Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / Does God Love Us Simply for His Glory?

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Does God Love Us Simply for His Glory? · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Welcome back to the podcast on this Thursday. We're going deep today, and
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  I mentioned Monday that I have a batch of related questions to offer you,
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  Pastor John All Big all touch on several points of theology, all of them
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  similar and all accumulated over the years from reading audience emails. And I think
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  there are the kinds of questions that all of us will face at some point
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  as we read our Bibles and as we develop an appropriate God centered vision of
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  the universe. So as a first foray on this podcast into this matrix of
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  questions, I'll put them all on the table for you, Pastor John,
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  in brief our God centeredness. Here at desiring God raises questions about the integrity
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  of creation, us in particular us humans. So here are those questions.
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  Are we as creatures simply a means to God's own self glorification? Do we
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  exist for a purpose beyond God's own self glory? And does God love us
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  beyond his love for himself? Or is the first fully subsumed by the second?
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  Are we as image bearers simply mirror holders for him to see himself in
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  us? Do we count? Does God love or delight in his creatures?
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  For what they are in themselves. Speaking of unbelievers, does God delight in
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  materially blessing creatures that do not or will not believe in Him? But speaking
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  of believers specifically, does God love to love us simply because it blesses us?
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  Is such a category even operable? How would you tackle a matrix of
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  questions like these? What might be helpful is to clarify what it is that
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  gives rise to these kinds of questions, and then maybe give very brief,
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  maybe one sentence answers to each of those. I think there are nine of
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  those questions, and then step back and look at the Bible and see what
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  it is about God and what it is about his ways that make those very
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  brief answers justifiable, compelling, maybe explain why they make sense. So what
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  gives rise to these questions is that I and many others in the history of
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  the Church have emphasized the biblical teaching that God created and redeemed his people for
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  his own glory, meaning to cause his glory, that is, his greatness,
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  his beauty, his worth to be known and treasured and shown in the
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  universe. That's what I think glorify for his own glory means Isaiah forty three
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  seven, my sons and my daughters, whom I created for my glory,
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  if Heasan's one four to seven were chosen, predestined, adopted, redeemed through
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  the blood of Christ for the praise of the glory of God's grace. And
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  that teaching name me that all things are from Him and through Him and to
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  Him to His glory all things causes all these questions to be raised. So
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  let me respond to each of these nine questions with a very short answer.
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  And then and then look at the main thing in scripture. Number one,
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  Are we simply a means to God's self glorification? No, not simply,
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  because stars and stones and mountains are means to God's self glorification, but not
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  the way humans are. It's not that simple. Number Two. Do we
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  exist for a purpose beyond God's own self glory? No, there is no
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  such thing as beyond God's glory. Three Does God love us beyond his love
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  for himself? Or is the first fully subsumed in the second. God has
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  no greater love than the love he has for his son, who is the
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  radiance of his glory and the exact imprint of his nature, and is therefore
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  a love for his own infinitely glorious self. To love us with that same
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  love cannot be improved upon. Number four, Are we, as imm bearers
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  simply mirror holders for him to see himself? No, he didn't need us
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  in order to simply see himself. He has done that with infinite joy in
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  the fellowship of the Trinity from all eternity. Number five do we count?
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  Yes, He did not need to create, and he did not create for
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  nothing. Six does God love or delight in his creatures for what they are
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  in themselves? What humans are in themselves apart from our reliance on God and
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  our rejoicing in God is what hell is. For it is not wise to
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  want to be loved the way a human in hell might be loved. Number
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  seven Does God delight in materially blessing creatures that will never believe in him?
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  Yes? God delights in the overflow of mercy, even where it is burned.
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  Eight, Speaking of believers, does God love to love us simply because
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  it blesses us? God's blessing us is never simply for us without also being
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  for Him, because there is no eternal blessing where our good does not include
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  God. Nine, Is that category even operable naming of the category of God's
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  loving us simply because it blesses us. No, it is atheistic to think
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  it would be good for God to bless us in a way that did not
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  glorify His grace by our enjoyment of it. Now, let me see if
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  I can put some biblical truth underneath those short answers. First, we need
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  to take really seriously the fact that there is a powerful atheistic tendency in every
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  human heart. That's what it means to be fallen and depraved and sinful by
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  natures. Eighteen. Humans, by their unrighteousness, suppress the truth. Paul
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  said, what truth do we suppress? Verse twenty eight They did not approve
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  of having God in their knowledge? Or verse twenty two they exchanged the glory
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  of the immortal God for images or romans eight seven. The mind of the
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  flesh is hostile to God. In other words, the Bible teaches that human
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  beings, by nature, are going to be powerfully resistant to any doctrine that
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  emphasizes the absolute supremacy of God in all things, and that makes God the
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  ultimate good of all that is good. Then the second thing to notice from
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  the Bible is that over and over and over again, God himself and all
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  that he is for us in Jesus is shown to be the ultimate good,
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  the ultimate fulfillment, happiness, satisfaction, joy of the redeemed human heart.
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  If you trace God's love from its origin in the eternal grace of God,
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  through his redeeming work in Christ, to the ultimate and greatest, most beautiful,
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  most satisfying end, that end is always God, God himself enjoyed supremely
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  in the heart of the Redeemed. So in John seventeen twenty four, Jesus
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  praise for us that we would see his glory. That is ultimate final wish
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  of love for us, that we would see his glory and that we would
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  be able to love him with the very love that the Father has for him.
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  First Peter three eighteen. Peter says that Christ suffered for us that he
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  might bring us to God, where according to Psalm sixteen eleven, we find
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  fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. That's what God will be for the Redeemed.
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  Now, what this boils down to is this, it never makes sense
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  to speak of God delighting in doing us good and God delighting in his own
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  glory, as though our ultimate good could be distinct from the glory of God.
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  Never makes sense to talk like that. It can't be, because our
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  ultimate good always consists in knowing and treasuring and showing God's glory. The resistance
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  to this wonderful truth that God's glory shines in me by my happily exulting in
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  Him. The resistance to this truth as if there could be some greater happiness
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  if I could just be me, be me distinct from reliance on God,
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  distinct from rejoicing in God, distinct from glorifying God. I could just be
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  me. That resistance is evil. It is a remnant of the atheistic nature
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  we were born with, and we need to ask God to take it away.
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  No remnant of the atheistic nature that is pointed. Thank you, pastor
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  John for getting us into this massive and massively important discussion. It touches on
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  so many things and carries eternal implications for every one of us, to the
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  point that it feels like maybe this episode is the first episode that will generate
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  some thoughtful follow up questions in the future. And if you have a follow
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  up question, mention this episode. A nineteen eighty in an email and send
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  me your follow up question our addresses ask Pastor John at Desiring God dot org.
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  That's an email address, Ask Pastor John at Desiring God dot org.
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  I'm very interested to see what follow ups this episode generates. Well, why
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  don't we have more artifacts, more archaeology, or even a more diversified record
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  of historical documents to corroborate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Shouldn't we
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  have more? It's a question we get from time to time, and it's
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  up next next week. I'm your host, Tony Rankie. We'll see him Monday