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Well, once again, good morning. Please turn in your Bibles to John 17, verse 22. John 17, verse 22. I'll be looking at verses 22 and 23 today. Now, many of you recognize this is a little bit unusual. I normally just keep preaching through whatever text I'm in, and we're not in Revelation this morning.

And usually, pretty much throughout the history of my pastorate, I just take the next verse. Today is a little different. Mother's Day, and I don't preach to the Hallmark calendar. And usually we end up at a text that works in some way, shape, or fashion to, and it almost like clockwork.

But sometimes I do admit I have to, I'll speed up a little bit if I see a day coming, or I might slow down in the text so I can land on the text that would be appropriate. For Mother's Day, my options were the beast that rises out of the sea, the beast that comes.

Out of the earth, or perhaps the harlot who rides the beast. And I figured that no matter how hard I try, it's hard to make a Mother's Day sermon fit without torturing the text or traumatizing parents. And since we've eaten up much of the time already, I thought I would communicate some thoughts of a study that I intend to start this morning.

But plan on, I've planned on for a while doing this series, understanding glory. And so today will be a way to just introduce that theme with the little time that we have. And so I'm going to look at glory, especially in the context of John 17. Let me just read to you verse 22 and verse 23.

The glory which you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them, even as you have loved me.

In this passage, Christ Speaks about what glory is. He speaks about what Christ did with his glory, and he speaks why he did what he did. I want to take a few moments just to get our minds around this concept of glory, what it is. I think it's a very misunderstood doctrine.

What is glory? What is it? And I want to take a moment to think about what glory is. In the Old Testament, the idea of glory was connected to this word kabod, something magnificent, something of splendor. It spoke of something worthy of honor, something weighty, something of great magnitude, awe-inspiring.

In the New Testament, or the Greek equivalent of that word is doxa. We get the word doxology, speaking again of radiance, splendor, brightness, something of great value, high prestige, splendor, magnificence, those kind of concepts. And in the Old Testament, there was a glory that was associated with Mount Sinai.

And that glory was not in its geological features. Mount Sinai was really just another mountain. It wasn't the geology or its physical appearance that separated it. But in Exodus 24, 15, let me read to you what happened. Then Moses went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.

The glory, the kavod of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai and covered it for six days. And it is there from that glory cloud that God called Moses from the midst of. But so it was the geology, isn't what set it apart. It was set apart because the presence of the Lord is what made Mount Sinai glorious and what made it memorable.

Likewise, there was a glory in the Old Testament that was associated with the tabernacle, the tabernacle, the wilderness tabernacle. Often call it the Shekinah glory. In Exodus 40, verse 34. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory, the kavod, the mightiness, the weightiness, the splendor, the radiance, the brilliance, the beauty, the kavod of the Lord filled the temple.

And Moses was not able to enter the tent of the meeting. Tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Now, the tabernacle was this place of dwelling, the skin, it was the place where the glory of God would dwell.

But the tabernacle was a very humble structure. It was not like the cathedrals or temples of the day. It was not magnificent in any of those ways. It was very plain. Wood, skin. It was the presence of the Lord that made the tabernacle glorious. See a pattern, Scripture.

It wasn't the geology of Mount Sinai. It wasn't the structure of the tabernacle, but the presence of the Lord that made all the difference and made something glorious. Talk to you about Christ's glory for a moment. We know that Christ's glory was not in his physical stature. The glory that was given to Jesus was all about his ability to visibly manifest God.

He was, he is the incarnation of God. God, the invisible God seen in human flesh. It was the presence of God that made Jesus' flesh so glorious. It wasn't his physical stature. In fact, John 1:14 says this, and the word became flesh. That which is immaterial became material.

The word, that which cannot be seen, became seen and dwelt among us, tabernacled among us. And we saw his glory. We saw his brilliance. We saw his radiance. We saw his magnificence. Glory as the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. It was the presence of God that made the Son of Mary glorious.

It wasn't his human stature. So you put this together, glory. What is glory? It's that which is splendid, that which is magnificent, that which is radiant, that which indicates the presence of the Lord. That's what glory is about. That which indicates the presence of the Lord. When a person sees God or is aware of the presence of the Presence of God, that is what glory is about.

What is human glory? What is our glory? Well, our glory, our unique glory, is our ability to manifest the invisible God. And this is the glory that is given to every human. Now, there's an actual glory and a potential glory. Talk about those in a moment, but you remember what God's purpose for humanity was?

Genesis 1:26, then God said, Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

What was God's grand endeavor for creation? To make a visible manifestation of himself. Everything else was subordinate to that. Everything else was the environment that supported the life, the human life. The invisible God wanted to be visible. And so he set out in his Grand endeavor to create man in his image so that man would be a visual manifestation of the invisible God.

Because up until man was created, there was no manifestation of the Creator. Oh, there was, we could see God's intelligence in the universe, God's wisdom, God's power, all that could be seen, but the Creator Himself could not. There's an actual glory. Man, let me read verse 27: God created man in His own image.

In the image of God, He created Him. Male and female, He created them. Man, male and female, He created them. Man, male and female, bears the image of God. Even after the fall, even after the fall, humanity still bears the image of God, even though there is a fallen image, a marred image, a distorted vision, and grotesque in many ways at times.

But there is still a residual glory of being made in the image of God that every single one of us has. That's part of the value of being human. We all share this actual glory. We bear an image of our Creator, though fallen and marred, we yet still retain in some way the image of our Creator.

And because of this, Satan hates you. As we've been looking in the book of Revelation, this is why he hates us. Even though we are fallen, even though we have marred that glory, there is still something within us that shows the glory of God. And he hates it.

That's why there never will be love from Satan towards humanity. He hates humanity because he hates the glory of God. He hates the God humanity reflects. Even in his marred condition, he will not be satisfied because humanity still retains an actual glory of God. But there is a potential glory, a potential glory for humanity as well.

Fallen man is not who God intends him to be. Fallen man is not the one who endures forever to bear God's glory. God's purpose is still very much the same: to create humanity, to bear his image, to reflect God's image. God intends something far greater than our current state, than your current state, my current state.

He intends for you and me to be perfect one day, as He is perfect, perfect, and putting on a humanity, a fleshly clothing that manifests God perfectly. That's what glorified humanity is about. And how does He intend to bring this about? By setting Christ before us. That's what He did.

So that He sent His Son to set His Son before us, so that we would be captivated by Him, by that which is truly splendid, by that which is truly radiant, by that which is truly magnificent, and by beholding Him, we would be forgiven, we would be transformed.

That we would realize our potential glory. He set Christ before them, much like we've charged parents here this morning to set Christ before their children. We recognize we're completely powerless to save anybody. But by setting Christ before them, we're setting before them the one who can and does.

God set Christ before us to show us what sacrificial, willing, loving, sacrificial love is all about. A sacrificial and willing love. He set Christ before us so that we would see that and be forgiven. He also set Christ before us to show us virtue par excellence, to show you what is truly excellent about humanity and what the potential for greatness and goodness really is.

And he set Christ before us so that we'd be transformed into that image, so we would know what is truly admirable, good, and excellent. And he set Christ before us so that we would know what the spirit par excellence is about. So not only would we have virtue par excellence, But the spirit par excellence and realize the potential glory.

That's how he did it, by setting Christ before us. That's how he is going to bring about this potential glory in humanity. So, what is human glory? What is the glory that you have? Well, it's our unique ability to manifest the invisible God. It's not about physical stature, it's about manifesting the invisible God.

And our text this morning, what we'll briefly look at, makes it clear that God's glory was intended to be shared. And we can see this by what Jesus did with his glory and why he did it. Look at what he did: the glory which you have given me, back at verse 22, the glory which you have given me, I have given to them.

Notice what he does, he doesn't retain a monopoly on glory, he gave it. The Father had given glory to Jesus, and he didn't hold on to that as to be the only one to possess it. Notice he says he has given it. Not that he will give it, or he intends to give it, or he gives some of it, but he has given.

What the Father has given to Jesus, Jesus has given to all believers. First, the disciples, and in context, those who believe in him through the disciples' words. But think about that for just a moment. What was unique to Christ was his ability in his humanity to reflect the glory of God undiminished.

What? A gift. And the Father had given that to him. Could there be anything more valuable that Christ could give? What is a person's glory? What is your glory? The ability to manifest your heavenly Father? That's your glory. What are you going to do with it? But we have to ask ourselves, what exactly does he mean by glory?

Well, a couple things that it's clear that glory does not involve. Notice that it's something that the Father had given to Jesus. So the kind of glory that Jesus has in mind is something that was given to him by the Father, not something he eternally possessed as the Son of God.

He was eternally Son, eternally omniscient, eternally omnipotent. He had all of the power, all of the eternal. Eternality of existence. We call those in theology the incommunicable attributes of God. He doesn't give his incommunicable attributes. He doesn't give that which he doesn't communicate to us that his deity.

He doesn't give away his godness. But there's something that the Father gave to Jesus, flesh, son of Mary. What did he give him? Gave him the ability to manifest God in the flesh. It's clear that he doesn't share his glory, his incommunicable attributes, but he does give away his ability to manifest God.

That is what I have given to them by virtue of speaking to them the words of the Father that the Father had given to him. They remember the words of Jesus, and so by remembering the words of Jesus, God is there present. So they retain the words of Jesus, they fellowship with Jesus, and since his words were in communication with the heavenly Father relationship.

So God, so the glory does not involve giving us. Making us God. It involves giving his ability to manifest God. And how did he do this? By giving us his word, by redeeming them, by putting his spirit in them, by shepherding them. But he has given us, if you're a follower of Christ, not he will give, he has given this distinct privilege of glorifying God and growing in that.

You see, human glory isn't about being God, it's about manifesting him. And this is why self-glory is so odious. I think we all get the picture. We love watching Olympians until it goes to their heads. I love to watch somebody who wins, and then all of a sudden when something goes to their heads, it gets kind of hard to watch them.

The Bible knows no true glory other than that which is intrinsic to God. There is only one individual worth celebrating. There is only one person, God, that is worthy, that has the attributes. There's only one splendid one. There's only one magnificent one. And Jesus in his flesh, he came and.

And he perfectly was able to manifest God. And through his work, he gave that glory, that privilege, to those who follow him. And so that's what he did. He gave it. But why does he give it? Why does he give it? Look back at verse 22: the glory which you have given me, I have given to them that they may be one, just as we are one.

Notice he gave them his glory so that we would all have something to share, something that would make us singular, something that would make us of one kind, something that would put us all in solidarity. There is a unity in glory. There is disunity when people are searching for their own glory.

But when you truly manifest him, you are manifesting that which is truly splendid. And as we look upon him and we understand him and have relationship with him and do and say the things that he would do and say, we image him and we share in that glory which Christ himself delighted so much in.

That's the kind of glory he's given us. But notice also that verse 23: I in them and you in me, that they may be perfected in unity. That not only they be one, but they be growing and be perfected in unity. Yeah, this is there is already a unity among us if you're in Christ.

What is that unity? The same thing that Jesus delighted in, the splendor, the majesty, and goodness of God, and looking and being captivated with that. And the highest privilege of living is being able to see that and then turn around and demonstrate that by the things you say and do.

That's glory. It doesn't do with, it's not about human stature, physical looks. That's the way humanity looks at things. That's not the way God looks at things. It's not about the smallness or largeness of the sphere of our influence. It's all about manifesting Him in the situation that God has placed you in.

That's your glory. What are you going to do with that privilege? Grow in it. Be perfected in celebrating that. But this is what truly unites humanity and nothing else. The church's glory. Is in our unique ability to manifest God. But there's a purpose. There's a purpose for all of this.

Look back at verse 23. I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them, even as you loved me. So he wants us to share in his glory. He gives his glory.

He doesn't divest himself of his glory. He shares his glory. He retains very much delight in manifesting his heavenly Father. And he gives us that distinct privilege to do the same with him. He shares that glory with him so that we may walk with him and live with him and put him on display so that the world may know, that the world should be knowing three things.

That the world may know that, number one, you sent me, sent Jesus, and loved them, the disciples, even as you have loved me. Three things. Your life should be announcing everywhere you go, by the way you live, by just simply imitating him. Number one, what the world will come to know is that God sent Jesus.

Number two, that God delights in those who follow Jesus. And number three, God loves them as much as He loves Jesus. Are you a follower of Christ today? Can I tell you what Jesus is saying here? The Father loves you as much as He loved Jesus Christ Himself.

That's the glory He has given. And this is what we share. This is what we celebrate. This is what we gather around. This is what the world needs to hear. As I look around our world, I see some people who are pretty miserable, finding no meaning, even hating themselves.

They need to know that God sent Jesus, and God delights in those who follow Jesus, and God loves them as much as He loves Jesus. It's astounding, but true. The glory of Christ is what unifies us who behold Him and who walk in Him. And it is such unity in truth and glory that proclaims the good news to the world around us.

We need to stop living for our own glory and be perfected in His glory. The invitation to follow Jesus is more than just an invitation to come from out from under condemnation. It's an invitation to be loved as Jesus is loved. And so, day after day, week after week, year after year, this is our message to the world.

And this is what we endeavor to do in word and in deed. The value of a human life is beyond our ability to comprehend. And because of that, God sent His Son to set Christ before us so that we would not only retain our actual glory, but we would achieve by His grace and through Him our potential glory, manifesting Him, that the invisible God may be seen.

That's the good news. That's the purpose for life. That's our prayer for the children that we lifted up this morning. And it's a standing invitation to come and be loved to the same degree that Jesus Christ was loved. So turn to him. If you don't know him, turn to him today.

Ask him to forgive you of your sins. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, stand before you today, reflecting upon these truths and thanking you. Help us to understand the privilege of life. Help us to be good stewards of the moments and the days that we would all be about reflecting you and realizing the potential glory.

It's not in ourselves. There's nothing to celebrate in ourselves. And there's nothing that celebrating ourselves will do for anybody in the world, except put us at odds with each other. But, Father, as the world, as we celebrate you, may others see our celebration in you, and may others see your character come through us, that they, too, may come into relationship with you.

Father, thank you for your truth. Thank you for your word. Go with us now. In Jesus' name. Amen. Would you please stand?