A Conflict of Interest (이해의 충돌)

John 17:24

24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

What a title for a sermon! Especially for the End of Year service? Yes, it is the last day of 2022, and as a way to look back of the year I would like to ask a question if our interest throughout the year has served the one for God. Another word for God’s interest would be “purpose,” that is, the purpose of God. I would particularly like to keep the word “interest” for the negative reasons. Apparently, there were many times where we failed to fulfill the life of service and obedience for God. Believe it or not, the biggest conflict is what salvation is for; in other words, whether salvation is for us or God. Why are we saved at all by the redemptive work of Christ? It is not two different issues obviously that should not be separated, but there is a fundamental difference in Christian life. I would like to maintain that perspective to look back for 2022.

Salvation in a practical term is that we go to heaven when we die. The life after death is the greatest interest of all people and all religions. We all believe that we go to heaven and the heaven is a good place where we have eternal life with God. There is no more pain, sorrow, or death. Only joy, love, and happiness! Then, would you like to go to heaven now? It seems like a childish question, but what if you can go to heaven right now? Would you like to go? Well! Maybe not now? Why not? Perhaps it is not quite your interest yet? You still have too many agendas and interests on your plate to give up yet? That was exactly what it was like when Jesus came first time. According to Matthew, the whole city of Jerusalem was greatly troubled when they heard about the coming of Jesus (2:3). The news of baby Jesus did not advance their interests. Likewise, whose interest is it for that we go to heaven? Is it God’s interest or ours that we go to heaven? Whom does it serve? This is a heavy theological question but at the same time a very practical one because it shapes and determines our life before God.

Here, I have an illustration to help our perspective. It is rather theology that I am going to unpack in order to see whether we live to serve God’s interest or ours. It is about going to heaven and involves dying.

When we die, our body is buried in the ground, but our soul goes to heaven. Heaven that the soul goes to is where God is, and it is no less heaven than it is. Many Christians are not certain about this because of Roman Catholic influences. They have a third place besides heaven and hell. They call it purgatory. Purgatory is an intermediate state after death for the purification of the elect before they enter heaven as a final place. It is a false teaching. You should be clear about it once and for all. When Jesus said to a robber on his right side that “you will be with me in paradise,” the paradise is another word for heaven in the New Testament (e.g., Rev. 2:7). It is the same place depicted in Revelation 22. It is not a third place besides heaven or any place less than heaven. Then, what happens to the soul that is in heaven now?  Those in heaven already enjoy everything that heaven is about. Heaven is the place for eternal glory. The glory your soul enters is the same glory that you later enter with the Lord at his second coming. So, when we go to heaven, we enter the ultimate glory in heaven. Nevertheless, salvation is not complete yet. There is more to it.

Is our salvation completed since we went to heaven? Not exactly! A part of our being remains in the ground. Yes, our body is still dead buried in the ground. The Old Testament calls it “Sheol,” and the New Testament “Hades.” Our body waits for the return of our Lord Jesus. The body needs to be redeemed as well for the completion of salvation.

Here, let us briefly think about what the work of redemption is like for Jesus. Jesus redeems us from sin and death. We go to heaven when we believe in Jesus. Our interest is served. But not in full! We are saved for sure, but Christ’s interest is not fulfilled yet. His glory is yet to be served in full. He must come back to raise our dead body up from the ground. There is still a redemptive work to be completed by Jesus. For us the work of redemption seems to be finished and yet not quite for Christ. The final completion through his second coming is the consummation of our salvation. Let me elaborate a bit more.

We remember that the redemptive work of Jesus is to save us from sin and death. Therefore, the work is not finished if our body sleeps among the dead. That our soul goes to heaven is not the end of Christ’s work. Our body is yet to be redeemed from the dead. When Jesus comes again, the dead in the Lord will rise at the sound of the trumpet and unite with their souls. The living at the time will change to the resurrection body that Paul once called “spiritual body” in contrast to “natural body” of the creation order (1 Cor. 15:42-29). The bride of the Lord will be caught up to the air to meet the groom (1 Thess. 4:16-17). At last, all believers visibly make the body of the Lord and enter heaven as Christ’s body. Make no mistake! It is Christ Jesus who is lifted high and glorified as he enters heaven, and we are glorified together with him simply because we are united in him, just as body receives the same when the face receives honor. We finally enjoy salvation in the fullest sense of the word because Christ is lifted to glory. The whole work of salvation is about Christ being glorified. Our glorification is only a part of Christ’s glorification. Our interest is served, when his interest is fulfilled. Our interest is in his interest. Our salvation is consummated when his glorification is served. That is what we read in John 17:24.

“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” This prayer of Jesus is rooted in his faith in the Father that “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed” (17:5). Here, in this context we witness a glorious fellowship within the Godhead that the Father and the Son were in eternal glory with each other before the foundation of the world. Christ finally returns to the original glory that he enjoyed with the Father when Jesus enters heaven with his bride. Those that the Father elected join with the Son in his glorification. Therefore, the glorification of believers is the Son’s interest, and the Son’s glorification was the primary interest of God the Trinity from eternity. From the Father’s point of view the Son is glorified, and his bride is glorified in the Son. God’s interest is to glorify the Son who just accomplished the work of redemption.

Therefore, the proper perspective for us is that we honor and glorify Christ the Son even when we go to heaven. For us salvation could be our interest, us going to heaven. However, we must remember that Christ is to be glorified first even when we are in glory in heaven. It is all because of him. This was a theology that I wanted to share with you as a foundation for today’s message.

I understand it is not easy to glorify Christ first when we are always preoccupied with ourselves. Not that we are so selfish, even though we admit that we are. We are weak and powerless creatures. Nevertheless, we are full of ourselves. Many times we are too busy going after our own interest. What we know in our head is one thing; how we live is another. We know that much! We should serve God’s interest first but admit that our interest gets in and interfere. We remember how apostle Paul struggled with himself that “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (Rom. 7:15). Even Paul the great apostle finds himself in such contradiction that he is a captive to the law of sin on one side, when he delights in the law of God on the other. So, he cries out and says, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (7:24). He does not pretend to be a super Christian than a meager sinner himself, admitting “I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin” (7:25).

Last time we talked about John the Baptist. Who would not want to be as great as John the Baptist, if you are interested in being great in history? Even the Lord Jesus approved of him that no one is greater than him among the ones born of women. He was the greatest among all the prophets of the old. His role was to prepare the way for the coming Messiah. His role was to introduce the kingdom of God for the new dispensation, even though he only belonged to the old dispensation. I wish my role was as big as his if I can make a choice for myself. We all do wish to be big in our life. That is an interest of all people, quite honestly. However, what is true at the same time is that our interest gets mixed up with God’s. Then, quite often, we pursue ours first in the name of serving God. So, we come back to Paul and mourn with him “For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

How was yourself this year? How would you grade your performance this year with God? Would you give yourself A, B, or C? You might complement your good deeds on one hand and be disgusted with your unedifying behaviors on the other. Quite honestly, that is me! You are overjoyed with the love of God at one point and yet easily approve of the law of sin at the other. “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

As we come down to the last day of the year, let us not forget that it is God alone who glorifies himself. Christ is glorified by the Father with the glory that he had with the Father from eternity. His own glory! Nothing more added by us! We are to glorify God at all costs but admit that we fail to do so. God knows our hearts as he does of Paul’s. May you be humbled and encouraged by that. God knows us. You may not be totally satisfied with yourself just like everyone else. However, let us not be down too long. Instead, look up Christ who faithfully shines his face upon us.

Gratefully, we have a new year approaching in just a few hours that we can start afresh. How amazing is that when you think about it! We think we live for God, but we don’t. And yet God continues to give us a fresh new start. Even now! As a way to get back on the right track with God, figuratively speaking, let us remember what this salvation was about from the beginning. It was God’s interest between the Triune God before it became our interest. It was his interest that he came and died in our place before it became ours. It is his interest that he gives us a fresh new start before it is ours. There is, we admit, a conflict of interest, but God’s interest prevails always. I would rather say that God’s grace prevails over our interest. God’s interest proves to be God’s grace. How amazing when our interest is often selfish ones! Therefore, we glorify God who glorifies Himself. We humbly put our interest in God’s.

May God’s grace be abundant with you as you close 2022 before God. May you honor God as you meditate upon his long patience with us. May you be charged and ready again to start a new year in pursuit of God’s interest over yours. May God’s blessings be with you!