, saluting values
such as individuality, tolerance, and comfort with one's identity. A major
thematic message is that anyone—whether a boy or a girl—can achieve
anything. You can achieve glory.
Let’s
take a look at what scripture alone says about glory. The word translated glory in the Bible means
Importance. The more glory something has
the more important it is. The heavens
declare the glory of God means that creation points to God as the most
important. He is the only person in the
universe who is important by nature. He
has always existed. He always will
exist. Everything that exists owes him
credit. To him be all glory, all
importance.
There
is an odd marker with God’s glory. It
glows. Whenever we see God in his glory,
he is brighter than we can imagine. In
the women’s Bible Study we talked about the Israelites after God broke them out
of Egypt. The Lord guided them through a
pillar of fire. The fire burned brightly
day and night. It was the glory of the
Lord. God’s people followed that light
because God was in the fire. When they
got to Mt. Sinai they camped at the foot of it.
The Lord camped on the top of the mountain. This treeless mountain burned bright at it’s
summit because the glory of God dwelled there.
God appeared there and any place where God appears is important. The rocks on top of that mountain are still
black to this day, scorched by glory.
Moses wanted to see God in all of his glory and God said no like you
would to a child who asks to touch a camp fire.
Sinful Moses could not handle God’s glory. Sinful can’t touch glory without major
changes.
God’s
glory was in the ark of the covenant which was in the tabernacle and the
temple. God wanted to show just how
dangerous his glory is. It is not
something to take lightly. In his throne
room God can let out all of his glory but on earth there must be
precautions.
The
new testament starts with Angels declaring “Glory to God in the highest.” Jesus is born. He is fully God and fully man. He gives glory to the Father. Even though he has always existed and he
created all things. He points to his
father and says, “He is the most important.
Follow me and I will show you the Father.” From time to time, the Glory of God leaked
out. On a mountain top, he appeared as
bright as lightening. I wonder if those
rocks were blackened in the process.
Jesus
was crucified. Where is the glory in
that? God suffers and dies. The most important person allows himself to
be under the control of human beings. A
perverted king, a crowd of nobodies, and
a roman bureaucrat are allowed to pass judgement on the glorious
one. Where is the glory?
The
Glory was there but it was hidden. Most
of the time God’s ways are a mystery. At
the time, no one knew what was happening.
God waited three days to reveal his glory. To show how important the cross was.
The
resurrection revealed the glory of God.
He was raised with a body that glowed.
The cross was the precaution needed so that sinful people could be with
a glorious God. Not only could his
faithful be in his presence face to face but he could be in their heart. A holy, glory filled God could inhabit inside
a dark, sinful nobody like me.
That is what Glory to God alone means. He deserves all of it. We should not worship false gods, including
ourselves. We aren’t free to be you and
me without Jesus. Self esteem is a
delusion. Our parents can tell us we are
important. Out teachers can sing songs
glorifying our smallest achievements.
Coaches can hand out a ribbon to everyone. But deep down we think we don’t deserve this.
There
is this great scene in revelation 7.
There is this great multitude, more than anyone can count from every
nation, tribe and language standing before the throne of Jesus. His people are clothed in white robes, we have palm branches in hand and we are
crying out in a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the
throne, and to the Lamb! The angels are
there, the disciples too. And we all
fall down on our faces just like Moses before the burning bush. Just like Peter on the mount of
transfiguration. And we say “Amen!
Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be
to our God forever and ever ! Amen!
The
amazing thing about our God is that we give him glory and he shares it with
us. Notice that God’s people are wearing
white robes. That means that we are
glowing; we are reflecting the glory of God. Whe Jesus was praying in the
garden he said to His Father “ The glory that you have given me I have given to
them, that they may be one even as we are one.
Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me
where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before
the foundation of the world. WE give
glory to God through his son Jesus and he shares it with us. Glorious.
All
saints day is not a sad day. We
recognize that we have a generous God who shares his glory with all of us
saints, including those who have died before us. They see the glory of the Lord in a way that
we can’t yet. God has kept his promises
to them.
As
you know, part of the reformation was redefining the term Saints. They are not special Christians who have
earned more righteousness than others.
Every Christian is a saint because everyone who has been baptized into
Christ receives His glory. We don’t pray
to the Saints because we have complete access to the Father through Jesus. But you know what is ok? You can pray to God about the saints. You can have a conversation about your mom with
Jesus. My dad died when I was
seven. My mom has done a great job
keeping his memory alive in conversations with me. My dad is with Christ. I can tell Jesus to take good care of my dad
in the same way I ask Jesus to take good care of my kids. My dad belongs to Jesus. Grace and faith belong to the Lord. On all saints day or anyday I can share with
God my love for my family the way he shares with me. He knows they are important to me.
One day
we will all see the saints again. They
will be dressed in white and it will be glorious.