Seeing & Savoring: We Value the Glory of God

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes.

“Whither is God?” he cried; “I will tell you.

We have killed him—you and I. All of us are his murderers.

But how did we do this? How could we drink up the sea?

Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon?

What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun?

Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving? Away from all suns?

Are we not plunging continually?

Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down?

Are we not straying, as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space?

Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us?”

~“The Parable of the Madman” by Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

“How much larger your life would be, if your self could become smaller in it.”

~G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), author and literary critic in Orthodoxy

“For even creation reveals Him who formed it, and the very work made suggests Him who made it, and the world manifests Him who ordered it.”

~Irenaeus (c.125-c.202), early church leader, in Against Heresies (II.9.1)

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all

Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever:

Its loveliness increases; it will never

Pass into nothingness; but still will keep

A bower quiet for us, and a sleep…

An endless fountain of immortal drink,

Pouring unto us from the heaven’s brink.”

~John Keats (1795-1821) from “Ode to a Grecian Urn” and Endymion

“Because the face of God is so lovely, my brothers and sisters, so beautiful, once you have seen it, nothing else can give you pleasure. It will give insatiable satisfaction of which we will never tire. We shall always be hungry and always have our fill.”

~Augustine (354-430 A.D.), North African church leader and theologian

“Glory is the beauty of God unveiled! Glory is the resplendent radiance of His power and His personality…. Glory is the external elegance of the internal excellencies of God. Glory is what you see and experience and feel when God goes public with His beauty!”

~C. Samuel Storms (1951-present), theologian and author

SERMON PASSAGE

Psalm 19

1 The heavens declare the glory of God,

 and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

2 Day to day pours out speech,

 and night to night reveals knowledge.

Isaiah 6

1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory!”

John 1

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 12

41 Isaiah said these things because he saw [Jesus’s] glory and spoke of him. 42 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

John 17

5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed….

24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

Leviticus 10

1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. 2 And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. 3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’” And Aaron held his peace.

1 Corinthians 3

16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

Romans 1

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.