Check out this killer quote from John Piper's "When I Don't Desire God":
"If Christ is followed only because His gifts are great and His threats are terrible, He is not glorified by His followers. A defective lord can offer great gifts and terrible threats. And a person may want the gifts, fear the threats, and follow a lord whom they despise or pity or find boring or embarrassing, in order to have the gifts and avoid the threats. If Christ is to be glorified in His people, their following must be rooted not mainly in His promised gifts or threatened punishments, but in His glorious Person. Oh, it is true that "Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them (Psalm 111:2). I do not minimize the joy of seeing the works of the Lord. But His works are great because they point us to the Lord Himself as our highest delight. The faith that honors Christ is the faith that sees and savors His glory in all His works, especially in the Gospel." (John Piper, "When I Don't Desire God," p 36)
Why follow Christ? Is it because we fear His threats or want His gifts? A faith based on either of those things is a faulty faith. I didn't marry my wife because of the good things I could get or because I was afraid of being lonely- I married her because I love her. We, therefore, follow Christ because we love Him and seek to see and savor His glory- to see Him high and lifted up as the most infinitely valuable, infinitely beautiful being in all creation. You know your faith is happening when you would desire this even if there was no promise of heaven and eternal life, or threat of hell and death. We worship God because it is the right thing to do- not because there is something in it for us.
We, as a church, need to get back to the absolute magnification and glorification of Jesus Christ and move away from the self-centeredness that marks the lives of so many believers. God is amazing.
"If Christ is followed only because His gifts are great and His threats are terrible, He is not glorified by His followers. A defective lord can offer great gifts and terrible threats. And a person may want the gifts, fear the threats, and follow a lord whom they despise or pity or find boring or embarrassing, in order to have the gifts and avoid the threats. If Christ is to be glorified in His people, their following must be rooted not mainly in His promised gifts or threatened punishments, but in His glorious Person. Oh, it is true that "Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them (Psalm 111:2). I do not minimize the joy of seeing the works of the Lord. But His works are great because they point us to the Lord Himself as our highest delight. The faith that honors Christ is the faith that sees and savors His glory in all His works, especially in the Gospel." (John Piper, "When I Don't Desire God," p 36)
Why follow Christ? Is it because we fear His threats or want His gifts? A faith based on either of those things is a faulty faith. I didn't marry my wife because of the good things I could get or because I was afraid of being lonely- I married her because I love her. We, therefore, follow Christ because we love Him and seek to see and savor His glory- to see Him high and lifted up as the most infinitely valuable, infinitely beautiful being in all creation. You know your faith is happening when you would desire this even if there was no promise of heaven and eternal life, or threat of hell and death. We worship God because it is the right thing to do- not because there is something in it for us.
We, as a church, need to get back to the absolute magnification and glorification of Jesus Christ and move away from the self-centeredness that marks the lives of so many believers. God is amazing.
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