Latest / Reformed Thinking / Honoring Our Heavenly Father (Ephesians 5:1) | Jonathan Edwards

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Honoring Our Heavenly Father (Ephesians 5:1) | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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Imagine waking up, getting dressed, and walking into your
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office every single day completely terrified that one
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minor mistake will get you fired on the spot.
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Oh man, that sounds exhausting. Right.
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You sit at your desk, your stomach is in knots and your
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entire focus is just self preservation.
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Yeah, you definitely don't care about the company's mission at
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that point. No, not at all.
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You do not care about your Co workers either.
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You only care about doing the bare minimum required to avoid
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being called into HR and handed a cardboard box for your
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belongings. Just surviving the day.
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Pretty much. Now imagine treating your
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spirituality the very same way. Welcome to reform thinking.
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Today we are going to look at the massive psychological toll
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of viewing religion as a strict, terrifying Ledger of debts and
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obligations. It is a harsh way to live it.
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Really is. You wake up and there is that
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quiet, nagging voice in the back of your mind calculating your
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spiritual performance. On one side you have your
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duties, the rules you're supposed to follow, the boxes
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you need to check. And on the other side you have
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your failures. Yes, for a lot of people
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listening right now, their view of their relationship with God
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is heavily burdened by this. It feels transactional.
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You do the right thing because you are afraid of what happens
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if you do not. That is a very common reality,
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sadly. People often interact with God
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as if they are, you know, employees trying to keep a
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demanding, unpredictable boss happy.
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Or like a harsh judge. Right, a judge who was just
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waiting for them to slip up so he can drop the gavel.
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It is an exhausting way to live. I can imagine.
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The mental and emotional bandwidth required sustain that
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kind of performance based religion grains all the joy out
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of the Christian life. You end up with a very hollow
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shell of obedience. That brings us to our mission.
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For this deep dive into the source material, we are
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examining A sermon by the 18th century theologian Jonathan
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Edwards. Fascinating guy.
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He is the sermon is titled Honoring Our Heavenly Father and
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he bases the whole thing on a single short verse from the New
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Testament, Ephesians chapter 5, verse one.
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Be you, therefore followers of God as dear children.
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It is such a short verse, but there is so much in there.
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There is. Our goal today is to unpack how
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Edwards completely dismantles that heavy transactional view of
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religion we just talked about. He replaces the exhausted
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employee mindset with the freedom, the joy, and the
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distinct disposition of being in a dear child.
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Setting the tone right away is crucial for understanding this
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text, because you know, when people hear the name Jonathan
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Edwards, they often jump straight to a very specific
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character. They think of a stern, severe
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figure famous for fiery sermons about judgement and wrath.
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They picture a Puritan sitting in a dark room, scowling at the
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world. Like the angry preacher
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stereotype? Yeah, that is the one.
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When you read his actual writings, especially a text like
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this one, you see a completely different side of his pastoral
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care. You see a man who has a keen,
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relentless focus on the affections of the heart.
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Yes, he is interested in joy and delight and in the tender,
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affectionate relationship between Heavenly Father and His
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children. That is quite the contrast to
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the stereotype. It is.
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This sermon is a brilliant, analytical look at the
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psychology of the Christian life.
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He wants to know what is actually going on inside the
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mind and heart of someone who calls themselves a believer.
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OK, let's unpack this, starting with the very first concept
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Edwards lays out. It is the idea of conformity.
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He is analyzing what it actually means to be a follower of God.
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Right, because that phrase gets thrown around a.
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Lot it does. The phrase follower of God gets
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thrown around a lot in modern culture.
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People put it in their social media BIOS.
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Yeah, they do. But Edward says that following
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God is not playing a game of follow the leader.
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It is not just walking in the same general direction.
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It is about conforming to Him in nature, in will and in action.
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Yes, Edwards takes the phrase as dear children and runs with it.
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He points out that human children naturally mirror their
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parents. That's very true.
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Think about a child you know well.
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They often share the physical likeness of the parent, sure,
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but it goes way beyond genetics. Right, they pick up their
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mannerisms. They adopt their values.
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They start using the same vocabulary.
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They laugh at the same kinds of jokes.
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Edwards argues that for the Christian, following God means
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mirroring God in a similar way. You are conforming your nature
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to his likeness. Precisely.
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He brings in the biblical imagery of Adam having a son in
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his own likeness and then elevates it to Christ, who is
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the express image of the Father. So the goal is to look like the
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father. Right.
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For the believer, the goal is that same kind of mirroring.
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It is a conformity of the will where there is mutual affection,
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and a conformity of action where you learn the manners of your
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Heavenly Father. That is a staggering bar to set
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though. When you think about conforming
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your actual nature to an infinite being, it makes you ask
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how in the world do you actually do that on a practical level?
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It sounds impossible at first glance.
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It really does. But Edwards gives us what we
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could call the anatomy of a childlike disposition.
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He breaks this massive idea down into four specific observable
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traits. Which is very helpful.
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Very If we want to know what this mirroring looks like, we
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have to look at these four pieces.
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The very first trait he lists is honorable esteem.
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He says that having a high and honorable esteem of God is the
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absolute foundation of all the respect a child owes a parent.
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It is a logical starting point. He roots this in the 5th
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commandment, which is honor your father and your mother, right?
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Edwards says that this honor is not just outward obedience.
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You can obey someone while secretly despising them in your
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mind. We have all done that at some
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point. For sure, true honor starts
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internally. The child naturally thinks
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highly of the parent. They prefer their parent in
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their thoughts above anyone else.
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OK, I see. Edwards makes the point that the
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soul that has a childlike respect for God has a high
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exalting thought of Him. You recognize that God is wise,
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holy, and gracious, and because you recognize those attributes,
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He has no competition in your mind.
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I want to push back on this human analogy for a moment,
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because applying the human parent dynamic to God feels a
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bit clunky. Edwards says that a dutiful
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child naturally has complacence in their parent and overlooks
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the parents faults and blemishes.
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I understand that for human families, sure, a good kid
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ignores the fact that their dad is terrible at math or that
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their mom loses her temper and traffic, But God does not have
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any faults or blemishes to overlook.
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So how does that analogy hold up when we move from a flawed human
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parent to a perfect divine Father?
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That is a fair critique of the analogy, and it is something we
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need to clarify so we do not misunderstand his point.
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Edwards is not suggesting that God has hidden flaws we need to
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politely ignore. Right, that would be weird.
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Yeah, that would break down quickly.
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What he's doing is isolating the mechanism of preference in the
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child's mind. Think about a little kid, maybe
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four or five years to a four year old.
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Their dad is the strongest man in the world.
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Their mom is the smartest person in the world.
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They have a natural bias, a building preference that
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elevates the parent above all others.
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I get it. If you ask a kindergartner who
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the best cook is, they will say their mom, even if their mom
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burns the toast every morning. The mechanism is preference.
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So it is about the internal ranking.
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Yes, Edwards is saying that for the Christian, this preference
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is not based on a childish illusion, but on absolute
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reality. When the believer looks at God,
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they are seeing infinite perfection.
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That makes sense, God. Truly is infinitely wise, holy
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and gracious. The esteem is about giving God
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the highest possible rank in your thoughts, establishing A
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baseline where He outranks every other priority.
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I see what you mean, the kids preference is based on affection
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even if it is factually wrong about the burnt toast.
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But the Christians preference is based on affection aligned with
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objective reality. Right on.
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You are not blind to his excellencies, you are hyper
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aware of them. It is about recognizing His
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unrivaled majesty. The source material uses 2
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specific Old Testament quotes to anchor this idea of unrivaled
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majesty. Which ones?
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Edwards quotes Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse 31.
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Their rock is not as our rock, even our enemies themselves
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being judges. And then he quotes Psalm 135,
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verse 5. I know that God is great, that
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our God is above all gods. Those are strong verses.
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They are. Think about the modern landscape
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of attention. The believer looks at the
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universe, looks at everything competing for their attention,
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career, money, social status, political ideologies, and
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concludes that there is a vast distance between God and
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everything else. He is just on another level
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entirely. God has no rivals.
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He is entirely worthy of all adoration and respect.
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That cognitive recognition is the foundation of everything
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else. Once you establish that massive,
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unrivaled esteem in the mind, it naturally flows into the second
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trait Edwards identifies. That trait is love, right?
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He says love necessarily rises from this high esteem.
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If you genuinely see God as excellent and beautiful, your
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heart naturally moves toward Him.
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You cannot just sterilely acknowledge a fact without
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having an emotional reaction to it.
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Esteem is the cognitive recognition of God's value.
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Love is the emotional response to that value.
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That is a good way to put it. Edwards says that a knowledge
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and sense of God's Excellency is the basis for all gracious
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respect toward Him. He leans on the parent child
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dynamic. Again, where there is a healthy
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relationship, the child delights in the parent.
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They want to be around them. Right.
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The parent's presence is pleasing to the child, and the
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parent's absence is grievous. The child just wants to be in
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the father's house. Let's talk about that emotional
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experience for a second. Think about someone you dearly
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love. A spouse, a child, a close
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friend you have not seen in years.
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Yeah, that feeling of anticipation.
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Exactly. When they walk into the room,
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your mood lifts instantly. A smile from them literally puts
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life into your frame. It changes your physical state,
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your blood pressure, your breathing.
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It is a very physical reaction. It is.
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Edwards is taking that common human experience and applying it
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to the divine relationship. He says the soul has an
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unfeigned love for God, loving him for his own sake, for his
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glory. He's describing A visceral,
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emotional reality, not just a theological concept on a piece
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of paper. It is a striking description of
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Christian experience. Edwards is saying that true
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religion is taking actual delight in God's presence.
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The. Actual delight.
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Yes, it is loving to see Him spiritually, and conversely, it
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means feeling genuine grief when God seems distant.
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When God is present in your life, when you feel close to
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Him, it is a time of rest and rejoicing.
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And when he is not? When he withdraws or when you
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feel spiritually dry, it is a time of mourning.
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Notice how this completely changes the motivation for
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obedience. Edward says the believer is
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greatly desirous of doing what shall be pleasing and acceptable
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to him. It is a pleasure to him to obey
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his commands. You obey because you love the
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person commanding you and you want to see them glorified.
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You are not checking a box. You are responding to a
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relationship. You want to imitate them because
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you'll love them. That is the second trait, Love.
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Then we get to the third trait, and this is where the tension
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really builds. Here we go.
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The third trait is Humble Reference.
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What's fascinating here is how Edwards navigates the tension
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between intimacy and awe. A lot of modern thinking wants
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to separate these things entirely.
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Oh, for sure. We either want God to be a
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casual buddy which loses all the awe, or we see him as a
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terrifying distant force which loses all the intimacy.
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Is hard to find the middle ground.
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But Edwards refuses to separate them.
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He says that God's glory consists just as much in his
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awful majesty strip justice and jealousy as it does in his
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attractive goodness and grace. You cannot have the real God
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without both. The source texts literally uses
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the word awful in the older sense of the word meaning.
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Full of awe. Terrifyingly grand.
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Right. Not awful like a bad movie.
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Yeah, not a bad movie. I was trying to think of a way
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to conceptualize this, because we do not use the word awful
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like that anymore. Imagine you were standing right
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at the edge of the Grand Canyon for the first time.
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OK, I am picturing it. There is no guardrail.
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You walk up to the precipice and you look down into a mile of
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empty space. Or maybe you are standing on a
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porch watching a massive, severe thunderstorm roll across the
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plains. Those can be intense.
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The sky turns green, the wind is howling, and the lightning is
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striking the ground right in front of you.
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There is something genuinely terrifying about it.
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You feel very small. Exactly.
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The sheer scale, the raw, uncontrollable force of it makes
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you feel incredibly small and vulnerable.
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Your knees might literally shake, but at the exact same
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time it is so staggeringly beautiful that you cannot look
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away. Wow, it is terrifying.
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Yet your pleasure in witnessing it is actually heightened by the
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terror. The awe does not dilute the
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pleasure, it anchors. It makes the beauty real.
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I see what you mean. The terror isn't pushing you
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away, it is anchoring you in the reality of the moment.
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Yes, exactly. Edwards argues that true
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reverence does not make a person want to flee from God.
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It does not make you run away and hide like Adam and Eve in
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the garden in Instead, it tends to make the soul humble itself
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before God while remaining in His presence.
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When you combine that infinite majesty with infinite grace, the
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soul prizes the object even more.
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It multiplies the delight. Yes, the delight in the beauty
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is multiplied by the scale of the majesty.
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You realize that the being who controls the thunderstorm is the
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same being who calls you his dear child.
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That juxtaposition is where true reverence lives.
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But Edwards makes a very specific theological point here
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about fear. He acknowledges that in our
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current state, living in this world, there is a kind of fear
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mixed in with this reference. A shrinking back.
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Yes, we do sometimes feel that instinct to shrink back.
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He is careful to categorize where that fear comes from so we
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do not get confused about our standing.
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This is a vital nuance. He points to the verse in first
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John chapter 4, verse 18. Perfect love casteth out fear.
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A famous verse. Edwards says that the strictly
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fearful part of our reverence, the part that makes us tremble
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with anxiety about punishment, does not flow from the nature of
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our childlike disposition itself.
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It is not a feature of the relationship.
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No, it is not a feature of being a child of God.
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Rather, it exists because we are currently living in this world
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in an infirm, imperfect state. We are still dealing with sin,
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weakness and human limitation. So it is kind of like a glitch
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in the system right now. Exactly.
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Therefore our love is imperfect, and so fear creeps in.
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It is a contaminant in the water, but he promises that in
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heaven, where this holy awe and reverence will reach perfection,
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there will be No Fear, strictly speaking.
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That is a relief. The awe will remain, the majesty
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will remain, but the shrinking back in terror will be
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completely cast out by perfect love.
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That is an incredibly encouraging thought for anyone
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who struggles with spiritual anxiety.
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We will definitely circle back to that idea later.
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So we have honorable esteem, we have love, we have humble
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reverence. And the fourth way.
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Yes, the 4th and final trade in this anatomy of a childlike
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disposition is trust. Trust is the practical
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outworking of everything we have discussed so far.
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You have the cognitive esteem, the emotional love, the humble
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reverence, and now you have the action, which is trust.
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OK, how does that look? Edwards uses the image of a
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little child relying entirely on its parents.
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The child depends on the parent for everything it needs.
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Food, shelter, clothing, direction.
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They cannot do anything on their.
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Own right, it trusts the parents wisdom, their strength, their
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faithfulness to take care of it. Think about a toddler at a
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playground. When a stray dog runs onto the
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playground and barks, what does the toddler do?
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They do not stand their ground and try to fight the dog.
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They do not try to negotiate. They run.
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They immediately turn and run as fast as they can to their
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parent. They bury their face and their
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parents leg. They put their entire confidence
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in the parents ability to handle the danger.
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Edwards maps that directly onto the Christian A believer has a
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quiet confidence and acquiescence of mind and God's
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sufficiency. You look to God as the fountain
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for what you need, and you run to Him as a refuge in times of
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danger. You do not try to fight the
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stray dogs of life on your own. No, you turn to the Father.
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This a specific trait of trust is what allows Edwards to pivot
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the entire conversation. Because once you establish that
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a Christian is someone who trusts God completely as a
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loving Father, you have to ask what is the driving force behind
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their day-to-day obedience? Right.
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Why are they doing what they're doing?
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Edwards states that a Christian's obedience ought not
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to be mercenary or slavish. It should be a matter of free
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choice and inclination of the soul.
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He is completely shifting the paradigm away from a mercenary
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spirit. A mercenary fights for whoever
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pays the most. A slave works to avoid the whip.
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That is a great distinction. Edwards is moving us toward a
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spirit of free choice, and that demands that we take a much
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closer look at the theological mechanics behind this.
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Why are we considered children in the 1st place?
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How does this actually work on a systemic level?
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That takes us into the very logic of sonship.
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We are moving from how we follow God to why we follow God with
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this specific disposition, and Edwards roots this firmly in the
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covenant framework of Scripture. OK, the covenant.
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Yes, this is the structural foundation of everything he is
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teaching in the sermon. Here's where it gets really
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interesting, because Edwards uses some very strong specific
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theological language here. He explicitly states that we are
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not under a covenant of works. That is a big statement.
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He says we are not justified by our own obedience.
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If you grew up in certain religious environments, that
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statement might sound almost scandalous.
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It is the theological heartbeat of the entire source text.
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To understand what Edwards is saying, you have to understand
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the contrast he is drawing. A covenant of works is an
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arrangement where you're standing.
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Your survival and your reward depend entirely on your own
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perfect performance. Perfect performance, zero
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mistakes, yes. If you perform perfectly, you
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live. If you fail in one point, you
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face eternal death. There is no grace, no margin for
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error, and no second chances. It is a pure meritocracy.
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If we were actually living under that kind of arrangement, how
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would it affect our psychology? Let's take it out of the
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theological realm and put it into daily life.
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OK, let's hear it. Imagine you have a mortgage and
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the bank tells you that if you were even one minute late on a
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single payment over the next 30 years, they will instantly
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foreclose on your house, seize all your assets and put you in
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jail. Oh my goodness.
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Right. How well are you going to sleep
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at night? Yeah, you would be completely
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consumed by the dread of missing a payment.
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Edwards answers that psychological question directly.
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He says that if obtaining God's favor depended on our own
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obedience, it would naturally expose the fallen creature to a
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servile mercenary spirit. It has to.
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Think about the bank analogy. Every time you make a payment,
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you are not doing it out of love for the bank, think you are
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doing it out of pure terror. Exactly.
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You are terrified of the foreclosure.
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Edwards calls this being under the power of a spirit of bondage
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and the prevailing of slavish fears of wrath.
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You would act like that terrified employee we talked
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about at the beginning. Just trying to avoid the
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cardboard box. Yes, every action you take,
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every prayer you pray, every dollar you give to charity would
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be driven by self preservation and fear.
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You would be constantly checking your spiritual Ledger, wondering
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if you've done enough to keep the repo man away.
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It would be an utterly exhausting, miserable way to
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live. But Edward says the case is not
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so. The reality of the Christian
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life is completely different. The Ledger has been handled.
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Because of the Gospel, right? Edwards points out that the
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proper condition of our escaping eternal death and finding
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acceptance to eternal life is not our own perfect obedience.
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It is not even our own imperfect obedience mixed with good
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intentions. What is it then?
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The condition is faith in the Son of God, who has already
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satisfied the requirements and obeyed perfectly on our behalf.
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Justification and eternal life are offered freely.
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The mortgage has been paid in full by someone else.
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If you are hearing this and thinking your justification is
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based on your performance, this is the pivot point for your
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entire spiritual life. If justification is free, based
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entirely on what Christ has done, it shifts your motive for
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living. It changes everything.
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You move away from saying I must do this to avoid punishment, and
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you move towards saying I get to do this out of overwhelming
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gratitude. That is the shift.
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Edward says that seeing salvation is free, our obedience
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should also be free. The wonderful grace manifested
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in this arrangement should move us to respect and gratitude.
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The love of Christ should constrain us.
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The motivation changes from terror to affection.
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If we connect this to the bigger picture, we see that Edwards is
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relying heavily on the doctrine of union with Christ.
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This is how the free offer of justification practically
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changes our internal disposition.
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He discusses the concept of federal headship.
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Federal headship sounds like a dense academic term you would
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only hear in a seminary classroom.
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Bring that down for us. What is the mechanism there?
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How does federal headship actually work?
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Think of a diplomat signing a major peace treaty on behalf of
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a nation. The diplomat is the
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representative head. When the diplomat signs the
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document, the entire country reaps the benefits of the peace.
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The citizens did not fly to Geneva.
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They did not negotiate the terms.
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They did not sign the paper. Right, they were just at home.
21:37
But because they belong to the nation, the diplomat reverends,
21:41
the peace applies to them instantly.
21:43
Christ is the representative head of His people, and
21:46
believers are the members of His body.
21:48
Oh, I see the connection. Whatever is true of the head
21:52
becomes true of the members. Edwards points out that the only
21:55
begotten Son of God has a perfect filial or childlike
21:59
spirit toward the Father. Jesus has this spirit in the
22:03
greatest fullness and highest perfection.
22:05
That makes sense. Because Christians are united to
22:08
the Son, because they are citizens of the nation He
22:10
represents, they receive that exact same disposition.
22:14
The source material references Galatians chapter 4 verse 6 to
22:17
back this up. He says God had sent forth the
22:20
Spirit of his Son into your hearts, whereby you cry ABBA
22:24
father. That is an astonishing reality.
22:26
It really is. We do not just get a generic
22:29
spiritual boost. We do not just get a clean
22:31
slate, we receive the very Spirit of the Son.
22:33
The exact same spirit that cries out ABBA Father in the heart of
22:36
Jesus is crying out ABBA Father in the heart of the believer.
22:39
It is transplanted into us. The affection Jesus has for the
22:42
Father is transplanted into US. That leads directly to how God
22:46
treats us, because we are united to the Son.
22:48
God does not just display majesty from a distance, He
22:51
actively treats people as adopted children.
22:53
He adopts us. Edwards says God is exercising
22:56
the love, tenderness and sympathy of Father.
22:59
He is manifesting Himself fully and freely, not as a master
23:03
speaking to servants. When a master speaks to a
23:06
servant, it is just orders and expectations.
23:09
When a father speaks to a child, it is guidance and care.
23:13
He enters into a covenant with us, engaging to do the part of a
23:16
father, the text says. He promises to instruct, to
23:20
guide, to protect, to defend and to take care of us.
23:22
Beautiful promises. He promises never to leave nor
23:25
forsake us, and the ultimate goal of all of this is to bring
23:28
us to His own house, to heaven, to dwell in His immediate and
23:31
glorious presence, sitting at His table throughout the days of
23:34
eternity. That is the trajectory of the
23:36
relationship. This is what Edwards calls the
23:38
Gospel excellencies. When you realize that God has
23:41
secured your justification, freely united you to His Son,
23:45
given you the Spirit of His Son, and promised to bring you to His
23:49
eternal table, well, how could you possibly respond with the
23:53
forced obedience of a slave? You cannot.
23:55
The sheer weight of that grace demands A joyful response.
23:59
You cannot respond like a slave if you truly grasp what has
24:01
happened. Because God treats us as
24:04
children and not as hired hands, it naturally forces us to
24:07
scrutinize the actual motives behind our day-to-day actions.
24:11
We have to look in the mirror. We do.
24:13
And this brings us to the next phase of our deep dive today,
24:16
diagnosing our obedience. Edwards provides A framework for
24:20
testing what actually influences our behavior.
24:22
He wants us to run a diagnostic on our own hearts.
24:25
This is where Edwards moves from theological exposition to very
24:28
practical self examination. He wants the Christian to
24:31
examine their own heart and ask, What is the main driving force
24:34
behind my actions? When I go to church, when I
24:37
pray, when I help my neighbor? Why am I doing it?
24:40
Are my actions primarily driven by a gracious, childlike respect
24:45
for God, or are they driven by something else entirely?
24:49
He gives us a diagnostic test with four alternative motives.
24:52
Let's translate these into modern terms so we can really
24:55
see how they apply today. First, he asks, Are you acting
24:58
primarily out of a fear of wrath?
25:00
Just dodging lightning bolts. Yes.
25:02
Are you just trying to dodge lightning bolts?
25:04
Yeah. You obey because you are
25:05
terrified that if you do not, God will wreck your car or give
25:09
you a disease. That is the first one.
25:10
Second, are you motivated by temporal interest?
25:13
Let's call this vending machine religion.
25:15
You obey God because you think putting in a good deed coin will
25:18
result in Him dispensing wealth, perfect health, or a promotion
25:22
at work. You are using God to get stuff.
25:25
Yes, using God to get stuff. Third, are you driven by the
25:28
desire for credit and esteem among men?
25:31
Are you volunteering at the soup kitchen just so you can post
25:33
about it online and look respectable to your peers?
25:36
You want the applause of the crowd, not the smile of the
25:39
Father. That is a very modern problem.
25:41
It is. And 4th Is your obedience just a
25:44
matter of mere custom and education?
25:47
Are you just going through the motions because it is how you
25:50
were raised? Your parents went to church, so
25:51
you go to church, but you have never actually thought about why
25:54
you were sitting in the Pew. Edwards argues that a true
25:57
Christian should be influenced more by a childlike respect for
26:01
God than by any of those other factors.
26:03
If fear or money or applause or blind habit is the primary
26:08
driver, the disposition is fundamentally flawed.
26:11
That makes sense. However, he introduces a very
26:14
subtle point regarding rewards, and this is where many people
26:17
get tripped up when they are analyzing their own motives.
26:20
I want to stop and ask you about this because this feels like a
26:22
glaring contradiction. It is very easy to sit in a
26:26
theological ivory tower and say we should obey out of pure,
26:30
unselfish love, completely detached from any personal gain.
26:34
We should just love God for God. But the biblical text and
26:37
Edwards himself frequently mentions hoping for a future
26:40
reward. Jesus talks about storing up
26:42
treasures in heaven. Yes, he does.
26:44
Does not desiring a reward contradict the idea of free
26:48
unselfish obedience? Is it not still mercenary to
26:51
want to pay off at the end even if the payoff is in heaven
26:54
instead of on earth? How is wanting a heavenly
26:57
mansion any different than wanting a bigger bank account
27:00
now? That is a fantastic question,
27:02
and it is a tension that many believers feel.
27:05
Edwards resolves this tension beautifully in the source
27:07
material by defining the nature of the evangelical reward.
27:10
What does he say? What exactly are we hoping to
27:13
get? If we think the reward of heaven
27:15
is just an endless vacation with gold streets and mansions, then
27:18
yes, desiring that is a bit mercenary.
27:20
You are just wanting luxury, right?
27:22
But Edwards argues that if the future reward consists of
27:25
enjoying God himself, then desiring that reward is actually
27:30
a supreme expression of love. I think I need an analogy for
27:33
this to make it click. Suppose you have a child who is
27:36
eagerly anticipating a family vacation to a cabin in the
27:38
woods. They are packing their bags days
27:41
in advance. They are talking about it
27:42
constantly. They are bubbling over with
27:45
excitement. You would not look at that child
27:47
and say they are being greedy or mercenary for wanting the trip.
27:50
No, you would just say they are excited.
27:52
Why? Because the trip is not a pile
27:55
of cash. The trip is not a new toy.
27:57
The trip is the joy of being with the family, experiencing
28:00
something wonderful together, away from the distractions of
28:03
normal life. Desiring the vacation is an
28:06
expression of love for the family.
28:09
The reward is the relationship. That is a spot on analogy.
28:13
The kid is not excited about the wooden cabin.
28:15
They are excited about who is in the cabin.
28:17
That is precisely what Edwards is saying about the Christian's
28:20
hope for heaven. So longing for heaven is longing
28:22
for God. Right.
28:23
The Christian who serves and obeys from a desire and hope of
28:26
the happiness of enjoying God is obeying from a gracious respect.
28:31
You are not asking God for a reward completely separate from
28:34
Himself. You are asking for him.
28:36
Yes, you are not asking Him for stuff.
28:38
You are desiring greater intimacy, greater presence,
28:41
greater joy in His Excellency. When you long for heaven, you
28:46
are longing for the unfiltered presence of the Father.
28:48
And Edwards backs this up with the ultimate example, which is
28:52
Jesus Christ. The source sites Hebrews chapter
28:54
12 verse 2. It says that Jesus, for the joy
28:58
that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame.
29:02
Even Christ obeyed with a view to a reward.
29:05
Yes. He obeyed partly from respect to
29:07
the reward his Father had promised him, and that reward
29:10
was the joy of saving his people, vindicating the Father's
29:13
name, and being exalted at the Father's right hand.
29:16
If Jesus can obey with a view to a reward, then the concept
29:20
reward is not inherently mercenary.
29:22
It depends entirely on what the reward is.
29:24
This raises an important question about how we evaluate
29:27
our own motives on a daily basis.
29:28
Sometimes people can get overly introspective.
29:31
Oh, I have been there. They paralyze themselves
29:34
constantly digging around in their own minds, wondering if
29:37
their motives are perfectly pure.
29:39
They think, did I help my neighbor just to feel good about
29:42
myself, or did I do it for God's glory?
29:44
It can drive you crazy. It really can.
29:47
Edward sees this trap and provides what he calls a plainer
29:50
and more universal rule to test whether our obedience is
29:54
genuine. He wants to give believers A
29:56
practical way to assess themselves without spiraling
29:59
into despair. He says people often think the
30:01
only valid motive is a cold, detached desire to aim for God's
30:06
glory. Like you have to act like a
30:08
robot calculating the maximum glorification of the deity
30:12
before you do anything. Right, which is impossible.
30:14
But Edwards broadens that significantly.
30:15
He makes it much more human. He does.
30:18
Aiming for God's glory is certainly one way of expressing
30:20
childlike respect. If you want God's name to be
30:23
honored in your community, that is 1 wonderful, but it is not
30:26
the only way. What are the other ways?
30:29
Edward says that if you obey from a desire to enjoy God, like
30:32
the kid wanting the family vacation, that is childlike
30:35
respect. If you obey because you want to
30:38
approve yourself to God and do what is well, pleasing and
30:41
acceptable to Him. Just like a child wanting to see
30:43
their parents smile when they bring home a good report card,
30:47
that is filial respect. Oh, I see.
30:49
If you obey by entirely trusting in His promises, resting on His
30:52
faithfulness even when things are difficult, that is also
30:55
filial respect. The essence of holy obedience is
30:58
simply that it is done from a gracious respect, regardless of
31:01
which specific way that respect exerts itself in that particular
31:05
moment. That is incredibly freeing for
31:07
the average person. It means you do not have to have
31:10
a perfectly formulated philosophical motive for every
31:12
single thing you do. Not at all.
31:14
If you just want to please your father, or if you are just
31:16
resting on his promise that things will work out, you're
31:20
acting as a dear child. You do not need a theology
31:23
degree to obey correctly. You just need affection.
31:25
And that practical freedom leads us into the final section of
31:29
Edward's sermon. He looks at the application of
31:31
all this theology and describes the immense superiority of this
31:35
kind of filial obedience. He wants to show the listener
31:38
why living this way is infinitely better than living as
31:41
a slave. He uses 3 specific words to
31:44
describe this obedience, Honorable, amiable, and
31:48
pleasant. So what does this all mean?
31:49
Let's take those 3 words one by one and apply them to daily
31:53
life. First, Edwards says this kind of
31:55
obedience is highly honorable. It is far more honorable than
31:58
the obedience of a slave or a hireling.
32:00
Think about the sheer dignity involved here.
32:03
God is not just issuing edicts from a distant, unapproachable
32:07
throne. He is inviting human beings to
32:09
come to him and transact with him as a father.
32:12
He's a massive privilege. It really is.
32:14
Edwards points out the vast of the setup.
32:17
He quotes Isaiah chapter 57 verse 15 referring to God as the
32:20
high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity.
32:23
That's a huge title. That infinite eternal being
32:26
accepts filial respect from finite, flawed creatures.
32:30
It grants immense dignity to the human soul to be addressed as a
32:34
child of the King. Furthermore, it is the exact
32:37
same kind of obedience that Christ, the only begotten Son,
32:41
performs. What could be more honorable
32:45
than sharing the disposition and the standing of the Son of God?
32:48
You are elevated from the status of a miserable offender to an
32:52
adopted heir. The second word he uses is
32:54
amiable. He says This childlike obedience
32:57
gives our actions their loveliness because it is
33:00
performed with a free spirit, with genuine love and delight.
33:04
It is suitable to the glorious excellencies of God it looks.
33:07
Beautiful. It does, the source says.
33:09
This filial spirit renders our obedience amiable in the eyes of
33:12
angels and of God himself. It's actually lovely to watch.
33:15
You can see this in human interactions.
33:17
It is lovely to watch someone serve their spouse at a pure
33:19
affection rather than watching someone begrudgingly do chores
33:22
because they lost an argument. Nobody wants to watch.
33:25
Right, the affection makes the action beautiful.
33:27
The third word is perhaps the most crucial.
33:29
For someone struggling with the heavyweight of religious duty,
33:33
that word is pleasant. Edwards draws a stark,
33:36
unyielding contrast here. He says that when obedience is
33:39
performed with a servile spirit, when it is done without
33:42
goodwill, it comes off heavily. It is a grievous task.
33:46
He compares the commands of God to chains, and the way of
33:49
obedience to a mere prison. A prison.
33:53
That is a heavy word, but it is actually how so many people
33:56
describe their experience of religion.
33:58
It feels like they are locked in the cell of obligations they
34:01
feel. Trapped.
34:02
They are trapped behind bars of the Thou Shalt Nots.
34:05
They read their Bible out of guilt.
34:06
They give money out of guilt. They attend services out of
34:09
guilt. It is a miserable existence.
34:11
But Edwards says that to someone with a filial spirit, Obed
34:14
obedience is as meat and drink. It nourishes them.
34:17
A childlike love to God fundamentally changes how the
34:20
commands are perceived by the mind.
34:22
This reframes a very famous verse for anyone who has ever
34:25
wrestled with feeling burdened by religion.
34:28
First John chapter 5 verse 3 says For this is the love of God
34:33
that we keep His commandments, and his commandments are not
34:35
grievous. A lot of people struggle with
34:37
that verse. For years people have read that
34:39
verse and thought, well, they feel grievous to me.
34:42
They feel really heavy, so I must be doing something wrong or
34:45
I just have to grip my teeth and try harder not to be burdened by
34:48
them. But Edwards is saying they are
34:51
not grievous because love fundamentally changes the nature
34:54
of the task. Consider this scenario.
34:56
If a total stranger demands that you stay up all night, pacing
35:00
the floor, tending to their every need, cleaning up their
35:02
messes, that is a grievous, heavy burden.
35:05
That sounds like a nightmare. It feels like forced labor.
35:07
You would resent every second of it, but if your newborn child is
35:10
sick and needs you to stay up all night holding them, you do
35:13
it out of love. It is entirely different.
35:16
You might be physically exhausted.
35:18
Your eyes might be burning, but the task itself is not a prison.
35:22
You do not resent the child. The love you have for that baby
35:26
changes the very nature of the exhaustion.
35:28
You want to comfort them. Yes, Edward says that a filial
35:32
spirit causes obedience to be a reward to itself.
35:36
It renders obedience the sweetest and most exquisite kind
35:39
of pleasure, even when the obedience requires sacrifice.
35:43
That is the ultimate goal. We want the meat and drink.
35:46
We want the pleasure of obedience.
35:48
We want to hold the newborn, so to speak.
35:51
But the practical question remains, how do we attain this
35:54
spirit? You cannot just look in the
35:56
mirror in the morning, yell at yourself and command your heart
35:58
to feel this way. That never works.
36:00
You cannot mandate affection. If you tell someone you must
36:03
love me right now, that is the fastest way to guarantee they
36:05
will not. Edwards anticipates that exact
36:08
psychological problem. He knows you cannot manufacture
36:11
love through sheer willpower, so he gives us the mechanism for
36:15
cultivating this disposition. What is the mechanism?
36:18
He says we must endeavor to get the knowledge of the Excellency
36:21
of God as it appears in the face of Jesus Christ.
36:24
By seeing the glory of God as the sun reveals it, we will
36:28
derive to ourselves the spirit of the sun.
36:31
So the application is actually contemplation.
36:34
He tells us to be much and contemplated the holiness, the
36:36
marvelous love and the grace of God appearing in the Gospel.
36:40
We have to look at the cross where infinite majesty is joined
36:43
with strict justice and overwhelming mercy.
36:46
That is where you look. It is by staring at the gospel
36:49
that our hearts are melted and reshaped into likeness of the
36:52
sun. You do not focus on your own
36:54
performance, you focus on His perfection.
36:56
The mechanism of change is beholding the object of our
36:59
affection. The more you understand the
37:01
vastness of the grace offered in the covenant, the more you see
37:04
Christ willingly acting as your representative head, the more
37:07
the spirit of adoption takes root in your heart.
37:10
You stop looking at the spreadsheet.
37:11
Yes. You stop looking down at your
37:13
Ledger of duties, trying to balance the math, and you start
37:15
looking up at the face of Christ.
37:17
As you see his loveliness, the love naturally arises in you.
37:21
It is a responsive love. That brings us to a solid
37:24
summary of everything we've covered today.
37:26
We started with the anatomy of a childlike disposition, looking
37:29
at how honorable esteem, love, humble reverence, and trust all
37:35
combined to form the way we follow our Heavenly Father.
37:38
And then we went deeper. From there we moved into the
37:41
deep theological bedrock of this disposition.
37:44
We saw that because we are not under a covenant of works,
37:47
because justification is entirely free through our union
37:50
with Christ, our motives for obedience completely change the.
37:55
Fear is gone. Right.
37:56
We are no longer acting as fearful slaves dodging
37:59
punishment or mercenary hirelings looking for a payday.
38:02
We are acting as adopted children who find immense joy
38:05
and pleasantness and pleasing our Father.
38:06
And for you listening, escaping that covenant of works mentality
38:09
is not a one time event that happens at conversion, it is a
38:12
daily practice. It is an everyday thing.
38:15
It requires waking up every morning and consciously
38:17
remembering. The free grace offered in the
38:19
gospel is deliberately choosing to see God not as a harsh
38:23
taskmaster tracking your failures on a spreadsheet, but
38:26
as a Father who has already secured your standing through
38:28
his Son. And that frees you.
38:30
That realization, repeated day after day, is what frees you to
38:33
obey with actual joy. I want to leave you with a final
38:36
thought to Mull over today. Early in our discussion, we
38:39
touched on something Edwards noted about fear.
38:42
He said that the fear mixed into our reverence only exists
38:45
because we are in an infirm and imperfect earthly state.
38:49
He promised that in heaven perfect love will cast out all
38:52
fear. Such a great promise.
38:54
If that is true, how might that change the way you view your own
38:57
moments of spiritual doubt or anxiety?
38:59
Today, when you feel that sudden pang of terror that you are not
39:03
doing enough or that God is angry with you, what have you
39:06
stopped reading that fear as proof that you are an outsider?
39:09
What if you stopped letting that fear convince you that you are
39:12
just a slave after all? What if instead that fear is
39:15
simply a symptom, A symptom of living in a broken world where
39:19
your love for your Father has not quite reached its perfect
39:21
heavenly form yet? The fear does not mean the
39:24
relationship is fake. It just means the relationship
39:26
is still growing toward perfection.
39:29
Your trembling does not invalidate your adoption.
39:31
Thank you for joining us for this deep dive.
39:33
Until next time, keep resting in the grace of your Father, right
39:37
here on Reformed Thinking.