Well, if you have your Bible with you, would you please open it up to John chapter 7.
We're continuing on in the story of Jesus as told by the Apostle John.
And here in John chapter 7, Jesus is in Jerusalem.
And at this moment, there's a big festival going on there, the festival of tabernacles
or booths.
Thousands have gathered from all over the nation.
And Jesus kind of snuck into the city halfway through the festival.
And we saw a couple weeks back when we were looking at this, how he went into the temple
courts and began to teach the people.
And initially, the response seemed pretty good.
They were amazed.
Where did he get this teaching from?
He knew his stuff.
How is it that he could know all this?
Without having been educated.
Well, it wasn't from YouTube and it wasn't from Skillshare.
It wasn't from a mentoring relationship with some unknown rabbi.
Jesus essentially said, you're right.
My teaching is not my own.
It comes from the one who sent me.
It comes from God.
And if you will humble your hearts and seek to do what God wants you to do, you will know
the truth about where my teaching comes from.
Let's pick up the conversation in verse 18.
There we read what Jesus says next.
Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory.
But he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth.
There is nothing false about him.
And again, let's have a little more word-for-word translation here.
I think that will help us.
We'll go with the New American Standard.
He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory.
But he who is seeking the glory of the one who sent him, he is true.
And there is no unrighteousness in him.
What is Jesus saying here?
And why is he saying this to the crowd?
Well, let's remember just what the people in the crowd are thinking as Jesus speaks.
We read a little bit earlier in verse 12 that there's been widespread whispering about Jesus
among the crowds.
Some of them are saying, he's a good man.
Others are saying, no, he deceives the people.
Some are more open to Jesus, while others seem to have already made up their minds that
he's a fraud.
He's a con artist.
He's a deceiver.
And as with other times, Jesus, again, seems to know what's going on in their minds and
in their thoughts.
He knows that even as he speaks to them, there are some in the crowd who are saying, yeah,
right.
Your teaching comes from God?
I don't believe this.
And so Jesus seems to say these words in verse 18 in his own defense.
It's as though he's saying, listen, guys, in all the teaching that I've been doing here,
have I been doing and saying things to get glory from you for myself?
No.
Has the main tone, the main message that I've been bringing in my teaching been, everybody
look at me.
Look how awesome I am.
Bow down before me.
Give me glory.
Give me praise.
No.
Everything I've been saying has been for the glory of the one who sent me.
So that you might turn your hearts to him and worship him and praise him and obey him and
do his will.
You can just imagine what kinds of things Jesus has been teaching them so far by thinking
back over the many things that Jesus taught all the time.
Think back to the Sermon on the Mount and the kinds of things that he said there.
Think back to the many parables.
All of these things had this overall intention of turning people's hearts back to the Lord.
He taught people to turn from their sins, to stop doing what is evil and instead to do
what is right and what is good from the heart.
He taught people to pray to God, to ask God for things, to seek things from him, to seek
his kingdom.
If you look through the Gospels, it's an interesting thing to notice.
You'll find that Jesus never once tells people to bow down in front of him and worship him
or to give him glory like that.
Why is that?
The Muslims and the Jehovah's Witnesses are quick to jump on this.
They're quick to say, look, Jesus always told people to worship God.
Why?
They would say because he was not God.
Well, they are right about one thing and that's that Jesus did not command or tell people to
worship himself.
In fact, I would go even further than that and say that he did not speak or act at all
for the purpose of gaining glory or winning praise for himself.
But it's not because he wasn't God.
We've already seen countless statements in the Gospel of John that amount to Jesus saying,
I am the divine Son of God.
But as a man, he lives as a man should.
And so he calls people to worship God, his Father.
Why is that?
In some mysterious way, this is how the relationship between Jesus, the Son, the God-man, and his
Father, God, works.
Let's look at a few other passages to see this.
And all of these are from John's Gospel as well.
One of them we've already seen.
John 5, verse 41.
Jesus said to the religious leaders, I do not accept glory from human beings.
Hmm.
Why is that?
Again, in John 8, verse 50, we haven't got there yet, but Jesus says, I am not seeking
glory for myself.
Why not?
A few verses later, in John 8, verse 54, Jesus says this.
He says, if I glorify myself, my glory means nothing.
My Father, whom you claim is your God, He is the one who glorifies me.
There it is.
God the Father is the one who glorifies his Son.
So Jesus is the divine Son, as we've seen all over the place in John's Gospel.
Yet He has not been calling people to bow down and worship Him.
Instead, He's been telling people to glorify and worship His Father, the one who sent Him.
The only glory that Jesus seeks for Himself is the glory that comes from the Father.
In fact, we'll get to it eventually, but in His prayer in John chapter 17, Jesus actually
prays and asks God to give Him glory.
He says this in John 17, 5.
And now, Father, glorify me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world
began.
This is a difficult relationship to understand.
I find it difficult.
Even though Jesus is God, living among us in human flesh, He does not have the mindset
that we would expect Him to have.
Paul describes it for us in his letter to the Philippians, a passage that many of you
are familiar with.
His mindset was not to cling to what was rightfully His, glory, the worship, the praise of all people.
No, His mindset is to humble Himself, to get down to our level, to become a man, one of us.
And Paul tells us it's even more than that, to go even further down than that, to become a servant.
Jesus is on a rescue mission that requires Him to lay aside, to give up, to veil, to cover up and conceal
some of His glory.
And to live for a time in a humbled and lowly state.
And for a time to endure humiliating and even shameful treatment.
And it's not until after this rescue mission is complete that Jesus will begin to receive
the glory that He is due.
Paul goes on in Philippians 2.
He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.
Therefore, because He did that, God, the Father, exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him
the name that is above every name.
That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord.
So it's God, the Father, who exalts His Son.
It's God, the Father, who glorifies His Son, who lifts Him up to that place where all will
bow down and worship Him.
So yes, we are to worship Jesus.
Even though Jesus does not seek glory for Himself from us,
as He walks the earth, He is still glorious.
He is still worthy of worship.
And God, the Father, wants us to worship His Son.
That's the trajectory of this whole story.
And we've seen this already, too, in what Jesus said
the last time He met with the religious leaders in Jerusalem.
John chapter 5, verse 22.
Jesus said there,
The Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son.
Why?
Why has He given it to the Son to do all judgment?
So that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father.
The Father wants us to worship His Son.
And that's why He's given it to Him to do all of the judgment at the last day.
Back to John chapter 7, verse 18.
He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory.
But he who is seeking the glory of the one who sent him, he is true.
And there is no unrighteousness in him.
Jesus is saying here,
One of the evidences that I speak from God,
and that I speak the truth,
is that I'm doing and saying nothing for personal benefit here.
All the things that I've been doing,
all the things that I've been teaching,
have not been to get glory for myself.
In everything I've been doing and saying,
I am seeking for you to glorify Him who sent me,
the Father.
And that's how you can know that I am no deceiver.
Now I had planned to go on another few verses here.
And the conversation is about to heat up.
Jesus is about to publicly declare that the leaders are trying to kill Him.
And some in the crowd are about to yell back that Jesus is demon-possessed.
But we'll save that for next week,
because there's a lot, even in this one verse,
that can apply to our lives today.
And we want to take time to think about that.
So what do we take from Jesus' comments
about not seeking glory for Himself?
What can we take from this for our own daily lives?
I think the important thing at the start here
is just to acknowledge that this is the story of Jesus.
It's not mainly about us.
This is the good news of Jesus,
the way that it unfolded in real time in history,
generations ago.
But there is still something here that relates to us,
if we're looking and listening closely.
Let's think again about that mindset that Jesus had.
That mindset not to seek glory or praise or honor from other people,
and instead to humble Himself,
and to obey God as every man should,
and seek for His Father, God,
to be glorified as every man should.
Paul tells us back in Philippians 2, verse 5.
He says,
Have this mind in you,
which was also in Christ Jesus.
Or as some translations say,
Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus,
who humbled Himself.
In other words,
we should have the same attitude
about getting glory for ourselves
from other people
as Jesus did.
This is one of those things that we do that isn't good.
In fact, it's ugly.
It's evil.
It's twisted.
We do or say things in order to get glory for ourselves,
to get the praise of other people,
to get their applause,
their approval,
their attention.
We do or say things to get them to like us,
to think of us highly.
Sometimes we might call this people-pleasing.
An example of people-pleasing,
you know, you're over-committed in your life,
you have lots of responsibilities,
and then someone comes along and says,
Hey, I really need you to do this for me.
Please, can you help me out with this?
And because you don't want them to think any less of you,
you want them to be happy with you,
even though you shouldn't say yes,
you say yes anyway.
You don't want them to be offended.
Other times we could call this the fear of man.
Those moments or those situations
where the right thing to do is to step up,
to take responsibility,
to speak up for what's right,
for what's true.
And instead, in that moment,
we're looking around the room
and we're more worried about what other people think,
and so we don't say anything.
Or we don't do what we know we should do.
The fear of man.
What are some other ways that we do this?
Perhaps it's with social media accounts.
Online, we're all too aware
that maybe hundreds of people
see everything that we post
or see every like that we do
on someone else's post.
What can I post on my social media
that can get me some likes
or some good comments?
We could put this into the sports realm.
There we might call it showboating
or showing off.
Leaving the team behind
and going for it all by yourself
with all your best moves
to get the goal.
Because we know that the one who gets the goal
gets most of the glory, right?
And all too often,
the players that worked hard
to set that person up
get overlooked.
Sometimes it's with our words
in conversation.
Jokes.
This is so common
in our world today.
I hear about this in the school
all the time.
People throwing other people
under the bus,
making jokes about them,
saying hurtful things
towards them
or about them
to make them look bad
just to get the laughter
and attention
of some of their other friends.
We may even
do this ourselves
a little bit.
Where we
talk about our,
the way we talk about ourselves,
we maybe
put ourselves down
when we talk to other people
and secretly
we're fishing
for some compliment,
for some affirmation,
for some praise.
Hey honey,
guess what?
While you were out,
I did the dishes.
Ain't I great?
Whatever you call it,
however it comes out,
it all stems back to pride,
to this desire
to be exalted
or loved
or thought highly of
in the eyes of others.
And so we say
or do
or we don't say
or we don't do
whatever will put us
in that place
in people's thoughts
that we want to be.
but Jesus
shows us
a completely
different way,
a completely
different mindset.
He shows us
how a real
righteous man
should live
and think.
We are not
to seek
our own glory
from others.
So how do we do this?
How do we stop
ourselves
from being
people pleasers?
from seeking
glory and praise
from others?
What's the solution here?
Inevitably,
whenever this whole
discussion of
people pleasing
comes up,
there's often
one person
who is almost
ready to just
stick up their hand
and say,
I'm not a people pleaser.
I don't care
what anybody thinks
about what I say
or do
and I'm not afraid
to let you know it.
Is that the solution?
Instead of
seeking glory
and praise
from others
to just have
a mindset,
well,
who cares
what everyone
else thinks?
I don't think
that's the right
attitude either.
A lot of times
people with this
attitude
can be rude
or obnoxious.
They can be
insensitive,
needlessly
offending people
with their words
and their actions.
it's almost
like a pride
in the opposite
direction.
Almost like
you're setting
yourself up
on a pedestal
above others.
I don't care
what you guys
think about me.
What you think
isn't important.
Looking down
on them,
that's not right
either.
And I don't
think it's,
the way to do
this is to
analyze every
one of our
thoughts,
every one of
our behaviors
and check
before we do
it or say
it,
am I doing
this for me?
Am I doing
this for God?
I think
instead,
we need to
follow the
example of
Christ
and we need
to focus
not on
ourselves
but on
the one
that we
want to
see
praised
and glorified.
How does
Jesus do
it?
Let's see
two ways
that Jesus
shows us
that we
should not
seek our
own glory
glory,
but instead
seek the
glory of
God.
The first,
he tells us
that we
should seek
glory from
God.
And the
second,
that we
should seek
glory for
God.
Two different
ways.
We're going to
look at both
of them.
We'll start
with the
first one.
What does
it mean for
us to seek
glory from
God?
That's the
mindset Jesus
had.
He's not
looking for
glory for
himself.
Instead,
he is
looking for
the glory
that comes
from God,
for God
to glorify
him.
What does
that mean?
What does
that look
like?
John
chapter 5,
verse 44.
This was
last time
with the
Pharisees.
Do you
remember what
Jesus said
to them?
He said,
how can
you believe
when you
receive glory
from one
another,
and you
do not
seek the
glory that
is from
the one
and only
God?
One of
the problems
with the
religious leaders
is that they
are living
for the
praise and
honor and
glory of
one another.
And you
probably know
those passages
where Jesus
calls them out
on that in
some very
specific ways.
The way
that you
pray,
the way
that you
fast,
the way
that you
give of
your money,
your offerings,
all of
that you
do in
public to
get the
attention of
other people,
to win
praise,
to win
glory for
yourself.
And it's
wrong.
Jesus says
that instead
they should
be seeking
the glory
that comes
from God.
I don't
think Jesus
is talking
about seeking
glory from
God in
some kind
of twisted
way,
as in
looking for
God to
worship.
us.
No.
I think
Jesus means
that we
are to
humble
ourselves
before
God,
to serve
him,
to obey
him,
and to
seek the
reward and
blessing that
he has
promised for
doing so.
To seek
his approval,
his
affirmation,
his
commendation.
You probably
all know the
parable of the
talents,
where the
servants were
each entrusted
with a
sum of
money.
What do
those faithful
servants hear
from their
master when
the master
returns?
Well done,
good and
faithful servant.
He commends
them.
He praises
them.
He honors
them.
He lifts
them up in the
sight of others
to new heights
of responsibility.
humility.
I think that's
a picture of
what Jesus is
talking about
here.
What it means
to seek the
glory that is
from God.
Are you
living for
the well done
of other
people?
Or are you
living for the
well done of
God?
One of the
things that we
hear time and
time again
throughout the
scriptures is
that God is a
God who
humbles the
proud and
exalts the
humble.
He's a God
who turns the
spotlight off of
the proud and
takes the ground
out from under
them, the thing
that they're
standing on and
boasting in,
and instead turns
the spotlight onto
the humble and
highlights them for
others to see.
The apostle Peter
picks up on this
in his letter.
He says,
all of you,
clothe yourselves
with humility
toward one
another because
God opposes the
proud but gives
favor or grace
to the humble.
Humble yourselves,
says Peter.
Humble yourselves,
therefore, under
God's mighty
hand that he
may lift you up
in due time.
This is what it
means to seek
glory from God
and not from
other people.
It means to
humble yourself
before God,
to bow the
knee to him,
to submit to
him, to obey
him, to consider
yourself as you
should before him
and allow God at
the appropriate
time to lift you
up and honor you
and give you the
reward that you
are due.
This was Jesus'
mindset.
He didn't seek
glory for himself
from people.
He sought his
glory from God.
God.
And this should be
our mindset as
well.
The second way
that Jesus teaches
us to seek the
glory of God is a
little different.
He teaches us not
to seek glory or
praise for ourselves
but instead to seek
glory or praise for
God.
And if we look back
to all that Jesus
taught, we can see
how he did this for
his disciples as
well.
We'll just give
one example.
In the prayer that
Jesus taught his
disciples to pray, he
taught them to seek
the glory of the
Father.
He said, this then is
how you should pray.
Pray like this.
Our Father in
heaven, hallowed be
your name.
Not hallowed and
respected and
revered and honored
be my name.
No.
Pray, hallowed be
your name, God.
May you be glorified.
That's the heart that
he taught his
disciples to have.
What we do and
say should be to
make much of God
and not much of
ourselves.
God.
I encourage you to
think of this past
week.
Have you been living
to make much of
God?
Or have you been
living to make much
of yourself?
In your
conversations with
other people, were
you speaking to make
much of God?
Or were you
speaking to make
much of yourself?
Maybe even in a
false humility
kind of way.
How can we live
to make much of
God if we are too
busy living to
make much of
ourselves?
They're at odds
with each other.
So Jesus gives us
this example of how
we should live.
We should not
seek glory or
praise or honor
from other people.
instead, we
should do as
Jesus did and
seek glory and
praise for God.
And any glory or
praise that we do
seek for ourselves
should be the
glory that comes
from God, that
well done, good
and faithful
servant.
Finally, I want
to come back to
what I said
earlier about this
story not mainly
being about us.
I hope that we
can take a lesson
here from Jesus
about how we
should live, what
our mindset should
be.
I hope that all
of us will go
into this week and
take some time to
pray and ask the
Lord, what kind
of habits or
things am I doing
or saying to get
glory from other
people?
The truth is we
all do this in
many ways, whether
we realize it or
not.
It's just part of
the subtle and
pervasive taint of
sin that is in
all of us.
But this is the
gospel.
This is the good
news of Jesus.
And the good
news for people
pleasers like you
and me is that
there is one who
did not live to
please himself.
the good news for
self-centered glory
seekers like you
and me is that
there is one who
did not live to
seek his own
glory but in
every way humbled
himself and
sought the glory of
God and God
alone.
And because he
did, he was able
to make atonement
for our sins.
He was able to
secure forgiveness
for us, for all
of our proud and
self-centered glory
seeking, all of our
people pleasing.
He was able to
bear the punishment
we deserve for all
of it and wipe the
slate clean.
Not only that, but
he was able to
transfer the reward
and the blessing
that only comes to
those who live
righteously and
humbly.
He was able to
transfer that reward
to us who believe.
And he did this.
He accomplished
this by taking
upon himself the
humiliation and
shame that is
really ours.
For all of the
proud and self-centered
glory seeking that
we have done at
the cross.
grace.
Isn't that amazing?
Isn't that
gracious?
So seek the
glory for God.
Seek the glory that
comes from God.
But rest and
rejoice in the
wonderful news that
for all of our
times that we've
failed to do those
two things.
Jesus has done
what was needed
to turn the
punishment that we
deserve away from
us and to secure
the blessing and
the reward that we
did not deserve for
us.
Praise be to God.
Let's pray.
Lord Jesus we are
not worthy to
stand in your
presence.
Thank you that you
have loved us with
such an amazing
love that you
humbled yourself
as you did.
You are worthy of
all the glory all
the praise and we
choose not to wait
until the end to
bow before you
but we bow before
you now and we
worship you.
We pray and ask
that you would
cleanse our hearts
of all sin,
all pride,
all arrogance,
all self-righteousness
and that you would
teach us to walk
humbly with you
day after day.
We ask this in your
name.
Amen.
compensated by
the
name.
Amen.