Gospel Completion

Well, let me, invite you to turn in your Bibles to Colossians chapter 1 verse 28. We're gonna be looking at A handful of passages of scripture this morning, as I speak to you on the subject of gospel completion. Gospel completion or a glorious completion, which is the title of the message. As a church, we have been saying to you in recent weeks that our purpose is to help people to journey from brokenness to wholeness through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And as we have been observing in recent weeks. There are 5 key elements of this journey from brokenness to wholeness, and that is gospel conversion. Gospel centrality, gospel community. And gospel commission that we looked at last Sunday and then the final point of this journey that we will be looking at this morning is gospel completion and glory.

In Colossians chapter 1 verse 28, the passage I had you turn to Paul states that the reason that he preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ is ultimately to make people complete. He says, and we proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom that we may present every man complete. In Christ This is our goal. As a church for you and everything we do is designed to help you end up in a place of total completeness in Jesus Christ.

But we do have to be careful in how we think about this idea of completeness. When we believe in Christ and call upon his name on the day of our conversion, there is a sense in which from a judicial point of view, we are immediately in that moment made complete, right? On day one of our Christian life, we are forgiven of a whole lifetime of sins and declared righteous in God's sight, leaving us on that very day as justified. And as righteous in God's sight as we will ever be.

But we're not yet complete in every way, right? If we're honest, we still have a lot of maturing. To do We still have indwelling sin and we often go astray from God. And we experience brokenness in our relationships with one another.

And our physical bodies are subject to the ravages of aging and weakness. And disease and ultimately to death. But God's agenda for us is to bring us to a point eventually, where indwelling sin is removed. Where we enjoy seamless communion with God and others for all of eternity.

And where even our physical bodies are rendered completely whole. Which is why the Holy Spirit utters. The heart of God so beautifully to us through the apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, and you can write that reference down. 1 Thessalonians 5:23, saying, now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete.

Without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So when we talk about the journey from. Brokenness to wholeness, the wholeness that we are talking about is this state of being utterly and totally complete, harboring no defect of any sort and lacking in nothing for all of eternity with Christ in heaven. You look forward to that day?

And, guys, what the thing is that transforms us. Into this state of utter completeness. In every way in Christ. It's the glory of God.

And the process of making us utterly complete. In all the ways I just described is called glorification. And it is this ultimate glorification that fully repairs the ancient defect that has plagued us as far back as Adam and Eve. In Romans chapter 3 verse 23, a passage familiar to.

many of you makes a statement that Paul makes a statement that cuts. To the chase and tells us the sad truth about the human race, which includes all of us. He says all have sinned. And fall short of the glory of God.

Literally all have sinned and are falling short of the glory of God. This is our fundamental problem. And it is true of all of us. Paul says all have sinned.

And because we have sinned, Paul says that we are in the present state. Of continuously falling short of the glory of God. The word that is translated falls short here in Romans 3:23 means to suffer lack. Given Paul's use of the present tense here, he's telling us that the glory of God is a needful thing that we must have, but we are continuously suffering from the lack of God's glory.

In our lives, and this leaves us with a huge problem. The glory of God is the only currency. That has any purchasing power on our salvation. Yet we have lost this glory and are suffering a continual lack of it because of our sin.

This is our problem outside of Christ. But here's the good news. The gospel of Jesus Christ is all about delivering us from our sin. Delivering us from the guilt of our sin, the power of our sin, and ultimately even the presence of sin and restoring this glory to us.

Paul teaches us this truth in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 14, when he says, listen to his words. 2 Thessalonians 2:14, it was for this that God called you through our gospel. That you may gain the glory. Of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And guys, when a believer in Jesus calls upon his name. And ultimately comes to a place where they have fully gained the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Guess what? They no longer fall short of the glory of God.

They could say, I have sinned, but I don't fall short of the glory of God anymore because of Jesus Christ. So this is why we must say that this 5th element of our journey from brokenness to wholeness, which is gospel completion, involves glory. In fact, the glory of God is the very essence of this completion. It is the essence of the wholeness that we are journeying towards.

When we say that we as a church wanna help people to journey to wholeness, what we're really saying. Is that we wanna help them to journey from the brokenness of sin all the way to experiencing the completeness that comes. When we are glorified by the very glory of God. And so this morning, I, I want to preach to you two sermons.

Or at least one sermon that's broken up into two parts. In the first part, I want to take some time to define what we mean by glorification. Then in the second half of the message I wanna show you 4 ways that the looming reality of final glorification figured so meaningfully in Paul's thinking and that'll give us ideas of how this reality of our future glorification should figure into our thinking as well. So first of all, let's let's define what we mean by glory.

Or let's say it this way, let's try to identify the nature of the glorification that we gain through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Three truths that we'll look at regarding the glorification we gain through the gospel of Christ. Number 1, this may surprise you a little bit. It includes gradual present change into the likeness of Christ.

It includes gradual, even present change into the likeness of Christ. We naturally tend To think of glorification is only something that comes at the end of our pilgrimage. But Paul, I think, would have us to see glorification as something that actually starts earlier than that. In 2 Corinthians 3:18, let me have you turn to this passage.

2 Corinthians 3:18. The apostle Paul speaks of what he's doing in the here and now. And he says, but we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror what? The glory of the Lord.

Are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. The word translated, transformed in this passage is the Greek word we get our English word metamorphosis from. This is a word that speaks of radical change, not just a tweaking here and there. But a transformation from one thing into something radically different.

Like a caterpillar being transformed into a butterfly. Paul is saying this is happening in my life day by day. And the catalyst for this transformation, he says, is the glory of the Lord. And as Paul teaches us here, we get changed by this glory as we gaze upon it.

As John Piper says, beholding. Beholding is a way of becoming. And here Paul is saying as we are beholding, as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, we are undergoing a metamorphosis into the same image. Of the glory of what we are beholding and how does this change happen?

Paul says from glory to glory. Evidently the sight of the glorious image of Jesus Christ is so powerful that it changes us, even now in this world. As we behold it, as we gaze upon the glory of Christ, actual deposits of Christ's glory. Evidently travel through the eyes of our heart and start attaching themselves to our persons and we are transformed by these deposits of glory.

Theologians call this process sanctification. And they are correct to label this process in this way, but Paul's language here indicates. That this thing that we typically call sanctification is really just an early stage of our glorification. Because he describes himself here as being transformed into the image of Christ from glory to glory.

In other words, from one level of glory to another as he beholds. The glory of the Lord in the here and now. And with this understanding, guys, you come to realize and appreciate that every positive change in you as a Christian. No matter how small.

Is a part of your glorification. It's an early ray of that coming dawn when you will be completely glorified to be totally like Christ. Evidently our future glorification that awaits us is so great that it cannot be completely contained simply in the age to come. It spills forth from the future into the present.

And we are experiencing the beginnings of this glorification even right now. As we are being changed day by day into Christ image. And so I, I have good news for you today if you are a Christian, you don't have to wait for your glorification to begin. The good news of 2 Corinthians 3:18 is that this process can be going on right now as we behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord and experience transformation into his image from one stage of glory to another.

And by the way, if you're wanting to know where do I find the glory of the Lord so that I can behold it. Please know that. The glory of the Lord in its thickest density dwells inside the gospel. You will find his glory in the gospel.

How do I know this? Just 5 verses later, in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4, Paul speaks of how Satan works so hard to blind people from seeing, listen to this, the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. You stare at Jesus. Through the window of the gospel and then discover that that window is a mirror that reflects back on you.

As you admire him and meditate upon him, letting the beauty of his person capture your heart. And it is the glory of his person that changes you as you stare at him. Now normally it's impolite to stare. But the nice thing about Jesus is he evidently does not mind you staring at him.

And so this morning I can say to you, stare at Jesus all you like. And let yourself be day by day changed into his beautiful image as you become more like him. Get your eyes off of the things of this world. And fix your eyes on him.

And to you who tend to spend a lot of time examining yourself, being introspective, get your eyes off of yourself and fix your gaze upon him. Because a whole lot of good lies downstream of gazing at him. And if you do that If you take your eyes off of yourself and fix your eyes on Jesus and gaze upon him. I promise you that when you get to heaven, God will not say to you, you spent too much time staring at Jesus.

You should have spent more time looking at yourself. That's not going to happen. You cannot stare at Jesus too much. So our glorification broadly defined actually includes what's happening even now.

It includes our gradual transformation into the likeness of Christ, but glorification includes more. Than this. 2, it entails relationship with God. It entails relationship with God.

There's no way of understanding the biblical concept of glory or glorification without understanding that part of the glory of God lies in his relationality. And so for us, the essence of glorification involves relationship with God. And let me show you how this is true. turn to 2 Peter.

2 Peter My notes say chapter 3 verse 7, but I. I'm not sure that's right. And 2 Peter. Talk amongst yourselves while I'm looking and checking.

Yeah, that's not, not chapter 3. yeah, it's chapter 1, verse 17, 2 Peter 1:17. Peter speaks of the glory that. The glory of Christ that he witnessed at Jesus' transfiguration.

Saying in verse 17, when he, speaking of Jesus, received honor and glory, there's that word from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory. There's that word again. This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. And notice what Peter is saying here and what he's choosing to talk about.

Jesus received glory from the Father. And that glory came in the form of the father's exclamation. This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Peter doesn't even bother in this passage, telling us that Jesus was physically transfigured and glowing.

In this particular moment, although the gospel accounts tell us that this is true, but the glory that Peter is speaking about here is in the way the Father spoke over Jesus. In this moment as his beloved son. With whom he is well pleased. Is it coincidental That in Jesus' moment of greatest glowing, as we see the transfiguration of Jesus described in the Gospels, that in this moment of greatest glowing, the Father was there.

Speaking over Jesus, expressing his love for him, celebrating the fact that he was his own son and expressing his pleasure in him. I don't think that's a coincidence. They all go together. In fact, imagine that you could approach Jesus and ask him, Jesus, what is your greatest glory?

Imagine asking him that question. What would he say? Would he say, check out how my skin glows. My glowing skin is my greatest glory.

I don't think he would He would say my greatest glory is my relationship with my father. My greatest glory is the affection that my father has for me, that he takes pleasure in me and that I stand in relationship to him uniquely as his only begotten son. My greatest glory, even right now in my ascended state is that I am in the bosom of my father wrapped in his embrace at his right hand. This relationship is my greatest glory.

In fact, in John chapter 17, let me have you turn there. John 17, we have a unique passage in which Jesus. Literally prays for his own glorification. And you'll notice that it's all about relationship with his father.

Listen to how he words his request in John 17:5. He says, Now, Father, look at this, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was. Notice that the glory Jesus is speaking of and longing for is a relational glory. Glorify me, Father, in relationship with yourself, with the glory I had before the world was in relationship with you.

Jesus is not merely asking for a restoration of an individual glory, but Of a relational glory, seen in his togetherness with the Father in heaven. And then go to verse 20 of John 17 and notice how Jesus prays for us to get included in this glorification of Himself. Starting in verse 20, he says, I do not ask on behalf of these. These disciples alone.

But for those also who believe in me through their word, that would include you and me. Verse 21, that they may all be one, even as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me. The glory, the glory which you have given me, I have given to them. That they may be one just as we are one.

I and them and you and me, that they may be perfected in unity so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory, which you have given me. What is the essence of that glory? For you loved me.

Before the foundation. Of the world And guys, when Jesus prays here for. Us to be able to see his glory one day. He isn't praying that we'll somehow be in heaven and be able to see his glory from a distance.

He's praying that we will be able to see experientially. His glory from the vantage point of being caught up inside the very relationship between the father and the son, to see it firsthand as a joint recipient of this glory together. With Jesus Most of you parents know what it's like for you as a husband and wife to be hugging one another. And your child is in the room and witnesses that and stops what they're doing and and what do they often do?

They come over to where you are and they squeeze themselves in. They see love being shown and they want to be in the middle of that and as parents when we see that I hope you do this, you welcome them in that circle of embrace, right? This is literally what Christ is doing to us. Christ is.

Is scooping up into this embrace between the father. And himself. This embrace is his greatest glory. And he brings us inside that we might experience this glory as well.

This is so instructive for us. If being in close loving relationship with God. Is a part of what glorification actually entails, then. That should explain to you everything that you need to know.

About what we lost because of our sin. And it tells us something very important that we need to know about the gospel of Jesus Christ. God sent his son into the world to die on the cross. To provide atonement for our sins and to give us the forgiveness of sins and to justify us, and he did all of that, not as an end in itself, but to render us fit to now be brought into relationship with him.

Being his sons and daughters, loved by him and accepted in the beloved forever, this relationship with God is our glory. Even now it is our greatest glory. And the Christian life is all about simply getting acclimated. To the riches.

Of this relationship and learning how to live in close and intimate relationship with God and finding our greatest glory in that, and then looking forward into the future to being with the triune God and unhindered fullness for all of eternity in heaven. This leads us to the 3rd truth regarding the glorification that we gain through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Number 3, it entails complete conformity to Christ, spirit, soul, and body. It entails complete conformity to Christ, spirit, soul, and body.

And it is here that we're now discussing what theologians usually are speaking of when they use the word glorification. In Romans 7, Paul talks about how sin indwells his physicality and makes war against him and hinders his desire to do good at every turn. He longs to be free of the presence of indwelling sin in his earthly body. So as a Christian man, he cries out in Romans chapter 7, verse 24, 0 wretched man that I am.

Who will set me free from the body of this death? And then he goes on to thank God that he will experience this deliverance through Jesus Christ. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 16, Paul talks about his physical body and how it is decaying. But listen to what he says that Christ will do in a future day.

He says that he God will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory, speaking of the body of Christ's glory. Evidently Christ will not just give us brand new bodies. When we are in His presence, He will take our present physical bodies and rapture them or resurrect them and transform them into glorified bodies that will be like His resurrection, glorified body. This is an awkward question.

Do you want a perfect body? How many of you would love one day to have a perfect body? Raise your hand. All right, it's no shame in admitting that.

You want a body that will never age. A body that will live in full vitality for trillions of millennia. Believe in Jesus, if that's what you want. Believing in Jesus is the single best thing you can do for your body.

Because Christ Will one day transform the body. Of believers in him into something that is very much like his glorious resurrection body. There will be no, and I'm thankful for this, no receding hairlines in heaven. There will be no wrinkled skin.

There will be no cancer, no COVID, no sickness, no disease. There will be no need for glasses. There will be no ADA accessible ramps. In heaven And no wheelchairs in heaven because they won't be needed.

Oh. Brian Q will be doing cartwheels and handstands in heaven. And none of us will be able to get him to stop. This is what awaits us.

This sudden instantaneous, full glorification will happen to us who believe in Jesus on the day of resurrection. When our bodies are raised from the earth and clothed with immortality and with glory. Paul speaks of this very day in 1 Corinthians 15, when he says in verse 51 and 52, behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, speaking of the sleep of death, but we will all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

That day is coming. And what a day that will be when we are glorified in all the ways that we have just defined. So far in this message, when we are fully like Jesus Christ inside and out, when we are together with him relating to the Father. And with his son and unhindered fullness with bodies that are utterly free.

Of the presence of indwelling sin and weakness and sickness and disease and death with bodies that have glorified eyes that can behold the face of God and live. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, this is the journey you're on. This is your destination. This is where you are headed.

We who believe in Jesus are on a journey from brokenness to this wholeness. And the Bible tells us. In passages like what we've looked at and in other passages what we will look like. When we reach the end of our journey.

Think about it, God could have withheld from us the knowledge of this future glorification. He could have said I got an amazing surprise for you, but I'll hold that until you get to heaven. He could've done that, but he doesn't do that. Instead he tells us so much in his word about our future glorification because he intends.

For it to impact our lives and our thoughts even now. And this leads us to the 2nd. Part of my message where I want us to observe 4 ways that this future glorification of believers figured so prominently. And Paul's thinking 4 ways.

That ultimate glorification. Figured Into Paul's thinking, number one. He rejoiced. And the certainty Of his future glorification.

He rejoiced in the certainty of his future glorification. Listen to what Paul says in Romans 5. You can turn to this passage if you like. Romans chapter 5, and we'll look at verses 1 and 2.

Paul says Therefore Having been justified by faith. We have peace with God, literally toward God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand and we literally are continually rejoicing or exulting in hope of the glory of God. Paul is saying here as a justified one. I now have been brought into a relationship with God that is characterized by peace, by the luxurious presence of all that is needful for a rich and vital relationship with God.

This is all of grace, which means I can't lose it at some future point because I failed to earn it or deserve it. And because of this justification, because of this relationship with God that I have been saved into, and because it is all of grace, I am right now already continuously rejoicing in the certain hope in the confident expectation of the glory of God. That I will one day be completely glorified. With the very glory of God.

This complete glorification, Paul would say, has not happened yet, but I know it's coming, and I'm celebrating now. Some people might think that this celebration by Paul is premature. Some would consider it arrogant that he could be so confident. Most of us have seen videos of athletes.

In various sports that start celebrating a little too early, right? And they pay the consequences for that, much to their chagrin. But Paul would say I'm not celebrating too early. Because I've been justified and the fact that I've been justified automatically means that I will be glorified.

Write down this reference Romans 8:30 where Paul explicitly says that those whom God justifies, he also glorifies. That's a chain that will never be broken. God never justifies anyone whom he will not end up glorifying. So Paul would say my celebration of my future glorification has already started.

If you could have hung out with Paul, there would have been times where you saw him just rejoicing and so excited. Happy in the Lord and it's like, Paul, what's, what are you so happy about? I look at your circumstances and they kinda stink. You're in prison.

There's a lot going wrong. What are you so excited about? And he would begin to tell you about his future glorification. And his confident expectation of that, that's what was affecting his mood.

That's what he would be rejoicing in. That's what he's talking about in this passage. And what, this doesn't mean that we don't grieve. There's much to grieve in this broken world.

We groan in our present condition and we grieve our sins. But in the midst of our groanings. We should also be exulting in the hope of the glory of God, as Paul does here. There's a second way that Paul's expectation of complete glorification figured into his thinking.

Number 2, let's word it this way, he viewed this glorification as always near. He viewed this glorification as always near. Turn to Romans 8:18. Romans 8:18, Paul speaks about.

This coming glorification. And he says, for I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed. In us. And pay attention to Paul's language here.

According to Paul's words, this is not simply a glory that will be revealed to us. But literally a glory that will be revealed into us. In other words, this glory will not simply be something put in front of us for us to behold and be dazzled by, nor will it simply be something placed around us, but it will actually pierce into us and then actually be unveiled in us. That's his language.

And then there's something else to notice in this verse that is not brought out in most English translations. Let me read this verse to you from Young's literal translation. Which does a good job of capturing. A verb in this passage that doesn't often get translated in other Greek or English translations.

Young's literal translation has Paul saying this, for I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory about to be. revealed in us. About to be revealed in us, the Greek verb. That Young's literal translation translates as about to be.

speaks of imminence. Immediacy of intention, readiness. Or nearness. Paul wrote these words almost 2000 years ago, which might make you think that he was wrong to say that this glory was about to be revealed.

Normally when you say to someone that something's about to happen, if 2000 years go by and it hasn't happened, you start to question. Did they speak accurately? However, Paul was not wrong at all to speak this way. We are the ones who need to have our minds expanded to understand why he would choose to speak this way.

In his commentary on this very verse in Romans 8, Matthew Henry speaks of the glory that is coming to us as being, quote, behind the curtain, unquote. Meaning that it's there and it's poised and ready to be revealed even now. The revelation of this glory may be 100 years away, it may be 2000 years into the future. But it is very near to us, even now.

It is always in every moment just behind the curtain. It is not simply something that sits at the end of the lengthy timeline of our lives and of human history, but as something that is always near to us as we walk that timeline and as something that is ready to break in upon us whenever God gives the word. And when this glory does break in on you and me and become manifest. We will all be left.

With a strong sense of how near it was to us all along. All along we'll realize it was right beside us. Just behind the curtain. I'm a sucker.

For military reunion videos. which feature those who have served our country being reunited with. Their families, and I was rewatching this week a video of Sergeant Theron Johnson. Returning from Iraq and surprising his nine year old daughter whose name is Skyler.

Her school had set up a spelling bee as the setting for the surprise and Skyler was up on stage. And she had just been given the word sergeant. To spell And fortunately, she spelled sergeant correctly and then they asked her, is there a sergeant in your life who is special to you? And she replied, my dad.

There was a curtain behind her on that stage, just about 3 ft away from her. And at that moment, the curtains opened, and she turned around and there stood her dad. And they stepped towards each other and embraced in a tearful reunion. And it was then that my allergies kicked in as I was watching the.

The video But the next day, I think it was on Good Morning America, Sergeant Johnson was on. that program explaining what it was like for him. To be standing behind that curtain before the curtain was opened. Listen to what he said I quote, he says, I couldn't wait.

I was behind the curtain and I kept telling the lady operating the curtain, open the curtain. I'm ready. My daughter was only 3 ft in front of me. We were that close, but the curtain separated us and she didn't even know.

And guys, that's the way it is with our savior and with our glorification. The glorification that lies in your future is actually right next to you. With only a thin curtain. That separates.

You from the explosion of this glory upon you and then into your whole being. Your full glorification. May lie many. Years in the future, but when it comes, you're gonna be grateful for it then, but you'll be left with a very strong sense of how close it was to you.

All along. And maybe you'll wish you had appreciated that reality. As you journey through life, but hopefully this passage helps you to appreciate that reality that is yours even right now so take heart in the knowledge that this glorification is coming to you and even right now it is so near and your savior is ready. He's ready.

There's a 3rd way that Paul's expectation of complete glorification figured into his thinking. Number 3. He viewed His present sufferings against the backdrop of his future glorification, he viewed. His present sufferings against the backdrop of his future glorification.

Look again at what Paul says in Romans 8:18. He says, for I consider, I am considering right now. I'm thinking about this. This is the stuff that Paul thought about.

I consider that the sufferings, I've done the math on this, I've done the reckoning. I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is about to be revealed in us. Paul knew that his sufferings, no matter how painful or heavy they might be, absolutely could not compare. To the glory that is to be revealed in Him and in all of us.

If you were to take all of your suffering in this life, and some of you have suffered much. And put it on one side of the scales. They would seem very heavy if that's all that you were looking at. But if you took the glory that will be given to you in heaven and put that on the other side of the scales, it would outweigh your suffering so much that the two things don't even belong on the same set of scales.

It would be like putting 1000 pounds on one side of the scales, which is a lot. And then putting 1 trillion tons. On the other side That's the ratio of our future glory to our present suffering. Our future glory awaiting us is not just greater than our suffering, it is so much greater that any attempt to compare the two is a joke.

In Paul's mind Keep in mind that these words from Romans 8:18 are coming from a man. Who suffered a ton over the 34 years of his life after he was converted to Christ. In fact, you don't have to turn here, but just, just listen to this in 2 Corinthians 11. Starting in verse 23, Paul lists some of the things he suffered.

He says in 2 Corinthians 11:23, I have been beaten times without number, often in danger of death. 5 times I received from the Jews 39 lashes. 3 times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned.

3 times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights and hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure, and apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern. For all the churches.

And yet Listen to how he quantifies his suffering in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians 4:17. Read or just listen to his words. He says for our.

Momentary. Light Affliction Is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. How could Paul speak of his decades of suffering? As momentary.

How does a man do that? Well, it's because he's seeing his suffering against the backdrop of the length. Of eternal glory in heaven. How could he call his sufferings light?

Because he was looking at how heavy the glory is. that awaits him in heaven. How could Paul have this perspective of his present sufferings, viewing them as momentary and light? Well, he could have this perspective because of what he was looking at.

In verse 18 of 2 Corinthians 4, he says, while we're looking not at the things which are seen. But at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Even in the midst of his decades of suffering. Paul had his eye.

On the eternal glory to come. And that made all the difference in how he saw his present suffering, and I think you and I do well to follow his example. In fact, he even says that the sufferings of this present time are producing this weight of glory. There's a relationship.

Imagine a seesaw with half of the seesaw in this life and the other half in the life to come for the believer and however far down your sufferings take you in this life, that's how far up the glory is. In heaven for all of eternity, there's a correlation in some way that we'll understand. Better when we enter into this glory. There's a 4th way that Paul allowed ultimate glorification to figure into his thinking.

And we would add into his approach to people, number 4, he viewed his fellow Christians in light of their ultimate glorification. He viewed his fellow Christians in light of their ultimate glorification. when you read through Paul's epistles, you realize that when he looked at his brothers and sisters in Christ, he did not just see them as they were in the moment he saw them for what they would be in glory. For example, Paul was actually able, believe it or not, to look at the messed up Corinthians.

Who had so many problems and defects that Paul had to address. And in 1 Corinthians 1:8, 1 Corinthians 1:8, Paul speaks of Jesus Christ and says to them, the Corinthians, that Christ will confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul is saying, when I look at you Corinthians, I don't just see you as you are now, I see you for what you will be in glory. I already know what you're gonna look like.

You're gonna be blameless. You're not blameless now, but you will be then. And the certain knowledge of their future transformation is what gave Paul a heart of love for them, desire to participate in their journey that they were taking to God's throne. And it gave them the courage to dive into their present brokenness and to get to work on them.

And they're in this letter. Paul was able to look at the Philippians who were not perfect Christians by any stretch and say to them in Philippians 1:6, for I am confident of this very thing that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Again, Paul's example here teaches us that when we look at our brothers and sisters in Christ we should see them not simply as they are now, we should see them as they will be in glory and looking at our brothers and sisters in this way should have a transforming effect, should it not on the way we treat our brothers and sisters even now with the respect and the honor.

And the love that they are due as future glorified ones.

I don't know how much time you spend thinking about this, like your own future glorification and then thinking about your brothers and sisters' future glorification. CS Lewis has helped me immensely with this in his essay, The Weight of Glory. Listen to what he says. This has proven so helpful for me.

He says, and I quote, It may be possible for a person to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter. But it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about the future glory of his neighbor. It is a serious thing to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may 1 day be a creature which if you saw him now, you would be strongly tempted to worship. Or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet if at all only in a nightmare.

There are no ordinary people you have never talked to a mere mortal. It is immortals whom we joke with. Work with Mary Snub And exploit immortal horrors. Or Everlasting splendors.

And guess who the everlasting splendors are. They are your brothers and sisters in Christ. This thought has gripped me over the past decade. Think about it this way, if you could.

Right now, see your brothers and sisters in Christ. As the everlasting splendors that they will be in glory. You would be sorely tempted to bow down and worship them. Your eyes up to this point of your life have never seen anything so wonderful as your brothers and sisters will be.

When they're in the presence of Christ. And when you do actually see them in a future day in their fully glorified state, how will you wish you had treated them? During their earthly pilgrimage to that glory. If you get a vision for this, then it helps you as you engage with your brothers and sisters in the Lord even now in their brokenness.

And it'll help you to appreciate the beauty that you see in them, even in the midst of their brokenness. When you see imperfections in them. You can say those imperfections are temporary. They won't be a part of their glorified self.

When you see something good in your brothers and sisters in the Lord, you can say, that's permanent. That will be a part of their glorified self. And I, I gotta give credit where credit's due. I've been helped to think this way.

By Timothy and Kathy Keller in their book The Meaning of Marriage. Where they use some of the language that I'm using here. In fact, let me read to you a portion from their book and what I'm gonna read here is directed toward married couples, but I like to apply it also to how I view my brothers and sisters in the Lord. Listen to what they say.

Within the Christian vision for marriage. And we would also say the church, here's what it means to fall in love. It is to look at another person and get a glimpse of the person God is creating and to say I see who God is making you and it excites me. I wanna be part of that.

I wanna partner with you and God in the journey that you are taking to his throne and when we get there, I will look at your magnificence and say I always knew that you could be like this. I got glimpses of it on Earth, but now look at you. This is the way that Paul thought about the Corinthians, the Philippians. This is the way he thought about his brothers and sisters and the Lord, whom he ministered to, which is why.

He speaks to the Thessalonian Christians in 1 Thessalonians 2:19 and says, for who? Who is our hope or joy or crown of exaltation? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? Paul knew the everlasting splendors that the Thessalonians were destined to be, and he was already celebrating.

And treating them as such. Just as we wrap things up this morning, Paul had his eyes on the future glory that was awaiting him and And his brothers and sisters in Christ, he was staring at the glory of Christ, even in the present. And experiencing the early stages of his glorification, but he also kept his eyes fixed on the ultimate glorification to come. The glory to come for himself and for all of his brothers and sisters in the Lord to whom he ministered.

And because of this, he didn't have any fear of death. In fact, he longed for it. In Philippians 1:23, Paul said to the Philippians, I have the desire to depart and to be with Christ. Notice the relationality there.

For that is very much better. Than being here In Philippians 1:21, Paul says to die is gain. Because it ushered him into the presence. Of Christ Near the end of his final letter while sitting in prison in the very shadow of death, Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 6, he says, the time of my departure has come.

He knows he's about to die, but look at what he says beginning in verse 7. I have fought the fight, or I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith.

In the future, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. Over the five messages of the series we have followed Paul through his 34 year journey from the brokenness of sin all the way to glory from the Damascus road to the prison in Rome where he. Awaits his martyrdom and his entry into heaven. After 2 Timothy was written, church tradition indicates that he was likely beheaded.

However he died, we know that he died well and that he is now in the presence of the Lord Jesus, awaiting the future resurrection of his body. Which is the moment that his glorification. And our glorification will be truly and utterly complete. To use Paul's own words in 2 Thessalonians 2:14.

When resurrection day comes and Paul receives his glorified body. Paul will say that it was through the gospel that he fully gained the glory. Of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the journey that all of us are on as believers.

It's a journey we're taking. It's a journey worth inviting others into, and I invite you into that journey. If you have never experienced salvation through Jesus, this is Your day to believe. And experience his grace and to join us on this journey.

Brokenness to wholeness through this gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a journey worth inviting others into telling them that all who believe in Christ will ultimately not fall short of the glory of God. And when that moment comes when You and I'm speaking to you as members of Cornerstone, when that moment comes when you are standing before Christ, completely whole in body and in soul and spirit. We want you to be able to think.

I'm glad that Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church was a part of my journey. And whether you think that thought or not. I'm pretty sure that when we see you on that day. We will be blessed.

I will be blessed to have been. A part of your journey. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, we have just scratched the surface of this future glory, and I'm thankful that having concluded this.

Short little series and ending on this note that what now lies before us is to get back to our study of revelation. Where we will land in Revelation 20 begin to gaze at these very glories that we've touched on today. We thank you, Lord, for Saving us. Who have called upon your name for giving us grace to believe.

And to cry out to you for salvation. You have done exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we could ask or think, and even as we think of the things to come. Eye has not seen nor his ear heard neither has it ever entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him. Just based on what we know today, we can all say that you are an amazingly good savior, but we don't know a fraction of all the good.

Of what still lies in our future, but you do tell us many things and give us eyes to see those things that you tell us about our future glory and the future glory of our brothers and may those realities actually impact the way we live. The way We treat one another. The way we minister. Even today.

We ask these things, Lord, in the name of Jesus. And all God's people said,