On Mission: To the Glory of God (2 Peter 1:1-11)

  The sixth and final in a series that unpacks our church's mission statement: Helping people walk with Jesus in faith, hope, and love to the glory of God. 

To see the full message, scroll to the bottom.

In the Old Testament, the earliest days of Israel's life as a free nation after they had come out of slavery in Egypt, God's revelation of His glory was centered on the tabernacle.  

As Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and remain at the entrance, and the LORD would speak with Moses. When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they would stand up and worship, each one at the entrance to their own tent. Thus the LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as someone speaks to their friend. (Exodus 33:9-11) 

Later when Moses was receiving the 10 commandments, the Law that he would deliver to the people of Israel: 

Moses was [on Mount Sinai] with the LORD forty days and forty nights... And when Moses came down with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands, he was unaware that his face had become radiant from speaking with the Lord... (Exodus 34:28-33) 

God revealed His glory in those earliest days of His people: 

• In cloud, which basically said, “I am here. I love you, but this is as close as you can come for now.” That cloud told us that God was present, while shielding us from the overwhelming divinity.  
• In light. Light draws the eye towards it. Light reveals what is around us. Light defines the shadows and the dark places.  

God, in the Old Testament, revealed His glory to His people in clouds and in light, saying, “This is how you know I am here.” 

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In the New Testament, our experience of God's glory shifts.  

One of my commentaries puts it this way: “In the New Testament, the revelation of the presence and character of God, which is the glory of God, was done through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the outshining of the divine glory.” 

There were shepherds residing in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night, and an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them. (Luke 2:8) 

These messengers of Yahweh God came down into our atmosphere, reflecting into that deep Judean night the glory-light of heaven.  

Moving into Jesus’ ministry, the gospel writer John, who was one of Jesus’ closest apostles, writes: 

Jesus performed the first of His signs at Cana in Galilee, and thus He revealed His glory and His disciples believed in Him. (John 2:9)  

Throughout John’s gospel, the writer names 7 signs. These aren’t just amazing things that Jesus did. These were purposeful, all joining together to create a landscape, to help people understand who Jesus was. To reveal His glory. 

• John 2:1-11 - Jesus turned the water into wine. He revealed His glory by applying His creative power in a way that enriched the life of that community.  
• John 2:12-17 - Jesus cleared the temple of dishonest money changers. He revealed His glory by fulfilling and enforcing a promise made by Yahweh God generations before that: that His temple would be a house of prayer for all nations (Isaiah 56:7). 
• John 4:46-54 - Jesus healed the noble man's son. Jesus revealed His glory by challenging faith that's not really faith—if it has to have proof.  
• John 5:1-15 - Jesus healed the man who could not walk. He revealed His glory by claiming the authority to do what He saw fit when He saw fit.  
• John 6:1-15 - Jesus fed the multitude with a few scraps of food. He revealed His glory by giving thanks for something that, in human hands, was ridiculously insufficient, and at the same time reminding anybody that was paying attention of prophecies that echoed back to the days of Moses generations before.  
• John 9 - Jesus healed a man born blind. He revealed His glory by forcing the individual members in that community to choose. To choose faith, or to deny God's presence and power. To say, “Nope. I don't buy it.” Or to say, “Lord, I believe.” 
• John 11:38-44, the last of the seven signs - Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Jesus revealed His glory by giving us just a snapshot of who He was. Opening the aperture in the camera lens for a fraction of a second, preserving on film just one still frame of one moment in His story—His story that had never begun and that would never end because He is life eternal.  

In those seven signs John recognises that Jesus was revealing His glory in different ways, but each time saying, “I am God. I have worth.” 

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Later in His life, John (who described himself as “the disciple Jesus loved,” who was entrusted at Jesus’ death with caring for His mother Mary) sees Jesus’ glory revealed in a completely different way.  

John is “in the spirit,” having a prayer experience in which he sees beyond into the eternal. And Jesus walks into the room. And John describes his friend, this guy he had shared meals and journeys with. Who he’d slept next to on Martha’s living room floor. Who he’d spent years walking alongside and slightly behind. John describes Jesus this way: 

His eyes were like a blazing fire. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of many waters. He held in His right hand seven stars, and a sharp double-edged sword came from His mouth. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest. (Revelation 1:14-16) 

John experienced this greater revelation of Jesus’ glory and worth. How did he respond? 

How do we see people responding when they encounter God's glory?  

Exodus 34:30-31 - Aaron and all the Israelites looked at Moses, and behold, his face was radiant. And they were afraid...  (They were frightened by even a second-hand, fading reflection on the face of a man they’d known their whole lives).  

    BUT “Moses called out to them; so they came close... And Moses spoke to them.”   

Luke 2:9-10 And the glory of the lord shone around them, and [the shepherds] were terrified.  

    BUT “The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! We have good news!”” 

Revelation 1:17-18 - When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man.  

    BUT  "He placed His right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last, the living one. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and of hades.” 

These revelations of God's glory, God's worth, are scary!  

    BUT every single one of them comes back to, “Don't. Be. Afraid.” 

Encounters with God's glory, as overwhelming as they are, as huge as they are, as daunting as they are, as frightening as they must have been in those moments for those people—these revelations of God's glory are not a threat.  

Revelations of God's glory are not intended to scare us into flying straight. Revelations of God's glory are promises.  

God says, “It's me. I’m here. I am the God who is love. I am your friend, Jesus. I am the one who made you and gave you life. I am the one who has prepared a place for you and I hold the keys of death.” 

The keys of death are in the hands of love. 

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