Jason Dollar . Net

Every pastor needs to give the occasional meta-sermon, that is, a message or series of messages reminding the people of God, that God’s ultimate aim in all things is His own glory. It is the “Big Story” in which all the little stories (like Cain and Abel, Noah’s Ark, David and Goliath, Paul’s ministry, you life and mine) fit.

So for the next three Lord’s Day messages, I am going to attempt, in a small and finite way, to lead the folks at Rock Mtn to reflect upon, enjoy, receive, and spread the glory of God. The major points for the first sermon:

• The Bible is essentially the story of how God glorifies Himself.
• Everything that happens in human history, then, is a manifestation of some aspect of the glory of God.
• The glory of God is the absolute moral standard that defines our behavior as good or bad.
• Salvation is the movement of a person from being a secular, man-glorifyer to being a holy, God-glorifyer.

One of my major objectives in these messages is to discuss the difference between the innate glory of God in Himself, and the glory of God as received by a second party (namely, us).

The innate glory of God is that glory which belongs to God in His being. That is, it is Him! He is majestic, splendid, awesome in holiness, and an endless trillion other wondrous realities that our feeble language can’t begin to truly get at! (read Psalm 19)

Let me illustrate. I love Paul Simon, the singer / songwriter. He has written some great classic songs, like Bridge Over Troubled Water, You Can Call Me Al, Graceland, and Sound of Silence. All well crafted songs. He has a measure of innate glory. That is, Simon was endowed with certain gifts and talents, including lyrical and musical composition. These gifts are simply part of his being, or his innate glory (so to speak). The innate glory of God is like that – it is simply who He is.

But there is another way of understanding the glory of a person. The sunshine has innate glory just like Paul Simon does, but that glory shines. That is, the brilliance of the sun emanates off the surface of the sun and proceeds forth. And the beams of glory find other objects (like people). We then, as the son shines on us, have the opportunity to enjoy the glory of the son.

Paul Simon also shines this way. He has a measure of innate glory, but he has taken this and put it into the form of “beams,” like concerts, CDs, DVD’s, and radio waves. These become vehicles through which Simon’s glory is communicated to other beings. And so the glory of Paul Simon can be received, understood, and enjoyed by others, to a greater or lesser degree. We cannot add or subtract from the innate glory of Paul (it simply is what it is), but we can magnify his shining glory better or worse.

God’s glory is the same. His innate glory is unchanging, but His glory shines forth from His being a million ways. His Word, His Son, His Church, His Supper, all of these, and a host of others, are vehicles through which we see the shining of God’s glory. And all of us can receive these “beams” of His light, or reject them. To the degree that we receive them, seek to understand them, enjoy them, and spread them, we are “glorifying God.” Now, of course, we cannot add to His innate glory, which is perfectly and eternally unchanging, but we can magnify His shining glory, as it shines upon our lives!

Our ability to understand this theology is absolutely essential for us in understanding the purpose of our lives. The reason people feel chaotic, sad, out of control, or meaningless, is because we are often not consciously living to magnify the glory of God. We are magnifying the glory of self, or a thousand other earth-based things, and this leads to a malfunction in the human heart. After all, God has created us with the function of glorifying HIM, and so this we must do as our highest duty, honor, and joy, if we are ever to experience true life.

2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

I hope to see many of you at church tomorrow! Let us behold the glory of the Lord!

At church, a couple of guys and I are reading through Andrew Murray’s little book called Humility. I am struck by the way in which Murray addresses this topic.

Humility is one of those virtues that is elusive, to say the least. To claim to have it is not to have it! And yet in Christ, we must have it, because of who He is as Creator and Lord, and who we are as created and follower.

Humility is a short book, but it is consuming, because it draws the believer in and creates a meditating heart. To see what I mean, read the first paragraph:

When God created the universe, it was with the one object of making the creature partaker of His perfection and blessedness, and so showing forth in it the glory of His love and wisdom and power. God wished to reveal Himself in and through created beings by communicating to them as much of His own goodness and glory as they were capable of receiving. But this communication was not a giving to the creature something which it could possess in itself, a certain life or goodness, of which it had the charge and disposal. By no means. But as God is the ever-living, ever-present, ever-acting One, who upholdeth all things by the word of His power, and in whom all things exist, the relation of the creature to God could only be one of unceasing, absolute, universal dependence. As truly as God by His power once created, so truly by that same power must God every moment maintain. The creature has not only to look back to the origin and first beginning of existence, and acknowledge that it there owes everything to God; its chief care, its highest virtue, its only happiness, now and through all eternity, is to present itself an empty vessel, in which God can dwell and manifest His power and goodness.

Humility (the book) can be read free online, or can be purchased through Amazon:

The following short editorial appeared in the helpful (and free) online journal Themelios. This journal is produced by the Gospel Coalition and is an appreciated resource for pastors and teachers on a budget, but who want to dig deep nonetheless.

D.A. Carson is a well respected theologian. His work as Research Professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School has been monumental, climaxing in a number of important books and articles. I have learned much from Dr. Carson, but I most admire him for his devotional edge. By this, I mean he seems to genuinely love God! It is sometimes easy for those in the “theology profession” to say many things about God in a broken, unattached (no horse in the race), kind of way. Carson has avoided this error and the short editorial below is one line of evidence that this is the case. I hope you read it.

Most of us have had the experience of drifting, half awake and half asleep, in a gray mist of semi-consciousness, only to be jerked fully awake by some sudden and vivid memory of a shameful thing we have done or said in the past. The action or words are terribly vivid, and we break out in a cold sweat of shame. An inner writhing makes us wish we could relive those moments and behave differently. But in the immortal words of Omar Khayyam,

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.

What is striking about these experiences is that the acute shame we suddenly feel is almost invariably with reference to a horizontal relationship—that is, we feel shame for what we have said or done that has wounded a friend or diminished us in the eyes of a family member or colleague. Almost never do we feel such acute shame before God. Why is this?

I suspect that at least one of the reasons is that many of us care rather more for what fellow human beings think of us than for what God thinks of us. To put this in theological language, we do not fall under adequate conviction of sin—conviction that simultaneously makes us feel guilty because we are guilty, and makes us ashamed because we have been so profoundly disloyal to our Maker and Sovereign. What he thinks of us when we act or speak despicably ought to be far more important to us than what anyone else thinks of us. That it is not usually so is itself a measure of our estrangement from the living God.

This common experience of God’s fallen image-bearers, people like you and me, takes on particular hues in specific disciplines. That is why it is worth asking readers of this digital journal what it is that is most likely to induce a sense of shame or embarrassment among theologians young and old, among pastors and teachers.

Would it be unduly cynical of me to suggest that most of us are more likely to feel troubled by something we have said or done that has upset a colleague or parishioner than by something that has dishonored God? Some do not want to be too closely associated with anything the scholarly guild judges old-fashioned or fundamentalist: that, surely, would be shameful. On the other hand, Jesus says some blunt things about those who are ashamed of him and his words (Mark 8:38). The question resolves into something pretty straightforward: Whose approval do we most earnestly desire? Whose approval do we want when we prepare for a lecture (whether to deliver it or to learn from it)? Whose approval do we seek when we preach a sermon? Whose approval matters most when we write a paper or slog away at a dissertation? Whose approval do we hunger for when we choose a vocation, decide how to use our time, take pains to build links of affection and accountability in the local church, exercise, bring up our children, nurture our families, read, lead a Bible study, help a neighbor?

If we do not want God’s approval the most, where does idolatry begin?

Mind you, the really wonderful thing about occasional midnight writhings when the person we have most offended is God is that this God also provides everything that is necessary to cleanse our conscience so that we may once again look boldly into his face. He is “faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). So we return to the cross, and rest once again.

The preaching this Sunday (hear the sermon here) came from Matthew 3:5-6, with a particular focus on the place John the Baptist established his ministry, the Jordan River. This unimpressive river, as far as length and width is concerned, is nonetheless a powerful symbol in understanding what God is doing in His work of Redemption. Here are four lessons we learn throughout Scripture from the Jordan River.

1. The Jordan River pictures the difference between living by the Spirit and living by the flesh. (Abraham and Lot)

2. The Jordan River pictures the cleansing power of death. (See Namaan and Romans 6)

3. The Jordan River pictures the change that happens to a person who, Spiritually speaking, crosses it. (Jacob was changed to Israel on its banks)

4. The Jordan River pictures the final obstacle standing between a believer and Rest in the Promise land, in the very presence of God. (Hebrews 4)

1. The Bible is a collection of words that communicate to us the Person and Plan of God, helping us know Him better. Knowing Him is the highest calling of man (2 Tim. 3:14-16; Heb. 8:11).

2. God shares His love for us as we read and meditate upon His Word (Rom. 5:8).

3. Just as Jesus is the Logos (the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us) who came to reveal the Father to us, so the written Word provides a divine vehicle through which God manifests Himself to His people (Jn. 1:1-14; 1 Thess. 2:13).

4. God’s Word, when studied carefully and especially in the context of a healthy Church, provides true knowledge for wise living (Prov. 1:1-7; Eph. 4:11).

5. When applied to life, the Word of God grants to us incredible weapons with which to fight the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil (Mt. 4:1-11; Eph. 6:11-15).

6. Studying the Bible gives the believer an accurate view of world history from beginning to end, and his or her place in that history (Gen. 1; Rev. 19-22).

7. A rich mining of the treasures of Scripture edifies the heart with joy in ways that nothing else can (Ps. 119:24).

8. Knowledge of the Bible leads to our sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with more accuracy and with more passion (Mt. 28:19-20).

Psalm 20:7  Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

Instruments of war, powerful political figures, and government policy often replace God in our culture. Some things never change.

As the people of God, believers in Christ should quickly abandon these methods of supposed security, and place our full trust in the Lord, not just for the initial moment of salvation, but for all of life. Rather than allow anxiety to control our thoughts, and swell our fears, let us turn rapidly to the Way, the Truth, and the Life, our Savior Jesus Christ. All the promises of God are “yes” and “amen” in Him.

From the ministry of John the Baptist (Matt. 3:1-3), we learn many important lessons regarding the power of preaching.

1. Preaching can happen anytime and anywhere

John “came preaching in the wilderness of Judea.” Why there? That seems to be an inconvenient place. In order for people to hear the message, they would have to travel, and sometimes great distances. Would it not be better to go to the city and preach there first, like the apostle Paul did? Maybe. But not for John the Baptist. He proves the point that preaching can be effective in any context. Let us never confine the proclamation of the Kingdom to a wooden pultpit! Take preaching to the streets, the nursing homes, the funeral homes, the homes of family and neighbors, and as you go.

2. Preaching is primarily a hearlding of the nearness of the Kingdom of God

The message John preached was simply, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The Kingdom of Heaven (or of God) is the global, everlasting community of regenerate individuals who gladly submit to the authority of King Jesus. It is the stone that crushes the statue, which represents the kingdoms of man, in Daniel 2:44-45. It is a Kingdom that will never end.

When people preach, they are primarily hearlding the message about this great Kingdom. When people teach, they are unfolding the realities of this Kingdom carefully, and showing people how to live within it well. When people pastor, they are exercising spiritual oversight for people who willingly submit to the authority of the local church through membership. A pastor, therefore, is more than a preacher, though the announcement aspect of his ministry is crucial. But a pastor must also be a teacher and a shepherd.

That said, all Christians have the right to be hearlds of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, and therefore, should preach (in this sense) wherever they are. This does not mean the formal preparation and presentation of a sermon, as often done by pastors and evangelists, but it simply means making the announcement that God’s Kingdom has come close, and therefore, people should repent of their sin and turn to God.

3. Preaching does not require the preacher to understand every detail of theology

No preacher alive today has every theological duck in a row. Neither did John the Baptist. After he had baptized Jesus, he was thrown into prison where he began to doubt that Jesus was the Messiah afterall (Matthew 11:2-3). His understanding of the Messiah’s program was shortsighted, and Jesus was not acting as he thought the Messiah should. But even though John was mistaken here (and perhaps if he was part of Essene community, he was mistaken in other ways as well), that did not automatically disqualify him from preaching.

The announcement of the Kingdom of God is a simple message that can be hearalded faithfully, even by those who lack clear and full understanding of all the teachings of the Bible. I am grateful for this as a preacher, since I feel like an ant trying to understand an elephant. How can a puny piece of dust like me exhaustively understand the nature and program of an eternal being? I can’t and neither can you.

What we can do, and must do, as preachers of the Kingdom, is go to the Scriptures and study diligently, and learn as much accurate theology as we can. This is what John did. He was not content with his lack of knowledge. He sent messengers to Jesus to ask Him, “Are you really the Messiah we’ve been waiting for, or should we keep looking for someone else?” John wanted to know the truth, and he wanted to know really bad! Some preachers today make the horrible and heretical error of saying, “Well, since we are limited in knowledge, we should just forget theology and learning altogether, and just simply preach.” This is not what John the Baptist did. He was diligently seeking the truth. But his shortsightedness did not automatically disqualify him from being a herald of the Kingdom.

4. Preaching always calls for a response

John’s message about the Kingdom was not calling for people to passively wait on the Kingdom to come. No, he was passionately moving the people to do something. He wanted them to turn away from the sin and begin living the lives God intends for us to live through the power of the Messiah. He called people to “repent!”

Preaching malfunctions if it does not call people to respond. Paul Revere’s ride would have been worthless if people had not gotten out of bed and prepared themselves for the coming British! The reality of the coming of Christ’s Kingdom ought to always move us into action! James says, “And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. If you don’t obey, you are only fooling yourself. For if you just listen and don’t obey, it is like looking at your face in a mirror but doing nothing to improve your appearance. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like” (NLT).

John the Baptist was an amazing preacher of the Kingdom, and we learn much about the power of preaching from his example.

Happy New Year!