Jesus Calls Out His Body

To whom do you belong? Who do you belong to? If you're a child, you may answer, my mom and dad. If you're married, your spouse. If you're a Christian, maybe a specific body. If you're an employee, a company, a student, your school. Maybe you don't even answer the question. Maybe the question offends you. I don't belong to anybody. This is the American spirit. The self-reliant, independent individual. We oftentimes live and believe and act as if we are autonomous. As if we're not responsible to someone and responsible for others. The truth is we all belong to someone, to something. See, we were created that way. God created us to be responsible for others, and ultimately we are called to be responsible to someone, and that is God himself. One of the questions that we'll be pressing in from our text this morning, who do you live for? This is tied to your identity. How you understand yourself in relation to others, who do you belong to, who do you live for? That's a key question for us to ask. Is it yourself, an organization, another people? If the answer is anything but the glory of God, the answer is anything but I belong to Christ and I'm living for his glory, we need to hear correction. This morning, we're going to see two different identities that we can have. It can all be boiled down to two different identities. We're either of the world or we're in Christ. We are either of the world or we are in Christ. Those are the only two options. There are numerous ways to live of the world. There's only one way to live in Christ. If we're living according to the world's pattern, We're saying, I'm going to do what I think is best for me. For living according to God's design, we're going to do what we think most glorifies God. Last week, we focused on John 17. We're going to remain there. If you're using a Pew Bible, you can turn to page 903. If you don't have a Bible and you would like to take that, please, please take it and read. We're going to be continuing our study in this prayer and the specific section we're looking at this morning is verses six through ten. But let me review what we talked about last week, because it's very important to make sure we understand the flow of this prayer as we continue. Last week, we heard God talking to God about God. It's a pretty amazing invitation to listen to God, talking to God about Himself. The Son is talking to the Father. God the Son is talking to God the Father. And we get to hear how God thinks about Himself, about us. It's an invitation to hear this prayer that allows us a unique opportunity, an insight into the very being of God. We saw last week the key word was glory. The son is focused on him glorifying the father. He knows the father desires to glorify him, and as part of that great glory, we receive eternal life. The father sends his son to die for us so that we might have eternal life, and this is for his glory. The prayer now turns from his glory to his disciples. Let me read chapter 17 of John, this longest prayer of Jesus. I'll read from verses 1 through 10. When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Speaking of the time of his death on the cross. glorify your son that the son may glorify you since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him and this is eternal life that they know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent I glorified you on earth having accomplished the work that you have gave me to do and now father glorify me in your own presence with a glory that I had with you before the world existed. I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were and you gave them to me. And they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you. And they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me for their yours. All mine are yours and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. Before we continue, will you pray with me? Father, we seek to know more of your glory. We thank you that as we seek your glory, as we seek to know your name, we constantly find mercy and grace to carry us along the way. We thank you that as you have glorified your name, we have been the recipients of your love and mercy that glorifies your name. Help us now to see that our being called out of the world to be disciples is for your glory. Help us to know how to live that way, Lord. To repent of our worldliness. To know how to be your people. To know how to delight in your glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We go from the emphasis being glory to giving. This is the key word in that particular passage. I'll read it again and I want you to listen for it and underline it. If you mark in your Bible, underline the key words because the first five verses, the key word is glory. The next section that we're looking at today is give. The next one is keep. There's a clear pattern in this. The next one is one and unity. There's a clear pattern as to what Jesus is praying. It's a focused, intentional prayer. What we're going to see is that we've been saved to be a people for his glory. Verse 11 summarizes our section. All mine are yours and yours are mine. And I am glorified in them. There's two main truths that we're going to see this morning. We are called out of the world for a new glory. We are called out of the world for a new glory. Secondly, we are called out of the world to have a new identity. We are called out of the world to have a new identity. Listen again as I read verses six through 10. I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were and you gave them to me. And they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you, for I have given them the words that you gave me and they have received them. And I've come to know in truth that I came from you and they have believed that you sent me. I'm praying for them. I'm not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. This section is distinct from the previous five verses because the clear focus is now on the disciples. He's praying for his disciples, whom the Father has given him. Now, give is a key word. I hope you heard it. I can read it again to emphasize it again if you didn't hear it. You hear it in verse six, twice, verse seven. The Father gave these disciples to the Son. The Father gave words to the Son and the Son gave those words to his people. Verse eight. As we saw in the final discourse before this, the Holy Spirit will remind them of those words and illuminate those words. The focus now is on the disciples. God is giving his son, God the Father is giving his son a people for himself. Those whom Jesus has revealed the name of God, that's who he's praying for, not the world. That kind of startles us, right? That verse stands out. We'll discuss it in time. I'm not praying for the world. I'm praying for your people, the one you had, the one you gave me. There's a distinction between the world and God's people. What we see here is we, this isn't to our exclusion, we, his disciples, are called out to be his people, to be owned by God for his glory. We're his treasured possession. Our first point, we are called out of the world for God's glory. One of the key things is that this isn't a complete change direction of the prayer. The big overarching point is that this is all for God's glory. We're just going to see how it benefits us more directly now. Again, the key action of prayer is giving. And we usually think of God giving. We think of him giving to us. Most of the giving we read about in scripture is God giving us good gifts. He is a good and perfect giver. We ask you, what verse in John best describes God's giving? We'd probably all go to John 3. For God so loved the world that he sent, he gave his only begotten son. We usually think about his giving towards us. Our passage gives us a rare glimpse of a different kind of giving. The Father is giving His Son a specific group of disciples out of the world. Instead of the Son being given to us, for us, we're seeing that God gives us to the Son. This is fascinating. This is a rare glimpse into the action of God within the Godhead. That's not the only place we see this. We can actually go to Revelation 21 and see this fleshed out a little bit more. In Revelation, we, the church, are given to the Son as a bride. Jerusalem comes down adorned as a beautiful bride. We are given to the Son as a bride to emphasize his love for us. In Revelation, we're also given to the Son as his people. To emphasize, as a king, he is a righteous ruler and he's worthy to be king. What we want to see in this teaching is that Jesus' glory is the ultimate goal. God is good and he saves us from our sin, but God does so because his Son is worthy to be king. It's very important. We are safe to be God's people because the sun is worthy to be king. He deserves to rule and love a people. This is why he gave us gave us to the sun for his glory. Now, let's back up again. Amazing to think about this giving the father gives his son over to death for our life. The father gives us to the son to give us new life. The father gives the son glory. The son gives the father glory. We're the recipients in this great grand scheme of God, this great plan of God that is for his glory. As we ask about this giving. I want to ask three questions we think about the giving, I want to ask three questions first. When did the Father give us to the Son? Second, why did the Father give the Son this gift? Why these disciples? Why us? Third, why did the Father give the gift? To what end? When did the Father give us, his disciples, to the Son? Now Jesus speaks in past tense, it's not presently giving, it's you gave me these. So we have to ask, when was this? What past tense is he referring to? And we could go back to the beginning of the Gospel of John and we could see how Andrew and Peter and Nathanael and Philip were called out to be disciples. They were given to Jesus to be disciples. But I think we could actually go further back. We could go back before creation, before the foundation of the world, God chose us to be his people for his son. The disciples have been given to the son and the gift that God gives him was a promise before the creation of the world. The people God chose to give him were chosen before the foundation of the world. Now, this is extremely important to see, and it's not because I want to convince you of election and predestination this morning. It's actually much more important than even that. The reason it's important is because we have to see that what made these disciples, the people that God chose to give to his son, it had nothing to do with how good they were, how obedient they were, how talented they were. It had nothing to do with how sinful they were. It was merely God chose them to be the gift for his son. Think about it. We should be asking the second question already. Why did God give him this gift? How are these guys a good gift? They're so slow to learn. They never get anything until the Holy Spirit comes down. They fall asleep during prayer time. They're going to deny him. Is this a good gift for the son? The point being, it's not a matter of how faithful they are. It's a matter of God saying, son. You're worthy to be a king for a people. Here's a people redeem them for yourself. Has nothing to do with us. We're not chosen because we have something we're bringing to the table that can glorify the Son, other than the fact that we're a people who submits to him and is loved by him and is ruled by him. We have nothing to offer. But God, in his grace, says you get to be chosen to worship my son. You see, salvation is all about the glory of God. Salvation is all about us being called out of our darkness, out of our sin, so that we can be renewed in the image that God originally had for us, and even better, as a son of God. We're given to the Son not because we deserve and are worth a new life. We're given to the Son because He is worthy to be a king and worshipped. That's the passage this morning. That's the grand message. We're given new life, not because we're worthy of it, but because the king is worthy of a people to love and to rule. This is kind of hard because I want to make sure I said this well. Salvation is not about us. I love the passages of scripture. God so loved the world, he sent his only begotten son. There is a deep, focused, intentional, never ending love God has for his people. But his love for his own glory is greater. That's why he loves us. We have to understand the love for us isn't because we deserve it. We're completely unlovely. It's because we are called to glorify him. That changes everything. You know, I think the reason God talks to us that way is because He truly loves us, but because also we think it's all about us anyway. That's the great thing about God is He meets us where we're at and changes us. We already think it's all about us anyway, and so God tells us we love you, but then when we realize it's He loves us for His own glory. He loves us out of a love for His own glory. That changes the way we think. We are given eternal life for his glory. All mine are yours and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. This should make us question. What are we living for? For whom are you living, whose glory have you set apart as your ambition and your desire? We've been chosen to worship Jesus. That's who we should be living for. Now, if you question if this is a good thing, let me describe the Son's reign. Jesus as King reigns over a people and it's good for us. Jesus came to serve us. He washed his disciples feet. Jesus came to teach us. He gave us the word of truth that shows us the lies we believe in so that we can live according to God's good good rule. He came to love us. He laid down his life for us. He came to give us his own life. It's indestructible and forever. He came to share with us his eternal inheritance. We now get to know God as father. It's good. to have a king, when that king is God, when that king is Jesus. I ask you, are you living in the glory of God for His glory? A few questions that we could ask to analyze our lives, and this is a challenge for Christians. What are your prayers focused upon? What are your prayers focused upon? Are you constantly asking God what will glorify you or are you asking for what will make me happier? There's an indicator there. Am I living because I think God's all about me or am I living because I know I am all for God's glory? Secondly, what are your resources dedicated to? Your time, your money, your energy. Are there things that we find interesting? Are there things that God has ordained as good and right? Here's a fun one. What do you refuse to do? What task is not glorious enough for you? Are there things you refuse to do because they think they're beneath your skill level or your qualification? Let me use a precise example. Serving in the nursery. Serving in the nursery. Is serving in the nursery not glorious enough for you to commit your time to? Are you too glorious for the nursery? Is Jesus not glorious enough for you to care for the children of the church? I use that because it seems like a simple task. And sometimes we think, well, I need to do a great task. No. We can serve and glorify God in the most simple task. This is a little more difficult. This is getting a little more real. Who do you refuse to love? Who do you refuse to love? So the gospel calls us to make some real radical claims in our life. The gospel says we do not deserve love. The gospel says God gave it to us in Christ, even though we didn't deserve it. And now we have to go give love to those who aren't deserving of it. Now, there's folks around us that we have a difficult time loving and forgiving and showing grace to because we think they don't deserve it and they may not deserve it. But God says you are called to love them. God says you're called to show grace to them. God says you're called to forgive them. Being a Christian means we recognize that God loves the unlovely, us, and that we're supposed to love the unlovely, the brothers and sisters. Some might think that selling everything you have and moving to Africa is radical. And that is fairly radical, but that's not the real call of the Christian life. The real call of the Christian life is radical. It's committing to live as if one with a bunch of people you have only one thing in common with that are difficult, that are sinners, that are going to grumble about you. That's called the church. The church is difficult. We're a bunch of sinners. We hurt one another. We grumble against one another. We bite one another. And God says, I've loved you all. Therefore, you must keep loving one another. That's a radical life that will glorify God. His grace, because of His grace, we're to show grace to one another. By His grace alone, we can show that grace to one another. You see, this truth changes everything, that it's for God's glory because we no longer think, this isn't worthy of my time and energy. Everything is worthy of our time and energy because we're doing it out of worship for the one who is worthy. It changes everything. It makes us feel quite uncomfortable. Because we've always thought there's things we should do and should not do. We think there's a kind of elevation we give to ourselves. There's an uncomfortableness in the air because if Jesus Christ is our king, we no longer have any rights. If Jesus Christ is our king, we no longer have rights. What he calls us to do, we do. Because he's worthy to be obeyed. We're called to be obedient and faithful worshipers. We're called to serve the king by serving one another. We're called to proclaim the kingdom. The beauty of the gospel is that we have been given new life so that we can be given to the sun for his glory. Let's look at our second main point this morning. We are called out of the world to have a new identity. We are called out of the world to have a new identity. Look at verse 6, I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Jesus reveals the name of God to the people that God took for himself and has given over to the Son. Now when Jesus manifests the name of God, what he's saying is, I've revealed your character. I've revealed who you are. A person's name was always tied to their identity. For instance, Jesus literally means Yahweh, God, saves. His name reveals a lot about him. And so Jesus says, I've revealed your name to your people, God. I've done what you've asked me to do. I've revealed who you are to your people. Now, it could be that Jesus is saying, I've revealed this new knowledge that God your Father. That's something new that Jesus revealed to the church. The Old Testament believers, they didn't call God Father in the same way we do. They say we now know God in a different way. It's a further revelation, a further disclosure. And what he's saying here may be that the name Father is what's new. Now we go to him in confidence in his love, no longer in fear. Well, this is a new name. I'm not sure that's what he's revealing. I think Jesus is actually saying what was revealed to Moses in Exodus, right? He said, I'm going to reveal my name to my people. I think Jesus is saying, I've given a further revelation to Moses. This is Phil 1, 17 and 18. Moses couldn't see God, but the only begotten God, he made him known. There's more revelation and really we just see it's a continual revelation. What we saw in Exodus was that two truths. God is with us. God is for us. God is with us. God is for us. You can summarize the Bible with those two declarations. God is with us. God is for us. And think about the way Jesus has revealed that character and that commitment of God. God with us. The word became flesh. And made his dwelling among us. God is with us in a whole new covenantal way because He's come down to be part of us. He came to be like us in every way except for sin. He's with us. God for us. Not only did God stretch out His mighty right hand to take Israel out of Egypt, not only did God part the Red Sea, not only did God fight for them against all the Gentiles and the pagans that were seeking to kill them, not only did God for them to fight for them here in Jesus, God is for us because he sent his son to die in our place. He's committed to our salvation. These two truths, we know that we have a greater knowledge of God because of them. As we pursue God's glory, just as Moses did in Exodus 34, what we realize is that God is free in his mercy and his grace. He's graciously called out a people to be his own people. He is our God. We are his people. Now. He's revealed the name to the people, and that's what's changing that grace of God that's changed them is what he's revealed to them. And what we see here is there's there's two different identities. There's two ways to live. There's two ways you can understand yourself. You're either part of the people of God or you're part of the people of the world. We either belong to God or belong to the world. Jesus makes this very clear. I am praying for them. I'm not praying for the world. There's two different kinds of people. And what separates us is God's grace. Let's first ask, what is the world? If God has called out a people from the world, What did he call us out of? What is the world? 1 John 2.15 tells us that the world is the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, and the lust of flesh. Paul actually tells us more about the worldly life from Galatians 5. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, distinctions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. That's a description of what the world consists of. Colossians 3, sexual immorality, impurity, passions, evil desires, covetousness, which is idolatry, On account of these, the wrath of God is coming, he says in Colossians 3. If we go back to our passage, Titus 3, the world consists of being foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others, and hating one another. To summarize it, we're saying the world is that system of rebellion that hates God. the world refuses God his righteousness in his glory now system how is it a system how is the world is organized movement against God because it it seems rather unorganized work every human being is going his own way was organized that there is a ruler of the world say There's a ruler of the world that is leading us, his creation, God's creation against God. He does so with deception. God created us in his image for his glory, and Satan hijacked that creation and led us in rebellion against him. So when we believe in a lie, we're battling with Satan against God. When we believe a lie from the world, we're battling with Satan against God. That's why it's so important to have our minds purified and transformed by the word of God. We're believing the lie that is our right to do what we want when we live in the world. We're believing the lie that it is our right to do what we want. So we say, I'm going to do what I want. You're saying Jesus Christ doesn't have a right to rule over me. We're believing a lie that we are worth the life we have, because we're saying God is not worthy of every thought and deed that he's in every moment he's given us for his glory. In the world, we are refusing God and his right to rule us. In the world, we are really refusing what is best for us. The good news this morning is that Jesus Christ delivered us out of the world. He delivered us from the sin that we were captured in, the sin that we chose and made us a slave to itself. Jesus Christ delivered us. He crushed the power of Satan, the ruler of the world. He disarmed him. He destroyed his works. Then he taught us the truth. He doesn't just take us out of the world. He then leads us in light. We have to realize there's two basic identities. There are two identities, you fall under one of these. We are either in our sin or in Christ. We're either living in in rebellion or we're living in righteousness. We either belong to the world or to the kingdom. Satan is either a ruler or Christ is our king. We are their children of lies or children of the truth. We're either glorifying God or we're seeking to glorify ourselves. It's a very clear difference. There are two ways to live. What we have to realize is that our pattern and our sin is to fight against God. This is why we must commit ourselves to being disciples that deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Christ. We come out of the world believing in Jesus and his word. Look to our passage. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you. The world to be taken, the way to be taken out of the world at instruction is to believe that Jesus is from the father, for I've given them the words that you gave me and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you and they believe that you sent me. Most important thing for you to understand in your identity as a Christian is that Jesus Christ is the Savior that the Father has sent. He has died on our behalf to take away our sin. He has risen again to give us new life. We have to recognize our identity is now found in Christ. I ask, how would you describe yourself? Somebody said, who are you? How do you look at yourself? Do you look at yourself in the way the world does? Do you try to fit a certain attractive scale according to the world standard? Do you think of yourself in the academy? How smart am I? Do you think of yourself in the workplace? How effective am I? What do you say? I'm a sinner. I know that because Jesus Christ had to come and die for me. And now I'm a child of grace because Jesus Christ came and died for me. Those are two central identity markers. We're sinners completely dependent upon Christ. Christ has done everything we need to give us a new identity. We must look to the cross and the resurrection and the right hand of the Father. We don't look to our works for identity. That only makes us either think we're really bad because we don't have enough works, or it makes me think we're better than we are because we think too much of our works. Those are the two errors the church is constantly plagued with. The overwhelming guilt because we aren't righteous, or the disgusting self-righteousness because we think we've got it all figured out. No, we have nothing but sin, except for when we believe in Jesus Christ, and then we are children of God. We're sinners who have been declared saints. We have to look to his word that corrects us, heals us, leads us. Jesus says that they have given them your words and they've received it. We have to receive God's word because we were left for ourselves. We think wrong. Something important here is our identity has changed. Not all of our desires have changed. That's kind of the hard part, isn't it? Our identity has changed. We are children of God, children of light. But there's so much darkness in our hearts. There's so many sinful thoughts in our minds. We have to realize our identity has been changed. But sanctification, being changed constantly into the image of Christ, that takes time. Now, let me answer the question. Let's look at this passage, verse nine. I'm praying for them. I'm not praying for the world over those whom you have given me for their yours. How can Jesus pray? Not pray for the world when God says he so loves the world. Does that make sense? There should be a question we ask here. In John 3, 16, the greatest passage most people know, God so loved the world that he sent his son. And here Jesus saying, I'm not praying for the world. How do we make sense of those two things in the same book by the same author? God so loved the world. Jesus says, I'm not praying for the world. In the passage, John 3, 16, it's saying God looks down at his creation. Those he made good, the design was good, his love creation, man and woman, made in his image. He sees that what he created for his glory with good design, it's been corrupted. It's been changed. It's been led into rebellion. He looks down and he says, I still love what I created. Even though it hates me, even though it's rejected me, even though it's refused me, God is saying, I'm still going to focus down my affection for my creation. So, this emphasis in John 3, 16 is actually that God still loves that which hates him. So, now the Son has been sent into the world to call his disciples. What does God think of the world? Well, God has still loved the world. God is so focused on in saying, I'm going to send my son to die for those who are rebellious me. But he's saying there's there's some who are disciples that I called out of the world that I've given over to my son. These have a special place. Those who are still in the world. They don't belong to God, those who continue the rebellion. They don't receive eternal life. If you're not a Christian this morning. There's two different identities. If you're not believing in Jesus Christ, that he died on the cross in your place for your sin, and that he's risen again, you're still in the world and the world is headed towards destruction. God will judge every sin. If you believe in Jesus Christ, he judges your sin when Jesus Christ died on the cross and you're forgiven now. It's the only way you have hope for life. and eternal life to turn from rebellion and look to the king and speak to worship him. If you're a Christian, you belong to Christ and he's called you now to worship him. You have to learn to recognize that you have a new identity. This is what it means when Paul keeps talking about being transformed in your mind. You have to see yourself differently. Then the world will talk about you. Then your conscience will declare to you that your sin and the devil will accuse you of. You have to see yourself differently. And it matters. It changes the way you live. Let me give two different scenarios why our identity in Christ must be primary. First, A parent who is a Christian makes being a parent his or her primary identity. That's the scenario. If a parent makes them being a parent their primary identity and not being a Christian, not being in Christ, this is what happens. Their being a parent shapes their Christianity more than Christianity shaping their parenting. One leads the other. Whatever you say is primary and most essential is going to form the other. There's primary, there's secondary, and if you say I'm a parent first and a Christian second, you're going to shape Christianity according to your parenting. When you do that, your worth, value, and success in life is based upon your children and how they respond to your instruction. Now, this might kind of work if your children all grow up to be obedient and honoring and successful. But your kids are sinners. Your children are sinners. No one said amen. Good for you. When they fail, if your identity is wrapped in being a parent, when they fail, it will crush you. Now, there's a sense in which a parent is burdened by their children's failures. But if your identity is found in being a parent first, their failure is crushing. We must first make our identity in Christ. Because if our identity is in our children, it'll lead to a fear of man and an unhealthy perception of who we are because it's based upon how they're doing. But if our primary identity is Christ, We know that it's by grace alone that we were saved. It's by grace alone they'll be saved. By grace alone they'll follow Christ. By grace alone we will follow Christ. It changes your perception of failure. It gives you that secure and stable and shakable foundation. The second scenario. A believer makes their career their primary identity. If a believer makes their career their primary identity, It's going to shape and change some ethical decisions. You're going to begin justifying decisions at work to be accepted, to be promoted, that are unbiblical. If you choose to make your career your idol, the ultimate goal is to be successful. Your worth will be in how much money you make. Your worth will be in how much influence you have on people. Your worth will be in your ability to get promoted. It's works and performance-based. Ultimately, you'll fail. Ultimately, you're either building yourself up to think too much of yourself, or when failure comes, you'll be desperate. It leads to a fear of man that says, I have to continue to progress. Whereas if you're a Christian, you realize your your job is a job, your job, the means of providing for your family, your your job as a way of contributing to society. But first and foremost, I'm a Christian and that's my identity. And I will accept what God gives me. As I seek to live for Christ as his people, our passage directs us to things they know everything that you have given me is from you. I've given them the words that you gave me." This is very similar to the Great Commission. Teach them to obey everything I've said, Jesus says. Teach them to obey everything. Do you feel your rights that you think you have as a Christian just kind of melt away there? He's the King. He's called us out of darkness for His glory. When we go to his word, we don't say, this is what I think it says. We go to the word and we say, Lord, by your Holy Spirit, illuminate this book that you've given me so that I can submit to you my king for your glory. This is the rule that God gives us. And friends, let me tell you, his rule is sweet. His rule is good. His rule This rule saves us and keeps us from our error. You have to ask yourself, do we know best on how we should live? Do we know best as to what's good for us, or do we submit and say, God, be my king. For your glory. If you're living for your own glory, I assume you already know that somewhat fleeting. Constantly trying to grab it and hold it. It's constantly leaving you. Constantly wanting more and more and never satisfied. Friends, you can be saved from that futile pursuit. You can begin pursuing God's glory, which is always satisfying. You can turn to Jesus Christ. I believe that you've died for my sins. I believe you've risen again. I believe your glory is good for me. Help me to follow you as your child. This is the prayer we should have in response to the prayer we see here in Jesus. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that you've given us these words to challenge How we think of ourselves. And most of all, Lord, how we think of you. We thank you that you've loved us with a never ending, never failing love. We thank you that you loved us while we were still sinners. And Lord, we thank you that you've given us over to your son, Jesus Christ, to be reigned. With his love by his love, help us. Help us to surrender our rights that we think we have to do what we want to do. Help us to submit to you. Help us to know how to submit to you and to love one another for the glory of the one King Jesus Christ. You're worthy. You're worthy of what we give you. We thank you for your grace that's patient. We thank you for your grace that constantly calls us back to be led by you, to follow you, and to be loved by you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.