God’s Way for Glory (Part 2)
Teach me Your way, O Lord;
I will walk in Your truth;
Unite my heart to fear Your name.
I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart,
And I will glorify Your name forevermore. Psalm 86:11-12
God has a way for everything – for every promise and command found in Scripture, and every desire He has placed in our hearts. In Part 1, we learned God’s way for our return to glory. To summarize:
- Our Father in heaven is bringing many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10) – restoring the potential for glory we lost (and lose) in our rebellion (Romans 3:23).
- He sent Jesus to accomplish this monumental task (Romans 5:8-10, Ephesians 2:4-10).
- Jesus was the first image bearer of the Father’s glory (John 1:4). He was the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5).
- The Father gave glory to His Son on the Mount of Transfiguration (metamorphoo, 2Peter 1:17-18).
- Jesus has given the glory He received from His Father to us (John 17:22).
- The Holy Spirit transforms us into the image of the glory of the Lord as we behold (i.e., contemplate) the Lord (2Corinthians 3:18). Transformation requires the renewing of our minds and runs contrary to being conformed to the world (Romans 12:2).
- Jesus declared we are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14). To be the light of the world is to be, as Jesus Christ was, an image bearer of God’s glory (1Corinthians 15:49).
As with many of God’s ways, the mystery of God’s way for glory challenges our reality (i.e., what we see in ourselves and others). That’s little “r” reality. God’s big “R” reality supersedes the natural world and the reduced perspective our enemies – Satan, the world, and our carnal mind – propose.
So, let me encourage you, if you have not already, to prayerfully examine the passages shared here (or the entirety of Part 1). Allow His word to become faith in your heart. Discover the desire God placed there for the restoration of His glory in you.
Here in Part 2, we will explain the amazing way God’s glory returns to Him through our participation with Him in the process. We will also explore the secret entry point – the key that opens the door – to our participation.
Glory Returned to the Father
To understand the final step in God’s way for glory, we return to Ephesians 2:10.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Remember, the proper translation for the end of this verse Is “walk in them”, not “do them”. The distinction is important. If we do something, we should get the credit or glory for the work. To walk in the work suggests the work belongs to someone else. We discover the “doer” in Matthew 5:16.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Succinctly stated, good works are God’s work. He is glorified in them because He does them. If He is not glorified, they are not His – and they are not good.
I hope this article (and every article God uses me to write) is a practical example of this. If the reader goes away thinking I am an intelligent writer, then they have missed God or I have overstepped my bounds as His pen. On the other hand, if they go away with a new or enhanced understanding and experience of God’s awesome character, then I have done my job faithfully.
The story of Joshua and the conquest of the Promised Land contains a more dynamic and thought-provoking example. Here’s the abbreviated version:
God told Joshua (through Moses), “The LORD your God Himself crosses over before you; He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them (Deuteronomy 31:3a).” Joshua told the people, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites… (Joshua 3:10).”
Imagine how surprised they must have been to find Jericho occupied. But they were not! They knew something we have a hard time grasping: God enjoys involving His people in His work. Now, on with the story:
Joshua, Caleb, and the warriors of Israel battled the nations currently holding the Promised Land, in mortal combat. Many Israelites lost their lives, and the rest went to bed every night tired from their efforts. At the end of story, after the land has been conquered and divided, Joshua tells the leaders what God had just told Him: “I sent the hornet before you which drove them out from before you, also the two kings of the Amorites, but not with your sword or with your bow (Joshua 24:12).”
No one objected to Joshua’s assertion! I believe they saw and experienced the power of God in ways we may have given up on. They experienced something akin to what Jesus has promised us:
Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. John 14:12
Every time I read this verse and write about Joshua’s adventure, I get excited and frustrated – excited because I believe anything is possible with God; frustrated because I do not see enough of God’s good and glorifying work in my life and the life of the church. Consequently, I regularly come back to the same question…
How do we enter into God’s way for glory?
I do not suggest having the only answer to the question, but I do believe God has answered my prayers for at least one way we might enter into His way for glory. It is found in Psalm 37.
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;
Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit
your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring it to pass.
6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,
And your justice as the noonday. Psalm 37:4-6
These four verses contain a process God showed me years ago to help Christians leaders find joyful, Spirit-filled ministry. The connection to Ephesians 2:10 and Matthew 5:16 is found in verse six: “He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light.”
Who is our righteousness? 1Corinthians 1:30 tells us Jesus Christ is our righteousness.
But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—
And what is the light? As we now know, the light is the glory of God found in the life of Jesus Christ.
How many times have we said, “I just want people to see more of Jesus in me?” That’s the essence of this verse! It’s Matthew 5:16 in the Old Testament!
Now, let’s go back to verse three to understand the process. In New Testament “speak”:
- Trust is faith – the faith we have in God to do exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or think.
- To do good is to walk in good works.
- The land under the New Covenant is the kingdom of God and our relationship with the Godhead.
- Feeding on His faithfulness reminds us of “hungering and thirsting for righteousness”, Jesus as the bread of life, and communion (eating His flesh and drinking His blood).
These are the prerequisites of our process.
Verse four is the first step. The Hebrew translated as “delight” is a hidden matter. Anag means “to be soft” – like clay in the Potter’s hand.
But now, O Lord,
You are our Father;
We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all we are the work of Your hand. Isaiah 64:8
Now, this is the critical point: Our surrender to God and the desire He has placed in our heart is the entry point to God’s way for glory. Consequently, we must ask God to reveal the desires of our hearts – particularly the ones He has purposed for this season of our lives.
Along the way, we must give up our way to Him (v. 5). Of course, this is easier said than done. It requires the same grace, through faith found in Ephesians 2:8.
Where does this faith come from?
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17
The word of God that identifies the desires of our heart is the same word that provides the faith we need to lay ahold of the grace required for the walk and work.
Finally, we must trust the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to bring the desires to pass (also v. 5). The Holy Spirit is our teacher, guide, and transformer. Jesus Christ is our life and our light, and He is the giver of our glory. The Father is working in us to will and to do to His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13), which is to give us His kingdom (Luke 12:32). We can feed on His faithfulness.
In closing, we offer one additional reference to God’s way for our glory and His – for your encouragement and consideration:
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you
will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. John 15:7-8
God’s glory returns to Him in our bearing much fruit – the produce of our abiding in Christ. It is impossible to say much more without extending this article significantly. The point of referencing it is simply to put the vine and branch metaphor on your radar. Somewhere in your heart, there is also a strong desire to abide in Christ and bear much fruit. Remember, it is the glory of kings to search out a matter (Proverbs 25:2).
What Does Your Heart Say?
So, what is the desire of your heart for this season of your life:
- In your relationship with God?
- In your relationship with your family?
- In your relationship with the community God has placed you in?
- In your work?
- In your…
Seriously, it would be foolhardy to ignore these questions. The desires of our hearts are heart-ties with God – desires of His heart that He has shared with us – for the good work He has created and is inviting us to walk in.
In closing, we offer one final encouragement: Don’t make this harder than it needs to be. Don’t force your heart to answer. Don’t get discouraged. As you search your heart with God (Psalm 139:23-24), the answers will come. Perhaps it would help to begin asking your heart, “What is your desire for today?”
God bless you with His word for the good work He has created for your return to glory, and your return to Him of all He desires and deserves.
Humbly yours and forever His,
Rob
#iamjustthepen