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DG’s Slogan, Coined 36 Years Ago Today · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Well, God is most glorified in us when we are
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  Speaker 1: most satisfied in Him. It's our slogan. We love it,
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  Speaker 1: many of you love it. It's a nice balance, makes
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  Speaker 1: it easy to memorize, it's nice rhythm, paces itself off
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  Speaker 1: the tongue, and most importantly, it's freighted with meaning. In
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  Speaker 1: that motto, we summarize God's plan for his creation, his
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  Speaker 1: purpose for our lives, and the aim of desiring God's
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  Speaker 1: daily ministry labors around the globe. God's glory and our
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  Speaker 1: joy in God are not two things, but one beautiful goal.
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  Speaker 1: And so we say it on repeat. God is most
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  Speaker 1: glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.
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  Speaker 1: And our motto turns thirty six years old today. On
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  Speaker 1: this anniversary, I want to break into the APJ feed
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  Speaker 1: with a special bonus episode, just a short one with
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  Speaker 1: a recent discovery. And to do it, let me set
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  Speaker 1: the stage exactly thirty six years ago. Pastor John was
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  Speaker 1: the forty two year old senior pastor of Bethlene Baptist
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  Speaker 1: Church in Minneapolis, and he was in Chicago in September
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  Speaker 1: of nineteen eighty eight for a four part seminar at
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  Speaker 1: Trinity Baptist Church in Wheaton, Illinois. The seminar was on
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  Speaker 1: Christian hedonism, and he delivered the sessions in four consecutive
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  Speaker 1: evenings at seven o'clock PM, so Sunday night, Monday night, Tuesday,
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  Speaker 1: Wednesday night. Added to this itinerary in the area, Pastor
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  Speaker 1: John also agreed to preach the Monday Morning Chapel Message
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  Speaker 1: at Wheaton College, his alma mater, and that's where history
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  Speaker 1: was made. Pastor John titled is Wheaton Chapel Message, God's
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  Speaker 1: Memorial Our Joy a celebration of Isaiah fifty five, Verses
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  Speaker 1: twelve and thirteen. The joy of God's people is a
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  Speaker 1: memorial to God. His people's happiness is a monument to
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  Speaker 1: his own honor. And it was here, at the conclusion
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  Speaker 1: of his chapel message that the model made its first
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  Speaker 1: public appearance. Here it is Do.
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  Speaker 2: You see what this implies about the character of God.
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  Speaker 2: It implies that his desire for his people to be
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  Speaker 2: satisfied God and his desire for his name to be
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  Speaker 2: glorified come together as one. The renown, or the memorial
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  Speaker 2: that God makes for himself is your happiness. God is
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  Speaker 2: the kind of God who is pursuing his own glory
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  Speaker 2: in your joy. The implication of that is that when
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  Speaker 2: you are most satisfied in God, he is most glorified
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  Speaker 2: in you.
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  Speaker 1: Beautiful, When you are most satisfied in God, he is
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  Speaker 1: most glorified in you. Now, still little rough and it's backwards,
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  Speaker 1: but it's public delivered for the first time in his
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  Speaker 1: chapel message at Wheaton College on September nineteenth, nineteen eighty eight,
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  Speaker 1: thirty six years ago today. Okay, but how do we
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  Speaker 1: know that this was the first mention of the motto?
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  Speaker 1: That's what I asked too. So let's investigate this for
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  Speaker 1: just a moment. First of all, just a month earlier,
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  Speaker 1: Pastor John had finished preaching a five part sermon series
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  Speaker 1: through Isaiah fifty five to his congregation in Minneapolis as
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  Speaker 1: a precious chapter that invites all thirsty souls to come
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  Speaker 1: to the satisfying fountain of the Living God. He promises church,
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  Speaker 1: if you memorize Isaiah fifty five, it will change your life.
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  Speaker 1: And so he had his church, his church staff, and
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  Speaker 1: even his family memorizing the chapter all summer long. He
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  Speaker 1: concluded the summer series with the same text, Isaiah fifty five,
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  Speaker 1: verses twelve to thirteen, which would be the text he
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  Speaker 1: draws his wheatn Chapel message from a month later, but
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  Speaker 1: in his Bestlen Baptist Church version of the sermon earlier
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  Speaker 1: in the summer, Piper never said anything resembling the motto. Second,
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  Speaker 1: his monumental book on Christian hedonism, the book Desiring God,
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  Speaker 1: had already been written, published and was on bookstore shelves
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  Speaker 1: for nineteen months prior to the Wheaton College Chapel in
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  Speaker 1: September of nineteen eighty eight. In fact, by the time
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  Speaker 1: he arrived in Chicago, his four part evening series was
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  Speaker 1: already built, according to the promotional flyer as featuring doctor
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  Speaker 1: John Piper, author of the best selling book Desiring God.
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  Speaker 2: Quote.
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  Speaker 1: But as well as his new book had been spreading,
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  Speaker 1: two things are missing from that first edition, as the
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  Speaker 1: fifty five and the motto. Fresh thoughts on Christian hedonism
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  Speaker 1: continued to build for him as he labored to say
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  Speaker 1: things better and more clearly and in ways easier to remember.
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  Speaker 1: So back to Chicago. Remember, he's teaching at Trinity Baptist
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  Speaker 1: Church in the evenings Monday evening, the same evening of
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  Speaker 1: the Wheaton Chapel Message. Here's Pastor John, I.
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  Speaker 3: Think I said in the chapel this morning over at
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  Speaker 3: Wheaton that when we are most satisfied in God, he
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  Speaker 3: is most glorified in us. That's one of the most
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  Speaker 3: crisp statements I can think of to capture Christian hedonism.
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  Speaker 1: There it is again I mentioned back to his Wheaton
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  Speaker 1: Chapel message that morning, but still not proof that the
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  Speaker 1: model was coined there. Let's move to the next evening.
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  Speaker 1: Now it's Tuesday evening, September twentieth, nineteen eighty eight. He
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  Speaker 1: mentions the line again, but note his struggle in drawing
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  Speaker 1: it from memory.
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  Speaker 2: And that led us to last night's message, which was
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  Speaker 2: then the implication would be, if we would glorify God most,
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  Speaker 2: we must delight in him most. And if I can
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  Speaker 2: remember the sentence that we use both in the Wheaton
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  Speaker 2: Chapel and last night, wash I won't get it just right.
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  Speaker 2: If you when you're when you when you are most
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  Speaker 2: satisfied in God, he is most glorified in you. Yes,
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  Speaker 2: that's the sentence. When you are most satisfied in God,
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  Speaker 2: he is most glorified in you. Therefore, if you try
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  Speaker 2: to abandon the quest for satisfaction and joy and happiness
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  Speaker 2: in God. You strive against the glory of God. You
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  Speaker 2: put yourself in opposition to His eternal purposes to exalt
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  Speaker 2: his own name.
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  Speaker 1: The motto isn't easily recalled, not yet, it's fresh. It's
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  Speaker 1: not something he's gotten used to for the revidence that
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  Speaker 1: is new to him. Then comes a radio interview. Chris
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  Speaker 1: Fabriy invited Pastor John to a Chicago based show, Open Line.
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  Speaker 1: That's the name of the show, open Line. This live
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  Speaker 1: interview is conducted on September twenty eighth, nineteen eighty eight.
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  Speaker 1: This is nine days after the Wheat and Chapel and
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  Speaker 1: it's a radio conversation about Christian hedonism. In it, Fabry
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  Speaker 1: is trying to put all the pieces together, God's glory
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  Speaker 1: and our joy. In About fifteen minutes into the conversation,
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  Speaker 1: Fabry attempts to restate Christian hedonism in his own words.
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  Speaker 1: The concept seems radical.
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  Speaker 4: He says, because what you're saying is really transforming our
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  Speaker 4: view of what God is out to do in salvation.
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  Speaker 4: God then, is not in the business of saving us
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  Speaker 4: because we need to be saved, or because he wants
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  Speaker 4: us to be saved, but he's doing it for his
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  Speaker 4: own glory. And then as we respond to him, we
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  Speaker 4: are responding to that salvation message, not necessarily solely because
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  Speaker 4: we want to get away from Hell or want to
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  Speaker 4: spend eternity with God. We do it for his glory.
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  Speaker 1: Now that's muddled, and understandably so, the glories of Christian
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  Speaker 1: hedonism are hard to grasp at first, and people struggle
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  Speaker 1: to understand this key point. It's not simply about God
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  Speaker 1: being glorified, but about Him being glorified by our joy
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  Speaker 1: in him. Here's Pastor John's immediate reply, an attempt to
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  Speaker 1: make Christian hedonism clearer using one new sentence which he
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  Speaker 1: crafted exactly for a moment like this one.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I the genius of Christian hedonism, and at least
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  Speaker 2: what made it a revolutionizing thing for me was to
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  Speaker 2: discover that I'm never faced with that alternative. That is,
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  Speaker 2: I don't think the Bible ever poses me with the
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  Speaker 2: dilemma God's glory versus my happiness. Here's the way I
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  Speaker 2: put it now, and I just hit upon this last
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  Speaker 2: week as I was thinking. The sentence I like to
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  Speaker 2: use to summon up now is this God is most
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  Speaker 2: glorified in me when I am most satisfied in God. Now,
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  Speaker 2: If that's true, if God's glory rises in proportion to
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  Speaker 2: my delight in him, I can never play off his
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  Speaker 2: glory against my delight. The more I delight in Him,
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  Speaker 2: the more glory he gets from me.
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  Speaker 1: I just hit upon this last week. There it is
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  Speaker 1: confirmation of this recent discovery of one pithy statement to
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  Speaker 1: capture the heart of Christian hedonism, forged to help people
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  Speaker 1: get the point of Christian hedonism, and a clear callback
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  Speaker 1: to the Wheaton Chapel message nine days earlier.
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  Speaker 2: When you are most satisfied in God, he is most
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  Speaker 2: glorified in you.
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  Speaker 1: In those nine days, pastor John has reversed the order
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  Speaker 1: up to this point. It was when you are most
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  Speaker 1: satisfied in God, he is most glorified in you. Now
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  Speaker 1: God is most glorified in me when I am most
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  Speaker 1: satisfied in God. It gets two more tweaks. In due time,
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  Speaker 1: the double mention of God becomes one, and the motto
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  Speaker 1: is made collective from God is most glorified in me
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  Speaker 1: when I am most satisfied in God to its final
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  Speaker 1: form today, God is most glorified in us when we
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  Speaker 1: are most satisfied in Him. And there It is John
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  Speaker 1: Piper's favorite motto, first delivered in his Wheaton College Chapel
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  Speaker 1: message on September nineteenth, nineteen eighty eight, thirty six years
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  Speaker 1: ago today