Tag Archives: joy

John Piper on Chesterton and Calvinism

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Piper starts,

Ever since my days at Wheaton College, when I followed Clyde Kilby’s advice to read G. K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy, it has been one of my favorite books. I think it’s the only book I have read more than twice (except for the Bible).

This is strange. Not only was Chesterton a Roman Catholic, he also hated Calvinism. So what’s up with me and Orthodoxy? I still think at least half a dozen Roman Catholic distinctives are harmful to true Christian faith (e.g., papal authority, baptismal regeneration, transubstantiation, justification as impartation, purgatory, the veneration of Mary). And I think “the doctrines of grace” (“Reformed theology,” “Calvinism”) are a precious and healthy expression of biblical doctrine.

Here’s an important article on the glad, biblical flavor of Calvinism.

The Sovereign God of “Elfland” (Why Chesterton’s Anti-Calvinism Doesn’t Put Me Off).

There is No Such Thing as Ordinary People

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There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations–these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit–immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.

This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously–no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner–no mere tolerance, or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment.

C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, 46

“She Loved Much” (Luke 7:36-50)

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What a scene. The Teacher had come to his house, he was reclining at his table. Simon the Pharisee enjoyed the greatest company any man could ever have. I wonder what he thought when he saw the woman bow herself at Jesus’ feet. We don’t know what conversation was interrupted–maybe they were talking about the Torah, maybe the weather. Whatever it was, it gave way to a stranger weeping at the Teacher’s feet. She wet his feet with her tears. She wiped his feet with her hair. She kissed his feet with her lips. She poured out more than ointment. She poured out her life, her affection, all that she had.

Confused. That’s what Simon was. He was confused that this intriguing man didn’t get that she was a sinner. “If this man were a prophet, he’d know that it were a sinner that is touching him!” And, apparently, Simon wouldn’t have been so foolish if he would have known that Jesus was already reclining at a sinner’s table. Then Jesus tells the story.

A moneylender had two debtors. One owed him $5,000, the other owed him five bucks. He forgave both of their debts. Which one of the debtors will love the moneylender more? Simon, leaning back on his arms, perhaps shrugging his shoulders, “I suppose the one with the larger debt.” Simon, you suppose (hupolambano)? (cf. Acts 2:15).

“Right,” the Teacher replied.

Jesus asked, “Do you see this woman?” Not, “do you see her here?” Do you see her? Do you see her? Look at her! Look at this woman. Behold her tears, behold her hair, behold her kisses. Do you see her? Do you see her, yet? “Simon, you haven’t done this for me. Now look at her.”

We can talk about faith if you want to. But, this is about more than faith. Her affection displayed her faith and it is integral for her forgiveness (v. 47, “therefore” and “for”). But it is that last sentence in verse 47 that shakes us. May it grip us… “Be he who is forgiven little, loves little.” The question for us, the throbbing question for us, is whether we know how much we have been forgiven? Do we know what God has forgiven us? Do we? Do you know, brothers and sisters? Do you know how much God has forgiven you?

Everything kind of stops spinning for a moment. All the other stuff that matters kind of fades. This is it. God has forgiven me. Do I get that? All of my sin. All of my shame. All of my guilt. Everything. Everything. Everything. God has forgiven me, in Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit. I am forgiven. Forgiven. Forgiven, Forgiven! Do not tell yourself to love, remind yourself that you are forgiven. By the grace of God in the wrath-bearing, sin-removing death of Jesus Christ, united in faith by the Holy Spirit, we are forgiven.

Learning to Pray Together: Protect Us From…

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“But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you.”

(Psalms 5:11 ESV)

From the post a couple of days ago… “The protection has a purpose, namely that those who love the LORD’s name may exult in Him. Protection is a means here to enjoying God–to being satisfied in Him. What protection means then must be expanded to refer to all those things that are an obstacle to enjoying God.“

So we should be vigilant to ask God to protect us from those things that would be an obstacle to exulting in Him.

Father, in Christ, by the Spirit… please protect us from:

  • the love of our own name in the place of Yours
  • a superficial joy that gives too much weight to the Central Division-leading Cardinals
  • aborting the grace of knowledge before it becomes the grace of transforming knowledge
  • thinking that anything in the universe is more important than Jesus Christ

What would you add to this list in order to help us pray for this kind of protection?

Let’s help one another here.

The Keeping Protection–The Content and Purpose of a Prayer We Should Pray With David

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“But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you.”

(Psalms 5:11 ESV)

We should ask what kind of protection David is speaking about here in verse 11. It has something to do with verses 9-10 which goes back to verse 8. The protection is from these enemies of David, that is, those described as rebellious evildoers. And I do not think the protection is a mere preservation of health or guard against military attack. 

The protection has a purpose, namely that those who love the LORD’s name may exult in Him. Protection is a means here to enjoying God–to being satisfied in Him. What protection means then must be expanded to refer to all those things that are an obstacle to enjoying God. And those obstacles are not external, they are internal. Perhaps the protection here is a prayer that God not let “all who take refuge in Him” be like those previously described… this is about sustaining grace. 

This protection is that the redeemed (the refugees) in verse 11 not be like the rebellious evildoers of verses 9-10.

The prayer something like …

Keep Your refugees as Your refugees, protect them from being like the rebellious and from every other alternative out there, in order for this glorious purpose–that they may exult in You.

May it be so, in Jesus Christ alone. Amen.

Angela on The Office- I Wish She Would Become a Hedonist!

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She is the character that everyone is supposed to hate… (Angela Kinsey does a good job).

But I wonder what it would look like if Angela Martin on The Office were to become a real Christian. Moreover, I wonder what her character would look like if she became a Christian Hedonist. More moreover, I wonder what it would mean for a weekly sitcom on NBC to portray a Christian who was not a jerk but rather was a person glad in God and loving towards others.

Rescue Me From the Wicked: I Mean, I Don’t Want To Live Like This World Is My Home

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“Arise, O LORD! Confront him, subdue him! Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword, from men by your hand, O LORD, from men of the world whose portion is in this life. You fill their womb with treasure; they are satisfied with children, and they leave their abundance to their infants. 

As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.”

(Psalms 17:13-15)

We are still in the same vein of the three previous psalms when we come to this Prayer of David in 17. The end is gripping. The prayer is for deliverance from the wicked. He begins in verse 13 with a plea to be rescued from the wicked by the LORD’s sword. Such graphic language makes me envision the wicked as zombies with vampire fangs hunting down the righteous. Notice the explanation in verse 14. Rescue me from the wicked, that is, “from men of this world whose portion is in this life.” He elaborates further, men of this world who have good things, who are blessed with children, who leave an inheritance to their progeny. 

Wait. These are good and noble things. But now the comparison sweeps in with an “As for me…”

He says, “As for me, I am different from them in that I will behold your face in righteousness. When I awake, that is, when I am resurrected (like in 16:9-11), I shall be satisfied with your likeness. My portion is in you and it will have no end.” Our deliverance is not isolated to the Devil and demons, but to these good things that make us fat and numb to the greater reality that awaits us. O that we would know the evil of seeking our portion in this life! How it scoffs at the promise of God in its hellish unbelief! As for me, by grace!, as for me… I will see You. I will behold You and be satisfied.

Father, please rescue us from this wickedness. For by the grace of Jesus Christ, You are our portion forever. Amen.

Wild Joy

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“And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.”

(1Thessalonians 1:6-8 ESV)

By what is the ever-spreading faith characterized? Joy in the Holy Spirit. That is, joy in the midst of much affliction. 

Joy in the context of suffering is a wild thing. It is most exotic. Like Sasquatch walking in Times Square.  It is a head-turner, an eye-opener, a mind-stumper, a faith-stirrer. This is not a superficial glee. There is a strange deepness here. Real joy.

Lord Jesus, may it abound in Your people among the nations–from You, in You, for You!

Conclusion: Job, 16

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And Job died, an old man, and full of days (42:17).

And he died well. He had learned wisdom. He knew God.

The narrative intends the same for us. May we see Job and learn from his story. May we gain wisdom, that is, may we say amen to God. May the holiness of His person disintegrate our trust in everything other than Jesus Christ… and may the reality of the gospel supply us with galaxies of joy unknown to this world.