Is there a job or an activity around the house that you dislike doing? Come on, husbands or kids, surely there's something that your wife or Mom asks you, even expects you to do that you don't like doing. What happens when the time comes to do it? Do you make an excuse? Do you get busy with something else? Or maybe you hide until the time for doing it passes. That's what I did when I was a kid; I hid, especially when Dad wanted me to practice piano.
We lived in a big, old house built in the early 1900s with a main floor that had the kitchen, dining room, living room, and parlor where our piano stood, a second floor with a bath and all the bedrooms – 4 of them, a tall attic, filled with big boxes where everything was stored, and a basement that had several nooks and crannies just large enough for a little boy to squeeze into and hide. Where do you think I went to avoid doing things?
I'd either go into the basement and crawl into a little hole behind the stairs carved out of the rock where they used to store canned goods long ago, or I'd get into the attic and crawl behind or even into one of the big storage boxes. There I thought I was safe from discovery and I usually was – for a time – uncomfortable but hidden. But you know, sooner or later I had to come out, and I never escaped doing what needed to be done. Actually, in the end I only hurt myself for, by not making use of the opportunities I had to apply myself to my practice time, I prevented my growth.
Avoidance – it's a reaction that almost seems to be built into us. What can we do to get out of doing what needs to be done? Where can we go to get away from the challenges of life that confront us?
It's a good thing that our Savior didn't have such an avoidance complex. When confronted with the most unpleasant of tasks, He didn't run away, hide, or refuse to do it; He jumped right into the task as He considered the benefits for us and the glory it would bring to God. The time came and instead of retreating He prayed, “ O God, finish the work in me that You gave me to do.”
I. O God, The Time Has Come. Finish Your work in me.
In our text He said it this way, “Father,
the time has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You. For You
granted Him authority over all people that He might give eternal life to all those You have given Him…. I have brought You glory on earth by completing the work You gave me to do.”
This is a prayer that the Lord Jesus lifts to the heavens when the most unpleasant task that ever confronted anyone stood right in front of Him. It was Maundy Thursday evening. The next day was Good Friday – the day of His crucifixion on Calvary . Standing right at that event's threshold, the Lord Jesus understood that the time had come for Him to finish the work of dying for the sin of the world that the Father had given Him. And Christ would not avoid it; He did not make an excuse; He did not try to get out of it; He didn't run away and hide. Instead, He prayed for Himself and also for His disciples that the great work would be done.
Wow! What a Savior we've got. He was determined to finish whatever needed to be done, even if it cost Him highly, so that we might have the chance to be saved and enjoy eternal life.
Eternal life – it's the greatest of all possible things that God could give anyone, because eternal life with Him starts now and goes on and on forever. Nothing else does that – nothing else goes on forever. All other things have an end – they rot, they fall apart, someone takes them from us, or they are destroyed (Mt.6:19f). So, to occupy our whole being and time on earth with things that perish, in the end proves foolish. But eternal life goes on – forever. And the understanding of it gives the person such peace and comfort, especially when the end of his life here confronts him.
For example, the story is told of a man in the hospital battling a life threatening disease. Day after day his daughter assured him that he was going to get better, that God was going to heal him. She was positive that this was what her father needed to hear. One day she repeated her empty assurances in front of her father's pastor. Her father simply smiled at the pastor and made the sign of the cross over his heart. He was at peace.
You see, he understood better than most that to know God is the supreme purpose of one's existence here. Jesus said that in our text when He prayed, “Now this is eternal life; that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
To know God, to know Jesus Christ as one's Savior from sin – this is how people are forgiven of their sin that condemns them; this is how people possess eternal life after they die; this is how people live forever. It begins when we in faith become new creatures in Christ. And we enter its full realization when God calls us home to heaven. That's what the man understood, and so he made the sign of the cross over his heart, in a sense praying: “ O God, The Time Has Come. Finish Your work in me that Christ completed. Give me eternal life.”
You see, dear friends, in the end it all comes down to eternal life. It's ours through faith in Christ who did not turn away from His appointed time on the cross, but finished the work that needed to be done. Eternal life made possible through Him! And this is the supreme purpose of one's existence here, to find it in Him by faith.
You know, sometimes it can be difficult to remember this with all the other things that go on in our lives here. If we're down in the dumps, have difficulties at work or at home, have spats with friends or loved ones, the future seems anything but secure, or we simply have other things to do, issues of eternal life aren't always the first things in our mind. But they are with God. It's at such times that Jesus comes and says: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world (Jn.16:33). I finished my work, and you have the greatest gift - eternal life.”
Dear friend, by faith in the Lord Jesus you have it and it cannot be taken away from you. God promised it. But you can ignore it, and lose it. God grant that when our hour of testing comes, we may face it with a quiet, unshakable, happy trust in God and pray: “ O God, The Time Has Come. Finish Your work in me …
II. Finish it … that I may glorify You.”
In our text Jesus said it this way, “Father, the time has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify you….I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world began….All I have is Yours, and all You have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.”
Numerous times throughout this text Jesus speaks of “glory” and “glorifying” as the result of His work. It's what He wanted to bring about. And He didn't avoid it either. What about you? Are you a glory seeker like Jesus was?
There are a couple of different ways that we can be such glory seekers - some good; some not so good.
For example, when there's a camera around, it seems like some people will go out of their way to get noticed – like at a football or baseball game. Yelling, posing, sign waving, face painting, they'll do anything to get the camera trained on them, to catch attention.
Others do things that by their very nature put them in the limelight and catch attention. It happens just because of who they are and what they do. For example, policemen, firefighters, doctors, athletes, point people at work, and so on - recognition finds them.
Whether one seeks glory or glory seeks us, we feel pretty good when we're noticed. We laugh and carry on and enjoy the spotlight for a while. But in the end it dare not rest on us. It ought to be given to God for, like Jesus said, nothing is ours or nothing could be accomplished by us if it were not for Him giving it to us.
For that reason Peter reminded believers: “Humble yourselves under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time.”
Peter was talking about this in relation to the trials and persecution that the Christians of his day were going through for their faith in the Savior. Perhaps, some were asking why; others may have been grousing about it and trying to avoid it; still others might have been seeking it like a badge of honor that they could flaunt before others. Peter reminds us all – only one deserves such honor – God. Humble yourselves before Him.
Jesus reminds us of the same thing in our text. We were created primarily for one purpose – to glorify God. But we couldn't do that, for we had fallen from Him in our sin. What could sinful creatures ever give a holy God that would add glory to His name? Nothing. Why would He want us, much less use us? But that's part of His glory and the reason Jesus came here. When we were useless to Him in our sin, He made us useful for Him in the righteousness He won for us. Just the fact that God could do this brings Him glory. And the expressions of our faith in what we say and what we do, also serve to glorify Him. Jesus looked for every opportunity to do that. And so He prayed: O God, The Time Has Come to finish my work so that I may glorify you.”
May we, in the joy of our redemption, do the same, saying, “Lord, where do you want me to go today; what do you want me to do today? Use me. Let me not hide from the task or make any excuse, but use me as an instrument in Your hand for Your glory, my good, and the eternal welfare of those around. The time has come. The Lord Jesus has ascended to heaven, but we are still here. Help us finish the work that is given that we may glorify You.” God grant it in our lives of faith for Jesus' sake. Amen.