Do We Seek God's Glory

Please show kindness to Mr. Ekamah and I. This is one of the hardest days to speak. Because no matter what we say, you're going to be smelling what's going on in that kitchen. So just ignore it. It's not there. You don't smell it. It's all good. Today's sermonette is going to actually build on the sermon I gave a week ago on the concept of glory. If you will please in verses 20 through 22. Romans 1 starting in verse 20.

As we discuss, I'll give a really brief summary of the topic. The word glory is used in a lot of ways, right? It describes human accomplishments, physical things. It describes God. God gave us His creation along the way of denying God's glory or taking it for granted. And I mentioned that the brightest known star from what I could find was Goliath, which is 120 million times brighter than the sun. Just crazy thought. Yet we're told the brightness of Christ at His return will be brighter than any... Romans 1 in verse 20.

So the creation that we see all around us, right? Whether it's animal or nature or the sciences, you know, biology or the interconnections of ecosystems, all are examples of God's handiwork. And He designs all but also as this constant reminder of His glory.

But sadly, we often don't turn back around and thank Him for it. Most humans don't daily look at the amazing complexities, right, of the beauty of creation, and then want to learn more about the beauty and the infinite wisdom of the Creator and His character and His nature.

But God intended us to see both of those with the concept of glory. To see a quick example of what we do as humans, look at Acts 12, verse 21 through 23. Acts 12, verse 21 through 23.

Our problem as humans when we succeed is that we can often fail to give enough credit, to give enough thanks, to give enough reverence to God. We can view ourselves more highly than we should. And as we're going to read in this next biblical example, we often need to self-evaluate if we are as careful as we should be to give the right glory to God for our successes. Acts 12, verse 21. So on a set day Herod arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne, and gave an oration to them.

And the people kept shouting, the voice of a God and not of a man. Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give glory to God. And then the classic summary of a person's life. And he was eaten by worms and died. So there you go. That's one of those little snippet verses that's just, oh, okay. So, I mean, that should shock us. That should give us pause and fear. Because God gave Herod everything. His possessions, his throne, his life. And so I think it's a clear example for us, right?

That to really think in everything we have around us, everything we have is due to God. And yet our tendency can be to glorify ourselves when we achieve and when we accomplish things. So a question for you. Could our perceptions of God actually weaken our faith? Could our perceptions of God make it impossible for God to accomplish his desired works in and through us? See, the Israelites confined God in so many ways. I mean, if nothing else, you can think they tried to make a golden calf and say, yeah, that's the thing that saved us.

That's what took us out of Egypt. And now we may say, okay, today we would not be so silly as to let a golden calf be what we worship as God. But we have modern ways to focus on things that protect us or that bring us joy. And so we have to be careful not to put God in a box. Do we put God in a box?

No matter how we imagine God, he's always something better than we think. He's always something greater than we can conceive in our puny little brains. And to confine God in any way does this disservice to our amazing God. You'll turn next to Exodus 33 and verse 11. And we're going to read from 33-11 all the way through to chapter 9 of chapter 34. So we're going to cross the chapters here. This time of year, the days of my love and bread are an annual opportunity where we rehearse, right?

The awesome acts that God has done in the past, the amazing things he promises to do in the future. And God says he will be with us constantly as a present aid. In my last message, I spoke of the amazing ways that God has shown his glory over time, right? I hope by looking at this verse, I'm going to bring out another way of looking at glory that maybe we take for granted or can look past.

Maybe it'll be a new perspective to expand in how you see God's glory. Exodus 33, starting in verse 11. So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friends. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.

Then Moses said to the Lord, See, you say to me, bring up this people, but you have not let me know you, not know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, I know you by name, and you have also found grace in my sight. Now, therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in your sight, show me now your way, that I may know you, and that I may find grace in your sight, and consider that this nation is your people.

And then he, God, said, My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. So in this Holy Day season that we're in now, we, like Moses, are very mindful of our need for God, right? Our helplessness without his forgiveness and his grace and his guidance.

And like us, Moses wanted to know God's way. How did God respond? God said, My presence will go with you. Again, think of the glory of the pillar of fire, if you want, that separated Egypt. The most powerful nation's army was scared to death that couldn't go past it. And I will give you rest. Then we see, verse 18, that Moses ups the ante a little bit.

And he said, Please, show me your glory. Then he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But he said, You cannot see my face, for no man shall see me and live. And the Lord said, Here's a place by me, and you shall stand on the rock, so it shall be, while my glory passes by, that I will put you on the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hands while I pass by. Then I will take away my hands, and you shall see my back, but my face you shall not see. Did you notice how God defined his glory to Moses and to us?

It wasn't just his brilliance sharing a view that, even letting him know that if you see my face, you're going to die as a human. No, in response to being asked to show his glory, God says, I will make all my goodness pass before you. God connected his glory with his goodness. In a sense, God defined his glory as his holy, righteous, perfect character. What makes God God is his goodness, his character, his temperament, his love. Let's continue now. Go to Exodus 34, and we'll read in verse 9. Exodus 34, it says, So he cut two tablets of stone, like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and he took in his hands the two tablets of stone. Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him. So Moses saw this amazing visual, right? The brightness and the majesty of God. But note what God taught next about what really is so much greater about God's glory.

And God proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands. A number of translations say, for thousands of generations. And truth, I'm sorry, for giving iniquities and transgressions and sins. And then he provides a contrast. It says, by no means clearing the guilty. And you'll find a number of translations, because that's kind of hard to follow, that says, But who will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. And then you can continue the thought. Visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children and their children's children to the third and the fourth generation. So, the like Moses about. He's our shepherd. He's our leader. He's our king, right? He is our master. And God proclaimed his awesome, loving nature and character to Moses. And what was Moses' reaction? Verse 8, So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped. Then he's near sight, O Lord. Let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquities and our sins, and take us as your inheritance. I mean, Moses showed that Passover perspective right there, didn't he? That perspective we have going up to the Passover. And I would argue that God taught Moses more about his glory through the words he said than the amazing visual that Moses saw. Now, I mean, they connected, right? I had one God, his attention. And then the words were like, let's give you a more important thing to think about. Remember the Goliath star, right? When we, what God's real glory was like, it can't be captured. It can't be fully captured in a physical shape, in a cloud, in fire. Rather, it's reflected in all the attributes that he mentioned. God's glory is seen in his mercy, in his long-suffering, in his goodness, in his truth, in his forgiveness. That's who God is. That's his character. And that's what we're to be filling our nature with now that we've removed the loving from our lives. Sure, Moses saw the amazing fire on Mount Sinai. He saw the daily pillar that was above the tent of meeting. Every time he went in to talk to God, there was a physical element of the glory that was there. But the glory Moses was most moved by, that he strove daily to replicate, was the character of the eternal that walked with him, that led, that protected Israel for 40 years. And that insight into God's glory was revealed to Moses through these words on Mount Sinai. Turn to Jeremiah 9, verses 23 through 24. Jeremiah 9, 23 through 24. We're absolutely to glorify God for his power, for his greatness. And we, as humans, need these physical representations sometime to be frightened, to be overwhelmed, to recognize power.

But we glorify God most when we get to know his nature and replicate it in our lives. That's what the Spring Holy Day season is all about.

Jeremiah 9, verse 23.

Now, how does he describe himself?

So, the creation clearly shows us God's glory in magnificent ways. But we realize God's glory is seen most in his nature and his character. And when we do that, then we more deeply understand his greatness.

Some to think about with the sermons that we're going to hear over the next, you know, we're blessed at this time to have extra messages and extra times to learn and interact with each other. Think about these things. It opens our mind to see the need for God's glory to be exhibited more and more in us through his Holy Spirit. And that's what God wants to happen throughout our lives.

He wants us not to only revere him, but to understand why he deserves that recognition, and then to pattern ourselves after his goodness, after that character of his. And the reason we study Scriptures is to understand more about us reflecting God's glorious goodness.

Right? His power is in us. We know that through the Spirit, but it's reflected in the goodness we share. And if we don't take the time to give glory to God by exhibiting his goodness in our lives, then we really aren't preparing to be a part of his family. We don't know him. What he said, we need to know him. So let's acknowledge and treasure God's glorious character and his goodness in our lives.