Good day
For as long as it takes we are going to study the
gospel of John chapters fourteen to seventeen.
To pick up the topic, you may need to read the one or two postings
preceding this one.
“I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work
that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with
the glory that I had with you before the world existed,” (John 17:4, 5).
The work Jesus was given to do consisted of a lot of
activity, which was aimed at one primary purpose – to give eternal life to
those Father God loves. Having accomplished that which He was sent to earth for,
was all that was needed to glorify Father God. There is no evidence in the
Bible that Jesus for instance sang worship songs in church in order to glorify
God. The way He glorified God was to humble himself in obedience, lifting His
Father up. “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in
Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality
with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by
taking the form of a servant,
being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming
obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross,” (Philippians 2:5-8). “So
Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing
of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son
does likewise,’” (John 5:19).
The creative purpose of man is to glorify the Lord God.
When Adam was created, he was so perfect that He walked in fellowship with the
Lord. There was no sin that separated him from his Maker and they were in
perfect harmony. When Jesus came to earth He was in perfect harmony with Father
God, for there was no sin that separated them. The only way Jesus was able to
return to His Father in heaven and continue in their glorified relationship at
one another’s side, was for Jesus to glorify Father God by completing what He
came to do on earth, which was ensuring that Adam’s descendants’ relationship
with Father God was restored to the level it was before Adam had sinned.
Would you like to be able to say almost like Jesus did:
“I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that Adam had
before he had sinned.” This is what Jesus, the second Adam, came to do. He came
to restore for us what Adam had messed up, but it is up to us to glorify Father
God by accomplishing what we were created for – to continue the work that the
second Adam, Jesus, started. I have often wondered how earth would have been
had man never sinned. Obviously Adam would have continued walking with God in
fellowship and probably would have increased in numbers, but everybody would
have walked in harmony with God. This is what Father God’s dream has been ever
since Adam sinned, which is why He first of all chose for Himself a nation from
which the Messiah was born. He in turn set the whole world free from the curse
of sin, so that everyone who becomes one with Jesus could share in the original
glory Adam had with God, but this time in a new heaven and new earth.
How much time and effort do we put into accomplishing
that which we are called for, in order to help Father God accomplishing His
dream? In our previous message we have looked at what we really know and do. Many
of us are so focused on all the distractions this world offers us, being busy
entertaining ourselves whilst attempting to survive, that we do not even try to
find out what we are to do in order to glorify God the Father. Father God and
Jesus have made every effort to prepare the way for us to restore our
relationship with Him, so we can live in glorious harmony with Him as
originally intended. What do we do to glorify Him?
This is not going to be easy though, since we still
have the serpent around whose primary purpose is to stop man from living in harmony
with God. Whatever we have and are we have and are in Christ Jesus. On our own we are not able to do anything, but as
long as we stay in Christ we can do and be anything. When Peter walked on the
water toward Jesus he did well as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus, but when
He started to look at the waves he sank. Waves are sent to us all the time in
an attempt to get our focus away from Jesus onto ourselves, our own comfort,
ambitions and problems. This, however, does not glorify Father God, but
ourselves, which is why we will sink into a pit of self-centredness. But if we
keep our eyes on Jesus, who glorified Father God by accomplishing what He was
sent to do, we will walk on the water of the accomplishment of what we were sent to do.
Lord, please give me grace to stop living for myself
and complete what you gave me to do here on earth?
Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth,
via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will
accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.
Please pass this on if you
think others may benefit by it.
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