Where Were You?

Where were you, when the bullies pushed me down

Where were you, when I lay bleeding on the ground

Where were you, when their words cut me so deep

Where were you, when there were no more tears to weep

Where were you, with words of comfort and of peace

Where were you, with loving arms to sit beneath

Where were you, to hold my hand in all the pain

Where were you, when I was crying in my shame

Where were you, I was alone and in the dark

Where were you, separation leaves its mark

Where were you, when I could look no one in the eye

Where were you, when I was just left asking why

Where were you, to celebrate my special days

Where were you, pride just gets in the way

Where were you, to share triumph and success

Where were you, to give me guidance in the mess

Where were you, did you really just not care

Where were you, a child's life their dreams to share

Where were you, I built a wall around my heart

Where were you, for no acknowledgement of your part

Where were you, then Jesus whispered in my ear

Where were you, my child you need not fear

Where were you, I have been with you all along

Where were you, when you are weak there I am strong

Where were you, I died for love upon that cross

Where were you, I took your guilt and shame and loss

Where were you, I rose again you're now my son

Where were you, I'll never leave, forsake, I've won

(I claim artistic license for not putting in the question marks) 

Introverts, Business and the Church - Why is the world geared towards Extroverts? The cost of being an Introvert.

I recently heard an interview on the Simon Mayo Drive Time show on Radio 2 that I found particularly interesting. It was an interview with an American author called Susan Cain who had written a book called 'Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking' (review HERE). We live in a world that, 'she argues, excessively and misguidedly respects extroverts. We make them our bosses and our political leaders. We foolishly admire their self-help books....' (from review linked above). Also from that review the reviewer makes the point from the book that 'We introverts attempt to emulate extroverts, and the stress of not being "true to ourselves" can make us physically and mentally ill'.

Now I work for a large American IT company and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that in the business world that I have experience of that could not be more true. I think it is also fair to say that being an IT Techy I also come across, I guess, a higher number of Introverts than there are say in other lines of business or professions. However, that being said, the company as a whole is very much geared towards Extroverts. The way the yearly personal reviews are measured, promotions gained and generally moving on up are geared very much to being easier for Extroverts than for Introverts to achieve. 

So before I move on let me put some sort of definition to the meaning of the terms Introvert and Extrovert as they are commonly misunderstood to mean a loud person and a shy quiet person which is not at all what they mean. So here is what Wikipedia has to say about the two:

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Extraversion

Extraversion is "the act, state, or habit of being predominantly concerned with and obtaining gratification from what is outside the self".^[4] Extroverts tend to enjoy human interactions and to be enthusiastic, talkative, assertive, and gregarious. They take pleasure in activities that involve large social gatherings, such as parties, community activities, public demonstrations, and business or political groups. Politics, teaching, sales, managing and brokering are fields that favor extroversion. An extroverted person is likely to enjoy time spent with people and find less reward in time spent alone. They tend to be energized when around other people, and they are more prone to boredom when they are by themselves.

Introversion

Introversion is "the state of or tendency toward being wholly or predominantly concerned with and interested in one's own mental life".^[4] Some popular writers have characterized introverts as people whose energy tends to expand through reflection and dwindle during interaction.^[5] This is similar to Jung's view, although he focused on psychic energy rather than physical energy. Few modern conceptions make this distinction.
The common modern perception is that introverts tend to be more reserved and less outspoken in groups. They often take pleasure in solitary activities such as reading, writing, using computers, hiking and fishing. The archetypal artist, writer, sculptor, engineer, composer and inventor are all highly introverted. An introvert is likely to enjoy time spent alone and find less reward in time spent with large groups of people, though he or she may enjoy interactions with close friends. Trust is usually an issue of significance: a virtue of utmost importance to introverts is choosing a worthy companion. They prefer to concentrate on a single activity at a time and like to observe situations before they participate, especially observed in developing children and adolescents.^[6] They are more analytical before speaking.^[7] Introverts are easily overwhelmed by too much stimulation from social gatherings and engagement, introversion having even been defined by some in terms of a preference for a quiet, more minimally stimulating environment.^[8]

Introversion is not seen as being identical to shyness or to being a social outcast. Introverts prefer solitary activities over social ones, whereas shy people (who may be extraverts at heart) avoid social encounters out of fear.^[9]

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introvert)

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For me the main difference has to be found in how a persons emotional energy is re-energised. Extroverts tend to be energized by being around groups of people, need the social interaction whereas Introverts are re-energised by being alone and away from social interaction or at least with very minimal numbers of people.

Now I am a full on Introvert without any shadow of a doubt. I can also be shy when around large groups of people I do not know but Introversion very much defines how I interact with the world. That is not to say I am unsociable, though again I can at times be very unsociable verging on the rude when not in the mood to interact. At work I have to attend many meetings either face to face or over the phone and I am perfectly happy to talk and engage with the matters being discussed. However this is because we are talking with purpose and a goal. I know the reason for the interaction and generally in my work setting I know what I am talking about and can even at times come across fairly vocally aggressively when making a point or disagreeing with someone. This may not seem to be the perceived behaviour of an Introvert but this is where the misunderstandings come in. Introverts are not necessarily quiet and in some situations like I mentioned above are not quiet at all. However the cost comes in the emotional energy it takes to deal with those situations. If I have a day where I have had to attend many meetings or have a lot of personal interaction with other people it takes its toll on me emotionally. I will be drained and need some quiet and space in order to unwind and feel refreshed again. That is one of the main differences between us. An Extrovert may in fact be quite charged up by a day of that kind of social interaction and be ready for an evening of more of the same. The last thing an Introvert wants after a day like that would be to spend more time with people.

This is where I find the business world is not at all geared towards Introverts. Again I point out that IT seems to attract more Introverts than many other professions so I am often with like minded folks. However I am generally required to have that outgoing, confident, expressive persona most of the time whereas often I just want to be left alone and talk to no one. At work I need space, time out from hustle and bustle, to be away from interruption and interaction. I find it incredibly difficult and irritating, if I am focussed on a particular problem, to be required to switch to something else then back again. Now fortunately for me, I can work these needs into my day. I work from home some days which is a particular blessing. Complete peace and quiet. 

So that is a tiny window into life as an Introvert in an Extrovert business environment. But what is it like for an Introvert in a modern large Evangelical church environment? This is where it gets tricky. Shorts of just turning up to a main Sunday service and leaving straight after, church is entirely geared towards social interaction. Even walking in to a large meeting on a Sunday morning can be a daunting task for an Introvert, especially if one is also Shy. Generally at the end of a meeting there is tea and coffee to be had where far greater social interaction is expected and needed. There are mid week meetings with say groups of up to fifteen as well as other opportunities to meet up. 

Remember it is not that an Introvert hates social interaction in large groups, it is that it is an emotionally draining experience for them. There is only so much group interaction that an Introvert can cope with before the desire to run away kicks in and to get as far away as possible from people. For me when I am tired, which seems to be most of the time at the moment since having a child, I have very little emotional energy in reserve. Therefore evening meetings are particularly draining for me when I have been at work all day. Now sometimes I lead a small group evening and do some bible teaching which I greatly enjoy. But the evening is then a known quantity. I am for all intents and purposes in control but on evenings where I am not leading I can easily just sit there and not speak. It comes across as aloof and unsociable but most often it is simply I have no energy to engage socially. On just social evenings I am awkward and don't know what to say to people. I will often latch on to a particular person who I may know or have common ground with and would quite happily talk to them all evening. I am happy and comfortable one on one but not at all when there are many people and the requirement is to socially engage. At the end of an evening like that I will be completely drained and just want to go home and be alone (and sometimes not just at the end of the evening).

Conversely I could spend the entire day with one of my closest friends and feel very energised and not at all drained. The expectation is different and it take far less energy to be with someone who knows you very well. I am far happier in a group of one or two. Any larger than that and it gets draining and unless I am very awake and energized I will not enjoy being in such a group. 

Now I may be a fairly extreme introvert and I am not writing this because I have answers to these issues facing Introverts in a business or church setting. I am writing simply to open the door on the world of the Introvert which I think is often misunderstood. To an extrovert I imagine what I have just written will seem utterly alien. Similar to how I feel when someone says 'Oh I just love being in a large group of people and socialising and could stay there all night'.

The business world and the Church community, though very different, both require of the Introvert a much greater investment of emotional energy to function effectively in and that is the main message I would want to get across. 

To Extroverts, if we are not enthusiastic about another big meeting, another opportunity to socially interact with others then please understand it is not necessarily that we don't care. If we are quiet and don't chat in a social gathering don't assume we are being rude or shy. We might just need a break, some solitude, something smaller. We may have had our fill of people that day, that week. Don't judge us by comparing us to how you feel as an Extrovert. To my Church family, I love you but frankly sometimes I don't want to be with you. Or not at that particular moment. I can also be rather melancholic at times and couple that with my Introversion sometimes the thought of lets face it pretending to be ok (and don't pretend you don't do it) is too much. Regardless of how much we say 'you can come as you are' in church most of the time no one actually does. Everyone wears masks of some sort or another and for an Introvert wearing that mask can be an emotional killer. For an Introvert the church seems full of 'full on' happy, loud Extroverts. Which can be the last place you want to be when you are weary. Either that or you just want to punch them, or is that just me?

“Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes.”

Out in the Desert but not Alone!

Well I thought I would dust off the cobwebs of this here blog and write something since it is a ridiculous amount of time since I last posted anything.

Just thought I would share briefly where I am at. Yes I know you probably don’t care but it is simply for the reason of sharing two songs that I find so helpful when I am spiritually as dry as a bone baking in the desert sun. Which I am right now! We all go through dry times at various points in our spiritual walk and I am certainly no exception. In fact for me it is more a rule than an exception. Sometimes I am there out of my own doing because I am lazy and sinful and often chose the easy worldly options to feel better than the Road Less travelled of spiritual discipline in prayer and meditation on the Bible. Sometimes life kicks you there unexpectedly and before long you are walking round in circles in the sand. Currently both of those are probably true. I got kicked here at the beginning of the year and have stayed there because of the aforementioned.

So what keeps me going in these parched and weary lands that I walk far too often. Firstly the grace of God. Simply if God did not keep me I would have walked away years ago. He sustains me somewhere deep down and stops me from walking away. Where else would I go? (John 6:66-69)

However I have two songs that I find bring me light in the darkness of the soul. First is the aptly titled ‘Desert Song’ by Hillsong. It is an honest statement of declaring praise to God in the midst of hunger and thirst and in spite of it. It reminds me not to rely on my feelings and to rest on the truth of who God is. Take my eyes of circumstances and lift them to the one who sustains all things.

Second song is ‘In Christ Alone’ by Stuart Townend. There is not a greater recent song that declares such deep biblical truth as this does. From beginning to end it encapsulates the Gospel of Jesus Christ so succinctly. For that reason alone it brings water to my soul and reminds me of the profound truth that I am saved by Grace Alone, through Faith Alone in Christ Alone! That is the rock upon which I stand knowing nothing I do can change that truth. How I feel does not change that truth. I cannot earn salvation so I need to flippin well stop acting like I can.

Anyway from one traveller to another I commend these songs to you. The Versions in the You Tube videos are by Natalie Grant simply because I like these versions best! Read the Words and listen to the songs and bathe in the eternal truths of scripture!

Desert Song

This is my prayer in the desert
When all that’s within me feels dry
This is my prayer in my hunger and need
My God is the God who provides
This is my prayer in the fire
In weakness or trial or pain
There is a faith proved of more worth than gold
So refine me Lord through the flame

CHORUS:

I will bring praise, I will bring praise
No weapon formed against me shall remain
I will rejoice, I will declare
God is my victory and He is here
This is my prayer in the battle
When triumph is still on its way
I am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ
So firm on His promise I’ll stand

CHORUS

BRIDGE: All of my life in every season
You are still God
I have a reason to sing
I have a reason to worship

CHORUS

This is my prayer in the harvest
When favour and providence flow
I know I’m filled to be emptied again
The seed I’ve received I will sow

 

In Christ Alone

In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied -
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave he rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine -
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

 

‘Dr Who – The God Complex’ : We all Worship Something!!

This is not a review of the episode per se but some observations from it.

The recent episode of Dr Who was entitled ‘The God Complex’. This title was given to the Dr, by the Muslim character Rita, for taking charge and giving the impression that he could save everyone.

Premise

The basic premise of the episode being that there was this creature that looked like a Minotaur that was very old indeed, had previously set itself up as a God on other planets, they then ‘grew out of’ their need for Gods and built this prison ship for the creature and sent it off on its merry way. The creature and ship formed a sort of symbiosis whereupon the ship scoured the galaxy for people with very strong faith and pulled them aboard whereupon the creature fed upon the energy of their faith once it was suitably invoked. This was done by the people being placed in a holographic 80’s Hotel with many rooms, each of which contained some deep rooted fear for the individual causing them to fall back on their faith.

As an episode it was enjoyable and well done. Particularly David Walliams character who initially appeared as simply a cowardly amusing humanoid alien. Indeed the most invaded race in the Galaxy but actually turned out to be the most sinister, in that he would do anything to avoid being killed including betrayal.

The Tardis ended up there due to Amy’s total faith in the Doctor to save her.

Theme of Faith

 

‘everyone believes/puts their faith in something’

It is this theme of faith I wanted to comment on. According to the story it was people with a particularly strong faith in ‘something’ that resulted in them being taken. Whether it be a Muslims faith in God, a Gamblers faith in chance and luck or one persons faith in another, as per Amy in the Doctor. Interestingly the character of Rory was given the opportunity to leave as he apparently had no faith at all in anything (I disagree but I will come back to that).

What I found interesting is the observation that even in these times when ‘religious faith’ is seen to be on the wane, many people still believe in something. Dr Who confidential had an interview with the writer Toby Whithouse where he explained in more detail his thinking.

However I believe this should more accurately be stated ‘everyone believes/puts their faith in something’. I believe it to be a universal constant that every human being firstly has faith and secondly puts that faith in something, someone or several different somethings or someones (sorry about the poor english there!).

Put another way every human being gives themselves to the worship/idolisation of something or someone or to the aforementioned somethings or someones. But wait a minute, aren’t ‘Worship or Idolisation’ strong words to use. Yes they are very strong actively ‘doing’ words. They are not passive words at all and this is my point.

Let us define worship as ‘giving of oneself to’, ‘pouring oneself out to’ or ‘looking to XXXXX’ in order to provide meaning, security, worth to that person. The thing that when taken away would prove devastating to the person and is the thing that a person would most fight for if it was threatened.

The Drive to Worship

We all do it! It is a universal human desire to find security, meaning and worth for ourselves. This can be directed towards so many different things in this world and our culture is built around providing these things for us to feed on to satisfy those desires. Whether it be the ultimate relationship, sex, money, power, status, shopping, comfort, then next shiny toy, promotions, pride in ones house, pornography, drugs, alcohol to name a tiny fraction. All of these, some good, some not, serve the same purpose. Their purpose is to fill that aching desire in each of us. That ache that sais “surely there is something that can fill this emptiness inside me!” The ache for something lost or missing. The ache that no matter where we try and look is never satisfied and fulfilled. Sure we can pretend that our comfy well kitted out house, our job and family is all we need to be satisfied. This pretention can go on for years but if we are honest the ache is still there. It is NEVER satisfied and is what drives us.

It drives the alcoholic to keep drinking, the compulsive shopper to keep looking for the next thing to provide that purchase quick high, the adulterer, the promiscuous casual sex, the co-dependent and on and on it goes.

All these things are designed to either satisfy that deep rooted ache or to numb the pain of it not being satisfied.

Misdirected Worship is Idolatry

So if all these things cannot possibly fulfil this deep rooted ache then who or what can? Well I am glad you asked!

We were designed and created by God to worship Him alone. It is the first of the ten commandments in the Bible paraphrased as ‘you shall have no other Gods but The Lord and you shall worship Him alone’.

God designed us to depend entirely on him. He is the only one who can satisfy the deep ache and longing in our heart that each and every one of us has. Only in personal, intimate relationship with Him can satisfaction be found and our deep longing for Security, meaning and worth be found. Only in the Worship of our Creator God can we find all our thirsts met. It is what we were primarily created for, as worshippers.

When mankind first sinned the sin was pride and idolatry. It took God from His rightful place and raised us up equal with Him. The devil deceived our first parents with the lie of autonomy. The lie that says we don’t need God! It is the same lie that the world shouts at us today with all its myriad of pleasures and temptations. All designed to draw us away from faith and Worship of the only one worthy of it. All designed to provide a counterfeit. The Bible calls this Idolatry! Any time we worship, give ourselves over to, something that is not God it is worship in the form of idolatry.

‘The Human heart is an idol factory"’ – Martin Luther

Idolatry is the most serious sin in the Bible. It is an act of Cosmic treason against the creator. It is something every human does completely naturally and is all that is needed to justly condemn us, dead in our sins, for eternity before our Holy creator God. Praise God in His Grace and Mercy He provides for us a way out. Through Jesus Christ we can know forgiveness for our sinful predilection to idolatry. We can be declared righteous before God through Jesus and be given new life and hope for eternity. A life that can know that deep longing and ache satisfied when we quench our thirst in the living water of worship of our awesome creator.

I dare you to have faith in the only one who can satisfy!

The Fathers Cup – A Crucifixion Narrative

Just before Good Friday this year I saw John Piper link to This MP3 by Rick Gamache. It is a narrative of the biblical events of the Thursday evening and Friday leading up to and including Christ’s crucifixion.

This narrative utterly floored me and brought alive the agony and suffering of Jesus like nothing else since seeing ‘The Passion of the Christ’ film.

It is a very graphic portrayal of the physical suffering that Jesus went through from weeping tears of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane to His death on the cross. It is not easy to listen to in any way. If you have seen Mel Gibson's film you will certainly have had a similar experience with seeing in all its gory detail this same representation of our Lord’s suffering.

However what I have previously failed to entirely, if at all, grasp was what the full meaning of ‘drinking the Father’s Cup’ meant for Jesus.

“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. (Luke 22:42-44)

So what had caused Jesus such anxiety as to sweat drops of blood? Certainly He new the physical suffering he was to face. However I think the greater stress was caused by peering in to ‘the Cup’. I think I had always assumed the Cup was the horrendous physical suffering of the cross itself. No, the Cup was much more than that.

The narrative brings in to focus the cost to Jesus himself of the subsitutionary atoning side of what He did on Calvary. I had never before thought about it how this narrative describes it.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says: ‘For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God’. Never had I realised what this really meant for Jesus. Of course this is only a tiny speck, a splinter compared to what it really meant.

The Son of God, the Perfect spotless lamb, Holy, Righteous and sinless becomes Sin. For those hours He hung there every sin of those whom are His became part of Jesus. He became the filthy, dirty, abominable evil that sin is. Not only that God the Father looked upon Jesus, His beloved Son and poured out His full, complete and terrible, judgement and Wrath against sin upon Him until it was fully spent. For that time the eternal relationship between Father and Son was broken and the Father turned from Jesus in disgust at the sin upon Him. That was the Cup that Jesus drank for the sake of His Glory and our Salvation.

Read the words of that narrative, weep, repent, rejoice and worship at what Jesus did for us. (The PDF can be found HERE)

Then Jesus is startled by a foul odour. It isn't the stench of open wounds. It’s something else. And it crawls inside him. He looks up to his Father. His Father looks back, but Jesus doesn't recognize these eyes. They pierce the invisible world with fire and darken the visible sky. And Jesus feels dirty. He hangs between earth and heaven filthy with human discharge on the outside and, now, filthy with human wickedness on the inside.

The Father speaks: “Son of Man! Why have you sinned against me and heaped scorn on my great glory? You are self-sufficient and self-righteous—consumed with yourself and puffed up and selfishly ambitious. You rob me of my glory and worship what’s inside of you instead of looking out to the One who created you. You are a greedy, lazy, gluttonous slanderer and gossip. You are a lying, conceited, ungrateful, cruel adulterer. You practice sexual immorality; you make pornography, and fill you mind with vulgarity. You exchange my truth for a lie and worship the creature instead of the Creator. And so you are given up to your homosexual passions, dressing immodestly, and lusting after what is forbidden. With all your heart you love perverse pleasure. You hate your brother and murder him with the bullets of anger fired from your own heart. You kill babies for your convenience. You oppress the poor and deal slaves and ignore the needy. You persecute my people. You love money and prestige and honour. You put on a cloak of outward piety, but inside you are filled with dead men’s bones—you hypocrite! You are lukewarm and easily enticed by the world. You covet and can’t have so you murder. You are filled with envy and rage and bitterness and un-forgiveness. You blame others for your sin and are too proud to even call it sin. You are never slow to speak. And you have a razor tongue that lashes and cuts with its criticism and sinful judgment. Your words do not impart grace. Instead your mouth is a fountain of condemnation and guilt and obscene talk. You are a false prophet leading people astray. You mock your parents. You have no self-control. You are a betrayer who stirs up division and factions. You’re a drunkard and a thief. You’re an anxious coward. You do not trust me. You blaspheme against me. You are an un-submissive wife. And you are a lazy, disengaged husband. You file for divorce and crush the parable of my love for the church. You’re a pimp and a drug dealer. You practice divination and worship demons. The list of your sins goes on and on and on and on. And I hate these things inside of you. I’m filled with disgust, and indignation for your sin consumes me. Now, drink my cup!

And Jesus does. He drinks for hours. He downs every drop of the scalding liquid of God’s own hatred of sin mingled with his white-hot wrath against that sin. This is the Father’s cup: omnipotent hatred and anger for the sins of every generation past, present, and future—omnipotent wrath directed at one naked man hanging on a cross. The Father can no longer look at his beloved Son, his heart’s treasure, the mirror-image of himself. He looks away.

Jesus pushes himself upward and howls to heaven, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Silence. Separation.

Jesus whispers, “I’m thirsty,” and he sags.

The merciful centurion soaks a sponge in sour wine and lifts in on a reed to Jesus’ lips. And the sour wine is the sweetest drink he ever tasted.

Jesus pushes himself up again and cries, “It is finished.” And it is. Every sin of every child of God has been laid on Jesus and he drank the cup of God’s wrath dry.

Humility from the Heart and The search for Pride!

I have been pondering the meaning of humility in the Christian life recently. Partly due to an increasing awareness of the gaping distance between what I see in my own heart and where I think God would want me to be. Also because of the recent announcement by John Piper that he is stepping away from all and every ministry for 8 months to work on his soul and his marriage. (If you listen to THIS sermon 21:10 minutes in, John Explains his reasoning for this!)

One of his reasons for this is because he sees in his heart what he calls ‘several species of pride in my soul that, even though they may not rise to the level of disqualifying me for ministry, grieve me, and have taken a toll on my relationship with Noël and others who are dear to me.’ (The Full text is here, scroll to the bottom)

When I heard about this and the reasons for it I was frankly stunned. For someone of such a high profile, who is so passionate about the ministry of preaching and teaching, to walk away from it all demonstrates a level of self awareness and humility that is so rare among leaders. To step away on the grounds of, in his words ‘What will happen in my soul and in my marriage when, to use the phrase of one precious brother on staff, there will be no “prideful sipping from the poisonous cup of international fame and notoriety”?’

Wow! To go to that length on order to search his heart to weed out any hint of pride, idolatry etc… I pray many leaders, even in the tiniest of churches take note and examine their hearts likewise. Now everyone can’t just step away from their jobs for 8 months to do this. John Piper is in a privileged position to be able to do so. However the principle is still there. Whatever area of ministry you are involved with what is your motivation for doing so?

So what does the Bible say about Humility?

Philippians 2:3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

1 Peter 5:5 Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Ephesians 4:1-2 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

and its Opposite, Pride?

Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.

Proverbs 11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.

and one of the most misquoted scriptures of all:

Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Isaiah 2:17 And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

Pride

The bible has huge amounts to say about Humility and Pride. Now in our culture the value of the two seems to have become reversed. Pride in oneself, ones job, ones possessions, abilities etc is seen as good and humility is seen as weak and undesirable. Yet God requires humility and is squarely against pride that places anything else in Gods own rightful place. Requiring that we submit to God as sovereign and ruler over every aspect of our life and lay down our own desires and pursue His Agenda not our own. That is the call on the Christian that God makes. This is what it means when Jesus said “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Matthew 16:24 and Luke 9:23

However pride is not just seen in external actions. Mostly it is buried in the heart. Jesus said in Matthew 15:18 “what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart”. What he is saying is that it is the heart that determines what you say, think and do. I have recently become aware of a staggering Pharisaical pride in my own heart that I find hideous and abhorrent. Anyone who really knows me will tell you that I do not like to be wrong and even less admit it when I am. I am opinionated and there is nothing wrong with that per se. However when pride dictates that you have to win the argument at any cost, that you are right and everyone else is wrong, that your way is the best if not only way, then you are a Pharisee plain and simple. As I said I see this in my own heart and I hate it. I think if I met me there are occasions when I would punch me for being an arrogant idiotic know it all. Taken to its ultimate conclusion you can even start to think that God saved you because of some value in you, that Gods Kingdom would somehow not be quite as good without you in it. That you are so special that you can get away with some things and God lets it go ‘cause you are a special case’. Lies, evil lies, and more lies!!!!

But Pride shows itself in so many subtle ways it is staggering. This is not surprising since the root of sin is pride. Sin is basically putting something or someone in the place of God. Pride says God cannot be trusted! Pride says I know better than God how to run my life. Pride says I am better than that person because I don’t …… (fill in your judgemental attitude here). Or how dare that person judge me. Pride says there is no God. I won’t apologise to my spouse. I wish those parents would shut their children up, I would never let my kids do that. Pride says you cannot come anywhere near my heart. I will not surrender my heart and soul to God. Pride is the loud extrovert who controls the conversation and the self deprecating quiet ‘meek’ person who won’t speak up and give an opinion.

The worst kind of pride is the kind of religious pride I see in myself and in the church (in general not mine in particular) so often. The judgemental attitude towards non Christians, the way the service is run, that we are free and dance about or that we are respectful and quiet. My theology is correct theirs is not. It can be seen in leadership that won’t admit mistakes and hurts the flock as a consequence. I could go on but I hope you get the idea. Pride is everywhere in the human heart.

James 4:6 “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

God opposes the proud. Now that is a scary place to be!!! You really do not want the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe to oppose you.

So how do we combat this cancer of prideful sin?

Humility and Good News

Humility is pretty much the opposite of pride, but how do we become less full of pride and more humble? The answer lies in the cross and what it achieved and why it was necessary.

Basically we have committed treason against a Holy and righteous God. We have contradicted every moral directive He has laid out and first and foremost we have put created things in the place of the creator. We have taken God away from His rightful position as Sovereign Ruler and put ourselves in His place. Now because of this God has every right to wipe us from the face of the earth. There is not one innocent person on this planet who has any claim against God’s just right to send any one of us to an eternity in hell. There is no case to plead, no appeal, no witness we can bring that will stand before a Holy and Just God and not wither into nothing. If you think that is unfair then would you consider justice to have been done if a High Court judge simply let off a murderer, rapist, thief, any law breaker? No you wouldn’t! If a Judge said to a rapist, you were caught and are undeniably guilty of this crime, but I’ll just let you go, that would be the most wrong and unjust action. But the crimes each of us has committed against God are simply on a scale many times greater than any crime that can be done on earth. If you sin against an infinitely Holy God then the judgement and punishment must match that infinite crime.

So what hope is there?

If Justice cannot be served without the punishment fitting the crime then how can we ever be saved? God is not just an Infinitely Holy and Just God. He is also an infinitely loving, merciful and gracious God. God had a plan from before the universe came into existence. A glorious plan that wonderfully highlights and points to His amazing, loving Grace. Jesus, fully God, humbled himself and entered our fallen world as fully man. A perfect sinless man. He never once broke God’s moral directives/law. He died on the cross, an unimaginably tortured and gruesome death. But that wasn’t the worst part. On that cross for those few hours God turned away from Jesus, and poured out the eternal punishment due to us, onto His son. The marvel of the cross is not just in the physical nature of the act but in the spiritual nature. Jesus became sin, who knew no sin, for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). He took our due punishment and not only that imputed, clothed us in, wrapped us in, his righteousness. The great exchange as it is known. When God looks upon one of his Children He sees a clean, holy, pure, righteous child, without stain or blemish. But the rub is that it applies only if you believe, trust in and surrender your life to Him. God desires every one to be saved and his arms are outstretched to you with the invitation. The invitation of new life. Jesus also rose from the dead and through that resurrection gives us spiritually dead people new life for eternity.

So what has this to do with Humility. Well on the grounds that there is absolutely nothing in me that deserves anything other than an eternity in hell and that I am only saved by what Christ did on the cross I have nothing to boast in except Christ crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:2 and Galatians 2:20) My pride has no say in my being saved. I did nothing, God did it all. When you grasp the magnitude of this truth and let it sink into your soul then Pride is revealed and diminished and Humility takes its place. The wonderful, glorious, freeing truth that the Sovereign, infinitely Holy, infinitely Righteous, infinitely Loving and Gracious God reached down and saved me for no reason except by His sovereign Grace extended towards me. Justice is still served and I go free. How awesome and amazing is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am free and adopted into the family of God. I get to worship Him forever. Not out of Duty but out of love and thankfulness.

That is the antidote to Pride in the heart. It takes a lifelong journey to let this truth sink in and transform you. But there is no greater Joy in the Universe that knowing your heart being satisfied in worshipping the beautiful creator of the Universe and my heavenly Father.

(Edited to Correct the dodgy spelling. Teacher told me off!!!)

Praise you in This Storm - Now I really understand this song!

I cannot say why at the moment apart from now I understand this song in a much more profound way. This has always been my favourite and most powerful of Casting Crowns' songs.

I have posted this song before but needed to post it again.

Listen to the testimony at the beginning and then the words. May it bless and challenge as to what it really means to know God in the midst of pain.

Lyrics below, song at bottom of post:

I was sure by now,God, that You would have reached down
and wiped our tears away,
stepped in and saved the day.
But once again, I say amen
and it's still raining
as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain,
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away.

Chorus:
And I'll praise you in this storm
and I will lift my hands
for You are who You are
no matter where I am
and every tear I've cried
You hold in your hand
You never left my side
and though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry to You
and raised me up again
my strength is almost gone how can I carry on
if I can't find You
and as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away

Chorus

I lift my eyes onto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth
I lift my eyes onto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth

Chorus

Twilight – New Moon Review

Ok, I have been resisting reviewing New Moon until I have had a chance to think about it a little. First I have read all the books and overall liked them. New Moon is the slowest of the books because of what it deals with. Mainly Bella’s ‘loss’ after Edward rather abruptly dumps her and then the growing friendship between Bella and Jacob. However what keeps the book interesting is the development of the Werewolf arc. Jacobs fear at what is happening to his friends and then to what is happening to him and eventually how that works itself out once Bella knows the ‘secret’. You also have some sympathy with what Bella is going through as the book is told from her perspective. Even with her ‘using’ Jacob in the way she does there is ‘some’ sympathy towards her character even when she is at her most selfish.

However the biggest flaw to the way the story is translated to film is that she comes across as totally selfish in the way she uses Jacob as a distraction to her pain and her recklessness in endangering herself just to feel something again. Because the film has no time to explain the emotion, the dialogue is too forced when it tries and Kristen Stewart pouts her way through every scene the whole thing gets lost in the process. The film version of Bella has no real redeeming features that make it believable that Jacob or Edward would actually stick around. Also the Werewolf arc is too minimal and all happens too fast to make any coherent sense if you haven’t read the book.

The final act of the film is a little better. Though the jump to Italy again happens too fast losing all the explanations about the Volturi that Alice gives Bella on the way. I think they are explained in about once sentence in the film. The most interesting part of the story given in a throw away line. It is when Michael Sheen, playing Aro, appears on screen that you get an idea about how weak the rest of the cast are acting wise. The same can be said for Billy Burke who plays Bella’s father actually, he does a great job in both films as the awkward Dad. Anyway back to Aro. Michael Sheen is such a good actor and makes the character of Aro very close to the book. The cordial and slimy friendliness hiding the dangerous, controlling, ruthless and power hungry desires underneath. Hmm I wonder where he got so good at that. Oh yes he has played Tony Blair on screen!!!!! In fact I think they are the same character, interesting.

This film was always going to be difficult to make. The subject matter is hard to translate. The first film, though not in any way perfect, was reasonable at setting up the story. Bella’s attraction to the dangerous out of her league bad boy. His attraction to Bella with her intriguing ability to block his special ability and put her on more equal footing with him. Their denial of their sexual desires and self control. I came out of New Moon having enjoyed it, but on reflection mainly because I filled in all the blanks having read the book. I got it, not because of the film but because of the book. This is Bella’s most selfish and unlikeable stage of her journey. Sadly the film makes it her only characteristic. Robert Pattinson is ok as Edward. He does dark and brooding well but there is more to the character than that. Taylor Lautner did well as Jacob given what he had to work with.

Overall could do much better! It will be interesting to see how the next two translate to film, especially Breaking Dawn. I hope Kristen Stewart and the script shows how Bella grows up somewhat and makes her less drippy. It will be good to see how the rest of the actors playing the Cullen clan step up to plate as they have much more to do in the next two films. No idea how they will make Breaking Dawn less than a 15 given some of its content.

I hope the next films bring out the self denial, respect and no sex before marriage points from the books. That although Bella is verging on the obsessive in her ‘love’ for Edward the story is really about a love that nothing can break. Two people so devoted to each other that they will do whatever it takes to stay together. The character of Bella gets a lot of stick from people, especially some women. The film makes it reasonable criticism. However I am not sure the books represent her as such a winy doormat.

I think it is interesting how on the one hand so many women love the books, yet on the other Stephenie Meyer is criticised for writing what is seen as a weak female character. At the risk of being lynched could it be that underneath women do actually want to be protected, provided and cared for. Want someone so devoted to them who is actually willing to die for them and sacrifice their feelings and desires for the good of her. Who want the proverbial Knight in Shining Armour to sweep them off their feet. For all the criticism of Bella I think Edwards character in the book, though not perfect is a good example for men, apart from the drinking blood bit. Self sacrificial, a gentleman, protective, devoted, honourable, reliable etc… I think that is what Stephenie Meyer has tapped into and why the books are so popular. Not that women should be doormats, but that it is a Man’s God given role to lead, provide for and protect the family as a self-sacrificial servant, like Jesus does the Church.

Any way as much as I enjoyed watching the film it was disappointing as well. Cheesy in places with some awkward acting and badly crafted dialogue. Special effects were on the whole very good except one or two very CGI looking shots of the werewolves. I hope they learn lessons and listen to the fans and do better next time.

How far away I am from where You are!

The title of this blog post is taken from the song ‘Jesus hold me Now’ on the latest Casting Crowns album ‘Until the Whole World Hears’. The lyrics are as follows:

Living on my own, thinking for myself
Castles in the sand, temporary wealth
Now the walls are falling down
Now the storms are closing in
And here I am again

Jesus, hold me now
I need to feel You in this place
To know You’re by my side
And hear Your voice tonight
Jesus, hold me now
I long for Your embrace
I’m beat and broken down
I can’t find my way out
Jesus, hold me now

Curse this morning sun, drags me into one more day
Of reaping what I’ve sown, living with my shame
Welcome to my world, and the life that I have made
One day you’re a prince, and the next day you’re a slave

Lord, I just looked up today
And realized how far away I am from where You are
I don’t know what else to pray
Broken at Your feet I lay
The life I’ve torn apart
Jesus, hold me now
Jesus, hold me now
Jesus, hold me now
Jesus, hold me now

It is the first two lines of the bridge that really struck me. ‘Lord, I just looked up today And realized how far away I am from where You are’. Lately I have been realising that the Christianity we live out here in the UK is so far from what Biblical Christianity is that it may as well be a different faith. Two recent things have opened my eyes to this fact:

1. We recently had a series of sermons in church on ‘The Sermon on the Mount’ (SOTM) from Matthews Gospel.
2. I have been listening to the Audio recording of John Piper’s book ‘Desiring God’

The Christianity that Jesus presented in the SOTM is so far removed from the safe, comfortable, unoffending, unassuming, often confused, sometimes very liberal Christianity that the Church presents to the world. John Piper’s book is so challenging and cuts right to the heart in reference to our walk with God. Both these together have made me see just how far I am from what Jesus calls us to be. How small my passion for worship of the only one we should worship and how my desire for prayer and reading the Bible is really quite pathetic. JP’s favourite phrase is ‘God is most Glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him’ and is in the title of my Blog. That is the heart of the matter. Where do we look to find satisfaction? Is it in worship of the one true God who is the only one who can satisfy our hears desires or is it in the temporary ‘comforts’ or ‘vices’ of this world?

I wish I could say that as a Christian it is in God. However that would be a lie. Of course I do look to God for my security, value etc… but not nearly as much as I should. I settle for storing up treasures on Earth to feel better instead of seeking the rewards of the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:19-20). Those earthly treasures are any things that bring relief from the wounds caused by living in this fallen world. TV, money, buying stuff, relationships etc… Not all bad in themselves but when placed above finding satisfaction in God become idols to be torn down and destroyed or risk the discipline of God who doesn’t care for His children worshipping at the feet of false Gods.

Or as was preached this Sunday in Church ‘How clean is our Temple?’. Jesus turned over the money changers dealing in the temple and drove out the animals. All were defiling the Temple of God. Since that temple is now any believer in Christ where the Holy Spirit dwells what would Jesus come in and overturn in his Zeal for the House of His Father, (John 2:17)?

For too long Western Christianity has settled for so much less than what God intended for His bride. So  much compromise has crept in. Tolerance for behaviours that we are explicitly warned against. Adultery, Homosexuality, greed, prosperity teaching, idolatry to name a few. Are we so self absorbed with our own little life that we have no time for Gods purposes? When people you come into contact with don’t see any difference in your behaviours, goals, choice of words then something is very wrong with the way you live out your Christianity. If you are not drawing some to you and offending others then the faith you profess is nothing like that which Paul, the Apostles and Jesus Himself demonstrated.

These external demonstrations are all fruit from what is going on in the heart. Are we passionately devoted to seeking God daily in the Word, in prayer and Worship? Is He our ultimate source of satisfaction that is so superior to all other desires that everything else just loses its hold and taste? Is the Holy Spirit so filling us that our Love and passion for glorifying Jesus just flows out into and affects every facet of our lives? Does this lead us to hear the Holy Spirits revelations in words for people, to have the confidence and security to pray for Healing? To demonstrate selfless love and generosity that seeks no reward. Compassion for the less fortunate and downtrodden and a zeal for Justice in the World.

So this goes back to the line in that song. How far am I from where He is!!! I am only just starting to work through the consequences of this challenge. I know much repentance, humility and brokenness will be required. I know I desperately need to cling my Father in Heaven and can do nothing on my own. I want to move nearer to where God is and for there to be more of Him and less of me, I challenge you to do the same!

Worship in Spirit and in Truth

I have been reading, on and off, ‘Desiring God’ by John Piper. It is one of those books that I can only read short bits of because there is so much to take in. Re-reading sections is often necessary to grasp what JP is trying to communicate. Not because he is a bad communicator, but because the concepts are so deep to grasp.

The chapter I want to look at here is on Worship. It start with the story of the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:7-26

A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

After engaging with the woman Jesus, in a series of leads tries to draw the woman towards who He is. She is very slow to grasp what he is saying and sees only the practical and not the spiritual. So Jesus goes for the heart and addresses her adultery. Not out of cruelty but because often the only way into a persons heart is through a wound. Backed into a corner the woman responds in a common way, by changing the subject. As Piper puts it “Why, yes as long as we are talking about my adultery, what is your stance on the issue of where people should worship?”. Amazing isn’t it how we can try to so easily take the focus off ourselves, when the light is shined upon us and place it on something totally unconnected. However Jesus follows her rationale and takes us to the heart of the issue. The issue is not where we worship but far more important is how and whom we worship.

The Samaritan woman did not ‘know’ the One she worshipped. Worship must be based on having a true understanding of who God is as well as being deep and passionate in the heart.

The two paragraphs at the bottom of page 81 in my version are brilliantly insightful and I will quote them:

Worshipping in spirit is the opposite of worshipping in merely external ways. it is the opposite of empty formalism and traditionalism. Worshipping in truth is the opposite of worship based on an inadequate view of God. Worship must have heart and head. Worship must engage emotions and thought.

Truth without emotion produces dead orthodoxy and a church full of artificial admirers. On the other hand, emotion without truth produces empty frenzy and cultivates shallow people who refuse the discipline of rigorous thought. But true worship comes from people who are deeply emotional and who love deep and sound doctrine. Strong affections for God rooted in truth are the bone and marrow of biblical worship.(page 81-82, Desiring God, John Piper, Inter-Varsity Press)

Piper then lays out the following picture: The Fuel of worship is the truth of God. A true understanding of who God is as revealed in scripture. The furnace of worship being the regenerated human spirit. The heat of worship being the stuff of the heart. Like the joy, gratitude, trust, reverence etc… One thing is missing in that picture. The fire! This is where the Holy Spirit comes in. Until the Holy Spirit turns an unregenerate soul, which is dead in spirit and unable to worship God, into a living spirit there is no true worship. ‘That which is born of the Spirit is spirit’.

So our vision of God’s true greatness, fired by the flame of the Holy Spirit in the furnace of the renewed human spirit brings the resulting outpouring of our affections in worship with song, tears, longings and obedient lives.

What is then pointed out is that all things can be done in vain.

Piper then quotes Isaiah 29:13

Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men

Worship here is seen as Honouring God. Not increasing God’s honour since that is impossible. It is rightly reflecting the honour He already has. But the core point is that it must be done with gladness or else it is not worship. It is more than just willing the heart to try and worship. For without real desire there can be no real worship.

We can outwardly go through all the ‘acts’ of worship however they are performed in the church by an act of the will. This is dead worship where the heart is not engaged.

So what makes worship authentic?

The psalms give a whole array of reasons to worship God. From stunned silence at the holiness of God, Psalm 46:10, Habakkuk 2:20, Psalm 33:8

Or in reverence at our sinfulness faced with Gods power. Isaiah 8:13, Psalm 5:7

This leads to brokenness and grief for out sinfulness, Psalm 51:17, Isaiah 57:15

Then a longing for God in the brokenness. Psalm 42:1-2, Psalm 73:25-26, Psalm 63:1

God brings relief from the burden of sin and lifts our hearts Psalm 30:11-12 and turns our gratitude into Hope Psalm 42:5-6 and Psalm 130:5

Our heart will, in the end, long not for God’s gifts but for God himself. Psalm 27:4, Psalm 16:11, Psalm 37:4

These are the things that turn worship in vain to true worship. A heart captured by God which responds in the only way it can. Worship becomes an end in itself. John Calvin puts it like this: “If God contains the fullness of all good things in himself like an inexhaustible fountain, nothing beyond him is to be sought by those who strike after the highest good and all the elements of happiness” (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion)

If we see the reality of God arrayed in front of us through His word and His world and our hearts do not respond with any grief, longing, hope, fear, awe, joy or thankfulness then any outward act of worship is dead. We cannot honour God if our ‘heart is far from him’.

We must worship God! This is not a ritualistic must, out of duty, but one of deep heartfelt desire to worship. For instance, I must tell my wife I Love her. Not out of duty, or I think it the right thing to do, but because deep in my heart I feel passionately in love with her and that causes me to want to say it. If I say it out of duty then it is meaningless. So it is with the worship of God. It is utterly meaningless unless motivated by a heart captivated by God alone. We come to God humbly recognising our desperate need of Him knowing that He alone can satisfy the deep heartfelt longing to be happy.

Piper then goes on to describe three stages of worship that I found to be terribly helpful. The above could leave us feeling like we are, either not Christians, or that we have such dead spirits that we cannot worship God truly.

The first stage is where it all starts. A barrenness of soul that can scarcely feel any longing but yet feels that sorrow for having so little love. Psalm 73:21-22

I think we would all recognise this stage and is one I certainly seem to return to far too often.

The second stage is where we feel deep longing and desire yet are not feeling the fullness of the banquet. We can recall, maybe, times when we did and felt Gods goodness close.

I would say this stage is where most of us end up. In this world, where God’s kingdom has come yet is not yet we are caught between two realities. No matter our satisfaction in God in this life we will still lack fullness and therefore will feel that deep longing having tasted yet not been sated. The more we taste, the more insatiably we will feel our thirst and longings for that which can only be fully satisfied in heaven.

The third stage Piper describes as being one where we feel unencumbered joy in Gods perfection. Being satisfied with Gods excellency and overflowing with the joy of fellowship.

I am not sure if JP is hinting that this is possible in this life or that it is the ultimate goal of the Christian yet is only achieved in heaven. I personally would err on the side of heaven, but with the caveat that God could break into our reality in such a way as to bring a temporary taste of this third stage.

God is glorified even by a spark of longing in our hearts. Again this spark can not be manufactured or willed into existence. It only comes from a heart renewed and touched by the Holy Spirit.

The chapter then moves on to look at how we are too easily pleased and settle for far less than could be achieved. He quotes a brilliantly insightful sermon by C. S. Lewis that talks about how our thinking has been influenced too much by the stoics and Kant. That enjoyment or worship is a bad thing. Lewis points out that if we look at the rewards promised in the Gospels it would indicate our desire is too weak not too strong. Half heartedly fooling about with drink, drugs, sex when infinite joy is offered. As Jeremiah 2:11-13 puts it. We walk past a spring of living water and dig about in muddy cesspools looking for satisfaction.

Finally Piper takes us back to the ‘Truth’ part of the worship in ‘spirit and in truth’. There must be a balance between spirit which much of the above tackles and truth. He makes the point that the only affection that honour God are those rooted in the rock of biblical truth.

Without the revealed word of God in scripture we can know nothing of the true nature of who God is. Without the word we cannot know the whom we worship. As the Samaritan woman did not know.

Without the heat of the Holy Spirit our worship will be dead and lifeless. Without the light of the word then worship becomes a fervent, corrupt out of control mess leading wholly in the wrong direction. A deep passion for truth and sound doctrine need not create dead lifeless worship as is often said by those who are unwilling to see this connection. If the feast of worship is rare in the land, it is because there is a famine of the word of God (Amos 8:11-12)

So worship should engage both the mind to grasp the truths of God’s reality and for the heart to respond to the beauty of that truth. This is why I like worship songs that declare wonderful truths about God and take our eyes off ourselves and focus them on Him. Then my heart responds to the truth with a longing to draw closer and experience the satisfaction of honouring God in worship. For in doing so ones soul finds the only source of true lasting joy in the universe. To know God and be known by Him.

The Chief end of man is to Glorify God

by

enjoying Him forever.

All scripture quoted is from the ESV

This is a review and paraphrase of Chapter 3 of

Desiring God
John Piper
Inter-Varsity Press
ISBN: 978-1-84474-044-4
© 1986, 1996, 2003 by Desiring God Foundation