Living to Glorify God: Purpose and Transformation

"the Bible says that the the Earth is filled with his glory, everything that he makes is it just makes him even you know appear more greater, uh you know you look more great um I catch myself I just don't always say it, um but but do you ever stop and think about that why he made the world the way he did every sunset, every thunderstorm bring some Glory doesn't it you look at the sun setting you just go he's amazing you know when you when you experience just an awesome thunderstorm you just go wow that God up there that made that and the way he made that system work it's amazing every every ocean when you you know you go out to the beach and you just look out you just go wow look at the way those waves just the way everything works every Lake Every Mountain it all just displays his glory it was made for his glory" [00:03:22]

"do you realize that every created being every person every human being will bring God glory a lot of times we don't think this through but everyone's going to bring God glory even the most evil people on earth bring God glory you know the story of The Exodus and Moses Moses brought God glory right did Pharaoh bring God glory you're so wicked though he was so evil he was keeping the Israelites from going but but what scripture says in Exodus 14 verse 18 it says uh the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain Glory through Pharaoh his chariots and his Horsemen God says I'm going to get Glory through pharaoh and those chariots and those Horsemen that are pursuing my people and even though they're doing the wrong thing when that sea sweeps them over and I bury them in the Red Sea who's going to get the glory I am and so I need those people are going to bring me Glory" [00:05:20]

"you see at the end even the people who deny God curse God all the way up to their death they're going to bring God glory because what's going to happen in the end is God's going to pour His wrath out upon them and everyone's going to look and go whoa you don't want you don't want to cross him who gets the glory god through everyone everyone's going to bring Glory Liars those of you in this room that are total Hypocrites right now God's Gonna use you to bring him glory in the end you know you know the story of a you know we see in the New Testament like ananias and Sapphira you know that was the the couple that was in the church you know and they even did some good deed in selling a piece of land but when they were confronted and asked hey did you give us all the money first ananiah says yeah I gave you everything and he drops dead then they ask his wife hey did you give everything he says you know we gave everything boom she's dead she dies they carry him out and it says great fear seized everyone who heard who did they fear God and God used those Hypocrites to bring himself Glory that's what he does" [00:08:16]

"God is going to be glorified through you and you can't ruin his plan he created you to bring glory to himself and you will bring glory to him the the question is how because people will be in awe of either how he punishes you exposes you or rewards you will all be in awe of this God and give glory to him for however he treats you it says uh you know in the Book of Revelation at the end of the Bible there in Revelation 15 verse 4 you know when all the end things are starting to take place you know they're this Revelation 15 4 says who will not fear you O Lord and bring glory to your name for you alone Are Holy All Nations will come and worship before you for your righteous acts have been revealed so at the end of everything you know the question is okay who's not going to fear Him Now okay who who who's not going to give him glory now because now it says his righteous acts are revealed his righteous his his doing we're going to see as being right see a lot of people on the Earth right now say you know what the god of the Bible is wrong on this this this this this this this I don't agree with this you know but at the end when he you know sits in judgment over everything people are going to go okay he was right I was wrong who's not going to fear Him in the end who's not going to give him glory for Revelation 15 4 says because his righteous acts have been revealed so so God's plan isn't going to fail you are going to bring glory to him that's what he created you for" [00:12:22]

"it's just that we want to be the people who consciously bring him glory right we want to actually go okay I want to bring him glory thinking about bringing him glory I don't want to be one of these objects of Destruction that he talks about in in Romans 9 that bring him glory I want to be one that serves him with my life basically I want to give God his glory so that he doesn't just take it anyways um this passage we're going to look at today it's a it's a story that that most of us are familiar with we've probably even heard about it when we were kids um it's a guy who consciously brings glory to God Simple Story you know again you know when we come to these stories I don't want to you know tear them apart and analyze them to death because uh that's not the point of it it's just a simple thing that happened a guy who made history a guy named Zacchaeus there's even a song about Zacchaeus you guys know the song about Zacchaeus he doesn't know the song about the kids no can you throw that up there there's a song about the kids how do you guys not know the song about the kids Zacchaeus Was a wee little man you guys want to sing it huh all right let's sing it together the key is was a wee little man and a wee little man was he he climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see and as the Savior passed that way he looked up in that tree and he said Zacchaeus you come down for I'm going to your house today before I'm going to your all right now you feel better okay here you go that's a terrible song it's just but at least he's got a song how many songs are there about you um but he makes history why because he's the guy that did something and we want to read about that that story here he brought glory to God in a in Luke 19 verse 1 it says Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through and a man was there by the name of Zacchaeus he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy he wanted to see who Jesus was but being a short man he could not because of the crowd so he ran ahead and climbed the Sycamore fig tree to see him since Jesus was coming that way okay so stories about this this little guy named Zacchaeus uh and Zacchaeus it's a Hebrew name and and it says that he was a a chief tax collector a chief tax collector now I've talked about this before where the tax cuts remember they're under the Roman Empire uh that the Jews are and uh and so what the Roman Empire would do is they would let the Jews kind of carry on to um business and and uh you know be successful and then they would tax them so they could take their money you know and use it for the Roman government that's how they grew their empire now so the tax collectors were scorned they were hated by the people what Zacchaeus Was was he was the chief tax collector so when the the tax collectors would go and get the money from the Jews you know to give to the government they would give it all to Zacchaeus first and Zacchaeus would in turn pass it on to the Roman Empire so so you know that the people of that day just hated the tax collectors because they were crooked uh they were Wicked they would they would take more than than what was uh expected and you really couldn't do a whole lot about it you know they were they were the law and so they would take more than than what was due the government and the government really attacked them in a pretty crazy way and so the chief tax collector he's the one that's kind of the boss of all of it and so they had you know they particularly despised um the chief tax collector and uh and and it says right there that he's wealthy well how do you get wealthy off of everyone else's money and uh and so here's this wealthy little guy who was crooked you know and he was short and he he wanted to um you know every time I read this passage ever since I was young I would always picture Danny DeVito doesn't that just seem like I'm like I don't know she's always in my head every time I read the passage and I can't get past it but uh so uh so he goes on ahead okay he wants to just see you know he just picture him jumping you know trying to see what's going on and you know all the crowds you can't see because remember when we talked about last week how uh Jesus was creating this following and there was this stir everyone's talking about these stories these healings then he heals the blind man and you know and he's headed down to Jerusalem and then later he's going to raise Lazarus from the dead it's all in preparation for that triumphal entry and so you know everyone's hyping up this Jesus and now he's coming by and all these crowds and Zacchaeus really wants to see what is this guy all about and so he goes running ahead and he climbs up into this tree and uh and it's interesting because it's his curiosity that eventually saves him you ever stop and think about that he just really wanted to know who is this Jesus and in this story you see him coming to believe and follow this Jesus but he just runs up this tree because he's just got to know and uh as I as I thought about that you know the reason why some of you in this room are here is is out of curiosity you know you you don't just like Zacchaeus you don't know exactly who this Jesus is you're just you're curious though you know you hear about your friends your neighbors people you work with and they've been coming here and so you're just going you know I don't want to check this place out what is this all about why in the world with thousands of my friends come into this place and start singing these songs about Jesus hearing these these words out of this book and you know start following and living it and and giving of their lives or time their resources you're just curious as like what's it all about and you look around you go well they look kind of normal you know they seem like normal people and yeah they're the people I I you know I live with the people I hang with what is this and uh and then and it is strange uh it's it's probably strange to you to you know hearing us sing a song about Zacchaeus or whatever you know you just some of us have been church for a while we forget how strange it is for a person to walk in and and see people singing lifting their hands up you know devoting so much of their lives to God passing a plate and people throwing money into it it's it is strange why do we do it um you guys you know and just real quickly for those who are visiting man we're just we're thankful you're here we're thankful you're curious and we're here to answer any questions you have I mean feel free to question ask anything um but but the reason why we're here is is not because we think we're better than you um but it's it's frankly it's the opposite you know we we realize that man we look at our lives and we understand that we haven't lived good lives especially the more we read the Bible we understand God's standard we realize while we've really fallen short of that the one thing we all have in common in this room whether you believe in God or not is that we've all broken God's commands um that's one thing we know of and and because we're human beings we have a sense of justice and we understand the principle of justice that you know like like we feel like it's unjust when someone commits a crime and they don't get punished and so we understand hey we've committed crimes and the right thing the just thing the fair thing is for that God to punish us and you know what the scriptures teach is that God went beyond Justice and says you know that world I create to bring glory to myself he does the ultimate Act of bringing glory to himself by showing off his love and he says watch this I am a fair God but I'm also a loving God and a merciful god so this is what I'm going to do I'm going to have my son take the form of a man he's going to lower himself and become like one of you and I'm going to have him die on a cross that's what that movie was all about you know the passion was was Jesus suffering and dying what he was doing on that cross was he was he was sufficing the justice of God he was paying for the crimes that were committed by the World by you and I the crimes we know we're guilty of he paid for them he paid the penalty so that God could be fair you see if he just says you know what I'm just going to let everyone off no one's going to pay for it then God would be unjust and it wouldn't satisfy the sense of justice which he's put into us but he he what he does is he says you know what my son will pay for that and so I will be just and I will be able to justify those who believe so a penalty is paid through Jesus Christ and when we understand it and we accept that and we decide to follow man we just go gosh God did that for me the Creator who didn't even have to create me who didn't have to create this world he shows his love what an amazing loving God we just worship him and that's why we come in here and and we say you know what beautiful one I adore beautiful one I love beautiful one my my soul Just Gotta Sing I'm just bursting on how great this God is that's what this is all about and and if you've never come to a point where you you decide to accept that sacrifice and say oh I believe you did that for me then basically you're on your own you know at the end you're gonna have to justify yourself and say well you know I don't either you say I don't believe I did anything worthy of punishment you know good luck with that one as he goes down your life seriously you know or or you just say you know what I'll I'll take the punishment for myself because I don't need Jesus to take it for me those are your choices you know and so for us it's like gosh you know God's paid for it all what a what a wonderful loving merciful graceful God and we come here to worship Him and and we pray that someday you do too that it goes beyond curiosity and you realize you know what this God that everyone's in love with I love him too and I want to follow him and that's what happens to Zacchaeus here in verse 5 it says when G when Jesus gets to the spot where Zacchaeus Was up in the tree it says he looked up and said to him Zacchaeus come down immediately I must stay at your house today so he came down at once and welcomed him gladly and all the people saw this and began to mutter he's gone to be the guest of a sinner okay so so Jesus passes by the tree and and this is like a matter of seconds you know he sees Zacchaeus Zacchaeus come down how do you know his name you know zakias is up there going whoa you know he called me out and says you know come down and uh and he says to him I gotta stay at your house and and and basically Jesus saying you know what I'm willing to come into your house I want to be your guest I want to come into your life and so Zacchaeus you know hurries down the tree you know it says yeah of course come on in come on in come into my house and all the people they start going hey why would Jesus go with that sinner they understood you know and yet they understood zacchaeus's life but what they didn't understand is those are the people Jesus always goes after he pursues those people who recognize their own sinfulness it's the self-righteous that he has nothing to do with the people who think that they're good people that he has nothing to do with but the people who recognize their own sinfulness and he he's quick to embrace you you know the moment you admit you know and I blew my life I totally messed it up gosh you read over and over again those are the people Jesus Embraces and that's uh it's the same thing here for Zacchaeus um in verse 8. it says but Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord look Lord here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor and if I've cheated anybody out of anything I'll pay back four times the amount and Jesus said to him today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a son of Abraham for the son of man came to seek and save that which was lost well you know he makes a big deal of him being a son of Abraham and how the son of man came to seek and save that that which was lost you gotta understand I mean if you read the Bible as a whole you understand God has such a special Covenant relationship with the Jewish people the people of Israel those were the people he chose you know in the Old Testament and uh and he absolutely loved and as they rebelled and rebelled and rebelled he kept just taking them back taking them back pursuing them you know and you know he he led them you know through the desert and everything else and and he's going to use them at the very end times and so there's this unique relationship and it explains you know even the New Testament that Jesus came to that which was his own um he came to the Jewish people first and they're they're still a covenant relationship there's still this unique relationship I should say um with the Jewish people I I believe and uh you know when you read in the Book of Revelation how he takes people from every tribe each of the 12 tribes and uses them as His Witnesses even during the end times and he seals them and it's it's a beautiful story when you read it from cover to cover but a lot of times in the Christian church we forget um just the the beauty of the heritage of the Jews you know I've said before jokingly you know man I I wish I was I was Francis chansteen I mean I I do you know you just go man to be a part of that and uh and and you know what and and every time every time in this church and it's happened many times when a person is you know is Jewish by nationality realizes it Embraces the Messiah Old Testament and realizes that that was Jesus I mean it's it's just such a beautiful wonderful thing and you know I do I get all you know emotional over that because I I think about God and how God loves that that Nation you know and yes he loves us all and and absolutely and his son died for all of us but there is something beautiful about that and here Jesus does make a big deal of you got to understand this is the key is you know we should be excited we should be fired up because you know he was he's a real son of Abraham and he's learned to embrace his Messiah and that's why the son of man came you know to seek and save that which was lost but uh but but you know let's get to what Zacchaeus did I mean when he comes down from the tree you know you picture Jesus about to walk into this house and you know Zacchaeus kind of stopped and says hey hey Lord because he's so fire I can't believe Jesus is coming in my house he just says you know what right now I just want to say publicly half of whatever I have give it to the poor okay it's going to the poor and then if there's anyone here that I ripped off I will pay you back four times the amount okay four times just just tell me and you just come to me and say you know what you you overcharged me a grant I'll give you four grand you know and you hear the story of this guy who just immediately uh does something so radical um and Jesus response is you know what salvations come to this house today salvation has come to this house why did Jesus say that because he saw the actions of Zacchaeus is what we've been talking about for weeks now that it's about him doing something he repented you know uh remember the story of the Rich Young Ruler we studied a few weeks ago totally wealthy guy right but when it came time to give everything he had he couldn't do it could he and Jesus says oh how hard it is for the wealthy for the rich to enter the kingdom of God and the disciples go well then who's going to enter and he goes look what's impossible with man is possible with God and here you get a picture of it here's a wealthy guy at the moment he finds Jesus suddenly his stuff doesn't matter to him anymore he just gives it all up because he recognizes how great it is um basically that's everything he has you think if you give half to the poor then you're saying you're going to pay back four times the amount of room when you ripped off he's probably going to be in debt you know after after this story is over um but he doesn't care you see when we read the story don't you read it and don't you think that's radical that's kind of extreme that is Extreme that's unheard of but the thing is is in that day when you read the people who follow Jesus that was the norm they really did give all of their possessions they really you know when you read the book of Acts that's the way the people lived it's like well you know what you're poor and I've got all the stuff yeah of course I'm going to sell my stuff and give that's just the way they thought that was the norm see we read a passage like this and it's you know why it's radical to us because we love stuff that's the only reason why this is radical because we're going it's going to give away all your stuff no way I wouldn't give away all my stuff why because we love stuff but Zacchaeus you know I mean and we go man no way hap could I give half of everything I own right now to the poor and could I pay back four times the amount of why because we're looking at all this stuff and go man I I can't let go of this we we love our stuff that's the problem you know where Zacchaeus is going no way you know I get a relationship with God Jesus is going to come into my Jesus is going to come into my house Jesus is going to forgive me his Focus his stop suddenly it doesn't even matter this stuff doesn't matter to him he's like Paul who says you know all this stuff I used to love I count it all but done it's all crap now the stuff that I used to embrace and love he he calls it that why because because I Found Jesus it's like you know you know you read about is that pearl of great price it's that field it's the you know the lost it's everything you know it's just man I I want this and that stuff I don't care about see but we're in all over the stuff going man he let go of his stuff no that's not the point is is that he didn't care about his stuff anymore you see that's that's the fruit of Salvation when you understand what you've got now what you have sorry when you understand what you have you just realize all the other stuff you go I don't care see when you really get it when you really get it your stuff doesn't matter and so sometimes we got to just evaluate if I love my stuff so much then do I really get it do I really get the richest that I have in Jesus you know if all these other things matter to me so much you should start questioning your life if that's what you're preoccupied with and you think about because one of the fruits of Salvation is all the things you used to cherish like the hymn it says you know the things of Earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace it's like suddenly all this stuff that he used to love suddenly doesn't matter because of this Jesus you see this is the norm throughout history when people encounter God in his grace they do radical things that's normal and we've got to remember that there was a gal in our church who had emailed me a couple of months ago pretty fired up over our stance on divorce you know which is that you know which is what the Bible teaches that divorce is wrong you know the only time you can divorce is if there's been uh if there's been adultery um or if you're you know if your partner leaves you there's nothing you can do about that but for you to pursue a divorce you know the only time is for adultery and so she was pretty angry and says you know you don't treat me like a real person or this or that or you know you know just the whole whole thing and you know which that's fine you know and I type back and try to be gracious and say you know what it's not me it's just I gotta go with what the Bible is the Bible teaching church and I can't compromise on anything and we kept going back and forth well all my Christian friends say it's okay you know people have been telling me for you know I've been divorced for two years everything's okay according to them it's just you it's just Cornerstone every time I come to church you know and man you know I I'm sorry I'm you know but I can't tell you that it was okay for you to leave your husband after about a month of back and forth stuff I get an email and she says you know what to be honest with you I've never felt peace about it either and uh everyone was telling me it was okay but then every time I come to church I realize it wasn't and she says I I wrote you because I knew you would tell me what the Bible taught and not what you wanted to say and what would make me feel good and she's saying is the only you know way to repent then to get back together with him I was like well it seems like the only thing that that would make it right and she says no way you know at three o'clock today they're getting remarried and it's uh it's just the coolest thing they're in service last night we had them stand up John and delarin cyverson and the whole congregation Just prayed for them and rejoiced with them and you know that that that's their story now you know and we'll remember John and DeLorean no matter what they do in life now because you know we can write a song about it you know it's a wee little man and divorced and got remarried you know and it just you know just it's like wow you know something something for their life to count for you know something just brings glory to God you know we always hear about all the you know the horror stories and the nightmares all things God's disgusted with and it just it's cool to hear about man the rejoicing in heaven that takes place over a union that's that's brought back together a vow that was broken and then you said you know what they recognize the wrong and she says you know the thing I loved as they were in my office for counseling this week you know they're just smiling they're just you know she just can't even believe it they just can't believe that this is happening they said we just want to make sure all the glory goes to God when you do our ceremony on Sunday Francis would you just make sure all the glory goes to God because this was impossible this shouldn't have happened and uh and we just want to brag about him and what what he's done and I was like yeah absolutely and and you know and they're giddy they're like little you know little college students again you know you know just I don't mean that belittling you know I mean it's just you know that they're just you know all in love again and and the thing I I said what's what's the greatest thing about all of this and and DeLorean she says to me Francis I can breathe again you know it's just right it's right before God and it's good and uh you know what a joy but you know what what that's what they'll be remembered for something's huge you know what what's what's the goal of your life you know what do you want to be remembered for see your goal needs to be more than survival we can get into survival mode can't we you know it's just like answering cell phones you know Pages you know whatever we're just we just want to get it all done and uh and uh you know but that's what we feel it's just this busyness of um let me just survive another day and and you guys we'll fall into that mode if we don't have goals in life and the goal needs to be more than how long can I live and still look young and feel young and have Financial Security and that's that's the goal that everyone seems to fall back on you know usually subconsciously but we just want to see how long we can live with Financial Security and health that's your goal in life you know and I just want to remind you one more time you're going to die okay no matter how many plastic surgeries you have and how young you look inside your body's rotten away it just is you can't stop that you may look good to everyone else you know whatever age but you're gonna die and you know how many people tell you that every day and so I will you're you're gonna die and and uh and the question is is not whether or not you're gonna die you know the question is is whether you're going to die with regrets and uh and whether or not you can come to the end and know that you consciously gave glory to God with your life and um you know that's that's why I make such a big deal over Nathan Barlow Dr Barlow last week and that's why you know even this week as I've gone to different places to speak I I just keep talking about him because to me he's the guy that did it he pulled it off for 60 years of his life you know he just he just gave gave gave gave and you know and remained obscure no one knows about him except for you know now thousands of people that I tell because I go you know what that's the model for us um you know dying with no regrets knowing you served you gave your life for this thing and now there's something to talk about in your life you'll be remembered and it's awesome Legacy to leave behind you know as the worship team's about to come up this is what I want you to do okay grab your grab a pen and uh and then grab your uh worship uh your bulletin you know in the back there it says notes there you know we've been talking about Zacchaeus and his life and you know what he's remembered for what I want you to do on the back of this you know or whatever blank paper you can you can find is just start writing down if if you were to die today what would your eulogy sound like okay as someone got up and described your life and just says you know this is what he or she has done go and just start writing that just start writing down what would they say about you they're going to try to pick the good stuff so go ahead and just write that I mean seriously I mean no matter you know I've done all sorts of funerals they never get up into oh he was a jerk you know so so go ahead just write all the good stuff you know what what people would remember when they when they talk about you I was challenged to do this when I was in high school you know just write down your well they said you know write your Epitaph what what they want but we don't have those anymore because you just buy a little plaques but uh you know to really think through what do I want to be remembered for just keep writing what people going to say about you we don't have time to spend a ton of time on this but I really encourage you you know try to do this you know this week sometime just complete that because the thing I want you to do when you get to the end of it and you look at everything you've written down the question I want you to ask yourself is is that enough for me is that all I want to be remembered for you know oral do I want to be like one of these people who did something radical when I encountered God and gave like crazy served like crazy how do I want to come before God it's something we need to think through is that enough or do you want more are you praying for more that your life will count for something something to be remembered you know if any as we worship God you know if there's any of you that just need prayer you know maybe you are one of those curious ones and you have questions there'll be some people up here by the prayer room pray for you maybe today you know you you want to get baptized you want to start you look at your list and you realize you know there's things I want to do before my life is over you want to start pursuing those things and you need prayer for that just just come on up to the prayer room but for the rest of us you know if you're hungry for more if you're searching for more you know let's just let's just worship God worship him like you've never worshiped before you know that's what I try to do every time I sing I don't want to just sing again I don't want to just pray again I want to say I want to worship you like like I've never worshiped before I want to pray to you with more intensity than I ever prayed and so as we sing to God right now you know let's let's give them everything we have because that's what we're made for that's consciously glorify God" [00:19:16]