What Is Glory?

Interesting that in the sermon at the last scripture, or scriptures, mentioned my keyword, I think, two or three times. So today we're going to talk about the concept of glory. Glory is this word that we hear used in a lot of ways over the course of a lifetime, right? We go through and we hear about a winning sports team basking in the glory of their victory, right? Or celebrity glorying in their fame.

God is described as a God of glory, which we read in that last verse. His creation is to reflect His glory. We've all seen the glory of a sunrise or sunset. I prefer the latter one. I don't like being up that early, but you know, both ways work. J.S. Bach said, all music must have no other end in aim than the glory of God and the soul's refreshment. Refreshing. Even Lady Gaga wrote a song, The Edge of Glory, and the backstory, which I didn't realize until I looked into it a little bit. I guess it was after a visit with her grandparents when her grandfather was at the point of death. But, you know, she never discussed in the song who or what glory is. So what is glory? And another thing to think about is for whose glory do we do what we do? Is our daily focus toward our glory or is it toward God's glory? So if you'll turn to 1 Timothy 6, verses 15 to 16 to start with. 1 Timothy 6, verses 15 to 16. I'll give you something to think of as we go there. Now, I know astrophysicists are always discovering new things deep in the sky, but from the best of my research, Goliath is the largest known star that has been identified at this time. Now, how big is it? Goliath is not only twice the size of our sun, which would be impressive, right? It's not 10 times. It's not 100 times. It's not even a thousand times the size of our sun. You ready for the next one? It's not even a million times brighter than our sun. It's 120 million times brighter than our sun. It's what is estimated. Isn't that amazing? So I want you to think about this star as then in this next verse for how much greater the glorious presence of God must be. 1 Timothy 6, and verse 15, which he, speaking of Christ, in his return, will manifest in his own time. He who is the blessing and only potentate, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, we can see Goliath, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. So earthly and heavenly glory is just this cheap imitation, you could say, of the glory of God. So when we think of giving glory to God, I think a trap we can fall into is thinking it's something that's mandatory, there's something that's demanded of us. And from a biblical viewpoint, that's about as far in the opposite direction, that's about as opposite as God intends, because everything God does for us and expects back from us is supposed to be voluntary. It's always for our ultimate good. God is for us. He is not against us, right? So what is glory?

And what do we mean when we speak of the God of glory, or the glory of a star and a moon and whatever else? Well, first of all, it's not an easy word to define. It's like trying to define the difference between a basketball and beauty. We can define a basketball, but beauty is hard, right? It's abstract. It's in the eye of the beholder. So there's a little bit of that going on here. And since we're here in church and we are talking from a biblical perspective, I'd like us to look at the definitions of some of the key biblical words used for glory. Seems like a good starting point. In the Old Testament, glory is referenced over 200 times, and the primary Hebrew word translated to glory is kabad, K-A-B-O-D, or sometimes I saw it K-A-B-O-W-D. And it comes from the root word meaning heavy or weighty. It refers to something that has substance and fullness and abundance and which is fully real and authentic. So the glory of God then is His infinite greatness, His total perfection, and it's demonstrated as shining through and around us and through things that He created. So a classic example is you've read the scripture Psalms 19.1, which says, The heavens declare the glory, the infinite greatness of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork. So you can kind of see how that word plays out. So glorious is a big concept to understand. Turn now to Isaiah 42 and verse 8. Isaiah 42 and verse 8. See, friends, when we try to apply this concept of glory to God, we very quickly realize there's nothing comparable.

God is bigger than all of us. There's anything we could comprehend with the limitations of our humanity, including Goliath the star that's 120 million times brighter than our son.

We struggle, right? He is omnipotent. He is sovereign. He is the creator of everything. He's the ultimate judge. But then we also see these wonderful parts to His glory where He is described as being loving and good and compassionate to humans. And it refers to His entire embodiment. You know, the Bible describes Him as our defender and our healer and our provider and our Savior and our comforter and our Creator and our Abba Father. You just go on and on.

Isaiah 42 in verse 8, with that as the setup, I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory I will not give to another, meaning I will not yield, I will not franchise it out without my consent, nor my praise to carved images. So let's do a quick contrast, right? The glory of man can only generate from the beauty of a person's spirit, which is fallible, which is temporary, which is eventually going to pass away.

The glory of God, on the other hand, is eternal. It purveys through everything about Him and in the spirit that flows from Him. So the glory of God isn't limited to this aesthetic beauty of a material thing. When a person over here is about to go to Asia, you see a lot of decorative things in Asia dedicated in honor to God, painted with all these all the gold and the, you know, beautiful to look at, but that's not what glory is captured in.

It's the beauty that emanates from all that God is in His character. So I personally find analogies helpful. You'll see me use them a lot. And one analogy that comes to my mind is that when we talk about giving glory to God, we are like the moon. So you know the moon doesn't give off any light.

It reflects the sun. And similarly, we are to reflect the very radiance of God, reflect His light so that others see that light in us. So that helps us the analogy. You can work with that one. The New Testament word for glory is the word doxa. D-O-X-A. And it's used almost 170 times. So you're talking collectively almost 400 times the word glory is in the Bible. That, when you start looking around, it just starts popping when you start looking for a particular word. And that's not a word I had really focused on. I think some scriptures I'll show you later are very well known verses, but I miss the word glory anyway in them when I think about them, when I've thought about them previously. So the word doxa means radiance or splendor.

And at its core, it relates to the attributes or the true nature of a thing. So when you see it, you spiritually, it usually connects to things like honor or praise or worship. Like someone praising God with a doxology. If you've ever heard that word, that's where the word comes from.

So again, it's a biblical term, but you may have heard somebody do a doxology or parts of the Bible or doxology, but honoring or praising God. Turn next to 1 Corinthians 15, 40 through 44.

1 Corinthians 50, 40 through 44. Here we're going to see the word doxa used several times. We're going to see that it can be used on both physical things and on spiritual things, and they do not compare. So 1 Corinthians 15, starting in verse 40. 2 Corinthians 15, 40. There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies, but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars. For one star differs from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead.

The body is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown in natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. So let me share three foundational concepts about glory. Okay? The first is this. The Creator designed all things with their own unique glory or their true essence buried within. So you can think about anything you want to think about. Birds and cats and dogs and mosquitoes and trees and flowers and the sun and the moon or heavenly bodies. Each has its own unique glory. And because God is a creator by nature, it's only natural that His creation would reflect His glory. Okay, second concept.

All of creation, some plants, animals, birds, heavenly bodies, were created to act or behave according to the nature God put into them. Makes sense? God's original design was that every creature, by becoming everything it was created to be, would manifest its own unique glory and by so doing reveal God's glory. That's part of what He intended when He created everything around us. He is very pleased when that happens. So if you want to think that through, it's a bird's glory to fly. Right? God created it with a flight nature and God saw what He created and it was good.

Finally, God created man as this ultimate expression of His glory. So God's purpose in creating the human race was so that we could live in fellowship with Him. And I'll bring that up in a lot of different ways as we move forward. But if the lower rank of creatures we look around, we're blown away by it. Right? Watch nature shows and it's just breathtaking. If that was designed to display God's glory, how much more are we who represent the highest order of God's creation? Supposed to represent the masterpiece of God's artistry, right? All right. Third point. A key realization for us to understand is that every living thing God has created was designed to thrive in its proper environment to display its God-given glory. So let's talk that one through. It's natural for a fish to swim, right? Fish don't struggle in the water. They thrive. They swim at amazing speeds along the way. But if you were to take that fish out of its watery environment, well, it's not going to do very well for long. Birds need the sky and they open air to fully express their glory of flight, right? And if you cage any animal, well, it's restricted by its environment from showing its its full glory. Okay. So only in its proper environment can all parts of creation display their glory. Let's build a bridge. Like birds, like fish, mankind was created to function in a prescribed environment, which is the presence of God. That's an important concept to realize, and we'll talk about that through life. So with that as is our foundation, I'd like to see and have us review the various ways God's presence and glory has appeared to people over the history of mankind. And you'll see that fleshed out more and more. The first time God manifested His glory to mankind was in the Garden of Eden, right? God created man and woman in His glorious image, and He dwelt physically with them. Adam and Eve started this environment where they were surrounded, you could say, by the presence of God. They were in continual union. They walked and talked with God.

God provided not only the proper environment, but the proper relationship in which the humans He created could thrive, could fully express their glory while living and working in harmony with it.

Well, as you know, God has this great objective for His creation, which is to expand His family. But God also knew that humans have this tendency toward this sin thing.

And He warned Adam and Eve about sin. He's warned you and I about sin. But, like us, they had to choose for themselves. And yes, there was deception. Satan was involved. But remember, God was with them first. God taught them. And like everything, humans are responsible for our choices. And so, the first glory was ended by sin. We know there was a caribim that was put to block off the entry to the Garden of Eden. And at that point, they were stopped from going to the Tree of Life, which symbolized eternal life. Sin makes it impossible for us to accomplish our divine purpose because it separates us from God's presence. Important to keep in mind, that's the critical environment that God wants us to have, to be in His presence. Sin marred both the environment and the relationship of humans with God. So mankind failed to realize our glory, and from then forward distorted this image of God and what He was making. Ever since the Garden of Eden, no human can become what God created us to be without His presence.

And all we see since Adam and Eve, since the Garden, is what God is willing to do to carry out His plan to restore us to a proper environment. All right, turn to Exodus 13, verse 20-21. We now see God's glory being displayed in a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire when Israel was leaving Egypt. Exodus 13, starting in verse 21.

And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.

So the presence, the manifestation of God was with them always.

It was never withdrawn from their view. And this pillar was a little unusual, because if you think about it from the two vantage points, on the Egyptian side, it felt to them dark and menacing and terrifying. On the Israelite side, it provided light. It was brilliant. It provided comfort, a feeling of safety. Fascinating in that sense. It provided what they needed. And you can almost say God clothed Himself in the fire of this cloud so that human beings could have the ability to see Him. The pillar of cloud and fire helped mankind have something to hold on to related to God's glory. And the Israelites, as a result, had no excuse in recognizing that God's presence and His glory were right there. You couldn't miss that. Why did God manifest Himself in this way? A lot of analogies in here, but remember what does Egypt represent? It represents sin, is what it pictures.

And God wanted them to stay out of sin. And so God showed the importance, the significance of His presence, by constantly being needed for them to accompany them on the journey. And when He was, and when they were in alignment, they were protected. They were cared for. They were provided for. Where are they going? They're going to the Promised Land. You could see the analogy of where that would apply to our spiritual calling. And God was going to lead them and be with them along the way. All right, turn forward to Exodus 24, and we'll read verse 16 through 18. Exodus 24, 16 through 18.

We now find Israel at Mount Sinai. Okay? Exodus 24 and verse 16. Now the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days, and on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up to the mountain, and Moses was on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights. So again, we see God's visible presence, the glory of God being exhibited in this powerful way with fire, you know, very palpable. We know that's just a small impression of what His glory is like.

And this manifestation of God's presence began becoming known as the Shekinah. So you'll hear that word, the Shekinah, referencing the glorious presence of God dwelling on earth. Now you won't find the word Shekinah in the Bible, but it connects to the Hebrew word that means to dwell or to reside. And if you were to look up that Hebrew word, it is Shekan, to dwell is Shekan, which you can hear Shekinah, Shekan. There's a connection there. Turn to Exodus 29 verses 44 through 46. Exodus 29 now 44 through 46. And here we're going to see the tabernacle, the tent of meeting reference, which is the next place that God's glory was manifested to Israel. Exodus 29 verse 44. So I will consecrate the tabernacle of meeting in the altar. I will dwell also, I'm sorry, I will also consecrate both Aaron and his son to minister to me as priests. I will dwell among the children of Israel and be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord for their God who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.

So if it helps, dwell in verses 44, I'm sorry, in 45 and 46 is Shekan, meaning God's glorious presence would dwell, right? It would reside. It would be with them.

All right, turn forward now to Exodus 40 verses 34 through 38. So Exodus 40, 34 through 38. We're gonna get a little bit more details of what this glory felt like to the Israelites.

Exodus 40 and verse 34. Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle, and Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in all their journeys.

But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night in the site of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys. So this cloud was representative of God's very presence, of his glory right there with the people. And it was described as being always fully visible and guiding all their actions and movements. If they ever had a doubt about where God was, look over your shoulders. Oh, there he is! You know, it's not not hard to miss.

He was with them day. He was with them night. He never abandoned them. He never forsook them. He was always visible to all the house of Israel. And notice it says, in all their journeys.

Now, that also is a little overwhelming. It was all-encompassing. It was visible for 40 years. That, you know, you kind of go away with from excuses that that point of not forgetting where God is when it's that visible. And the fact that it was a portable tent of meeting was even more clear that God would lead and go with them along the way, right? They stayed until it moved and the tent started. Oh, I guess we're moving. We're going. We'll find out. That's why it's so ironic that even constantly seeing the presence of God, the Israelites still rebelled so many times.

And they still didn't believe God could do what he had promised to do.

There is a lesson to us in there. I mean, if we want God to do things for us to justify our obedience, it doesn't matter what God does for us. It will never be enough.

It will never be enough. It's ultimately about our convictions. It's about our faith. It's about our relationship with God that's going to make the difference. It's never about how many times you were healed or how many times God intervened or he protects your life. Those are blessed.

But that's never what's going to be. Well, the next one will do it. Turn to 1 Kings 8 and we'll start in verse 1. 1 Kings 8. Now we move to the time Solomon's temple was built as this permanent home for God in Jerusalem, right? It's important also, I want you to catch the differences in how this showing of the glory appeared and felt to the Israelites. 1 Kings 8 verse 1. Now Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel, to King Solomon Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the city of David, which is Zion. Jump to verse 4.

Then they brought up the ark of the Lord, the tabernacle of meeting, and all the holy furnishings that were in the tabernacle. The priests and the Levites brought them up. Okay, now jump to verse 10. And it came to pass, when the priests came up out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priest could not continue ministering because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. Then Solomon spoke, the Lord said, He would dwell in the dark cloud. I have surely built you an exalted home and a place for you to dwell in forever. Okay, so here again, God's glory resides and fills a house through this very visible cloud. And the word dwell in verse 12 and 13 is shekan again, where shekanah comes from.

So interestingly, what happened though in the minds of the Israelites from here forward was kind of out of sight, out of mind. When wandering in the wilderness, they couldn't miss the cloud.

40 years, day and night, whether it was cloud by day, fire by night, the presence of God was seen. But now God was not only concealed at the temple, but in the holy of holies that they couldn't even go to.

And God's presence in a way became limited. They began to look at God as more of an impersonal being. Even now, I would argue that modern Jews have a difficult time understanding what having a relationship with God is without a temple, because there's always been this connection in their mind.

God's glory being at the temple didn't remain there long, though, as you know, because of sin, because Israel sinned, and because of their carnal nature. All right, turn now to John 1. We're going to read verses 10 through 14. John 1. We're now in the New Testament.

We now find God came in the flesh as Jesus Christ in his glory, tabernacled with humans.

So, John 1, you know how that starts, right? John starts by describing the Word as the creator of all things. He then describes the greatest miracle the world had ever known up to that point, and that is Spirit became flesh. The invisible creator of all things became visible. Phenomenal, but sadly, greatness is not always recognized. It's not always appreciated by humans.

John 1 in verse 10. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him. So even when the divine glory was shining out of Jesus in person-to-person contact, the world did not see and did not understand. It was appreciated by very few, which we're going to see in verse 14. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. So we now see what Jesus revealed to everyone he came in contact with if they were looking. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So Jesus displayed the glory of God. Jesus displayed the glory of God. He reflected the fullness of grace and truth and excellence.

And the Greek word for dwelling means tabernacling. So Jesus tabernacled with men.

God casts his tent with mankind. And as always, mankind again was faced with this decision of whether they were going to obey God or man, their own desires. And as you know, God's glory was not desired or appreciated, but it was resisted. Jesus was murdered. What I hope you're coming to realize is that God's glory is constant. And as we journey through life, we will see it manifest in many ways if we're simply looking around and seeing his presence in creation in our lives.

That leads to the final glory that occurred 33 years later on Pentecost, when God sent some of his glory to dwell in human beings through the Holy Spirit.

After baptism, after laying on of hands, a person receives a small portion of God's power of his Spirit. They receive part of his amazing glory in us. Is what happens.

That means, if you think about and play that through, the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, faith, goodness, meekness, and self-control are all reflections of his glory.

That's what the Holy Spirit is. And as we approach the Passover, we have been reflecting on on all that God enabled through Christ's life, through his death, right, through his resurrection.

The Passover is to help us never take for granted or overlook the topic of God's glory in us that Jesus made possible. And by God giving us the Holy Spirit, we see God will never demand anything of us that he will not equip us to accomplish. We have to use it properly. But just because we have the Holy Spirit now doesn't mean it's permanent. We start with that at baptism as a first installment, but we have to be led by it. We have to develop it. Again, analogy if it helps. When you buy a car, sometimes you have to give a down payment. And yes, you get to use the car. But if you don't finish paying it off, it will be impounded because you stopped at the first down payment. You know, analogy to think on.

You know, analogy to think on. Okay, turn to John 17 verses 20 through 22.

John 17, 20 through 22. We're going to review a set of scriptures that we'll be reading in a few weeks at the Passover. But maybe if you think of God's plan summarized as us reflecting his glory, that is a way you can summarize God's plan, you're going to find a new aspect to this passage that we've read many times. John 17 and verse 20. I do not pray for the years alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their words, that they all may be one as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they all may be one in us. So there's this one, there should be this constant unity, right, between us and the Father, the Father and Christ, us and each other, if we're united in that way. And if so, the result should be that the world may believe that you sent me, and now we get to this remarkable part. Christ said, and the glory which you gave me, I have given them that they may be one just as we are one. Jesus transferred his glory to us so that we could be one with him and the Father just like they are one.

Have you ever thought about that in relationship to us having God's glory? We are now the temple of God, right? That's described in the Bible as well. We've been granted the glory of God, just like all those other occurrences, Mount Sinai, the pillar that scared the Egyptians away. That's in you. That's in us if we're baptized. We have taken on the glory of God, and Christ says he has given it to us and that glory is what unifies us with Christ and the Father.

Are we exhibiting the glory of God in our lives?

It's an amazing blessing. Are we exhibiting it? If you'll turn to 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 18. 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 18. I'd like to read one of the most powerful, one of the most insightful verses about God's glory connected with his expectations and sharing it with us.

From Edom to Egypt to the tabernacle to the temple to baptized Christians, we see the desire of God is to dwell in people, consistently.

Okay, 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 18. But we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. It's a very powerful verse and it relates to God to glory to us. But let me break it into some parts to help you get all that's taking place. And we'll start with the phrase, we all with unveiled faces. Okay, what a veil does is it hides, right, or it obscures something. A veil not only blocks a person from seeing what is being veiled. You can think of an unveiling, right, like a statue or something. But it also may prevent a person who is veiled from seeing what is outside the veil. And except for very few exceptions, humans for 6,000 years since Eden have had a veil blocking them from seeing the environment of glory that God wanted for us.

When I read this verse, what I immediately picture in my head is Moses coming down from Mount Sinai with the second set of the tablets, right, and how his face radiated from being in the presence of the Lord. The people of Israel had Moses place a veil over his face so that they would not have to look upon the radiance of God that emanated from his face. And we really don't know if they wanted to veil and put that in place because of fear, could be, or because of brightness.

But either way, the veil hid from them the glory of God that was presented on the face of Moses.

Again, context. The law itself could never bring the glory of the Lord to the face of Moses or to the face of any of the Israelites. Only the presence of the Lord could do that.

And Jesus Christ is the one who makes the unveiling of God's glory possible. He is the enabler of the perfect relationship between God and us, which we've already covered, is what they desire most. By placing our faith in God, Jesus has removed the veil from our face to be able to see God again, to see the glory that he intended. Now, let's look at what we should be seeing.

Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. Seems a little different, doesn't it?

What do you usually see when you look in a mirror? You see yourself, right?

But we as Christians who have the veil removed are to see the glory of the Lord when we look into this spiritual mirror. Can you imagine looking into a mirror and seeing the face of Jesus looking back at you? Throughout the Bible, God reveals the great expanse, right, of what we are and what we should be. It can just, you know, it's daunting. It seems to be something that feels impossible. It's mind-boggling. And that's what our Passover self-reflections are about. That's why this time of year we come to the Passover humble because of thinking and preparing for that. So we then read that by the help of Christ through the Holy Spirit we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. Let me see if I can explain that with an analogy, okay?

Let's imagine the life of one of the world's most famous engineers, Thomas Edison. Okay?

When he was a child looking into his first ABC books, no doubt at that stage, little Tommy found them amazingly complex, right? But he had his parents and he had his teachers to help with him, to sound out the letters, to make sense of them. Little Tommy was not an engineer.

Yet. But when he looked in the mirror, he was taking his first steps from starter glory to ultimate glory. As the years went by, little Thomas continued to look into books, and the letters formed what increasingly difficult sentences and concepts and structures.

All the time, teachers were right there guiding along the way and correcting him when necessary.

He was still far from being this world-famous engineer, but the image we now see of him in the mirror is growing into the likeness of one, from glory to glory. Later on, he had to learn advanced mathematics, physics, manufacturing methods. New teachers, new mentors started coming into his life. He still was not the famous engineer. He was at death, you know, that we now know I'm at as, but was growing more like it every day, journeying from starter glory to ultimate glory. And that's what this verse is talking about, right? Before our calling, before our commitment to God, we may have had a Bible, but it was more of a paperweight.

We may have had half-heartedly this going to church, or we did it, you know, maybe because we were forced to, or it was habit. When we first looked into the mirror of the Bible, when we saw the reflection of Christ with our own reflection being superimposed, well, they were very, very, very, very different. Then the Holy Spirit started to teach us.

Over time, we would look into the Bible, and we would see a verse telling us about true faith, about trust in Christ and what it really looked like. And the Holy Spirit instructed or taught us how to move in that direction, and we obeyed. When we then looked again into the mirror at the reflection of Christ and the one of us, we look a teeny bit more like Him.

The next day we look into the Bible, we see a verse telling us about forgiveness of others. The Holy Spirit instructs or teaches us how to move in that direction, and we obey. And when we look again in the mirror, the reflection of Christ and the one of us looks a little bit more like each other. We look at the mirror, the reflection of Christ, and we hear a tiny bit more like each other. And on and on it goes. Looking in the mirror of God's word, allowing the Holy Spirit to teach us what it means, obeying the Holy Spirit's word, and allowing the Holy Spirit to teach us what it means, and we look at the mirror, and we see the Holy Spirit's word, and we see the Holy Spirit's word, and we see the Holy Spirit's word, and we see the Holy Spirit's word, and we see the Holy Spirit's word, and we see the Holy Spirit's word.

We see the Holy Spirit's word, and we see the Holy Spirit's word, and we see the Holy Spirit's word, and we can even just think through those phrases of words looking, allowing, obeying, examining, you know that's kind of the circle that we run our way through. If you'll turn to 1 Corinthians 6, What do you see when you look into that spiritual mirror? When you look into God's Word, do you see the same reflection of yourself superimposed against the perfect image of God as you did last year or the year before?

Hopefully not. We all know a very well-known verse. Romans 3, 23 says, For all have sinned and fall short of what? Of the glory of God. We've used that so many times to talk about sin, but I previously overlooked the measuring stick that was used for measuring sin.

Glory is buried in so many verses that we read all the time. Our inability to perfectly reflect Jesus Christ doesn't mean we can't get closer and closer every day. God wants to pull us out of this half-alive, half-dead way we can live, half-committed. He wants to teach us and take us from glory to glory. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19, Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

For you were bought at a price, therefore, that's always one of those big words. Now what are you going to do about it? Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. So once we commit to God and baptism, we're no longer our own. So then we should ask ourselves, are we inviting God to dwell in us, to help us be a light, to live righteously, in the way the scripture tells us to?

Human beings made in God's image are supposed to display God's glory through our character. And we've already talked about how sin dims this glory, all the way back from Eden. And we thrive best in the environment for which we were designed, which is having a relationship with God, which is why sin dims it, right? Our glory is to be like God and we're to live in fellowship and harmony with God.

Turn to Matthew 5 verses 14 through 16. Matthew 5, 14 through 16. The only way we can really learn how to be like God is to live in an environment that is permeated with the presence of God. In order to be like God, we must know God. And to know God, well, again, we have to spend time in His presence, right?

Matthew 5 and verse 14. You are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket. But on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house, let your light so shine before men, that's what's being asked of you and I, that they, other people who see it, may see your good works and then do what? Glorify your Father in heaven. The problem with us today is that we don't really know who we are.

We have either forgotten or simply stopped believing what the Bible says about where we came from or why we are here. And this ignorance of our identity and purpose pervades every society and every culture. What God wants people to see is the glory of God in us. Again, think of Mount Sinai. Think of the pillar, whichever one grabs your attention most, whichever one of the displays.

People are to see the glory of God in us and then praise Him. Do we reflect on whether each of our thoughts, whether each of our actions glorify God? A lot of room to grow. Fascinating topic along those ways. Human beings are God's representatives on earth. And remember, He created us in His image. We are not fake imitations. We're genuine masterpieces, you could say. Painted by the hands of the master artist. It's sin that has distorted God's image, that has hidden away it under a lot of worldly junk.

So sometimes we're harder to identify as God's original. But submitting to God in His Spirit working through us has the power to dig down to cut through the junk, to expose God's glory. Turn to Colossians 1 in verse 27. One of the things that Satan has always tried to keep away from mankind is understanding our true identity. When the Bible says, my people perish because of lack of knowledge, the Bible isn't talking about knowing science or biology or memorizing scriptures. People perish because they lack the knowledge and the revelation of who they are and who is living inside of them.

Colossians 1 in verse 27. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

That sums up so much. God wants us to imitate His Son, to reflect His glory. And the more we declare God's glory, the more we come to understand God's greatness.

It's this progressive journey that's taking place. We have no idea how great God is. It's mind-boggling. We get a little taste, right? But it's so much greater than we can imagine. Think about Goliath's star, 120 million times brighter than our son. And that's nothing compared to God's glory.

And as children of God, we're in training to help teach the world who to give glory to, why to give glory, how to give glory, when to give glory. The Bible and God's entire plan have always been about this journey to get us back to His glory.

To walk in a newness of life. Jesus was the life of God manifest, right? The life of God became the light of men, and this glory of God lives inside us, starting at baptism, when we're called born again. And that's the important part of our spiritual journey, wherever we're at. New life usually starts with what? Those of you who've had kids, starts with a cry, right? It comes with this sense of need. Salvation is God saving me from me, saving us from the Adamic nature that's in all of us. Let's finish by reading Romans 11, verses 33 through 36. Romans 11, 33 through 36. As Christians, we're to exhibit glory in our character. We're supposed to walk in the newness of life. Friends, don't allow God's glory to be hidden. We can be transformed into a holy people, into the image of Christ with God's help. That's the power of God's glory in you. That's the power of God's glory in me. So let's continue to put on the character of Jesus Christ more and more and more and radiate His goodness and His nature, His temperament, His love. Romans 11, verse 33. O, the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out. For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has become His counselor, or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to Him. For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. To God be the glory, right? The goal of our lives should be God's glory.

So I encourage you in the weeks leading up to the Passover, which is not far away, use the time leading up to the Passover to celebrate the glory God made possible in you and to strive to reflect Him in the mirror of how you are seen, of how you live. Right? May be reflected in what everybody sees in us each and every day.