His Glory, Our Joy

Our soul, apart from Christ, is not an overgrown jungle; it's a dry wasteland needing living water. We're dehydrated and decaying. When we indulge in a desire, it leaves us empty, needing and wanting more. When we drink the living water of Christ, God tells us we will be like a well-watered garden. See Isaiah 58:11

Why does all of this matter? We need anchors in life—something to hold us steady when we face storms, life changes, or strong undercurrents. As a wise business ethics professor said, "You must know who you are, or they will make you who they want you to be."

At Passion City Church DC, we have three theological anchors.

1) Glory of God

2) Radical Grace

3) Extravagant Worship

God's glory and our joy are not in conflict with one another. Because of the radical grace of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross, our joy can be fulfilled in His glory, leading to the extravagant worship of Him.

1) The glory of God amidst His people in the goal of God in history.

• Psalm 19:1 - Creation declares the glory of God.
• Revelation 21:23—The new Heaven and the new Earth will need no sun or moon because the glory of God will be their light.
• Habakkuk 2:14—The Earth will be filled with His glory.

In Exodus 33:18-23, Moses asked to see the glory of God. The Hebrew word for glory is Kabod, which implies weight, honor, and dignity. God hid Moses in the shadow of the rock and allowed His goodness to pass before Him and His glory behind Him. God not only showed Moses His glory, he also told Him his name in Exodus 34:6. "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness." God's glory and His name are intimately bound together.

What do we mean when we say God?

We don't believe in a generic god. Our God is the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Where do we see this?

Ephesians 1:3—Blessed be the God and FATHER. The glory of the Father is that through His glorious grace, He has adopted us into His family.

Ephesians 1:6—He has blessed us in the BELOVED, the Son. The glory of the Son is through the work of salvation, which involves redemption, forgiveness, and uniting of all things to Himself.

Ephesians 1:13—You were sealed with the promised HOLY SPIRIT. The glory of the Holy Spirit is that we are sealed with Him, who guarantees our inheritance.

The Father adopts us, the Son redeems us, and the Holy Spirit seals us. We've been marked with a seal of the King, representing that we are His authentic children.

God's glory is not our demise; it's our salvation. His greatest display of glory was the Cross of Christ.

2) Radical Grace

• Romans 3:23-24 says His grace redeems us. We have all fallen short. The gap between His glory and our glory is our guilt that causes shame. What do we do with our shame?
• Bury it—we hide it and live a double life, half of what we could be.
• Carry it—we bear it every day, and it gets heavier.
• Marry it (to the Cross)—we are crucified with Christ so that we can be raised with Him into a new life with no shame.
• Ephesians 1:7-8. Jesus redeemed us. His blood is the exchange for us to live a free life. It's radical grace because it cost us nothing but Him and His life. We walk free and clean according to the riches of His grace that He lavished on us. There is an abundance with God. He gave it in wisdom and insight for a purpose. He what He was doing. God does not lack an increase.

3) Extravagant Worship

To rejoice means to respond to God's grace in an outward expression. Ephesians 1:3-14 in the original Greek is all one sentence. 202 words! That's extravagant. Paul leads with the celebration of God. Paul really liked God. Do you? Do you enjoy His forgiveness? His grace? Being united with Him? These are to be received with a smile, not a stern look. We worship what we enjoy. Our enjoyment of God is incomplete until we can express that enjoyment together.