On Mission to Glorify God

Jesus’ mission was not to seek fame, popularity, or riches. Rather, he was out to glorify God. During one Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, Jesus spoke to the crowds and expressed his approach to ministry. Here are his exact words:

My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone is willing to do his will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from myself.

He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but he who is seeking the glory of the One who sent him, he is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him (John 7:16–18; NASB).

So, from these words, we draw the conclusion that Jesus was not seeking his own glory. In other words, Jesus did not speak from his own thoughts, he did not do his own will, nor did he promote his own opinions. He sought ‘the glory of the One who sent him,’ as he put it.

Pure Obedience

Our Lord Jesus didn’t make things up. He was no artist trying to be creative. On the contrary, he imitated. He followed the Law. He was obedient. No artists claim obedience as the inspiration for their work, but Jesus made obedience his guiding principle.

Jesus never made his own plans or went on his own mission. Being sent by someone greater than himself, Jesus didn’t serve himself—he served another. That’s what Jesus meant when he spoke of the One who sent him. Do you remember? Jesus said:

My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me… [then Jesus called himself] he who is seeking the glory of the One who sent him … (John 7:16–18; NASB)

If someone is sent by another, they do not seek their own glory. Rather, they seek the glory of the one who sent them. Do you get it?

Let’s examine how to promote the glory of God. Let’s study how to “hallow” God’s name. In other words, how can we increase his fame, his good name, and strengthen his reputation? This was the underlying principle of Jesus’ entire ministry, and we need to adopt it too. He enforced it on others and Jesus will enforce it on us.

The “Legion” Man’s Disobedience

Jesus healed a demon-possessed man in Gadara, a man who had a “Legion” inside of him, and he sent the man away with these words:

‘Return home and tell how much God has done for you.’ So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him (Luke 8:38-39).

Read that passage closely. Read it carefully, and answer the question honestly: Did the man freed from the “Legion” obey Jesus?

The answer: No. Most people will say “yes” because they can’t discern the difference between Jesus and God. Their minds have been clouded by the vague notion that the One God is Three in One—but the One God is actually the Father.

To understand why the answer is “no,” you have to recognize that Jesus ordered the man to talk about God, and the man went around town talking about Jesus. Now, that’s close. Talking about Jesus is talking about the Son of God, but it’s not what Jesus told him to do.

If you can’t see the disobedience in this case, or if you think this is just semantics, it's not. Let's continue and study other examples.

A Man Healed of Leprosy

In this next Bible story you’ll notice that Jesus sternly warned a leper by giving him strict orders to ‘say nothing to anyone.’ Then you’ll notice that Jesus had to bear in himself the consequences of the man’s disobedience. Disobedience always produces problems.

The Scriptures tell us about this man saying:

… a man with leprosy came to Jesus, imploring him and kneeling down, and saying to him, ‘If you are willing, you can make me clean.’

Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out with his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’ And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.

And he sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, and he said to him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’

But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopulated areas; and they were coming to him from everywhere (Mark 1:40–45; NASB).

You read here the petition,

                                  the compassion,

                                                 the warning,

                                                              the disobedience,

                                                                                and the negative consequences.

The petition was ‘make me clean.’ The response was compassion from Jesus. The warning was ‘say nothing to anyone.’ The disobedience was that the man ‘began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around.’

Consequences, Consequences

And what about the consequences? These are the biggest clue that what the man did was wrong. The first consequence was ‘Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city.’ That’s a bad thing!

How would you like if for your life to be relegated to the countryside? It’s not good. And another consequence was that Jesus ‘stayed out in unpopulated areas’ which means he had none of the conveniences of society available to him (hotels, restaurants, running water, security, stores, and clean spaces). That was another bad consequence.

But Jesus didn’t complain against the inconveniences of his circumstances. He wanted to enter every city in the region out of compassion. He was trying to bring salvation to the multitudes out of love for them. That’s why he sent the apostles ahead of him. The Scriptures tell us:

… the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of him to every city and place where he himself was going to come (Luke 10:1; NASB).

So, just like the man who had the “Legion” of demons, this leper disobeyed Jesus’ orders. The man who the Lord healed of leprosy made Jesus famous—and that may sound good to you, but it was not good in Jesus’ way of thinking. Even if you think differently from Jesus, you at least have to admit that the consequences prove that the leper’s public announcement were negative for Christ’s ministry.

Healing of leprosy was the kind of news Jesus did not want to spread. It was what Jesus wanted to avoid because he didn’t want fame. He wanted to heal. He wanted individuals to be transformed by the power of God through deep reflection and meditation on the Good News of the Kingdom, his message. And he wanted to inspire sincere commitment to the Kingdom cause. His message was the meat of his ministry, not his healings.

Healing of a Deaf Man in Decapolis

In the next passage, Jesus heals a man who sported both a speech impediment and deafness. Read the story carefully and notice Jesus’ main concern. It was not the healing. It wasn’t even the message. It was that nobody publicize the healing.

He looked up to Heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, ‘Ephphatha!’ (which means ‘Be opened!’). At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.

Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he [Jesus] did so, the more they kept talking about it (Mark 7:34–36).

Even before Jesus performed the healing he took the man aside and tried to make it a personal experience. Look at what he did:

After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue (v. 33).

So, we see that Jesus wants people to have an intimate experience of the power of God that’s going to change their lives. He does not want public applause, popularity, or fame. All that he wants is for people to live for God, the Father, and to thank God.

Power That Belongs to God

Why exactly did ‘Jesus command the observers of the miraculous healing ‘not to tell anyone’ (v. 36)? Was he afraid of the attention? No, it wasn’t fear. Was he afraid that it would draw the ire of the Pharisees? No, he didn’t let the Pharisees sway the way he operated.

It was simply because Jesus knew what other people did not: That his power was not his own. Therefore, he did not want any popularity, fame, or honor for the miracles. The power working through him was not his. It didn’t belong to him. It belonged to God. Therefore Jesus always did his best to make sure that God would get the glory.

Jesus was certain about from whom his anointing came. Since his anointing was God’s gift, and came from God, God deserved the glory, the praise, and the honor—not Jesus. Can you recognize that now? In other words, are you (a) just like the people who ‘… the more he ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it’ (v. 36), or (b) someone who knows how to give God the Father the glory?

Are you someone who only praises Jesus and who ignores the Father? If you are, then Jesus feels the same way about you he did about the people of Decapolis—frustrated. Jesus has not changed. He still does not want that kind of press. He wants the glory to go to God.

Jesus Was Unsuccessful

The Lord Jesus tried to silence the people back then, and he tries to silence the people today. He was unsuccessful then, and he’s unsuccessful today. Why? Because people refuse to give God the glory. They ignore the Father and the focus Jesus tried to give us. They ignore verses like this next one—taken from a prayer Jesus lifted up in the Upper Room:

Righteous Father, although the World has not known you, yet I have known you; and these have known that you sent me; and I have made your name known to them, and will make it known… (John 17:25-26)

Prior to that statement, Jesus said this to the Apostles:

… the Father Himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came forth from the Father… (John 16:26)

And they responded to him:

… we believe that you came forth from God (John 16:30).

That’s the pure Christian Faith. That’s the doctrine of the Apostles. We believe in Jesus as the Son of God—a man sent forth from God. The Nicene Creed uses the term proceeds. Jesus proceeds from God.

We affirm that Jesus was sent by God, and spoke God’s Words to fulfill God’s mission. He did not come on his own mission. We believe in a Jesus who performed not his own will, but God’s will.

The Base Human Desire for Fame

Jesus, who came in the flesh, the human nature of sin, overcame the base human desire to be famous. That desire is something you’ll notice in yourself. You have it deep inside. Even if you don’t want to be a famous musician, you’ve longed for the "praise of men" since you were little.

Kids pursue it from the early age—inspired by their parents who laud them for the things they accomplish. And adults pursue it through titles, degrees, raises, corporate promotions, honor, and popularity.

This desire for fame is what John calls ‘the boastful pride of life’ (1 John 2:16). You’ll also recognize it as the temptation the Devil used when he seduced Eve to pursue worldly wisdom. Remember how when he pointed her to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in Genesis 3:6 it says that ‘the woman saw that the tree was… desirable to make one wise’?

That’s ‘the boastful pride of life.’

Eve, our common source, our shared fore-mother had a deep longing to obtain the wisdom of the World—the kind that would lift her up. She thought that it would make her famous, but it did the opposite. It made her infamous. Her pursuit of glory brought her very low. She did not become “wise” when she ate of the forbidden fruit.

In retrospect, although any of us would have done the same, we know that she fell into a trap. We see that it was a temptation. But do we understand for ourselves today that the pursuit of the wisdom of the World (through university degrees, titles, political correctness, psychology, and popularity) will bring us low too? Do we acknowledge the sinfulness of seeking our own glory?

Humble Yourself

In the scene where Jesus healed a man of leprosy, he ordered the man to follow the protocol laid out in Leviticus 14:1–32 and to present himself to the priests for examination. The idea was that the priests might glorify God for the miracle—which would have had a very good domino effect on the people to whom the priests ministered.

If he had gone to the priests, it would have been beneficial to Jewish society as a whole. It would have multiplied the glory God would receive through God's established teachers, the priests. But the man refused to obey Jesus!

After healing the leper, Jesus ‘sternly warned him’ and said, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone...’ (v. 44) which was so Jesus would be able to enter cities and minister to the people without becoming famous. In other words, Jesus had a very thoughtful approach to ministry—a strategy in which he would humble himself with the aim of getting God the glory. Do you have that same approach to life, or do you want people to praise you? Do you secretly learn for the applause of your friends, family, and church community?

If you do, repent. Be free of this base fleshly desire for fame. Acknowledge that your fame would distract people from glorifying God. Take measures to avoid the limelight. Humble yourself like Jesus did, and serve him in a way that makes less of you and more of God.

Jesus left us that example. Jesus himself, as great as he is, still serves God and seeks to give God the glory.