How Do I Bring Glory?

March 22, 2015

By John Partridge
Scripture: Jeremiah 31:31-34 Hebrews 5:5-10

John 12:20-33

During all of history, dreamers have dreamed of a better future. They dreamed of a day when it would no
longer be necessary for workers to work twelve hours a day, seven days a week to support their families. They
dreamed of a day when household chores did not require someone, usually the woman, to spend seven days a
week cooking and cleaning. They dreamed of a day when the knowledge of the ages would be at their
fingertips and available to everyone. They dreamed of a day when our understanding of science and the
weather would prevent millions from dying in unexpected storms and hurricanes. They dreamed that one day,
instead of a single rocket launch from Russia or the United States, spaceflight would be common and routine.
They dreamed of a day when violence and oppression would not take the lives of their countrymen.
And you know, in many ways, the day that those dreamers dreamt of has arrived. Today we take eight hour
days and five day weeks for granted. A variety of technologies make it possible to do almost all of our
household chores in a fraction of the time it once took. Computers bring libraries of knowledge into our homes
and in a format that we can carry with us in our cell phones. Weather forecasts are still imperfect, but so much
better than they once were, that ships at sea can steer around bad weather and cities can be evacuated in
advance of an approaching hurricane. We can even provide some warning in the event of tidal waves. Instead
of launching only once per year from Kazakhstan or Cape Canaveral, satellites now launch weekly, and
sometimes more often, from Russia and Florida, but also places like California, Texas, Japan, Korea, China,
India and French Guyana. Spaceflight is not yet routine, but were getting there. And as dangerous as our
world is, and as much as we read about wars and violence, historians and statisticians tell us that the world is
safer now than it ever has been in all of history. Were not there yet, and we still dream of a better world and a
better future, but in many ways we are indeed living in the world that the dreamers of history dreamed of.
And as much as that is true of history in general, it is also true of our place in scripture. In Jeremiah 31:31-34,
the prophet recorded Gods vision of the future so that the People of Israel could find hope during time of great
darkness and despair.
31

The days are coming, declares the LORD,

when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
32
It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them,]
declares the LORD.
33
This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time, declares the LORD.
I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
34
No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, Know the LORD,
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because they will all know me,

from the least of them to the greatest,
declares the LORD.
For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.
The entire world of the people of Israel was built upon the foundation of Gods covenant with them. Gods
covenant told them about Gods love for them and how they should respond, what rules they needed to obey
and what actions they should take to honor and bring glory to God. But in the middle of their despair at being
captured and dragged off into slavery in Babylon, God tells them that he is preparing a better future. In that
future there will be a new covenant that is different, and better, than the one that had built Israel and it was that
future that became the dream of every generation that followed. They dreamed of a day when God would put
his law into the hearts and minds of his people but today, as followers of Jesus Christ, we are living that dream.
Yes, like so many other things, we dont seem to be as far along as we would like, but we are on the way.
We have what Gods people could only dream about for thousands of years.
But we still have some of the same questions. What rules must we obey and what actions should we take to
bring honor and glory to God?
But because of the events that have been recorded for us in the New Testament (literally the New Covenant),
we know that Jesus is at the center of everything that we must do to bring glory to God. In Hebrews 5:5-10,
Paul says:
5

In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him,

You are my Son;

today I have become your Father.
6

And he says in another place,

You are a priest forever,

in the order of Melchizedek.
7

During the days of Jesus life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the
one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Son though he
was, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal
salvation for all who obey him 10 and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
And so we know that Jesus was called to be a priest forever, that during his life on earth he offered prayers,
petitions, and fervent cries to God, and that God heard him, not because Jesus was Gods son, but because of
his reverence and submission to God. Even though Jesus was Gods son, he learned obedience from his
suffering, and became the source of eternal salvation to everyone who obeys him.
Jesus is our high priest. By saying that Jesus is a priest in the order of Melchizedek, Paul is pointing to a
traditional story about a priest (Melchizedek) that never died and was able to serve God forever. But Paul also
says that God heard the prayers of Jesus not because he was his Son, but because he was reverent. That is a big
deal for us. That is a big deal because it means that God will hear our prayers. We dont have to be a king, or a
prince, or the Son of God to attract Gods attention, but we only need to pray with reverence and submission.
It is not necessary for us to be perfect like Jesus, what is required is for us to learn obedience.
In John 12:20-33, close to the end of Jesus life, some Gentiles come to hear Jesus preach and they seek out
Phillip to see if they can meet him.
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20

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21 They came to Philip, who
was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. Sir, they said, we would like to see Jesus. 22 Philip went to
tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
23

Jesus replied, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel
of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
25
Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal
life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the
one who serves me.
27

Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? No, it was for this very
reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!
Then a voice came from heaven, I have glorified it, and will glorify it again. 29 The crowd that was there and
heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
30

Jesus said, This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the
prince of this world will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to
myself. 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
Remember, up until this point, although he has occasionally come in contact with Gentiles, Jesus has made it a
point to remind everyone that he was sent to seek and to save the lost children of Israel. For the most part,
Jesus has avoided any deliberate contact with non-Jews. But now, with his death close at hand, Jesus greets
these men from Greece, men who are most certainly Gentiles (Greeks were generally symbolic of Gentiles),
and speaks of how those who serve him must follow him, and how God will honor those who serve Jesus.
Knowing that God has sent him to die, Jesus prays that the Father will use his suffering to bring glory to God.
Jesus lives as an example to us, that our prayers might not always be for God to rescue us from our troubles,
but that, if God has prepared that trouble for us, that our suffering would somehow bring God glory.
At that moment, the voice of God is heard saying that he has glorified his name and that he will glorify it
again. And Jesus says that the time has come for him to be lifted up from the earth. If you were here last
week, you will remember that being lifted up, is a word picture, borrowed from the story of the bronze snake,
for Jesus being lifted up on a cross in death. But Jesus goes on to say that his death will draw all the people of
Earth, to him.
And so, again, it is Jesus death that will bring God glory.
And as we boil all that down into something meaningful to us in the here and now, we see that the things that
bring God glory are our reverence, our obedience, our service, our willingness to do whatever God has
prepared for us, and also whatever priestly actions that we take to point others to Jesus Christ. God brought
glory to himself when Jesus was lifted up on the cross, because that action drew all of humanity toward Jesus
and toward God. So we know, that whatever we do that points others toward Jesus, likewise brings glory to
God.
In all of history dreamers have dreamed of a better future and today we live in a world more amazing than
many of those dreamers ever imagined.
And in much of scripture, Gods people dreamed of a future filled with hope. Once again, we live in a world
more amazing and more blessed than those children of God ever imagined.
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As citizens of this new world we must now take up the task of dreaming for our future. We imagine a day
when spacecraft will routinely crisscross out solar system and beyond, a world where peace is normal and
warfare a distant memory. But we also owe a debt to God and to those ancient believers. As recipients of
Gods grace and the hope contained in the Good News of Jesus Christ, we must do all we can to bring glory to
God.
May we be bring glory to God by our reverence, our obedience, our service, our willingness to do whatever
God has prepared for us, and by doing everything we can to point others to Jesus Christ.

 You have been reading a message presented at Trinity United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first
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