November 17, 2024, Guest Pastor Sam Schwenk

Recently, I read a story of a young girl who was diagnosed with a rare condition which will, at some point in the near future, take away her eyesight.

And as a result of this, before this disease renders her forever blind, she has made a visual wish list which she would like to see all of these places and these things and these people before it is that she will lose her eyesight.

This 12 -year -old Audrey Terrell knows that at some point, and nobody knows when, she will lose her sight, but she's checking off this list of the things that she would like to have memories in her mind of places that she could see.

And so, thus far, she has traveled to see the Eiffel Tower. She wanted to see

Legoland. She wanted to also go and see a Taylor Swift concert.

She's hoping to be able to see the Stonehenge in England and the Statue of Liberty in New York City as well as the

Northern Lights. You know, when you read a story and you recognize that this is happening to a little 12 -year -old, it kind of makes you appreciate the eyesight that you have and to recognize what a wonderful gift that it is.

But the question comes to mind that if you knew that in a short time that you would lose your eyesight, would you also include things in a visual wish list?

And if you had such a list, what would be unusual and what would be awe -inspiring to leave in your mind these wonderful memories?

Could it be that you would love to be able to see something that you've only dreamed about, perhaps the pyramids of Egypt or perhaps the

Grand Canyon or Petra in Jordan or maybe even Jerusalem?

Would you like to see that? It's a beautiful city as you come up upon it. But the question, what would be at the very top of your list of that which you would want more than anything else to be the memorable sight?

You know, the Lord Jesus Christ has already constructed a visual wish list on our behalf.

He's already got a list of what he wants us to see, beginning with the kingdom of God, John 3 .3,

as well as he wants us to see his return as he comes in power and great glory on the clouds of heaven,

Acts 1 .11. But at the very top of his visual wish list for you and me, what he wants us to see more than anything else, you know what it is?

It's found in John 17 because at the top of his list, the greatest sight that you and I can see, he describes in his prayer, and it goes this way.

Father, I want those that you have given to me to be with me where I am so that they will see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

Jesus knows that of all of the great privileges that you and I have as Christian believers, the best of all the privileges that we have is not just to be with him, but that we behold the glory of Christ, so much so that he prays to his

Father that those that the Father has given to him for salvation, that these would be with him and that they would see his glory.

Now, this rich experience is reserved only for those who have believed in and who possess

Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Now, we know this, but there are many who brush it aside and say, well, you know, it's gonna be kind of like a balance, and if I come and my balance is weighed in my favor, then, of course, everything will be fine.

That's not what the Bible says. What excites the Christian is to know that our salvation is secure, not in what we do, but in what

Jesus Christ has done for us. But today, what I want to do is to explore, explore with you how, how it is that we can see the glory of Christ right now, and as we look forward to the fullness of that when we get to heaven, but can we see something of the glory of Christ right now?

And I think the answer to that is yes. Now, before we get to that, I think it's important for us to define what we mean by glory.

That's a church term, isn't it? We sing about it, talk about it, but what really is glory?

Well, there's a couple of ways of looking at it, but what I want to think about, what is the glory of God? What do we mean by that?

What is the glory of Christ? Well, the Hebrew term that we find in the

Old Testament carries the thought of weight, W -E -I -G -H -T, weight.

And glory is the manifestation, the revelation of God's intrinsic greatness that he has in himself.

Now, angels are glorious. Every time we see them mentioned in Scripture, people are almost fainting when they see an angel in its glory, but an angel does not have glory in and of himself.

It's merely a reflection of the glory of God. Glory is something that is unique to God alone.

You and I don't have glory. God has glory, and he shares it with nobody else.

It's just a reflection in you and me and in angels. But we sometimes, when we think about glory, you ever find that, and this was used sometimes back,

I don't know if it was in politics or what, but it was the word gravitas seemed to be a catchphrase that was in the news a lot.

And the idea of gravitas is that when a person, when he or she has gravitas, it means that there's an air of dignity about them, that they inspire admiration.

That when they walk into a room, there is a radiance of respect.

You know anybody like that? That they just carry themselves with a sense of dignity.

There's a solemnity. There's a sense of authority about them.

See, when these people who have gravitas, I mean to the max, when they walk into a room, everybody stands up out of honor for that person.

Now, the glory of God is the weight of his gravitas.

It is the singular greatness of the majestic king. And everything that is admirable and attractive about God, that which is wondrous and that which is awe -inspiring is his glory, his perfection, his excellencies, his great worth, his stunning, breathtaking beauty, his unrivaled authority.

That's what we mean by the glory of God. Now, when there's a visible glory, it's called the

Shekinah glory. Shekinah is a word that you won't find in the

Bible. It's a word that was used by the ancient rabbis to describe

God's visitation with man. So that when God comes near to people and there is a visible presentation or presence, it's sort of like what you see in the

Old Testament in Exodus 3 when there's the burning bush experience with Moses and God spoke from the bush that was on fire.

That was the Shekinah glory. Or the glory of the cloud that accompanied and led

Israel by day and the pillar of fire by night. That's the visible glory.

Or the glory that was on the top of Mount Sinai, which was like a furnace and a smoke of like a fire.

That's the Shekinah glory. Now, when I say we can see something of the glory of Christ right now, what do

I mean? Certainly, I'm not talking about that we're gonna see something of the visible, breathtaking

Shekinah glory. Now, I'm not going there. I don't think that that's possible until we see

Christ face to face. But I do think that we have a clue in 2

Corinthians 4 about how you and I, how we can see the glory of God.

And I'll read it for you. It says, For God who said, let light shine out of darkness has shown in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

So what that means is that when we gaze into the Bible and we read about the person and the work of Jesus Christ, we're looking, we're looking at everything that is stunning and attractive and dignified and royal and majestic and excellent about God.

So that the very best things that are attractive about God are reflected and are seen in the

Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what I want to do is I want to use the book of Colossians as an example of how you and I can take the

Bible and we can read it. And we, as we read it, we come upon these places where we say, aha, there it is.

That's the glory. So let's go. If you got your Bible, let's go to the book of Colossians.

And I want to begin in the very first chapter and I'm going to give three examples. This is kind of like a

Whitman sampler of what you would have if you wanted to discover what it looks like to read the

Bible and to come across the glory of God that is set forth in the face of Jesus Christ.

So we're going to look at Jesus and we're going to see God's glory. The first place in Colossians 1 is verses 15 through 20.

Now let me read it. You follow along. If you've got your Bible and notice what it says here.

He, that is Jesus Christ, he is the image of the invisible

God, the firstborn over all creation. For everything was created by him in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him.

He is before all things and by him all things hold together.

He is also the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead so that he might come to have first place in everything.

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross.

Well there's a lot packed in there, isn't there? But that sort of like hits us like a blast of wind.

We can't miss seeing the glory of Christ just reading through that and you can't really mumble those words.

They require kind of like an emotion. Do you feel the electricity when you read something like that to say wow, that's fantastic and that's a description of our

Lord Jesus. Now I want to consider just from these few verses just briefly like bullet points, three facets of his display of his glory that's like looking at the facets of a diamond and the first facet that showcases and it's like brings out the brilliant sparkle is that Jesus Christ is the invisible

God made visible and that's found in verses 15 and 19.

For he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Verse 19, for God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.

Do you want to know what God is like? Well then, look at Jesus because according to scripture, he is the exact representation.

Now when I say that there's a likeness, I'm not just saying well you know, there's sort of like a resemblance going on there.

No, no, that's not what I'm talking about. We're talking about something that he is the image and that he is equal to and he is the exact representation of God because he is

God. So that when you're seeing Jesus, you see God. Isn't that what the discussion was after the resurrection and or before and Philip comes to Jesus and he says show us the father and Jesus said, have you been with me so long that you don't get it?

When you see me, you see the father and it's like bang, he didn't see it.

He didn't get it but we understand to see Jesus is to see

God. You know when Thomas, after the resurrection, was doubting whether Jesus was really raised and Jesus shows up in the room and beckons

Thomas to put his finger in the wound of his side and to prove that he was physically and truly present in the room,

Thomas no longer doubted but he exclaimed, my Lord and my

God because he understood maybe better than he had ever understood before that Jesus was the exact representation of God because he was

God. Now whenever you and I read the gospels, whether it be the gospel of Matthew or we're working our way through maybe

Luke or John, we're seeing divinity on display as we read through those books and we're looking at the glory of God in the face of Jesus and it should foster something in us.

We don't, again, we don't just mumble those words but we read them with a sense of wonder and excitement and awe and it fosters worship in us and that's how you come to see something of the glory of Christ here and now, not just in heaven.

Now, the second facet of this diamond is this, that Jesus Christ is the supreme authority over creation because he is the creator and we find that in verses 15 and 16.

He's the firstborn over all creation for everything was created by him, it goes on to say.

The father planned creation but the mediator, the one who created it, was

Jesus Christ. That's what John 1, 3 says. Everything was created by him. But what it means here is that as creator, he is the firstborn, not talking about first in a line or time -wise, we're talking about in rank, in his role, in his, again, in his gravitas, in his greatness, his headship, so that Jesus is the

Lord over every atom. He's the Lord over every galaxy, every person, every nation, everything in history is either by his ordained design or by his permission but he's really in charge.

And nothing happens apart from the permission or the immediate action of Jesus Christ.

Everything. There is no place on earth that you can point to that Jesus doesn't say, that's mine.

It all belongs to him. Jesus is the unrivaled ruler of all.

You know, it's an arrogant and it's a foolish thing for somebody to quote that poem, that poem,

Invictus, that says, well, I'm the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.

What a bunch of rubbish. That's just not true. We are not the captain of our soul.

We may think we are, you know, but we're not. And who is the captain?

The one who is the master is the one who created it all. And that's the point.

He's the firstborn. He's highest in rank. Now the third facet here is that Jesus Christ made peace with God.

And this is found in verse 20. That through him, you know, to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross.

And this answers the question, well, how did he do it? How did Christ make peace between sinners and a holy, righteous

God? How did he do it? Well, he did it because he was the sinless, perfect human, as well as God the

Son incarnate. And as such, he voluntarily carried our sin in his body on the cross.

Not because he was a sinner, but he carried it. And he paid the penalty of our sin.

He paid what was just. The justice of God was cared for.

And what our sin deserved was poured out on him instead of us.

So that by his death, sin was fully paid for. And that which separated us from God, which is sin, because that's what separates, it was removed so that we were reconciled with God and peace was made.

Whereas before, we were pronounced guilty because of the death of Jesus Christ and his blood that is shed, we're no longer condemned.

We are pronounced not guilty. And all of this was achieved through Jesus Christ.

And that is the glory of God. See, you look at that and you step back and you have like an ooh and an ah moment where you begin to look at this and say, that is amazing.

And that's God. That's his love on display. It's like one of those goose bump moments where you look at the sacrifice of Jesus, his willingness to drink the cup of God's wrath down to the very dregs and to carry our judgment.

And he did so out of great love for us. Now that's the glory of God. And so when you and I step back and look at that, it ought to cause us to wonder in amazement and also to bow on our knees in worship.

So that's one place in the book of Colossians where you can see the glory of God. Now let's look at a second one as we move along.

It's in chapter two, verse three. Verse three of chapter two, it says, in him, that would be in Christ, are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

And he explains why he just said that in the next verse. He says,

I'm saying this so that no one will deceive you with arguments that sound reasonable.

He's talking about those who are peddling false ideas in their culture.

Now we live in a culture of 2024 here. And do you think there's some false ideas out there?

Good grief, they are everywhere. And you find them on the talk shows.

You talk, do you see them on the bestseller lists? You find them in, not only in your headlines, you find them in the conversation around coffee at your work.

And somebody says something, you're like, what? What did you just say? Because you know, that doesn't make any sense at all.

That's a false idea. And so Paul is saying here that in Christ is hidden all of the treasures of true wisdom and true knowledge.

And not that which is peddled by those that claim that they're telling us the truth, but it is a counterfeit lie.

And it is bankrupt. And if you follow that course as the direction of your life, you will self -destruct.

But you won't self -destruct if you follow the hidden wisdom and knowledge of Christ.

Now these false teachers abound today. They abound in churches, in every county where people gather to have their ears scratched because they itch to hear what they want to hear.

And so they collect around them teachers who will say just what they want to hear. And that abounds around us in our

America. You find their podcasts on YouTube. You find their best -selling books.

In Paul's day, there were these teachers. And they were itinerant.

They would travel about. Or you could go see them and listen to them. And they claimed to be, they advertised wisdom.

Said we're gonna tell you something that's wise. Or they advertised that what they would tell you is the path to God.

Or that they would advertise a spiritual experience. They would advertise angelic guidance and inner light.

They would say that they are in touch with the cosmic powers to be able to impart to us knowledge.

And people would go and they would hear them just as they do today. Just as they do in our own day and age.

And they claim to have this hidden wisdom. Maybe your story,

I don't know. I don't know the stories in this room here. But could it be that you have a story where at some point, maybe earlier in your life, you were searching for truth.

Could be that you were in your younger years. A lot of times it happens in late high school, college, early years, 30 -something year olds.

And they're looking because see, they're looking for happiness. It's advertised out there, but somehow it seems to be just beyond their grasp.

And they try everything that's advertised. Relationships, you know, pleasure, distractions.

And it could be at some point they even begin to investigate Eastern religion. They begin to look about them and wonder if maybe they should experiment with meditation techniques.

Or they read philosophers. Or maybe they even try church. And somehow, in some way, they never find happiness.

So the question is, where does a person find happiness? Where does a person find peace?

And the answer is right here in Colossians 2 .3. That in Christ are hidden all the treasures.

It's like a treasure trove of true wisdom and true knowledge.

So are you looking for happiness? You'll find everything that you're seeking in Jesus Christ because he himself is true wisdom and true knowledge.

And that's what's glorious about God in the face of Jesus.

And you step back and you say, now that's amazing. Now the third example, as we rush on to the last one, is in verse 15 of the same chapter,

Colossians 2, where it says he, that would be God, disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly.

He triumphed over them in Christ. What's he talking about here? He's talking about the defeat of the cosmic powers of darkness.

He's talking about triumphing over Satan, of fulfilling that prophecy in Genesis 3 .15,

where there would be born through the woman one who would crush the head of the serpent.

That's what he's talking about here. And Jesus did all of that. And the verbs that kind of leap off the page, at least in the version

I'm reading, are the verbs that say disarmed, disgraced, triumphed.

In other words, Jesus Christ utterly humiliated and defeated

Satan and his demonic army so that Satan can no longer imprison people in fear if they believe in Jesus as their

Savior and Lord. There is no fear of death. See, that was his hook.

He could keep somebody in fear. But if sin has been paid for, then there's no more death because we die because we sin.

But there's no more eternal death. Sin's been removed. So he doesn't have that anymore.

And we don't fear death, so we don't fear him. And he cannot touch us.

Influence, yes. Touch us, no. Not as Christians. And so Jesus Christ did that.

You know, when Jesus was tempted and at the final temptation, he finally says to Satan, go away,

Satan. I mean, you talk about one of those experiences that must have been like a hot knife cutting into Satan because he had never heard that before.

Go away, Satan. But it was a stunning and crippling defeat.

And it was the beginning of the dismantling of this kingdom of darkness.

As you see throughout the Gospels, every time Jesus shows up and there's a person who is afflicted with demons, they cry out in fear because he is the conqueror.

Now that's our God. Behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

You know, this is what Jesus meant when he said, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

You will be free from Satan's dominion. He cannot touch you.

You're free from sin's dominion. It no longer rules over us.

And we are free from death because Jesus offers us life.

And he does so with abundance. You are free indeed.

You're no longer chained to the lies of Satan. So here again are three samples from Colossians where we see something of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

We see his excellencies. We see his perfection. We see everything that is admirable about God.

His majesty. We see the reason why he's described in Isaiah as wonderful.

Jesus is wonderful. And so is God. It's the glory of God.

Now we don't have to wait until the sweet by and by to see the glory of God.

We can see it right here and right now in the face of Jesus Christ as you and I look in the pages of Scripture and we read it with an eye to look for it.

And so really that's my challenge today. Will you practice this? Will you begin to look for this?

Look for what is astonishing and wondrous and excellent and most worthy of praise as you read through the

Bible. And you say, there it is. And then when you see it, stop and praise the

Lord. You know, it wouldn't hurt to have a hymnal within reach of your arm when you're reading the

Bible so that you can find a hymn in there that exclaims what your heart is feeling.

Because, you know, songs have a way of doing that. That's what's so great about them.

That's why there's a whole song book in the book of Psalms for us to use. So I would encourage you to keep a notepad handy as you're reading the

Bible to jot some of these things down. Say, there it is. There it is.

The glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Christ is glorious.

Christ is very glorious. Christ is most glorious.

Christ is always glorious. And Christ is altogether glorious.

Let's pray. Our God and our Heavenly Father today, as we come before you, we've looked at these and now we pray that through the

Spirit of God, you would open our eyes to give us understanding of that which has been offered to us to see something of your glory right here and now in this lifetime as we look forward to seeing the fullness of it when we see

Christ face to face. But until that day, continue to inspire us and teach us as we read through the