Love and Glory: Finding Joy in God's Purpose

The Bible says now abide faith hope and love these three but the greatest is so it's the greatest so it's the greatest thing and my poor little brain is supposed to get around the greatest thing and say true things about it well I've been trying to do that for a long time I've been at Bethlehem for 30 years and I've been trying to understand the big issue of love into relation in relationship to other big issues one of the other biggest issues in the Bible is the glory of God. [00:05:49]

Throughout Scripture, we see that God's acts of love—predestination, creation, incarnation, salvation, sanctification, propagation, and consummation—are all ultimately for His glory. This can be unsettling for some, as it may seem to diminish the personal nature of God's love. However, the truth is that God's love is not diminished by His glory; rather, it is magnified. God's love for us is not merely about making much of us but about freeing us to make much of Him, which is the ultimate expression of love. [00:06:31]

He predestined us to adoption as Sons through Jesus Christ to himself according to the the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace well I'm glad you feel that way because not everybody does I mean until you get to verse six it's sounding like he he he wants me he's adopted me he's taken me as his child into his family and he's done it with a Plan before the foundation of the world and then you get to verse six and he tells you why he's doing it so that you will praise the glory of his grace. [00:09:18]

God is on a mission to save Sinners God is on a rescue mission to gather a people for himself and what do they say glory to God what about us you catch what people are saying number four that was Incarnation so predestination creation Incarnation now let's do uh Salvation the act of the Cross and go to 2 Corinthians 5 2 Corinthians 5: 14-15 now this is the centerpiece of love in the Bible right when God comes into the world in Jesus Christ and dies for Sinners this is the manifestation of love like never before like never since this is love if there was ever love. [00:12:27]

He died for all so that we for whom he died might live for him so who' you die for yourself or us you you you died for us so that we could spend all our time living for you so it's all about you number five sanctification so predestination creation Incarnation salvation now sanctification Philippians chapter 1 the prayer of Paul in verses 9 to1 11 now when you pray you're talking to God and you're asking God to do things so so when you ask God to do something he's the doer and when it says he's doing it for a purpose it's his purpose. [00:14:00]

God sanctify them for yourself sanctify them for the glory of God is sanctification an act of love it is God's loving us when he makes us holy he's loving us when he makes us holy and it says he's doing it for his glory and and I'm telling you there are people who don't feel loved when you talk like that they say you're ruining it you're ruining it oh you you say he's loving me and then you turn around and say he's doing it for his glory that doesn't feel like love to me. [00:16:13]

The reason every time a great work of Love happens in the world the Bible says he does it for his glory is to keep us from letting our joy our excitement our significance rest on being made much of as the bottom of our joy as the end point of our joy it's not wrong to be glad that you're made much of it's not wrong it wouldn't be revealed to us as good news if we weren't to hear it and like it the danger is that we may hear it like it and stop on it and say go great I'm the goal of the universe God does everything and it stops right here I feel really good. [00:33:10]

God makes much of us so that we will see him as the kind of God who is extraordinarily gracious to make much of nobody's like us so that we admire him more or let me put it like this I think the Bible accomplishes two things in revealing God's love in the context of he doing it for his own Glory two things are accomplished number one he rescues us from God belittling idolatry of putting our joy finally finally and decisively in being made much of and having ourselves as the bottom of our joy. [00:34:58]

When those texts and hundreds of others like them reveal that God loves us for his glory it leads us out of ourselves out of joy inself into an infinite greatness that really satisfies the soul let me put it this way suppose God loves you enough and he does to glorify you Romans 8:30 those of me Justified he glorified to glorify you so that one day you shine like the sun in the Kingdom of your father which you will according to Matthew 13 our faces will be so radiant it'll be like sun and nobody can look at them. [00:36:38]

The love of God that makes much of us for his glory is a greater love than a love that only makes much of us let me say it again a love of God that makes much of us in all the ways that I've said and a hundred times more a love of God that makes much of us for his glory is a greater love for us than if he only made much of us that's my argument because in making much of us for his glory he directs us our attention out of ourselves as the ultimate Foundation to himself. [00:39:54]

I have said dozens of times in trying to drive home that the greatness of God is the end of our joy rather than our own self-esteem I've said things like nobody goes to the Grand Canyon to increase his self-esteem and yet people go to the Grand Canyon so why do they go to the Grand Canyon if self-esteem is the source of Happiness why do they go because you feel little by the Grand Canyon you don't feel big you feel little in fact you feel precarious what what if somebody said to me and here I'm trying to correct myself I'm trying to say it better. [00:40:39]

You are precious to him and the greatest gift that he has for you is not to let that preciousness become your God but rather he becomes your god let's pray father I I pray for my myself first preachers have a a huge responsibility to say things in a biblically balanced and a biblically appropriate way that helps as many people as possible guards from as many errors as possible Embraces as many truths as possible touches as many broken lives as possible so father I I plead with you grant that I would get things clear. [00:44:37]