Sermon Tone Analysis

2008-04-06 Ephesians 5.3-7 Imitators of God (Part 2)

 

          This is a difficult passage.

And a few weeks ago, when I was planning ahead, I thought I knew what I would preach.

But through the grace of God, He’s changed me.

In the last couple of weeks, something has changed.

My understanding of God has shifted, become truer.

I believe I finally am starting to know and understand God.

And that is humbling to admit, for I’ve been trying to communicate something of God to you for almost four years now, and I’ve been so wrong.

Will you permit me to share my experience?

I’m breaking all the rules for preaching by talking about myself.

But I think it is necessary in order to help you understand where I am coming from.

Hopefully, through God’s grace, we’ll all catch hold of this vision of God, the true God, and it will transform our lives!

What I’ve come to understand, and this is so obvious to so many of you.

Most of you will probably just smile and acknowledge something you’ve discovered long ago, is that God is worthy of glory simply because He is God!

          God is glorified, God will be glorified, and God’s glory is neither diminished nor increased by my behaviour.

This is hugely significant!

Because if God’s glory is dependent upon what I do, or if circumstances in my life change, then there must be something wrong with God, and the passage, “The Lord has mercy on whom he has mercy”, just doesn’t sound comforting.

When Moses, confronted by God in the Burning Bush, asked God for God’s name, this is what God said.

“I Am who I Am.

Tell them, I Am sent you.”

God is who he is!

God has always been and God will always be!  God doesn’t change.

God is perfectly glorified, and is worthy of all glory!

Angels bow before him!

Creatures sing praises to His name eternally.

They have wings that cover their eyes because though their sole purpose is to sing “Holy, Holy, Holy” they are not able to look at him!

They cannot behold His glory!

Last week I talked about Moses seeing the tail end of God’s glory.

Afterward His face shone, it reflected, it radiated God’s glory!

And the people of Israel asked Moses to veil his face.

They could not stand to see God’s glory.

This week, I came across the Apostle Paul’s words concerning this matter and I’d like to read them to you right now!

          I’m going to read all of 2 Corinthians 3, because it is very important.

It describes exactly what I’m trying to express.

“Are we beginning to commend ourselves again?

Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody.

3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

4 Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?

9 If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.

11 And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

                12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.

13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away.

14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read.

It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.

15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.

16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”[1]

That is a bit of what I’ve experienced these last few weeks.

I’ve beheld God’s glory, and the veil has been removed!

That is my prayer for you!

That you too, if you haven’t seen it already, will be able to see it.

That is my prayer for ministry, that I might, week after week, declare and proclaim the glory of God!

And this is why it is so vital; this is why it is my job!

If we do not comprehend God’s glory, then all our striving is for nothing!

For, if we think we can add to God’s glory, then we elevate ourselves to too much importance!

Or if we think that our sin, or our mistakes can actually reduce God’s glory, then we’ve also failed to realise that God is perfectly glorified already!

The first one leads to works righteousness, and the second one leads to total despair.

But is it enough to comprehend God’s glory?

Well, yes, that’s the start.

But even the demons comprehend and believe, and shudder.

Some will still be veiled, even if they see God’s glory!

There is more, we have to embrace God’s glory!

We have to see it, see God, and completely desire God!  Seeing God and His glory is acknowledging no other allegiance.

It is always seeking God and God’s glory in every moment of life!

And that has profound impact on our daily living!

I’ll tell you why this is so.

This is so incredible!

When we are completely overwhelmed by God’s glory, we see the world differently.

We see ways in which we can experience that glory, we see opportunities to give our lives over to God, to turn away from selfishness and turn to serve God and others!

This is how it plays out in life.

If I had written this message three weeks ago, I would have been speaking very loudly about how horrible we all are.

It is true, apart from Christ we are nothing, but in Christ we’ve received everything, so that’s not the focus anymore.

No, the focus is God and God’s glory.

As imitators of God, as God’s glory reflectors, we seek to do things that will give God the greatest glory, not because we feel we ought to, not because we believe we can actually give God more glory, it’s not as though he’s glory deficient and needs our activities in order to bolster Him.

No, we seek to do things that will give God the greatest glory simply because we can!  Simply because we want to!  Simply because, in Christ, it is the most natural thing to do!

We find our most satisfaction in life when we are glorifying God!

          Jesus Christ was perfectly obedient to God.

His whole life on earth, He never sinned at all!

One day, when Jesus was chatting with an adulterous woman at Jacob’s well in Samaria, the disciples pressed him to eat some food.

Jesus replied, “I have food you know nothing about.”

Jesus was referring to doing the work of God the Father!

Jesus, obediently doing what He came to earth to do, had everything he needed!

He found His greatest pleasure in doing His Father’s will.

John Piper understands this.

If you have access to the internet, go to www.desiringgod.com.

There’s also a link to his website on our blog.

We find our greatest pleasure when we behold God’s glory!

We find our greatest pleasure when we live in the way God has called us to live!  Yes, Jesus Christ suffered during his time on earth, he suffered in every way as we suffer.

He faced persecution, suffering and death.

He told his disciples that they would have to suffer as he did.

And they did.

They drank from the same cup.

But what was it that enabled Jesus to go forward?

What made the disciples able to follow Jesus?

How could they just give up everything they knew, how could they give up the stuff they had?

It is because they had seen the glory of God, and in comparison, everything else paled.

Have you seen the glory of God?  Has the veil been lifted from your eyes?

If so, then you know that there is nothing greater in the world!