Is It Wrong to Seek Glory?

Romans 2:6–11 ESV

He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.

Is It Wrong to Seek Glory?

Romans 2:6-11

READ ROMANS 2:6-11

On Friday evening, I received a very thoughtful message from a dear member of our church family. Said, “I’m praying for you as you prepare to lead us into this very different advent season. … This is a time when we all really need hope.”

First of all, how wonderful to know that there are people praying for you - and for the church family, during these strange times. And second, I hadn’t really made the connection yet, but how true it is that this year - of all years, in a desperate, desperate way - we need hope. We need hope that this isn’t how life goes down. We need hope that this isn’t the end of the story for us.

And if your moods and emotions are being driven by the news or social media … you are very likely feeling rather hope-less. Or maybe you’re clinging to some wishful optimism, with nothing to back up the feeling - that next year will be better. We’ll get a vaccine … and we’ll be back to normal.

Our text, this morning, speaks to us, right here - at the beginning of advent. It’s no accident that God has us in THIS text, at the beginning of our journey to Christmas.

Last week, we studied Romans 2:6-11and dealt with the “Great Divide” that there is separates all of humanity into two different camps. It’s a divide between those who will end up going to heaven and those who will end up going to hell.

It’s not an idea that I made up, or the opinion of a hell=fire and brimstone preacher. It’s not even a division that Paul invented. Jesus Christ Himself spoke of this division: “Those who will enter my rest” on the one side .... and ‘those who will be cast away into outer darkness’, where the ‘worm dos not die … and the fire is never quenched’” (Mark 9:48).

If there is ONE question that you need to answer, more than any other question in your life … it’s this one: “Where am I going?” And, the follow up question is just as important: “How do I know? - What’s my confidence in believing that’s my destiny?”

We saw last week that what determines your destiny is NOT what country you were born in - that’s what the non-Christian Jews were thinking - the people Paul is directly addressing here.

It’s NOT whether your parents had faith or you are a regular church attendee, or memorized a bunch of Bible verses, or have a stellar reputation of upstanding morality. That’s also what Paul’s audience thought. But there will be people in hell who lived far better lives than I have - I can guarantee you that, for sure.

What we saw last week is that the GREAT DIVIDE in the human race is between those who live selfish, self-centered lives of a rebel against God … and those who do the good works that are the overflow of salvation - the fruit of the Holy Spirit Who regenerates, seals and lives in every Christian as a gift … sent by God the Father and Son - because of Jesus’ finished work in history.

But we couldn’t cover everything last week. And, Paul makes a point here that we didn’t have time to focus on, last week, as much as I would have liked to.

The point is the focus of v. 7, “… to those who by patience in well-doing, seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.”

And then verse 10, the parallel to v. 7: “(there will be) … glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.”

1 IS IT WRONG TO SEEK GLORY?

If you seek GLORY and HONOUR and IMMORTALITY - God will reward you with nothing less than ETERNAL LIFE.

Are you seeking something today? On this Advent Sunday of hope - are you HOPING for something and aiming your life at a pleasure that’s worth spending your life pursuing? I hope you are. There are far too many people in our world who are just COASTING – spectators watching the world go by, or being carried along by the so-called, crises of the world, like a log, floating on the open ocean. AIM HIGHER, friend. HOPE for something and pursue it!

And some of you are thinking, “Oh, but that’s not very Christian – to look to get something for yourself. Shouldn’t you just do what’s right because it’s right?”

This was what C.S. Lewis reacted against so vigorously in The Weight of Glory.

The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire.

If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.*

Hold on a second. Something doesn’t sit right for some of you: “Isn’t it WRONG to seek glory for yourself?” Isn’t that one of the lessons we learned in Sunday School? “Don’t look for good things for yourself.” We remember the disciples fighting over who was the greatest.

If you’re of my vintage - you remember the flannelgraph. I remember the scene with the disciples arguing amongst themselves. Flannelgraph characters can’t actually talk - but you get interpretative clues by looking closely - - and each figure had a nasty, angry face - so you knew they weren’t happy. Of course they weren’t - each one of them KNEW who the greatest of them was - - HIMSELF.

Then there was the next scene, with the figure of Jesus - the Son of God - down on bended knee, with a towel around his waist - and a basin in front of him, washing the disciples’ feet. The point of that story - Jesus was teaching his self-centered disciples - who were all seeking glory for themselves - that they were seeking the WRONG thing. They shouldn’t seeking personal glory - they should be serving others instead - like their Lord showed them.

So how can Paul say there’s a reward of eternal life for seeking glory?!

As a pastor, I’ve seen too many people come through the doors of the church. They first come in and they’re keen about the church - about this body of believers. They speak flattering words about how great this church is - not like the one they just left … They want to get involved here - want to serve - do ministry for the Lord. But it becomes more and more clear as time goes on, that they don’t just want ANY ministry.

Don’t ask them to visit the sick in hospital, or wash the floors or operate the slides for the singing or take care of kids in the nursery … that’s not where their ‘gifting’ lies.

They want to lead Bible Study, or worship - or be up front. They want to minister in a place where everyone can see them - they want to ‘serve the Lord’ in a place where people will notice what great ‘skills’ they have. They’re seeking glory for themselves. And they don’t seem to ever stick around – and when you run into them down the road – they never seem to grow.

It’s not healthy. Seeking glory for yourself SEEMS to be a mark of spiritual IMMATURITY, NOT MATURITY. So how can Paul say that it’s a trait to emulate - it’s a pathway that leads to REWARD - a reward of ETERNAL LIFE, no less?!

Let’s be clear - Paul isn’t talking about THAT kind of glory.

Jesus DID say that if anyone wants to be His disciple, that person needs to ‘deny himself, take up his cross and follow him.”

Paul isn’t contradicting Jesus - Look at v. 8 of our text: “… for those who are SELF-SEEKING … there will be wrath and fury.”

So THIS ‘seeking of glory’ - HAS TO BE DIFFERENT from self-seeking. But what exactly does it mean?

2 WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO SEEK GLORY – IN GOD’S WAY?

What does it mean to ‘seek glory’ in God’s way? To understand that, you have to remember back to Romans 1:23, near the beginning of the section of the letter that we’re in right now. That’s where Paul spells out the essence of sin - why every human being alike is born under God’s wrath - whether you’ve heard of Jesus Christ or not. “(They) exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”

That’s the essence of sin - cheapening the glory of God … that we recognize the majesty of the God who made everything around us and keeps this universe in order … and we say, “Whatever! I like snakes and trees and money and sex better.” We have all failed to seek God as THE HIGHEST TREASURE in the universe.

So, to seek glory and honor and immortality - HAS to mean that we treasure the glory of God. But if we stop there - we’re missing something very important.

Romans 5:2, Paul says, “Through him (Jesus) we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

Don’t miss the kind of pursuit of glory that Paul is talking about when he urges us to seek glory. He’s pointing to a glory that is SAVOURED.

Mom makes Christmas dinner - and you bring glory to her by honoring her handiwork. You say, “Mom, what a wonderful meal you’ve made here! It looks, so, SO delicious.” That’s good - important - - but it’s not enough. Mom isn’t fully honored until you eat the meal and enjoy it.

As John Piper famously says, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” Friend, God is not a bathtub - that you come to fill up with the water of good works you bring as if through them, you can, somehow fill him up with glory .... God is a FOUNTAIN of living water - and you glorify Him rightly when you come to Him THIRSTY - - TO DRINK.

When you get that - when you pursue your satisfaction in Jesus Christ … you are pursuing glory and honor and immortality.

But we’re not done yet. That’s not all. Look at v. 10 of our text: “(there will be) .... glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.”

Did you catch that? The glory we’re told to pursue, is a glory that brings honor to us, too ...

That’s staggering - seek glory! honor … do whatever it takes to get that glory. If you’re honest, you have to admit with me: “There is NOTHING, and I mean, NOTHING in me that is worth the King of Heaven’s praise.” But God’s Word says that’s exactly what’s going to happen? So how? How is that possible?

I took you to the “Golden Chain of Salvation” last week, in Romans 8:29-30. Let’s go back there again:

“For those whom (God) foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

So, when God chose you in Jesus Christ - He chose to save you and to shape you - to be ‘conformed to the image of His Son.” And v. 30, “And those whom he predestined He also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

.... and there’s the glory. So what the Bible is saying here is that when God saves you – He begins the process of shaping – molding you more and more into the likeness of the perfect Son of God

.... and when you reach heaven’s shore - you will be there forever as the masterpiece of God’s Grace - - you will be the trophy that Jesus Christ won. Have you ever won a trophy in a sports’ competition. For most of us, non professional athletes, our trophies are nothing special in themselves - not constructed of gold or precious metal – they cost a few bucks to make. But you still put them in a prominent spot, so you can look at them over and over.

I remember one of the boys won a trophy for being the most valuable player on his team one year … it was at the end of the year banquet. The coach got choked up talking about his influence on the team. It was a great ceremony. The trophy was a football player, with a bobble-head. We took the trophy home and within a few weeks, it was broken. It was now a headless football player. But that didn’t matter - it was still special. Will always be special - because every time you look at a trophy you’ve won … it reminds you of your accomplishment – warms your heart with delight.

You are Christ’s trophy. But unlike a broken, cheap trophy – every last Christian, purchased by the Son of God who came to us in a feed trough, in a stable – every last blood-bought child of the King – was broken when He called us – yet when He gives you faith to believe in His finished work on the cross, when the Holy Spirit seals you and applies that salvation to you - - you are clothed in the radiant robes of His dazzling righteousness. So when God looks at you … He sees RIGHTEOUSNESS – He sees Christ’s glory on display

And from the time he calls and justifies you – God is working you more and more into the likeness of His perfect Son.

So when you get to heaven, Christian – you will not only enjoy the glory of God in Jesus Christ … but you will display His glory as you reflect the radiance of Jesus Christ.

That’s your Christian HOPE – that’s the GLORY YOU WILL BE GIVEN …. SO SEEK IT, CHRISTIAN! Don’t fritter away your days – SEEK GLORY!

“On Christ, the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” “Dressed In His Righteousness alone … faultless to stand before the Throne.”

3 HOW DO YOU SEEK THIS GLORY?

Finally, how do you seek this glory in God’s way and NOT a selfish way?

First thing - is to fix your eyes on Jesus Christ and pursue Him above EVERYTHING. Are you feeling very ‘hope-FULL’ right now? So many Christians aren’t.

“The people in charge don’t know what they’re doing.” Or, “The people on the street don’t know what they’re doing - they won’t follow government directions ...”. Such division we have in our society – and that division is matched by hopelessness in far too many hearts.

If you’re not feeling ‘hopeful’ today - let me ask, “What are you filling your eyes with?’ If you’re fixing your eyes on the news - you’re not going to be feeling hopeful. The business of the news is to tell you that the world is on fire. If it’s not coronavirus, it will be politics, it will be climate change … it will always be something - but “the world is on fire” - so tune in at 10 to watch it burn. Because, if you don’t tune in … they won’t have a business.

What a difference it makes to turn your gaze FROM the news MEDIA TO the MANGER. See the feeding trough, where the eternal Son of God chose to make His first resting place on this prodigal planet.

Think about what the manger says of your place in this world, at THIS time! Would God choose to take on a rescue mission that involved Him joining Himself to our humanity - entering our world and living our suffering, paying OUR debt, conquering death FOR US - and promising to come back again - physically - to raise our bodies for glory – only to get bored and drop us in 2020?!

Don’t ever forget friend, that Christianity is NOT a religious philosophy … it’s a RESCUE, worked out by God Himself in the blood and soil of history.

And if you’re like me, when you come to advent season, you can’t help but get re-charged and encouraged.

So, why do we ever look away? Why do we allow our eyes to ever be dominated by the latest news or trending social media crisis?

Many of you are familiar with the name, George Mueller. After a very rebellious youth, George Mueller became a Christian and ended up as a pastor. As he was living and ministering in Bristol England, God grew a heavy burden in his heart for the orphans, living with nothing, living on the streets, no parents, no food, nowhere to go. So he started an orphanage that grew to massive size - he was caring for thousands of kids, in the name of Jesus Christ - - and he determined to never. EVER. ask for money. Just pray and trust. He ended up caring for over 10 THOUSAND orphans and praying in MILLIONS of dollars in today’s currency.

Do you think in an operation like that, with overhead costs like he would have had - convicted to never ask for money … do you think he would ever feel any stress at all?

Listen to his way of handling the stress and maintaining his hope:

“I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was,, to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not, how much I mmight serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man may be nourished … I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation on it.”

“The first and greatest business of every day - to have my soul happy in the Lord ....”

George Mueller GOT THAT - He knew that God is no bathtub that needs filling ... so He made saturating Himself in the Word of God the first business of His day. Being in God’s Word is the means of putting your lips to the tap of the fountain of God’s living water. So, if you aren’t feeling hopeful - let me ask: how are you doing at drinking in God’s Word?

Do you want to be able to live THIS DAY, in HOPE of GLORY? - - - Make your soul, ‘Happy in the Lord’. and make that your first priority in the day.

SECOND way to PURSUE glory in God’s way .... it to see every situation in your life as God’s instrument to lead you to glory.

2 Cor 3.18, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from one degree of glory to another. This comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

Do you see what this means to you … in this day, Christian?

Are you discouraged by the state of our world? You feel like running to the hills, far from the chaos of this society that bombards you day after day after day? You aren’t here, at THIS time, by accident.

Some of you aren’t just discouraged by what’s going on in the world OUT THERE - you’re feeling hopelessness in your own body and spirit. Your body is decaying. I know how real this is for some of our own dear brothers and sisters in this very congregation. You’re feeling the effects of age and disease.

Young people - you don’t get this yet … you’re strong and healthy - and when you push yourself harder, your body gets more powerful .... you really are a finely-tuned machine.

But there will come a time in your life, when no matter how much you push yourself - you don’t get stronger. It gets harder and harder to walk, let alone run. You can barely hear any more … you have to be so careful what you eat - or you pay for it for days.

The house of a body that you live in - is wearing down. How can I have hope?!

I’m useless, just taking up space and not good for anything in this world, it seems.

Oh but friend, that’s why Paul says in Romans 2:7, “we need PATIENCE in well doing” … as long as you have breath in your lungs - never give up. Because your suffering isn’t’ in vain.

Let’s take a look at 2 Corinthians 4:16-17, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. (17) For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of ....” Of WHAT? “… an eternal weight of GLORY.” Don’t miss that.

And don’t miss the relationship between your afflictions and your glory. The Bible DOESN’T say - “You’ll get glory if you can just grit your teeth and hang on through the affliction”.

NO! What does the text say? “This light momentary affliction is PREPARING for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”

In other words: these afflictions you are suffering right now - - they are the very tools God, in His sovereign wisdom, has chosen to use in His all-powerful hands - to prepare you .... so that you will be just RIGHT - for glory.

You wouldn’t enjoy maximum glory - if it wasn’t for this trial, right now. If it wasn’t for Covid … if it wasn’t for the aches and pains you are experiencing right now.

And He uses these trials, according to 2 Corinthians 4:18, “as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

The things that you can see are fading away, friend! Coronavirus … it’s fading away. Our bodies, decaying as they are .... they’re fading away .... physical strength is fading away, young man - young woman ....

You who are struggling with heart conditions, losing your memory, losing your hearing .... feel like you’re losing your mind - - - don’t let it drive you despair. Let it change your focus.

Everything you can see right now is going to fade away. Everything you’re chasing … physical strength, career, cars and houses … they’re all fading away.

But what is unseen .... that what’s going to remain forever. And THAT is what God is using your trials to prepare you for.

Romans 8:17, “And if (we are) children (of God), then heirs - heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, PROVIDED we suffer with him, IN ORDER THAT WE MAY ALSO BE GLORIFIED WITH HIM.”

So your suffering is THE GOD-ORDAINED PATHWAY to glory.

Last week, I mentioned the movie, “Captain America”. This week I was thinking about another movie series - another one of my all time favorites - the ‘Rocky’ series. Some people say, well, actually the original Rocky was actually pretty good - but then they kept going and started getting too goofy - too much kitsch … and by the time it got to Rocky 4, they were unwatchable.

Confession time: I’m no highbrow movie critic - and my favorite movie in the series was Rocky 4. That’s where he fights the Soviet giant Drago. I’m a child of the 80s - that was the height of the cold war and it was the West against Communism, Good versus evil.

But it doesn’t matter which edition you watch - the story line is always the same.

Rocky is getting ready for a boxing match he has no hope of winning. And after all of his incredible dedication and tireless training .. .he gets in the ring to start the bout - - and it becomes pretty clear he doesn’t have a chance. He’s getting beaten up and beaten down. He’s cut, he’s hurting and every time he’s about to land a punch … he gets his clock cleaned.

The match goes on - he gets knocked down … almost down for the count … but he doesn’t stay down. He keeps dragging himself back to his feet and just hangs on to his foe to stay upright. Everybody counts him out - - Almost everybody watching.

But if you’ve seen one Rocky - you’ve seen them all - He may get knocked down - over and over … but he doesn’t STAY down. And every one of the movies ends with Rocky, back on his feet, no strength left, can barely see out of eyes swollen shut - and that dogged perseverance, refusal to give in and give up … ultimately pays off when he lands the decisive blow and knocks his supposedly unbeatable enemy down for the count.

Now, what would you have thought if the storyline had Rocky come into the boxing ring, after all of his dedicated training - and knock his opponent out in the first round?

Well, you may have respected him .... but I guarantee that you wouldn’t have jumped up out of your seat and clapped and cheered. You wouldn’t have the rush of emotion wash over you. And Hollywood certainly wouldn’t have been able to milk a series of 500 movies out of it, would they?

Because there is something especially glorious about someone who has faced massive adversity and suffering, and who will. not. go. down.

That’s not just a great movie plot … that’s Biblical friend. God’s pathway for your glory means suffering as His instrument to make teh glory He’s preparing you for … that much more spectacular.

So as we enter this advent season - - Look away from the current events swirling around you .... look to the manger - where God proved He has a plan for you .... And look to your own sufferings as the pathway He designed to work out his good plan for your glory. Because GLORY is God’s plan for you.