Not a Zero-sum Game
John 17:1-5 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.
And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.
And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
In the movie Arrival there is a scene where the idea of a zero-sum game comes up.
Louise in Arrival trying to explain why each location is only given a piece of the information.
A zero-sum game is the idea that in a given situation, if I win, you lose.
It’s a situation that perceives limited resources: if I give up mine or you take mine, I can’t get more—thus I lose and you win. But it also presupposes the idea that there is competition. I’m trying to win at your expense. You’re trying to win at my expense.
The situation in the movie played out like this: at one point all the parties involved are cooperating and sharing information for everyone’s benefit. And then all of a sudden no one is. Fear of one group gaining an advantage overrides the hope that a collective sharing of knowledge will benefit everyone. No longer do the groups desire to share what they know for everyone’s benefit. The risk of sharing—or so they thought—suddenly became too great.
It’s a common human tendency. We fear scarcity, so we accumulate at cost to others.
From toilet paper during the pandemic, to a run on gas even at the mere hint that there might be a shortage. Because we don’t trust one another we go ahead—along with everyone else—and fill up when we still have over half a tank. When life appears to be a zero-sum game, we don’t want to be one of the losers.
The Trinity, however, is not afraid of loss.
Thus, the kingdom of God is not a kingdom of accumulation, but of generosity to the point of sacrifice & seeming loss.
God’s people, who claim to be citizens of His kingdom, ought to think carefully about how our motivations and fears might align us with a zero-sum-game world view.
In these first five verses of John 17, we see that the same glory that led to creation leads to the cross, and both the Son and the Father have no qualms about glorifying one another, for they know that giving one another glory adds to their own.
And we’ll see that the cross is not solely about you—the best news of all.
When Jesus says His hour has come, He’s referring to his death. And in what seems almost the same breath, there’s the request for the Father to glorify the Son.
A rough paraphrase might be, “Father, it’s time to glorify Me through the crucifixion.” That’s a profound statement- that the cross will bring Him glory. But He doesn’t stop there. He asks for the cross so He can return the favor, so He can glorify the Father.
Then it gets more amazing.
In verse 5, Jesus says He wants the Father to glorify Him with the glory they shared before the creation of the world. Now, at first glance, the crucifixion and the creation don’t seem quite the same, do they? We might remember that the whole land became dark at the crucifixion & scratch our heads about how that could be glory!
The glory of Father, Son, and Spirit at “Let there be light” seems a little more magnificent, a little more wondrous, a little more glorious than the cross where darkness covered the land for three hours. But let’s think about what creation actually is.
Glory is a natural consequence of the character of God…
Part of God’s character is the Trinity’s eternal, mutual love and mutual desire to see one another glorified. In other words, the Trinity desires to share the glory of the Godhead. And creation is the outworking of that desire, a representation of that generous glory- the awe-inspiring, fire-on-the-mountain kind of glory, and the abundant-mercy, truth & justice kind of glory! Creation would be a place where man, as made in God’s image, would take that image and be fruitful and multiply it throughout creation.
By creating man in His own image,
the first seed was sown for what Habakkuk heard from God in 2:14,
“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.”
David says in Psalm 19, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.”
Creation is a picture of the glory of God, and man was tasked with sharing that glory by being fruitful with God’s image.
So what of the cross?
Do you remember what Jesus told the the disciples in John 12:23, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies it bears much fruit.”
“Be fruitful and multiply,” God told Adam and Eve.
“My death will bear much fruit,” Jesus told the disciples.
The cross speaks of God’s character as creation does.
And the cross made the way for a new creation.
The beauty of the garden and the image of God were marred by our sin. Yet through faith in Christ’s work, the Spirit transforms & conforms people into the image of God.
The gospel calls us to bear fruit through seeming loss- taking up our cross & laying down our lives for one another. Through the Spirit, we are joined to Christ, who, as Romans 7 says, “was raised from the death, in order that we might bear fruit to God.”
The cross & resurrection are a new version of, “Let there be light.”
But how can that happen?
How can death bring that kind of abundant life?
Because the Trinity does not function as a zero-sum game. Jesus asks the Father, (who said in Isaiah that He would not give His glory to another), to glorify the Son.
Why? So He could keep it? So that He could grow in glory at the Father’s expense? No, He asks so that He might return the favor. Do you see it? The cross is about adding glory to the Father. Jesus’ death gives back to the Father by providing an irrefutable sign of God’s abundant generosity to us. If we think the cross is solely about us, we are mistaken.
The rich young ruler was playing a zero-sum game.
If I give up, I lose. He didn’t understand what Jesus would tell the disciples in Matthew 19, “Everyone who has left houses or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake [He means here His reputation, His glory], will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”
God has an inexhaustible supply & desire to bless His children!
We do not lose when we give up.
As more people come to know God through our love for one another, God’s glory expands; His kingdom grows; His character, through the work of His Spirit in our lives, is made evident to more and more people!
Here’s where the rubber meets the road. It’s one thing to agree that we should lay down our lives for one another in the church.
The Father and Son give glory to one another without fear of their own being diminished. So for us, practically, that attitude would remove jealousy & competition from among us.
I can promote you: your gifts, your ministry, your character, your church- without fear of diminishing my own gifts or ministry or character or church. I can praise others, love others, serve others, give to others—give with overflowing!—and I don’t even have to trust that the other will reciprocate. I can trust that God is in the business of setting all things right. I can choose to sacrifice for or promote another without any expectation that they will sacrifice for or promote me. Sometimes that happens, but I don’t need it to because Christ has already sacrificed all for me! He has already promised abundant and eternal life.
This prayer allows us to see the inner workings and purposes of the Trinity. And in doing so, gives us a glimpse into the character of the kingdom of God. May we be worthy subjects of such a kingdom. May we see the glory in laying down our lives for Christ & for one another. In His kingdom, loss is gain.
adapted from a sermon by Michael Herrington