SUNDAY PM – JULY 31, 2016
THE HOPE OF GLORY!
What is our worthy calling?
- We are exhorted to walk worthy of the calling to which we have been called.
- So what is that calling? What is our aim, our target, our direction? What is our mark, our bullseye, our goal, our focus, our objective?
- What does it mean to put our minds on things above? What are the things above?
- (Colossians 3:2 ESV) Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
- So what are these things above that are to have the priority of our attention?
- What is now our holy grail for life and service? Our “end game”?
- The glory of God.
—The glory of God is now our mark, Romans 3:21-28.
◼︎ God does not share his glory with self-seekers, but he does share his glory with the redeemed.
- (Isaiah 42:8 ESV) I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.
- (Psalm 115:1 ESV) Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!
- (Proverbs 25:27 ESV) It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glorious to seek one’s own glory.
- (John 7:18 ESV) The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.
- (Acts 12:21–23 ESV) On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. 22 And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” 23 Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.
◼︎ We are called to the glory of God.
- (1 Peter 5:10 ESV) And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
- (2 Peter 1:3 ESV) His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.
- (1 Peter 5:1–2 ESV) So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly.
- (Romans 9:23–24 ESV) In order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?
◼︎ We are called to walk worthy of the glory of God.
- (1 Thessalonians 2:12 ESV) We exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.
- (Ephesians 4:1 ESV) I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.