Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: I glorified you by doing what you called me to do. That should be the aspiration of every follower of Jesus Christ. Because that's the meaning of life. That's why we're here. That's the point of life: glorifying God. And remember, when we give ourselves to that, when we pursue that, we find our greatest joy.

Greg: Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor JP Jones is the senior pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, and a professor in Biblical Studies at Biola University. Today on Truth That Changes Lives, Pastor JP will be giving us a message from a series entitled Glorify. Let’s listen as JP gives part two of Glory Defined.

JP Jones: Why are we here? Why are you here? Not here at the church, I mean here in life. What's the point of life? We've been looking the last couple of weeks on this whole theme that we find our greatest joy when we pursue God's greatest glory. And that's the point of life. Those two concepts aren't in antithesis to one another; they merge beautifully. We find our joy, God receives glory, and that's the point of life—to glorify God by enjoying him forever.

And if we've ever had any question about that, or if we've ever had any doubt about that, Jesus settles the issue for us in John chapter 17. John 17, verses 1-5: After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: Father, the time has come. Glorify your son that your son may glorify you. You granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you've given him. Now this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you've sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Here's Jesus in what is known as his high priestly prayer. It's the prayer that Jesus prayed prior to going to the cross. It's the prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane but the amplified version of it. The other three Gospels just record a very simple wording of Jesus where he said, Father, this cup is very heavy, and if it could be removed from me, may that happen, but not my will but your will be done. Here in John 17, we see the fuller prayer of Jesus.

The heart of Jesus, knowing his life on earth had come to a close. He was about to go to the cross, be crucified, resurrected, and ascend back to the Father. And this is the heart of Jesus. And the focus of Jesus's reflection on his life, the focus of Jesus's reflection upon his purpose, is the glory of God. Numerous times in these few verses, Jesus speaks of God's glory and of the purpose of life in glorifying God and bringing glory to God. And even his anticipation that the time he had yet remaining for him would be to God's glory.

Jesus says in this passage that the purpose of life, the overriding plan that God has for every one of us, is his own glory. And we need to be captured by that. We need to be captured by the glory of God in the same way that Jesus is captured by it. He's our perfect example. And his life was centered and focused and had meaning because he lived every day around this theme of glorifying God. Everything had value to him. Everything was seen to fit into an overall plan and purpose.

Everything was filtered through his understanding of who God was and what God had planned for him because his life was measured and focused on this all-consuming passion of glorifying God. And I would say that for myself and for each one of us here, wherever we are in our own journey of faith, whatever questions or whatever issues there might be in our own lives as we think about what it means to be connected to God and following God with our lives, the thing that we need to be captured by more than anything else is the glory of God.

You see, Jesus fully surrendered himself to God's call on his life, to the Father's plan for his life. And he could say at the end of his life, I've glorified thee on earth, having accomplished the work you've given me to do. And my life's passion is to give you glory. And I found joy in that. I found significance in that. I found fulfillment in that. We need to be captured by the glory of God. And I think that means a couple of things for us.

First of all, it means we need to consider what big commitment are we seeking to fulfill that would glorify God. We need to make a big commitment to do something with our lives that glorifies God. We need to think and pray and consider what statement can we make with our lives that's bigger than ourselves because it's all about God. It's about God's glory and not our own fulfillment and our own joy and our own experience. What big commitment are you thinking and praying and getting excited about making for God's glory?

We need to be captured by the glory of God, as well as we need to make a daily commitment to energize our everyday life with eternal significance by doing the ordinary stuff to the glory of God. See, life is not about one mountaintop experience to another mountaintop experience to another mountaintop experience. Most of us, we just live in the grind. Do you know what? Jesus lived in the grind. If you read the Gospels, he just lived in the grind.

But the grind had meaning, the grind had value, because he lived it for the glory of God. The ordinary stuff, the just stuff of life that everybody has to go through and everybody has to do, had value. In fact, it had eternal value because he did it for the glory of God. Paul says in First Corinthians chapter 10, Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God. You can't get anymore ordinary than that, just eating and drinking. He says whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Brother Lawrence wrote a book called Practicing the Presence of God, and he describes how when he was a monk in a monastery, working in the kitchen, peeling potatoes to fix the meal for all the brothers in the monastery, he realized that that act of peeling potatoes was just as much an act of worship as when he was saying his prayers in the sanctuary if he did it for the glory of God, if his heart motivation was to glorify God.

A.W. Tozer, in his book Pursuing God, says this, talking about how we in our mind separate the spiritual stuff from the ordinary stuff and then we end up living divided lives, almost schizophrenic kinds of lives as Christians. He says this: Paul's exhortation to do all to the glory of God is more than pious idealism. It's an integral part of the sacred revelation and is to be accepted as the very word of truth. It opens before us the possibility of making every act of our lives contribute to the glory of God.

Lest we should be too timid to include everything, the apostle Paul mentions specifically eating and drinking. If a sacrament is an external expression of an inward grace, then we need to not hesitate to accept the above thought. By one act of consecration of our total selves to God, by giving ourselves to God, we can make every subsequent act express that consecration. That we see this truth is not enough. If we would escape from the toils of the sacred-secular dilemma, the truth must run through us.

We must practice living to the glory of God actually and with determination by meditation upon this truth, by taking it over, talking it over with God often in our prayers, by recalling it to our minds frequently as we walk with God, as we move among men. We need to have a sense of this wondrous meaning, this knowledge that we are all of God's and that he has received all and rejected nothing. It will unify our lives and make everything we do sacred.

Wow. Everything we do can be sacred. Taking our kids to school, watching them in their soccer games, cleaning the house, doing our taxes. Doing our taxes? Doing our taxes. When we do all to the glory of God, and that's the purpose of life. We don't have to just wait for those opportunities when we can come together and worship on Sunday, or go to a retreat, or be part of a Bible study, or share our faith with a friend, or act in some sacrificial way. Everything of life can be done to the glory of God and should be done to the glory of God.

We need to be captured, captured like Jesus with the glory of God. And we glorify God, this passage tells us, when we accomplish the work he calls us to do. We glorify God when we accomplish the work he calls us to do. Jesus said this in John 17:3-4: Now this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you've sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. The New American Standard version says by accomplishing the work that you've called me to do. The Greek word is teleios. Teleios means to bring something to its intended end, to complete a task, to accomplish the goal.

Jesus at this stage in his life looked back on his life and said, I accomplished what you gave me to do, God. I did what you called me to do, and by doing it, I brought you glory. You see, interestingly enough, Jesus is not describing here going to the cross, dying for our sins, and being raised from the dead. Jesus isn't describing the act of his death and resurrection. He's describing his life, the three years of his life. Wouldn't you like to be able to say the same thing when you stand before God?

Wouldn't you like to be able to have the confidence to stand before God and say, God, I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work you gave me to do? I glorified you by completing the task you gave me to do. I glorified you by doing what you called me to do. That should be the aspiration of every follower of Jesus Christ. Because that's the meaning of life. That's why we're here. That's the point of life, glorifying God. And remember, when we give ourselves to that, when we pursue that, we find our greatest joy.

We find our greatest joy when we commit ourselves fully to this all-consuming passion of glorifying God by committing ourselves to something big with our lives to his glory and by making every day count in all the ordinary stuff by living for his glory. When I was in college, one of the jobs that I had was I worked construction. I worked for a general contractor who remodeled homes and remodeled bank buildings. And I was basically the go-fer. Whatever they told me to do, I did it.

So I was like the grunt college kid. There was a big slab of concrete; I took a jackhammer. They'd say, rip it up and haul it off to the dump. So I'd break this concrete into chunks, load it up in the pickup truck, and haul it off to the dump. They'd say, tear down this wall with a sledgehammer; I'd take a sledgehammer and just knock it and tear it down. Now one thing about that job that I remember I really, really liked is I was given a task and I just worked my tail off in trying to do it.

And then when it was over, I could see it was done. I could see what I did. Tear up this slab of concrete; it got torn up. Knock down this wall; it got knocked down. Clean up this place and haul this stuff to the dump; haul it off to the dump. And I can remember coming back, getting paid—it was pretty good paying job for a part-time job in college—and feeling like, you know what? I earned that money. I did something that I can actually see what I did.

We have the opportunity before us with eternal joy to be able to see how our lives contributed to glorifying God by doing what God has called us to do. I was sharing yesterday with my son because he asked me what are you preaching on. I told him what I was preaching on. And as we were talking about this passage, I said, really, therefore, in light of this, Taylor, there's only two things we have to ask. Number one, what is it that God has called us to do? And number two, how do we do it? And that's what's before us.

What is it that God's called us to do and how do we do it? When you read the rest of John 17, it's interesting to discover what the answer to that first question is. What is it that God's called us to do? It's the same in a general sense that God had called Jesus to do. Just listen to the rest of John chapter 17. It's this prayer that Jesus prays. It contains the answer to the question of what it was that he accomplished that brought glory to God.

Starting at verse 6: I revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours and you gave them to me, and they've obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you, for I gave them the words you gave me and they've accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I'm not praying for the world, but for those you've given me for they're yours. All I have is yours and all you have is mine, and glory has come to me through them.

I will remain in the world no longer, but they're still in the world, and I'm coming to you, Holy Father. Protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that the scripture would be fulfilled. I'm coming to you now, but I say these things while I'm still in the world so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.

I have given them your word. The world has hated them for they're not of the world anymore than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I've sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself that they too may truly be sanctified. My prayer is not for them alone.

I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity. Let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you've loved me.

Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.

The prayer that Jesus prays reveals the priorities that Jesus lived by. It reveals what captured Jesus's heart to bring the Father glory. And what you see in this prayer is that Jesus fully gave himself to his relationship with the Father, to his relationship with the disciples, and to his relationship with the world. For every one of us, the way we will glorify God is by committing ourselves to those three primary relationships: our relationship with God, our relationship with other believers, and our relationship with the world.

Every one of us can accomplish God's glory, can accomplish the work that he's given us to do which will bring him glory, by fully investing ourselves in our relationship with God, in our relationship with other believers, and in our relationship with the world. We invest ourselves in our relationship with God when we just consider the things that God has said that he asks of us that delight him. He says love God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength.

Jesus said in John chapter 4, God is spirit and those who worship him are to worship in spirit and truth for such the Father seeks to be his worshipers. Paul said in Philippians chapter 3, Whatever things were gained to me, those things I've counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I've suffered the loss of all things. I count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.

Paul said in First Corinthians 15, Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your service in the Lord is never in vain. What does God want from us? What is it that we can do to invest our lives in our relationship with God that would accomplish the work that he's given us to do? To love him, to serve him, to know him. How about our relationship with other believers? Well, Jesus talked about here in John 17 how he prayed for them and gave them God's word and guarded them and protected them and sanctified them in the truth.

We're to invest in one another's lives by encouraging one another and praying for one another and loving one another and blessing one another and admonishing one another. We're to be authentic in our relationships with each other and bearing each other's burdens and calling one another to be faithful to our confession. How about our relationship with the world? Where Jesus said, well, I pray that you're one so that the world will know that the Father sent the Son. As the Father sent me, I send you.

We're to be lights in the darkness, we're to be witnesses for Jesus Christ, we're to represent the love of Christ to people. You know, we got some chuckles when we heard the answers to the question what's the point of life? I don't know if you felt like me, but it was kind of a mixed humor. Part of it was funny, but part of it broke my heart. Part of it was sad to think that people, my neighbors, people I care about, family members, maybe some of us here this morning, that's all we could say if we were asked what's the point of life. Just get through it.

We glorify God when we accomplish the work he's called us to do by reaching out to people with his love. You see, the work that God has for us is in these three primary relationships. But also, the work that God has for us is uniquely designed for us. The work that God has for you is a special work for you. God has a plan for you. It's different than the plan that he has for me. And when you are captured by God's glory and you complete and accomplish the work that God has for you, you bring him glory.

I believe, however, that we will never discover what that work is, that unique work for us, until we fully surrender ourselves to the all-consuming passion of glorifying God. I mean, why should God show me the special plan he has for me if I'm not doing anything with the general plan he's clearly made known to me? If you want to discover God's will for your life, start doing the stuff you already know is God's will for your life.

When I worked in youth ministry, I had the privilege of discipling a young man whose aspiration was to be an attorney. In fact, this guy—we've joked about it since then—he went to every professor at UCLA, every class, and asked for a better grade because he wanted to graduate with the highest GPA to increase his chances of getting into law school. And the amazing thing was about 70 percent of his professors actually increased the grade. He had a B+, he went and pleaded his case, he got an A-. Had an A-, pleaded his case, got an A.

He went to every professor because he was so committed to going to law school. I remember as we were talking one day on campus, this was at UCLA right off Bruin Walk, and we were talking about what he was going to do because it was his senior year and he's very close to graduating and he said, I'm going to be an attorney, and we were talking about where he was going to be going to law school and where he was applying. And I said, Matt, what's your goal? Why do you want to be an attorney? He goes, I want to be a Christian attorney. He said, I've always wanted to be an attorney.

I said, well Matt, there's a difference between being a Christian attorney and an attorney who's a Christian. He said, what do you mean? I don't get it. And I said, well, a Christian attorney is someone who realizes that they can glorify God best through the profession of law. And they've chosen the profession of law because they've decided and they've come to understand that's the best way they could fulfill God's purpose for their life. They're a Christian attorney.

An attorney who's a Christian is just someone who's always wanted to be an attorney because that's just what they want to do. And they happen to be a Christian. What do you want to do, Matt? He said, I better think about that. And so he did. That was over 20 years ago and for the past 20 years, he's been a missionary with Campus Crusade for Christ. In fact, right now he's the director for the West Coast region of Campus Crusade for Christ. Nothing wrong with being an attorney; we need more Christian attorneys. But Matt discovered something that I think is very profound for every one of us. He discovered the work God had for him to do, and he discovered it by first fully surrendering himself to God's call on his life.

Greg: What a great message for all of us today. Pastor JP provides us with great insight. That is why we'd like to make it available to you on CD. Just get in touch and mention today's date. We'll send it your way for just five dollars. Or if you'd like to support this ministry, you can write us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653, or give us a call at 949-916-0250. That's 949-916-0250.

For your gift of 25 dollars or more, we will send you a signed copy of JP's new book, Facing Goliath. Please join us every Sunday at 9 or 11 a.m. at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills. The address is 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or check us out on the web at crosslinechurch.com. We're going to get to the address and phone number again in a moment, but before we do that, Pastor JP, do you have any insight from today's message?

JP Jones: Thanks, Greg. You know, the theme of this series is that we find our greatest joy when we pursue God's greatest glory. In fact, that's why we've been created. We've been created to glorify God. First Corinthians chapter 10 says whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Our lives count for God's glory when we live for him, when we put him first in our lives, and that's when we find our greatest joy.

If you'd like to experience all that God created you for, if you'd like to experience your greatest joy, then I suggest—in fact, I encourage you based on God's word—to give yourself fully to his glory. Maybe you'd like to make that commitment right now through a prayer. Lord Jesus, I surrender my whole life to you. I pray that my life will glorify you. I pray that everything I say and everything I do will count for your glory. And because I've committed myself to you and your glory, thank you that I can know that you will give me your greatest joy. In Jesus' name, amen.

Greg: We want to help you in your relationship with Christ. Please get in touch with us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653, or call us at 949-916-0250. On the internet you will find us at crosslinechurch.com. We hope to see you at one of our services every Sunday at our new campus in Laguna Hills. For more information and directions, please go to crosslinechurch.com. Please join us next time on Truth That Changes Lives.