When I Don't Desire God, Part 1 – John Piper

let's pray together your mercies are new every evening Lord in every midnight and every afternoon and every morning early and late and though sometimes they seem to tarry they arrive at the proper time and so now I want to pray Lord for these folks who are here that though some of them are in a very dark season and they wonder where the mercies are that you would use our several hours together to bring about a most remarkable awakening an awakening of knowledge and an awakening of spiritual sight and an awakening of heart affection for the king of kings and Lord of lords Jesus Christ Lord we don't want to settle for mere head knowledge or mere emotionalism we want to pull together our whole being because you have revealed yourself to be known and you have revealed yourself to be enjoyed and therefore I'm pleading with you to turn these hours together into miracles of awakening I pray for any who is hearing my voice who has not yet been born again from above that the Word of God that is sharper than any two-edged sword and is living and active will penetrate into the hearts of those who are dead in their trespasses and sins that they might live and taste and see that you are true and that you are good and then I have a special burden Lord for struggling Saints Saints for whom the language of delight pleasure satisfaction treasuring is a foreign language for their souls they have grown up in a kind of decision istic atmosphere where everything seems to be willpower and affections they don't matter very much in fact they're threatening I have a special place in my heart for them and there are many in this room like that and I pray that you would minister wholeness to them so come and help me please and help us in these hours together that there would be a gift of listening and a gift of speech an anointing from the Holy Spirit so that I would be protected from error and pride and fear of man and that these folks would be protected from distraction or undo negative reaction to something that might be new and biblical protect them from any mistakes I may make guard us from the devil may we lift the shield of faith right now and quench every fiery dart that he would shoot at us to deceive us mislead us discourage us oppress us make us want to walk out of this room so come Wood we are not here to play games we are here to see the King through his word by his spirit that we might be conformed from one degree of glory to the next into the image of Jesus Christ that there might be a radiance Florida Georgia South Carolina and Tennessee and North Carolina I don't know where these folks have come from but Lord that the radiance of Christ would spread out from this place this is our heart's desire come now we pray in Jesus name Amen you can hear that I had a kind of person in my mind and I did because of a recent conversation at my church and this is such a typical conversation there's nothing extraordinary about it any any pastor in the room has had it most of you've walked through it a woman who comes into my office and basically says like many of you feel it feels Pastor John as though the distance between my head which is totally affirming of everything you preach and my heart is about a thousand miles that's why I wrote this book and why we named this conference that it's called when I don't desire God how to fight for joy because there are a lot of people like that and there are a lot of people who think that doesn't matter and there's some people that states the way it does matter in totally misleading ways and so we want to work on this together I am on what I consider an apostolic mission John bloom my partner for 10 years who was at the piano before I came up here asked me at the airport as we were flying down here today how do you feel they feel about tonight and I said I feel like I'm on an apostolic mission I feel like I have the authority of Jesus Christ behind me because of second Corinthians 124 which says and I say this to you now not that i lord it over your faith but i am a worker with you for your finish it joy worker with you for your joy it's not an amazing statement work I am an opposite aaalac workman Paul says for what happiness but if you've ever thought about the the Apostolic mission of Paul on planet Earth not that I lord it over your faith Corinthians I am called to work with you alongside of you for your joy and so that's the mission I am on here I am a worker with you for your joy in these few hours that we have together he said it in another place lest you think that was kind of an isolated exceptional statement you remember in Philippians 1 where he's struggling am I going to live or am I not going to live he settles it yes I believe I probably will live convinced of this I know I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith yes the Lord is going to leave me a little longer on planet Earth so that I might advance your joy of faith isn't it amazing 2nd Corinthians 1:20 4 and Philippians 125 to Appa Stalag mandates to me to get out there to Greenville and work for their joy so that's what I said in a shorter form to John in the airport this morning let me give you four things I'm not coming to do it helps to clarify what you do do when you decide what you don't do I am NOT coming with a health wealth and prosperity gospel or on a health wealth and prosperity mission I am not bringing the message that Christ will make you healthy Christ will make you wealthy Christ will make you prosperous in this life so that you can have joy that's not my message I am bringing you a message that Christ will give you himself so that you don't need health wealth and prosperity in order to be happy but can have so much invincible joy in the durable Christ you can give up health wealth and prosperity in the sacrifices of love if God so calls this is a very dangerous conference if you catch on to what I'm saying or if any of you parents brought your kids that's risky I get in trouble with a lot of parents because what kids do when they listen to messages like this they do crazy things for Jesus after they learn that their joy can be rooted in something absolutely higher more sure more satisfying than the American Dream which dad had for them and now he dad's really mad at me because they're in Afghanistan I am NOT on a mission to add happy icing to the cake of your decision for Christ I am on a mission to show you from Scripture that if all you have is a decision for Christ and no delight in Christ you don't have Christ we are not saved by mere decisions we are saved by the sovereign work of God by his Spirit causing us to be born again which brings into being a new creature who has new affections for God and less affection for the world that's salvation salvation is not my brain doing what it can do by itself my my salvation is a miracle wrought by the Holy Spirit upon me doing what I cannot do for myself bringing into being a new John Piper who has affections for God and is falling out of love with the world so I'm not bringing you a message of happiness as the icing on the cake of decision but rather I want to persuade you that if you understood saving faith a right then delight in God would be a part of the cake not just the icing not the caboose at the end of the Train and not just something dispensable for stoical personalities third I am NOT on a mission to put your happiness above God's glory I am on a mission to put your happiness in God's glory God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him forth I'm not on a mission to help you feel good about yourselves I am on a mission to help you feel so good about the greatness of God that you forget about yourselves and live a life of love making others glad in God I'm going to say that again because in our 21st century mold mold and time on on the back end of the crest of the wave of self-esteem it needs to still be said I am NOT here to make you feel good about yourself that's a low salvation that's a low-level American gospel message I am here to make you so happy in God to help you feel so good about the glory and majesty and beauty and justice and love and truth and power of God that in that you forget about yourself some of you've heard me say I'd like to say it nobody goes to the Grand Canyon to increase his self-esteem because on the edge of the Grand Canyon as you feel your soul being drawn out into this vast opening that's not what happens what happens is wonder ah which is what you were made for heaven will not be a Hall of Mirrors in which you like what you see in fact I just have the suspicion there will be any mirrors in heaven because anything good and beautiful about you will be radiated back to you from the other people that you're loving so much it just bounces back to you but mainly it's going to be about Jesus everywhere satisfying your soul so thoughts about you which in this world cause us so much grief and we think that the solution is to just feel better about me better about the way I look but about my height my weight my complexion my hair my mathematical ability if I could just feel better about me I'd be healed you wouldn't you wouldn't you wouldn't be healed you'd have low-level low-grade non satisfying measures of contentment you were made to see God love God delight him God be stunned by God so I'm not here to help you feel good about yourself I'm here to help you feel good about God and forget about yourself and give you life away in love to others it is more blessed to give than to receive so the content of these several messages assumes now a foundation in another conference that I did and a book that I wrote and I have to resist continually not preaching all that stuff again because I love to preach it the conference I'm thinking about is the blazing Center it's in a DVD I'm going to assume that conference and the book I have in mind is is either desiring God or God's passion for his glory I'm gonna assume that but since I know I can't assume it totally I have to squeeze in a few minutes of summary so we are going to spend some time asking the foundational questions in this initial talk so that those of you who are not familiar with what I'm building on might be a little bit up to speed so we got to ask some huge questions the biggest question I've ever asked I think is why God does everything that he does because why I do things doesn't matter at all why God does things really matters really really matters so why does God do everything he does is there a unifying motive for all that God does and there is and all of you who've heard any of my talks ever would know the answer because I say it over and over again and I'll say it now God does all that he does to display his glory for the full and lasting enjoyment of all who embraced Christ as their highest treasure God does everything that he does everything that he does in order to display his glory for the enjoyment of all those who find in Christ their highest treasure Isaiah 43 6 bring my sons from afar my daughters from the ends of the earth everyone who is called by my name whom I created for my glory so I know beyond the shadow of a doubt why you were made you were made for God's glory that amazing that I can stand in front of these people and say I know totally with confidence why every one of you in this room was created you were created for the glory of God now that is an ambiguous statement and I have thrown it around for years and realized how ambiguous for the glory of God is in people's ears so I've come up with this little analogy to clarify how you should not glorify God and how you should glorify God how you should not magnify God and how you should magnify God and it's the telescope microscope analogy because magnifying glorify are very similar in their meaning biblically Paul says my aim is to magnify Jesus Christ that's the same as glorified Jesus Christ but oh how ambiguous the word magnify is does it mean magnify God like a microscope magnifies or like a telescope magnifies a microscope makes little teeny things look bigger than they are and a telescope makes gigantic things that to the naked eye look little look more like what they really are now which way are you called upon to magnify God and the answer is like a telescope not a microscope it is blasphemy to magnify God like a microscope Oh poor God he is so teeny and so small I must now make him look bigger than he is that's blasphemy but in fact in this world after the fall God to most people is either not on their radar screen at all or a little tiny dot that might show through the smog of sin every two or three weeks with just a look twinkle that you might say exists but significance zero and your calling is you are on planet Earth to put a telescope to the eye of the world that's why you exist by your behavior your parenting the way you do your job though your worship the way you handle your things in life they should read off of your life god is great that's why you exist why are you forgiven isaiah 43:25 I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake and I will not remember your sins I blot out your transgressions for my own sake says Lord you are forgiven for God's glory isaiah 43:25 matthew 6:9 pray then like this disciples our Father in heaven Hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done the very first petition that Jesus teaches us to pray is make your name great in the world that should be the number one thing you pray for how're you doing the number one prayer on your lips and springing from your heart is hallowed be your name in my life my family my church this city this world Oh make your name holy pure righteous set apart valuable big one-of-a-kind magnificent show yourself to the world God hallowed be your name number one petition in the church from your heart every day and God the Son taught you to pray that therefore God is teaching you to pray for the glory of God first Peter 4:11 he supplies strength to us for his glory whoever serves let him serve in the strength that god supplies in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ if you serve you should serve in the strength that God supplies so that he may get the glory not you the giver gets the glory first Peter 4:11 he leads us for his glory Psalm 23 he restores my soul he leads me in paths of righteousness tell me the next phrase for his name's sake God leads you for his name's sake let's sum it up with Ephesians 1:11 God works all things according to the counsel of his will all things that's my question why do you do all things God works all things according to the counsel of his will so that we who first hoped in Christ might be for the praise of his glory if you get this right almost everything else I say I think will follow it's getting this right it's loving the truth that God does everything for God that turns a person's life upside down I've preached messages that have gotten me emails from philosophy professors and theology professors one of the messages was entitled did God die did Jesus die for us or for him or for God did Jesus die for us or for God and and the answer is yes and the word 4 means something different in each of those phrases he died for us because we needed a substitute to bear our guilt and our wrath and he died for God in that God needed to be shown vindicated and righteous and holy in forgiving people like us and so he had to put forth his son as a propitiation by his blood so that he could be seen to be just and the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus but right at the center of the gospel God is exalting God so you get this amazing hammer-blow from isaiah 40:8 9 God says for my name's sake for my name's sake I defer my anger for my sake the sake of my praise i restrain it for you that I may not cut you off behold I have refined you but not like silver I have tried you in the furnace of affliction for my own sake for my own sake I do it how should my name be profaned I will not give my glory to another that's one of the big questions that is a foundation for these hours we have together we have to build on that God does everything for the glory of God and then we have to answer this second question briefly is that love is that loving if you lived that way nobody would call it love if you went around doing everything for your glory nobody would call that love if you have something that you know will give others full and lasting pleasure and instead of showing it to them you elevate and exalt yourself are you a loving person no you're most definitely not a loving person and so it is with God if God has something and he doesn't show it to us even though it would bring us full and everlasting pleasure God's not loving toward us and so he must show us himself there is no gift that God can give you that would make him a loving person if he withholds himself all the gifts that you think about forgiveness justification Redemption reconciliation all the glorious gospel gifts if God says you can have all that but you can't have me on the other side he's not loving toward me therefore God is the one being in the universe for whom self exaltation and self presentation is synonymous with love you may not follow him in this except like this if you go through the world saying I'm going to exalt myself now like God which must be like God someone exalt myself and that will be loving it won't be loving it will be distracting it will be distracting from what will satisfy their souls because what will satisfy their souls is God so if you want to imitate God in God's self exaltation then you become God exalting not self-exalting because what will satisfy people's souls for ever and ever and ever is seeing knowing loving fellowshipping with God therefore God to be loving must give himself he must exalt himself he must commend himself he must call for praise and love he's the only being in the universe for whom such behavior is love it's the essence of love you can't copy him in this you're not God for you to be love is to call attention to him for him to be love is to call attention to him and therefore in God's case he's the one being in the universe for whom self-exaltation is identical to love here's the way I would define love to you if you would ask me okay if you have that what does it mean for God to love me what does it mean for God to love me here would be my answer God loves you in that he does everything necessary in order that you might be enthralled forever and increasingly with what will bring you full and lasting happiness namely himself no that was a long definition let me say it again for God to love you is for him to do everything even the death of his son even at the cost of his son's life he will do everything he must do for his own in order that they might be enthralled with what will make them fully and eternally happy namely himself God must be bent on self exaltation if he loves us you you

Channel: Desiring God

Views: 368,249

Keywords: John Piper, Desiring God, Love, Christianity, Darkness, Suffering, Life, Jesus Christ, Christian Hedonism

Id: PU6Xtf_jpOA

Length: 31min 30sec (1890 seconds)

Published: Mon May 13 2013