How Can We Believe When We Seek Glory From One Another And Not From God?
Good Morning Friends,
On Monday morning in Immokalee we were contemplating the questions Jesus asked and the questions we might ask him in return. The Bible records well over a hundred questions Jesus posed to others. They typically help capture a teaching moment and most of them are thought provoking. Let me give you an example of a question from the book of John that leads us to analyze our motivations. First let me set the emotional stage. Let’s have a conversation with Jesus and imagine that we are sitting by the pool near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem. We are lying down near the still waters of the pool where we have been for 38 years. And here Jesus, the Shepherd, asks us to focus on what we really want. He asks what at first appears to be a very shallow question. But it is deeper than that. Jesus asks us to envision the future hoped for. He always asks a question that pierces the very center of our heart and exposes our deepest motives. It is not a silly question after all. And yet at first we offer the most pathetic of excuses in response. Jesus ignores the blaming. The questions echo down though the ages. For the ill…Do we want to be healed? For those in addictions…Do we want to overcome? For the prisoner, do we want a job and a home? For those who do not know Him…Do we want to be saved? And then He asks us to take personal responsibility for that future…to do the impossible…to love and be loved…to do justice and walk humbly with the Lord. A little later in that same chapter of John, Jesus asks another question. And if you have ever felt unappreciated, angry, or a little bitter after you had given a gift but got no acknowledgement for it this question might resonate with you. If you have ever gotten angry for no apparent reason; if you have ever been plagued by self-doubt; if you have a hot button; if you resent authority; if you need approval or have great difficulty receiving correction you too might battle rejection. Christ battled it too and was victorious because He had an unselfish love, an unending love, an unconditional love, an unexplainable love, and unconquerable love. It is the great commandment for a reason. Sorting out these emotions raises the question of why the gift was given in the first place. How Can We Believe When We Seek Glory From One Another And Not From God?
Scripture: And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’
Matthew 3:17 (NRSV)
After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’ The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk.’ At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, ‘It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.’ But he answered them, ‘The man who made me well said to me, “Take up your mat and walk.” ‘ They asked him, ‘Who is the man who said to you, “Take it up and walk”?’ Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, ‘See, you have been made well! Do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.’ The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
John 5:1-15 (NRSV)
How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God?
John 5:44 (NRSV)
Message: The context of today’s passage is of Jesus talking to the Jewish people who have rejected him. He says that they are more willing to believe human beings than believe him who is both human and divine. He says that they are too reliant on other people for approval rather than relying on God. Friends, we all want approval. And it is good to give approval. We want our family’s approval. We want our friend’s approval. We want our coworker’s approval. But more important than any of that is receiving God’s approval. So today we are asked to honestly and objectively set our life’s goals before the Lord for his approval and then ask ourselves if they honor God or are just feeding our egos. And it comes down to this…the one thing that we all need to know is that we are loved. Now typically we base our importance on our appearance, achievements, approval, wealth and power, but the problem with all these constructed standards is that they are not stable. They can change in the blink of an eye. If we want to build our self-image, we need to build it on something that will last. And when we love God enough to give up the things in life that do not last, I have found that He gives us something that lasts eternally…His uplifting grace-filled love that soothes our very souls. And if this moves us to act in a way that glorifies God, then the transformation might just spill forth into the lives of others. Friends, when Jesus came out of the water at his baptism God spoke these words: “This is my Son, whom I love, with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him.” And that means listening to the questions Jesus asks and contemplating their relevance for our lives. Here we might just discover that there is a wrong way and a right way to feel good about oneself. The wrong way is the way of pride. The wrong way is seeking the approval and praise of others. But the only true way to feel good about oneself is to see how God regards us. And let me tell you that God regards us as so important, so valuable, that He came to show us His love even unto death so that we might live forever. That is how important God regards us. So when you feel unrecognized. Go to the foot of the cross. Look up at the one who gave the ultimate without any appreciation and let Him transform you. Let Him fill you with joy. Let him flood your heart with peace. Let him be your salvation and your happiness. God longs to do this for you.
Pray that we would overcome the struggles that bind us and keep us from being the person God can use mightily for His Kingdom purposes. Pray we realize that servanthood begins where gratitude and applause ends. Pray therefore with confidence, divine dependence, humble praise and heavenly approval. Pray we are content with the knowledge that only God knows some of the good things we have done. Pray we realize that the only true way to feel good about oneself is to believe that God so loved the world that He died for us. Pray we experience the pure joy that comes from knowing and being accepted by Jesus. Pray we discover God’s awesome love come out of every dark cloud we face. Pray we learn to love.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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