Introduction

As we examine various sections of Scripture, such as Romans 9, we often want to move quickly past them because they appear difficult, when the reality may be our heart posture before God’s word: the truth goes against all that we have been taught or it is not what we want it to mean.  If we are honest with ourselves, what do we do when our heart attitude is confronted with (God’s) truth?  What we need to do is simply to ask ourselves, “Why did God include this text?  What does God want us to learn?” 

But, we must check our attitude, our pride, our vanity, for preconceived beliefs with the very real possibility that we have missed the true meaning.  Oftentimes, in these difficult passages, we are not seeking the glory that comes from God and is due the only God.  Often, we let our pride, our vanity or our perception of what we think is right to sit on the throne of our hearts, smothering the power of the gospel. We are not living our purpose in life: in any circumstance we find ourselves, we are to glorify God.  

The reason we struggle in believing the great truths of God, seemingly difficult passages, is found in John 5:44, our text for the explanation. Here, in asking the Pharisees a rhetorical question, Jesus tells them (and us!) that it is impossible to believe when we are consumed with the glory, the praise, that comes from man and not with the glory that is due the only God.

Today’s goal and ensuing assignment: explain significant ramifications of the dichotomy Jesus presents in this passage, the path to belief and the path to unbelief, with the homework being for each of us to self-evaluate and identify the path we are traveling.

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“How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” (John 5:44 ESV).

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Doxology and Belief

Jesus tells us of 2 paths which either lead to unbelief or belief.  What we glory in determines which of these paths we are on: the glory of man leading down the path to unbelief or the glory of God which leads us to belief.  The pursuit of the glory of man will lead us into a heart posture that makes it impossible to believe the gospel of God, salvation through Christ, which is the heart posture Jesus finds the Pharisees He is confronting in this section of Scripture.  They are controlled by their own vainglory.

What is “glory”, to “possess glory”, for something to be “glorious”, to “seek glory”?  “Glory” is praise, exaltation.  To glory in something is to worship that thing, to make much of it, to speak of its excellencies, to tell of its marvelous greatness.  It is reveling in beauty and awesomeness and worth.  It is to be undone before something that is too bright, magnificent, perfect. To glory is to esteem.

The Greek word used for ‘glory” is “doxa”, which leads us to two words formed from this word:

• “Doxology”, which means “glory word” or “glory saying”.  It is a song of praise.

• “Orthodoxy”, which means “right glory” or “true glory” or “straight glory”.

First test: does your orthodoxy produce doxology that is God-focused?

Consider the doxologies of the following belief systems:

• Orthodox atheism leads to doxology that sings, “Praise nothing that comes from nowhere and is going nowhere and has no meaning and to death our only permanent relief from suffering.”

• Orthodox legalism, salvation by man’s works, leads to doxology that sings, “Praise God that I am not like other people, other men are so wicked: extortionists, unjust, adulterers.  No one is as above reproach as I am.  Praise me, admire my modest dress, my discipline, organized mind, organized services.  Praise my moral authority.”

It is this legalistic praise, mired in the glory of man, that Jesus confronts in the Pharisees. Let us examine this glory, which is…

Vainglory - The pride of life

This glory is anything we do or obtain because we want someone to look upon us with favor, anything we entertain that exalts us.  It hits on the vanity that comes from the glory of man in that it both puffs up our pride because we are vain and it is useless, as we find in Ecclesiastes.  Where does this kind of glory lead?  What is the end of its path?  It is destruction, unbelief, drawn down to nothing.  It is utterly worthless glory, it is “vain” glory.

Today, we have rebranded vainglory as “self-esteem”, which society teaches to be good.  Yet, how is self-esteem, the definition including worth and honor, anti-gospel?

• Do men have worth? Resoundingly, yes but, humanity is not intrinsically worthy.  Human life is sacred and should be protected; however, it is sacred only because it is a reflection of God’s glory, we are bearing the image of the holy, which makes us worthy.  (See Psalm 139.)  Our worth is found in God, the understanding of which will lead us into right worship, right doxology. “When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?  Yet You have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.” (Psalm 8:3-5, ESV)  Glory and honor is a worth that comes from God, it is bestowed upon us, it is reflected in us. 

• Do men deserve honor?  In many places, Scripture commands us to extend honor to others. We honor them because it is a reflection of God’s glory, those we honor are representative of God’s authority over our lives; humanity is not intrinsically honorable. 

Humanity has worth and deserves honor; but, absent the reflection of God, this worth and honor is vainglory.  Unmistakably, vainglory is forbidden.  “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” (Romans 12:3, ESV).  With all our heart, mind, soul and strength we are to put every gift God has given to each of us, relying on His strength, back into our service for and worship of Him.  We are to glorify God, not ourselves, living in complete recognition that, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17, ESV).  

In its essence, vainglory is worship of self that dethrones God and enthrones man.  This glory says that hard texts from Scripture, such as Romans 9, are too difficult and it does not want to understand because God has to get off the throne and we have to get on it.

This was the message of Jesus to the Pharisees, as vainglory was their prevailing attribute.  We see in John 11:45-53, following the miraculous raising of Lazarus from the dead, the Pharisees had no interest in the healings of Jesus or His raising of Lazarus; rather, in verse 48, we find their revealed hearts: “if we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away our place and our nation.”  Their vainglory would be lost.  These men were addicted to, consumed with and controlled by the glory that comes from man and not the glory that comes from God.  Everything that defined their existence was being jeopardized by Jesus.

Do we find a similar attitude within ourselves?   As long as what we want sits on the throne of our hearts, there will be no place for our God, for Jesus.  From that day on, the Pharisees determined to murder Jesus (John 11:53).  Ironically, they hated Roman oppression, yet they were not interested in liberation as determined by God; they were only interested in being in control.  They loved to see and to be seen, thus their vainglory was fed.  Their heart attitude was reflected in their works, which they believed made them righteous.

• They memorized Scripture not to understand God’s word but to demonstrate their cleverness.

• They read Scripture not to renew their minds or change their hearts but, so they could demonstrate their prowess in debate.

• They loved theology but not Christ.

• They sounded the trumpet before giving to the needy; yet they oppressed the poor and consumed widow’s houses.

• They offered prayers for human ears, not God’s.

• They did all of their acts of righteousness and fasting in order to be seen.

Consider: Are you on the path of unbelief, similar to that of a Pharisee?  Do you…

• need to see and to be seen by others?

• look down on others in criticism?

• serve others or do you need to be served?

• burden others with rules that you do not personally follow?

• take an area of your life where you have success and draw attention to that area and rebuke others who are not experiencing the same success?

• thank or shoot the messenger in response to sin in your heart when it is exposed?

We must be vigilant, we must be diligent, we must train ourselves to remain alert to keep idols from rising up to the throne of our hearts and stealing...

God’s Glory - The Purpose of Life

The solution to everything in our lives is quite simple: seek the glory that only comes from God.  If we seek God’s glory, we can see in difficult times that our circumstances, the things God is doing, are for our good and His glory. We can be steadfast in difficulty because we know it is endurance that perfects us into the image of Christ and He is glorified in that steadfastness.  We can love difficult passages of Scripture because we come to them with the realization that we need to understand God’s glory.  We can bear with difficult people because we understand the unity of the church, that the spiritual growth of the saints brings God glory.

Making God’s glory the center of our vision pushes everything else to the periphery.  God becomes big and man becomes small. 

The Second Test:

• If you see circumstances in life as from God, you should find the moments of God’s glory in your circumstances, seek them, look for them, go below the surface, go below your feelings and your thoughts and look at how this impacts yourself, other people, everyone around you.

• When you come across hard passages of Scripture and are tempted with a rebellious heart, look for how that passage brings out the glory of God and then let the orthodoxy contained within produce doxology in your heart.

• If you are tempted to be critical of difficult people, turn your gaze from their shortcomings and your irritations with them and turn it to what God is doing in your life and in theirs and glory in the growth God is producing in you both.  Rejoice over the unity of spirit that is possible because of Jesus’ great work on the cross.

Glorifying God is the chief purpose of man (and to enjoy Him forever!), greatly exemplified in Psalm 16:5-11.  This is the path to life: seeking God’s glory.  It should inform, be at the heart of, everything we do.  I Corinthians 10:31 effectively says whatever you do, do to the glory of God.

Returning to John 11, Lazarus died so that Christ, the Son of God could be glorified through it.  Jesus instructs His disciples to have God’s perspective in such a dire circumstance.  The unchanging character of God, who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, is going to be on display.  Regardless of our present circumstances, we are to have the same perspective…so that God will be glorified.  It is affixed to our purpose in life, the reason God created us.  Do we believe our circumstances are for our good or is God a liar?  Are you actively seeking God’s glory in them?  Or am I mourning the loss of my vainglory, the possibilities in life that might have been achieved if not for this trial/circumstance/disease?  Are we concerned with this world or the next?

A focus on the glory of God is how we are comforted and how we are able to comfort others in the midst of adverse circumstances, trials of life.  If you see everything as for God’s glory and for the good of everyone around then you have both a high view of God and an understanding that everything is more than it appears to be.  You can praise God for how glorious this moment (of trial/adversity) is for you, to humbly walk through it for His glory.

The implications of a sincere focus on God’s glory touches everywhere the light of God’s glory touches.  If we could see God in the mundane, in the everyday, if we could see him in the lives of those around us, if our focus was on Him and not on ourselves, life would be a completely different experience.  We would be on the path to belief.  Do we really need to wait for trials and difficult circumstances to see how good things really are because of the grace and mercy our God has already given us?

Seek the glory that comes from the only God!