Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / The God Who Gives You Worth

Transcript

The God Who Gives You Worth · Pastor John Piper's answers

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Last time we looked at God's God's centeredness that we
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: get the grace, he gets, the glory, we get the pleasure,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: he gets the phrase it's awesome. God does everything for
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: his own glory. And for many people who hear that,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: they ask, well, if God does everything for his own glory,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: doesn't that make him selfish? Like we just exist to
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: boost his ego a bit? Maybe we get some joy
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: on the side as a byproduct of what is basically
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: a transaction between us and God. And if that's the case,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: then what worth do we have in ourselves today? I
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: ask Pestor John, the God who gives you worth? About
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: a month ago we were reading Second Corinthians one twenty four.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Together that incredible text for Paul's ministry was set forth
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: as we work with you for your joy. Horizontal ead
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: ministry works towards a comutual joy in God, a shared
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: joy among us. Alexi, a young woman writes in who
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: is trying to figure out all of this in her
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: vertical relationship with God. She writes this, Hello, Pastor John,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: I really appre all that you do at desiring God.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: I grew up in a Christian home and I first
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: encountered the idea of Christian hedonism. Two years ago, when
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: I first read your book Desiring God, I wanted to
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: understand how God can still be good towards us if
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: he does everything for his own glory. I know and
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: understand that He is supremely valuable and that the best
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: thing He could ever do is give us himself. So
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: in doing everything for his glory, we also receive the
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: greatest good, so win wins situation for both of us.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: He gets the glory, we get the joy. However, I
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: think I'm missing something because this doesn't make me rejoice
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: in how much God loves me. It sounds more like
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: a transaction. We seek our joy and God gets his glory.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: God seeks his glory and we get joy. As I
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: understand it, both sides act for themselves and it just
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: so happens that the other side benefits. Could you please
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: help me grasp how this reflects our love for God
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: and his love for us, rather than selfishness on both sides.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: That is a well put question.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it is.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: I very much appreciate somebody reading that carefully and asking
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: the questions that penetrate. But there's a problem in the
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: very way that Alexi poses the problem. She says, we
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: seek our joy, God gets the glory. God seeks his glory,
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: We get joy. Both sides act for themselves, and it
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: just so happens that the other side benefits. Could you
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: please help me grasp how this reflects our love for
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: God and his love for us rather than selfishness on
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: both sides. And the problem with this is that Alexi
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: omits the very thing that keeps our quest for joy
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: and God's pursuit of glory from being selfish. In fact,
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: she doesn't just omit it, she excludes it with the
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: words it just so happens that the other side benefits.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: So the way she has restated christian is that I
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: seek my joy and then it just so happens, as
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: it were randomly, that God is glorified and God seeks
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: his glory, and then it just so happens, as it
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: were randomly, that I am made glad. But you can't
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: expect an argument to work if you treat as random
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: what is in fact purposeful, personal, and essential to the argument.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: So what's been left out? Alexei describes Christian Heianism like this,
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: we seek our joy and God gets glory. God seeks
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: his glory and we get joy. Both sides act for themselves.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: What's missing is this, We seek our joy in God,
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: in the goodness and wisdom and power and grace and
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: beauty of God, and God thus gets glory because we
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: find in God so much satisfaction. God seeks his glory
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: by saving us, working for us, transforming us, revealing himself
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: to us, making us beautiful, conforming us to the likeness
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: of His son, to reflect his glory like his son
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: reflects his glory, and thus we experience joy in God.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: You can't just say we seek joy and God seek
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: glory period. It's a transaction and make the argument work.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: It won't. Lots of joy seeking is selfish, lots of
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: glory seeking is vain. Christian hedonism is deeply aware of this.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: We don't just talk in terms of people seeking happiness
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: and God seeking glory. We talk of people seeking happiness
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: in God, and we talk of God being glorified in us.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: When she sets up Christian hedonism like this, I think
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: it's understandable why Alexi would say this doesn't make me
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: rejoice in how much God loves me, which is perhaps
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: the same as saying I don't see why this is
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: not selfishness. Let me see if I can help, because
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: I do feel loved by God because he is this way,
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: and God wants me to feel loved, and he wants
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: all of his children to feel loved. He wants you, Alexei,
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: to enjoy being loved by the son and by the Father.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: So let's consider jesus prayer in John seventeen twenty four.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: See if we can get at the nub of the problem.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: He says, Jesus, praise. I desire that they also, Father,
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: whom you have given me, may be with me where
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: I am to see my glory. Now I wonder if
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: Alexei would feel more loved if Jesus stopped after the
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: words with me. Father, I desire that Alexei, whom you
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: have given me, may be with me period. I want
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: you to be with me, Alexei. I certainly feel loved
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: when Jesus says that to me, and my guess is
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: that Alexi does too. We both say Jesus wants us.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: He wants us, He wants us to be with him.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: That's one of the greatest realities of salvation. He died
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: for us so that we could be with him. Forever.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: First Thesalonians five ten, I say it to myself virtually
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: every night. He died for us so that whether we
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: wake or sleep, we might live with him, And with
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: him means fullness of joy pleasures forevermore. According to Psalm
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: sixteen eleven, Ephesians two five to seven says that the
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: great love, in great love, God made us alive so
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: riches of his grace in kindness, kindness towards us. In Christ, Jesus,
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: you others. Christ died for us. God regenerated us so
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: that he might have us with him and spend immeasurable
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: ages lavishing kindness on us. That's breathtaking. So why would
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: it be that when Jesus adds the words I want
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: you to be with me to see my glory, or
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: when Paul adds the words in Ephesians one six to
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: the praise of the glory of God's grace, it somehow
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: feels as though we're not being loved anymore. And now
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: God has become selfish by adding the words to see
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: my glory or for the glory of my grace. Now
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: I don't want to assume the worst here. I really don't.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: I don't believe Alexei is guilty of what I'm about
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: to say this warning. But let me sound a warning
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: to all of us. I have met people who cannot
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: feel loved by God, it seems, unless their own worth
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: as a person is the basis of God's love for them,
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: and therefore my whole theology is anathema to them. Makes
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: me weep. The Bible does not teach that God loves
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: us because of our worth. He loves us by sending
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: his own son to die for undeserving, ungodly enemies, and
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: thus giving us worth. And that worth consists in the
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: beauty of our conformity to his son Romans eight twenty nine.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: He loves us at the cost of the life of
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: his son in order to display the greatness of his
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: grace in our beautification for his son's bride. This is
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: what it is to be loved for the glory of God.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Yes, an alien dignity. The Bible does not teach that
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: God loves us because of our worth. He loves us
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: by sending his own son to die for undeserving, ungodly enemies,
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: and thus giving us worth. Amen. God loves us so
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: much to transform us and then delights in our transformed selves.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: By giving us the eyes to see his beauty and
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: by letting us reflect his beauty back to himself, he
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: gives us worth. It's not selfish, it's really loved. It's
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: most supreme expression, eternal shared joy. This episode is right
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: at the heart of what we find most precious here
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: at desiring God. And of course this all means that
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: our delighting God is tied to his glory. And of
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: course there's a small hill of practical questions to work
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: out here because I don't feel joy in God all
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: the time, nor does Pastor John, and so we've kind
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: of picked up on that dilemma over the years. You
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: can see what we've covered in the Aspesto John book
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: on Deadness, Depression and Desertion. That's a section in the
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: book Deadness, Depression and Desertion, specifically that question, isn't God
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: most glorified in us when we most desire him? That's
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: on page four oh two. It's one of those practical
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: dilemmas to work out. It's a very important to see
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: that book on page four oh two. Thank you, Pastor John,
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: and thanks for joining us today. If you have a
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: question to ask Pastor John, find a link to emails
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: and find our complete episode archive at the same place
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: Ask pastor John dot com. I'm Tony RANKI see you
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: back here on Monday.