The Meaning of Life: Glorify!

Scripture

New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition John 17

17 After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. 5 So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

6 “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you, 8 for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I have been glorified in them. 11 And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 15 I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.,* 16 They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Wondering with the Word

Introduction- Introduction

Everything up to this point has been prologue.

Firstly, my thanks to Wayne, Kelly, and Alex for preaching the last few weeks.

I promise this sermon won’t go longer than 4 or 5 hours.

But I’ve had the sense in this time off that everything about the first 10 months of my being here at Beulah, that was all the prologue.

To be super sure, we have a really great story left to come.

And everything about what’s brought us to here has been kind of setting the stage.

One of the things that I wanted to do when I first got here was to establish a mission statement.

A mission statement is essentially the reason the church exists.

Why are we here?

And so even though we occasionally dress it up in new words, it should have a kind of evergreen quality to it.

I should be able to go back and ask Samuel Barr, or Dale Millegan, or Jim Guyer if this makes sense to them, and they should all say “yeah, that’s us!”

And still, the mission statement should point us in a particular direction, give us a place to aim the Church and some of the decisions we make.

So session updated our mission statement a bit, are you ready to hear it?

The mission statement:

Beulah Presbyterian Church glorifies God through its worship, by making disciples, and by reaching out to welcome and serve others in the name of Jesus Christ.

So for the next few weeks, we’re going to study this mission statement in pieces.

And today we’re going to start with a simple question:

What is the Meaning of Life?

In the 1600s, a group of English and Scottish theologians got together and tried to answer this question.

Westminster Shorter Catechism

What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and to Enjoy him forever.

We tend to focus on the first part

As kind of stoic Presbyterians, we’ve had no problem trying to do things that would glorify God.

In fact, we put it right there in our mission statement!

We’re going to glorify God, and that’s why we’re here!

But as hard as it is to imagine, a group of stayed and stoic Scottish Theologians, I’m sure party people all the way through, said that it’s not enough to just glorify God.

What does it mean to enjoy God?

The kind of Christian that is just stoic, always serious, and in other churches, not ours, grumpy?

John Ortberg tells this story:

A farmer had a neighbor, a constant complainer, a wet blanket in the linen closet of life. The farmer decided to impress this man for once, so he bought the world's greatest hunting dog, trained it thoroughly, and invited his joyless friend to go hunting. From the blind the farmer shot a duck, which landed in the middle of the pond. Upon command, the dog trotted out, walked on the surface of the water, retrieved the bird, and dropped him at the feet of his master. "What do you think of that?" the farmer challenged his neighbor. To which his friend responded, "Your dog can't swim, can he?"

Those folks, no matter how much they glorified God, no matter how seriously they worshipped, or studied, or served, they only have half the equation according to the Westminster Catechism.

The writers of this creed would not have understood someone who claimed to be a Christian yet looked like a sour puss all the time.

The writers of this creed would not have understood someone who claimed to be a Christian yet spent their whole existence judging other people.

The writers of this creed would not have understood someone who claimed to be a Christian and complained all the time (at other churches).

You glorify God, yes. But you also in that glorification, you enjoy God, and all that God has given you.

The writer of Ecclesiastes knew this!

Carolyn read this for us earlier:

Ecclesiastes 3:12-13 “I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.”

Pastor and Author John Piper put it this way:

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

When we are content with the grace of God...

When we are able to enjoy the creation that God gave us without abusing it...

When we are able to enjoy the relationships God has given us...

When we are content with all that God has given us, and are able to enjoy it thoroughly...

That’s when we glorify God.

What comes next in our mission needs to be centered in enjoying God.

If we’re going to do what the mission statement says, and glorify God, that means we need to enjoy a few things!

Enjoying worship

Yes, worship can be a deeply moving and profound experience of serious spiritual engagement.

But in and with that it can also be a truly enjoyable, downright joyful experience!

And oh by the way...

Some of those other churches, the ones who complain a lot...

When they complain about “the other” style of worship, they rob themselves of the ability to enjoy worship.

Everything turns in to a battle that never needed to be fought in the first place, and pretty soon no one is enjoying anything.

At other churches...

Enjoying discipleship

As we’ve been continuing with our recruitment season for new volunteers for the fall (we’re not done, sign up!), there’s one common response we tend to get.

Oh, I don’t know the Bible the way you do.

It’s like there’s this fear, that somehow our discipleship, our study of the scriptures, is a competition between who knows more than whom.

And that just sounds miserable!

Imagine if we could enjoy our discipleship?

Imagine if all of us, boys and girls of all ages, could just be insatiously curious!

The more we learn about God, the more questions pop up, and the closer we grow to God and each other.

That sounds downright fun!

We could enjoy that!

Enjoying our service

I have known churches that serve from a place of obligation.

There’s always a kind of under current of “Ugh…I have to give up a Saturday to be at the food bank?”

And anyone who holds that opinion either hasn’t served well, or just hasn’t gotten out of their own way to do it.

There is nothing more enjoyable to than reaching out to serve our brothers and sisters in need.

Done right, it connects us with all of humanity, and brings us closer in relationship to the God we are all called to enjoy.

The Watchword

Andrew Root

Session adopted our new mission statement quite a few months ago, and I almost immediately started sketching out and outlining this sermon series, so I’ve been working on this one for a while.

Then during vacation, I read a book by Andrew Root.

Andrew is a theologian, and a darn good one.

He’s someone I got to know a little bit through a few conferences, at least to the point that I could e-mail him a few times through seminary and get some help on a project.

So, we’re kind of like buds, right?

(I’m sure he has no idea who I am).

And in his book, Andrew started going through what we should do when church stops working.

About 2/3rds of the way through, Andrew argues that churches don’t really need mission statements.

So, I guess we’re not buds any more...

Actually, he says that mission statements are fine, but that they should be paired with what he calls a Watchword.

A watchword is an interesting concept.

It’s something short, something we could quickly say to each other.

But it’s also meaningful: you wouldn’t want to cheapen it down to a catchphrase that you put on bumper stickers or anything like that.

It’s something that is at least loosely biblically based.

It’s something that will give a context to a mission statement, something that will help it make more sense.

And, Andrew pointed out, it’s probably something that already exists in the culture and life of the congregation, it just needs to be uncovered.

I think I found ours:

Every Sunday, we start with the same call and response as a congregation.

We use the words of Psalm 118:24 “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

And man, I think that’s just such a good watchword for us in this season of life and ministry, and something that makes sense of the rest of the mission statement, doesn’t it?

This is the day- We don’t get to control that.

Sometimes the day that the Lord has made is sunshine and rainbows.

Sometimes the day that the Lord has made is rain clouds and thunderstorms.

Sometimes the day that the Lord has made comes with baptisms and celebrations.

Sometimes the day that the Lord has made comes with funerals and long goodbyes.

Sometimes the day that the Lord has made goes exactly the way we drew it up.

Sometimes the day that the Lord has made comes with flat tires and paper cuts.

Whatever the day brings, this is the day that the Lord has made.

We have absolutely no say in that.

But...

Rejoicing and being glad- That’s a choice.

We choose whether we are going to rejoice and be glad, or whether we’re going to complain and be grumpy.

We choose whether we are going to rejoice and be glad, or whether we’re going to shrink and be afraid.

We choose whether we are going to rejoice and be glad, or whether we’re going to judge or be angry.

To be clear, there are days where rejoicing and being glad are a tall order for everyone.

Some days we just don’t have it.

That’s why the word “us” is so important here.

One of the best things the church can do is rejoice and be glad on behalf of our brothers and sisters who just might not have it in them at the moment.

Imagine we put this to use:

When all is well and the sun is shining on our efforts as a church-

Today’s a day like that!

With new members and baptisms and kicking off discipleship opportunities...

There’s a whole bunch to rejoice and be glad about here today!

This is the day the Lord has made!

When we’re about to sit down for a really tough committee meeting-

Look, from time to time this new mission statement of ours is going to drive us head long in to some really difficult decisions.

And there are going to be times where very well meaning members of this congregation are going to have different and opposing opinions on how best to live in to that mission.

And that’s going to create tension and disagreement and conflict, and all of that is ok, you know why?

Because this is the day that the Lord has made!

When the heater is broken, and we’re freezing in the sanctuary and feel like complaining about that…

Not that we’ve ever been there...

But let’s be real, sometimes things don’t work the way they should.

Sometimes circumstances get far beyond our control, making us uncomfortable.

Sometimes this life that we get to share together gets sloppy, or disorganized, or out of control.

And of course we try to limit that, but even if absolutely nothing goes to plan, we’ll be just fine. You know why?

Because this is the Day that the Lord has made!

When the pastor is preaching just a bit too long on Steelers kick off Sunday...

You might not be as loud on that one…but!

This is the day that the Lord has made!

When we have to walk together through the valley of the shadow of death, and say goodbye to dear ones-

Already we’ve done a little bit of this around here, haven’t we?

We’ve celebrated the end of lives incredibly well lived, and we’ve also mourned brothers and sisters who have left us way too soon.

We’ve watched dear ones in the Lord get sick, often in ways that seem cruel and unfair and unwarranted.

We have sat with each other in the darkest days we could possibly imagine, and offered each other the gift of prayer and presence.

We have done all of this already, and we can and will do it more as we go. You know why?

Because this…even this…is the day that the Lord has made!

Jesus got this-

In our passage in John, Jesus talked a lot about what it means to glorify God.

Jesus asks his Father to glorify the Son.

Then in turn the Son would glorify the father.

And that because we know the Son, we could bring God glory too.

Everybody’s bringing glory to everybody!

But it turns out all this glorifying isn’t the end game.

Let joy be complete.

The endgame comes in John 17:13 “But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.”

We don’t have time for half-hearted joy.

We don’t have patience for on again off again joy.

We don’t have the capacity to be so seriously and strenuously set on glorifying God that we leave joy in the parking lot.

In Christ, our joy has to be complete.

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

The Son has glorified the Father by giving each of us everlasting life, and there is joy in that.

You are loved right here, right now, exactly as you are, and there is joy in that.

You are capable of weathering the harshest storm and the darkest days in life, and there is joy in that.

You and I have been given every good and perfect gift that God has on offer, and when we are content and satisfied and joyful in that, God is extremely glorified in us.

We can enjoy God.

We can enjoy God in our worship.

We can enjoy God in our discipleship.

We can enjoy God in our service.

And when we enjoy God that deeply, we glorify him.

Because my brothers and sisters, this is the day that the Lord has made.