Kidd and Taylor . Leave a Reply « Home. Seventy-five years ago (June 8, 1941) C.S. Likewise, our desire for Paradise does not prove we will enjoy it. God has a glory that surpasses the glory of anything else in existence because He is of infinite value and worth. 2. Lewis ascended the pulpit at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin in Oxford and delivered “The Weight of Glory,” one of the most insightful sermons of the twentieth century. Features Fullscreen sharing Embed Statistics Article stories Visual Stories SEO. But first we need to ask more generally, what do “glory” and “glorify” mean? Those who have gone to glory are in the first category, seeing that everlasting life is the consummation (proper/natural reward) of earthly discipleship. In the end, that Face which is the delight or the terror of the universe must be turned upon each of us—either with the expression of conferring glory inexpressible or the expression of inflicting shame that can never be cured or disguised. I read the text. The Gospel Coalition II ... eternal weight of glory | feed. To please God . God’s perfect love, power, wisdom, sovereignty, and grace make him glorious. TGC Resource Library - free online resources from The Gospel Coalition Explore the riches of our extensive library, including the best audio, video and text resources from The Gospel Coalition … Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases on Amazon.com. Love sees self-denial as containing within it an appeal to desire, since it is good to desire and hope for the enjoyment of our own good. Our experience constantly suggests it, but it is a desire for something we have never actually experienced. It’s at this point we see the relevance of God’s promise to our deepest desires, as glory means good report with God, acceptance by God, response, acknowledgment, and welcome into the heart of things. The whole man is to drink joy from the fountain of joy. At the new Evangelical History blog I will give a historical overview of that presentation—with photographs—and some of the influence that it has had as a subsequent publication. In this third category, the emerging desire itself is a kind of preliminary reward. The Weight of Glory. An excerpt from The Glory of God. You can follow him on Twitter. The Gospel Coalition III. Kevin DeYoung (PhD, University of Leicester) is senior pastor of Christ Covenant Church in Matthews, North Carolina, board chairman of The Gospel Coalition, and assistant professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary (Charlotte). The Gospel Coalition Canada helps people know God's Word with their mind, love God fully with their heart, and engage the world with grace and truth. There’s no denying we have some extraordinary theologians in our generation. Leave a Reply « Home. The Gospel Coalition Canada helps people know God's Word with their mind, love God … W h e at o n , I l l I n o I s. MorganGloryBook.indd 5. The classic Weight of Glory by C.S. All purchases from this bookshelf support The Gospel Coalition. The Gospel Coalition supports the church by providing resources that are trusted and timely, winsome and wise, and centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ. So now, the gravity of Jesus’ glory in the gospel presses on all who believe through the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1.8). Stamped: 12:25 pm. We glorify God when we throw a spotlight on how great God is. Depart from me” (Matt. Even so they are filtered, being too much for our present management. 7:23). Please make sure all fields are filled out. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses. Copyright © 2021 The Gospel Coalition, INC. All Rights Reserved. Architecture was seen as an artistic medium that had numerous diverse functions—it was the discipline that could bring together engineering and art, construction and philosophy, building and theology. The answer has to do with the nature of symbols, because any concept of being with Christ has to be communicated by earthly images of things from within our experience. Answer: We gain insight into the meaning of the phrase the weight of glory in 2 Corinthians 4:17 when we zoom out and consider it in the context of the whole chapter. Stamped: 5:21 pm. So we do not lose heart. The Highest Virtue? Scripture often speaks of the weight of precious metals when it is talking about prices or trying to measure generosity and wealth (Gen. 23:16; 24:22). There are basically five types of promises in Scripture: (1) we shall be with Christ; (2) we shall be like Christ; (3) we shall have glory; (4) we shall in some sense be fed or feasted or entertained; (5) we should have some sort of official ruling position in the universe. This looks very exciting. Or we might know his section observing that we have never met a mere mortal. To talk of this desire for our own far-off country almost feels like committing an indecency. When we think of Christmas spirit, we usually think of gifts, eggnog, songs, and food. The variation of the promises does not mean that anything other than God will be our ultimate bliss. a historical overview of that presentation, Quiet Subversion After a Chaotic Election. The word, again, takes us back to the Old Testament accounts of the tabernacle and the temple. Objection: Desiring a Reward Makes One a Mercenary. Do we know that Lewis takes some surprising turns in this address, such as focusing more upon the glory we will receive from God than upon the glory that we will render to his name? No one can enter heaven except as a child; and nothing is so obvious in a good and humble child as his great and undisguised pleasure in being praised. The primary Hebrew term for glory is kabod. But can we not detect in our experience a very, very short moment when this satisfaction—of having pleased those whom we rightly love and fear—was pure? If he is your Christian neighbor he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ truly hides—the glorifier and the glorified, Glory himself, is truly hidden. But for most of us, this kind of thing has little immediate appeal. 8:3). Someday we will put on the glory of creation, or rather that greater glory of which Nature is only the first sketch. Matt. But despite all efforts, we remain conscious of a desire which no natural happiness will satisfy. Listen to Songs of Comfort for Anxious Souls by The Gospel Coalition on Apple Music. Objection: The Presence of a Person’s Desire Doesn’t Prove That It Will Be Satisfied. The Weight of Glory, by C.S. The nine addresses in Weight of Glory offer guidance, inspiration, and a compassionate apologetic for the Christian faith during a … I study the text. And what must be true about the connection between the desire and the reality? Solid, helpful Christian books come off the presses faster than anyone can read them. The greatest form of merriment exists between people who take each other seriously, without flippancy, superiority, or presumption. And our whole education is devoted to silencing this shy, persistent, inner voice, seeking to convince us that the earth is our home. Obviously this lawful pleasure of praise can quickly turn into the deadly poison of self-admiration. The Practical Application of These Speculations. Kabod is the Hebrew word for glory; it literally means “weight.” The glory of God is the weight of all that God is, the fullness of his understanding, virtue, and happiness, as Jonathan Edwards put it. Leggi il testo completo The Power of the Cross / When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (Medley) (Live At the Gospel Coalition/2013) di Keith & Kristyn Getty tratto dall'album Live At the Gospel Coalition. At present, if we are reborn in Christ, the spirit in us lives directly on God. This turns out to be a Scriptural idea: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” (Matt. Try. The ethic of negating desire comes from Kant and the Stoics, whereas the ethic that appeals to the desire for our own good comes from the New Testament. What is the object of our reward? Christianity teaches us that glory will satisfy our original desire, revealing an element in our desire we hadn’t previously noticed. Does God want us to be better known than other people? If we had stuck with our original vague notion of desire as a pointer to heaven and ignored the Scriptural teaching, we could not have seen the connection between this desire and the Christian promise. Lewis ascended the pulpit at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin in Oxford and delivered “The Weight of Glory,” one of the most insightful sermons of the twentieth century. Whoever I am: I wonder at your grace, compassion, kindness, faithfulness and love. to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness . The Gospel Coalition. This motives his disciples to see the nations submit under the weight of his holy gravity (Matt 28.19-20), that he might lift them up (Col 3.1; Eph 2.6; Rom 6.4) and ‘bring many sons and daughters to glory’ (Hebrews 2.10). I repent of my sins and my sinfulness, and claim your forgiveness through Christ. Almost all good men today would identify the highest virtue as unselfishness in contrast to love, which is how Christians of old would answer. But those of us who have not yet attained this reality cannot know it in the same way, and cannot even begin to know it at all except by (a) continuing to obey and (b) finding the first reward of our obedience in our increasing power to desire the ultimate reward. Cosa aspetti? It’s easy to become consumed (no pun intended!) To glorify God is to magnify the greatness of his character–not as a microscope magnifies by making small objects look large, but as a telescope magnifies by giving us a glimpse of things that are unimaginably big. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner—no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Note What Would Have Happened If We Had Ignored the Authoritative Scriptural Image. . However, it is impossible to think too often or too deeply about the potential glory of our neighbor. They only tend to work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. In contrast to those who are left on the outside—repelled, exiled, estranged, finally and unspeakably ignored—others will be called in, welcomed, received, acknowledged. . 5/17/10 11:34:54 AM I suspect that this celebrated address is more “sampled” than read straight through and understood in full. And if that is the case, we can contemplate the redeemed soul learning that he has pleased God, free from vanity and the miserable illusion that this is his own doing. Issuu company logo. Please make sure all fields are filled out. Lewis, the most important Christian writer of the 20th century, contains nine sermons delivered by Lewis during World War Two. But surely a man’s hunger does prove that he (1) comes of a race which repairs its body by eating and (2) inhabits a world where eatable substances exist. Evangelical History This is not the heathen idea of being absorbed into Nature (after all, nature is mortal while we are immortal). Revelation 14:6-7 And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory…” (v. 7) Starting next week, we’ll look at fourteen specific examples of how we can glorify God in all of life. To glorify God is to make much of him–as a mother makes much of her daughter when she fusses and frets over her. Through these slight momentary afflictions you are working an eternal weight of glory. In the Gospel, Jesus says his purpose in coming was to bring glory to God. But that means that something negative has replaced something positive, as unselfishness is foregoing good for ourselves, while love is securing good for others. He has authored numerous books, including, A Burden Removed: A Biblical Path for Removing the Racism of Our Forefathers, 80 Years Ago C. S. Lewis Warned Against Making Faith a Means to a Political End, Why Those Who Mourn Are Blessed in God’s Kingdom, 7 Ways to Kill the Thanksgiving Impulse in Your Life. More often, glory communicates God’s special presence, as in the pillars of glory and of fire (Exod. Kevin and his wife, Trisha, have nine children: Ian, Jacob, Elizabeth, Paul, Mary, Benjamin, Tabitha, Andrew, and Susannah. Pointing others to the majesty of God and being satisfied with the worth and weight of this majesty make us God-glorifiers. What would it be to taste at the fountain-head that stream of which even these lower reaches prove so intoxicating? In other words, in some mysterious way they will be banished from the presence of God who is everywhere and erased from the knowledge of him who knows all things. Upon completion of each, God’s glory is said to have taken up residence. As St. Augustine said, the rapture of the saved soul will “flow over” into the glorified body. Does he want us to be a kind of living light bulb? Leave a Reply « Home. 12:21, 23). He blogs at Between Two Worlds and Evangelical History. The Gospel Coalition IV. Shockingly, Christian writers and theologians speak approvingly of glory as fame—not in the sense of approval from fellow creatures, but in receiving a good report or appreciation or approval by God. To be summoned inside would be both glory and honor beyond what we deserve and the healing of our old ache. The Christian life in the here and now fits best into the third category. 2:28). Glory as Brightness, Splendor, and Luminosity. What we now call “physical pleasures” are the faint, far-off results of those energies which God’s creative rapture implanted in matter when he made the worlds. Youth Ministry: Youth Vanguard ... eternal weight of glory | feed. Here's the rest of the action from The Gospel Coalition: EDIT: Gospel Coalition Documents (correct link) Epistemology 101: The Gospel Coalition's Theology of Ministry Piper: The Triumph of the Gospel in the New Heavens and the New Earth ... eternal weight of glory | feed. The shift away from Romanesque to Gothic architecture occurred for a variety of sociological, theological, and technical reasons. and more. In the earlier discussion about our inconsolable longing, a crucial element was left out: we end up feeling like spectators instead of truly belonging to the world. Close. If “he who has God and everything else has no more than he who has God only,” why would Scripture induce us with promises beyond being with Christ? Stamped: 12:49 pm. Unselfishness sees self-denial as an end in itself, such that it is bad to desire and hope for the enjoyment of our own good. As our desire increases, our fear of this being a mercenary desire eventually recedes to the point of being an absurdity. There are no ordinary people. By definition heaven is outside our experience, but in order to be intelligible to us, all descriptions must come from within our experience. . The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor’s glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. Life and Books and Everything: John Piper Talks Books, We Must Find a Better Way to Talk About Race. Carson: What Is the Gospel? The latter says our desires are too weak. But that is what lies before us. “Glory” suggests two things: (1) fame (which seems wicked), and (2) luminosity (which seems ridiculous). It’s like ripping open an inconsolable secret in each of us. Salvation, both in the New Testament and in early Christian writings, is constantly associated with things like palms, crowns, white robes, thrones, and splendor (like the sun and stars). It’s true: a man’s physical hunger does not prove that that man will get any bread; he may die of starvation on a raft in the Atlantic. I look at who drove him to the sermon, the weather outside, who attended the sermon, how long it lasted, where it was published, and how it was popularized for Reformed evangelicals in particular. We now come to the second meaning of glory. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses—to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. This word stems from a root that means “weight” or “heaviness.” God is intrinsically glorious, in the sense of fullness, sufficiency, majesty, honor, worth, beauty, weight, and splendor. 13:43) and to receive the morning star (Rev. Explore the riches of our extensive library, including the best audio, video and text resources from The Gospel Coalition and select partners. Justin Taylor is executive vice president for book publishing and publisher for books at Crossway. But Nature is the image or symbol Scripture invites us to see. Why Does It Matter that Jesus Was Born of a Virgin? TGC Resource Library - free online resources from The Gospel Coalition Explore the riches of our extensive library, including the best audio, video and text resources from The Gospel Coalition … Why Did God Give Us Any of These Promises Beyond the First One? But if you could use some motivation or guidance, or simply want a substantial overview of the whole thing, I’ve tried my best to summarize the whole thing, tracing the various places Lewis takes us in this profoundly and edifying meditation. Many of us know the famous opening, where Lewis observes that we have settled for mud pies in the slum, ignorant of a holiday at the sea, and that we are far too easily pleased. Question: "What is the weight of glory in 2 Corinthians 4:17?" To glorify God is to honor his worth–just as I honor my wife by taking her out on an anniversary date when I could be watching the Chicago Bears, demonstrating that she is more valuable and desirable than football. But what is the argument of the piece as a whole? to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—all of this it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. We have tasted of it but not truly been accepted, welcomed, or taken into the dance. Through our trials you are proving the genuineness of our faith, for your glory and honour. A cathedral that was b… 13:21–22) or the glory that filled the tabernacle (40:34–38). In the light of our present specialized and depraved appetites we cannot imagine this violent torrent. Nothing wrong with any of that! God Will Look Upon Us with Either Glory or Shame. Seventy-five years ago (June 8, 1941) C.S. Sometimes, when I read stories in the Bible, I just don’t understand. But having worked through the Scriptural promise, which at first seemed perplexing and repellent, the connection now seems perfectly clear. Kabod is the Hebrew word for glory; it literally means “weight.” (1) Because God is more than a Person, and (2) lest we should imagine the joy of His presence too exclusively in terms of our present poor experience of personal love, with all its narrowness and strain and monotony, (3) therefore God supplies a dozen changing images, correcting and relieving each other. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. 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