Lesson 99: The Pleasures of God (John Piper)
The worth of one’s soul is measured by what it places its love and affections on; what it values most. The best and highest thing our soul can value is the glory of God, which is an eternally, infinitely deep well-spring of soul-enriching pleasure and joy. We can know this only by knowing God and those things that give Him pleasure. These include his pleasure in his relationship with his son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, his pleasure in his power and omnipotence, his pleasure in his creation, his pleasure in people coming to his plan of salvation. We can continue to grow in our knowledge of God and what he values by reading his word, which is his message to humankind, and seeking every means to grow in our understanding of it. Then we need to be an active part in God’s great commission, bringing others to the saving knowledge of Jesus by means of spreading his word, our testimony, and our actions of loving and serving others.
As humans, we identify most readily with God’s glory in his creation, that which we can see, hear, feel, smell and taste. When we look into the night sky and see countless stars, galaxies and worlds, when we examine snowflakes and see that each one is unique, when we contemplate the age of dinosaurs and see the enormous size of some of them by their remains, when we realize a spoonful of sea water may contains tens of thousands of single cell creatures, many of which are unique from the others, when we contemplate the ocean depths of up to seven miles with wonders that humans have never seen, when we realize that there are magnificent landscapes in remote parts of the earth and wonders in subsurface caves that no human has ever seen, we come to realize that God did not create everything to be used, enjoyed or marveled at by humans. He created most of creation for his own pleasure and as reflections of his own glory. As magnificent and enjoyable so much of creation is for humans, it’s not about us; it was created for God’s pleasure, enjoyment and glory. All that we experience in the creation are just shadows and reflections of God’s glory. Heaven will be fully enjoying what we can only dimly enjoy now, being with God himself. And this is the chief purpose for God creating man, that he should enjoy and glorify God forever.
God takes pleasure in his namesake, and it is this, not any inherent value in the sinner that makes salvation, forgiveness and mercy possible. The purpose of Jesus’ death was to glorify God. This is how God vindicated his name from any accusations of unrighteousness in the forgiveness of sinners. The un-Godly are justified before God by placing their trust in Jesus sacrifice on the cross. We should pray “Forgive me Lord, because your holy name has been vindicated by the death of your son and I am placing all my hope on him and not on myself.”
God takes pleasure in his sovereign right to save people by giving them the faith to believe in Jesus, out of his own compassion, not on any worthiness of the recipient of his election and calling. He takes pleasure in having caused his son to suffer and die for us to vindicate his glory as manifested in his justice and righteousness, and enable millions of souls to be with him for eternity cleansed of sin. God takes pleasure in fulfilling the needs of all who put their hope and trust in his love, and those who pray to him, sincerely sorry for their sins and hating their sins. He takes no pleasure on those who outwardly try to live righteous lives by going to church and doing good but without any desire to live as he desires. God takes pleasure in obedience to his commands because it demonstrates that we value a relationship with him more than the fleeting pleasures of sin, that we’re willing to give up. Our salvation depends not only on faith in Christ but in obedience which bears the fruit of a changed life.