Today on the Evangelists Podcast, God's missionary glory and our glorious mission.
SPEAKER_03The Evangelists Podcast. Encouragement to speak life to a needy world. With Glenn Scrivener and Andy Brinkley.
SPEAKER_04This is the Evangelist Podcast, encouraging you in sharing your faith. I'm Andy Brinkley, Media Producer, and you're Glenn Scrivener. Yes, I am.
SPEAKER_01Correct. Question two. For ten points and control of round two. What is my middle name? Glenfield. Yes, yeah, you're right. You're right. So I'm letting I'm letting the listeners in on uh my shameful secret. But uh yes, Glenn is not my first name actually. My Christian name is John, that's right. As were my father was John Glenfield Scrivener, and his father was John Glenfield Scrivener, because they thought it was such a brilliant name. Glenfield, they just had to inflict it on yet another generation of Scriveners. They're just a rebel, you're well I know it was my parents, they were always gonna call me Glen. Like they even though on the birth certificate, yep, John Glenfield Scrivener, but they from the cradle they called me Glenn. And my dad was John and his father was Jack. But uh we're all John Glenfield Scrivener. And I've just recently learned that in America, um like Junior, we all know Junior um is someone whose dad has the same name as them. So as if if you're John Glenfield Scrivener the second, you could call yourself Junior, right? Right. But if you're the third, you get to call yourself Tripp. Really? Yeah. That's a cool nickname, right?
SPEAKER_04I never knew that. Is that why people call Tripp a cool trip?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. So I've got a good friend called Tripp, and I had no idea why, but he's he's James Moore the third, which is Tripp. So there you go.
SPEAKER_04Wow. I was gonna be called Timothy until I was born. Really? And when I was born, my parents looked at me, took one look at me and said, He's not timid. He's Andrew.
SPEAKER_01He's an Andrew. So that was it. Ah, my wife is gonna be Matthew.
SPEAKER_04Really?
SPEAKER_01But yeah, they uh did a U-turn on that one. Good job. Good job. Emma Emma suits her a little better, I think.
SPEAKER_04Yes. Good. So tell us what we're gonna do today, apart from discuss our origins of names.
SPEAKER_01The origins of names, etymology. Um we are gonna talk about uh a talk I gave up at the Yorkshire Gospel Partnership a couple of weeks ago. Um I had a great trip up there. I did some stuff for Yorkshire Gospel. Yeah, it's on the on on my mind, clearly. Uh you obviously did three talks. I did do three talks. Yes, here's the third. So uh the first of three, uh well, in fact all three are on glory. So they wanted me to speak on glorification. Um I don't know why, but they they sort of said, you know, can you can you do this particular topic? And because I'm lazy, I said, Well, can I do these ones? Because I prepared them before. And I'm very glad they said no to do glorification. So I pressed into uh the past, present, and future of God's glory and how we share in God's glorious life. So the three talks are talking about um our past in God's glorious life, and we think about how uh God's glory is life overflowing, and the picture is a fountain. In my second talk, I talk about uh God's glory is life poured out, and the picture is a sacrifice. And then in the third talk I I uh speak about um God's glory is life raised up, and the picture there is a harvest. So past, present, future, life overflowing, life poured out, life raised up, uh fountain, uh sacrifice, harvest, and uh yeah, and and it's all about how we share in God's glory. God's glory is a kind of an outgoing kind of life that we get swept up into. And uh yeah, I gave those three talks uh a couple of weeks ago. Okay. I think we're gonna listen to the first one.
SPEAKER_04So we'll listen to the first one and then uh if if people want to hear the other two, they can click through on the on the show notes.
SPEAKER_01And on the same page, the Yorkshire Gospel Partnership um have this incredible resources page that's got uh it's got the talks by uh Mike Reeves, talks by Richard Coken, talks by um Don Carson, quite a lot of good talks by Don Carson, people like that, and then they've crammed me on as well. Takes a bit of a dip there, the quality. But um wonderful other talks there. Uh and uh actually on the show notes as well, if we can put a link to an article that I did for Union. Uh it's kind of on this same topic about glory and mission. Because so often we think um on the one hand we're meant to glorify God, and on the other hand, we're meant to be outgoing and get into the world and and share Jesus. Um and so often people line up on this kind of continuum, and some people are very much into glorifying God, and they think that means staying within the four walls of a church and kind of doing the worship thing. Um and then other people are uh uh on the other end of the spectrum and they just say, Hey, churches for fuddy-duddies, let's just get out there and share Jesus and so you know, they think they they don't care about glorifying God, they just want to reach the world. And I guess in this talk that you're about to hear and in this article that I wrote for Union, I just want to kind of break down those barriers and say, actually, what if God's glory is a missionary glory? Then his missionary glory sends us out on a glorious mission, and actually you don't have to have a trade-off between glorifying God and reaching the world, that you get swept up into God's glorious mission, and you glorify God as you reach the world. It's that kind of idea. So those are some of the ideas that I sort of press into in this first talk, and I I hope it just kind of gives people a a a real zeal for the glory of Christ and a zeal for his mission uh to be out going into the world.
SPEAKER_04Okay, we'll we'll dive into that in a in a moment. We just wanted to uh uh advertise, if you like, our programme for further study with us here at Speak Life in conjunction with Union. We run a union or you run a union hub. And uh tell us uh sort of how that's gone in the last couple of years.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so we've had this learning community here in Eastbourne and a bunch of different guys have come and studied with us. It's a two-year course, uh it's a graduate diploma in theology, and uh it's accredited theological training. It's it's uh through the University of of uh Chester, you actually you get a a theology degree um through this. So it it is accredited academic theology. Um but it's it's from the likes of Mike Reeves and Robert Letham and Ray Ortland and uh Peter Meade uh and myself I teach on the course as well. Uh and so people are getting uh good uh missional, evangelical, biblical, Christ-centered theology. Uh we meet uh on Mondays here at our learning community, and so over the course of twenty-two different Mondays uh in an academic year, um students come and they uh do the lectures together and then there's assignments and reading and that sort of thing. And over the course of two years you pick up this graduate diploma and you actually also pick up a whole bunch of credits along the way that add up very quickly to BAMA. You can even do a PhD with Union. Um so I think it's a it's a great course for people to do, especially if they're already doing some kind of training, um, already some kind of apprenticeship within a local church, that sort of thing. Um or if you're doing, you know, maybe four days a week as a solicitor, you can, you know, study for a couple of days with us. Um but it's it's a great way of getting rigorous evangelical Christ-centred theology, uh, alongside being able to plug in to your local context and and serve in your local church. So yeah, do get in touch if you if you want to do something like that with us.
SPEAKER_04Okay, just go to the website speaklife.org.uk and uh there'll be information on there how to contact us regarding that.
SPEAKER_01And also if you if you want to come and study, um there's an opportunity as well to perhaps do an apprenticeship with us as well. So if you're wondering what you will do alongside those two days a week of study, why not come to Speak Life and uh and we can really uh train together, go on mission together, produce resources together. And I think that would be uh a wonderful opportunity that someone could take up uh for two years starting in September.
SPEAKER_04Great. Okay, uh without much ado, we'll uh press into your talk on glorification.
SPEAKER_00Um we're gonna listen to God's word and um uh we're bringing out the home team, so Gordon Frame, who is a proper Yorkshireman, is gonna come and read. Um God's word to us, Gordon. Insults from the beginning.
SPEAKER_02I don't know. Isaiah 42 and the first nine verses. Behold my servant whom I uphold, my chosen in whom my soul delights. I've put my spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench. He will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth, and the coastlands wait for his law. Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk in it. I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I will take you by the hand and keep you. I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prism those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare, before they spring forth I tell you of them.
SPEAKER_01Well, shall we pray with Isaiah open in front of us? Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word carried by your breath, your Holy Spirit. We pray that we would hear your voice with clarity, with power, that it would liberate, that it would transform, that it would renew, that it would tear down idols, and that it would raise us up again in Christ, that we might see your Son truly for who he is. And in his face may we see what you are truly like and what we are truly like. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So, three sessions on glory, and we'll have the QA after lunch. But in the three sessions, I want to think about our past, our present, and our future in God's glorious life. In the past, we're gonna think about the source. In the present, we're gonna think about the flow. In the future, we're gonna think about the goal. In this first session, we're gonna think about glory is life overflowing. Glory is life overflowing. And the picture for this morning is a fountain. In the second session, we're gonna think glory is life poured out. Glory is life poured out. And our picture for the second session is sacrifice. And in the third talk, we're gonna think glory is life raised up. Glory is life raised up, and we're gonna think of harvest. So past, present, future, source, flow, goal, life overflowing, life poured out, life raised up, and all of those in images. Fountain, sacrifice, and harvest. So let's think about the source of glory. God, the glorious one, whose life is ever overflowing. John Stott uh wrote in the Message of Romans, the highest of all missionary motives is neither obedience to the Great Commission, nor love for sinners, but rather zeal, burning and passionate zeal for the glory of Jesus Christ. You can sort of imagine these three missionaries embodied. Can you imagine one of them is just following orders? Jesus has given us the Great Commission, and we as obedient soldiers, off we go. Why do we do mission? Well, we've got our marching orders. And so away we go. So that's obedience to the Great Commission. And that by itself would be a wonderful reason to do mission. Why reach out? Well, Jesus told you to do it. Okay? That is reason enough to do it. But John Scott says, no, but that is not the highest motivation. So then he imagines a second missionary. And the second missionary says, yeah, we just need to love the lost. It's all about love for those who are perishing, who are facing God's judgment. And this is what motivates mission. Why should we go on mission? We should go on mission because the perishing are lost, and without Jesus Christ they are condemned forever. Why should we go? Well, look. Look at the need. So one person says, Well, listen to God, he has told us to go. Another person says, Well, look at the need, this is why we're going. And then John Stout imagines a third missionary. Let's call this missionary Paul. And Paul comes along and he is gripped by a zeal that sweeps him up into a love of the world because it is God's love for the world. The love of Christ compels us, right? 2 Corinthians 5, verse 14. And that compelling love of Christ sweeps us up into God's own reconciling mission. God has reconciled us and has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation. Now we are Christ's ambassadors, God making his appeal through us. And so John started saying here, you know what, there's no trade-off between honoring God and loving the lost. When you understand the very glory of God that has swept you up, honoring God will mean loving the lost with God's own love. Because there's no trade-off. There's no trade-off between glorifying God and reaching the world. Do you believe that? There is no ultimate trade-off between glorifying God and reaching the world. I suggest to you that we don't often believe that. I suggest to you that we tend to think in terms of balance. We tend to think in terms of, on the one hand, we need to honor and glorify God. He's God, He's worthy. On the other hand, every now and again we need to hold our nose and go off to the world and save a few sinners. But we don't want to get too much into the world, do we? Because we want to glorify and honor God, don't we? And so and so we kind of line up along this spectrum. And some people are very far towards the glorifying God end of the spectrum, and some people are very far towards the getting out into the world in missional ways, and we love to smoke our pipes and be micro-brewing theologians who discuss the missio day man, and just, I'm on the missio day man, and we just want to get out there in terms of uh throwing off all the shackles of ecclesiastical hierarchies, and we're just getting out there. And then someone else says, no, no, but you need you need to come further along this side of the spectrum. And we try to balance things between glorifying God and reaching out. And John starts saying, no, no, no. There's a way of doing both. And when you press into what the glory of God actually is, there is no ultimate trade-off between glorifying God and reaching the lost. Because God's glory is life overflowing. So let's think about God's glory and what it really is. Because I think once we press into that, we'll realize that God is on mission, and to be zealously swept up in his glory is to be missionary too. So what is glory? What is glory? Well, the word in Hebrew, kavod, uh, just means weight, gravity, weightiness, substance. It's the it's the godness of God. It is, whatever glory is, it's the godness of God. It's the stuff of God, to put it irreverently. But you haven't really solved the question yet, have you, have you? What is God's glory? It's the godness of God. Oh, well, okay, but which God are we talking about? That's always a very important question to ask, isn't it? The glory of Zeus is one kind of glory. What's the glory of the God of the Bible? As evangelicals, we want to answer that question with the scriptures in our hands and with Christ at the center, don't we? If we're evangelicals? We're not just going to answer that question philosophically, I hope. I hope as evangelicals, we're going to open up the scriptures, put Jesus at the center, and see what definition of glory might fall out. So let's go to, for instance, Isaiah 11. And we'll see three angles on the divine glory to begin with in Isaiah. So Isaiah 11 and Isaiah 42 and Isaiah 61, but first Isaiah 11. There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by disputes by what his eye is hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth, and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. So here is the angle from Israel. Israel is looking towards the spirit-filled king, that David figure coming forth from the stump of Jesse. And this spirit-filled king will be utterly zealously committed to the glory of the Lord. And do you see how this spirit-filled king, having been filled by the Spirit of the Lord, then moves out into the world. There seems to be this life overflowing. And because there's life overflowing, it flows towards the empty. Notice the objects of the mission of this spirit-filled king. Notice verse 4, he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. Notice how he strikes the earth with the rod of his mouth, by his word, by the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. All those that are raised up are levelled. All those that are lowly are lifted up. All those that are full are drained. All those that are empty are filled. This overflowing life comes from the spirit-filled king. Let's turn to Isaiah 61, and we'll we'll hear an angle on God's glory from the spirit-filled king. How does he feel about this? Isaiah 11, we're Israel looking towards the spirit-filled king. Isaiah 61, we are the spirit-filled king. That's the speaker here in Isaiah 61. But it's a very similar dynamic here. 61 verse 1. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to grant to those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit, that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations, they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. Again, it's the same image just from a different angle. Here we've got the spirit-filled servant of the Lord, the great King, full of the Spirit, anointed by the Lord God. Why? To bring good news to the poor. Again, do you notice the object of his blessing? The object of his blessing is always the empty. He's overflowing to the empty, to the poor, the brokenhearted, the captives, the prisoners who are bound. Beautiful picture, isn't it? The Father filling his son with the Spirit. And then the banks are burst, and the life of God overflows. Let's turn to Isaiah 42, which we've just heard read. Isaiah 42. And here we've got the angle of the Father. We've had the Israelites looking up, we've had the Son and his angle on this whole dynamic, and now here's the Father's words. How does he describe this glorious flow? Isaiah 42, verse 1. Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench. He will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged, till he has established justice in the earth, and the coastlands wait for his law. Thus says the thus says God the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it, and spirits to those who walk in it. I am the Lord, I have called you my servant in righteousness. I will take you by the hand and keep you. I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory I give to no other. You see, the Lord gives his glory to no other because he's been glorifying his son for the last seven verses, hasn't he? He is proud of his most beautiful son, his servant, the spirit-filled king. And having proclaimed his name, having given him glory for seven verses, he then says, I'm not giving glory to anyone else. My glory I give to no other but the servant. Which is why this verse where the Lord says, I will give my glory to no other, that is not a contradiction of John chapter 17. You know John chapter 17? Jesus says in John chapter 17, verse 2, we're going to read it in the second session, but Jesus says, uh, in that, in those verses, Father, glorify your son, that your son may glorify you. And you might think, well, is Jesus contradicting Isaiah? I thought God in the Old Testament didn't glorify anyone else. But that's not what Isaiah 42 says, is it? The Father says, I will not glorify any other, having just been glorifying the Spirit-filled Son. So in John 17, when Jesus shows up and he says, Father, glorify your son that your son may glorify you, he's saying, I'm here. I am the spirit-filled son. I am the one that the Father has been glorifying from before the foundation of the world. That's why in John 17, verse 5, he says, Now glorify me with the glory we shared from before the world began. That's why he's able to say John 17, verse 22, I have given them the glory that you gave me. It's not a contradiction of glory in the Old Testament. This is the very fulfillment of all that Isaiah was saying. The Father glorifies only his Son, only in the zeal of his Holy Spirit. But in his spirit-filled Son, there is all the glory in the world. God will not glorify any other apart from his eternal son, his blessed servant, his anointed king. He will not glorify any other but in his king. Oh my goodness, the flow goes out to the nations. And even the deserts will be in bloom, says Isaiah. What is God's glory? God's glory is life overflowing. It is very specifically the overflowing life of the Father through his Son, by His Spirits, and that glory is not found in any other way. It's in Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone, does God's glory alone come. But in that flow there is glory for the whole world. God is like a fountain. Jonathan Edwards, in his famous unpublished essay on the Trinity, he speaks about the glory of the triune God in these terms. He says, the pleasure that God has is a pleasure in diffusing to and communicating to rather than a pleasure in receiving from the creature. That's interesting. Edwards says, God's glory, well, he says here, his pleasure. The pleasure that God has is not the pleasure of receiving from the creature, it is the pleasure of diffusing and communicating to the creature. Now that might surprise us because Jonathan Edwards is big on God's glory, and he takes a lot of time to tell us God creates for his own glory. He does everything for his own glory. But you've got to define glory properly. Glory is not what God gets from the world. As though he's needy. What a terrible doctrine of God that would be. As though the reason why God creates, the reason why God redeems is in order to get stuff from us. That sounds like a pagan deity, doesn't it? The reason why the God's create is so that he can, you know, make little minions to serve him. Is that the glory of the living God? That's not the glory of the biblical Christ-centered triune God. The living God does all things for his glory, but his glory is not what he gets from us. His glory is in diffusing and communicating to the creature. The next sentence from Jonathan Edwards says this. He says, Surely it is no argument of neediness, he says indigence, but nobody knows what indigence means. Surely it is no argument of indigence, neediness in God, that he is inclined to communicate of his infinite fullness. It is no argument of the emptiness or deficiency of a fountain that it is inclined to overflow. See what he's saying? God is a fountain, always and ever inclined to overflow. Therefore, when he does all things for his glory, it's not so that he can get stuff from us. His glory is his expression of his own overflowing life from the Father, through the Son, and by the Spirit. This is God's glory. Life overflowing. Richard Sibbs says this God's goodness is a communicative spreading goodness. Love that term, spreading goodness. He says, if God did not have a communicative spreading goodness, he would never have created the world. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were happy in themselves and enjoyed one another before the world was. But that God delights to communicate and spread his goodness, there had never been a creation nor a redemption. God useth his creatures not for defect of power, that he can do nothing without them, but for the spreading of his goodness. So to say that God does all things for his glory is the same thing as saying God does all things for the spreading of his goodness. He is a fountain ever inclined to overflow. Or did you notice how in chapter 42, verse 6, the servant is a light for the nations. This is what God is like, like a fountain overflowing, like a light that communicates itself beyond itself, to transform what is not itself into itself. That's what light does. Light is a spreading goodness that transforms the darkness into the light. It's a beautiful picture of what God is like. God is light, says 1 John 1. Wonderful picture, because, you know, light and darkness. They're not equal opposites, are they? Star Wars has really ruined the Bible for us, hasn't it? The number of times I talk to people about, well, you know, I guess God is good, but there must be an equal and opposite force of evil, because, you know, light and dark. Hang on. Say that again. Light and dark. Which is stronger? Well, you know, you've you can't have light without dark. You can't have dark without light. Wait, wait, no, no. Has George Lucas really ruined our minds to this degree? We get wowed by the special effects. Light and darkness. You switch on the lights, what happens to the darkness? Has it put up a fight? Is there a struggle? Light is stronger than darkness. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Because there's a spreading goodness to who God is. God is light. God is a fountain. So what is the glory of God? The glory of God is for him to overflow and transform what is not like him into that which is like him. His flow is always down and out. Down and out. And if you read through Isaiah, you'll see how the Spirit's flow is always from the Father, through his Spirit-filled, anointed servant, and out to the nations, making even the deserts bloom. That's always the flow. Unfortunately, what's the direction of travel for Israel? Old Israel, working by the flesh, they're always trying to do the up and in thing, right? Let's gather together and let's do our even our very religious duties before God. And so much of Isaiah is the Lord absolutely saying how sick to the stomach he is with all their religion, chapter one. And how he's going to bring down the lofty, chapter two. Chapter 58, do you remember with the fasting? Look at how they're fasting. It's are you with me? Are you are you fasting? Should we bow our backs like a reed before the Lord and show God our religious devotion? And what does God say? No, what a true fast is this, to release those who are burdened. Yeah, it's it's it's it's not religion in God's eyes is not trying to establish that vertical chain between me and God. In the spirit-filled servants, I am redeemed. Now my job is to release the shackles that others are in. That's that's the flow. So instead of the up and in way of the flesh, the way of the spirit is always down and out, down and out, down and out. If you are full, if you consider yourself full, he will empty you. But if you are empty, he will fill you. He will be Verse 2 one who does not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street, a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench. What do you do with a faintly burning wick? You snuff it out, don't you? Like who who cares? Who sees a faintly burning wick and just gently kind of breathes it into life? The tenderness of this Lord for those who are empty is stunning. The ferociousness of the Lord against those who consider themselves full, that too is stunning. But this is what the Lord's glory is like. It judges those who are lifted up, and it fills those who are empty. But then having raised the lowly, God includes them in his own radiant purposes. So Isaiah chapter 60. A beautiful description of God's glory and our place in God's glorious life. Isaiah 60, old Israel that had tried to work up towards the Lord by the flesh, it is judged, it is flattened. Old Israel will be utterly judged. But on the far side of judgment, somehow, there is a redeemed people of God. There's a new Jerusalem with a new heavens and a new earth, and they'll be the centerpiece of this different kind of life, this spreading goodness. And what happens to these people beyond judgment? Isaiah 60, verse 1, arise, shine. For your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Glory, light, light, glory. Same thing, right? For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples. But the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you, and nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. So the glory of the Lord is like light, like the light of the world that has dawned on us. And we do not then simply become enlightened. We are enlightened. We were in darkness, and now we're in light. But now we're not just enlightened, we are light. We are the light of the world, says Jesus, Matthew 5. Here it is. We are light. We are a sun shining on the world. Swept up into the Lord's own spreading goodness. This is what we're like. We partake in the glory of God as we shine. So for this reason, the the godly direction of travel is not to be constantly up and in, up and in, up and in, right? The godly direction of travel by the Spirit is having received from Christ, it is to shine out into dark places. The glory of God is a flow, it's not simply a static thing. And that helps us to kind of transcend this balance between glorifying God and reaching the nations. The problem with conceiving of things as glorifying God on the one hand, reaching the nations on the other, is that we imagine that God's glory is a static thing. And therefore we need to come up and in in order to glorify the Lord, and then we need to hold our noses and maybe get out into the world in order to reach the nations. But if God's glory is like this, if it is overflowing life, then ultimately, there are lots of things to consider, but ultimately there is no balance to strike between love for the lost and obedience to God. There is ultimately no trade-off between mission and worship, or between mission and holiness, or between mission and glorifying God. Through God's missionary glory, we are included in God's glorious mission. God is an outgoing God, and He makes us to be an outgoing people, and that is glory. I love the definition that Isaiah 64 gives us about what God is like, as opposed to all the other idols. All the other idols are dead, and they are empty, and they want you to fill them. Our God is full and operates in a very different way. So Isaiah 64, verse 4. From of old, no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you who acts for those who wait for him. What a beautiful definition. Of the difference between the living God and all the dead idols. Our God works while we wait. Every other God waits while you work, right? Every other idol. Every other God that is not an overflowing fullness, they are empty, and they wait for you to work for them. The living God's works while you wait. Can't read that without thinking about the prophets of Baal. You know, there they are, slashing themselves before the altar. And Elijah, just vindicating the use of sarcasm. It's a godly thing, sarcasm. If you don't believe me, read Elijah, read Job, read Paul, read the Bible. Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is making fun of people the whole time. It's brilliant. That's not why I brought you all here. So sarcasm is brilliant, but Elijah's saying, you know, maybe your God is deaf. Maybe he's on the toilet. Shout louder. And so they do. Shout louder and they slash themselves and the blood flows. They are working while Baal waits. He's not even there. A dead God, an empty God who's always making you work for him. What does Elijah do? He's praise, he douses it with water seven times, and then the fire comes from heaven. From heaven the Lord makes his own sacrifice. He works. We wait. It's very different. And this theology of grace alone comes because of the glory of God alone. And the glory of God alone is like this because God is a Father, always loving his Son, Jesus, in the joy of the Holy Spirit. And that direction of travel is always down and out, down and out, down and out. Sometimes in uh evangelism training I put up a picture of uh Ron Burgundy, um Anchorman. I didn't need to, because I knew you'd all know Ron Burgundy from Anchorman. Yes, I'm getting three nods from the rest of you. You've got some homework to do, Ron Burgundy. Uh one of the great comedies of Will Farrell. So uh Ron Burgundy, if you don't know, is this uh newsman, and he's the most egotistical narcissist you've ever met in your life. And the very first line of the film has Ron Burgundy looking in a mirror just before showtime, just before he's about to go on the news. He looks in the mirror and he likes what he sees. And the first words of the film are Ron Burgundy saying, I look good. I mean really good. And then he shouts out to the newsroom, Hey everybody, come see how good I look. That's what the pagan gods are like, right? I look good, really good. Hey, everybody, come see how good I look. And for the pagan gods, glory is what they get from the creature. Okay? What is the living God like? The living God is the full God who flows to the thirsty. He is the shining God who illuminates the darkened. That's what God is like. A God who shares. And therefore, mission is not saying to the world, hey everybody, come see how good I look. That's not God's message to the world. Hey, hey, everybody, come see how good I look. The mission of God is flowing out to beautify the ugly. That is God's glory. And to sweep us up. And yes, we do see the beauty of the Lord. And yes, we do understand his glory in that. But what is his glory? His glory is self giving. Now that may prompt a question. You might be thinking. Thinking, yes, but doesn't it say in the Bible at points, God doesn't God say, I'm acting for my own glory and not for your sake? Can you think of times when God says that, Ezekiel 20, uh, Ezekiel 36, he says, uh, not for your sakes am I saving you, Israel, but for my own name's sake. How can I be profaned among the nations? Do you remember him saying things like that? So sometimes God says, I'm acting for my own glory and not your sakes. Oh, okay. So what does that mean? I uh heard a great story by a friend of mine. I think it it perfectly illustrates what's going on. Um He was walking down a corridor towards the doors at the at the end of the corridor, and he heard behind him high heels. And so when he got to the door, he opened the door and let the woman through behind. And as she was going through, she narrowed her gaze at him. And she said, I hope you're not opening this door because I'm a lady. And my friend was brilliant, right on the spot. He had the perfect comeback. He just said to her, No, I'm opening the door because I'm a gentleman. It's brilliant, isn't it? You know? It's the sort of thing you think of about three weeks later, isn't it? He said it in the moment. I'm not opening the door because you're a lady. I'm opening the door because I'm a gentleman. Not for your sakes, oh woman, am I opening this door? But for the sake of my own gentlemanly name. But the gentlemanly name is his desire to be other centered. It is his desire to be other centered, and he will act with the initiative so that no one can say to God that we have somehow pulled grace out of him. No one ever pulls grace out of God. He is already gentlemanly. He is already gracious. It is his initiative to save. It's not that he is a sucker for a damsel in distress, and he looks down at the damsel in distress and he says, Oh, I can't help myself. You're so helpless, I just have to, right? No, no. It is an expression of his own self-giving glory that he saves. And isn't it interesting that the way God is glorified is through salvation. Isn't that amazing? He is glorified as he brings down the lifted up and as he exalts the lowly. Because in all things it is about life overflowing. It is about his fullness that is poured out. So that everything that is lifted up against him is flattened, and everything that is lowly is raised up, and in that is he glorified. He's glorified in doing that because that's what he's like. God doesn't do all things for the sake of the glory of his glory. What does Ephesians 1 say? He says all things for the sake of the glory of his grace. I will not be profaned among the nations. I will not have anybody say that they have dragged grace out of me, that they have somehow taken the initiative with me. God always takes the initiative in overflowing. This is what he's like. This is his eternal glory. He saves us not because of what we are like. He saves us only because of what he is like. By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And because of that, it's to God's glory alone. But his glory and his grace are not these things that need to be balanced, as though, yes, he is gracious on the one hand, but on the other hand, he's a bit of a Ron Burgundy. Right? It's not like that. Because he has always and ever determined to be the self-giving God in grace. That is his glory. His glory is his grace. His glory is missionary. His glory is life flowing out. So what does that mean? What does that mean for us? Well, I guess we are those who have waited on the Lord. We are those who come to him utterly empty, with nothing to offer. If you try to offer him stuff, God says that's like filthy rags. Isn't that what he says? But our community is not a community that is simply up and in, that has raised itself up apart from the nations. Isn't that how we can often think? Isn't that how non-Christians see Christians? Non-Christians see Christians as a little holy huddle, and aren't we wonderful? That we have raised ourselves up from the hoi poloi, and we are glorifying God here, and the rest of the nations are down here. What is the reality? The reality is actually we realize we're in the valley. We realize we have absolutely nothing. And we are not the community of the holier than thou. Let's finish with Isaiah 65. Holier than thou. Every non-Christian knows that phrase. They associate us with the holier than thou. That's how they identify us. You know, we're Christians. We are the holier than thou, right? It's the old King James translation of 65, verse 5. There are those who say, Keep to yourself. Do not come near me, for I am too holy for you. That's how the world sees the church. And sometimes they're right to see that in us because that's what we project to the world. Those who raise themselves up as different from the the rest of the world. We are holier than thou. The world hates the holier than thou. But not as much as God hates them. Verse 5b These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day. God cannot stand the holier than thou. His entire project is to flatten those who raise themselves up like that. He hates the holier than thou. Because in what is his holiness expressed? How does he express his holiness? Well, just three verses earlier in verse two. Here's how the Lord expresses his holiness, his glory, his very name and nature. Verse 2 I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people who walk in a way that is not good following their own devices. What is God like? Here's the religious holy huddle. We're not like the world. Here is God standing with arms outstretched to the world. No wonder he chooses crucifixion as the way to die. This is what he's like all day long. That's an amazing idea, isn't it? I spread out my hands all the day. It's kind of this idea of God going out to the marketplace and you know, from early in the morning until late at night, nobody wants to know. And he holds out his hands. You know, how how long can you hold out just one hand to somebody who doesn't want to know? Like ten seconds? Twenty seconds? Feels a bit weird. Anyone gonna take this? No, you know? You know, footballers, if they don't shake another footballer's hand that's being held out there for about 1.3 seconds, it's huge backpage news. It's a massive snub. How dare you not shake the hand of that other footballer? He's put out his hand for at least a second. Right? All day long I've held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people. As we'll see in the next session, this is how God expresses his glory most supremely, spreading his arms to the wicked. So then, what should our communities be like? Just the holy huddle? Strengthening our little vertical bond with God, or should it be receiving the overflow? Knowing our God in the face of Christ, being filled with His Spirit and flowing in that same movement out to the nations, and the deserts will bloom. That is the holiness. That is the name and nature, that is the glory of God. Let's pray. Our Father. We praise you that you are our Father, ever giving life to your Son, and by that same Spirit you give life to us. You've redeemed us, though we've had nothing to offer you, only our sins. But you've lifted up the lowly, you've given sight to the blind, you've released the captives, you've swept us up in your own light and life. Father, we praise you for this. We glory in your holy name. We pray you would help us today to know more of that glory, to press into who you are. May knowledge of your Son the Lord Jesus by your Spirit fill us that we might join you in your outgoing mission, that we might be those who overflow to the needy, who shine to those in darkness. May today be a wonderful experience of your glorious light, so that we might truly be that community of light that Yorkshire needs. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
SPEAKER_04So that was uh Glenn Scrivenert speaking a couple of weeks ago at uh at the Yorkshire Gospel Partnership. Uh how many people go to the Yorkshire Gospel Partnership?
SPEAKER_01It varies, and and they they have a uh a number of different meetings. This was held during the week, during the day, so it was largely clergy that were there. I guess there were probably about 40 clergy um who were kind of there listening to that. But um yeah, as I said before, go onto the website um uh it'll be in the show notes. I think it's ygp.org.uk. Okay. Don't yeah. But um yeah, have a look for the Yorkshire Gospel Partnership uh resources page because uh alongside my talks, there are there are a whole bunch of uh really great things from Mike Reeves and Don Carson and uh and people like that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Okay, yeah, great. So uh just before we go, tell us what your calendar is like in the next uh few days.
SPEAKER_01Well, gloriously, uh my my time of of uh travel is sort of coming to an end, which is great. So I've been I've been pretty constantly uh travelling since end of January, really. So uh although I've got a mission in June in Bedfordshire, uh apart from that, uh I don't have a lot of travel happening again until September. So that'll be nice. This uh this coming week I'll be in Bangor in Northern Ireland with Hamilton Road Presbyterian Church, and we're training them evangelistically and uh plotting and praying for a uh a mission in May. Yeah, uh May of twenty eighteen that is, okay with Hamilton Road Presbyterian and Hamilton Road Baptist Church um together reaching out to Bangor. Um so that's yeah, really looking forward to that. But then once I'm get back in Eastbourne on Monday the twenty-second, I think I I won't be away from home very much uh for the next few months, which is good.
SPEAKER_04Book writing or something.
SPEAKER_01Lots of book writing, so um uh yes thinking about Christmas, both a book and a video project, thinking about the following Easter, both uh a book and a video project. Thinking about m making reading between the lines into a daily devotional for ten of those, thinking about uh an evangelistic book for Christian focus, um and thinking about 321 as uh refilming it as an evangelistic course. So, yeah, plenty to get on with over the summer, but uh at least I'll be closer to home.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and hopefully more evangelist podcasts too. Many more evangelist podcasts coming up. Good. Well, if you like uh to hear more episodes like this, do subscribe to the Evangelist Podcast. You can do so at speaklife.org.uk slash TEP and if you'd like to give us a rating review, we'd be very happy if you'd like to do that for us. I think that's it for now. I think so. See you next time. See ya.