FOR GOD'S GLORY

It was nearly 10 years ago since I met the most famous person that I've ever met.

And when I say met them, they waved at me.

And when I say me, it was potentially the guy beside me, but most likely me.

I was in Sacramento, California, for the National Youth Work Convention.

And at the end of a small group, I decided to go and grab some lunch before catching a flight home.

As we walked out of the convention center and down into the mall, I noticed just to my left,

a couple of black cars parked in the mall, SUVs with blacked out windows and all that.

And it was at that point that I noticed that one had a submachine gun and the other one had a shotgun poking up just above the dash.

Each car had a couple of guys in them wearing black suits, wearing white shirts with black ties and black sunglasses.

And so it was either a remake of Men in Black or potentially, my hope was that it was the Secret Service.

Given that the shotgun was a Remington 870 12 gauge and the machine gun was a Heckler-Kosh MP5 9mm, chosen weapons of the Secret Service,

I figured it was in fact the Secret Service.

And the fact that they also had an earpiece and were talking into their hands kind of gave it away as well.

I noticed in that moment, quickly looking around, that there were various Secret Service guys in the mall.

So, it's either they're on protection duty or something pretty crazy is about to go down.

So, either way, I figured I'm going to get a front row seat to see what happens.

And so, grabbed a spot right near this barricade and started chomping on a burger.

And what I'd been hoping for the whole time that I was in Sacramento was to run into the governor of California,

one of the greatest actors and philosophical thinkers of all time, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

And I wasn't disappointed.

I was chomping on my burger when all of a sudden, he appeared from a restaurant about 50 metres from where I was seated.

And a friend and I, in that moment, who were both chomping and almost choking at this point,

we both jumped up onto our chairs and over the tops of the screams of the adoring fans,

we called out like a couple of teenagers at a Bieber concert,

Hey, Arnie!

Arnie!

Arnie!

And he turned and he waved at me.

As did the Secret Service, turn and not wave but look at us.

And in that moment, you've got his attention.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, you know, have you watched Kindergarten Cop?

I mean, come on!

The guy's a comedy actor as well.

And there he is.

And he's looking at me and we're waving.

And the only thing that I could think of in that moment was,

We'll be back!

He looked as if he'd heard it before.

Now, to mark this personal milestone, I quickly took a couple of shots,

which I'm hoping to pass on to my children.

So up here, that's him right there.

The next one's a bit clearer.

Next one, Tim.

That's his nose!

That's him just appearing from behind there, the pole.

Well, they are treasured memories of mine, those two photos,

of the moment that I met Arnold Schwarzenegger, kind of.

Now, if you could be famous for one thing, what would it be?

You see, there's a weird fascination in our world with celebrity.

A recent study in the United States revealed that 54% of teenagers want to be famous.

Of those that crave fame, 68% said they weren't sure how on earth it was ever going to happen.

But 21% of them said that they would audition for reality TV shows in hope to become famous.

Things like Britain's Got Talent and The X Factor in order to reach the masses.

You see, reality TV has become enormously popular.

It drives me nuts.

I hate any form of reality TV.

Except for maybe Escape to the Country, if that's reality TV.

I'm not really sure.

You see, what it does, what reality TV does,

it holds out the promise that any average smuck might be able to become famous for some ridiculous talent.

They might have that one shot at fame.

Now, fame is a major goal in life.

Apparently, Alexander the Great was the first person to have a celebrity culture in the modern sense of the word.

That's according to an English professor who authored a book called The Frenzy of Renown.

And he wrote, not only did he want to be unique, but he wanted to tell everyone about it.

And he had an apparatus for telling everyone about it.

He had techniques for doing famous things.

He had historians, painters, sculptors, and gem carvers, bringing him along as entourage for every one of his battles.

He wanted them to record that Alexander was famous.

Now, we don't need historians and painters and sculptors and gem carvers.

We've got Instagram and Facebook and selfie sticks,

recording every meal that we eat, every place that we visit.

Self-obsession.

We want to leave our mark.

We want to be known for something significant or to be regarded highly as an expert in a field.

We want to be, may not necessarily to be worldwide fame.

If we could get that, that would be awesome.

It may be just famous in Australia or even in a country or in a city or have a street named after you.

Someone in Nat's family has had a park named after them.

They've got an album this thick of all the photos, of all the articles about them, about this park.

Maybe it's just want to be the best in your family or something or even to have a park on the wall at church

or just simply ensuring that I am remembered.

We live life to make our name great, to make it remembered.

My kids won't give a rip about those photos or the moment that I, Arnold Schwarzenegger,

they won't even know who he is by the time they grow up.

Our mission statement says that we exist for a different purpose than making ourselves great and famous.

St. Paul's exists to know Jesus, to treasure Jesus, to represent Jesus for God's glory,

to make his name great and for the joy of all people.

We exist to make much of Jesus in order that we might make much of God.

And that's what I want to look at today.

What it means to exist for God's glory.

In Isaiah 6, which Wendy just read out to us, if you've got your Bibles, I'd love you to open up there, Isaiah 6.

What we notice, first of all, is that God is not like us.

He is, in fact, worthy of fame.

He is, in fact, worthy of glory and honor and praise.

There are at least seven glimpses of God in these first four verses of Isaiah 6.

Firstly, we notice that God is alive.

In the year, it says,

That is, King Uzziah, the most powerful man in the world at that time, has just died, but God lives on.

Psalm 90, verse 2 says,

Psalms 90:2

God was the living God when this universe banged into existence.

He was the living God when the Great Wall of China was built.

He was the living God in 1966 when Time magazine put on its title page,

God is dead.

He will be living 10 trillion ages from now.

There is not a single head of state currently ruling in the world who will still be doing that in 90 years' time.

In a brief 120 years, this planet will be populated by more than 10 billion brand new people who currently do not exist.

All of us alive today will vanish and be gone, just like Uzziah, but not God.

He never had a beginning and therefore depends on nothing for his existence.

He always has and always will be alive.

Secondly, we notice that God is authoritative.

Verse 2,

When he saw the law, he saw him seated on a throne.

You see, no vision of heaven, goes throughout the Bible, will ever,

you ever catch a glimpse of God plowing a field or cutting the grass or shining shoes or loading a truck

or filling out papers and reports.

He sits and he sits on a throne.

All is at peace and all is in control.

The throne is his right to rule that which he has made.

You see, we do not give God authority over our lives.

He has it whether we like it or not.

Few things are more humbling.

Few things give us that sense of raw majesty

as the truth that God is utterly, totally authoritative.

After him, there is no other court of appeal.

Thirdly, we see that God is all-powerful.

The throne of his authority is not just one amongst many.

He doesn't hold the bench with a bunch of other like-minded people.

His throne is high and exalted.

The throne that is God's throne is higher than every other throne

and it signifies God's superior power to exercise his authority.

That means that no opposing authority can nullify the decrees of God.

What he purposes, he always accomplishes.

As God says a little bit further in Isaiah 46, verse 10, he says,

Isaiah 46:10

I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.

I say, my purpose will stand and I will do all that I please.

Or again, in Daniel chapter 4, speaking about God, says,

Daniel 4 · chapter mention

he does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth.

You see, to be gripped by the all-powerful sovereignty of God

is either marvelous because he is for you

or it is terrifying because he is against you.

Indifference, to sit here and to be indifferent

to his all-encompassing power and sovereignty

simply means that you just have not seen it.

The sovereign authority, the living God,

is a refuge full of joy and power for those who are his

and it's terrifying for those who are not.

Fourthly, we see that God is magnificent.

I saw the Lord seated on the throne, highly exalted,

and the train of his robe filled the temple.

The best image I have of this one is back in 1981

when Diana, Princess of Wales, married,

or Diana married Prince Charles, became the Princess of Wales.

And I remember as a little kid,

I might have been 11 or something like that,

staying up to the wee hours to see this on TV.

I had no idea what we were doing.

And when it came on, I remember the women in the room going,

as she got out of the carriage and walked up

and the train of her wedding dress just kept coming

and coming and coming and it was like eight metres long

and then going,

what?

You know, for me it was no big deal,

but it seemed to cover,

and you look at the images of it,

it seemed to cover the steps of St Paul's Cathedral.

What would it mean if the train of her robe just kept coming

and it filled the aisles and it covered the seats

and the choir loft and the pulpit

and it was all made out of one fabric,

woven together into one piece?

What would that mean?

It would mean a little bit more than...

That God's robe fills the entire heavenly temple

means that God is incomparable in splendour.

The fullness of God's splendour shows itself in millions of ways.

The magnificence spills over in excessive beauty

as God the creator expresses himself in what he has made.

We see it in the wonder of creation all through this universe,

from the tiniest of atoms to the depths of the oceans

to the furthest reaches of the universe.

It all displays his splendour, his character.

Fifthly, God is revered.

Above him were seraphs, each with six wings,

with two wings they covered their faces,

with two they covered their feet,

with two they were flying.

Now no one actually knows what these strange six-winged creatures are

with feet and eyes and they've obviously got intelligence.

One thing is for sure, given the grandeur of the scene

and the power of the angelic hosts,

we had best not picture fat little babies

with wings fluttering around the head of God.

That's not the picture of angels in the Bible.

According to verse 4,

when one of these creatures speaks,

the foundations of the temple shake.

And Jason could not turn this microphone up enough right now

in order for me to shake this building.

There are no puny or silly creatures in heaven,

only magnificent ones.

And the point is this,

even these creatures,

as magnificent as they are,

not even they look upon the Lord,

nor do they feel worthy

even to leave their feet exposed in his presence.

As good and as great as they are,

as untainted by human sin as they are,

they revere their maker with great humility.

So just think of that

in terms of escalation of scale.

See, one of these creatures appeared to us.

What they generally do,

according to the Bible,

is one of the first things they say is fear not

when they appear to a human being.

Because that's exactly what you do

if one of these things appeared to you.

You would fear.

You would think you were going to be dead.

And yet even they hide in holy fear and reverence

before this God.

The sixth thing we find is that God is holy.

And they were calling to one another,

holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty.

The whole earth is full of his glory.

The possibilities of language

to carry the meaning of God actually run out.

The word holy carries us to the brink.

And from there on,

the experience of God is beyond articulation.

And the reason I say that

is that every effort to define

what the holiness of God actually means

just winds up with you saying that

God is holy means that God is God.

The meaning of the word holy is to cut or separate.

A holy thing is cut off or separated from common use.

Earthly things and persons are holy

as they are distinct from the world

and they are devoted to God.

But what happens if this definition is applied to God himself?

From what can you separate God

in order to make him holy?

The very godness of God means that he is in fact

already separated from all that is not God.

He exists.

He exists in a different way than we exist.

We, his creatures, exist in dependent,

derived, finite, fragile ways.

But our creator exists in an eternal,

self-sustaining, necessary way.

Necessary in the sense that God does not have it in him

to go out of existence.

In the same way that we do not have it in us

to keep living on forever.

We necessarily age and die

because it is our present nature in order to do that.

And God necessarily continues forever

unchanged in his being.

The God of the Bible needs no support system.

God is one of a kind.

In that sense, he is utterly holy.

But then you have said no more than he is God.

God has life in himself

and he draws his unending energy from himself.

He is the absolute reality beyond which

there is only just simply more of God.

God is not holy.

He is not holy because he keeps the rules.

He wrote the rules.

He is not holy because he keeps the law.

The law is holy because it reveals him.

God is absolute.

Everything else is derived from him.

In the end, God is holy in that he is God

and he's not us.

He is incomparable.

His holiness determines all that he is and that he does

and is determined by no one.

You can call it his majesty.

You can call it his divinity.

You can call it his greatness.

You can call it his value.

In the end, language runs out.

There may be yet to know, more to know of God,

but it is beyond words.

And so as Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 20 says,

Habakkuk 2:20

There is a seventh and a final thing about God

and that is that God is glorious.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

The whole earth is full of his glory.

And I've been wrestling with this bit all week

and Sam communicates it in 30 seconds.

Thank you for that.

I'll take a little bit longer.

God's glory is the revealing of his holiness.

God is glorious means that God's holiness

has gone public.

That is, his divine being, his character,

who he is, has gone public.

Unless he reveals who he is,

unless he reveals himself,

we cannot see him for who he is.

But when he does,

we see glory.

And there's only one response to glory.

Leviticus 10 verse 3,

Leviticus 10:3

God says,

Among those who approach me,

I will show myself holy.

That is, I will reveal my character, my being.

I will go public.

In the sight of all people,

I will be honored.

Or another word for honored is glorified.

When God reveals his glory to his creatures,

the response of his creatures is to glorify God.

To give glory to God.

That is what we were created and redeemed for.

What it means to glorify God

is in fact to respond to his glory.

We cannot glorify God without engaging with his glory.

You see, God wants to be praised for his praiseworthiness

and exalted for his greatness and his goodness.

He wants to be appreciated for who and what he is.

But the glory that is his goal is in fact a two-sided thing,

a two-stage relationship.

It is this process of to-ing and fro-ing

where God reveals his glory to people and to angels

in a free and radically generous way.

And at the same time,

there is a response of adoration on the part of people and of angels

where they give glory to God out of gratitude for what they have seen

and what they have received from him.

The glory of God is received by us.

And so the way to glorify God is to be engaging with God.

You cannot glorify him without engaging with his glory.

God's glory showing requires glory giving.

And this is the heart of the true fulfillment of God's creatures.

It brings joy to people as it does to God.

Notice Isaiah's response in seeing God's glory in verse 5.

Woe to me!

I cried, I am ruined,

for I am a man of unclean lips

and I live among a people of unclean lips.

And my eyes have seen the King,

the Lord Almighty.

You see, Isaiah responds appropriately

to seeing the magnificence and the perfection

and the splendor of God.

He understands himself.

He understands that he is not God.

He sees his limitation,

his finiteness,

his unworthiness,

his failure,

his lack of praiseworthiness.

He understands his true self,

that he in fact is not worthy

of the praise and the honor

and the fame of the nations.

In seeing God,

he sees himself.

He is humbled

and he confesses his sin.

And what's God's reaction?

One of the seraphs comes to Isaiah

and says,

he places a colon,

he's from the altar in the temple,

places a colon in his lips

and he says,

your guilt is taken away

and your sin is atoned for.

At least one major purpose

in God revealing his glory

is for us to experience

his compassion and his mercy

and his forgiveness.

Now, the New Testament writers

proclaim that the public display

of God's nature and character

and power and purpose

is now open to view

in the person and the role

of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In fact,

John chapter 12, verse 41

John 12:41

is pretty explicit.

John chapter 12, verse 41 says this,

John 12:41

Isaiah said this

because he saw Jesus' glory

and spoke about him.

What John 12 is saying

is that what Isaiah saw

in Isaiah 6

was in fact the enthroned Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the one who radiates,

reflects, mirrors, displays

the character and purpose

and power of God

and the magnificence

of what went public in Jesus

was the plan and the work

and grace whereby he saved sinners.

And so as a church,

we want to make much,

much of Jesus.

To know Jesus,

to treasure Jesus,

to represent Jesus

is in fact to bring glory to God.

Now it probably shocks us

to think

that God's goal

is in fact

his glory.

His goal

is to make much

of himself.

Probably shocks us

to that

because if I stood up here

and I said,

well my goal in life

is to make much

of Steve Jeffery.

In fact,

your goal

is to make much

of Steve Jeffery.

At that point,

you would go,

right,

time to look

for another church.

Because it's

just pure

ego driven.

No one

can say

you exist

for my glory

except God.

But

unlike God

where I would say

you exist

for my glory,

it's about my ego.

To exist

for God's glory

and for God

to exist

for his glory

does not

point to

divine ego

but is the

very foundation

of his love

for us.

God

doing

everything

for his glory

is the

foundation

of his

love for us.

Listen to what

the Bible says.

Let me just ask

a few questions

and I'll look at

some Bible passages.

Why did God

forgive our sins

and make us

his children

through Jesus?

According to

Ephesians 1

that the glory

of his grace

might be praised.

Why did God

create a people

for himself?

According to God

in Isaiah 43

I created them

for my glory.

Why did God

spare

rebellious Israel

in the wilderness

and finally

bring them

into the promised land?

According to God

in Ezekiel 20

I acted

for the sake

of my name

that it

should not

be profaned

in the sight

of the nations.

And according

to Isaiah 66

the reason

why God

sends messengers

out to tell

the far reaches

of the world

about his fame

and his glory

is that those

people might

be gathered

to him

and verse

22 says

as the new

heavens

and the new

earth

that I make

will endure

before me

so will

your name

and your

descendants

endure

forever

go to the

far reach

of the earth

declare

my name

declare

my fame

declare

my glory

that you

might be

gathered to

me

so that I

will make

your name

great

forever.

His glory

his pursuit

of his glory

is the very

foundation

of his love

for us.

Live for

the glory

of God

live for

his glory

for his

fame

and he

will make

your name

endure

forever.

God's

commitment

to his

glory

means love

and life

and forgiveness

and eternal

fame for those

who live for

his glory.

His commitment

to his glory

is the

foundation of

his love

for us.

It's not

about divine

ego.

And that's

why you

read passages

that Wendy

read out to

us in 1

Corinthians 10

where the

apostle Paul

says do

everything

for the

glory of

God.

And whatever

you, so

whether you

eat or

drink,

whatever you

do, do

it all

for the

glory of

God.

Do

everything

for the

glory of

God.

When you're

eating your

cheese and

bickies and

drinking your

diet coke,

do it all

for the

glory of

God.

Not for

personal

benefit, for

personal advancement,

for personal

promotion, for

personal glory,

personal satisfaction,

but for God's

glory.

And it does

actually come

down to the

nitty-gritty,

even to

eating and

drinking.

That is,

God's glory is

all-encompassing

of our lives.

Jesus is not

just for

Sundays.

Relationship

with him

touches

everything,

everything in

our life for

those whose

glory has been

revealed.

is, in

fact, a

God moment,

not a

Steve

Jeffrey

moment.

It's a

God moment.

Everything is

an opportunity

to engage

with God,

to worship

God, to

glorify God,

to honour

God.

24-7, every

decision is

either I'm

going to make

much of me,

or I'm

going to make

much of

God.

Now, I'm

convinced

convinced that

for us to

effectively bring

glory to

God, it

has to be

much more

about certain

external

behaviours.

That is, it's

possible for you

next week to

sign a pledge

card and not

glorify God.

It's possible

for you to not

sign a pledge

card and also

not glorify God.

to glorify God

is so much

more than

just external

behaviours.

Internal

motivations

are, in

order to

glorify God,

are absolutely

essential.

If we're not

careful, we

can get settled

into a pattern

of dutiful

behaviour,

where I read

the Bible,

I pray,

I attend

church, I'm

part of a

small group,

I give some

money to

church,

but I

don't give

praise to

God when I

go to bed at

night and

thank you for

the day I've

had, where I

can go and

purchase a

motor vehicle

and not even

pray about the

issue, ask

what God

might have in

that, where

I can build

a church

building for

my fame and

not for

God's.

That is, what

can happen is,

we can tick

certain boxes and

our relationship

with God is

all about duty,

obligation and

loyalty.

When we are

settled into

that position,

we may even

fulfil our

duty at great

personal cost.

We may even

give more and

sacrifice much.

What is

missing is

the affections.

Rather than

requiring dutiful

obedience in

doing everything

for his glory,

God is actually

interested in

us seeing

his glory and

being moved

by his glory

from our

hearts.

He wants us

to love him

according to

Deuteronomy 6.

He wants us to

light ourselves in

him according

to Psalm 37.

He wants us

to worship him

with gladness

according to

Psalm 100.

In fact, he

condemns

dutiful obedience

where there is

no gladness and

no joy in him

in Deuteronomy

28.

So picture a

husband bringing

flowers to his

wife on their

anniversary.

Must remember to

do that.

And she is

overjoyed and

she thanks him

for it.

And in that

moment, he

says, don't

mention it.

It's my duty.

Even though I

didn't really want

to do it, I

sacrificed my

money and my

time and I

bought these

flowers for you.

It's just what

I've got to do.

I think I know

how Nat would

respond.

It would be an

insult to her

honor and the

relationship.

She is honored

when the husband

sacrifices and

gives because it

is his delight to

do so.

And so here's

the thing.

If we are doing

everything for the

glory of God as

a church out of a

sense of duty and

because it is a

great personal

sacrifice for us to

do it, then it

reveals what we

really treasure.

And it's not

Jesus.

If it is a

great sacrifice

for us to do

everything for the

glory of God, it

shows us what we

truly value more

than God and it

tends to be us and

our fame, our

name.

God is

our greatest

treasure.

When he is our

greatest treasure, then

choosing him over

lesser things is not

even a sacrifice.

When we delight in

his power and his

perfection, his

beauty, his

mercy, our service

of him will glorify

him.

God is

dishonored when

all of our service

of him is but a

duty.

God desires that

we see him, that

we savor his

mercy, his

forgiveness, his

acceptance and

serve him with all

of our lives, with

joy and with

gladness.

And so I, if you

haven't connected

this, I have

deliberately connected

God's glory and the

joy of all people in

our mission statement.

They go together.

God's glory and

God's glory and

you and I were

made for the

express purpose to

glorify God at all

times, in all places,

in every circumstances.

Our deepest joy and

our most profound

happiness is that our

creator has revealed

himself to us in the

Lord Jesus Christ.

And what he has

revealed to us is that

he loves us, that he

wants to know us, that

he has given himself

for us, that he has

given us a name and a

status that will in

fact live on for all

eternity as he will

live on for all

eternity.

And that hope and

that revelation and

that status means that

we get to live for his

glory and we get to

participate in his

glory now that we're

finally able to do

the thing for what we

were made to make God

look great in

everything that we do.