When I Don’t Desire God - TBC Men’s Conference
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Intro
Intro
First, thanks everyone for coming to this breakout. I hope it’s going to be super helpful for you. I wanted to tackle this subject, because I’ve been reading the book, “When i Don’t Desire God’ by John Piper. Fantastic book. Now listen, some of you may bristle at the name because he’s pretty unashamed about being a calvinist, but I’m going to ask you to put aside your qualms with that aspect of his theology for this hour. The truth is, Calvinist or not, John Piper is a strong believer with a strong love for God and His Word, and if you’ll allow him, he has a lot to say about our affections and desire for the Lord.
And that’s just what this book is about. His big work that most are familiar with is a book called, “Desiring God.” In that book, he lays out his theology of what he calls, “Christian Hedonism.” The general idea is summed up in the statement that
God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.
Huge statement. In other words… When we find ourselves delighting in God, we find ourselves obeying Him and doing so out of a place of love for Him. In other words, we are to find a piece of God that we can delight the most in, and dive into that. Much like our spiritual gifts, all of us have a little bit different of a place to serve in the Kingdom of God.
Similarly, there are different ways we can all delight in God. Bible reading, prayer, worshiping, serving others, evangelizing, practicing hospitality, mentoring, coaching, and on and on. There are many ways to glorify God. The things that bring you most joy? Those are the things you ought to be doing, for those are the things that bring God most glory from your life. It’s a harmony between the way God has created you and those God-ordained good works that He has created you for. It’s an expression of joy and delight in the Father. And when we delight ourselves in God, we find our hearts expressing the most joy and worship for the King.
So we start there. And that line, if it’s new to you, should be worth the price of admission to this whole event. There’s so much depth in that.
So where I’m going with this one is what do we do when we find ourselves struggling to delight in the Lord? What do we do when desiring God is on the lowest of our priorities? That’s what this book is about.
But I can’t bring you the whole contents of the book in the time we have today. So what I aim to do is whet your appetite for the book, and if you find what I have to say today convicting, I want you to go out and buy the book. I think we gave it away a few years ago? Maybe you already have it on your shelf. Pick it up and read it!
So I’m going to pull a bunch of quotes and scriptures from these first three chapters and riff off of them.
The Book
The Book
Let me say from the outset: there are a lot of miserable Christians out there. You ever notice that? Brothers, are we supposed to be miserable?
Take a moment and discuss that: Do you believe Christians are supposed to be miserable people? Go ahead. Find two or three guys around you and let’s discuss.
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So what did you come up with?
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No, Christians, we are not supposed to be miserable. We may be called to suffer, but Christians are to be a very joyous people! In fact, knowing the One True God, we are to be the most joyous people on earth! Nothing should be able to shake our joy, for our joy is to be found in the Lord.
Piper’s doctrine of Christian hedonism:
Indifference to the pursuit of joy in God would be indifference to the glory of God, and that is sin.
Not to see and savor Christ is an insult to the beauty and worth of his character. Preferring anything above Christ is the very essence of sin. Esteeming God less than anything is the essence of evil.
If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!
Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Our indwelling sin stands in the way of our full satisfaction in God. It opposes and perverts my pursuit of God. It opposes by making other things look more desirable than God. And it perverts by making me think I am pursuing joy in God when, in fact, I am in love with His gifts.
Christian hedonism is both liberating and devastating. Liberating because it endorses our inborn desire for joy. Devastating because it reveals that no one desires God with the passion He demands.
God would have to transform my heart to do what a heart cannot make itself do, namely, want what it ought to want. Only God can make the depraved heart desire God.
Conversion is the creation of new desires, not just new duties; new delights, not just new needs; new treasures, not just new tasks.
This is huge. Since becoming a Christian, how have your desires changed and evolved over time? Do you desire more and more of Christ?
A few weeks ago, you may remember I talked about duty being a crutch in the absence of desire. I got that from C.S. Lewis vis a vis this book.
A perfect man would never act from sense of duty; he’d always want the right thing more than the wrong one. Duty is only a substitute for love, like a crutch, which is a substitute for a leg. Most of us need the crutch at times; but of course it’s idiotic to use the crutch when our own legs can do the journey on their own!
Christ is to be cherished, not just chosen. Therefore life is serious.
We must fight for joy, and that’s a large part of the argument of this book. He says at the end of chapter 1:
The aim of this book is to sustain love’s ability to endure sacrificial losses of property and security and life, by the power of joy in the path of love. The aim is that Jesus Christ be made known in all the world as the all powerful, all-wise, all-righteous, all-merciful, all-satisfying Treasure of the universe. This will happen when Christians don’t just say that Christ is valuable, or sing that Christ is valuable, but truly experience in their hearts the unsurpassed worth of Jesus with so much joy that they can say, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Phil 3:8)
The miracle of joy in God:
When all the supports of human life and earthly happiness are taken away, God will be our delight, our joy. This experience is humanly impossible. If God alone is enough to support joy when all else is lost, it is a miracle of grace.
There will always be more of God to enjoy. Which means there will always be holy desire forever.
Indeed, the devil thinks more true thoughts about God in one day than a saint does in a lifetime, and God is not honored by it. The problem with the devil is not his theology, but his desires.
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Five reasons why Paul calls it a good fight:
The enemy of our joy is evil
we are not left to fight in our own strength
It is not a struggle to carry the burden, but a struggle to let a burden be carried for us.
Unlike most fights, it does not involve self-exaltation, but self-humbling.
By this fight, God is greatly glorified.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Keeping the faith for a lifetime involves fighting the good fight for a lifetime.
Competing desire and duty-bound faith:
Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.
But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith,
Notice in both of these verses: Paul is essentially equating joy and faith. The measure of our faith can be found in our joy and desire for God.
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
God’s work in us does not eliminate our work; it enables it. We work because He is the oneat work in us. Therefore, the fight for joy is possible because God is fighting for us and through us. All our efforts are owing to this deeper work in and through our willing and working.
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
shows the same
We are like farmers. They plow the field and plant the seed and cut away weeds and scare away crows, but they do not make the crop grow. God does. He sends rain and sunshine and brings to maturity the hidden life of the seed. We have our part. But it is not coercive or controlling. and there will be times when the crops fail. Even then God has his ways of feeding the farmer and bringing him through a lean season.
It’s also a fight to see:
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Satan does not want you to see Christ. He is trying to blind you to Christ and His goodness. He’ll do anything to block your vision of Christ. To take your eyes off Him. See Him. Fight to see Christ like the short guy in a mosh pit trying to see the band on stage.
The joy that comes from seeing beauty is spontaneous no matter how hard one fought to see. No one stands before a beautiful sunrise and says, “Now I worked hard to get up this early; you owe me happiness by your bright colors.” No. we stand there, and in humility we receive. And if the joy comes, it is a gift.
We must be able to say at the end of our lives, “I have fought the good fight” but we must also say, “It was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”
For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
So when’s the last time you thought about fighting for joy in the Lord? Or are you just kind of casually, passively drifting through life awaiting whatever blessings you think you’re due? I was talking with Jim Nicklas just this morning, and we were bemoaning the fact that men, all too often, aren’t men anymore. We’ve grown passive, fellas! We’ve grown weak. We’ve grown to not have a desire for the Lord and His goodness. And that has seeped over into our lives, our work, our families, our culture, and even in today’s church.
And this all comes out of the fact that we are not desiring God. We don’t want Him enough. If we fought for the joy of the Lord like we ought, we wouldn’t have so many of the issues we have. Guys, your desire for God is not some passive, effeminate desire. It’s a fight. It’s a battle. It’s a battle to see, you’ve got to see Jesus! So much is fighting to cloud YOUR view of God, but all too often, we’re not battling back!! So we must battle! There’s so much talk about just “be” but where is the call for Christians to strive like Paul says in Colossians 1:29? Where is the call to reject the narratives people are tossing at us and just straight pursue the God Who created us?
If we take the Bible seriously, and I hope we do here… We’re reading our bibles. We’re finding those nuggets of truth and commands to obey. To follow hard after God in unabated obedience. Jesus said those who love Me will obey My commands. Do you believe that, guys? You’re not saved by your obedience. But a converted heart’s desire is to please Christ. A converted heart loves, desires, and treasures Christ.
Many men think, man, why don’t I feel worship like some people do? Men, let’s learn not to gauge our spirituality so much as what we feel, as much as what we desire. Or who we desire, rather. Is it Christ? Do you desire Christ? The real Christ, the Christ of the Bible? Then you can trust your desire. Are you fighting your desires for more material things and sinful wishes?
Third Chapter
Third Chapter