In worship, we talk a lot about the glory of God.
We talk about seeking it, sharing it and bringing it.
We say we want to give glory to God, too.
That must mean that there's more to glory than just one definition.

Right across the bible, there are references to God’s glory being looked for.
In Exodus 33, Moses asks to see God’s glory.

God's response is typically unexpected: he sort of says no. But it isn't a straight no.
He gives Moses a different answer first.
In verse 18, it says: Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
God says: “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

God goes on to set out a plan for standing in God’s presence with his back to Moses.
But while the answer might seem unexpected, or even out of place, it is actually the perfect answer.
God is not trying to distract Moses, or remind him of some established truth. In fact, he is answering his demand.
God is saying: “If you want my glory, I’ll give you my character.”

It might be tempting to feel that this is something of a cop-out by God.
We don’t know what Moses was hoping for, but we might guess that he was looking for a glimpse of the power and majesty of his God – the God that had just promised to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land. A look at all that spelndour.
Moses didn’t get that.

He got a glimpse of God’s glory - “you will see my back” – and an explanation of it
Moses got God’s expression of his own glory – the character of God.
It's not a cop-out...in fact, it was something a bit like a trailer

Skip on to John 1 and you'll find the apostle talking about the glory of God.
"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

These references to glory - John and Exodus - fit very tightly together.
In Exodus, we are told that Moses get's a glimpse of God's glory and an expression of his character.
In John, we are told that the disciples got to see his glory and to know his character.
Exodus 33 refers to goodness, compassion and mercy, John talks about grace and truth.

It is like there are two kinds of glory – and we get to know them both.
Splendour glory and character glory.
But more than fitting together, these passages about God's glory give us an idea of God's direction of travel - from Moses' glimpse to John's three years living with God's glory...including things like the transfiguration.
Matthew 17:1-3 has it like this:
After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.
Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

That is a glory that we have the promise of being able to share forever.
2 Thessalonians 2:14 says: “He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Just like Moses, Elijah, Peter, James and John.

We also get to know God’s character as intimately as could ever be possible – by having that character living within us through the Holy Spirit.
God wanted Moses to understand his character. Jesus taught his disciples about his character, instructing them about how to live and care for each other.
And we have the Holy Spirit, which is better than being told or shown God's character - it's having his character within us, growing and developing.
Galatians 5:22-23 says: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
And 2 Peter 1:5-9 says: For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

We get to share God's character, and to grow in his likeness, just by asking...just by accepting Jesus.

Just by saying ‘yes’ to God. Just that! Accepting Jesus gives us all that:
Access to God’s glory – his might, majesty, authority and power.
His grace and truth. His goodness and mercy. His love, joy and peace.

It’s all there for us – just waiting for us. And the offer is open to everyone.
From the 80-year-old new believer, who just discovered how much they are loved to the 14-year-old lad who has loved God since she can remember. And everyone in between.

Worship needs to remind people of three things about glory:
1) Glory is something that everyone has access to.
2) The glory of God's splendour is something we should seek and give God credit for.
3) God's glory is about his character and we need to pursue that character.

However, we need to be careful.
We have access to glory because of a choice that Jesus made.
He chose to have his glory ripped, flogged, pierced, nailed and thrust away from him.
He opted for a course of action that would see him abandoned to evil and to sin.
The glory of our future is bought at the cost of his.

So we need to be careful, after celebrating our rescue by Jesus, that we don’t get bogged down by feeling guilty.
Don’t feel sad or regret the price that Jesus paid.
He wouldn’t want you too.
He made that choice out of love.
He made that choice from his goodness, grace and truth.

Instead of feeling guilty, be inspired.

Give God the glory.
Give him the credit for your life.
Give him thanks for all the ways in which he is making your character like his.
Bask and revel in the glory of his likeness in you.
Be delighted by the fact that he has saved you from sin and death forever.
And be excited by the chance to show the world his glory...
...by showing the world his character – through his Holy Spirit in you.