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To Pursue God – The Solution

Posted on by chgruver

So in this introduction to the concept of pursuing God and finding enjoyment in Him we have taken a look at the problem and how we try to separate the two concepts of enjoyment and religion. Then we took a look and saw how the seeking of happiness is ingrained into man’s nature, and to such an extent that we have this void that only God can fill regarding happiness. Then how our praise and worship are actually the outpouring of our happiness and enjoyment in God. Today I want to look further into introducing this concept of John Piper’s called Christian Hedonism and how it is essentially the way we live out what is says in the first section of the Westminster Catechism, “the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

What It’s Not

As we will be spending weeks looking into the concept of Christian Hedonism, or finding our happiness/enjoyment in God. I figured right now it would help to take a look some at what Piper points out that it is not. First as I mentioned last time the solution to the issue of finding our happiness in God is not looking to God as a means to grant us worldly pleasures. He is not the means to an end but He is the end of our search and pursuit. God is the source of our pleasure and happiness. We are also not putting ourselves above God by seeking Him. It also does not look at joy and happiness as justification for actions, but rather sees that when we seek after God joy and happiness are the results.

Basic Definition

While we will be going further into this topic over the next couple of weeks as I take us through insights I glean from Piper’s book Desiring God. I want to leave us this week with the basic definition that Piper presents in his introduction. It is a list of five convictions in which his philosophy of Christian Hedonism is built around. First is that the longing to be happy is a common experience among all humans that is essentially good and not sinful. Then we should not try to resist this longing, rather we should intensify the desire and nourish it with the deepest and most enduring satisfaction. Third is that it is in God that we find this satisfaction; not from God but in God. Fourth this happiness reaches it consummation when it is shared with others by expressing love for them. Finally when we try to abandon this pursuit of pleasure found in God, we fail to honor and glorify God or love people. In other words the pursuit of pleasure lies at the heart of worship and virtue. Summed up it is this, “The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.”

To Pursue God – The Premise

Posted on by chgruver

Last time we started to look at the concept of pursuing God and its relation to our enjoyment and happiness by first looking at the problem we face of how we often try to separate enjoyment and happiness from our praise and worship of God; how we try to take the heart out of how we relate to God. This time we will start to look at how our happiness and enjoyment actually relate to our interactions with God. Remember we sort of started this off by looking at the first question in the Westminster Catechism where it states, “the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” Much of our premise for finding enjoyment by seeking after God comes from the introduction in Desiring God and more specifically from John Piper’s observations from Pascal, Lewis, and Edwards.

Search For Happiness

In his own search regarding how happiness/enjoyment relates to our Christian life Piper first encountered the philosophy of Blaise Pascal. It was in this philosophy that we can see that humanity seeks out happiness. Pascal goes so far as to state, “This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves (Pensees).” So all of our actions have the motivation of seeking out happiness and Pascal presents is without making any moral judgment, whether good or bad our actions are attempts to achieve happiness.

Too Easily Pleased

The next thing Piper points out is from C. S. Lewis’ “Weight of Glory” where in looking through the Bible we find many promises of reward and blessings. The problem however is as men we are too easily pleased. It is along the lines of a child content with mud pies while there is a buffet of innumerable delights waiting. What Piper found Lewis stating is that not only do we seek happiness, as Pascal pointed out, but that we ought to seek happiness, the only problem is the weakness in our desire.

God Shaped Hole

The third thing Piper brings up flows out of the second point. Pascal presented it best in his argument for a God shaped void in each of us. The argument stems from man’s longing for happiness and how we will make every attempt to fill this emptiness with everything around us. The problem is that it is an infinite void that only an infinite and immutable object can fill. You see the issue is not that we look to God to give us the things to make us happy, but that it is God Himself that will make us truly happy.

Where Praise and Worship Flow

The next idea that comes up then comes from C. S. Lewis’ Reflection on the Psalms; where in the chapter on praise it is seen that praise is the overflow of our happiness. In other words when we truly praise and worship God it is because of the happiness that we find in Him. Piper puts it this way, “God is not worshiped where He is not treasured and enjoyed.” We essentially worship and praise those things that we treasure and find happiness in, to not truly worship and praise God in this manner is stating that you find your joy and treasure somewhere else. This concept of a search for pleasure in our relationship with God is found all throughout the Psalms. Many of them talk about concepts as delighting in the Lord, longing for God, seeking after God, thirsting for God; all concepts that in corresponding verses or even the same verse show the pleasure such action brings.

Piper terms this quest for finding pleasure in God, Christian Hedonism. Essentially, unlike the concept of worldly hedonism, it is not so much looking at God as the means to obtain our happiness, the means to get stuff to make us happy. Christian Hedonism is more seeing God as the end of our pursuit, He is the source of our happiness not our stuff. We will look more into this concept next time and over the next few weeks as we dig further into the book Desiring God.

To Pursue God – The Problem

Posted on by chgruver

This week we are taking a shift from Back to the Basics to spend time focusing on this concept of pursuing God, or seeking His face.  If you want this is a wrap up for Back to the Basics, as our conference was this last Saturday, and the beginning of my next series as I dig even deeper into this concept. The interest in this subject, though I have always been interested in it, was renewed with a Sunday School lesson I will be giving in a couple weeks on the topic of: Christians live to seek the Kingdom of God, that is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. This concept comes pretty much straight from the Westminster Catechism, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

I have not been brought up in the reformed tradition, but I will mention some of my favorite theologians and preachers are from the reformed school of thought. That being said much of this concept and the following weeks will come from the John Piper book Desiring God. The main argument of his book is that   as men we have a longing to be happy and that we find our greatest sense of happiness in God.

Modern Day Pharisees

Piper starts out his book by talking of his own experience, which is one many of us have probably faced. We try to isolate our Christian service from the sense of happiness and joy that performing such actions tend to create. We have the tendency to try to make anything religiously motivated into a duty that we have to endure rather than an opportunity that we can delight in done out of love for God. When you look at the time of Jesus this is pretty much how the religious leaders acted, they viewed the law as a duty they needed to follow rather than an expression of love for God. They took the heart out of worship and made it into a checklist that one needs to follow.

The Rocks Cry Out

When I read about this the first thing that came to mind was when Jesus was entering into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday stated that if the people praising Him didn’t then the rocks would cry out. In other words all of creation takes such enjoyment in God that if we don’t express our love and enjoyment in God through our praise and worship creation will. As modern day Christians some of us have fallen into the tendency as expressed by the ancient pharisees that our praise and worship need to be separated from our sense of enjoyment and happiness. Next time we will look further into how we are to fine our happiness and enjoyment in God.

Live Life Unfiltered – Sober Minded

Posted on by chgruver

This week we have been looking at the concept of living life unfiltered and have seen how it combines evangelism, discipleship, and accountability together. Then last time we saw how because of how exposure to the truth convicts us and shows one need for accountability to keep us from straying because of the convictions we face. Today we will finish up this concept by looking at 2 Timothy 4:5, “As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

Sober-minded

Paul now personalizes his warning to Timothy by telling him to be sober-minded. What Paul is saying here is to remain faithful to the truth and not deviate from it. To be sober-minded is to be level-headed, vigilant, steadfast, and unwavering in your beliefs. The opposite of being sober to us would be the concept of being drunk, when you think of a drunk you see that their senses are dulled, and they are not in their best state of mind. It is when we are in this drunk state spiritually that we can be easily led astray. Again this is why accountability is so important. We have seen in past weeks how we need fellowship with other believers, accountability is just another aspect as we cannot be a Lone Ranger Christian; we are to help keep each other to be sober-minded to keep us from straying.

Endure Suffering

The next thing Paul tells Timothy is to endure suffering. We are never guaranteed an easy life once we become Christians, in fact we are told the opposite. You see we need to surround ourselves with those that will encourage and lift us up when we face suffering. That are willing to keep us faithful to Christ when we feel like we are ready to throw in the towel to avoid suffering. In turn we are then to be willing to do the same for them. It is much like when changing your diet or starting an exercise program. If you do it by yourself, eventually you will quit for some reason or another. However, if you have just one other person that is willing to encourage you and check on how you are doing you are more likely to continue on. The Christian life is much the same, things will come up that if you are by yourself you will eventually give up, but if you are in fellowship with others it makes it easier to bear.

Evangelism And Ministry

Paul finishes this out by telling Timothy to do the work of an evangelist and to fulfill his ministry. What this means is to first share the Gospel; Paul is basically restating what he said at the beginning “preach the word.” The second part of fulfilling your ministry is what I would like to focus on. As men one of our ministries is that of being the spiritual leader in our homes. We are to be leading and pointing our families to God. The way we do this is to again lead by example; we are to ourselves be drawing near to God, showing our families how they are to focus on God themselves. This is again why fellowship and accountability are important. We need others to help keep us focused on God in order to keep us from leading not only ourselves astray but to keep from leading our families astray as well. I said it earlier and I will say it again there are no Lone Ranger Christians.

Live Life Unfiltered – Sound Teaching

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Last time we started this look at living life unfiltered and briefly mentioned how it has an aspect of accountability. This time we will look more closely at accountability in regards to the concept of correcting or reproving false teachings. You see Paul addresses this in 2 Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” These two verses point out the need for accountability in the life of a Christian.

Sound Teaching

The first thing Paul warns about is that a “time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching.” You only have to look around and see how true that is. We can find teaching that will appeal to just about any taste. You don’t want to believe Jesus is th only way to heaven, there is a teaching that states all religions lead to heaven despite Jesus claiming to be the only way. Then there is the teaching that if we have enough faith we will always be rich, happy, and nothing bad will ever happen to us; yet Jesus told us to expect persecution. You see we need to be vigilant to remain faithful to sound doctrine, to keep our beliefs Biblically sound, this is because the false teachings will speak to our human desires rather than promote the truth of God.

Convictions

When looking at this verse the thought of accountability comes in when looking at how Paul presents his warning. The word Paul used for endure brings a concept of patiently suffering, this is because the truth always convicts. It does not matter who we are there will always be something in our lives that when exposed to the truth we will be convicted. It could be something as simple as claiming all your meals eaten out as business expenses or as big as cheating on a final exam. It could be forgetting to leave a tip at the restaurant for your waitress or lying to your wife. No matter what it is the truth and sound teaching will always carry along with it a level of conviction. The thing is as Christians and the spiritual leaders in our homes we need to be willing to both endure sound teaching, endure the conviction that listening to the truth brings into our lives, and to present sound teaching to around us that are turning away “from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” This is the basic concept behind accountability, we need to be willing to have others that will ask the tough questions and expose us to the truth to keep us from straying; while we need to be willing to do the same for them.

Live Life Unfiltered – Evangelism, Accountability, Discipleship

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This week’s topic is one that is sort of a cross post from my other blog, Unfiltered Ministries. There I started with the question of what is “Unfiltered” and as I worked on those posts I realized that most of what I found can apply to men and being the spiritual heads of their homes. What we will look at this week has application no matter if you are married, single, divorced, widowed, with kids, or not; every man can learn from this to be a better spiritual leader in their home and in their relationships. Unfiltered came from the concept of preaching the whole word of God, which while not written exactly in the Bible the concept appears in both Old and New Testaments. The one passage that sticks out to me is part of Paul’s farewell address to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:27 where he states, “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” You see as men we are to be the spiritual leaders in our homes, no matter what, and that means to our wives and kids, if we have them, or in a dating relationship we should be able to boldly proclaim that we did not shrink from proclaiming the full counsel of God to those around us. So what does this look like? Well to me I then looked at what Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:2-5, “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” Today we will look at verse 2, “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”

Preach The Word

So the first thing we notice in Paul’s command to Timothy is that he is to preach the word. Now what many of you may be thinking is getting up on a stage and preaching a sermon; this is not fully what Paul is getting at. Rather what Paul is saying is that we need to proclaim God’s word. We are to be heralds spreading the message of the Gospel to any who would listen. This means sharing our faith with those we meet in daily situations. The thing is this will serve as an example to our families for them in turn to follow, as they see you sharing your faith it will help make them realize the importance and need for them to share their faith as well. You see as a spiritual leader in our homes we need to lead by example.

In Season And Out

Paul next mentions that we need to be prepared “in season and out of season.” What this means is that we need to be ready to at the drop of a hat be able to impart to someone the wisdom and knowledge that the Holy Spirit gives to us. Yes there are times when we may need to spend time and prepare what we are going to say, these are the times when it is in season. Then there are the times when “preaching the word” is more providing that simple word of encouragement when a friend is feeling down, those times were what is said is more spontaneous, this is preaching out of season.

Reprove, Rebuke, Exhort, Teach

Paul finishes off this thought by telling Timothy to “reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” What Paul is getting at is to correct false teachings, confront or point out sins that need to be confessed, and encourage others. What we see here points some to the concept of accountability as well as discipleship. As believers we need to be one be willing for other believers to help hold us accountable, as well as be willing to hold others accountable. One thing I will point out is that living a life unfiltered discipleship, evangelism, and accountability all go together hand in hand for helping us to mature spiritually as well as to be the spiritual leaders in our homes that God wants us to be.

Go Therefore – You Are Not Alone

Posted on by chgruver

In looking at the Great Commission as found in Matthew 28:18-20 we have looked at the appetizer of how Jesus is the one in control. Then last time we got the main course of the command and call to evangelism. Today we will look at the dessert of how Jesus finishes off the Great Commission, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” You see I call this the dessert of the Great Commission because what Jesus says is just like icing on the cake.

I Am With You

What Jesus is saying here to one degree reiterates how He started out by essentially telling the disciples not to fear. The placement of the fear though is different. He started out by telling the disciples not to fear those in authority, because He has all the authority. Now Jesus is basically telling them not to fear being alone, because He will be with them. He was reassuring His disciples that while they may not see Him, and they may be isolated from each other they will never be alone. This is a promise that even today we can lean on, we are never alone. If because of your faith your friends and family turn away from you, you are not alone. If while sharing the Gospel you are persecuted, you are not going through it alone. No matter the circumstances or what is going on Jesus is right there by our side and we can take comfort in that.

So What Are You Going To Do?

Unlike most of these posts I want to pose the question of what are you going to do? Remember first Christ is in control and has all authority and power so we have nothing to fear regarding those in authority, and Christ is with us so we can take comfort in that we will never be alone. So are you willing to go and share the Gospel? Are you willing to tell those you daily encounter about your faith? Are you willing to help those that you lead to faith grow in their faith? Remember this is the Great Commission not the Great Suggestion, these are our marching orders.

Go Therefore – Share The Gospel

Posted on by chgruver

Last time we started out by looking at the Great Commission as found in Matthew 28:18-20 and how Jesus starts out by basically telling the disciples not to fear because He is in control. Today we will look at what Jesus says next, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” This is the main part of this version of the Great Commission, if it were a meal this would be the steak and potatoes of what Jesus has to say, where what we saw last time was the appetizer and next time we will look at the dessert.

Make Disciples

The first part of what Jesus tells his disciples here is to, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” This is the first part of evangelism and really what many of us think about when we evangelize; the sharing of the Gospel. You see Jesus presents this command to evangelize as a progression, first we are to go and share the Gospel. I could go into a big debate on how some look at “go” as being active or passive, as either intentionally going out to share our faith or just sharing our faith in the day to day; but regardless of how you look at it the outcome is still the same we are to share our faith, that never changes. There are some people that may be more comfortable going out and doing street evangelism, where they approach complete strangers and share the Gospel, these people actively go and make disciples. Other people have a more relational approach and share their faith through their day to day relationships with others, this is more of the passive approach of going; they share as they go about with their normal daily routines. Is one way better than the other, no, if you go with the method of sharing the Gospel that suits your personality you are working towards fulfilling the Great Commission, you just have to remember to above all else share the Gospel.

Baptize

The next thing Jesus commands is that after sharing the Gospel we are to, baptize them. Let me say right now there is nothing magical about baptism and you do not need to be baptized in order to be saved, just look at the thief on the cross. The thing however is with baptism we are making an outward profession of an inward change. In other words through being baptized one is telling the world that they have come to faith in Christ, that they have put their trust in Him as the forgiveness for their sins. You see in the progression once we share the Gospel, if they decide to give their heart to Christ the next step is for them to publicly show their faith. He wants people to be ambassadors out there promoting the Gospel not secret agents hiding in the shadows.

Teach

Jesus finishes off his command with “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” In other words discipleship is the next logical step after evangelism. Once we have shared the Gospel and they have come to faith we need to help teach them and help them grow spiritually. I know this is one area I am somewhat passionate about because after I came to faith in Christ it was years before I was really taught what that meant. To neglect teaching would be like telling a child 2 + 2 = 4 and then expect them to perform advanced Calculus; it just is not going to happen, they need to be taught. Our faith is the same way we need to be taught by those more experienced as well as teach those less experienced.

Go Therefore – Who Is In Control?

Posted on by chgruver

Last week we looked at the concept of discipleship this week we will look at the start of the process, evangelism. As believers we are given the command to go and make disciples, to go and spread the Gospel to others. There are a number of passages that have taken on the title we often give to the call of the believer to evangelize, this title is the Great Commission. Each of the Gospels and the book of Acts have a different phrasing of the Great Commission but each of them have the same basic concept of how we are to go out and spread the Gospel to the world. The two most well known Great Commission passages are probably Acts 1:8 and the one we will look at this week, Matthew 28:18-20. “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”

Jesus Came

The first thing I want to point out is how it starts, “Jesus came and said to them.” At this point the disciples had been with Christ for over 3 years, and saw him arrested and killed on a cross. This Jesus that came to them was the resurrected Lord and they knew what he was going to say would be important. But it wasn’t just that Jesus had a command for them, but He came to them, He approached them where they were to give them this message.

Fearful Disciples

The reason behind Jesus coming to them was up to this point the disciples were hiding out. They were scared of what the Jewish leaders and the Roman government would do to them for following Jesus. They had just seen their leader arrested, put on trial, and executed in a time frame of less that 24 hours; they were afraid they would be next. It is because of this fear that makes the first thing Jesus tells them make sense, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” You see Jesus starts by telling them don’t worry about the Jewish leaders or even what the Romans will do, I am the one in control. With Jesus having the authority nothing will happen that is not in God’s plan, and if we are working in God’s will we have nothing to fear. You see when I think of evangelism the first thing that comes to my mind is fear, I am scared of how people will react to the message and I am scared for my safety; but Jesus basically tells us there is nothing to fear. He understood that fear would be a major obstacle regarding evangelism so before giving the disciples the command to go out and spread the Gospel, he addressed their fear. You see one thing we need to remember when we share the Gospel is that no matter what happens or how people react, God is in control.

Training in Godliness – The Value

Posted on by chgruver

So in discipleship we saw how we are both a student and a teacher. Then we saw it is important to know the teachings to avoid as much as what we need to focus on, and how it is an effort we need to always be making to keep our focus towards the things of God. Today we will look at why it is important to train ourselves in godliness. 1 Timothy 4:8 goes on to say, “for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” Paul had just told Timothy that rather than focusing his attention on silly myths, he should be training himself in Godliness, now Paul goes into the reasoning behind this.

Personal Training

The first thing Paul points out is using personal, physical training as an example of why it is important to train ourselves in godliness, “for while bodily training is of some value.” When we train our bodies there are a number of benefits that we will gain. We will be overall healthier as often with physical training we are promoting habits that are healthier, such as proper eating. We find we may have more energy as I know with a diet and exercise change I am not as sedentary as I used to be. It can also lead to more strength and endurance, as when you lift weights you are building muscle to where you can lift more weight, or lift smaller amounts for longer periods of time.

Godly Training

The thing with training in godliness is there are some similar type of benefits that can be mentioned. Your spiritual health will improve because as you focus more on God and allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life the less you end up being like the world. Your spiritual strength and endurance also get boosted as you find it easier to turn to God rather than to give in to temptation, not that you won’t sin but that you start to sin less. But training in godliness does not end just with benefits in this life, like physical training will; but we also gain benefits in the life to come. You see as we train in godliness, as believers, we are also building up our reward in heaven. This is why Paul mentions that, “godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”