There is a tiny little town – and I mean literally one gas station and general store -- about 30 miles outside of Portland, Oregon where I live. And this tiny town has the tiniest church you have never seen. Seriously, if it was full it’d seat 50 people.
And that’s where I preached my first sermon.
Soon thereafter I was having a conversation with my grandparents, just catching up. And what I learned that I had never known was that that church was my grandpa’s first full-time pastorate as a lead pastor. I had no idea.
Grandpa told me a stories of that church, including God’s miraculous provision when it was being built. And then he asked if there was a little brass plaque on the lectern. There was, but before I could answer, he told me what it said:
“Sir, we would see Jesus.”
He had put it there as a reminder that it wasn’t about him.
That story comes from John chapter 12. Jesus and his disciples have traveled to Jerusalem for Passover, and there were some Greeks – Gentiles – who came looking for him. They found one of his apostles, Philip, and said, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
So Philip goes and Jesus and tells Him this, and interestingly Jesus uses this as an occasion to again tell his disciples that He’s got a mission and how He was going to be accomplishing that – by being crucified. And He’s experiencing angst. Then listen to what He says, starting with a rhetorical question:
Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name. (John 12:27-28)
Let me paraphrase and repeat what we’re reading here. Jesus, Christmas, casting out demons, liberating people from slavery to sin, preparing a bride for Himself, the crucifixion, and resurrection are for whose glory? God’s glory.
Oh, but wait. Jesus is not just human. He’s fully Divine. Eternal. A different person than Father or Spirit, but one in essence with them. So it’s for His glory, too.
If we read the Bible through the lens of modern culture, we have names for somebody who seeks their own glory. Braggart. Selfish. Narcissistic. And to be sure, if all I do is talk about me, one of those labels might be correct.
But God is different – not different by degree, but wholly different in kind. Not better like “my big brother can beat up your big brother.” Not a god who wins more battles that that god.
Unique, eternal, transcendent, all good, all powerful, all knowing, perfectly loving, perfectly just, the creator and sustainer of the cosmos.
In other words, the one and only person who actually deserves, perfectly and fully, the highest possible renown, honor, praise, worship, and thanksgiving.
Who, in a way that somehow makes total sense to Him, chose to work in us and through us in community in a way that we barely understand and we often taint with our own junk.
This Christmas as we reflect why God took on flesh, let’s remember that He’s worth our all. And that in some crazy way, when we connect with others they actually see Jesus.
That, my friends, is quite a gift to give.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in communications, an award-winning author and speaker, and a passionately bad guitarist. ForTheHope equips on-the-go professionals with biblical principles to engage marketplace relationships with competent humility. On Twitter can follow him @RogerCourville and/or his podcast @JoinForTheHope, or get all updates by email subscription at www.forthehope.org.