Last week I mentioned about a wonderful little book entitled Worldliness edited by C.J. Mahaney. There is a chapter written by Jeff Purswell on How to love the World that really excited me. Even as we are called to "stop loving the world, and the things of this world" in 1 John 2:15; there is also a sense in which we are to love the world. The apostle John reminds us in John 3:16 that "God so loved the world" and in John 17:8 that it was Christ's intention that the church would be in the world. So the question is how are we to live in this world that God loved and not love it, yet at the same time how can we love this world that God so loved? Jeff Purswell proposes three God given task that give substance to our loving the world in which we live. We looked last week at the first task which is that we are called by God to Enjoy the World. Here is what Purswell writes:
Task 2: Engage the World
This second God-given task relates to our call to involvement with the world. After Scripture records the creation of man and woman in the image of God in Genesis 1, God immediately issues to them his first command:
And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (Genesis 1:28)
As those uniquely created in the image of God, mankind has received the astonishing privilege of filling and governing the natural world on God's behalf. In Eden, we see some of the dimensions of God's original command spelled out: "The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it" (Genesis 2:15). Humanity's responsibility is twofold. First, we're to "work" the earth, tilling its soil, developing its potential, marshaling its resources for mankind's good. Second, we're to "keep" it, responsibly stewarding the earth, protecting it from evil and abuse. Although all that God made was "very good" (Genesis 1:31), it wasn't complete; God delegated the development of his good creation to his image bearers. This development includes not simply the earth itself, but also the vast array of cultural possibilities that God built into the natural order, including family, science, commerce, technology, government, and the arts.
Theologians refer to this original command as the "creation mandate" or "cultural mandate," and this noble calling remains in force today. Although sin's entrance into the world has rendered this task far more difficult, it did not revoke the mandate (see Genesis 9:1). Caring for and developing the world isn't simply a necessary chore, a sub-spiritual add-on to our otherwise meaningful lives—far from it. "Subduing the earth" is intrinsic to our very humanity as God's image bearers and an essential way that we serve and glorify God.
Recognizing this should demolish any distinction in our thinking between sacred and secular spheres of our lives. We're all plagued by the tendency to compartmentalize some aspects of our lives as spiritual, good, and holy and others as unspiritual, unimportant, and amoral. Perhaps you're familiar with this impulse: "God really cares about my devotions, my church involvement, my tithe, and my sharing the gospel. Those are important. But my work? Just a necessary evil. Home responsibilities? They've got to get done. My free time? That's my time (as long as I don't sin)." Such thinking demeans Christ's lordship and impoverishes our spiritual life, rendering our faith irrelevant to 98 percent of our daily existence. No wonder so many lack passion in their Christian lives.
A biblical worldview sees every moment of life lived under the sovereign grace of God and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. Scripture's story is emphatic: God's rule extends to all of creation and therefore to all of our lives. As Abraham Kuyper famously put it, "There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: Mine!"'
Therefore, every second of life is significant. All the diverse activities implied by the cultural mandate are good and worth-while and pleasing to God. A biblical worldview gives us new eyes to see all of life: every sphere is charged with potential, every activity providing an opportunity to serve God, encounter God, obey God, enjoy God, testify to God, and bring glory to God. Because God is sovereign over all things, and Christ is redeeming all things, all things matter to God. Let's briefly consider how this perspective should impact our involvement with the world.
Work
The rat race. The daily grind. I'm off to the salt mines. Thank God it's Friday. Cliches like these capture our culture's bleak view of work. We endure labor as a necessary evil that yields the reward of leisure. Perhaps we worship work as an avenue of self-exaltation or an escape from the tedium of an otherwise empty life. Some Christians are more "spiritual" about it: for them, the workplace provides opportunities to witness and money to pay tithes. But beyond that we're pretty much just biding our time. After all, secular work is a second-class calling that enables ordinary Christians to support those doing the really important work of full-time Christian ministry.
The biblical worldview delivers us from the dreary existence that such thinking produces. Far from being a necessary evil, work—which preceded the fall (Genesis 2:15)—is part of God's good creation, a noble calling that reflects the dignity of bearing the image of the Creator. As a result, our jobs aren't something to be endured until we can really serve God (at church, on a missions trip, or until we can get a job at a Christian organization)—they are serving God! They're a channel by which we help to fulfill the cultural mandate, contributing our gifts and labors to those of others to develop and protect God's creation.
The significance of our work is multifaceted. For example, work is a primary way we imitate God. God is a worker. In fact, Scripture patterns our work as well as our rest on the rhythm of God's own work and rest in creation (Exodus 20:8-11). When we cultivate and demonstrate skill through a complex computer program, an innovative architectural design, or a business plan that comes in under budget, we're reflecting the skill of God who does all things well.
In addition, work is a primary way we serve others. Do you labor with this awareness? A builder's house provides shelter. A farmer's produce provides sustenance. An assembly worker's car provides transportation. A journalist's article provides awareness of important developments in a community. A sanitation worker provides a clean environment. Manufacturing, accounting, engineering, transportation, entertainment—all the facets of a society's network of relationships work together, under the common grace of God, to supply society's needs. Diligent labor is a tangible way we obey our Lord's command: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39).
Related to this is the fact that work is a primary way we're used by God. You might nod in agreement: "Yes, I should glorify God in my work." But do you realize God is using you in your work? Indeed, he is present in your work. Martin Luther observed that a person's vocation is a "mask of God"—God cares for his creation and provides for his creatures' needs through the hands and labors and efforts of people.' So the farmer doesn't just sow and reap; God provides food through him. The lawyer doesn't just try a case; God executes justice through him. The trucker doesn't just drive a route—God distributes products through him. However oblivious people may be to this reality, God's kindness pulses through their daily activities, investing them with nobility and working through them to shower innumerable blessings upon undeserving sinners like you and me.
So don't just "go to work" and "do your job"—see your job as a way to imitate God, serve God, and love others. This doesn't mean work will never be difficult or frustrating or tedious; the curse ensures that it will be at times. But God's creational purposes and Christ's redeeming work infuse our work with meaning, and promise God-glorifying fruit as a result.
Home
The biblical idea of vocation or calling doesn't end with our jobs. A Christian has many callings in various dimensions of life, and none is more important than the home. In a family, fatherhood isn't a mere biological function or a task; it's a calling from God. The same is true for motherhood. Likewise, being a son or daughter is a calling from God. Why is this important? Because even the most ordinary, mundane details of our home life are sacred callings from God, to be pursued with faith and dependence upon God's enabling power. From family meals to household chores, from home improvements to game nights—no dimension of home life is exempt from Christ's loving lordship.
As a husband who daily observes the unflagging labor and selfless sacrifice of his wife, amid the unremitting responsibilities and countless chores of parenting, remember this message. Despite our culture's pervasive hostility to the idea, motherhood is a calling from God, and no calling is higher. Although Scripture calls husbands to provide loving leadership to their homes, it's the incessant labors of mothers that, day by day, year after year, instill biblical values and inculcate a Christian culture in the home. Who can measure the long-term effects of nurturing help-less infants, supervising wandering toddlers, disciplining self-willed children, and counseling self-absorbed adolescents? Of family outings planned, traditions built, memories made, books read, songs sung, Scripture taught? That's why motherhood belongs under the heading, "Engage the World"; no one shapes generations or fashions cultures more than mothers.
All of Life
The above paragraphs are merely suggestive examples of how the storyline of Scripture calls us to engage the world in every area of life. Other areas could be considered. Think about the years spent in education. Far from being a holding pattern until we get into the "real world," education is a means to glorify God. Of course, it can—and, in perhaps most cases, it will—prepare me for vocation, but more fundamentally it's a way to love God with all my mind. It alerts me to observe the works of God in creation and history. It equips me to enter into the conversation going on in culture, bringing to that conversation biblical discernment and wisdom. It prepares me to serve others by developing my mind and my gifts and my interests, using all these in the responsibilities God assigns to me and the opportunities he affords me.
What about leisure? For many in our culture, leisure and entertainment are mere distractions, often idolatrous ones. But for the Christian, leisure is a sign—a foretaste of the fullness of joy and richness and rest that awaits us in the new heavens and new earth. We're not robots designed for maxi-mum operating efficiency in strictly utilitarian endeavors. God made us to know him and glorify him forever. Leisure reminds us of this and offers us a taste of this eternal calling in the here and now of this world.
What about the third of our lives spent in sleep? This, too, is a gift from God designed to inform and temper our active involvement in the world. Sleep is not mere inactivity, a brief respite from the important work we have to do in life. Sleep reminds us that God is God and we are not; only he "will neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalm 121:4). As we lay down our weary heads, we're forced to relinquish the illusion of control over our lives and to entrust ourselves to the Lord, who keeps us in all our ways. Ultimately, sleep and rest point us to the rest that finds its fulfillment in the gospel of Jesus Christ, the great rest-giver (Matthew 11:28-30) whose sacrifice on the cross frees us from the futile efforts to atone for our sin, to overcome our depravity, and to commend ourselves to God.
The story of the Bible insists that God's reign extends to every part of creation—indeed, to every facet of our lives. Do you live with such an awareness? This is the point of the apostle Paul's startling metaphor for the Christian life: "a living sacrifice" (Roman 12:1). Every breath offered to God. Every moment lived for God. Sobering? Yes. But also breathtaking. Think about it. All of life affords one long opportunity to experience God, to serve God, to be used by God, as we receive from him our gifts, callings, and opportunities and the power to utilize them for his glory.
To be continued …
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
NOT LOVING YET LOVING THE WORLD Part 1-ENJOY THE WORLD
I have recently read a wonderful little book entitled Worldliness edited by C.J. Mahaney. There is a chapter written by Jeff Purswell on How to love the World that really excited me. Even as we are called to "stop loving the world, and the things of this world" in 1 John 2:15; there is also a sense in which we are to love the world. The apostle John reminds us in John 3:16 that "God so loved the world" and in John 17:8 that it was Christ's intention that the church would be in the world. So the question is how are we to live in this world that God loved and not love it, yet at the same time how can we love this world that God so loved?
Jeff Purswell proposes three God given task that give substance to our loving the world in which we live:
Task 1: Enjoy the World
The "world" we're forbidden to love (1 John 2:15) is not the earthly creation but a world inhabited by people with a mindset of cosmic treason and rebellion towards God. It is mankind in settled opposition to God. That is the world we are to stop loving and setting our hearts on that which is opposed to God.
Geographically speaking, however, this world, in an ultimate sense, is our home. God created it for us, he delegated its development and care to us, and at the consummation he will dwell here with us forever following our resurrection and the world's renewal after Christ's return (Revelation 21:14). Through the lens of a biblical worldview, the material world takes on entirely new dimensions, with new purposes and possibilities for our lives. One of those possibilities is an enhanced enjoyment of the world. As a fellow-heir with Christ of the world, a Christian's enjoyment of it should be deeper, more authentic, more satisfying, and more enduring than that of those who have no share in this inheritance. This enjoyment is rooted in two solid realities.
1. Creation Is God's Witness
"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork" (Psalm 19:1). According to David, the created world isn't simply there; it speaks. Everywhere we look, the world around us bears witness to the Creator, who brought it into existence. As T. M. Moore puts it, "Created things are ambassadors of glory from God to His people." John Piper says that the heavens are God's sky talk crying out that God exists.
David goes on in Psalm 19 to describe the massive scope and magnitude of the creation's communication: "Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world" (Psalm 19:2-4). Purswell says, "A veritable deluge of revelation floods the world from end to end." When we look outside at God's creation the bible tells us that we should be seeing God. Isn't that amazing? Jonathan Edwards says that God reveals Himself through two books: The book of scripture and the book of nature.
Purswell writes, "Moreover, creation doesn't simply give us the vague impression that God is somehow out there somewhere ("He must be there; look at all this stuff!"). True, creation testifies to his reality, but it does more: it communicates real things about God." In speaking of God's general revelation in nature, the apostle Paul notes:
"For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and his divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made" (Romans 1:19-20)
I love what the author says next. Take the time to really reflect upon these words. Read them slowly and reverently and full of wonder. According to Paul, we can discern certain things about God through what he has made. Roaring seas proclaim his might, towering peaks bespeak his majesty, variegated wild-flowers whisper of his complexity. In these and a million
other ways, "the things that have been made" testify to the nature of the One who made them....the miracle of the new birth, which grants eyes of faith to see the "light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6), also opens blind eyes to perceive the handwriting of God in creation, which points beyond itself to its Source and Sustainer.
2. Creation Is God's Gift
The second reality that anchors and informs our enjoyment of creation is the sheer fact that God gave creation to us to enjoy. God is such a happy being who delights in our happiness with wonderful gifts to see and savor and enjoy him as they echo and reflect His glory. Purswell writes, In the creation narrative, God locates man in a place of rich provision and enjoyment designed specifically for him. The name Eden itself means "pleasure" or "delight," and Scripture uses the language of plenty, richness, and pleasure to describe its landscape. In the garden was "every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food" (Gen. 2:9). From the beginning, God intended man to experience fellowship with his Creator in a beautiful, unblemished environment. Although the fall brought frustration and corruption even to the natural creation, it remains a gift from God to be acknowledged, appreciated, and enjoyed. '
Indeed, as the Bible's story demonstrates, God is committed to the material world and his redeeming work embraces it. In his rebuke to those who would denigrate the natural world and its pleasures, the apostle Paul affirms, "For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer" (1 Timothy 4:4-5).
Jeff Purswell proposes three God given task that give substance to our loving the world in which we live:
Task 1: Enjoy the World
The "world" we're forbidden to love (1 John 2:15) is not the earthly creation but a world inhabited by people with a mindset of cosmic treason and rebellion towards God. It is mankind in settled opposition to God. That is the world we are to stop loving and setting our hearts on that which is opposed to God.
Geographically speaking, however, this world, in an ultimate sense, is our home. God created it for us, he delegated its development and care to us, and at the consummation he will dwell here with us forever following our resurrection and the world's renewal after Christ's return (Revelation 21:14). Through the lens of a biblical worldview, the material world takes on entirely new dimensions, with new purposes and possibilities for our lives. One of those possibilities is an enhanced enjoyment of the world. As a fellow-heir with Christ of the world, a Christian's enjoyment of it should be deeper, more authentic, more satisfying, and more enduring than that of those who have no share in this inheritance. This enjoyment is rooted in two solid realities.
1. Creation Is God's Witness
"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork" (Psalm 19:1). According to David, the created world isn't simply there; it speaks. Everywhere we look, the world around us bears witness to the Creator, who brought it into existence. As T. M. Moore puts it, "Created things are ambassadors of glory from God to His people." John Piper says that the heavens are God's sky talk crying out that God exists.
David goes on in Psalm 19 to describe the massive scope and magnitude of the creation's communication: "Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world" (Psalm 19:2-4). Purswell says, "A veritable deluge of revelation floods the world from end to end." When we look outside at God's creation the bible tells us that we should be seeing God. Isn't that amazing? Jonathan Edwards says that God reveals Himself through two books: The book of scripture and the book of nature.
Purswell writes, "Moreover, creation doesn't simply give us the vague impression that God is somehow out there somewhere ("He must be there; look at all this stuff!"). True, creation testifies to his reality, but it does more: it communicates real things about God." In speaking of God's general revelation in nature, the apostle Paul notes:
"For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and his divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made" (Romans 1:19-20)
I love what the author says next. Take the time to really reflect upon these words. Read them slowly and reverently and full of wonder. According to Paul, we can discern certain things about God through what he has made. Roaring seas proclaim his might, towering peaks bespeak his majesty, variegated wild-flowers whisper of his complexity. In these and a million
other ways, "the things that have been made" testify to the nature of the One who made them....the miracle of the new birth, which grants eyes of faith to see the "light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6), also opens blind eyes to perceive the handwriting of God in creation, which points beyond itself to its Source and Sustainer.
2. Creation Is God's Gift
The second reality that anchors and informs our enjoyment of creation is the sheer fact that God gave creation to us to enjoy. God is such a happy being who delights in our happiness with wonderful gifts to see and savor and enjoy him as they echo and reflect His glory. Purswell writes, In the creation narrative, God locates man in a place of rich provision and enjoyment designed specifically for him. The name Eden itself means "pleasure" or "delight," and Scripture uses the language of plenty, richness, and pleasure to describe its landscape. In the garden was "every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food" (Gen. 2:9). From the beginning, God intended man to experience fellowship with his Creator in a beautiful, unblemished environment. Although the fall brought frustration and corruption even to the natural creation, it remains a gift from God to be acknowledged, appreciated, and enjoyed. '
Indeed, as the Bible's story demonstrates, God is committed to the material world and his redeeming work embraces it. In his rebuke to those who would denigrate the natural world and its pleasures, the apostle Paul affirms, "For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer" (1 Timothy 4:4-5).
Not only is the world dangerous but it is also the source of life and joy. "As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy" (1 Timothy 6:17). Paul seems just as concerned about a failure to appreciate creation as he is about the tendency to worship it. Puswell says that for the enlightened Christian, "the physical world holds great promise as a worship-producing source of pleasure and provision that opens the eyes to God and engenders worship of God."
Thus our obligations as Christians in a beautiful world designed by our creator as a witness to Himself and a gift to His creatures is to study and enjoy the world which we live in. To be alive to His creation and be alive to Him our happy creator.
Purswell says that fulfilling this call will have at least three specific, God-glorifying effects in our lives:
1. Knowing God. Since the creation reveals God, we can expect diligent observation of the world to yield a deeper knowledge of God. ...armed with the teaching of the Bible and working in concert with it, our experience of the physical creation can broaden and strengthen both our grasp of our Creator as well as our enjoyment of him.
He describes some of the experiences of observing God through His wonderful creation:
The vibrant, multihued splendor of clouds framing a sunset palpably nourishes my soul and enriches my grasp of God's beauty. The intricate complexity of a cell under a microscope dazzles my imagination and deepens my appreciation for God's wisdom. The ear-numbing roar of a crashing waterfall confronts me viscerally with God's power. The serenity of bulging, motionless clouds on a still summer day halts the traffic of my mind with God's peace.
In each case, my experience of the natural world power-fully impresses upon me an aspect of scriptural truth. Each second of every day creation proclaims, and through its proclamation enhances our understanding and experience of the God who made and sustains it and who reveals himself to me through it.
2. Imitating God. The physical world offers abundant opportunities for God's image bearers to imitate him, and by so doing to glorify him by reflecting his nature and character. A painter reflects on his canvass the creativity of a wonderful creator, a master painter, who uniquely and creatively and thoughtfully designed and sculpted the universe as well as our own lives. When a thundercloud comes with bolts of lightning and thunder it reminds us of the omnipotent power of a mighty God. When a singers voice sounds like the voice of an angel we get a sense of the beauty of God's own voice. When the sun rises in the morning it reminds us of the light of God over our lives and illuminating all that was covered in nights darkness.
Purswell writes, Of all people, it is the Christian who should appreciate aesthetics, discerning with renewed powers of perception the handiwork of God in creation. And as our own aesthetic achievements reflect his creativity and skill, we join him in expressing and celebrating beauty—a beauty that points us to God and intensifies our delight in him.
3. Delighting in God. The more we learn of God's world and his works, the more cause we have to delight in God and express his praise. The psalmist's experience confirms this observation: "O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great. . . . I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being" (Psalm 104:24-25, 33).
All sorts of endeavors hold great potential in this regard, from the scientist who solves a mystery of microbiology to the child who marvels at a firefly. The discovery of new places, the enjoyment of the world's vast variety, new sights, new sounds, new smells, new tastes—God's creation is filled with experiences awaiting to delight our hearts and to elicit praise to the God who made them.
I pray that each of you will begin looking at the world through childlike wonder and perhaps take the time to just be still, look, take in, savor and enjoy, and worship the God who says that all you see is both good and is pointing to a glorious, wonderful, and great maker.
Next time we will learn the second way that we can love the world...
Pastor Bill
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
GOD'S PASSION FOR YOUR PASSION!
It takes God to love God. Loving God requires a loving God. It takes the passion of God to have a passion for God. To love God as we were made to love Him requires God to take the initiative for only then will slumbering and self centered souls be aroused to seek Him with all of our hearts and relish the revelation of Himself in His Son Jesus Christ.
Let us look at Jesus Christ’s high priestly prayer in John 17. He prayed this the night before He was crucified. It is His longest prayer. At the end of His prayer we see the climax of his desire:
Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them" (John 17:24-26).
What is Jesus' final goal for us? "That the love with which you [Father] have loved me may be in them." Jesus' longing and goal is that we see his glory and then that we be able to love what we see with the same love that the Father has for the Son. And he doesn't mean that we merely imitate the love of the Father for the Son. He means the Father's very love becomes our love for the Son – that we love the Son with the love of the Father for the Son. As I said before, it takes God to love God. It takes the passion of God to have a passion for God. God the Father desires to impart His own divine love into the hearts of His redeemed. His Son echoed this desire in the high priestly prayer He prayed right before His death, crying out, "Father, put in them the love with which You love Me!" The love God imparts to us for Him is the same burning desire the Father has for the Son and the Holy Spirit. And we were created, chosen, and saved in order to receive it!
Think about this. The love God has for the Son Jesus is praying that we will have in us! That prayer is also a promise! That is, the love for Jesus in us will be the very Father’s love for the Son. This is the secret of a peculiar passion! We will not merely love Jesus with our paltry love, with our weak and fickle and fleeting and misplaced passion. But our love for Jesus will be infused with the divine love between the Father and the Son. Our destiny is to enter into the "fellowship of the burning heart." The three Persons of the Trinity have burning hearts of love for one another, and the redeemed are beckoned into this fellowship with God's heart.
How? The first time I actually understood what Jesus was saying I found it difficult to believe. How could I love Jesus like God the Father loves His very own Son? Of course no one can love anyone to the same degree or quality that God loves them. But on the other hand, neither can we be as holy as God, yet God says to us, "You shall be holy for I am holy." It is through the power of His Spirit in us that we can walk in holiness. By that same power, we can live our lives with a consuming passion for our Lord.
What God commands us to do-love with the love the Father has for the Son, God also gives the love that we need to love the Son! Remember Augustine who said, “Give me the grace [O Lord] to do as you command, and command me to do what you will! . . . O holy God . . . when your commands are obeyed, it is from you that we receive the power to obey them."
Think about many of the impossible commands that deal with our emotions. Rejoice in the Lord? (Psalm 37:4; Philippians 4:4); “Thou hast put gladness in my heart.” (Psalm 4:7). Obey from the heart? (Deuteronomy 30:2); “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts"(Jeremiah 31:33) Fear the Lord? (Psalm 34:9); “I will put my fear in their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:40). Be filled with the Spirit? (Ephesians 5:16); “I will put a new spirit within you” (Ezekiel 11: 9; Ezekiel 36:27). Dear reader, can you see that God is in the “putting” business!”
So the command of loving God passionately is the prayer of Jesus for you, the promise of Jesus to you, and the provision of Jesus in you. The Holy Spirit pours out God's very affection into the human heart regardless of our sinful, weak, and passionless hearts. It is a supernatural activity that transcends the human condition. As Paul says, "Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Romans 5:5). The Holy Spirit releases in us the capacity to love and know God far beyond our ability with His ability. That is one of the most dynamic dimensions of the grace of God for the redeemed: that our hearts burn with love and are fascinated with the knowledge of God. What God commands, God gives!
If the aim of Jesus in John 17:26 comes true, God’s love for his Son will become our love; God’s passion for His Son will become our passion; and Jesus will be inexhaustible in personal worth. He will never be boring or empty or disappointing or frustrating. No greater treasure could be conceived than Jesus. Moreover, our ability to have a fire and passion and joy in Him will not be limited by human weakness. We will love the Son of God with the very love of his omnipotently loving Father. God’s love for His Son will be in us and it will be ours. And this passion and love will never end, because neither the Father nor the Son never ends. Their love for each other will be our love for them, and therefore, our loving will never die.
Next blog we will see how we can receive this passion.
Prayer
"Father in heaven, I have heard your command to be boiling in my spirit for you. I agree with Your Son Jesus that it is required of me to love You with all of my heart, all of my soul, all of my mind, and all of my strength. Yet, I confess that my attempts to love You in the way that You require and the way that You deserve have utterly failed. I thank You that you have heard the prayers of your Son Jesus and so I ask in faith and trust that You would grant to me an impartation of the Holy Spirit to love Jesus Christ, the Son of God, with the very love that You love Him. I ask this in Jesus Name, AMEN!
Let us look at Jesus Christ’s high priestly prayer in John 17. He prayed this the night before He was crucified. It is His longest prayer. At the end of His prayer we see the climax of his desire:
Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them" (John 17:24-26).
What is Jesus' final goal for us? "That the love with which you [Father] have loved me may be in them." Jesus' longing and goal is that we see his glory and then that we be able to love what we see with the same love that the Father has for the Son. And he doesn't mean that we merely imitate the love of the Father for the Son. He means the Father's very love becomes our love for the Son – that we love the Son with the love of the Father for the Son. As I said before, it takes God to love God. It takes the passion of God to have a passion for God. God the Father desires to impart His own divine love into the hearts of His redeemed. His Son echoed this desire in the high priestly prayer He prayed right before His death, crying out, "Father, put in them the love with which You love Me!" The love God imparts to us for Him is the same burning desire the Father has for the Son and the Holy Spirit. And we were created, chosen, and saved in order to receive it!
Think about this. The love God has for the Son Jesus is praying that we will have in us! That prayer is also a promise! That is, the love for Jesus in us will be the very Father’s love for the Son. This is the secret of a peculiar passion! We will not merely love Jesus with our paltry love, with our weak and fickle and fleeting and misplaced passion. But our love for Jesus will be infused with the divine love between the Father and the Son. Our destiny is to enter into the "fellowship of the burning heart." The three Persons of the Trinity have burning hearts of love for one another, and the redeemed are beckoned into this fellowship with God's heart.
How? The first time I actually understood what Jesus was saying I found it difficult to believe. How could I love Jesus like God the Father loves His very own Son? Of course no one can love anyone to the same degree or quality that God loves them. But on the other hand, neither can we be as holy as God, yet God says to us, "You shall be holy for I am holy." It is through the power of His Spirit in us that we can walk in holiness. By that same power, we can live our lives with a consuming passion for our Lord.
What God commands us to do-love with the love the Father has for the Son, God also gives the love that we need to love the Son! Remember Augustine who said, “Give me the grace [O Lord] to do as you command, and command me to do what you will! . . . O holy God . . . when your commands are obeyed, it is from you that we receive the power to obey them."
Think about many of the impossible commands that deal with our emotions. Rejoice in the Lord? (Psalm 37:4; Philippians 4:4); “Thou hast put gladness in my heart.” (Psalm 4:7). Obey from the heart? (Deuteronomy 30:2); “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts"(Jeremiah 31:33) Fear the Lord? (Psalm 34:9); “I will put my fear in their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:40). Be filled with the Spirit? (Ephesians 5:16); “I will put a new spirit within you” (Ezekiel 11: 9; Ezekiel 36:27). Dear reader, can you see that God is in the “putting” business!”
So the command of loving God passionately is the prayer of Jesus for you, the promise of Jesus to you, and the provision of Jesus in you. The Holy Spirit pours out God's very affection into the human heart regardless of our sinful, weak, and passionless hearts. It is a supernatural activity that transcends the human condition. As Paul says, "Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Romans 5:5). The Holy Spirit releases in us the capacity to love and know God far beyond our ability with His ability. That is one of the most dynamic dimensions of the grace of God for the redeemed: that our hearts burn with love and are fascinated with the knowledge of God. What God commands, God gives!
If the aim of Jesus in John 17:26 comes true, God’s love for his Son will become our love; God’s passion for His Son will become our passion; and Jesus will be inexhaustible in personal worth. He will never be boring or empty or disappointing or frustrating. No greater treasure could be conceived than Jesus. Moreover, our ability to have a fire and passion and joy in Him will not be limited by human weakness. We will love the Son of God with the very love of his omnipotently loving Father. God’s love for His Son will be in us and it will be ours. And this passion and love will never end, because neither the Father nor the Son never ends. Their love for each other will be our love for them, and therefore, our loving will never die.
Next blog we will see how we can receive this passion.
Prayer
"Father in heaven, I have heard your command to be boiling in my spirit for you. I agree with Your Son Jesus that it is required of me to love You with all of my heart, all of my soul, all of my mind, and all of my strength. Yet, I confess that my attempts to love You in the way that You require and the way that You deserve have utterly failed. I thank You that you have heard the prayers of your Son Jesus and so I ask in faith and trust that You would grant to me an impartation of the Holy Spirit to love Jesus Christ, the Son of God, with the very love that You love Him. I ask this in Jesus Name, AMEN!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
A PASSION FOR PASSION!
“Do not be slothful in zeal; be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.”
Romans 12:11
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”
Matthew 22:37
“But what do I love when I love my God? . . . Not the sweet melody of harmony and song; not the fragrance of flowers, perfumes, and spices; not manna or honey; not limbs such as the body delights to embrace. It is not these that I love when I love my God. And yet, when I love him, it is true that I love a light of a certain kind, a voice, a perfume, a food, an embrace; but they are of the kind that I love in my inner self, when my soul is bathed in light that is not bound by space; when it listens to sound that never dies away; when it breathes fragrance that is not borne away on the wind; when it tastes food that is never consumed by the eating; when it clings to an embrace from which it is not severed by fulfillment of desire. This is what I love when I love my God.”
Augustine
“I have one passion, it is He!”
Count Von Zinzendorf
Nobody wants heartburn. Drug companies make millions on heartburn prevention medications. You have got Alka-Seltzer, Bromo-Seltzer, Tums, Maalox, Mylanta, Tagament, Pepto Bismal, Pepcid AC, Prilosec and probably a dozen more I am not familiar with. They all claim to help with heartburn because nobody wants it. But as you read this book I am praying that every one of you would desire to get heartburn! No, not the kind that nobody wants, but the kind of heartburn that could be described as “burning hearts”.
I long for each one of you to have the “hearts burning within us” experience of Cleopas and his companion on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:13-32. These two were dejectedly trudging toward Emmaus talking with each other about all the things that had happened to Jesus. The risen Jesus joins them, but they do not recognize him. He opens the scriptures to them and explains how it was necessary that the Messiah should suffer and then enter into his glory. They invite him in for supper and when he blesses and breaks the bread their eyes were opened and they recognized him. He vanished from their sight and they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” I don’t want your hearts to be lukewarm in your relationship with God. I want your hearts to burn with passion for the Lord. I hate heartburn, but I long for a burning heart.
Romans 12:11
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”
Matthew 22:37
“But what do I love when I love my God? . . . Not the sweet melody of harmony and song; not the fragrance of flowers, perfumes, and spices; not manna or honey; not limbs such as the body delights to embrace. It is not these that I love when I love my God. And yet, when I love him, it is true that I love a light of a certain kind, a voice, a perfume, a food, an embrace; but they are of the kind that I love in my inner self, when my soul is bathed in light that is not bound by space; when it listens to sound that never dies away; when it breathes fragrance that is not borne away on the wind; when it tastes food that is never consumed by the eating; when it clings to an embrace from which it is not severed by fulfillment of desire. This is what I love when I love my God.”
Augustine
“I have one passion, it is He!”
Count Von Zinzendorf
Nobody wants heartburn. Drug companies make millions on heartburn prevention medications. You have got Alka-Seltzer, Bromo-Seltzer, Tums, Maalox, Mylanta, Tagament, Pepto Bismal, Pepcid AC, Prilosec and probably a dozen more I am not familiar with. They all claim to help with heartburn because nobody wants it. But as you read this book I am praying that every one of you would desire to get heartburn! No, not the kind that nobody wants, but the kind of heartburn that could be described as “burning hearts”.
I long for each one of you to have the “hearts burning within us” experience of Cleopas and his companion on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:13-32. These two were dejectedly trudging toward Emmaus talking with each other about all the things that had happened to Jesus. The risen Jesus joins them, but they do not recognize him. He opens the scriptures to them and explains how it was necessary that the Messiah should suffer and then enter into his glory. They invite him in for supper and when he blesses and breaks the bread their eyes were opened and they recognized him. He vanished from their sight and they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” I don’t want your hearts to be lukewarm in your relationship with God. I want your hearts to burn with passion for the Lord. I hate heartburn, but I long for a burning heart.
Passion is another word for “burning hearts”. A passion is a strong feeling, an emotion that is packed with intensity. At times it carries a sense of urgency that something great is at stake. Passion is the driving force within us that motivates us to action and focuses our life's attentions in such a way that we have an impact on those around us.
I love reading the journals of David Brainerd who was an obscure missionary to the Indians in New England. He lived a short life: twenty-nine years, five months and nineteen days. Only eight of those years as a believer, and only four of those as a missionary. He was not well known. He was extremely vulnerable to depression and was perpetually ill. But his life has inspired the modern missionary movement perhaps more than any other life since the apostles. Why? One reason that stands out is that he was utterly aflame for God. He wrote,
“Oh, that I might be a flaming fire in the service of the Lord. Here I am I Lord, send me; send me to the ends of the earth ... send me from all that is called earthly comfort; send me even to death itself if it be but in Your service and to promote Your Kingdom…When I really enjoy God, I feel my desires of him the more insatiable, and my thirsting after holiness the more unquenchable; ... Oh, for holiness! Oh, for more of God in my soul! Oh, this pleasing pain! It makes my soul press after God ... Oh, that I might not loiter on my heavenly journey”.
David Brainerd's life is a vivid, powerful testimony to the truth that God can and does use weak, sick, discouraged, beat-down, lonely, struggling saints, who cry to him day and night, to accomplish amazing things for his glory. It is amazing what God can do though a life; albeit short, ablaze for His glory. The key to making a difference for God is a flaming zeal, a burning heart for God.
The apostle Paul was burnt-up with the passion of God. He burned up the pages of the Bible with his burning heart for Christ. He said in Acts 20:24: "I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may accomplish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” Or in Philippians 3:7-8: "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ." His zeal and sense of purpose eminent qualified him to write these three commands in Roman 12:11, “Do not be slothful in zeal; be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.”
So we see that God commands us to have a passion for Him, to be on fire for Him. Another word for passion would be love. Jesus said in Matthew 22:37, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”
In my own experience, I have found it impossible to obey this commandment for many reasons. perhaps you can resonate with me in your own experience.
David Brainerd's life is a vivid, powerful testimony to the truth that God can and does use weak, sick, discouraged, beat-down, lonely, struggling saints, who cry to him day and night, to accomplish amazing things for his glory. It is amazing what God can do though a life; albeit short, ablaze for His glory. The key to making a difference for God is a flaming zeal, a burning heart for God.
The apostle Paul was burnt-up with the passion of God. He burned up the pages of the Bible with his burning heart for Christ. He said in Acts 20:24: "I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may accomplish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” Or in Philippians 3:7-8: "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ." His zeal and sense of purpose eminent qualified him to write these three commands in Roman 12:11, “Do not be slothful in zeal; be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.”
So we see that God commands us to have a passion for Him, to be on fire for Him. Another word for passion would be love. Jesus said in Matthew 22:37, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”
In my own experience, I have found it impossible to obey this commandment for many reasons. perhaps you can resonate with me in your own experience.
1. Because of the smallness of my own affections for someone of such worth and glory as Jesus. I live with an almost constant awareness of the breach between the low intensity of my own passion an d the staggering realities of the universe around me.
2, Because I have been unable to maintain any consistent intensity in my affections towards Him.
3.Because of the inconsistency and weakness of my own affections being directed towards other things instead of Him.
4.Because of my hypocritical love for His gifts rather than towards Him.
5. Because I get caught up in acts of love rather than my heart feeling love towards Him.
6. Because I believe that human love is inadequate in loving a divine being because Jesus commands us to love God with divine love. How can I love God with divine love when I am human, fleshly, and sinful? In short, my best efforts to obey the great commandment fail!
So what does it mean to have a wholehearted love and passion for God? I have discovered in the scriptures and in my own life and experience that if it is going to happen, God Himself must take the steps to kindle afresh in our hearts the flame of fascination and love for Him. Only God can awaken in our souls the marvel and wonder that He is worthy. God must restore the mystery, the wonder, the excitement of all that He is for us in Jesus. Only God can bridge the gap between the prosaic deadness of the human heart and the inexpressible reality of Him, the living God. This is the awakening of the heart into the fullness of what God has created us and redeemed us to experience. It’s an awakening to a passion for God and unashamed, extravagant affection for Jesus. It is a move of God to empower you, motivate you, and enable you to love God with all of your heart soul, mind, and strength!
Dear reader, God created you, chose you, and redeemed you to be a lover of God. What does that mean? I think it means to enjoy Him, to delight in Him, to be astounded and absorbed with Him, to be astonished, amazed, and awed by Him, to be smitten and stunned by Him, to be obsessed and preoccupied with Him, to be fascinated, captivated, intoxicated, and exhilarated with Him, to be enthused and entranced with Him, to be excited and exhilarated with the revelation of Himself in Jesus.
I envision what our lives would be like if this were an accurate description of our relationship with God. I suspect it would be more difficult to sin, easier to love, forgive, and accept people, that reading the Bible would never be remotely boring, fellowship with other Christians would be a delight, that I would display uncommon boldness and courage in sharing Christ with the unsaved, that I would be less attached to money and things and would instead find generosity far more easily, that my worship would be filled with passion and extravagance, that my serving the Lord would be a great joy.
What are the odds of a typical unbeliever using the above list of words to describe Christians? Something has to change! And if you and I are going to change, God Himself must take the steps to kindle afresh in our hearts the flames of passionate love for Him. God created you for the first and greatest commandment, to be a lover of God. And that is what He is up to in your life! With a resolute determination that cannot be thwarted He is arousing and stirring and wooing and beckoning the hearts of this church into a passionate and intimate love affair with His Son, Jesus Christ. Let me show you in my next blog how God is doing this.
So what does it mean to have a wholehearted love and passion for God? I have discovered in the scriptures and in my own life and experience that if it is going to happen, God Himself must take the steps to kindle afresh in our hearts the flame of fascination and love for Him. Only God can awaken in our souls the marvel and wonder that He is worthy. God must restore the mystery, the wonder, the excitement of all that He is for us in Jesus. Only God can bridge the gap between the prosaic deadness of the human heart and the inexpressible reality of Him, the living God. This is the awakening of the heart into the fullness of what God has created us and redeemed us to experience. It’s an awakening to a passion for God and unashamed, extravagant affection for Jesus. It is a move of God to empower you, motivate you, and enable you to love God with all of your heart soul, mind, and strength!
Dear reader, God created you, chose you, and redeemed you to be a lover of God. What does that mean? I think it means to enjoy Him, to delight in Him, to be astounded and absorbed with Him, to be astonished, amazed, and awed by Him, to be smitten and stunned by Him, to be obsessed and preoccupied with Him, to be fascinated, captivated, intoxicated, and exhilarated with Him, to be enthused and entranced with Him, to be excited and exhilarated with the revelation of Himself in Jesus.
I envision what our lives would be like if this were an accurate description of our relationship with God. I suspect it would be more difficult to sin, easier to love, forgive, and accept people, that reading the Bible would never be remotely boring, fellowship with other Christians would be a delight, that I would display uncommon boldness and courage in sharing Christ with the unsaved, that I would be less attached to money and things and would instead find generosity far more easily, that my worship would be filled with passion and extravagance, that my serving the Lord would be a great joy.
What are the odds of a typical unbeliever using the above list of words to describe Christians? Something has to change! And if you and I are going to change, God Himself must take the steps to kindle afresh in our hearts the flames of passionate love for Him. God created you for the first and greatest commandment, to be a lover of God. And that is what He is up to in your life! With a resolute determination that cannot be thwarted He is arousing and stirring and wooing and beckoning the hearts of this church into a passionate and intimate love affair with His Son, Jesus Christ. Let me show you in my next blog how God is doing this.
Passionate for passion,
Pastor Bill
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
REFLECTIONS ON THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF BEAUTY Part 2
The supreme manifestation of God’s beauty is seen in the person of Jesus Christ. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:6, “For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” The beauty of Jesus has nothing to do with how He smelled or looked or the sound of His voice or the strength of His arms or the color of His hair or the way He dressed. Jesus is beautiful because He has a glory, an excellence, a spiritual supreme beauty-that can be self-evidently true. That is to say, when you see Him there is a direct and personal apprehension of the beauty that you see. It’s like seeing the sun and knowing that it is light, or tasting honey and knowing that it is sweet.
There is a direct apprehension and attraction once you see Jesus that affects your thinking, your will, and your feelings, it goes deep and does something to your very soul. It changes your life.
We see this illustrated in the story of the conversions of some of His disciples in John 1:35-49,
“The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard him say this (Obviously seeing him as well), and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What are you seeking?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" He said to them, "Come and you will see." So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas" (which means Peter).The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Nathaniel said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" Nathaniel said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." Nathaniel answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"
There is just something about Jesus! His beauty is such that when these men saw him, they left their lives and followed him, and passionately told others about what they had seen. John writes of his experience with Jesus in John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
When it comes to the beauty of Christ, who can adequately describe glory and beauty that is infinite and is therefore beyond description? There is no one like Christ in this regard.
Spurgeon said it well:
“Hope not, my brethren, that the preacher can grapple with such a subject. I am overcome by it. In my meditations I have felt lost in its lengths and breadths. My joy is great in my theme, and yet I am conscious of a pressure upon my brain and heart, for I am as a little child wandering among the stars. I stumble among sublimities, I sink amid glories. I can only point with my finger to that which I see, but cannot describe. May the Holy Spirit himself take of the things of Christ and show them unto you.”
What makes Jesus Christ so precious, so beautiful, and so glorious is what Jonathan Edwards calls in his profound sermon series The Excellence of Christ, “an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies” Christ's attributes work together in harmony. And there is a glory in Christ that exceeds any of His individual characteristics. It is like a rainbow in which the individual colors are beautiful, but their combination heightens the sense of beauty. The effect of seeing these excellencies is described by Edwards in this way:
“The excellency of Christ is such, that the discovery of it is exceedingly contenting and satisfying to the soul. The carnal soul imagines that earthly things are excellent-one thinks riches most excellent, another has the highest esteem of honor, and to another carnal pleasure appears the most excellent. But the soul cannot find contentment in any of these things, because it soon finds an end to their excellency. Worldly men imagine that there is true excellency and true happiness in those things which they are pursuing. They think that if they could but obtain them, they would be happy. But when they obtain them, and cannot find happiness, they look for happiness in something else, and are still upon the pursuit. But Christ Jesus has true excellency, and so great excellency, that when they come to see him they look no further, but the mind rests there. It sees a transcendent glory and an ineffable sweetness in Jesus! It sees that until now it has been pursuing shadows, but that now it has found the substance. It sees that before it had been seeking happiness in the stream, but that now it has found the ocean.”
How do we see those excellencies? The Apostle Paul describes this path to discovery in 2 Cor.4:6, For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” We can see the preciousness of Jesus through the portraits of Christ given to us in God’s word by reading it and hearing it proclaimed. This portrayal, accompanied by God’s shining in our hearts, appears to us what really is-“the glory of God in the face of Jesus.” Or to put it another way the beauty of Jesus Christ. God shows us that Jesus is beautiful through the word and the work of God opening our blind eyes to see His beauty.
John Owen was the greatest Puritan thinker of the 17th century. He outlived all eleven of his children. The last thing he prepared for publication was called Meditations on the Glory of Christ. It was his dying testimony and his way of preparing for the unspeakably great moment of meeting the Lord face to face. It is a 160-page exposition of John 17:24, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory.” In it he gave five ways we can behold the glory and beauty of His mercy:
1. Fix it in mind that this glory of Christ in the divine constitution of His person is the best, most noble, useful, beneficial object that we can have in our thoughts and affections.
2. Diligently study the Scripture and the revelations that are made of this glory of Christ in them.
3. Having attained the light of the knowledge of the glory of Christ from the Scripture, or by the dispensation of the truth in the preaching of the gospel, meditates frequently upon it.
4. Let your occasional thoughts of Christ be many, and multiplied every day.
5. See to it that all thoughts concerning Christ and His glory are accompanied with admiration, adoration, and thanksgiving.
Oh reader, God invites us to do just what David desires. He has created the longings and satisfies the longings of our soul (Jeremiah 31:33). In Psalm 42:8 we receive an astonishing invitation from God, "You have said, "Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.” God invites us to seek His face, to dwell, to see, to gaze, and reflect upon His beauty. How does that affect you? This is God’s desire for you: “SEEK MY FACE”!
Some of you perhaps are not accustomed to receiving an invitation to anything. You rarely get invited to lunch after church, to birthday parties, to weddings, or to share your opinion on an important topic. Also some of you are notorious for turning down invitations (like me!) but this is one you don’t want to miss. This is the greatest invitation to the greatest experience of all! God wants you and me to seek His face! We seek to behold his beauty, to be with him, to meditate on him.
This is the central business for your life- to see the beauty of God. To get your head into the heavens. To know him for whom he is. He is the main reality- not buildings, not Christians, not ministry, not missions, not heaven. God himself is what we seek. And David adds in Psalm 40:16, Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You.’ David did not dishonor this beauty by saying, "Ho hum." How could you possibly see the beauty of God and respond that way? No. This is God’s mission and our mission: to rejoice and be glad in him. To delight yourself in the Lord! (Psalm 37:4)
There is nothing beyond this. Nothing more urgent. Nothing more important. Nothing more satisfying. This is what moved Jonathan Edwards:
“The pleasures of loving and obeying, loving and adoring, blessing and praising the infinite being, the best of Beings, the Eternal Jehovah, the pleasures in trusting Jesus Christ, in contemplating His beauties, excellencies, and glories, in contemplating His love to mankind and to us, in contemplating His infinite goodness and astounding loving kindness…these are the pleasures that are worthy so noble a creature as a man is.”
Do you have a desire for that one thing? Here is what I mean by having a desire for the one thing. Here is what God had in mind when He created and redeemed you. Here is what God had in mind when He created and fashioned your heart and stamped His indelible image upon it. Sam Storms describes it in this way:
“You, we, were made to be enchanted, enamored, and engrossed with God; enthralled, enraptured, and entranced with God; enravished, excited, and enticed by God; astonished, amazed, and awed by God; astounded, absorbed, and agog with God; beguiled and bedazzled, startled and staggered, smitten and stunned; stupefied and spellbound; charmed and consumed; thrilled and thunderstruck; obsessed and preoccupied; intrigued and impassioned; overwhelmed and overwrought; gripped and rapt; enthused and electrified; tantalized, mesmerized, and monopolized, fascinated, captivated, and exhilarated by God; intoxicated and infatuated with God!
Does that sound like your life? Do you want it to? Do you find yourself desiring those “fruitless pleasures” of the world? “The One Thing” is what God made you for. Kierkegaard said it well, “Purity in heart is to will the one thing”. May we join David and from our hearts desire to see God’s beauty. Amen!
A Prayer
“Father in heaven! What is a man without You! What is all that he knows, vast accumulation though it be, but a chipped fragment if he does not know You! What is all his striving, could it even encompass a world, but a half-finished work if he does not know You: You the One, who are one thing and who are all! So may You give to the intellect, wisdom to comprehend that one thing; to the heart, sincerity to this understanding; to the will, purity that wills only one thing. In prosperity may You grant perseverance to will one thing; amid distractions, collectedness to will one thing; in suffering, patience to will one thing. Oh, You that give both the beginning and the completion, may You early, at the dawn of day, give to the young man the resolution to will one thing. As the day wanes, may You give to the old man a renewed remembrance of his first resolution, that the first may be like the last, the last like the first, in possession of a life that has willed only one thing.” Soren Kierkegaard
There is a direct apprehension and attraction once you see Jesus that affects your thinking, your will, and your feelings, it goes deep and does something to your very soul. It changes your life.
We see this illustrated in the story of the conversions of some of His disciples in John 1:35-49,
“The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard him say this (Obviously seeing him as well), and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What are you seeking?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" He said to them, "Come and you will see." So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas" (which means Peter).The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Nathaniel said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" Nathaniel said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." Nathaniel answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"
There is just something about Jesus! His beauty is such that when these men saw him, they left their lives and followed him, and passionately told others about what they had seen. John writes of his experience with Jesus in John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
When it comes to the beauty of Christ, who can adequately describe glory and beauty that is infinite and is therefore beyond description? There is no one like Christ in this regard.
Spurgeon said it well:
“Hope not, my brethren, that the preacher can grapple with such a subject. I am overcome by it. In my meditations I have felt lost in its lengths and breadths. My joy is great in my theme, and yet I am conscious of a pressure upon my brain and heart, for I am as a little child wandering among the stars. I stumble among sublimities, I sink amid glories. I can only point with my finger to that which I see, but cannot describe. May the Holy Spirit himself take of the things of Christ and show them unto you.”
What makes Jesus Christ so precious, so beautiful, and so glorious is what Jonathan Edwards calls in his profound sermon series The Excellence of Christ, “an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies” Christ's attributes work together in harmony. And there is a glory in Christ that exceeds any of His individual characteristics. It is like a rainbow in which the individual colors are beautiful, but their combination heightens the sense of beauty. The effect of seeing these excellencies is described by Edwards in this way:
“The excellency of Christ is such, that the discovery of it is exceedingly contenting and satisfying to the soul. The carnal soul imagines that earthly things are excellent-one thinks riches most excellent, another has the highest esteem of honor, and to another carnal pleasure appears the most excellent. But the soul cannot find contentment in any of these things, because it soon finds an end to their excellency. Worldly men imagine that there is true excellency and true happiness in those things which they are pursuing. They think that if they could but obtain them, they would be happy. But when they obtain them, and cannot find happiness, they look for happiness in something else, and are still upon the pursuit. But Christ Jesus has true excellency, and so great excellency, that when they come to see him they look no further, but the mind rests there. It sees a transcendent glory and an ineffable sweetness in Jesus! It sees that until now it has been pursuing shadows, but that now it has found the substance. It sees that before it had been seeking happiness in the stream, but that now it has found the ocean.”
How do we see those excellencies? The Apostle Paul describes this path to discovery in 2 Cor.4:6, For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” We can see the preciousness of Jesus through the portraits of Christ given to us in God’s word by reading it and hearing it proclaimed. This portrayal, accompanied by God’s shining in our hearts, appears to us what really is-“the glory of God in the face of Jesus.” Or to put it another way the beauty of Jesus Christ. God shows us that Jesus is beautiful through the word and the work of God opening our blind eyes to see His beauty.
John Owen was the greatest Puritan thinker of the 17th century. He outlived all eleven of his children. The last thing he prepared for publication was called Meditations on the Glory of Christ. It was his dying testimony and his way of preparing for the unspeakably great moment of meeting the Lord face to face. It is a 160-page exposition of John 17:24, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory.” In it he gave five ways we can behold the glory and beauty of His mercy:
1. Fix it in mind that this glory of Christ in the divine constitution of His person is the best, most noble, useful, beneficial object that we can have in our thoughts and affections.
2. Diligently study the Scripture and the revelations that are made of this glory of Christ in them.
3. Having attained the light of the knowledge of the glory of Christ from the Scripture, or by the dispensation of the truth in the preaching of the gospel, meditates frequently upon it.
4. Let your occasional thoughts of Christ be many, and multiplied every day.
5. See to it that all thoughts concerning Christ and His glory are accompanied with admiration, adoration, and thanksgiving.
Oh reader, God invites us to do just what David desires. He has created the longings and satisfies the longings of our soul (Jeremiah 31:33). In Psalm 42:8 we receive an astonishing invitation from God, "You have said, "Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.” God invites us to seek His face, to dwell, to see, to gaze, and reflect upon His beauty. How does that affect you? This is God’s desire for you: “SEEK MY FACE”!
Some of you perhaps are not accustomed to receiving an invitation to anything. You rarely get invited to lunch after church, to birthday parties, to weddings, or to share your opinion on an important topic. Also some of you are notorious for turning down invitations (like me!) but this is one you don’t want to miss. This is the greatest invitation to the greatest experience of all! God wants you and me to seek His face! We seek to behold his beauty, to be with him, to meditate on him.
This is the central business for your life- to see the beauty of God. To get your head into the heavens. To know him for whom he is. He is the main reality- not buildings, not Christians, not ministry, not missions, not heaven. God himself is what we seek. And David adds in Psalm 40:16, Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You.’ David did not dishonor this beauty by saying, "Ho hum." How could you possibly see the beauty of God and respond that way? No. This is God’s mission and our mission: to rejoice and be glad in him. To delight yourself in the Lord! (Psalm 37:4)
There is nothing beyond this. Nothing more urgent. Nothing more important. Nothing more satisfying. This is what moved Jonathan Edwards:
“The pleasures of loving and obeying, loving and adoring, blessing and praising the infinite being, the best of Beings, the Eternal Jehovah, the pleasures in trusting Jesus Christ, in contemplating His beauties, excellencies, and glories, in contemplating His love to mankind and to us, in contemplating His infinite goodness and astounding loving kindness…these are the pleasures that are worthy so noble a creature as a man is.”
Do you have a desire for that one thing? Here is what I mean by having a desire for the one thing. Here is what God had in mind when He created and redeemed you. Here is what God had in mind when He created and fashioned your heart and stamped His indelible image upon it. Sam Storms describes it in this way:
“You, we, were made to be enchanted, enamored, and engrossed with God; enthralled, enraptured, and entranced with God; enravished, excited, and enticed by God; astonished, amazed, and awed by God; astounded, absorbed, and agog with God; beguiled and bedazzled, startled and staggered, smitten and stunned; stupefied and spellbound; charmed and consumed; thrilled and thunderstruck; obsessed and preoccupied; intrigued and impassioned; overwhelmed and overwrought; gripped and rapt; enthused and electrified; tantalized, mesmerized, and monopolized, fascinated, captivated, and exhilarated by God; intoxicated and infatuated with God!
Does that sound like your life? Do you want it to? Do you find yourself desiring those “fruitless pleasures” of the world? “The One Thing” is what God made you for. Kierkegaard said it well, “Purity in heart is to will the one thing”. May we join David and from our hearts desire to see God’s beauty. Amen!
A Prayer
“Father in heaven! What is a man without You! What is all that he knows, vast accumulation though it be, but a chipped fragment if he does not know You! What is all his striving, could it even encompass a world, but a half-finished work if he does not know You: You the One, who are one thing and who are all! So may You give to the intellect, wisdom to comprehend that one thing; to the heart, sincerity to this understanding; to the will, purity that wills only one thing. In prosperity may You grant perseverance to will one thing; amid distractions, collectedness to will one thing; in suffering, patience to will one thing. Oh, You that give both the beginning and the completion, may You early, at the dawn of day, give to the young man the resolution to will one thing. As the day wanes, may You give to the old man a renewed remembrance of his first resolution, that the first may be like the last, the last like the first, in possession of a life that has willed only one thing.” Soren Kierkegaard
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