Give Credit

[0:00] A pastor's reflections. Give credit. John 2, 9-10. And the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and said unto him,! Every man at the beginning does set forth good wine.

[0:14] ! And when men have well drunk, then that which is worse. But thou hast kept the good wine until now. Philippians 2, 4. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

[0:30] Philippians 2, 7. But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant. Philippians 2, 21. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.

[0:46] At the wedding feast of Cana, Jesus used the ordinary to do the extraordinary. As extraordinary as turning water into wine was, the extraordinary thing about that was not just the act of turning water to wine, but the result.

[1:04] The result was another receiving all of the opportunity to serve, and another receiving all of the credit. Jesus used his God-given ability to give opportunity and credit to others.

[1:18] What did Jesus get out of this? Glory. Jesus was glorified, made known, and believed on through others receiving all of the credit.

[1:31] John 8, 50. And I seek not mine own glory. Not only did Jesus not seek his own glory, he was more often than not quite happy to be a background character.

[1:45] Why? Because Jesus is most glorified and made known, not through show, but through results. It is the flesh that seeks to put on a show.

[1:57] The spirit moves unseen, and yet the results of the spirit are quite obvious. Galatians 5, 22. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.

[2:14] The spirit glorifies Jesus and gives credit to Jesus. However, the spirit does so by also being a background character. John 16, 13.

[2:26] How be it when he, the spirit of truth, has come, he shall not speak of himself. How do we glorify Jesus? How do we make him known?

[2:38] Do we do so by making a big show and a lot of noise? Or do we do so by simply being spirit-filled background characters who seek to glorify Jesus, even when that means that the credit may go to another?

[2:53] Why should we care who gets credit? As long as Jesus gets glory. Today, let the word of God dwell in you richly, that you may be a credit to Jesus, even if the credit you deserved goes to another.

[3:10] There is only one person's affirmation we seek. Matthew 25, 23. His Lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant.

[3:21] Thou has been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Father, thank you that our visibility and our notoriety are not what gives us standing before you.

[3:36] Thank you that by placing our trust in your son, we can not only have standing with you, we can stand in this world for him. Help us today to take every opportunity to give all credit where it is due to Jesus.

[3:53] Amen. Amen. Thank you.