Glory of God Part 5: Relationship

Now let's look in John chapter 16 for a couple of verses. I'm sort of picking up where we left off last night. Last night when we finished I ran through a few expressions at the end of the meeting of what it means to abide in him and it really probably deserves a whole meeting on those ideas themselves because it's so crucial.

I'm going to go a little further into John chapter 17 and look at a little bit of the unity of life that is expressed there, the beauty of the relationship. I just want to draw attention to after what we read last night in John 15 on the vine and the branches, the context seems to shift in verse 18 down and he begins to talk about if the world hate you. And so he's now looking at the relationship of the Christian in the world.

And there is this association with him first of all in the close relationship described and then the consequence of that which is that we are no longer of the world. That comes out more in chapter 17 as well. But in chapter 16 he again is preparing them for his departure when he's not going to be physically there with them.

And he speaks about a spirit being sent. Now hear what he says in verse 7. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away.

For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.

Of sin, because they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father and ye see me no more. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

Now I'm just going to point out a couple of things briefly here before we go into chapter 17. Have you ever thought of what the difference would be if after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus had not withdrawn from the earth, if he would have stayed here? What would have happened? Well, we can be sure of this, that God would have vindicated his Son on the earth. Those who crucified him would have been judged.

There would have been judgment sweeping over the earth as there will be in the future. In reading this some time ago, it struck me that it was a very gracious act of the Lord Jesus to leave the earth when he did. Because he wanted to bring in an era, an age where the grace of God would be revealed.

You see, when the Lord Jesus comes back, he's not coming back to show mercy. He's coming to manifest the righteous judgment of God. He is coming to be vindicated.

He is coming to assert his rights. That has been held in abeyance for almost 2,000 years. And instead he has sent the Spirit of God in the character of grace.

So what do we have even up to this moment? We have the Spirit of God in the world continuing the work which Christ was doing when he was here. He was the light of the world, he was exposing sin, and he was bringing the message of hope. The Spirit of God, as he says here, he will reprove, he will convict the world concerning sin.

Have you ever asked yourself, in what way is the Spirit doing this? Now, I know that the Spirit of God works independently of human beings. He is fully capable of speaking, of convicting a person in their own conscience, without being in contact with another person speaking to them. But primarily, the Spirit of God is working through Christians.

So what that means is that this is part of the responsibility and the mandate that we who are Christians have in the world. We are now to be light in the world. That's told us very, very clearly in the Scriptures.

We are sons of God, Philippians chapter 2, in the midst of a crooked and perverted nation. It's strong language. We are to shine out as in contrast, but at the same time, as attracting people to the light of hope and truth.

Philippians 2 goes on to say, holding forth the word of life, offering the message of life and hope. And so the Spirit of God is in the world, he is convicting the world concerning sin and concerning righteousness and concerning judgment. But the judgment isn't falling.

That is awaiting the return of Christ. And so it is very important for us to understand why God is acting the way he is today and why he's not acting the way a lot of people expect him to. A lot of people have the idea, if God is real, then he must act in judgment upon the wickedness that's going on.

Why isn't he? It's because he's manifesting himself as God, our Savior. That is the relationship that God is revealing to the world. And that is why, quite frankly, there's a huge difference when somebody mocks the Muslim faith and when someone mocks the Christian faith.

If the kind of things were being published about Mohammed that are being spread around about Christ today, there would be bloodshed on every street corner. There would be riots all over the place. There would be bombings and there would be all kinds of things.

But people know basically they can say whatever they want, against Christianity, there's no consequence. For now. Why? Because God is manifesting himself in mercy.

He is holding back justice and judgment from the earth and so that must affect our attitude and our character towards the world. Now in chapter 17, the Lord Jesus, I've already read a few of these verses in previous nights to draw attention to the aspect of his personal glory and his relationship to God. Let's just read a few of these verses again and pick up the thought.

In chapter 17 and verse 1, these words spoke Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee. Now listen to what he says next.

As or according as thou hast given him power, and that's the word authority, over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth.

I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Now can you imagine any other man uttering words like this? You know, there's something so profound and sublime in these words.

No one else, I would almost imagine that no one else would even think of saying such things. But here's a man on earth looking up into the heavens and speaking to God in such familiar terms. And speaking about an existence before the world was in existence.

A glory that he shared with God before the world existed. You see, it's absolutely absurd for people to want to believe in Christ as a prophet or as a good man without accepting that he is God. That he is Christ.

That he is deity. That he possesses the essence of the eternal creator. That's who he is.

But it's interesting that he also says, and this is very important for all of us to grasp in verse two and three, that he says that the Father has committed into his hands authority over every human being. This is a glory that belongs to him uniquely. He possesses absolute authority over every human destiny.

So it doesn't matter what anybody else says, what anybody else tries to make up or pass around, whatever it may be, you and I will deal with Christ as far as our eternal destiny. He is the one in whose power, in whose authority my destiny rests. What does he want to use that authority for? Well it says here to give eternal life.

This is the character of grace. This is the character of his love to mankind. There's a day coming, I've already said, when he's going to assert his right to rule.

Anyone who isn't ready for him to rule over them will go into the lake of fire forever and ever with no return. What's the judgment that is going to happen when he sets up his kingdom? Before the millennium ever starts, Matthew chapter 25, when he gathers the living nations before him and he separates the sheep from the goats as the illustration is used, and those that he judges are cast into eternal fire. Final judgment for them.

He possesses that absolute authority. He hasn't asserted that authority for 2000 years in that sense on earth. He has withdrawn physically from the world in order that we might repent and come into the blessing that he has come to give.

So I hope that you recognize and appreciate the character of his relationship to the world. Rejected, crucified, yet wanting to give life. This is life, eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.

What does it mean? This is life, eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God. Eternal life is a relationship. That's what we're going to see very powerfully in this chapter.

I want to just draw attention to what concerns him directly in his relationship to God here. Verse 4, I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do, and then he makes a request, glorify thou me with thine own self. He alone could ask such a thing of the Father.

To be brought back into the realm of absolute majesty, authority, and splendor that belonged to him, which he set aside when he came out of heaven and came into our world and took up humanity. But the difference now is this. He is going to ascend into the heavens as a man.

He is not discarding his manhood and simply ascending back as a spirit being. He is ascending into the glory of the heavens to the eternal throne as a man. Now that holds tremendous prospect for humanity.

And the rest of the chapter then links us who have believed in him with himself in relationship to God. Now, verse 6 down, he is repeating over and over again, those that you have given me, those that you have given me out of the world. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world.

And you go down through the chapter and you see that his interest, his intercession is directed towards those who belong to him out of the world. He is not praying in a general way for the world. He is praying for those who have been called out of the world into relationship with himself.

And he mentions that in verse 9. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine, and all mine are thine, thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. Now, let's notice a few other verses.

Verse 14. I have given them thy word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou should take them out of the world, but thou should keep them from the evil.

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them, set them apart through thy truth. Thy word is truth.

As, or according as, thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and has loved them as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world.

O righteous Father, the world has not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me, and I have declared unto them thy name, and I will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. Now I hope you can see from this passage that Christianity is something other than a good set of rules to live by. There are commandments given to us, there are exhortations, we are urged to behave a certain way, but Christianity is something deeper than an external code of conduct.

It's a life that is eternal. It's not something that I could create in myself. It is a life that has been given upon believing in Christ that brings me into relationship with the living God, and out from that life, inner life, flows to outward behavior.

Whenever I find myself having a battle, particularly with sin or with attitudes, with, you know, things just aren't functioning very well, I have to keep going back to recognize that the failure, the fault, is in the inner life. Now that's really getting back to John 15, the vine and the branches again, but this is really extending that concept. But I want you to see that the word glory occurs quite often here.

Now I should really remind you of some of the definitions or attempted definitions for glory, which I gave you back on Sunday afternoon, I think it was. The definition that I like the most is that it is displayed excellence or beauty. It is something that is impressive, something that is beautiful, something that is awesome, that is manifested, and it creates a reaction of appreciation or awe or worship or admiration.

And the Lord is talking here about a glory. First of all, a glory which he shared with God before the universe existed. That is uniquely the glory of deity.

Yet he begins to talk about a glory which the Father has bestowed upon him, which he has given to us. Now, does that mean that we're going to become God? No. There will always be a distinction between the creator and the creature.

But this is very, very strong language. He talks about a life that is given. A life that is shared.

I in them. Thou in me. And if Christ is living in me, that life is going to be beautiful.

And if that life develops and grows in me and manifests itself out in my life, my attitudes, my behavior, there's going to be something admirable about it. And so Christians have a spiritual life that they possess that has a pure and perfect source. And it's beautiful.

It is love in essence. That's what he says as we get down to the end of the chapter. But what I want to suggest to you is this.

Is that the Lord Jesus coming into humanity. Now, let me make a distinction here. He was the son of the Father before he ever came into the world.

There's an eternal relationship. God is not a solitary, unique entity, but a Trinity. And actually he has made the whole universe built upon that concept of things that are as triune.

Time, matter, space, and all that kind of thing. All shares that kind of formation of existence. And God exists in this plurality of being a Father, a Son, a Holy Spirit.

So there is that eternal relationship. But when he came into humanity, he became in a new sense the Son of the living God. He stepped into humanity to become the new head over humanity.

To become our rescuer, our redeemer. He is not just, you know, as something totally other than us. He has become one of us.

And as I mentioned before, in ascending back into the glory and taking up his residence, his position at the right hand of God in absolute majesty and splendor, he is there in manhood. So now when a person gets saved, they are born of God. And a parallel language is used of us.

We are sons of God. God delights to use that language of us. We are not just creatures that he has rescued from the abyss.

We have no personal life connection with him. He has begotten us. We are his by birth, by new birth.

He is our Father. So now just as the Lord Jesus speaks of God as my Father, he now introduces us into this relationship with God that we know God in relationship as my Father. So Christianity then is fundamentally a relationship with God as Father in union with Christ.

And so it is a wonderful bundle of life that we are embraced in, united in with the Lord Jesus forever. So that's why as you go down through the chapter, he says, I'm glorified in them. It should always make us very careful about how we think of fellow Christians.

He says he's glorified in Christians. Yes, there are still things about us that are of the old corrupted creation that he's going to dispense with in a coming day. But we are of God.

And he is working to produce in us a new creation. This is the power of the Spirit of God working. And he is glorified in us.

He is brought out into display. He is made known. What are the mechanics of it? Well, it's spoken here.

I mean, the whole chapter itself is a good example, isn't it? He's praying. He's communing with the Father. He is interceding for the well-being of those that he is concerned with.

Then he says, and I could have read this in a number of these verses, but he says in verse 14, I have given them thy word. Now, I don't know what value you place upon the word of God, upon the Bible. But you could not, I could not overestimate the importance, the value of what we have contained in this book, the Bible.

Because in it is the record of divine truth. The truth of God necessary for us as Christians, for this life to be developed, is here within the Scriptures. I have given them thy word.

Then he says a little further down, thy word is truth. It's not just that there's, you know, there's true things in the Bible, but thy word is truth. And if you want to know eternal truth, absolute truth, meditate in the word of God.

I have absolutely no regrets for every moment that I have ever spent thinking about the word of God. It is a spiritual fountain of life. And I find over and over again, it is the word of God, appreciated, meditated in, and followed, that separates me from the evil that would destroy me, that would corrupt me.

Now, notice what he says in the verses near the end of the chapter, down from verse 20 down. He says, verse 21, that they all may be one. That they may be one in us.

Again, verse 22, the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one. What is he getting at here? I've tried to make a distinction between the eternal glory of deity, which cannot be shared with a creature. I'm going to suggest that it's the glory of relationship.

The beauty, the excellence, the riches of a love relationship. I mean, most of us know in life that a relationship of love is the most precious thing that we possess on earth. You can accomplish all kinds of things in life.

You can have different kinds of achievements. But a relationship of love is the essence of life. And the eternal God wants to bless us with himself.

Eternal life is the gift of God to me. The gift of Christ to me. He that has the Son has the life.

That's what 1 John 5 says. And as I've said so many times, marriage is the closest natural thing that corresponds to it, that gives us an idea of the kind of thing that he's thinking of. And we can't get away from the reality here that he's talking about relationship, that they may be one.

And that is exactly what marriage is. It is oneness. A commitment to one another.

A life shared together. And of course the sexual act is the act of oneness. And that, again, I can remind you of something very straightforward and simple.

That is why God holds sexual intercourse as being sacred. It belongs exclusively to a man and a woman who are committed to each other for life. It is never intended to be experienced outside of a total commitment of those two people to each other.

Anything else is a destruction. And it harms the individual rather than being an expression of wholeness and completeness. God has created life.

God has designed life. He holds a patent. And no society has ever improved on God's patent.

But that which is natural, which is experienced physically, is a shadow of the reality that is spiritual. And in Christianity it is not just the best set of rules that you could ever live by, the best set of ethics, but it is a life joined with the eternal. And so there has to be glory associated with it.

Because God is glorious. He is the fullness of splendor, of perfection. And so that glory is as I have given to them.

He is sharing with us what he alone has a true right to have and enjoy from the Father. And then there's an outcome. You see, although you could read this chapter and think, well, I guess Christ isn't interested in the world.

He's just praying for his own people. And the world, well, they're out. That's not really quite true.

As he gathers in a people for himself, there is this light of this beautiful life. It says, that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. In other words, that other people who are not saved will see that there is something there that I am missing, that I need.

So this is supposed to have practical consequences for our daily lives. And all of us are imperfect in our expression of this life. But it is, in essence here, it is relationship with Christ in him with the Father.

And it is a relationship that is described as being love. Thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. And then at the very close of the chapter, it says, and I have declared unto them thy name.

In other words, he is saying, I have made the Father known. I have made you known. I have made you knowable to them.

I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it, I will manifest it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. So my responsibility as a Christian, and the measure in which I am going to enter into the blessing and the glory of this which is here for us, is in the measure in which I dwell in this love. And that's something that I can't do for you, you can't do for me.

The only thing that we can do is to help to foster that character of life in our relationships that will tend to stir and encourage that love to be experienced. And I would have liked to have gotten into the book of Philemon tonight because I'm preparing for a Bible reading on it, and it actually relates to all of this because it's a very personal letter about a problem between individuals. That the Apostle Paul seeks to bridge in a beautiful example of the ministry of reconciliation.

And he speaks there about, for love's sake, I am beseeching you, for love's sake. In other words, he is saying, I want you to do not just what is right for you as an individual, but what will express the love of Christ, the love that you have come into. You know, if we were really, really in the full measure of this enjoyment, we would have a wonderful time in our Christian relationships.

But we seem to stumble many times, and we let something of ourselves get in the way, and then we are in conflict and in problems. Now, we are not going to avoid problems over here on earth, but I want to spend a little bit of time looking at Titus chapter 2 because I want to link this now with our present life and the future as it is in this chapter. As I mentioned, the special character of God's relationship to mankind today is God our Savior, and that's one of the key terms that you find in the book of Titus.

And let's just drop down to the latter part of chapter 2. He is talking actually here about servants who are slaves literally in that day. Verse 9. Exhort servants or slaves to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things, not answering again or not answering back, not purloining, that's not thieving, but showing all good fidelity or faithfulness, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. Now, I could have read the whole chapter, but there's a whole list here of exhortations to us according to who we are and whatever relationships we're in, older people, younger people, husbands and wives and so on.

But I'm just picking up the end of it. And this would apply to every one of us, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. Does your life adorn the doctrine, the teaching of God our Savior? Is your life like a beautiful piece of jewelry, an ornament, that is attractive, that highlights, that draws attention to God himself as a Savior? Let's read the verses that follow.

This is an explanation of what he's been talking about. He says, 4. The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing. And that literally is the appearing of the glory of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people or a people for his own treasure, zealous of good works.

These things speak and exert and rebuke with all authority, let no man despise thee. I really just want to spend a few minutes at the end of the meeting looking at this connection between grace and glory. I've already given you some of this in what I've touched on at the beginning of the meeting.

God is presently showing grace. Grace is undeserved kindness. It is God working to save.

It is in preparation for something that is inevitable. Something that the future holds, and that is that God, in all his awesomeness, is going to be revealed in this world. The Old Testament foretold it.

The New Testament picks up the same thread and tells us again. There is a moment approaching in history when the invisible God is going to be manifested visibly. It tells us here who it is.

Let me identify these expressions. It says, looking for that blessed hope and appearing of the glory. These two terms are linked together in the original.

It's not as when I grew up we were taught to distinguish between the blessed hope and the glorious appearing as being the rapture and the revelation. Well, I'm not going to argue with anybody about this because for us who are saved it does begin at the rapture. We are going to see him then.

But this doesn't end with the rapture. This blessed hope is the reality that God's glory, in all its totality, is going to become seen, visible in this world. And it is the Son who is going to be that manifestation of the glory of God.

And the second expression of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, again the very same Greek construction, holds these two terms together. They have to be the same person. And some translations will put it this way, our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

But he's still coming as a man, isn't he? Deity in manhood. From that moment on there will not any longer be a hidden deity. God will not be hidden from his creation.

He will be manifested in his awesome glory in the Son. That moment is coming. And the present working of God, of his grace, bringing salvation, is the only thing that can prepare us for that inevitable moment.

If you do not experience his salvation now, you will not be prepared to meet him then. And it will be the horror of being cast out from the presence of God forever and ever. And no wishful thinking will change that.

That's the reality. What he is saying now in the verses just before that, he says, For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. There is no restriction, there is no exclusive nature in the character of this salvation.

It doesn't just belong to Jewish people. It isn't just the hope of Israel. This belongs to all of mankind.

It is universal. And while not all people will be saved, God is willing to save anyone. The grace of God, the undeserved kindness of God that brings salvation, And that salvation is what fits us for the presence of God.

That salvation begins with the forgiveness of sins. It begins with the clearing from all guilt before God. And that is a standing that a Christian is given the moment they trust in Christ.

It is a wonderful thing to go through life knowing that we are not perfect, That we are still a disappointment to God, And yet we are perfectly safe because of his grace in Christ. Now, verse 14 explains why this is so. It says, The great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, That he might redeem us from all iniquity.

I will eternally be looking into the face of a man who died for me, Whom I have come to believe, to accept, is my creator, my God. What a relationship to have for eternity. That the one who rules all things, The one whose authority is absolute over all of his creation, He gave his life in all its perfection, In all its human purity and innocence, He gave that life so that my sins could be removed righteously forever and ever.

That's the grace of God that has appeared. So what does that teach us then? Those of us who have embraced that grace, that salvation, What attitude does that create? And what kind of teaching does that give us? The word teach here is actually the word that we use as discipline or disciple. It is to train us.

It trains us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts. So this again brings me back to the sobering reality of life here on earth, Where it's more of an embarrassment to be inexperienced in sin, Than an embarrassment to be experienced in sin. That is the strange atmosphere in which we are living today.

Where if you don't know anything about a certain kind of sin, Well, you really should be embarrassed. Denying ungodliness, denying this attitude of ignoring God, Rejecting his authority, his right over me, And worldly lusts. You see, when God is denied, we become slaves to lust.

That's what Romans chapter 1 teaches. And that's what we see lived out in our culture today. But denying that, turning away from that, recognizing that as being false and destructive, It says we should live soberly.

Now that word soberly is used quite a number of times in this chapter. And it's really talking about the word wisdom. And the fact to have true insight of life.

To really see things as they really are. And to have control over our emotions, our feelings, our desires. To have them controlled by what is wisdom, what is wise.

So that relates me to myself, the way I handle myself. To live soberly, realistically, and righteously. That's how I relate to other people.

That I do not violate their right, their honor, their dignity, and so on. And godly. That is to live in the consciousness of God.

This is the atmosphere in which a Christian is trained to live. By the appreciation of the grace of God. Now, as we live our lives, at least I find myself, fluctuating.

And weakness shows up in these different aspects. And as I said, I have to come back to the essential thing of my own knowledge of God. My appreciation of God.

My relationship to Him in the Lord Jesus. But this all makes sense for a Christian. Why? Because we are looking.

We are waiting. For what we really belong to. You see, I've been actually taken out of this present age.

I don't belong to it anymore. And it doesn't take much for me to feel that. And I'm sure every Christian here knows what I'm saying.

You know you don't belong with the atmosphere of what is in the world. You don't fit. It's because you belong to the age to come.

Looking for that blessed hope. The prospect that belongs to us as Christians. Which is all involved in the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior.

It's a wonderful thing to know that when the Lord appears, I'm going to be like Him. Colossians chapter 3 brings this truth out again. It says you're dead.

Well, a lot of people think Christians are dead. Well, we are. We are.

And we don't mind being dead at all, actually. We are cut off. The relationship is cut off from that life that is of the world.

Because the life of the world is a life that's alienated from God. And we are now united with God. And in Colossians 3 it says you're dead.

You died. And your life is hid with Christ in God. Now that expression really is so beautiful.

You're going to get to it if you travel fast enough in your Bible readings this year. Hopefully you get to it this year. Your life, the essence of what you are as a Christian, is hidden from the world.

But it's hidden with Christ. That means it's absolutely secure. It's united with Him in God Himself.

But then the verse goes on to say that when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory. It's going to be quite a thing for Christians who have to live now knowing that we don't fit. Knowing that we carry a certain reproach to be brought back into the world with Christ in all His splendor, in all His awesomeness, and to belong with Him rather than among those that He is coming to judge.

Is it worth it? Well, each of us will answer that question in the way we live our lives. So may God open our hearts and minds to see the hope, to see the prospect, to value what He has as He holds out the future that is eternal. And to recognize that it is worthwhile being a little different today because we're going to fit then in His kingdom, shall we pray.

Our God and our Father, we acknowledge freely that the more that we come into harmony with Thee, the more we would come into conflict with what the world is. And the Lord was not speaking carelessly when He said, If the world hate you. We recognize that there is still an animosity against Christ and what He represents.

We know that in the light of Thy presence, sin is uncomfortable. And we have to make a choice whether we will hold on to our sin or whether we will abandon it for Thy presence. We pray that Thou would help us to make the wise choice.