March 21, 2012 - Wednesday Lent Service by Pastor Paul G. Eckert
Sermon text - John 17:1-5
1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
"Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began."
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"Glory be to Jesus!" We just sang that. But did we see or hear about glory in our Scripture reading at the lectern? A criminal named Barabbas was chosen ahead of an innocent Jesus. That doesn’t sound glorious. Jesus was flogged, a crown of thorns was pressed on His head, His head was struck, He was spit on, He was too weak to keep on carrying a cross, He was mocked, He was crucified with robbers on either side of Him. "Glory be to Jesus?" Far from it!
All of what we have just recounted led to Jesus’ crucifixion, to the theme of our Wednesday services: See His Cross! Now how does that fit in with today’s sermon theme, "Glory Be To Jesus!"?
GLORY BE TO JESUS!
I THAT GLORY ALWAYS WAS HIS (1a,5)
1. Jesus here claimed glory from eternity. (1a,5)
After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the time has come. --- And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began."
a) George Washington - what glory did he have before he was
born in 1732? What glory did we have before we were born?
b) Jesus here claimed to have glory before He was born on this
earth.
2. Listen also to these striking words in John 1:14,1-4.
The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us. We have
seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from
the Father, full of grace and truth. --- In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He
was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made, without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
a) Jesus who became flesh in Bethlehem was before that.
b) He was fully involved from before the world began.
3. Listen also to this section from Colossians 1:15-20.
[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
a) Here again is reference to Jesus’ eternal involvement.
b) And then there also is reference to His earthly involvement
when it speaks of His blood shed on the cross.
4. And now the time had come for that. (1a,5)
After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the time has come. --- And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began."
a) At God’s right time Jesus came to this earth.
b) At God’s right time He would reclaim His eternal glory.
c) But that would be after He finished His earthly assignment.
II THAT GLORY JESUS HAD SET ASIDE (4)
1. Jesus set it aside because He had work to do. (4)
"I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do."
a) That work was to save the world from its sins.
b) While doing that, some flashes of His glory were seen - in His
miracles certainly, and by some in His Transfiguration.
2. But apart from that He really did not look glorious.
a) Listen to this description in Isaiah 52:14, 53:2b-3.
There were many who were appalled at him - his appearance was
so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness - . He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
b) And listen to these words from Philippians 2:6-8.
[Jesus] being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!
3. Yes, Jesus deliberately set aside the glory that was His.
a) Not only was this foretold.
b) It all happened exactly as foretold.
4. And it was clearly evident on the cross.
a) Hear the agonized cry, "My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me?" No glory there!
b) We know why. It was because of our sins.
c) Could "glory be to Jesus" come from this horror? III THAT GLORY WAS REVEALED (1, 4, 5)
1. The time had come for this. (1)
After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you."
a) God so loved the world that He had sent His Son.
b) The time had come to claim the victory, to reclaim the Son’s
glory, and to glorify the Father whose plan was fulfilled.
2. Jesus had completed the work God gave Him. (4)
"I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do."
a) "It is finished!" Our sins paid for! This was a victory cry!
b) And so was "Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit."
No longer forsaken, but victorious!
3. And "Glory be to Jesus" would soon be evident. (5)
"And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I
had with you before the world began."
a) On the third day Jesus arose with His glorified body.
b) Then listen to this description of Jesus’ glory in Philippians
2:9-11. Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Yes, "glory be to Jesus!"
IV THAT GLORY GIVES US GLORY TOO (2-3)
1. We had no glory of our own.
a) Sinners is what we were and are from birth on.
b) The opposite of glory is all that we could expect.
2. But Jesus had come to give us glory. (2-3)
"For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."
a) We know God. We know His Son who died for us. We have
been brought to faith by the Spirit through the Word. We
have the promise of eternal life in glory.
b) And that eternal life in glory includes glorified bodies, as we
are promised in Philippians 3:20-21. "Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."
3. This glory Jesus wants for others besides us too.
a) A little farther on in His prayer Jesus said, "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you." (John 17:20)
b) Do you see what Jesus wants us to do? He wants us to share
the message of eternal glory with others.
4. Glory be to Jesus!
a) For us He died! - We are forgiven!
b) For us He was victorious! - Rejoice!
c) Because of Him we too shall be glorified! - "Glory Be To
Jesus!"
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