Let Your Passion Be Single

The following are my notes from one of my favorite sermons by John Piper entitled "Let Your Passion be Single" ...

The reason my passion for the glory of God should be central is that God's passion for God is central to God. God is the most God-centered person in the universe. God is not an idolator, He puts nothing before himself.

• Ezekiel 20:9 - "But I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations"
• 60 times in book of Ezekiel, "that they might know that I am the Lord"
• God is jealous for His glory and His name
• Isaiah 48:9,11 - "For my name's sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. For my own sake ... My glory I will not give to another."

Pascal ... "All men seek happiness this is without exception whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war and others avoiding it is the same desire in both attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man even those who hang themselves."

The desire to be happy (call it what you will ... joy, satisfaction, contentment ... the Bible is indiscriminate in its pleasure language) is universal and undeniable, just as unavoidable as hunger in the stomach. But how does it fit with this tremendously central passion for the glory of God?

C.S. Lewis ... "The most obvious fact about praise, whether of God or anything, strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval or the giving of honor. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise. The world rings with praise - lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game. My whole more general difficulty about the praise of God depended on my absurdly denying to us, as regards to the supremely valuable, what we delight to do indeed what we cannot help doing with everything else we value. I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise is not merely an expression of it, but completes the enjoyment. It is its appointed consumation."

Jonathon Edwards ... "God is glorified within Himself two ways: 1)by appearing to Himself in his own perfect idea of Himself or in His Son, who is the brightness of His glory, 2) by enjoying and delighting in Himself by flowing forth in infinite love and delight toward Himself or in His Holy Spirit. So God glorifies Himself toward the creatures also in two ways: 1) by appearing to their understanding, 2) by communicating Himself to their hearts and in their rejoicing and delighting in and enjoying the manifistation which He makes of Himself. God is glorified not only in His glory being seen, but by His glory being rejoiced in. When those that see it see it for what it is, God is glorified. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it. His glory is then received by the whole soul, both by the understanding and by the heart. God made the world that He might communicate and the creature receive His glory. And that it be received both by the mind and heart. He that testifies his idea of God's glory doesn't glorify God so much as he that testifies also his aprobation of it and his delight in it."

God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him. To know Him with the mind and delight in what you know of Him in the heart is one passion.

God is not just to be know with the mind , he is to be delighted in ... savored. He is to be seen and savored. "Taste and see that the Lord is good ... Delight yourself in the Lord ... Rejoice in the Lord and again I will say rejoice." You don't do that, you disobey God. And you do not bring Him glory.

God is only half glorified when He is known accuratley and not delighted in with the heart.

We must pursue joy in God. If anybody tries to get you not to because they say that by pursuing pleasure in doing a good deed or in worship you contaminate it and turn it into reward seeking ... if you buy that, you can neither worship God nor love people as you ought. The vary essence of worship and the essence of virtue is a delighting in God.

Common Objections:

1) Does the Bible really teach that?

• The Bible commands that you pursue your delight ... Psalm 37:4, Psalm 32:11, Phil 4:6
• We are threatened with terrible things if we will not be happy ... Deut. 28:47, 48 - "Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you."
• The very nature of faith implies this ...
  Hebrews 11:6 "And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him."
  ... you cannot please God if you don't come to him for reward, namely Himself as the reward and the sum of all.

2) What about self-denial?

Matthew 16:24, 25 - "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

• This passage is an appeal to the desire to gain your life.
• There is self denial ... Matthew 13:44 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." ... so the point is to deny yourself everything except the kingdom!
• There is self denial, but not ultimate self-denial ... ultimate self denial is athiesm.

3) Doesn't it put too much emphasis on emotions?

Emotions are commanded everywhere in the Bible:

• Joy is commanded (Phil. 4:4), Hope is commanded (Psalm 42:5), Fear is commanded (Luke 12:5), Peace is commanded (Col. 3:15), Zeal is commanded (Romans 12:11), Grief is commanded (James 4:9), Desire is commanded (I Peter 2:2), Tenderheartedness is commanded (Eph. 4:32), Gratitude is commanded (Eph 5:20), and the list goes on.

4) What about the noble concept of duty and serving God?

• We can't choose between duty and delight, if delight is our duty.

5) Doesn't that make you the center of the universe and not God?

• Suppose you come home and surprise your wife with a dozen roses. She responds with, "Oh they're beautiful, why did you?" You answer, "I couldn't help myself, nothing makes me happier than to buy roses for you. And by the way go change clothes because we're going out tonight. There's nothing in the world I'd rather do than spend the evening with you."
  
  Not in a million years would she ever say, "Nothing you'd rather do?! Why don't you think about me sometime?!"
  
  When you express delight in her in wanting to spend the evening with her, you magnify her, you extoll her, you lift her up, you honor her. And that is what worship is.