I Do Not Receive Glory From Men
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John 5:41
I do not receive glory from men;
Reason with me for a few minutes, please. Jesus lives in those who are His, and He hasn’t changed. He is life. As Paul wrote to the Colossians in 3:4, “When Christ, who is our life…” As we abide in Christ, we are empowered to live to love with Him. We abide in Christ as we identify with and embrace Jesus’ life. We can be encouraged by a couple of things from this verse.
First, notice His humility. Even though men may give Him glory and praise Him, He doesn’t receive it. The glory of man isn’t on His radar because the only glory He is interested in is the glory which comes from His Father. Humility is recognizing that everything we have comes from God. When we look to our Father in heaven as the source of our everything in our lives, we are abiding in Christ, and that’s when the love of God can flow through us.
Second, there is within all of us a desire for significance and glory from men. It’s fleshly, natural, and demonic, as James noted in James 3:14-16. “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.” The context of this verse is the various witnesses to who Jesus is. There’s been John the Baptist’s testimony, which is the witness of men. Then the witness of the works the Father gave Him to do, which testify that He is from God. Also mentioned are the witnesses of the Father and the Scriptures. The only glory Jesus received was that which was from God, revealed in His works and the Scriptures. We also then, as we abide in Christ, should only find our significance in the witness of the works Jesus does in and through us, being testified to in the Scriptures. Our significance in life comes from Jesus’ life revealed in us. We must be on guard against loving for the glory of man. We should also say that we don’t receive glory from men.
I’m reminded of 1 Corinthians 1:26-31.
For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”