God In Our Midst
The Glory of God • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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John 17 is like Jesus’ last will and testament.
He’s getting ready to die and John is giving us Jesus’ last wishes.
The word glory in the NT carries a special biblical sense of “sharing in the divine glory.”
The Cross is the glory of God because self sacrifice is the expression of love.
The glory is the revelatory message of the Incarnate Word.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Sharing the divine glory of emptiness (letting go / giving up)
Sharing the Divine glory of servanthood
Sharing the divine glory of brokenness (humility)
What is on the other side of brokenness? Healing and forgiveness
Paul would only “glory” in the cross
The glory of Christ was the cross
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;
Unity in Community.
Christians need one another.
There are believers who think they can live for God in solitude.
But the unity of the Trinity, here highlighted as the Father’s and Son’s unity in community, is the example and thus the pattern.
The Trinity literally is in community with Himself.
They are in fellowship with one another.
The Father cannot be separated from the Son and the Son cannot be separated from the Father.
vs 22 - We receive the glory of Jesus so that they may be one.
vs 23 - The unity of Father and Son so that we may be perfected in unity.
So that the world may know that God sent Jesus and loved us.
vs. 24 - so that believers will see Jesus’ glory.
vs 26 - Jesus made the Father’s name known to them so that the love of God may be in them and Jesus would be in them.
This God remains unknown to the world.
But Jesus comes to reveal the Father and His love through us.
We find God’s unity and love
Faith leading to unity which leads others to faith.
The true glory of Christ gives rise to unity.
Tres Dias - what Chris felt.
Communion
Common Union
United around the body and blood of Jesus all around the world.
Sharing the divine glory of obedience.
Sharing the divine glory of death
dying to self
allowing him to move our lives into conformity with his nature
Sharing the divine glory of love
Spending time with God in His word is not a scheduling problem, it’s a love problem.
We will make time for the things we love.
Sharing the divine glory of fellowship
To know (John 17:3) - profound personal relatioship
Sharing the divine glory of the mission
(vs 4) - I accomplished all you sent me to do.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
Preach the Gospel to the Poor
Proclaim Release to The Captives
Proclaim Recovery of Sight to the blind
Set free those who are oppressed
Proclaim the favorable year of the Lord
For the purpose of glorifying the Father
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The Glory of God is the splendor and power of God’s presence.
The unity God desires will come as we grasp the incredible truth that God has taken up his abode in the lives of his children.
To be one with God is to be one with all others who call Him Father.
One role of Jesus coming was to reveal the character of God to the world.
A second role was to make a way for the Father’s love to dwell within us.
To reveal the plan of redemption.
the goal of unity is so that the world will believe in the Son’s divine mission and that the world will sense that God’s love for believers is deep, intimate, and lasting.
Communion - common unity
vs 26 - the words en autois can mean both within (individually) and among (corporately).
God is always in your midst - (generally) Fulfills God with us from Matthew 1:18f
He will never leave you and will never forsake you.
He will protect and provide for you.
The question is:
Will you acknowledge Him?
Or will you ignore Him?
You have God within you - (individually)
So you carry God with you wherever you go.
The question is:
Will you let God out?
Will you let God shine through you?
God is among us - (corporately)
We each bring God with us when we gather together.
Each light of glory that gets added to another makes the light brighter.
At the heart of God’s redemptive work is relationship: love.
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
The purpose of unity is evangelism
vs 26 - have made Your name known, and will make it known.
We still have much to learn.
Holy Spirit guide us to the truth.
In this context, Satan will do everything He can to destroy the love of God manifested between believers.
Disagreements
Disunity
Unforgiveness
Bitterness
Grudges
Hurt
Jesus true glory was in the cross
But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.
