Louie Giglio - The Thread of Glory
This message is called «The Thread of Glory,» and what we looked at a few weeks ago was «The Thread of Grace.» How that all through Scripture, not just in the Gospels, not just at the cross, and not just in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, is there grace in Scripture; but from the beginning to the end, it is God’s grace. Because grace, if you remember our discussion, our definition, is God’s work. So what is glory then? If this is the counter today, what is glory? Glory we’re going to define as God’s weight and worth.
Grace is God at work; I didn’t do it; God did it; I couldn’t do it; God did it. That’s grace—not just when you get saved, amen? Every moment of every day, it is God at work in us to do what we cannot do. And what is glory? Glory is God’s weight and his worth. The Old Testament word in Hebrew for glory is «kavod,» and «kavod» is a word that translates to «weight.» So when you see the word glory in the Old Testament, it signifies weightiness. In other words, God is not flimsy; He is not tinfoil; God has substance and infinite weight—intrinsic weight. When you come to the New Testament, the word for glory translates into «opinion» —a good opinion, an opinion that honors, an opinion that glorifies, if you will; a high opinion. So, the glory of God, the high opinion of God, and the weight of God— the eternal and intrinsic weight and worth of God.
In the '60s, I don’t know about anybody who lived through the '60s; hello, anyone in the house lived through the '60s? You’d be talking to someone, and you drop something on them, and they’d say, «Wow, man, that was heavy!» Not that your word was heavy, but the concept—the idea was heavy, man. And that word «kavod» signifies God. God is heavy; He’s not tinfoil — He’s solid gold and more; He is the heaviest, weightiest, worthiest of all in the world. The thing that’s most amazing about God’s eternal weight and worth is that the biggest believer in and proponent of the weight and worth of God is God Himself. The person who is broadcasting the weight and worth of God the most is God. You and I? We’re not the biggest proponents of the glory of God—He is, and He has to be because He is God.
We’ve talked about this before; it’s very simple math. To be God, you have to be omniscient; that means you have to know everything, and to know everything, you would have to know that you are God. You can’t be God and not know that you’re God. If you know that you’re God, you know that you are the weightiest of all, that your worth is above all, and there really isn’t a second place. It’s not like God is up here, and then right there is the second weightiest and the second most worthy thing. It’s like God has all the weight and all the worth; He has all the glory for all time and in eternity. He knows that; He knows He’s the best; He knows He’s the truest; He knows He’s the richest; He knows He’s the purest; He knows He’s the brightest; He knows He’s the most powerful; He knows who He is, and so He promotes Himself.
You might say, «Oh, I can’t buy into that; God would be way more humble than that.» No, humility is for us, who think we’re God. Humility isn’t necessary when you are God. Because God isn’t being proud when He promotes Himself; He’s just being God. If you’re not tracking yet, all through Scripture, which is written by who? Whose word is this? Who is it all about? God wrote God’s word—all about God. That’s how you know that God has weight and worth. Was God told you? If God didn’t tell you, you would know all about the fullness of the weight and the worth of God. He knew that to withhold Himself from you would not be loving. He knew the most loving thing He could do is barge into your world and say, «Look at Me!» because He wants you. God is speaking to have the best, and if I don’t push into your life, you’re going to end up with less. It is the best news we’ve ever heard that God is the biggest proponent of God.
It’s like if we came upon an accident scene and someone was horribly injured, and the EMTs hadn’t arrived yet, and a crowd of people had gathered around. If you happened to be the head emergency doctor at Grady Hospital and you were three cars back, you’d get out of your car and walk up and could see enough of the scene to see that someone was really in critical need. You’d think, «You know what? I just don’t want to barge into this; I don’t want to make it about me, so I’m just going to hang back here at the back.» You’d be like, «No! You want that guy or that lady to push in and say, 'Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, ' and get to the moment where they can do what only they can do in that moment.» Once that happens and the person lives, no one goes home and goes, «I saw the proudest doctor today! I was at this accident, and there were people there—even some of them were family—and they just pushed right past them, all how arrogant!» You’d go, «No! Thank goodness that the person knew who they were, knew what they could do, and inserted themselves into the middle of the situation.»
That’s what God’s doing every single day of your life. He is not going to do it forever, and there will be times where God says, «If you want to do it your way, I will let you do it your way.» But boy, is He patient to keep gently, and sometimes not so gently, making His way into the equation so that you and I can have what we were created for. I’m telling you, we were created for one thing above everything, and that is: we were created for God. We exist for God; He does not exist for us. For He existed before there was any of us. But when there became any of us, we had a reason at the very beginning, and that was to exist for the God who knows who He is. Praise God!
He’s not commanding us to worship Him because He needs it; He’s commanding us to give Him glory because we need it. And if we don’t give Him glory, we’re giving something far less weighty glory; something far more flimsy is going to get the glory. He wants for you and for me the very best, and He knows the very best is Himself. It has always been about God and His glory. It is all about God and His glory, and it always will be about God and His glory. And when you find yourself in that story, your life is going to take on more meaning, more purpose, more significance than you have ever seen before.
In all this straining and striving to find meaning and to find purpose and to find significance and to find something that makes you feel good and valuable and purposeful in life, all that’s going to get blown up in the best way, when you find yourself in this story of «the thread of the glory of God.» It begins at the beginning. I just want to take us through. I’ll do it as quickly as I can. God’s glory is in the beginning, and we put the little header on here so you could take a snapshot if you wanted to of these as they come by because it might be difficult to write them all down.
God’s glory is in the beginning. In the beginning, everybody knows this verse. We talked about it in the grace thread also. Let’s read it together: «In the beginning…» So if you just stop here in the beginning—who? God. In the beginning, one character: God. That’s because it’s all about God. It always has been about God and always will be about God. We see God’s glory even in the beginning. Before the mountains were born, the psalmist wrote, or you brought forth the whole world; from everlasting to everlasting, you are God—not you were God, not you will be God. You are God. You are God then; you are God now; you are the «I AM» that I AM. Before the whole world, your weight and your worth were the same as they are right now. You are God’s glory in creation. The skies, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the work of His hands—the starry hosts are screaming. They are a billboard every single night. I mean day and night, but we see them in the night. When we look up and see the stars, they’re telling something—they’re declaring the glory of God.
A big question for astronomy forever has been, «Are there more people in the universe?» Surely there must be because the cosmos is way too big for you and me; we don’t even know how big it is. So we’ve spent billions of dollars looking for other people in the universe; we haven’t found any yet. But maybe our premise was wrong. Maybe we started with the wrong mindset. We were thinking—if this is a home for us, it’s too big. If it’s a home for just us on Earth, it’s way too big. But what if it’s not just a home for us on Earth? What if the cosmos exists for a different reason than just to be something for you and me? What if it’s not all me-centric and doesn’t all revolve around me? What if the cosmos was created for the glory of God? It is just about the right size because it boggles the human mind. There are things we haven’t even seen before, and they exist not so that we can see them. They’re not spinning today for us. They don’t establish wonder on an epic scale today for you and me. They’re spinning for God—galaxies reflecting His praise, and we won’t see them in our entire existence on this Earth because they weren’t made for us.
The heavens declare the glory of God. Praise the Lord! The psalmist wrote: «Praise Him from the heavens; heights above, angels, heavenly hosts, sun, moon. Are we doing okay, by the way? Just barely getting going, and I feel like I’ve lost you, so I’ll try to get you back.» All His angels, heavenly hosts, sun and moon—praise Him, shining stars. We just talked about that. Praise Him, highest heavens; praise Him, waters above the skies. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for at His command they were created, and He established them forever and ever. But then He comes down and says, «Praise the Lord from the earth.» So, He invites us into this global cosmic chorus that is already happening. You great sea creatures in all ocean depths, lightning, hail—praise Him! Snow, praise Him! Clouds, praise Him! Winds—praise Him! Mountains and all hills—praise Him! Fruit trees and all cedars—praise Him! Wild animals—all cattle, small creatures, flying birds—praise Him! Kings of the earth, all nations, you princes and all rulers on Earth, young men and women, old men and children, let them praise the name of the Lord; let them give Him glory for His weight and worth, for His name alone is exalted, and His splendor is above the earth and above the heavens.
We see His glory in mankind. He said, «Let us make mankind in our image.» So, when God made you, He didn’t make you like a fish or a bird or a giraffe or a reptile. He put His own image of weight and worth in you—not that you would be the ultimate one of weight and worth, but He shared His weight and worth as He wove it into your very being, made you in the image of «kavod.» You are not ordinary; you are not commonplace; you are not random. You’re created in «kavod,» in glory, made in glory, in the image of God. The very beginning of our story of faith and redemption, salvation started with this guy named Abraham. To this, he replied as God called him out, «Brothers and fathers, listen to me. The glory of God appeared!»
The glory of God appeared to our father Abraham. How did Abraham get connected with his call to leave his country and become the father of a great nation of faith? Because the God of glory appeared to him while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. He said, «Leave your country and your people, and go to the land I show you.» The glory of God called him out. In Egypt, God rescued His people for His glory. When our ancestors were in Egypt, they gave no thought to Your miracles; they did not remember Your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea. Yet He saved them—this is what God is always doing. Yet He steps in and saved them. But look why He did it: He saved them for His name’s sake, to make His mighty power known. He stepped into the dilemma because He couldn’t be the God who failed His people. Even though other people failed their God, He said, «My name—my name will not be profaned; and for My name’s sake, I’m parting the sea. For My name’s sake, I am drying the seabed. For My name’s sake, I am leading you through. For My name’s sake and My glory, I’m going to deliver you. You’re going to get the benefit; you always do; but I’m doing this for My glory.»
These people were complaining; they were rebellious; they were stiff-necked; they would not understand the mercy and the miracle power of God. They kept shoving it back in His face, and He still saved them. Why? Because He is the biggest proponent of His glory and, truly, the only real proponent on that level of His glory. If He didn’t set Himself in that story and say, «Even though you are pushing me out, I am coming in because I know I am the only one who can do what has to be done here right now, and I’m doing it.» You can read this all through the Old Testament, not just this one text. He did it for His name’s sake; He did it for His name’s sake; He did it for His name’s sake—because God is about His glory, and He’s not going to share it with anyone else.
With His glory, He ushered in the law on that mountain. «When My glory passes by, when My glory comes by, I will put you in the cliff, Moses, in the rock, and I’ll cover you with My hand until I have passed by.» So God gives these tablets of the law, which is just ushering in sin awareness, which is just ushering in the need for a Savior, ushering in the Messiah, ushering in our salvation. All of this is coming through these tablets of stone, and in them is the glory of God. They come down the mountain from the glory of God. God is the sole proprietor of His glory. He says, «I am the Lord; that’s My name.» Can we just let that sink in? «That’s My name.» He’s not saying this again. He’s not pounding on the table and going, «I demand that you worship Me! I demand!» No. «I just want you to know who I am. I am God. I am God.» No, He is not pounding on the table; He’s just being Himself. «I am the Lord. That’s My name! I’m the only person with that name, and I’m not going to yield My glory to another or My praise to idols. I’m not giving any of My glory to any idols; no, sir.»
He says in those commands on those tablets, «You shall have no other gods before Me.» God said that. Why did God say that? Because we have other gods before Him. And when we do, we worship the less and not the best. And so again, He has to intervene and say, «The first thing, let’s just start with this: Don’t have any other gods beside Me.» We see God’s glory in our creation: «Everyone who is called by My name, whom I created for My glory.»
«Say, Louie, I don’t know what my purpose is. I haven’t really figured out yet what God’s will is for my life and what God’s purpose is for my life.» Well, I can help you with that today: God’s purpose for your life is to understand that you were created for His glory. «Yeah, but that doesn’t answer the question.» And we’re going to get to this in just a second—of what am I supposed to do? It doesn’t matter; just do it for His glory. That will rule out some things, by the way, that you can’t do for His glory, but just about everything else is ruled in. You can be an orthodontist for His glory, not any different than being a preacher for His glory. You can be a medical technician for the glory of God. You can be a builder, carpenter, cabinet maker, floor tile installer, or plumber for the glory of God.
So, you don’t have to wrestle over, «Well, I’m really not sure if I’m doing the right thing.» The question isn’t, «Are you doing the right thing?» The question is, «Why are you doing the thing?» Because you were created for His glory. We see God’s glory is going to fill the earth, the Prophet said, «For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God.» Praise God! As the waters cover the sea, the motivation of God’s kindness is His glory. «For My own name’s sake, here we are again.» I want you to notice these when you’re reading, now, «For My own name’s sake, I delay My wrath. For the sake of My praise, I hold it back from you so as to not destroy you completely.» In other words, you’re getting the benefit, but I’m only doing it for My name’s sake. I do love you. We can’t deny that we are incredibly valuable to God; this is the gospel. We’re woven into being in His image; we are His. But when He works and moves, He’s oftentimes not doing it primarily for your benefit; He’s doing it for His own name’s sake.
«See, I’ve refined you, though not as silver; I’ve tested you in the furnace of affliction.» Anybody ever been in there? Why was I in there? «For My own name’s sake, I do this.» That just wrecked a whole lot of people’s theology right there. God put Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the furnace. I mean, human instruments put them in the furnace, just like human beings put Christ on the cross. But make no mistake about it; God was at work, and He intended to go into that fiery furnace and show us that there’s another in the fire. Whoa! And maybe in the furnace of affliction that you’re in right now, the question isn’t, «God, why is this happening?» Maybe the question is a little more refined: «God, what are You trying to do for Your glory in this?» I can’t let myself be defamed; how could I let that happen? And I will not yield My glory to another!
Christ’s birth—it’s about the glory of God, amen? The shepherds were out in the fields, and an angel appeared, and what shone round about them? The glory of God! And then that great multitude of angels said, «Glory to God in the highest heaven!» The birth of Christ was about the glory of God. Christmas is about the glory of God. You’re like, «But wait a minute! Unto you a child is born; unto you a Savior is given.» No, Christmas is about us. No! It is, yes! And on Earth, peace to those on whom His favor rests. You get a massive benefit, but the glory in this whole moment is that there is a God who would come to Earth in human form—glory to God in the highest!
Christ is the glory of God, for God who said, «Let light shine out of darkness,» made His light shine in our hearts to give us, this is 2 Corinthians 4, «the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.» The epicenter of where we see the glory of God, the weight and worth of God on display most clearly, is in the face of Jesus Christ. We see it here as well in Hebrews: «The Son is the radiance of God’s glory, the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word.» He, the Son, Jesus, is the radiance of God’s «kavod,» of His weight and His worth. After He had provided purification for sins, He, Jesus, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven — not just of God, but the Majesty—the glorious weight and worth. He sat next to the Majesty! How powerful is that?
His miracles are to glorify God. He got up, and He took His mat. How? Praise God! A guy’s walking! But why did God heal him? Well, because he needed to walk, and He knew that could happen—right? No, He healed him, yes, because he needed to walk, and He knew that He could. But He healed him for a reason—to glorify God! He walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone, and they praised God, saying, «We have never seen anything like this!» I’m telling you, we want a miracle, and we should. We should believe that God can do anything and everything at any moment. But the miracle is not just for us; the miracle is for God!
A lot of times when we’re asking for the miracle, we should be including a pure heart, saying, «God, I’m asking You to do this so that You will get glory. I’m not just asking because I want it; I’m asking because my life is all about Your glory.» On that Mount of Transfiguration, oh my goodness! Glory blowing up! «For we do not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power. But we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.» These guys that saw this happen: «He received honor and glory from God the Father,» when the voice came to Him from the majestic glory. Man, I’m telling you, we’ve got to get more of this in our lives, people. There’s something called the majestic glory. There is the right hand of majesty in heaven, and when that voice speaks, it speaks in majestic glory, saying, «This is My Son, whom I love; with Him, I am well pleased.» We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with Him on the sacred mountain. Honor and glory coming from the majestic glory, the Father, the Son, the Spirit transfigured on this mountain in full view of human beings; it’s all glory, mysterious, amazing weight and worth and wonder.
Jesus died for God’s glory. Man, this is, oh man! I want to let this sink in for us today because we tend to drift toward this idea that all this is about us. This Bible—that is about this for me; of all my little promises; church is me; I’ll let you know when I like it, and I’ll let you know when I don’t like it; I’ll come when I can, and I won’t when I can’t. See? This is about me. What do I like? That program! I like this track! I like that thing! And all? Oh, that’s fine. We think the cross—that’s all about us; the story of Jesus' death—that’s all about me; heaven—that’s all about me! I’m going to go and prepare a place for you, and I’m going to walk on streets of gold. That’s all about me!
And I’m telling you, this book is all about God. This church is all about God. The cross is all about God. Heaven is all about God. We are major beneficiaries because He is our Father. But it’s not about you! It’s not about me! Jesus died for the glory of God! He did love you, so He sent His only Son. But look at what His Son said in John: «Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour?» He said, «No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.» And then here’s Jesus' prayer: «Father, glorify Your name.»
He didn’t say, «It’s for this reason that I came to this hour: Father, make sure Louie knows that we love him.» No. He said, «Glorify Your name!» So that when I display and demonstrate Your love for fallen people, when I pay the price no one else can pay to redeem those that You created in love, when I do break the chains that hold people in death and darkness and set them free because we love them—when that happens, God, You get massive glory! When they nail me on that cross, You get glory! When they crucify me, You get glory! When I die and breathe my last breath, I’m doing it all for Your glory so that the world can say, «No God! No God is like this God who would give His own Son as a sacrifice for rebels! No God is like Him!»
The death and resurrection of Jesus—there for the glory of God! Therefore, God exalted Him, Jesus, to the highest place, 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 or acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord. Comma! One of the best commas in the world! I grew up in a tradition where there was a really big gigantic exclamation point right here, and that’s where all the amens came. Every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! Amen! And I would always go, «Comma! Just gently, comma! The end of the story is not there! There is an exclamation point, but it’s not that one!» The end of the story is God’s glory—in every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Amen? Amen! Let’s just try it together—Cumberland-Trill! Let’s try it together: «And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father!» Alright! He gets the glory forever!
We looked at this in our «All Consuming Fire.» In that holy moment in heaven, «You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they were created and have their being.» That’s why You get all the glory! A different place in the same context in Revelation says, «To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be all the glory and all the honor—not most of the glory; we get a tiny bit of the glory! No! All of the glory is going to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb! He is worthy of all glory forever!»
This whole story is always going to be God’s glory. Just bear with me; we’re coming down to the end here. The problem of sin is to miss God’s glory. It’s not to do something bad; it’s not to be disobedient; it’s not that you made the wrong choice. Those things did happen, yes, but what was going on when those things happened? You and I chose less than the best! For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The problem of sin is to miss God’s glory. The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven in Romans against all the godlessness and wickedness of people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.
Since what may be known about God is plain to them—the heavens are declaring the glory of God—because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen. Being understood from what has been made so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him. But their thinking became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools, and they exchanged—can you say «exchanged» with me? They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal human beings and birds and animals and reptiles. They traded the weight and the worth for something made by human hands.
Looking back to that Exodus moment, the psalmist wrote: «They exchanged their glorious God for an image of a bull.» You know, this sentence could have easily ended right there, but God didn’t want it to end right there. He’s trying to make a point: «For a bull which eats grass, they exchanged their glorious God for the image of a bull!» Not even a real bull—something that eats grass that is heavy. The gospel reconnects us with His glory! Praise God!
«To them, God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery.» Now, this mystery is what the gospel is. Paul is writing this in Colossians, and he’s talking about how all the people that came before Moses, and Ruth, and Esther, and David, and Abraham, and Isaiah — all these people who came before Christ did not know what you know. By the way, they did not know what you know of the glory of God. They knew about the glory of God, but not the way that you do because Christ has come. Paul gave us a revelation—or God gave us a revelation through Paul into this mystery:
And here’s the mystery—are you ready for it? The mystery which they did not experience but you are experiencing. Hello? David who wrote the psalms did not experience what you are experiencing, and this mystery is Christ in you—not Christ and you; it’s not a tag team event. It’s Christ in you! That is the, what? The hope of glory. So all this glory that got exchanged—the weight, the worth—we lost our way and missed the glory of God—but now in Christ, there is a new story, and it is Christ, by faith, in you—the hope of glory. Reconnected with the glory of God, the centerpiece of all praise.
«Has no one returned to give praise—these are the people that got healed—except this foreigner?» What was the purpose of the healing and of the grace? It was to come back and show worship and praise to God! «Because Your love is better than life!» If you’ve experienced it, then say, «Amen!» Your love is better than life! My lips will glorify You. My mouth is going to be a fountain of praise of the One who has the infinite and intrinsic weight and worth! Life’s purpose—
We talked about this a moment ago—is God’s glory. So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do—obviously that knocks out a whole bunch of things—because He says, «Do it all for the glory of God!» It’s not about what you do; it’s about why you do what you do. It’s not stressing over the decision about grad school and whatever you do! And maybe this is a word today—somebody’s stressing: «I’m going to grad school, and I’ve got these two options left, and I don’t know which one God wants me to do, and I’m so stressed out right now; please pray for me that I can find God’s will! Am I supposed to go to Pepperdine? That’s way too big for me!» To which I would say, «Probably! If you’ve been out there, that’d be a strong 'yes' for me!» Nothing wrong with Malibu!
Or «Am I supposed to stay closer to home and go to grad school at Georgia Tech?» And mom and dad said, «Oh, you choose, honey!» They’re like, «Dear God, please send her to Tech!» And you’re like, «Man, I don’t know! I don’t know! I don’t know! I don’t know! I don’t know! I don’t know! I don’t know!» Can I just ask you a question? Which one makes your heart blow up? Which one can you not shake? Then go there and then text your parents right now, «I’m going to Pepperdine.» Why? «Because I want to!» I love it! I mean, I’ve weighed up all the stuff, I’ve done the lists, I’ve sought counsel, but when it came down to it, it’s like, we’ve got two things here, and I like Pepperdine! Go!
But when you go, know why you’re going. Whatever you do, whether you go to Pepperdine or you go to Georgia Tech, whatever you do—whether in word or deed—do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Glorify God wherever you go, whatever you do at Pepperdine—glorify God! Or it won’t matter whether you got the choice right or not. At Tech? Go glorify God! It’s not about the what; it’s about the why. The purpose of life is to glorify God!
In the same way, let your light—Jesus talking—shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven! That’s why passion is built on this idea: «Yes, Lord! Walking in the way of Your laws, we wait for You, for Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.» Our hearts beat to give You glory, and from day one to today, passion exists to see a generation do a 180 in their thinking from where most people live, which is, «It’s all about me!» And God is welcome in my orbit because I need Him, but it’s all about me! I’ll let Him know when I need Him; I’ll let Him know what I need from Him; I will be grateful when I feel like it, and I like the way things worked out, because it’s all about me ultimately!
We’re looking for a generation that has a revelation and wakes up to this vast shift—which is the most powerful, beautiful thing that can happen to a human being—and all of a sudden realizes, «It’s not about me. No! Your name and renown—that’s the desire of our hearts! Not my name, not my renown, because it’s not about me!»
The purpose of our death, hello, is God’s glory! Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death which Peter—hello—would glorify God! You know how Peter died? Horribly! But in it, God was still working somehow to do something eternal—something that would link into the intrinsic and eternal worth and weight so that the death wouldn’t be frivolous; it wouldn’t be a fleeting moment; it wouldn’t be the end; it would be a story linking to forever. God’s provision—oh God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus! Heaven means we get to share in His glory! When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
What? You’re not going to appear as the eternal and intrinsic worth and weight. But when the eternal and intrinsic worth and weight are alive, you will be with Him! The God of all grace who called you to this eternal glory in Christ, after you’ve suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast.
The church exists for God’s glory. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us— to Him be glory! So we’re going to see Him do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine. We are going to see it, people! But the reason He’s going to do immeasurably more is for His glory! To Him be glory! How? And where? In the church!
Is where the glory is! And in Christ Jesus, throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen! The church isn’t going anywhere, people! Because in the church, God is bringing glory to Himself, and in Christ, He’s bringing glory to Himself. This church? Yes! We are enriched and better for it, but it exists! We are here today for God’s glory! Man, let that get in on the Sunday that you’re like, «I’m just not feeling it today! I don’t know if I can make it today!» We let that sink in and say, «You know what? I don’t want to go today, but it’s not about me! So I’m showing up and giving praise to God!»
Missions is about His glory. We’re almost there! All the nations You have made—every single tribe and tongue—will come and worship before You, and they will bring glory to Your name! Every mission effort ends in God’s glory! He lights eternity! There was no need for the sun or the moon in heaven because the glory of God gives it light!
We are living forever in the light—the light of God’s glory! This image we’ve seen at Passion City Church before just helps bring all this home. This is an image—a famous image—the furthest photograph of Earth. The Voyager spacecraft was launched on a one-way mission in 1977—just go and let us know what you see and what you find. It’s still going by the way! As it was leaving our solar system, on the edge of our solar system in 1990 on Valentine’s Day, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory sent a command to Voyager: «Take a turn and back toward Earth and take a series of photographs!»
Voyager took 60 photographs. The photographs got woven into one image and sent back to Earth, and the photograph just floored astronomy and, ultimately, the world. It was this famous photograph called «The Pale Blue Dot.» Earth from 3.7 billion miles away. Some of you are still straining, I’m sorry. (Laughter) «What are the bands of light? Sunlight reflecting off the lens of the camera?»
And it just so happens that in one of those bands was captured what became known as «the pale blue dot.» Carl Sagan, the most well-known astronomer of the time and not a believer or follower of Jesus, said, «Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us! On it, everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived out their lives, the aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every