Is God's Demand for Worship Vain?

Well, I may not have much time lately to be writing posts, but at least I can regurgitate what I am reading! The following is a letter from John Piper in his book entitled "Life as a Vapor" (my current bathroom time-killer, if you must know....). It is an open letter to Michael Prowse. My prayer for all of you who read this is the same as Piper's for Prowse: that you will see and savor the beauty of your Maker and your Redeemer.

Dear Mr. Prowse,

It would be my great joy to persuade you that God's demand for worship is beautiful love, not ugly pride. On March 30, 2003 you wrote in the London Financial Times:

Worship is an aspect of religion that I always found difficult to understand. Suppose we postulate an omnipotent being who, for reasons inscrutable to us, decided to create something other than himself. Why should he . . . expect us to worship him? We didn't ask to be created. Our lives are often troubled. We know that human tyrants, puffed up with pride, crave adulation and homage. But a morally perfect God would surely have no character defects. So why are all those people on their knees every Sunday?

I don't understand why you assume that the only incentive for God to demand praise is that he is needy and defective. This is true for humans. But with God there is another possibility.

What if, as the atheist Ayn Rand once said, admiration is the rarest and best of pleasures? And what if, as I wish Ayn Rand could have seen, God really is the most admirable being in the universe? Would this not imply that God's summons for our praise is the summons for our highest joy? And if the success of that summons cost him the life of his Son, would that not be love (instead of arrogance)?

The reason the Bible gives why God should be greatly praised is that he is great. "Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised" (Psalm 96:4). He is more admirable than anything he has made. That is what it means to be God.

Moreover, the Bible says that praise - overflowing, heartfelt admiration - is a pleasure. "Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant" (Psalm 147:1). And this pleasure is the best there is, and lasts forever. "In [God's] presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 16:11).

The upshot of this is that God's demand for supreme praise is his demand for our supreme happiness. Deep in our hearts we know that we are not made to be made much of. We are made to make much of something great. The best joys are when we forget ourselves, enthralled with greatness. The greatest greatness is God's. Every good that ever thrilled the heart of man is amplified ten thousand times in God. God is in a class by himself. He is the only being for whom self-exaltation is essential to love. If he "humbly" sent us away from his beauty, suggesting we find our joy in another, we would be ruined.

Great thinkers have said this long before I did. For example, Jonathan Edwards said:

It is easy to conceive how God should seek the good of the creature . . . even his happiness, from a supreme regard to himself; as his happiness arises from . . . the creature's exercising a supreme regard to God . . .in loving it, and rejoicing in it. . . . God's respect to the creature's good, and his respect to himself, is not a divided respect; but both are united in one, as the happiness of the creature aimed at is happiness in union with himself. (Jonathan Edwards, The End for Which God Created the World, in John Piper, God's Passion for His Glory, p. 248f.)

C. S. Lewis broke through to the beauty of God's self-exaltation (thinking at first that the Psalms sounded like an old woman craving compliments). He finally saw the obvious:

My whole, more general, difficulty about the praise of God depended on my absurdly denying to us, as regards the supremely Valuable, what we delight to do, what indeed we can't help doing, about everything else we value. I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. (C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms [New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1958, pp. 93-95])

Both Edwards and Lewis saw that praising God is the consummation of joy in God. This joy flows from the infinite beauty and greatness of God. There is no one who surpasses him in any truly admirable trait. He is absolutely enjoyable. But we are sinners and do not see it, and do not want it. We want ourselves at the center. But Jesus Christ taught us to be human in another way, and then died for our sin, absorbed God's wrath against it, and opened the way to see and savor God. "Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18).

Therefore, the reason God seeks our praise is not because he won't be complete until he gets it. He is seeking our praise because we won't be happy until we give it. This is not arrogance. It is love.

I pray that you will see and savor the beauty of your Maker and your Redeemer.

John Piper

Common views of Christianity

So, hopefully nobody reading this takes Christianity so seriously that they can't find the humor in these videos. They are short clips (à la Mystery Science Theater 3000) that some church made in response to common misconceptions of Christianity.

I don't think these are blasphemous... but they are dang funny! Watch and laugh.

What?!?! Someone please help!!!

I started reading "The Pleasures of God", by John Piper, last night as I was travelling from Champaign to Chicago to Seattle. Good stuff, I have to say.

But then I stumbled upon something which caught me off guard. In trying to explain how God has been perfectly content and exuberantly happy with Himself and His own Godhead Trinity since before the creation of time and all worlds, Piper calls upon the writing of Jonathan Edwards ("An Essay on the Trinity") to help explain this point:

If a man could have an absolutely perfect idea of all that pass'd in his mind, all the series of ideas and exercies in every respect perfect as to order, degree, circumstance etc. for any particular space of time past, suppose the last hour, he would really, to all intents and purpose, be over again what he was that last hour. And if it were possible for a man by reflection perfectly to contemplate all that is in his own mind in a hour, as it is and at the same time that it is here, in its first and direct exitstence; if a man, that is, had a perfect reflex or contemplative idea of every exercise at and during the same time that that exercise was, and so through a whole hour, a man would really be two during that time, he would be indeed double, he would be twice at once. The idea he has of himself would be himself again.

Therfore as God with perfect clearness, fullness and strength, understands Himself, views his own essence (in which there is no distinction of substance and act but which is wholly substance and wholly act), that idea which God hath of Himself is absolutely Himself. This representation of the Divine nature and essence is the Divine nature and essence again: so that by God's thinking of the deity, [deity] must certainly be generated.

Hereby there is another person begotten, there is another infinite eternal almightly and most holy and the same God, the very same divine nature. And this person is the second person of the Trinity, the only begotten and dearly beloved Son of God; He is the eternal, neceessary, perfect, substantial and personal idea which God hath of Himself; and that it is so seems to me to be abundantly confirmed by the word of God.

What?!

Jesus is the essence of God's perfect understanding of Himself?! Can someone please help me understand how this is biblical and not just philosophical musings?!

It was just a footnote in Piper's book, so the biblical references (which so "abundantly confirm" Edwards's stance) are not given in support of this idea. Someone please help! I've never heard this idea put forth before, and would like to know more about it.

God's Irony

Well, one thing that I can't say about God is that He doesn't possess a sense of irony.

If you didn't already know this, I would encourage you to never try to put the Creator of the Universe in a box that you have made for Him... It's completely futile!

It's like trying to secure a bull with a length of dental floss, or trying to contain the fury of a tornado inside a paper bag. It will only break... and with power like you wouldn't believe!

And God's irony is often humbling. He thinks outside my boxes when I fall short of doing so. Praise be to our Lord and Creator, for He is sovereign! And He is good.

Utmost Importance

Well, today was my day for the blog fast... which does not mean that I fasted from blogging. It meant that I used today to fast, pray, and read Scripture, and am now blogging about it.

I wasn't completely aware that the point of this fast was to pray about a specific organization, so I went about the last couple of days trying to think about organizations that I feel strongly about that I could support through this experience. I kept coming back over and over in my thoughts to missionaries that I know from back in Washington, and various people I know who are seeking support so that they can fulfill the purpose that God has set apart for them to do.

"But that's silly," I thought. "There's nothing special about that. Every church has missionaries that it supports, or at least can get people in touch with missionaries if they want to support somebody!"

And that's when it hit me. The "organization" that I was seeking was right there: the global mission field.

I read through the first half of the book of Acts today, and was amazed once again with the fervor which which the early Church spread the good news of Jesus' resurrection and atonement for sin... as well as the recipients' intensity in hearing this news, and the utter joy that they expressed upon receiving the Holy Spirit and the knowledge of their justification.

But I was also struck, once again, by the generosity of the early Church. Everybody sold their possessions, and pooled together their resources, distributing wealth where need was felt. I believe that God enabling this abundant generosity was what made the missionaries' work possible.

If we believe that the Gospel is truly good news, and that the spreading of it is of utmost importance, we must not only do our part to obey Jesus' commission, but we must be willing to help support those who have made this end their life's work.

If you are reading this, I would encourage you to not only consider supporting a missionary, not only look at your check book to determine your capabilities, not only discuss the matter with your spouse (I say not only because these things are surely important!)... but to devote time in your daily prayers to intercede for these men and women, and to ask God if He would reveal to you your role in this matter of utmost importance.

And it starts...

If you haven't noticed (well, I guess those of you who still read this blog!), I haven't been writing much lately...

School's back soon, and so is the busy life that comes with it. This means that I will be writing much less often, unfortunately.

I will, however, be writing a new post tomorrow, as participation in the 40 day blog fast. No food for the stomach, but much food for the soul!

Stay tuned!

It may be my last one for a bit...

Some nighttime encouragement from the Maker of the stars

I am a thinker. I think a lot. Perhaps I think too much. Or perhaps I just think I think too much.

Regardless, last night I was thinking about my life and my future, as I often do. I have been troubled with this lately, and have been crying out to God for help. Last night was one of those times: I was on my knees, reading through, and praying through, the holy scriptures. It was a sweet time, even though I was troubled. God loves to hear His children's prayers, even if they come to Him out of distress.

When I finished reading and spending time speaking with my Father, I thought to myself, "I'm not done here. God has more for me."

So I did the same thing that I do from time to time after a long period in the Word and in prayer: I took a walk. I walked down to a nearby park, to sit on a bench. I wasn't sure what I was expecting out of this time; I was only sure that I wasn't done with God... or rather that He wasn't done with me.

I sat on a bench, and watched people talking in the distance for awhile. I examined cars driving by. I listened to the insects in the trees, and water splashing in the nearby fountain. Then I looked up into the sky, and saw a single, solitary star...

In an instant, upon seeing this star, my memories were brought back to a similar night from four or five years ago:

It was another night when I was thinking, perhaps too much, and filled with pain about a specific situation and the uncertainty of my future. I spent time hearing from God in His Word, as well as time crying out to Him in prayer. When I was done, I went for a walk. A long walk. I ended up down at the bay, at a local park, and I sat on a rock and watched the stars. I said to God, "Father, I do not want to test You; forgive me if I am. But I will stay here on this rock until I hear from You. Anything, Lord. Any word at all. I need to know that You are listening."

I do not recommend that you test the Lord in this way; for we are man, and He is God. He is the Potter, and we are His clay. However, God was most gracious in responding to me that night...

After sitting on that rock for about half an hour, late at night, in a park far from my house, my silence was broken by an audible voice which came from behind me. No, it was not the voice of God. It was the voice of friend who was in the Bible study that I was leading that year:

"Hey, it's our Corefa!"

This was the name given to the study leaders. He was with another friend from the study, as well as some other friends of mine. The two young men sat down near me, and were genuinely excited to come across their study leader out so late in this random park.

Immediately, I was filled with peace (which truly did surpass all of my own understanding!), and it was as if God was saying to me, "Chris, do not worry about tomorrow. For today, I have given you this work to do. Feed My sheep. Strengthen your brethren. The plans I have for you are plans to give you hope and a future. I am a most faithful God: lean on Me, and not on your own understanding."

It was such an amazing outpouring of grace in my life, and yet it took another walk to remember it. I am grateful to God for not only speaking into my life once to give me peace, but again years later to speak the same message. My faith is like shifting sand, but I serve a God who is a sure foundation, a strong cornerstone. He is perfectly loving, and is faithful to fulfill His promises... and He has promised to give me hope and a future. I will wait on Him in faith.