Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] My name is Lex, and I am the worship director here at Christchurch. I work here. It's the honor and privilege of my life. It's such a joy to be here. But before we start, I want to invite the Holy Spirit in the room. So would you bow your heads and pray with me?
[00:00:21] Dear Lord, we come before you tonight and we just desire your presence, Lord, just like that song that we just sang. More than anything that you can give us, Lord, we want you.
[00:00:39] And so I pray that you would be in this room.
[00:00:42] I pray that you would open the eyes of our heart and that we could experience the beauty and wonder and glory of who you are.
[00:00:53] I pray this in your son's name. Amen.
[00:00:57] I think at some point in all of our lives, we've probably asked the question, why am I here?
[00:01:09] Why do I exist?
[00:01:13] I think some of us that, like philosophy, might ask the question in a broader sense, why is mankind here?
[00:01:21] Why were we created?
[00:01:26] And I think we all get to this point in our lives where we.
[00:01:29] Our soul longs for meaning.
[00:01:34] It longs for purpose.
[00:01:39] But I think we're okay playing the part for a little while.
[00:01:46] Like, I think we're okay being actors in a play for a little while.
[00:01:53] And we play our part when we're in school, we play the part we need to play.
[00:02:00] We try to fit in, we try to get good grades, we try to do well in our sport.
[00:02:06] And we play the part that we need to play.
[00:02:11] And I think we go into the workforce and we play the part we need to play there.
[00:02:19] We reach for the income that we want.
[00:02:22] We reach for the title that we want.
[00:02:24] We play the parts that we need to play to get where we want to go in our personal life. We check off the boxes that we need to check off by a certain age, and we say, by this time, I want to be married. By this time, I want to have my first kid. By this time, I want to own a house. By this time, I want to do these things. And we play the part.
[00:02:49] But at some point, I think our souls start to grow a little weary.
[00:02:58] Weary from the mundane, weary from all the unsatisfying parts that we're playing.
[00:03:11] I think we're okay with the things of this world for a little while.
[00:03:15] But eventually we get tired and we get a divine whisper from within that whispers for purpose.
[00:03:31] And if we aren't careful, I think we mistake the whisper and we hear the whisper for meaning, the divine whisper for purpose.
[00:03:48] And some of us, we mistake it for maybe needing a new job if I only had this job. Maybe I would feel more purpose. Maybe I would feel more.
[00:04:02] I would feel like my life was going somewhere. I'd feel like I had more meaning in my life.
[00:04:08] And maybe for some of us, we mistake the Whisper for it's the paycheck.
[00:04:16] If I made this amount, if I can have this set up, then maybe my family would be happier. Maybe we'd have more meaning. Maybe we could do more things. Maybe our life would be full of more purposes.
[00:04:33] For some of us, we mistake the whisper and we hear, you need a relationship. You need someone to fill that void. You need someone to come into your life and give you meaning and give you purpose. And you can go on this together and it's a relationship that you need.
[00:04:48] Or maybe some of us, we mistake the Whisper for I'm not in the right marriage.
[00:04:57] If I was with somebody different, if I could get rid of this, maybe then I could have meaning. Maybe then I can have purpose.
[00:05:12] I think we mistake the Whisper, the divine whisper.
[00:05:21] You see, I don't think the problem is that our desires are too strong, that our desires of our soul are too strong. I think they're too weak.
[00:05:34] CS Lewis says it like this. He says we are far too easily pleased.
[00:05:42] We think that a new job will satisfy our purpose, or living in a new city will satisfy our meaning, or a new marriage or a new relationship will. Will satisfy that ache within that is just longing for something greater.
[00:05:58] And we're far too easily pleased with the things of this world.
[00:06:04] And we minimize our purpose and we minimize our joy.
[00:06:10] And we're satisfied in the temporary instead of the eternal.
[00:06:19] We're starting a five part sermon series.
[00:06:23] We're going to dive into this idea.
[00:06:27] Why do I exist? Why was I created? What is my purpose? What is my chief end?
[00:06:35] The Westminster Shorter Catechism was written in the mid 17th century.
[00:06:40] And it's a compilation of 107 questions and answers some of you might have heard Doc talk about before the Apostles Creed or the Westminster Confession.
[00:06:54] And these things are. They have a rich history of century after century of churches using these confessions of faith as a way for us to be grounded and settled in what we believe.
[00:07:12] So we know what we believe and why we believe it based off of what Scripture says.
[00:07:19] Because I think what happens is when we're not really sure what we believe, we're just feathery Christians and we just blow wherever the wind takes us.
[00:07:30] We hear this idea, so we blow this way and then we hear this person say this. So we blow this way and and we're Christians that are just blowing wherever anybody leads us.
[00:07:45] And we're not always grounded and settled and confident and firm in what we believe.
[00:07:54] And so this Westminster Catechism is a tool for us, for us to be grounded, to know what we believe about Scripture, to know what we believe about God, to be settled in it.
[00:08:11] And the first question of the 107 is, what is the chief end of man?
[00:08:19] You could also say it like, what is the purpose of man? Why was man created, mankind created?
[00:08:28] And the answer that we get is man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.
[00:08:38] And so that's a statement we're going to be looking at for the next five weeks.
[00:08:44] Sermons, five sermons.
[00:08:46] We meet the first and third of the month and we're going to be analyzing it and understanding it. And if our chief end is to glorify God, then what does it look like to glorify Him? What does that mean?
[00:09:00] If that's why I'm here, how do I do it?
[00:09:04] If our chief end is to enjoy God forever, what does that mean? How do I enjoy Him?
[00:09:10] How do I enjoy him forever?
[00:09:14] How do I enjoy him when I'm suffering?
[00:09:20] How do I enjoy him when life is so incredibly unenjoyable?
[00:09:28] And that's what we're going to be looking at.
[00:09:30] That's what we're going to be studying.
[00:09:35] And I don't think that you can really understand how to glorify God.
[00:09:42] You can't really understand how to give God the glory that he is due to. To glorify God means to magnify his glory in the world, to magnify his glory to the people around us, to put him at the forefront of our thoughts.
[00:10:00] And I don't think we can really understand that until we understand what is the glory of God.
[00:10:10] So about three years ago, Doc did a nine week sermon series and it was called the Glory of Jesus Christ.
[00:10:18] And it's rich and it's beautiful and it was so helpful. It's one of those series that you could listen to once a year for the rest of your life and get something from it.
[00:10:27] It's awesome. So I encourage you to go back and look at it on YouTube and tonight I'm going to give you the overview.
[00:10:36] I want to look at our verse.
[00:10:38] It's 2 Corinthians, 3:18, and it says, 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.
[00:10:55] For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit?
[00:11:02] And I think we have this vague understanding of what the glory of God means, because we're not just talking about a dazzling light.
[00:11:14] We're not just talking about a glowing halo or an impressive display.
[00:11:21] God's glory isn't just a visual skeptical.
[00:11:27] The glory of God is who he is.
[00:11:33] God's glory is his innate dignity.
[00:11:38] It is who he is in Himself.
[00:11:43] It's his holiness and wisdom and power and goodness and love. And these are things that cannot be added to or taken away from Him.
[00:11:54] When we glorify God, we cannot add any glory to Him.
[00:11:59] And when we don't glorify him, we cannot take any glory away from Him.
[00:12:03] It is a part of innately who he is, his innate dignities.
[00:12:12] It's the things that make him worthy of respect, the things that make him worthy of honor and worthy of praise.
[00:12:21] And God's glory is revealed in Jesus Christ.
[00:12:28] We see the glory of God through Jesus Christ, the glory of Christ's wisdom, the glory of his atoning sacrifice, the glory of his sovereign rule. It's a comprehensive view, a full view of Christ's entire being and work.
[00:12:51] And I want to look at a few of those things.
[00:12:54] Christ's glory is made evident in his divine nature, that he is infinite. I think I've got a list here.
[00:13:04] The first one is infinite.
[00:13:07] He stands outside of time.
[00:13:11] He has no beginning, he has no end. He is infinite. He is eternal.
[00:13:19] We see Christ's glory in that he is immutable.
[00:13:27] He never changes.
[00:13:30] He is perfect in every way.
[00:13:34] He will never change and he has never changed. If he had to change, he would not be God.
[00:13:41] He is immutable. He is all knowing.
[00:13:46] He stands outside of time and he looks at it at once.
[00:13:52] He can see all of it. He can see the first day. He can see the last day. He knows all.
[00:13:59] He knows you.
[00:14:02] He knows everything about you. He knows your beginning. He knows your end. He knows your life. He is all knowing. He is all powerful.
[00:14:11] His glory is revealed in that he is all powerful. He is the King of kings, the Lord of lords. The Lord has established his throne in heaven and his kingdom rules over all.
[00:14:25] The glorious Christ is made evident in his perfections, in his perfect wisdom.
[00:14:33] He is perfectly wise in all he does.
[00:14:37] The glory of God is made evident in his love.
[00:14:44] We're reminded of his love when Jesus says this.
[00:14:51] No one has greater love than this, to lay down his life for his friends.
[00:14:59] I have experienced love, the love of God, so tangibly, his perfect love that has casted out all fear.
[00:15:17] His perfect love that has been so close when I felt so alone.
[00:15:27] His love that has been greater than any friend I've ever had.
[00:15:34] And he never messes up.
[00:15:38] He never has to apologize to me.
[00:15:43] I've never known a friend like that.
[00:15:46] His glory is made evident in his perfect love, in his perfect grace.
[00:15:53] He treats us so much better than we deserve.
[00:15:57] If I had any other friend that I've messed up that much like I have with Christ, I've had to say I'm sorry over and over and over and over again for the same thing. Time after time, year after year. I've had no other friend who wouldn't just drop me and be like, I'm done, like, we've already gone over this. You've already apologized time and time again. But not with Christ. He shows us grace, and every single time, he gives us chance after chance after chance. And his grace is perfect.
[00:16:31] His glory is revealed in his holiness.
[00:16:34] He has perfect morality in every single way.
[00:16:42] His morality is perfect. He is always right.
[00:16:47] The glory of Christ is made evident in his justice.
[00:16:53] The glory of God is who he is as a being.
[00:16:58] It's innate to Him.
[00:17:02] It's who he was before he ever even created us.
[00:17:08] And so the glory given to him by us is nothing else but are lifting up his name in this world and magnifying him in the eyes of others.
[00:17:24] I've spent so much time these past few months trying to wrap my head around what glory really is.
[00:17:31] Like the verse said, if we're supposed to behold his glory, what am I beholding? What am I looking at?
[00:17:38] And to be honest with you, I think it's a lifelong process of getting glimpses of his glory.
[00:17:45] A lifelong process is something we get to spend our whole time here trying to learn and experience.
[00:17:56] This week, as I was writing my sermon, my husband held down the fort for me.
[00:18:02] And this is something that's pretty normal in our house.
[00:18:06] I married the best man in the world, and he is my partner in every way.
[00:18:14] He picks up where I left off. Most days he gets home from work and he's immediately attentive to our daughter Selah.
[00:18:23] And he just steps into that role for me.
[00:18:27] And this week I had to do a little bit extra because I was sermon prepping.
[00:18:33] And so I was writing one day and I look up and I see him and Selah on the ground setting up a train.
[00:18:44] And he was just so present with her, and he was so attentive and patient.
[00:18:52] And she doesn't know how to set up the Train. So she's just getting frustrated with the pieces and throwing stuff, and she doesn't know how to do it. So he's just being so patient with her. And he grabs the piece that she threw, and he tries to show her how to do it.
[00:19:05] And at other points this week, I would hear little footsteps coming running down the hallway.
[00:19:10] And I would look up and I would see her running with a big smile on her face and him chasing her. And she's saying, daddy, get you.
[00:19:16] And they would chase each other around the dining room table, and he would make dinner for her, and he would put on a movie. And he would be like, what movie do you want to watch? And she'd say, some movie we've seen a thousand times. And he'd put it on, and he wouldn't watch the movie. He was watching her watch the movie.
[00:19:39] And he would notice things that made her happy and made her smile. And he would notice the parts that would make her sad or scared. And he was just so attentive to her.
[00:19:49] I would watch on the monitor as he would put her down to bed. And he was so patient and gentle.
[00:19:57] And she hates sleep, so she fights it so hard. One night this week was an hour long it took, but he sang to her and he giggled with her, and he rocked her until she fell asleep.
[00:20:10] And he just displayed such a beautiful dignity.
[00:20:17] Watching him, it made me proud to be with him.
[00:20:21] It made me proud that that was the father of my kids.
[00:20:28] It grew my respect for him.
[00:20:31] It made me want to honor him more.
[00:20:37] When we see the dignity in others, it makes them worthy of our respect and worthy of our honor. And it attracts our hearts to replicate what we're seeing.
[00:20:51] It makes us want to be better.
[00:20:54] And if that's true for the people around us, how much more true is it for the perfect, innate dignity of Jesus Christ?
[00:21:07] I want to take another look at our verse.
[00:21:10] The first part, it says, and we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord.
[00:21:18] I think sometimes I want to look at this with unveiled face part because I think sometimes we have a veil over our face with God.
[00:21:32] We cover ourselves.
[00:21:37] We mask our authentic selves with Him.
[00:21:44] We hide the parts that we don't want him to see.
[00:21:48] And sometimes we're just in spiritual routine.
[00:21:57] We try to play the part, but our heart is somewhere else.
[00:22:03] We have a veiled face.
[00:22:07] We think God can see most of us, but I don't want him to see all of it.
[00:22:16] We let him see the things that we like.
[00:22:22] So I think sometimes we let him see our Sunday mornings, but we don't necessarily want him to see our Friday night.
[00:22:31] We let him see our hands in the air in worship.
[00:22:36] But do we want him to see when we're frustrated with our kids, we unveil ourselves when we are forgiving and kind.
[00:22:47] But do we want him to see our heart when we're harboring deep resentment and deep bitterness?
[00:22:57] We hide our sin from God. We cover up just like Adam and Eve in the garden.
[00:23:08] Some of us might want him to help us.
[00:23:12] We might want to be freed. We might want to show ourself, but we're too ashamed.
[00:23:22] We might want God to set us free from addiction, but do we let him have influence over it?
[00:23:32] Do we let him all the way in?
[00:23:37] Or maybe we only let him in after we've used whatever it is you're using.
[00:23:46] Because we all use something.
[00:23:50] For some of us, it's drugs. For some of us, it's we drink too much and too often.
[00:23:58] For some of us, it's sex or looking at things on your phone that you shouldn't be looking at. Or for some of us, it's control.
[00:24:08] We try to play God in our life, trying to control every single little thing.
[00:24:16] You see, we might want God to have influence, but are we actually giving him access?
[00:24:23] Are we going to him before the temptation? Or are we just hiding parts of ourself because we don't want him to see the full truth?
[00:24:35] I think most of us know that it's damaging, but maybe we're just really not interested in stopping.
[00:24:46] And so we veil ourself.
[00:24:49] We cover up.
[00:24:53] And church. I think I know that the Holy Spirit wants to set us free from our facade so that we can show our true face, our authentic self, fully exposed to Christ.
[00:25:15] My sister got married this past summer. And she was the most beautiful bride you've ever seen. I mean, she was just stunning.
[00:25:23] She had.
[00:25:24] That's her husband.
[00:25:27] She had this beautiful satin gown, and it had a dropped waist. And she had this train that just was massive. And she had a cathedral veil that just extended all the way down to the dress.
[00:25:43] When her and her husband were doing their pictures together, they had a spot where they took her big veil and they went under it together. I think I have a picture.
[00:25:57] And you can see enough behind the veil.
[00:26:02] Like you can tell that that's Taylor and that's Anthony.
[00:26:06] You can see enough, but you can't really see everything.
[00:26:14] But in this picture, Anthony can see Taylor with unveiled face.
[00:26:22] He can see her true, authentic self, unhidden when's the last time you took off your veil with Christ?
[00:26:37] When's the last time you just came into his presence with full authenticity, where you shared your full heart with Him? Every fear, every worry, every doubt, every mistake where you revealed your love for Him?
[00:26:58] When's the last time you weren't just pretending with God, but you were being honest?
[00:27:04] The last time you prayed? Lord, I had this ugly thought about my spouse.
[00:27:11] I'm sorry, would you cleanse that? Would you purify that in me or Lord, I spun the truth at work this week and.
[00:27:23] And I don't like that.
[00:27:26] I want to be honest. Would you help me to be honest on Monday or Lord, I worshiped you with my lips, but my heart was far because the only person that we're kidding is ourself.
[00:27:44] He already sees us.
[00:27:47] We just learn. He's all knowing and so this isn't anything that we're trying to do for Him. It's so that we can be transformed.
[00:27:57] It's so that we with unveiled face can behold his glory.
[00:28:04] When we can be honest, then we are open to transformation.
[00:28:09] And beholding the glory of the Lord transforms us.
[00:28:17] We all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed.
[00:28:24] So as we fix our spiritual gaze to Christ, we get conformed to what we are beholding.
[00:28:34] We reflect what we're constantly looking at.
[00:28:39] The more we see Christ's forgiveness, humility, patience, love, kindness, the more it becomes a progressive work in us.
[00:28:51] It's the process of becoming more like Him.
[00:28:56] It's not about knowing enough facts about Jesus or performing all the right religious things and reading the Bible every single second.
[00:29:08] It's not about everything that you can know about Jesus. It's not about just checking off your to do list. Read the Bible, go to church, pray before dinner.
[00:29:15] Because honestly, you can do all of those things and never spend one second with God.
[00:29:23] You can read your Bible every single day for a year and never be in the presence of the Lord.
[00:29:29] If knowing the Bible was enough, and this is not me saying don't read your Bible. I read my Bible every day and it has completely changed my life. It's a good and beautiful thing, but it matters how you do it.
[00:29:44] Because if just reading it and knowing it was enough, then the Pharisees would have never been criticized because they knew.
[00:29:52] They knew Scripture. They studied it, but listen to what Jesus says to them. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites.
[00:30:02] You are like whitewashed tombs which appear beautiful on the outside, but on the inside, you are full of the dead, bones of the dead and every kind of impurity.
[00:30:15] Church is not just about doing the right religious things so that we can appear put together on the outside.
[00:30:24] It's a real relationship.
[00:30:28] It's reading the Bible so that you can be transformed by it, so that you can be drenched in His Word, so that you can sit at the feet of Jesus and spend time with Him.
[00:30:42] That song we just sang, it says, I just want to sit here at your feet.
[00:30:48] I just want to be with you.
[00:30:52] I want to be in relationship with you.
[00:30:56] I don't want to read these words in my Bible and have no time spent with you.
[00:31:02] Because it's only going to transform me if you show up. It's only going to do anything in my life if you are with me.
[00:31:12] It's not just about doing the right religious things.
[00:31:18] It's letting His Word wash over you and transform you. It's a genuine adoration and affection for him.
[00:31:27] And it's daily and it's consistent and it's lifelong.
[00:31:33] Isn't it true that we become more like the things we're looking at?
[00:31:39] There's people in my life that have this effect on me.
[00:31:43] When I look at my mom and her joy.
[00:31:48] She's one of the most fun people I've ever met in my whole life. And she just exudes joy. And when I look at that, when I spend time around her, it brings it out of my personality.
[00:32:01] I start reflecting what I see in her.
[00:32:05] I start having more joy, I start having more fun. I start being alive because I see that in her and I start to reflect it.
[00:32:24] And the same thing is true about Christ.
[00:32:27] When we spend time around him, we start to look like Him.
[00:32:35] The more time we spend around him, the more time we spend beholding his innate dignity, his glory, his kindness and justice and love, the more and more we will be transformed into his image. Image.
[00:32:48] The more time we spend looking at Christ, the more we start to look like Christ.
[00:32:58] And we have to rely on the Holy Spirit to do this.
[00:33:04] He opens the eyes of our hearts so that we can behold Him.
[00:33:14] We cannot behold Christ's glory without the Holy Spirit. He grants us spiritual sight.
[00:33:21] And our ultimate hope is our assurance of our eternal life with Christ.
[00:33:30] Because we are being prepared for an eternity.
[00:33:35] Well, we will see Christ face to face without any veil where we will be fully exposed to our King.
[00:33:48] Our veil will be lifted.
[00:33:53] And I believe that we will experience a love that is just so unfathomable that when we are completely unveiled and fully exposed to him in eternity. But the love will be. It's just we can't even understand it right now.
[00:34:13] And we will stand before Christ and we will see him in his full glory.
[00:34:19] The beatific vision where he is revealed in all of his glory in heaven.
[00:34:28] Church, this life matters.
[00:34:35] It matters more than we even know.
[00:34:42] And we can either take this idea and we could say, I'm in.
[00:34:49] I'm so in.
[00:34:50] I want to behold the glory of the Lord. I want to glorify him in all that I do. I want to enjoy him forever.
[00:34:58] Or we can be out.
[00:35:02] You can say, yeah, I mean, that's a cool idea, but probably not going to think about it again.
[00:35:16] This is our chief end, our purpose.
[00:35:21] This is why we are here. And so no matter what job you have that you don't have to work at the church to glorify the Lord, no matter what home you were raised in, you don't have to grow up in a Christian home to glorify the Lord. No matter what marriage you're in, no matter what financial position you're in, it doesn't matter where you're at. We all have this end. We all have this purpose. We all get to be a part of this mission to glorify the Lord, to magnify him in this world, to magnify him in the eyes of others, to enjoy him, to understand what true joy is in him. No matter what your circumstances, we all get to be a part of this end.
[00:36:09] So our next sermon, what we're going to look at is what does it really look like to glorify God? If this is what I'm supposed to do, if this is my mission, if this is my purpose in life, if this is this is my chief end, how do I do it?
[00:36:21] How do I glorify Him?
[00:36:24] And I'm so excited for this series Church because it matters for your eternal soul.
[00:36:34] It matters for this church, the future of this church. It matters for your kids and your grandkids.
[00:36:42] If we can figure out and we can really, really, this has changed my life.
[00:36:50] When I look at in all that I do, I want to glorify the Lord. It has changed my life. It has changed how I look at everything that I do.
[00:37:01] That's why I encourage you.
[00:37:04] Stick with the series.
[00:37:06] It's going to be beautiful and awesome. I can't wait for you to hear the rest of the pray.
[00:37:12] Dear Lord, thank you for this time together. Thank you for this night.
[00:37:18] Father, I ask that your name would be glorified.
[00:37:24] I ask that you would get all the glory and all the honor and all the praise. I pray that you would be high and lifted up.
[00:37:33] I pray in this next song, Lord, that we can cast our eyes to you.
[00:37:40] That we can expose our authentic self to you.
[00:37:44] That with unveiled face we can behold your glory. And that you would transform our heart, Lord. Thank you.
[00:37:55] I love you.
[00:37:56] Amen.
