Jesus’ Calling and Ours!

Jesus’ Calling and Ours!

“I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself.” Vs. 4-5.

“As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” V. 18.

Jesus’ work was not to glorify Himself, but the Father. He would have sinned if He had sought to be honored Himself. “He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.” John 7:18. There is no greater calling and no greater honor than glorifying “the only true God.” 1 John 5:20. Just as the Father sent His Son, so He has sent us. We have precisely the same great calling, which can give us the same glory if we are as faithful as Jesus was.

“Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, filling you with all desire for the good and work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Thess. 1:11-12.

We would like to be glorified in Him—have glory together with Him—but it depends on how much He is glorified in us on earth.

We pray, “Give us grace; speak to us; work in us!” When we pray like this, it is strange that the apostle should find it necessary to give us such exhortations as: “Be diligent not to draw back from God’s grace.” “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts . . . .” “Do all things without murmuring and disputing.” We want to be servants of the Lord; we want to do great things for Him. Nevertheless, the question is whether I really want to do it for Him, or whether I myself want to become great by doing great things for Him. “Every man is a liar,” and we don’t really know ourselves. When God gives us grace to be chastened, it doesn’t seem to be for our good because we don’t know ourselves. When we do not understand how we shall glorify Him, we are inclined to become bitter when we are chastened. When He speaks so that we shall be built up to be a habitation of God—and we feel judged—we are inclined to harden ourselves. 1 Pet. 4:17. When He works in us to be the servant and slave of all, we are inclined to doubt and murmur. We hadn’t thought that this is what it meant to glorify Him. Perhaps we thought more along the lines of preaching to great assemblies and performing signs and wonders.

However, Paul had a better understanding. He commended himself as a servant of the Lord by much patience in tribulations and in stripes, by purity, by discernment, by longsuffering, by goodness, etc. 2 Cor. 6:6. He did not harden his heart, neither did he murmur. He gives us this exhortation: “Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being.” 1 Cor. 10:24.

God is not partial, but there is a difference among people. “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13), i.e., to glorify Him on earth. He works as much as He is able. If I have not glorified Him more than I have, or perhaps have even been a disgrace to Him, it is because I did not consciously work to glorify Him. I have thought of my personal advantage; I have sought my own. Consequently, I neither discern when He is working nor when He is speaking to me. He does not force me to do anything. If we understand this, we also understand why Paul can say something like this: “For I have no one likeminded, who will sincerely care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus.” Phil. 2:20-21. Paul could say this. They thought of themselves and their own glory in all their zeal and their labors. It is possible that they did not have a clear understanding of it, but the fact that they thought of themselves interfered with God’s work. Paul and Timothy were likeminded; they had a totally different attitude.

“According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.” Phil. 1:20.

If Paul had not been successful in glorifying Christ, he would have been put to shame. Then the task he had received would not have been completed either, and he would have been unworthy of his calling. He would have been put to shame. If we understand this, and if we are willing, then we, too, are open to His working and rejoice when we hear His voice. 2 Cor. 5:20.