What Does It Mean That God Will Glorify Me? And How?
00:00:00.000 | Of course, we are called to glorify God in everything that we think and say and do.
00:00:06.640 | But the Bible also says that God will glorify us, his children.
00:00:11.540 | So what in the world does that mean?
00:00:13.780 | It's a question that comes to us from a listener named Nicholas.
00:00:16.380 | Pastor John, I'm very grateful for your love for the Lord and for your ministry.
00:00:20.660 | In John chapter 5 verse 44, Jesus challenges the Pharisees in where they seek their glory.
00:00:27.580 | How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory
00:00:31.940 | that comes from the only God?
00:00:34.140 | It seems that Jesus is indirectly telling us to seek glory from God.
00:00:39.300 | How do we balance this with desiring to glorify him?
00:00:42.220 | What is the difference in the link between me glorifying God and God glorifying me?
00:00:49.500 | The difference between glorifying God and seeking glory from God is the difference between
00:00:57.580 | our making God look like what he really is and God making us into what we are definitely
00:01:06.780 | not—namely, beautiful and glorious in his image.
00:01:12.620 | We are created to glorify God, that is, by treasuring him and valuing him above all else
00:01:21.580 | to show him to be infinitely valuable above all else in our lives and in the world—Isaiah
00:01:28.620 | 43:7.
00:01:29.620 | But we're also created to be glorious or to be glorified, since we're not yet glorious.
00:01:40.000 | Not in the sense—glorified not in the sense of being shown to be supremely valuable like
00:01:47.380 | God, but in the sense of being conformed to the image of Christ.
00:01:53.580 | So the key passage is Romans 8, 29, and 30.
00:01:58.980 | "Those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in
00:02:07.700 | order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."
00:02:10.980 | Look-alikes.
00:02:11.980 | "And those whom he predestined, he also called; and those whom he called, he justified; and
00:02:19.620 | those whom he justified, he glorified."
00:02:22.700 | And that glorified refers back to that conforming to the image of his Son.
00:02:28.300 | God does not intend for his Son to have an ugly bride.
00:02:35.540 | Jonathan Edwards makes a very big deal out of the point of the universe being the creation
00:02:42.140 | and preparation of a bride for his Son.
00:02:45.260 | Ephesians 5, 27, "So that he might present the church to himself in splendor."
00:02:53.420 | Present the church—Christ died for the church so that he might present the church to himself
00:02:59.580 | in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without
00:03:07.220 | blemish.
00:03:08.220 | Now, the way this fits together with our glorifying Christ is, first, that we are his workmanship.
00:03:18.220 | We don't make ourselves beautiful.
00:03:20.160 | We aren't intrinsically beautiful.
00:03:22.340 | We are intrinsically abhorrent in our rebellion against God.
00:03:27.500 | He makes us beautiful, and therefore our beauty reflects his primary power and grace and beauty
00:03:36.420 | as the creator of our beauty.
00:03:38.980 | The second way our glorification relates to the glory of Christ is that his glory is the
00:03:46.380 | template from which our glory is designed, shaped, and brought about.
00:03:53.700 | Therefore, if anyone looks upon us and thinks we are glorious, it will be because they've
00:04:02.660 | already looked at Christ, found him to be glorious, and then looked at us and say, "Oh,
00:04:09.700 | you're like that, and I love that."
00:04:13.160 | So there's no conflict in pursuing the glory of Christ and pursuing being glorified by
00:04:23.100 | Christ, which means that we shouldn't be shocked to read Romans 2.6.
00:04:29.100 | I think a lot of Christians are shocked to read it when Paul says in Romans 2.6, "God
00:04:37.860 | will render to each one according to his works.
00:04:41.340 | To those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will
00:04:50.820 | give eternal life.
00:04:52.520 | But for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness,
00:04:59.860 | they will receive wrath and fury.
00:05:02.780 | There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first
00:05:08.220 | and also to the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the
00:05:16.380 | Jew first and also the Greek, for God shows no partiality."
00:05:21.460 | There's a deep flaw in our thinking and our souls if we are not seeking this glory
00:05:31.020 | and honor.
00:05:32.340 | No one can love God and not want to be conformed to the image of God, but we will always want
00:05:41.260 | our glory to be derivative.
00:05:43.980 | We'll always want our glory to be reflective, not original, reflective of the original,
00:05:50.580 | and we will always love the way the two are put together in 2 Thessalonians 1.11.
00:05:57.400 | To this we always pray for you.
00:06:00.660 | To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, may
00:06:07.500 | fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power so that the name of
00:06:15.140 | our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him.
00:06:22.140 | Amazing, beautiful, bringing together the Lord Jesus glorified in you and you glorified
00:06:27.820 | in him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:06:34.420 | So when Jesus says, and this is the text that Nicholas asked about, when Jesus says in John
00:06:41.180 | 5:44, "How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek, do
00:06:48.300 | not seek the glory that comes from the only God?"
00:06:51.340 | I think he means if you find the praise of other people and the honor of other people
00:06:57.860 | and the greatness of other people more satisfying than the greatness of God and the praise of
00:07:04.620 | God and the honor that comes from God and the beautification that comes from God, you
00:07:11.540 | will be so man-centered that you will not be able to believe on Jesus.
00:07:18.100 | Yeah, that is a sobering warning.
00:07:20.660 | Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you, Nicholas, for the question.
00:07:23.940 | Really good question.
00:07:25.100 | If you are perplexed over a theology question that you can't seem to wrap your mind around
00:07:29.300 | or a Bible passage that seems to contradict other Bible passages that you've read, send
00:07:34.240 | those questions into us.
00:07:35.340 | Drop us an email at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org.
00:07:39.940 | You've been listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast with longtime author and pastor John
00:07:43.820 | Piper.
00:07:44.820 | As always, you can find our audio feeds and you can find our episode archive all at our
00:07:47.940 | online home at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.
00:07:53.060 | And at that site, there's also a button you can click if you want to send us your question
00:07:56.900 | via the web.
00:07:58.700 | We are back on Wednesday.
00:08:00.540 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:08:01.540 | We'll see you then.
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