27th Mar 26 | 16:08
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Luke 20 41-47 Christ, the Son of David 13 Luke 20 45-47 Seeking God’s glory
📖 Luke 20:41-47
21Apr2021 - *Seeking God’s glory* - _Luke 20:41-47_ - CHRIST, THE SON OF DAVID (13) – Bible reading: _Hebrews 11:32-40_
The Lord is teaching us, as His disciples, not to fall into the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy but we must ensure to fulfil the task of being priests and kings in the lineage of David, before God.
We have been following the ministry of Apostle Paul and his team to learn lessons on how we need to accomplish the ministry entrusted to us.
_Luke 20:45-47 Then, in the hearing of all the people, He said to His disciples, (46) “Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, (47) who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. *These will receive greater condemnation*."_
This kind of pretentious ministry will receive greater condemnation and therefore we need to check and introspect our own lives if we have fallen into the leaven of the Pharisees.
We continue to learn from Apostle Paul and his team. _I Thessalonians 2:6 *Nor did we seek glory from men*, either from you or from others, when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ._
As apostles of Christ, they could have had expectations from the people to whom they ministered and would have wanted those needs to be met. They had no requirements from the people and were not seeking their glory.
When we look at the way we conduct our ministry, it is shameful, for we have expectations from the people we serve. When those requirements are not met, we are disappointed. We fret, fume and sulk.
It has become common practice in our ministry to seek the glory of people. We even measure the effectiveness of our ministry by the response that we receive from people. We go to great lengths to increase our image and visibility in the eyes of people. We have called it brand building. We have considered this as a norm and even a necessity in ministry today. *God is watching all that we do*.
_Proverbs 25:27 It is not good to eat much honey; *So to seek one's own glory is not glory*._
It is for God to promote us or raise us up for whatever He may want to do in us and through us, for which we must be prepared. If God were to put us away from the eyes of people and in a small circle of influence, we must be thankful and be joyful in the Lord.
When our heart is bent upon seeking our glory, what does it do to us? Faith in God is affected when we seek our glory. Faith in God will become a glib term and will have no significance in our lives. This will lead us to lead a double life of one that is public-facing and the other which is who we really are.
As these two compartments widen away from each other, we will be living in mediocrity and defeat. _John 5:44 *How can you believe*, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?_
Therefore, we must be crying to God to make us those who seek only the glory of God. To see His name lifted up. John the Baptist shunned the limelight and his life passion was God’s glory. _John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease._
When we seek only the glory of God then we become true and God’s righteousness dwells in us. _John 7:18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but *He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him*._
This is how Jesus became true and righteous for He always sought the glory of the Father. This needs to be our identity too, *people of truth and righteousness*.
The Christian life is a life that is set apart from the world. We are set apart for God. *To be set apart for God makes us be the Doulos of Jesus*. _Galatians 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ._
All through history, the men and women who accomplished much for the kingdom of God were those who were the Doulos of Jesus.
Many of us are more familiar with the first portion of Hebrews 11, of the heroes of faith, and how their life is challenging. When we come to the latter part of the chapter, we see there that being a Doulos of Jesus was not about becoming heroes but actually *those of whom the world was not worthy*.
They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented
_Hebrews 11:32-40 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: (33) who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, (34) quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens._
_(35) Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. (36) Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. (37) They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— (38) *of whom the world was not worthy*. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth._
_(39) And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, (40) God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us._
*Thought to ponder*
Friend, are you prepared to be a person not seeking glory from men but only seeking God’s glory?