God’s Pursuit of Praise, Our Pursuit of Pleasure

John Piper, Desiring God | “God’s pursuit of praise from us and our pursuit of pleasure in Him are one and the same pursuit. God’s quest to be glorified and our quest to be satisfied reach their goal in this one experience: our delight in God, which overflows in praise. For God, praise is the sweet echo of His own excellence in the hearts of His people. For us, praise is the summit of satisfaction that comes from living in fellowship with God.”

(HT: Symphony of Scripture)

Filed under: Christian hedonism, Communion with God, John Piper, Joy, Worship

No God, no happiness

“The moment you have a self at all, there is a possibility of putting yourself first—wanting to be the centre—wanting to be God, in fact. That was the sin of Satan: and that was the sin he taught the human race. Some people think the fall of man had something to do with sex, but that is a mistake. (The story in the Book of Genesis rather suggests that some corruption in our sexual nature followed the fall and was its result, not its cause.) What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could ‘be like gods’—could set up on their own as if they had created themselves—be their own masters—invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.

The reason why it can never succeed is this. God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”

—C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (HarperOne, 1980), pp. 49–50.

(HT: Tony Reinke)

Filed under: CS Lewis, Communion with God, God centredness, The Bible, The Christian Life

Sin is aversion of God

From Triumph Over Temptation by John Owen as edited by James M. Houston under the subtitle Sin Is Aversion of God:

“The actions and operations of sin are twofold: first by aversion and second by opposition.” (57)

“Sin is first of all aversion of God. Sin is indisposed to duty whereby communion with God is obtained. All weariness of duty, all carnality, and all formality in duty spring from this root…In other words, God is saying, “Do you have any spiritual duty to perform? Do you propose to seek communion with God? Look then to yourself, to take care of the inclinations of your heart, for they will wander and be deflected by aversion to what you propose.” ” (58)

On keeping the soul from sin’s aversion:

1. Have a disposition of heart fixed upon God. “It is utterly impossible to keep the heart in a holy frame in any one duty, unless it is also in all duties before God. If sin entangles us in one area of our life,it will ensnare every area our life.” (60)
2. Labor to prevent the beginnings of the workings of this aversion. “Let grace proceed before every duty.” (60)
3. Although sin does its work, never allow it to make a conquest. “What is difficult to do now will increase in difficulty, if we give way to it now. But if we stand fast now, God promises we shall prevail later.” (61)
4. Carry always with you as a constant, humbling sense of the aversion sin has within our nature to true spirituality. “If these things [gifts from Christ] are so, why then should we harbor a cursed dislike of Him and His ways in our foolish and wretched hearts? we should be ashamed of this aversion.” (62)
5. Finally, let us labor to possess this mind with the beauty and excellency of spiritual things. “Cherish these things as desirable and lovely to the soul. It is an innate principle that the soul will not continue worshiping God if it is not discovering the beauty and comeliness of such worship.” (62)

(HT: Jude St.John)

Filed under: Christ our treasure, Communion with God, Discipleship, Doctrine, Jesus Christ, John Owen, Sin, The Christian Life, The word of God, Worship

John Owen on Stirring the Mind to Contemplate the Glory of Christ

My thanks to Matt Harmon for this:

In his treatise “Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ,” John Owen offers five “directions” for stirring up the minds of believers to contemplate the glory of Christ (chapter 4):

1. Let us get it fixed on our souls and minds, that this glory of Christ in the divine constitution of his person is the best, the most noble, useful, beneficial object that we can be conversant about in our thoughts, or cleave unto in our affections.
2. Our second direction unto the same end is, that we diligently study the Scripture, and the revelations that are made of this glory of Christ therein.
3. Another direction to this same end is, that 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, we would esteem it our duty frequently to meditate thereon.
4. Let your occasional thoughts of Christ be many, and multiplied every day.
5. The next direction is, that all our thoughts concerning Christ should be accompanied with admiration, adoration, and thanksgiving.

There is a beautiful progression in these five directions. Owen begins by holding out the beauty of Christ as the highest end we could possibly pursue (1), and then directs us where to find that vision of Christ—the Scriptures (2). But he is not content to allow such a vision of Christ to remain in our times in the Word (whether through personal reading or hearing the Word preached and taught); he exhorts us to frequently reflect/meditate on the beauty of Christ that we have seen in the Word (3). Such meditation and reflection should not be limited to devoted time in the Word and prayer, but should spill over into our “occasional thoughts” throughout the day (4). He then concludes with the reminder that such reflections should not be merely an intellectual exercise, but should be joined with our affections (5).

Filed under: Christ our treasure, Communion with God, Discipleship, Doctrine, Jesus Christ, John Owen, Love for Christ, Prayer, The glory of Christ, The word of God

Come to me… and I will give you rest

I love this from Todd Pruitt:

“A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out.” – Isaiah 42:3

We all know what it is like to feel like a bruised reed and a smouldering wick. They are both images of weakness. Relationships, work, loss, and pain can all sap our strength and rob us of strength. It is in those times when we need to know the tender touch of God.

I am tired today. Certain burdens are weighing especially heavy. Too often I depend on the approval of others which always results in wounds and disappointment. I am a sinful man and I live among other sinful men. The reality can be overwhelming. But what I need is not more approval or to work harder. What I need is Jesus.

Thanks to Ray Ortland for the following post. I needed this today (and a lot of days for that matter).

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28

The sacred centre of Christianity is Christ himself. Coming personally to the Person. Coming directly to the Mediator. No one but Jesus can call us with such authority, and no one but Jesus can encourage us with such a promise. No one else can give us rest.

If our functional purpose in church is to connect with one another and build community, that’s what we’ll get — one another. And we’ll end up angry. Only Jesus gives us rest. If we will put him first and come to him first, we’ll have something to give one another.

If our functional purpose in church is outreach and mercy and justice and all those good missional things, we’ll end up exhausted and empty. Only Jesus gives us rest. If we will put him first and come to him first, we’ll be renewed for endless mission.

Only One has ever said and can ever say, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” His offer stands. But he comes first.

Filed under: Christ-centred, Communion with God, Discipleship, God's goodness, Jesus Christ, The Christian Life, The word of God

John Piper – Radical Christian Sacrifice – Sermon Jam

More than any other message I heard at T4G last year, this one affected me the most.

You can watch the whole sermon here.

Filed under: Communion with God, Discipleship, Evangelical, Gospel-centred, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, John Piper, Mission, Sanctification, The Bible, The Christian Life, The Cross, The word of God, Worldliness, Zeal

A Plea for Heart Devotions and Head Study

I’m dedicating this post, if one can do such a thing, to a dear friend and mentor, Dr.  Stanley Jebb. Stanley always taught us in Bible College to make our theological studies devotional. That is, never to divorce theology from our walk with God. Here’s a plea from John Piper to make theological study the fuel of heart felt devotion:

This is a plea that all of you would build into your lives both personal devotions and purposeful study of God’s word.

Both:

Daily prayerful meditation seeking personal application of God’s word to your own heart and life.

And:

Regular study in a class or with a book where the (living or dead) teacher has seen more than you have and can give you insight in 30 minutes that might otherwise take you ten years to see.

The reason I plead for both is that without a book or a class about what some part of the Bible means and a teacher who is ahead of you, your devotions will probably flatten out at a low level of insight.

Year after year you will go over the same biblical ground and find it as perplexing as before. There will be little advance in understanding. This will tend to take the heart out of devotional reading, because the lack of growth cannot sustain the joy.

Seek out preaching, books, and classes which take you further in grasping what various books and texts in the Bible mean.

Filed under: Communion with God, Discipleship, Doctrine, Evangelical, John Piper, Prayer, Sanctification, The word of God, Theology, Worship

The kind of men God used

From Ray Ortlund:

Horatius Bonar, writing the preface to John Gillies’ Accounts of Revival, proposes that men useful to the Holy Spirit for revival have been marked in these nine ways:

1. They were in earnest about the great work on which they had entered: “They lived and labored and preached like men on whose lips the immortality of thousands hung.”

2. They were bent on success: “As warriors, they set their hearts on victory and fought with the believing anticipation of triumph, under the guidance of such a Captain as their head.”

3. They were men of faith: “They knew that in due season they should reap, if they fainted not.”

4. They were men of labor: “Their lives are the annals of incessant, unwearied toil of body and soul; time, strength, substance, health, all they were and possessed they freely offered to the Lord, keeping back nothing, grudging nothing.”

5. They were men of patience: “Day after day they pursued what, to the eye of the world, appeared a thankless and fruitless round of toil.”

6. They were men of boldness and determination: “Timidity shuts many a door of usefulness and loses many a precious opportunity; it wins no friends, while it strengthens every enemy. Nothing is lost by boldness, nor gained by fear.”

7. They were men of prayer: “They were much alone with God, replenishing their own souls out of the living fountain, that out of them might flow to their people rivers of living water.”

8. They were men whose doctrines were of the most decided kind: “Their preaching seems to have been of the most masculine and fearless kind, falling on the audience with tremendous power. It was not vehement, it was not fierce, it was not noisy; it was far too solemn to be such; it was massive, weighty, cutting, piercing, sharper than a two-edged sword.”

9. They were men of solemn deportment and deep spirituality of soul: “No frivolity, no flippancy . . . . The world could not point to them as being but slightly dissimilar from itself.”

Filed under: Christian Ministry, Communion with God, Discipleship, Doctrine, Evangelical, Holiness, Horatius Bonar, Love for God, Preachers, The word of God, Zeal

Concentrate on Depth!

John MacArthur celebrated 40 years as pastor of Grace Community Church this weekend.

In the book, Stand: A Call for the Endurance of the Saints, MacArthur shares the secret of his success in conversation with Justin Taylor:

Early in my first year or so at Grace Community Church, I had this little kind of motto that I used: “If you concentrate on the depth of your ministry, God will take care of the breadth of it.” My ministry hasn’t changed since that first year in that small, little church. For me, it’s all about getting into the depth of Scripture and my own personal walk with the Lord. Breadth is something that God does. . . .

(HT: Between Two Worlds)

Filed under: Christian Ministry, Church, Church growth, Communion with God, Discipleship, Doctrine, Evangelical, Jesus Christ, The Bible, The word of God

Lloyd-Jones: Living Water

I’m just about to leave to preach in a friends church. My text is, 2Tim.1:6,7. My title is, ‘Fanning the flame’. I pray that preacher and people alike share this expectation and encounter described here by the Doctor.

My thanks to Justin Taylor for posting this:

Crossway has now published Living Water: Studies in John 4–56 previously unpublished sermons by Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

Here is an excerpt:

Possibly one of the most devastating things that can happen to us as Christians is that we cease to expect anything to happen. I am not sure but that this is not one of our greatest troubles today. We come to our services and they are orderly, they are nice ‒ we come, we go ‒ and sometimes they are timed almost to the minute, and there it is. But that is not Christianity, my friend. Where is the Lord of glory? Where is the one sitting by the well? Are we expecting him? Do we anticipate this? Are we open to it? Are we aware that we are ever facing this glorious possibility of having the greatest surprise of our life?

Or let me put it like this. You may feel and say ‒ as many do ‒ ‘I was converted and became a Christian. I’ve grown ‒ yes, I’ve grown in knowledge, I’ve been reading books, I’ve been listening to sermons, but I’ve arrived now at a sort of peak and all I do is maintain that. For the rest of my life I will just go on like this.’

Now, my friend, you must get rid of that attitude; you must get rid of it once and for ever. That is ‘religion’, it is not Christianity. This is Christianity: the Lord appears! Suddenly, in the midst of the drudgery and the routine and the sameness and the dullness and the drabness, unexpectedly, surprisingly, he meets with you and he says something to you that changes the whole of your life and your outlook and lifts you to a level that you had never conceived could be possible for you. Oh, if we get nothing else from this story, I hope we will get this. Do not let the devil persuade you that you have got all you are going to get, still less that you received all you were ever going to receive when you were converted. That has been a popular teaching, even among evangelicals. You get everything at your conversion, it is said, including baptism with the Spirit, and nothing further, ever. Oh, do not believe it; it is not true. It is not true to the teaching of the Scriptures, it is not true in the experience of the saints running down the centuries. There is always this glorious possibility of meeting with him in a new and a dynamic way.

Update: Tullian shares another good quote from the Doctor.

Filed under: Communion with God, Discipleship, Evangelical, God's Glory, God's goodness, God's grace, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Sanctification, The Church, The glory of Christ, The word of God

“…that I might be a flame for you”

Justin Childers posts some of his favourite Jim Elliot quotes:

“God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus.”

“Father, let me be weak that I might loose my clutch on everything temporal. My life, my reputation, my possessions, Lord, let me loose the tension of the grasping hand.”

“I covenanted with the Father that He would do either of two things: either glorify Himself to the utmost in me or slay me. By His grace I shall not have His second best.”

“O Christ, let me know Thee–let me catch glimpses of Thyself, seated and expectant in glory, let me rest there despite all wrong surging round me. Lead me in the right path, I pray.”

“Father, take my life, yea, my blood if Thou wilt, and consume it with Thine enveloping fire. I would not save it, for it is not mine to save. Have it Lord, have it all. Pour out my life as an oblation for that world. Blood is only of value as it flows before Thine altar.”

“God deliver me from the dread asbestos of ‘other things.’ Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be a flame for you.”

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Filed under: Christian Ministry, Communion with God, Death, Discipleship, Evangelical, God's Glory, God's worthiness, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Knowing God, Love for God, Missions, Quotes, Sanctification, The Christian Life, The Cross, Worship, Zeal

9 Ways to Pray for Your Soul

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From John Piper:

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Here are some ways to pray for yourself so that you’re praying in sync with the way God works.

1. For the desire of my heart to be toward God and his Word.

Incline my heart to Your testimonies and not to gain. (Psalm 119:36)

2. For the eyes of my heart to be opened.

Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law. (Psalm 119:18)

3. For my heart to be enlightened with these “wonders.”

[I pray] that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. (Ephesians 1:18)

4. For my heart to be united, not divided, for God.

O Lord, I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name. (Psalm 86:11)

5. For my heart to be satisfied with God and not with the world.

O satisfy us in the morning with Your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. (Psalm 90:14)

6. For strength in this joy, and endurance during the dark seasons.

[I pray that God] would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man. (Ephesians 3:16)

7. For visible good deeds and works of love to others.

[I pray that you] will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord…bearing fruit in every good work. (Colossians 1:10)

8. For God to be glorified.

Hallowed be thy name. (Matthew 6:9)

9. In Jesus’ name.

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? (Romans 8:32)

Filed under: Communion with God, Discipleship, Evangelical, God's Glory, God's majesty, God's mercy, Jesus Christ, John Piper, Prayer, Sanctification, The glory of Christ, The word of God

10 Reasons to Pray the Scriptures

From John Piper:

Here are some of the reasons you should pray and meditate over biblical truth.

1. Biblical truth saves.

Take heed to yourself and to your doctrine; hold to that, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. (1 Timothy 4:16)

2. Biblical truth frees from Satan.

You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32)

3. Biblical truth imparts grace and peace.

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. (2 Peter 1:2)

4. Biblical truth sanctifies.

Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is truth. (John 17:17)

5. Biblical truth serves love.

It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment. (Philippians 1:9)

6. Biblical truth protects from error.

Attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God…so that we may no longer be…carried to and fro by every wind of doctrine. (Ephesians 4:13-14)

7. Biblical truth is the hope of heaven.

Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. (1 Corinthians 13:12)

8. Biblical truth will be resisted by some.

The time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings. (2 Timothy 4:3)

9. Biblical truth, rightly handled, is approved by God.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)

10. Biblical truth: Continue to grow in it!

Grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 3:18)

Filed under: Attributes of God, Communion with God, Discipleship, Evangelical, John Piper, Prayer, Salvation, Sanctification, The Christian Life, The word of God

The Hidden Life

Oswald Chambers – My Utmost For His Highest

. . . your life is hidden with Christ in God —Colossians 3:3

The Spirit of God testifies to and confirms the simple, but almighty, security of the life that “is hidden with Christ in God.” Paul continually brought this out in his New Testament letters. We talk as if living a sanctified life were the most uncertain and insecure thing we could do. Yet it is the most secure thing possible, because it has Almighty God in and behind it. The most dangerous and unsure thing is to try to live without God. For one who is born again, it is easier to live in a right-standing relationship with God than it is to go wrong, provided we heed God’s warnings and “walk in the light” ( 1 John 1:7 ).

When we think of being delivered from sin, being “filled with the Spirit” ( Ephesians 5:18 ), and “walk[ing] in the light,” we picture the peak of a great mountain. We see it as very high and wonderful, but we say, “Oh, I could never live up there!” However, when we do get there through God’s grace, we find it is not a mountain peak at all, but a plateau with plenty of room to live and to grow. “You enlarged my path under me, so my feet did not slip” ( Psalm 18:36 ).

When you really see Jesus, I defy you to doubt Him. If you see Him when He says, “Let not your heart be troubled . . .” (John 14:27 ), I defy you to worry. It is virtually impossible to doubt when He is there. Every time you are in personal contact with Jesus, His words are real to you. “My peace I give to you . . .” (John 14:27 )— a peace which brings an unconstrained confidence and covers you completely, from the top of your head to the soles of your feet. “. . . your life is hidden with Christ in God,” and the peace of Jesus Christ that cannot be disturbed has been imparted to you.

Filed under: Christ our righteousness, Communion with God, Discipleship, Evangelical, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Oswald Chambers, Regeneration, Sanctification, The Bible, The Christian Life, The Gospel, The word of God, Union with Christ

A True Theologian

“Augustine expressed his faith not with his heart alone, for the heart does not think . . . nor with his mind alone, for he never grasps truth in the abstract, as if it were dead. Rather, to his task as a theologian he brought emotional tenacity, immense intellectual power, purpose of will, deep spirituality and heroic sanctity.”

“The Significance of Augustine,” Christianity Today, 11 December 1987, page 22.

(HT: Ray Ortlund)

Filed under: Communion with God, Discipleship, Doctrine, Evangelical, Knowing God, Love for God, The Christian Life