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In a day when we see so much
which is ugly, distorted, or that which is beautiful but
has been vandalised we wonder at the cult of the unlovely.
When beautiful women and handsome men want to look scungy
and dreary, when they want to distort their natural good
form by weird hair treatments, body attachments, and when
they want art to depict gross and hideous forms, or to distort
what is attractive into what is empty, meaningless and despairing,
we ask ourselves why this should be so. We can get answers,
'Well, that is how we see things. That is our kind of beauty.
We are realists, seeing things as they are-really ugly, perverted,
empty and pointless.'
That is certainly one view
and calls for understanding, though we do not have to applaud
it. In an age of narcissism-self-worship-we find the narcissists
are those who have 'low self-esteem', poor self-image' and
so on, and they are among the foremost in committing suicide,
especially when they use drugs and alcohol. If we had a good
view of humanity, no matter how much and many its faults,
then we might drop our endeavour to demean ourselves and
recognise great elements that have been given to us in our
birth. The other day a study I once did of human glory came
up on my computer.
I thought it might be a bit
helpful to read, even in its present, rather formal presentation.
1. THE GIFT INCONCEIVABLE
Twice Paul talks of a gift
that is inconceivable. The first is in I Corinthians 2:7-9,
'But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God
decreed before the ages for our glorification. None of the
rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they
would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is
written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart
of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love
him," God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the
Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.' This
is the gift of glorification.
The second gift is spoken
of in II Corinthians 9:15, 'Thanks be to God for his inexpressible
gift!' The second gift is Christ himself, but then with him
all that God gives in grace to fallen Man. In the end the
two gifts are much the same, since in Colossians 1:27 Paul
writes, 'To them God chose to make known how great among
the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery,
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.' God's gift prepared
for man from before the foundation of the earth is glory.
Man ought always to keep that in mind. Unless he is redeemed
he will not have it in mind to keep. Christ, God's inexpressible
gift to him is the redeemed man's hope of glory, that is,
glory is assured to him.
2. MAN CREATED AS THE IMAGE
AND GLORY OF GOD
When God said 'Let us make
man in our own image and likeness' he intended just that.
Paul says 'Man is the image and glory of God'. Now what that
glory constituted is not easy to cover, but Psalm 8 helps
us. So in verses 3 and 4 the Psalmist is amazed at God's
care and consideration of Man. He asks, 'When I look at thy
heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars
which thou hast established; what is man that thou art mindful
of him, and the son of man that thou dost care for him?'
Then he answers his own question in verses 5 to 8, 'Yet thou
hast made him little less than God, and dost crown him with
glory and honor. Thou hast given him dominion over the works
of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet, all
sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds
of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along
the paths of the sea.' Man, then, has great glory. This was
God's great gift to him. It was what made Man, Man. It is
really the gift of himself.
3. MAN CAN SAY OF HIMSELF,
'O MY GLORY!'
There is a fascinating statement
in Genesis 49:5&endash;7. Jacob, in prophesying over his
sons says regarding Simeon and Levi that they are cruel men.
He addresses himself and says, 'O my soul, come not into
their council, O my glory (kabod) be not joined to
their company.' This address may sound strange, but it is
used in other places, for example Psalm 16:9, 'Therefore
my heart is glad and my glory (kabod) rejoices.' In
the context we can see how thrilling it was for the Psalmist
to be in God's presence and to know that God would not let
him see death, a mighty truth to be fully revealed by Christ
at a later time in history.
What, then, do we make of
a person speaking of his glory? The word kabod can mean glory,
reputation and honour. We are supposed to honour all men
and women and children throughout creation. We are to say
nothing which will give them a bad reputation. The truth
is that as persons created by God they are creatures of glory.
Even if Man, since Eden, has fallen short of the glory of
God he has never completely lost the glory. Jacob could be
said to be a man without pure glory, and he was told 'You
were a rebel from your mother's womb', but something happened
to him later in life when he was a man of wealth and great
worldly kabod. He met God in the angel at Peniel and fought
with him, demanding the blessing. God told him he was no
longer Jacob (cheat) in character but Israel-the one prevailing
with God. Since that night of transformation Jacob wanted
nothing of the cruelty or vandalism such as were the 'unglory'
of his two sons. He knew glory within, and walked according
to that glory. Of course he had looked into the eyes of the
angel and seen the glory of God and could never be the same
man again.
4. THE LOSS OF GLORY
It happened in Eden. Finally
Paul has said, 'For all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. He is speaking about the whole of mankind.
He has lost what he had. In Romans 3:9&endash;18 Paul describes
what Man has become. Jesus described this in Mark 7:21ff.
What comes out of a man's heart defiles him. Jeremiah in
17:9 of his prophecy shows how the heart of Man is deceitful
above all things and desperately corrupt. Romans 1:18-32
shows the depravity of Man. Another way of speaking of the
loss of the glory of man is to say that the image of God
in Man went into reverse-horribly so. Man lived by love.
Now, cutting himself off from God as his 'supply' he became
a creature of self goodness, self righteousness, self holiness,
self veracity, self love. Self love we call self-centred
love, and theologians speak about eros although that is a
word not used in the New Testament. It is self love, and
it is centred on glorifying itself. Eros causes most of the
misery that there is in the world. Man sees his answers to
life's problems in himself. There are many forms of humanism
which are the '-isms' of humanity.
5. TRANSFORMED INTO GLORY
God had always intended our
glory. 'Should not perish but have everlasting life' is another
way of saying Man was created for glory. I Corinthians 2:7
says that God had a wisdom before the foundation of the world
which was designed for Man's ultimate glory. Can you imagine
that glory! It is to be like the glory of the Son. On the
Mount of Transfiguration Christ was seen in glory. So were
Moses and Elijah.
This glorious radiance is
to be our lot. Our bodies will be changed so that they will
be like his glorious body. Yet the Transfiguration can be
summed up by the saying that 'He was transfigured that he
might be disfigured, so that we who are disfigured might
become transfigured'. It is a thing of glory to be disfigured
for others when that will transform them. To come into this
world he made himself of no reputation, that is, he emptied
himself, he became a man in all truth. Yet he loved doing
this. He wanted to do it for others, for these he placed
before himself. This is the meaning of 'he emptied himself'.
He also loved going to the Cross where he would become as
a debased figure with all the depravity of Man being borne
in his body on the tree. John's Gospel tells us it was here
that he showed the glory of God. It was a glory which rescues
us unto glory. It sets the ultimate goal for us as glory.
6. THE ACTION OF GLORY IS
GOING ON IN US NOW
In II Corinthians chapter
3 Paul compares the glory that Moses showed when he looked
at God in those days on the Mount. He saw the Glory and was
thereby glorified. Yet that glory would soon fade and so
he used a veil that the fading might not be seen. In another
sense he used the veil so that glory might not be seen, so
powerful and even frightening it was. Paul then contrasts
our position with that of Moses. He says we look at Christ's
glory, with unveiled faces and so we are being glorified
from one stage of glory to another. This is happening, NOW!
We are seeing 'the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ'.
Indeed Paul tells us that we are in Christ, and that Christ
is among us and that he is our hope of glory. It does not
yet appear what we shall be but we know that when we see
him, we shall be like him.
7. 'HAVE YOU GOT ANY GLORY
IN YOUR SOUL?'
That is a question we used
to ask each other when we were teenagers together. We really
put the responsibility on each person to have glory in his/her
soul. We were going back thousands of years when Jacob-and
doubtless others-saw their soul or spirit or 'inner man'
as their glory. Sure the Psalmist could sing, 'My glory and
the lifter of my head!' knowing that only God could give
us glory, but then He would do that. In this sermon I have
not tried to speak of the actual nature of glory and its
practical working out in life, but I can tell you-on the
basis of Exodus 34:6&endash;7 which was God's stated glory-that
it is a moral glory to do with love and mercy and forgiveness
and kindness and holiness which forgives only where there
is repentance. It is to do with holiness and righteousness
and goodness and truth and love which flow from God into
us, and then through us to others.
In that day we will see His
glory, face to face, and we shall have the glory like unto
that of His Son, and we will thrill with the assurance of
'O His glory! O my glory! O their glory!' Thus we will know
the threefold glory-of the triune God, of Man and of creation,
for then the glory of God will cover the earth as the waters
cover the sea.
Now I ask you this morning
in repentance and faith to receive the gift of your glory
and your participation in His glory and to live in the glory
of the renewed creation. How futile our pathetic attempts
at glory; how fragile our possessions and our reputations!
How sad our competition to achieve glory! Lay down your arms,
lay down your ambitions. Submit and come to know the glory.
G. Bingham, Kingswood, Adelaide,
25th June 1999.
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