Matt Chandler - Understanding Glory

If you have your Bibles, turn to Exodus chapter 37. We’re going to read the first 16 verses of that chapter, and I think that when I’m done reading, I probably won’t need to say anything else; it’ll just be evident how to apply this and how to walk in the fruit of it in your day-to-day life. So, let me just catch you up on where we are. We’ve been preaching through the book of Exodus since August. This weekend, we’re looking at chapter 37; next weekend, chapters 38 and 39; and the week after that, chapter 40, which will be our last weekend in Exodus. Immediately following that, we’ll do three weekends on marriage. From there, we’ll enter the summer months, and I’m just going to go off script and follow whatever the Spirit of God leads me to preach or teach on, rather than getting into another summer series. I get excited about this since I submitted this outline over a year ago, and it’ll be fun to say, «Okay, Spirit of God, where are we going?» I’ve already felt some pressing from the Spirit on what we should discuss, so I’m eager for that.

Before I read this, I want you to remember that where we are and where we’ve been, honestly, for the last four months, is that God is making His people a distinct people among the nations. He is forming, shaping, and creating a people who will reveal His wisdom, power, might, and beauty to the rest of the nations and the world. God has not just saved us out of slavery to nothing; He has freed us from our bondage to sin and death and is now making us a distinct people for our joy and His glory. That’s God’s big plan: our joy and His glory. All that God is after in working in our lives is about our joy and His glory, so that the nations might see that He is good, that He is God, and that salvation is found in Him and Him alone.

We’ve discussed the fact that being distinct revolves around the presence and power of God in our lives. One of the things that makes us distinct is that God’s presence and power are active in our lives in a way that is not true for those who have not put their faith in Jesus Christ. We said that this plays out in many ways. One way is that we believe and embrace the idea that some of the most significant things God is going to accomplish in our lives will take place over a long period through everyday faithfulness. We are not a people who disdain the ordinary in a culture that seeks the big, loud, and fast—complete with video and great music underneath. We are distinct in that we understand God is at work in the everyday ordinariness of Monday and Tuesday. We don’t need fireworks all the time. We know that when we faithfully love our wives, engage our kids, and live according to God’s guidance, He is accomplishing something in us and through us for our joy and His glory.

I keep trying to draw your attention to this past week. Lauren and I went out to Longview; her grandmother had passed away and went to be with the Lord. She had struggled with dementia for about a decade but was a strong believer. It was a sweet funeral. Once again, I was confronted with the legacy of faith of this 90-year-old woman who had faithfully tried to follow the Lord through the highs and lows of her life. I looked at the legacy of faith she left behind—children and grandchildren in ministry and great-grandchildren being raised in the fear of the Lord. That wasn’t about fireworks; it was about everyday faithfulness through both difficult and beautiful experiences. We believe that.

However, we are also people who have embraced the belief that the Holy Spirit of God will often break through the ordinary and do spectacular things. He will heal, deliver a word, and do things that may even be outside our comfort zones. There is what is called breakthrough, and I want to help shape our understanding as the people of God at the Village Church. We are not a group that tries to choose one side—either the ordinary or just the supernatural. No, no, no. We need ordinary faithfulness day in and day out—no fireworks. I’m going to get up, get into the Word, pray, live faithfully, love my spouse, raise my kids, manage my finances, work hard, and do that decade after decade. Then I’m going to pray and plead with God repeatedly for supernatural breakthroughs across my life. We want to be a people who embrace both of these aspects. We talked about how walking in the presence and power of God manifests itself in both ordinary and supernatural means.