Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / Joy’s Triumph over Spiritual Sloth

Transcript

Joy’s Triumph over Spiritual Sloth · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to October. The month of October begins for us
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  Speaker 1: on the podcast, and this month we're celebrating the Reformation
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  Speaker 1: together Martin Luther's great stand against the pope and against
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  Speaker 1: Rome's spiritual abuses and theological errors. Luther did not stand alone,
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  Speaker 1: of course, other men stood for this same cause with him,
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  Speaker 1: both before and after him. People like John Wickliffe, William Tyndale,
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  Speaker 1: Thomas Cranmer, John Knox, and John Calvin and many other
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  Speaker 1: lesser known names paid the ultimate price in the Reformation
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  Speaker 1: as well, men and women, even teenagers, who stood against
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  Speaker 1: Rome and who were bled and burned and drowned for
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  Speaker 1: their convictions. These stories of sacrifice are our focus in
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  Speaker 1: the month ahead, in a thirty one day tour that
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  Speaker 1: you can complete in just about five to seven minutes
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  Speaker 1: a day. It's called Here We Stand. If you haven't
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  Speaker 1: the top of the website. I hope you'll join us
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  Speaker 1: in remembering the price paid for the spiritual blessings and
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  Speaker 1: the religious liberties that we enjoy today. As Protestant Christians,
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  Speaker 1: and speaking of church history again, the birthday of Jonathan
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  Speaker 1: Edwards falls on Saturday. On October fifth, Pastor John, on Monday,
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  Speaker 1: we talked about Christian zeal, an old fashioned word but
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  Speaker 1: an important one. You called zeal an essential virtue to
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  Speaker 1: Christian obedience. And to make the case, you quoted Paul's
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  Speaker 1: biblical exhortations like in Romans, do not be slothful in zeal,
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  Speaker 1: be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. That's Romans twelve eleven.
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  Speaker 1: And in Titus we read Christ gave himself for us
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  Speaker 1: to purify for himself a people who are zealous for
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  Speaker 1: good works. That's Titus two thirteen to fourteen. Then you
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  Speaker 1: brought up Jonathan Edwards and his seventy resolutions that he
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  Speaker 1: made as a young man, especially the one that you
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  Speaker 1: can recite from memory almost fifty years since you first
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  Speaker 1: read it, namely number six, resolved to live with all
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  Speaker 1: my might while I do live. But here's today's question.
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  Speaker 1: Both you and Edwards are Christian hedonists, and he is
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  Speaker 1: a major source of your own understanding of Christian hedonism.
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  Speaker 1: Point that was not made clear last time. As you
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  Speaker 1: were talking about zeal, does Edward see a connection between
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  Speaker 1: zeal and delight in God? And do you? And do
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  Speaker 1: you see a connection between zeal to live with all
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  Speaker 1: of our might for the glory of God and the
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  Speaker 1: Christian hedonist passion to maximize his joy in God. How
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  Speaker 1: do you make that connection between our zeal and our joy?
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  Speaker 2: Yes? And the best way I think to see it
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  Speaker 2: is to follow a certain sequence of thought in Edward's
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  Speaker 2: mind and my mind that moves from one zeal for
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  Speaker 2: the glory of God, to two zeal for good deeds,
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  Speaker 2: to three the inner motivation of those deeds in love
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  Speaker 2: for God or delight in God, or treasuring God different
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  Speaker 2: ways to say the same thing, to four the Christian
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  Speaker 2: hedonist principle that we should seek to maximize zealously, seek
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  Speaker 2: to maximize in every way we can our joy in God,
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  Speaker 2: now and forever. So let's try to follow that sequence
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  Speaker 2: of thought, and we're going to bump into another amazing
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  Speaker 2: resolution of Edwards that really brings clarity to his Christian hedonism.
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  Speaker 2: Remember in Romans twelve, Paul said never flag in zeal,
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  Speaker 2: serve the Lord. So clearly Christian zeal is directed towards
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  Speaker 2: serving the Lord. And since the Lord is not needy.
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  Speaker 2: He doesn't need any servants to make up for any
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  Speaker 2: lack in himself. What that means is that we should
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  Speaker 2: avail ourselves of his power to do his bidding to
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  Speaker 2: make him look great. I think that's what serve the
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  Speaker 2: Lord means. So the apostle Paul said, whatever you do,
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  Speaker 2: whether you eat or drink, do everything to the glory
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  Speaker 2: of God. On Corinthians ten thirty one. Everything in our
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  Speaker 2: lives should be calculated to make God look more glorious
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  Speaker 2: than people think he is. So Edwards defines Christian zeal
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  Speaker 2: as a fervent disposition or affection of mind in pursuing
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  Speaker 2: the glory of God. That's step one. Step two.
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  Speaker 3: This zeal for God's glory implies being zealous for good deeds,
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  Speaker 3: good deeds to people, because this is one crucial way
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  Speaker 3: God is glorified. So Titus two fourteen says that Christ
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  Speaker 3: died to create a people who are zealous for good deeds,
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  Speaker 3: and Jesus said in Matthew five point sixteen, let your
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  Speaker 3: lights shine before others, that they may see your good
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  Speaker 3: deeds and give glory to your father, who is in heaven.
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  Speaker 3: So that's step two. Zeal for God's glory implies zeal
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  Speaker 3: for good deed, since that's how Jesus said, we will
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  Speaker 3: glorify the Father, or, as Edward says, Christian zeal is
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  Speaker 3: a quote fervency of spirit, that good may be done
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  Speaker 3: for God's and Christ's sake. So here's step three. It's
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  Speaker 3: to realize that good deeds toward man and outward acts
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  Speaker 3: of worship toward God are of no spiritual value without
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  Speaker 3: a new heart that loves God, values God, delights in God,
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  Speaker 3: treasures God above all else. So Jesus said this, people
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  Speaker 3: honors me with their lips, but their heart is far
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  Speaker 3: from me. In vainpiness do they worship me? Matthew fifteen eight.
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  Speaker 3: Outward acts of worship without inward affections of love are worthless.
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  Speaker 3: And Jesus speaks of moral acts of good deeds in
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  Speaker 3: the same way you blind Pharisee, First clean the inside
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  Speaker 3: of the cup and the plate, that the outside also
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  Speaker 3: may be clean Matthew twenty three, twenty six. They did
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  Speaker 3: all kinds of good deeds the Pharisees did, but were
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  Speaker 3: hypocrites because those deeds were not coming from the right
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  Speaker 3: kind of heart. They just wanted to be seen by men.
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  Speaker 3: So if we want our zeal for the glory of
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  Speaker 3: God to be real, and we want our zeal for
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  Speaker 3: good deeds to be morally significant in God's sight, we
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  Speaker 3: must be changed on the inside so that we value
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  Speaker 3: and treasure God above all things. Or to say it
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  Speaker 3: another way, we must delight in God, be glad in God,
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  Speaker 3: find God to be our superior satisfaction, so that our
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  Speaker 3: outward acts of worship are authentic, and our good deeds
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  Speaker 3: towards people serve to glorify the value of God and
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  Speaker 3: not ourselves. So sixteen eleven, in your presence, there is
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  Speaker 3: fullness of joy at your right hand, our pleasures forevermore
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  Speaker 3: tasting that right now, tasting that in the heart is
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  Speaker 3: the heart of worship. And at the horizontal level of
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  Speaker 3: good deeds. Jesus said, it is more blessed, more glad,
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  Speaker 3: more happy, more satisfying to give than to receive x
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  Speaker 3: twenty thirty five. We should find more gladness in good
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  Speaker 3: deeds than in having security and comfort and riches. That's
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  Speaker 3: true now in measure, and he says it's true lavishly
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  Speaker 3: in the future. Blessed are you when others revile you
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  Speaker 3: and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against
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  Speaker 3: you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for
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  Speaker 3: great I mean that's an understatement, right, great is your
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  Speaker 3: reward in heaven Matthew five, eleven and twelve, which leads
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  Speaker 3: to step four. Namely, if this is true, if worship
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  Speaker 3: is authentic, because our hearts are treasuring and delighting in
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  Speaker 3: and being satisfied with God above all things, and if
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  Speaker 3: good deeds are morally significant because of the present experience
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  Speaker 3: of gladness and blessedness, and because of a future hope
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  Speaker 3: of reward in God, then we simply cannot be indifferent
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  Speaker 3: to the pursuit of joy in God himself and the
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  Speaker 3: joy that comes from the overflow of that God word
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  Speaker 3: joy in the lives of other people through good deeds.
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  Speaker 3: We can't be indifferent to that joy. We must pursue
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  Speaker 3: it with zeal, with passion, with all our might, which
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  Speaker 3: is what makes us Christian hiddenists. That was a long
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  Speaker 3: argument to get to the point that, yes, there's a connection,
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  Speaker 3: but to in zeal for God's glory and being a
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  Speaker 3: Christian Heydenist. Here's the amazing way Edward's connected zeal with
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  Speaker 3: the pursuit of this joy in God. This just boggled
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  Speaker 3: my mind when I first read it. Number twenty two
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  Speaker 3: resolved to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness
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  Speaker 3: in the other world, that is, in God, in heaven
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  Speaker 3: or in the age to come, not in earthly ease.
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  Speaker 3: Start over. Resolved to endeavor to obtain for myself as
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  Speaker 3: much happiness in the other world as I possibly can
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  Speaker 3: with all the power, might, vigor, vehemence, ye a violence
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  Speaker 3: I am capable of or can bring myself to exert
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  Speaker 3: in any way that can be thought of.
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  Speaker 2: End quote.
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  Speaker 3: That's just off the charts. Zealous for joy, zealous for
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  Speaker 3: happiness with God in heaven forever. That's like saying, resolved
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  Speaker 3: to live with all my might while I do live.
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  Speaker 3: There's the connection between Christian hedonism and zeal in his
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  Speaker 3: own resolution language to live with all my might while
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  Speaker 3: I do live, namely in the pursuit of maximum joy
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  Speaker 3: in God with Him forever, by whatever means on earth
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  Speaker 3: I can, And of course that means by doing as
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  Speaker 3: many good deeds as I can, even if it cost
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  Speaker 3: me my violent death. That's the point of referring to violence.
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  Speaker 3: It's not violence against others he's talking about, but the
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  Speaker 3: kind of violence that cuts off your hand or tears
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  Speaker 3: out your own eye if it would diminish your doing
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  Speaker 3: of good and your avoidance of sin, and your experience
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  Speaker 3: of joy in God through loving other people. So my conclusion,
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  Speaker 3: Tony is yes, Yes, there is a powerful connection in
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  Speaker 3: Edward's mind. There certainly is in my mind. Between zeal
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  Speaker 3: to live with all our might for the glory of
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  Speaker 3: God and the Christian hedonist passion to maximize our joy
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  Speaker 3: in God. They come together as our joy in God
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  Speaker 3: extends itself to make God look great through deeds of love.
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  Speaker 3: We pursue our joy in the joy of others in
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  Speaker 3: God because zeal for His glory and for their good
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  Speaker 3: impels us in the Christian hedonist pursuit of maximum joy
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  Speaker 3: in God forever wonderful.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for that logical sequence, Pastor John. Zealous for
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  Speaker 1: happiness with God in Heaven forever beautiful. It's a nice
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  Speaker 1: lead up to Jonathan Edward's birthday on Saturday, and a
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  Speaker 1: nice lead in to what is up next time. On Monday.
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  Speaker 1: We return to an objection made against Christian hedonism. We
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  Speaker 1: are pleasure seekers. We seek our highest happiness we zealously
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  Speaker 1: seek to maximize in every way we can our joy
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  Speaker 1: in God, now and forever. That's how Pastor John just
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  Speaker 1: put it today. And such a commitment to the zealous
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  Speaker 1: pursuit of personal joy raises a question about self denial.
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  Speaker 1: How does self denial fit in Christian hedonism? Great question
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  Speaker 1: that's up next time and again, be sure to sign
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  Speaker 1: up for the Here We Stand email journey, or just
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  Speaker 1: go to Desiring Good dot org and click on the
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  Speaker 1: link on the top of the website. I'm Tony Ranky.
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  Speaker 1: We'll see on Monday.