Desiring God Blog

Let Him Deny Himself

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:45:00 -0500

(Author: Jon Bloom)

The Christian life is a journey to the greatest joy that exists. But "the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few" (Matthew 7:14). Why is that? Because, paradoxically, in order to pursue our greatest joy, we must deny ourselves.

* * *

It was a moment of euphoria for the disciples. Jesus was the Christ. Peter had confessed it and Jesus had confirmed it. The long-awaited arrival of Israel's Messiah had come! And the Twelve were at the center of it!

Then oddly, Jesus immediately started talking about being murdered by his enemies. And he said some strange things about a resurrection. This was very confusing. But one thing seemed clear to Peter: defeat could not be the path to the Christ's glory. The Christ was to be victorious.

So Peter brought correction to Jesus. Jesus called his correction satanic.

Peter was stunned. What could be satanic about wanting the Christ to be victorious? Jesus' answer was, "you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man" (Mark 8:33).

Jesus knew that this was the case for all the disciples and the crowd following him. So he gathered them all together and dropped a bomb on them:

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (Mark 8:34)

A crowd of bewildered faces. A cross? They all knew what that meant: Roman execution of the most horrific kind. They were hoping that Jesus might conquer their enemies and "restore the kingdom to Israel" (Acts 1:6). Carrying a Roman cross did not sound like the Messianic kingdom. It sounded like death. Jesus wanted them to die?

Yes.

Jesus' kingdom was not of this world—not the geopolitical world they knew (John 18:36). His kingdom was far broader in scope than they yet realized. And their true enemy was far more powerful and deadly than Rome. Rome was a drop in the bucket (Isaiah 40:15). Their real enemy lived in them and all around them. Jesus had indeed come to conquer that enemy. In fact, he was headed to Jerusalem to strike the decisive blow in just days.

So he now was preparing them for the cross—his first and foremost, then theirs—and the multi-millennial mission to call out Israel from all peoples into his kingdom. Jesus was teaching them to intentionally move toward death.

Physical death, yes. All present that day would die, some as martyrs. But all his followers would also have to die to themselves. Die to the desire for self-glory, die to the desire for worldly respect and the fear of man, die to the desire for an easy life, die to the desire for earthly wealth, and a thousand other deaths. Finally, they must die to their desire to save their earthly lives.

But Jesus wasn't calling his followers to some stoic life of self-sacrifice for a noble cause. His was an invitation to joy beyond imagination. The broad road of the world was lined with seductive false promises appealing to and blinding sinful human heart-eyes. And it was leading many to a horror beyond imagination. So Jesus was calling his followers to deny themselves the world's paltry, brief joys that they might have overflowing eternal joy; to deny themselves hell that they might have heaven.

That's why he went on to say:

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. (Mark 8:35-37)

* * *

Two brief summary observations from this account:

First, the Christian life is hard; sometimes agonizing. We shouldn't be surprised (1 Peter 4:12). It's hard because denying our fallen selves is hard. Any death is hard, some much more than others. But it's designed to be that way. Our lives are our most precious earthly possession. Nothing displays the worth of Jesus more than our willingness to give away our lives (in small and large ways) for his sake.

Second, the only things that Jesus asks us to deny ourselves of are what will rob us of eternal joy. Like Moses in Hebrews 11:25-26, we are called to deny ourselves the passing pleasures of sin and consider the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the world's treasures. How? By looking to the reward! I'll sum it up in some lyrics I wrote in a song for my oldest daughter years ago:

There's joy beyond your wildest dreams if you will just believe
This aching thirst for joy you feel God only can relieve.
And that eternal life is what's in store
For all who will believe that only he's worth living for.

Meet Seven of Our National Conference Sponsors

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 06:30:00 -0500

(Author: Tyler Kenney)

This year's Desiring God National Conference could not be what we're praying and planning for without the generous help of our partner ministries. We are happy to highlight 7 of them for you here.

To Every Tribe Ministries

To Every Tribe exists to spread a passion for the supremacy of God among unreached peoples throughout the earth. To Every Tribe intends to purposefully glorify God by planting national led, self-sustaining, self-reproducing, evangelical Christian churches in the interior regions of Papua New Guinea and Mexico initially, and then to other unreached peoples around the world as the Lord directs.

Our vision is to bring the gospel to those hard-to-get-to places where the name of Jesus has never been heard so God will be worshiped by every tribe, language, and nation. In addition to cross-cultural church planting, it is our desire to extend this ministry into the next generation by training new pioneers for the gospel. The Center for Pioneer Church Planting prepares and equips missionary martyrs for the challenges of church planting among people groups who have never heard the gospel. The Center for Pioneer Church Planting (CPCP) is a missionary training program that combines intensive in-class preparation and study in South Texas with 'hands-on' training in church planting locations in Papua New Guinea and Mexico.

We believe the most effective way to learn how to plant churches is by doing it with experienced church planters. We do not minimize the importance of classroom learning, but we do believe on-field mentoring coupled with the classroom is what makes our training unique.

LifeWay Christian Stores

The Northwestern Book Stores in Burnsville, Coon Rapids, Edina, Maple Grove, and Woodbury are now LifeWay Christian Stores. LifeWay is honored to be continuing Northwestern's rich tradition of service through Christian retailing to the Twin Cities area. LifeWay offers a wide array of Christian resources like Bibles, books, music, Bible studies, home decor, children's resources, and so much more—all at competitive prices in a family-friendly environment.

Please stop by today to let us know how we can serve you. And mark your calendars for our Grand Opening Celebration, which runs September 11 through October 9 with guest appearances from Bob, Larry, and LarryBoy from VeggieTales and Hermie from Hermie and Friends.

We have five stores to serve you:

Edina 952-927-7106
Woodbury 651-738-9200
Coon Rapids 763-252-1961
Maple Grove 763-420-3883
Burnsville 952-435-8600

Logos Bible Software

Logos 4 is robust enough for a pastor's professional life, but easy and intuitive enough for his personal life as well. Logos 4 removes time-consuming hindrances so you can get right to the task of serious Bible study. It delivers faster and smarter searching, insights from your favorite author, and Greek and Hebrew tools that are designed for those who might not have had any training in the languages.

With things like passage analysis delivering an HD look at the grand narrative, Biblical People, Places, and Things delivering graphics that can easily be dropped into a presentation slide, and even an opening homepage that reads like an online newspaper delivering content from books that a pastor might not know he even had in his collection. So, Logos 4 delivers a powerful solution to pastors that is flexible and fits around the way they study the Bible.

Another thing Logos delivers is hands-on, personal presentations. With a large and talented national presentation team, Logos can come to your church and help you equip pastors, leaders, and laity. Check out a little about what Logos can do for you at logos.com/training

Gaba Bible Institute

Gaba Bible Institute will be sponsoring the Russian interpretation at this year's national conference.

Africa needs leaders!—specifically, Christian leaders with a heart to share the gospel and compassion of Christ in the midst of pain and suffering. Gaba Bible Institute is an accredited evangelical Bible college located in the heart of East Africa that exists to train such leaders.

GBI opened its doors in 2007 with 35 students from Uganda, Congo and Rwanda. Today GBI now has 135 students from 9 African countries and over 60 alumni serving throughout East and Central Africa. To learn more about how you can participate with GBI in equipping Africa's leaders please watch our 2 minute video.

95.3 Praise FM

95.3 Praise FM is a radio ministry in Minneapolis, MN dedicated to changing the way that people, churches and cities worship. Originating in Osakis, MN in 1985, Praise FM has grown from one station to four, with 95.3 Praise FM going on the air in November 2008.

In addition to our ministries in Minnesota and the Dakota's, Praise FM has a specific heart for the nations and partners with ministries in Sweden, Africa, and the Cayman Islands. The 95.3 Praise FM signal is also streaming live online for people to listen from anywhere in the world. Within the past few months, people tuned in from 96 different nations and 42 language groups. They have seen that worship crosses generations, denominations and even language barriers.

The heart of 95.3 Praise FM is for listeners to experience the presence of God through the music and the hearing of God's word. Our prayer is that this encounter would result in 3 things:

A desire for God in personal daily worship
A heart to honor God by living under authority and in community within the Church
Obedience to God as a ministry to our families, workplace and community

Covenant Eyes

You know that the Internet is enticing your family to conform to the world. You can help renew your family's mind with these five action points. Read more.

Pioneers

Pioneers teams are passionate about seeing God glorified by churches being planted among Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, tribal and unreligious people groups. As a sponsor of the 2010 Desiring God National Conference, we look forward to connecting with students, pastors, families and all those interested in exploring how they can expand the Kingdom among the unreached—both here and abroad.

The Horizontal Dimension of Personal Breakthroughs

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:30:00 -0500

(Author: Tyler Kenney)

This is the third and final video John Piper made before his leave. It is about experiencing spiritual breakthroughs through the gifts of other believers. (See the first one on justification and the second one on loving others.) It ends with some implications for how we do small groups.

Scroll down to read an edited transcript of the video.

The following is an edited transcript of the video.

I've been thinking a lot recently about relationships and about the way you being gifted one way and me being gifted another way relates to answers in prayer, or non-answers in prayer, or breakthroughs in struggles in life, or non-breakthroughs.

Here's what I'm thinking, and I just offer this to you to think about: suppose you've been praying about an issue in your life, say some intractable sin that doesn't seem to go away. You don't get the victory that you think you should have. You keep fighting it and that's an evidence that you're born again. And that's good, because none of us is without sin, and we have an Advocate and so we fight on.

But you'd like to see more victory. You've been praying for years and things haven't changed.

Now we think about possible reasons why God doesn't give answers, and sometimes we think of timing: "Well it's just not the time yet. He's storing all my prayers up in a bottle. He's going to pour the prayers out in due time. And so the time will come."

And we have Joseph in the Bible who, no doubt, for 13 years was praying, "Lord, why was I sold into slavery? Why has it taken 13 years for me to discover the reason for all this pain in my life?" Then suddenly he discovers that he is going to be vice president of Egypt, he's going to save his family from starvation, he's going to be the heir of the Messiah—and now it all makes sense! But in those 13 years it didn't.

But could it be that there are other reasons besides timing issues for why we don't get certain victories in answer to prayer? Here's the new idea. I'm sure its not new to everybody, but its been fresh to me.

What if God has given a gift to another person in your small group or in the church, a gift of healing, or discernment, or knowledge, or miracles (I'm taking the list from 1 Corinthians 12)? You've been struggling with something. It could be physical. It could be psychological. It could be spiritual. It could be sin. Or it could be non-moral. And you're not getting anywhere. Could it be that God has a gift out there for you? And the gift is supposed to come not directly, vertically, in answer to your prayer in your little private room, "Lord fix me right now," but rather it's supposed to come through another person?

Because I can't think of any reason why God would create such a thing as spiritual gifts in the church if that were not the case. There are gifts of knowledge, discernment, miracles, faith, and healing that he means for you to have, but somebody else has the gift and you're not asking for the gift.

The implication is that in our small groups we're just really honest and we confess, "You know, I've been praying about this issue for a long time and God has seen it fit to this point not to give me the answer. And I'm just wondering that maybe he is waiting till I humble myself and come to you and say, ‘Would you pray for me and ask God whether you might have the gift of healing or the gift of the knowledge I need? Or the gift of faith, or whatever that will get a breakthrough for me?'"

So I just commend to you to reread 1 Corinthians 12-14 and think about the horizontal dimension of personal breakthroughs. God created a church! He didn't just create a series of individuals who go vertical with him and never take that vertical gifting, power, love, insight, and faith and bend it out horizontally to touch other people.

Lets grow together in this. Let's avail ourselves of miracles, power, faith, knowledge, and discernment from others that God may have for us but we have not felt because we have not gone to the other people in a kind of community relationship or small group and asked.

Media from Our Interview with Tullian Tchividjian

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 21:45:00 -0500

(Author: Tyler Kenney)

Below is the video from last Wednesday's DG LIVE broadcast with Tullian Tchividjian. You can also download the audio.

Scroll down to whet your appetite with some of the juicier quotes we captured during the broadcast.

"Flight from God always leads downward and never culminates in vivacious life."

"The story of Jonah is the story of all of our lives . . . That's why the message of the gospel is so crucial even after we're saved."

"The greatest hindrance to gospel advancement is not idols outside the church but those inside."

"Don't ever create division in your church, ever."

"Legalism and liberalism are equally toxic."

"Imperatives minus indicatives equals impossibility."

"We actually obey more when we realize that our acceptance with God is based on Jesus and not us."

"We live against worldliness for the sake of the world."

Register for THINK Before Thursday

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:15:00 -0500

(Author: Tyler Kenney)

Register for our National Conference before midnight tomorrow night and save $15. On September 2nd the price goes from $160 to $175.

There are only about 500 seats left, so sign up while there's still room!

Are Exorcisms a Thing of the Past?

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 06:30:00 -0500

(Author: Tyler Kenney)

How are we to wage spiritual warfare today? Should we still cast out demons, like Jesus and his apostles occasionally did?

John Piper addresses this question in today's Ask Pastor John. (Scroll down to read a transcript.)

The following is an edited transcript of the audio.

Do you believe in casting out demons? How would you go about it?

I do, and I think there is a steady state, normal way to go about it from 2 Timothy 2:24-26. And I think occasionally there is what David Powlison would call an ekballistic form. David doesn't think that is the normal way to do ministry, and we may or may not see things eye to eye there.

So I would say, occasionally you see a manifestation of demonic power that is so in your face and so possessive and controlling of a person's life that an extraordinary intervention and exorcism is called for.

I've been involved in one in my life—only one. But I've read about others and it is much more common on the mission field, of course, where you are moving immediately into places where they are more explicitly demon-driven than we are explicitly demon-driven here.

The steady state, ordinary way of bringing people out of the clutches of the devil is described in 2 Timothy 2 where it says, "Teach with gentleness, correct your opponents in love. God may perhaps grant them to repent and come to a knowledge of the truth and be delivered or escape from the power of the evil one who had taken them captive." That's a paraphrase. So clearly in that passage, teaching and love and patience and God's sovereignty—maybe he'll intervene—is the normal way that Timothy is being told to free people from the will and the bondage of the devil.

I don't think in order to be seriously engaged in spiritual warfare (where you are freeing people from the powers of the evil one), you have to do exorcisms week in and week out. You have to be a faithful, loving, humble, and repenting teacher—a lover of people. Satan is a liar and therefore he will not abide truth. He is a murderer, and therefore he will not abide love. So if you are a truth-giver and a deep, self-sacrificing lover, you will win.

That text from Revelation 12:11—"They overcame the devil by the blood of the lamb, for they loved not their lives even unto death"—what does that say? You overcome the devil by the gospel, by believing you are covered by the blood. You overcame by applying and teaching and preaching the blood of Christ, and then by being so sacrificially dedicated to people's lives that you are willing to die rather than run away from a situation. When that happens, when martyrs covered by the blood loving people happens, Satan is defeated.

So there are lots of ways, at least the three that I'm describing here. This teaching way, this self-sacrificing, gospel way, and this occasional exorcistic way.

Demons are real, Satan is real, and every pastor should do a serious study of the devil and of his ways and of demons, and decide how he is going to deal with that. Because there is an attack on the church in various forms all the time.

Contrived Humility Vs. Humility from Faith

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:20:00 -0500

(Author: Mark Priestap)

Have you ever found yourself in prayer pleading a case before God when you suddenly get a sick feeling that either God is not listening or he's not willing to hear you? What do you do when that happens? Hopefully you haven't followed my example.

I have recently become painfully aware of a tendency of mine, when feeling inadequate to approach God, to try to bend his will through tears and contrite statements. Knowing that God will not despise a humble and contrite heart I've been seeking to make myself that way so that he would accept me and hear my pleas.

But there is a humbleness that does not flow from the gospel, and I frequently fall completely into its trap. It's the same humility that we see in men who flog and cut themselves and do other religious practices thinking that by these works God will finally hear their prayers. But true humility does not come through self-made regulations (Colossians 2:23).

The humility that pleases God (Psalm 51:17) isn't an outward show, but a response of faith to Jesus' work for us and nothing else. The place where we ought to go when we sense our unworthiness in prayer is straight to the cross where we put full trust in the righteousness of Jesus on our behalf, where he canceled the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands, nailing it to the cross (Colossians 2:14) .

We can be comforted when we pray, knowing that it is not our righteousness which gains us entrance into his presence (Hebrews 4:16), but that of Jesus, whose blood washes away the sins of all those who by faith trust in him alone.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:1,2)

Strangely enough, while writing this I saw that Tullian Tchividjian's recent book touches on this subject, as mentioned on the Crossway blog!

How Can God Decree Sin Without Sinning?

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 06:30:00 -0500

(Author: Tyler Kenney)

Jonathan Edwards offers his explanation. (See below for my attempt at restating him.)

That we should say, that God has decreed every action of men, yea, every action that they do that is sinful, and every circumstance of those actions . . . and yet that God does not decree the actions that are sinful as sinful, but decrees [them] as good, is really consistent.

We do not mean by decreeing an action as sinful, the same as decreeing an action so that it shall be sinful; but by decreeing an action as sinful, I mean decreeing [it] for the sake of the sinfulness of the action. God decrees that it shall be sinful for the sake of the good that he causes to arise from the sinfulness thereof, whereas man decrees it for the sake of the evil that is in it. (Miscellanies #85, paragraphing added)

In other words, God can decree an action that is sinful for a human to perform, because he decrees it for non-sinful reasons.

A sin is only sinful because of the attitude of the heart in doing it. When humans sin, we are by definition rebelling against God. But in ordaining human sin, God doesn't rebel against himself. Rather, he ordains our sins with good ends in mind, which makes the act of ordaining them not sinful, since the attitude of his heart is not rebellious but righteous.

Some biblical expressions that seem to support this understading are Genesis 50:20 and Romans 11:32.

Come to the BCS Convocation After Our National Conference

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 06:30:00 -0500

(Author: Tim Tomlinson)

As you know, the theme of this year's Desiring God National Conference is "Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God." As a life-long academician, this is a theme that is very important to me and one that is very timely as well. Perhaps you've wondered, "why this theme and why now?" There are several factors that have brought the centrality of this theme to the forefront.

1) This has been a hallmark of Pastor John's ministry from the beginning, as he was a professor before he was a pastor. It's understandable then that the desire to intimately know the Word of God and to think deeply about it so as to arrive at an understanding of him that transforms all of life has permeated his pastoral, speaking, and writing ministries all these years.

2) The need for training, educating, inspiring, and nurturing future leaders in the church has been present throughout his ministry life as exemplified by the seminary apprenticeship program he started during his first years at Bethlehem Baptist Church.

3) When the Lord called us to transform The Bethlehem Institute (TBI) into Bethlehem College and Seminary (BCS) two years ago, we felt the need to hold a special service dedicating this new institution to the Lord. This fall's DG conference theme was chosen, in part, to significantly coincide with this special service.

In addition, Pastor John's latest book, which will be released at the conference, also follows this same theme.

Therefore, in the confluence of these factors, we are holding Bethlehem College and Seminary's Inaugural Convocation at Bethlehem Baptist Church's downtown campus at 7PM Sunday evening, October 3rd, following the Desiring God National Conference. Dr. Albert Mohler will deliver the main address and Pastor John will be speaking also. Dr. Piper will be formally installed as chancellor during the convocation as will the president and faculty.

We would be honored and blessed if you would consider joining us for this culminating event—the inauguration of Bethlehem College and Seminary. Visit the BCS Booth during the National Conference to obtain a free ticket to the Convocation.

John Piper's Desires for Bethlehem During His Leave

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 06:32:00 -0500

(Author: Jeff Lacine)

Before John Piper began his eight month leave he expressed some of his desires for Bethlehem. Find out what they are in today's Ask Pastor John. (Scroll down to read an edited transcript.)

The following is an edited transcript of the audio.

What are the top 2 or 3 ways you hope that the church will grow while you are away on an 8 month leave?

First of all, I'm not thinking in terms of growth first. I'm thinking in terms of explosive experience of the fresh work of God. A revival isn't usually called growth. Growth is incremental, revival is sudden. My longing is that God would just show up in an unusual awakening of reviving power. I don't know what form it might take.

But I'm totally there with the question, because I believe in growth. I believe in the steady state work of the ministry.

I hope that everybody will be discerning whether John Piper has positioned himself in their heart as a faithful minister of the gospel to them or as an icon of whatever inappropriate kind. Let the church be cleansed and purified in my absence and say, "OK, it was nice to have John for these reasons, but God is God, and the Spirit is the Spirit, and the gospel is the gospel, and there are other people who can communicate those truths to us."

Just like I'm testing my heart to discern whether I'm addicted to or idolizing aspects of public life, I would like the church to grow in their mature freedom from an excessive dependence upon anything about me that's not gospel, that's not humble, that's not Godward. That's one thing.

Second, I hope they would grow in their confidence of the sovereign goodness of God. That they would grow in faith that God—Gideon-like—gets victories when it looks like we are in a time when, humanly speaking, we wouldn't. So faith is the issue there. More faith in God and less faith in John. More faith in God for doing all that needs to be done.

Third, I want the staff to feel a sense of confident, bold ownership of decisions that have to be made. Don't email me and don't call me up. If you need to hire a staff person, or if you need to make a decision about Sunday morning structure, or if you need to start a new service, just do what the collective wisdom of the elders says to do.

If you feel like my input is necessary, if you haven't got it after 30 years, then another email is not going to help (unless you are looking for some kind of control or constraint). I'm walking away from that kind of control. I don't want to exert immediate kinds of "No, don't do that." I've given 30 years of my life, this staff knows what I think, and they can finish my sentences. They can stir that into the mix and do what they want with it.

Responding to the Floods in Pakistan

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:55:00 -0500

(Author: Tyler Kenney)

This past month monsoon rains have caused flooding in Pakistan worse than any they've seen in 80 years. Here is a recent update on the situation from Frontiers and an opportunity for you to join with them in showing the love of Christ:

Beyond the over 1,600 people that perished in the flooding in the Northwest region of the country, there have been over 1.6 million others who have been left without food, water, shelter and basic healthcare. This group is in the most desperate position, as flooding has left only helicopter travel as a means of reaching the population. Because basic services have been terminated by the rushing waters, these men, women and children are confronted with survival needs that can't be met quickly enough by the Pakistani government.

Rioting and protests have erupted; foreign aid has been slow to arrive. However, Frontiers is strategically positioned in the region to provide food, water, shelter and healthcare to this distressed people.

Learn more.

Make a donation.

Register for Our National Conference by September 1

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 06:30:00 -0500

(Author: Tyler Kenney)

Register for this year's National Conference by Wednesday, September 1 and save $15. On September 2 the price goes from $160 to $175.

Seating is limited, so now is the time to act! Register now.

Theme:	Think: The Life of the Mind & the Love of God
Date:	October 1-3, 2010
Venue:	Minneapolis Convention Center
Location:	Minneapolis, Minnesota
Speakers:	Plenary Speakers — R. Albert Mohler, Jr., R. C. Sproul, Thabiti Anyabwile, Francis Chan, Rick Warren, John Piper Seminar Speakers — Randy Alcorn, Kevin DeYoung, Tullian Tchividjian, Matt Perman, N. D. Wilson

"Seeking Your Own" in Loving Others

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 06:30:00 -0500

(Author: Tyler Kenney)

Below is the second of 3 videos John Piper recorded just before taking his leave. In it he addresses the question of whether or not it is OK to seek your own gain in the way you love other people (see the first one about justification).

The following is an edited transcript of the video.

One of the issues in Christian Hedonism—which is the name I love to give to my philosophy of life and my understanding of the Bible—is that you read in 1 Corinthians 13:5, "Love seeks not its own." Another version says, "Love doesn't insist on its own way." But here comes John Piper saying that all of life is a relentless quest for my own joy in God, spilling over in love to people. How does that fit? It sounds like love seeks not its own and here you come and say, "Seek your own joy."

Is that a contradiction? Is this Bible verse against Christian Hedonism? Here is a way to think about it. Back up to verses 1-3, "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love I am a noisy gong and a clanging symbol. If I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and have all knowledge and have all faith so as to remove mountains and have not love, I am nothing." And then it says, "If I give away all that I have and deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing." Or the old version—"it profits me nothing."

Now what kind of argument is that? This is an argument that says, "Don't do that. Don't be the kind of person who gives away all that you have and who delivers your body to be burned lovelessly, because"—here's the argument—"you won't gain anything! Pharisees don't gain anything by trying to call all attention to their sacrificial labors when they are loveless inside. You want gain don't you? Then love authentically!" How does that argument work if love seeks not its own? See where I'm going? The argument is from gain, and yet it seeks not its own.

So here's the way I put it together: It is right to want our loving to be a certain kind of gain, and very wrong to want it to be another kind of gain. If my gain comes from stepping on you, manipulating you, exploiting you, being indifferent or insensitive to you, or using you, then I'm not loving. And it is this kind of gain being denounced in verse 5 with "Love seeks not its own." I don't seek my own at your expense.

What is the alternative? The alternative is that I seek my joy in your blessing. I seek my joy in your joy. I seek my joy in your salvation. I seek my joy in loving you as I long to be loved. That is the gain that verse 3 tells us we receive when we love. So I want to let verse five chasten me and say, "Be careful John Piper lest you take your Christian Hedonism to become a kind of selfish manipulation and exploitation of people."

But I don't want to let verse 5 undermine the truth that God wants us to seek our joy in loving people. You know as well as I do that if someone is loving you in a begrudging way, like, "I really don't want to do this for you, but I'm a Christian and I'm supposed to, so I'll do it," you don't feel very loved. You don't feel very loved when they are dutifully helping you fix your flat tire.

But, if they say, "You know what, it is my delight to do this for you. I just get a lot of joy out of seeing you get helped"—when someone says that to you, and you sense that they really do enjoy blessing you and putting themselves out in order that you might be built up or strengthened or have some need met, you feel wonderfully loved. Christian hedonism goes for that. It says yes, don't renounce the pursuit of that joy! Find your joy in the joy of the beloved, because you get the best joy that way, and they really feel loved that way.

What God Is Doing Through Christian Hip Hop

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:00:00 -0500

(Author: Nick Laparra)

At the end of July, I went down to Chicago to be a part of Legacy Conference 2010. The theme of the conference was Solus Christus (Latin for Christ Alone). This year's conference drew over 1,000 people to the campus of Moody Bible Institute for a three-day conference consisting of plenary sessions, dozens of workshops and hip hop concerts, and an eight-hour outreach event on the last day of the conference.

Two of our National Conference speakers, Francis Chan and Thabiti Anyabwile, spoke at the conference. One of the most striking things about this conference is how doctrinally-centered and theologically-oriented all of the main sessions and the breakout sessions were. Legacy truly "exists to equip those that are serious about being disciples of Christ to make disciples for Christ."

I believe God is doing an incredible saving and disciple-making work through Christian Hip Hop. I spent a good part of my time there in awe of the army of Hip Hop artists that God has brought together to influence this culture with God-centered music and lyrics.

I was blessed to be able to interview several new friends while at Legacy. I'd like to introduce you to Katalyst, Odd Thomas, and Braille. These dudes love Jesus, his bride, and hip hop music. I seriously encourage you to watch these interviews, pray for these brothers, and support them by purchasing their music and spreading the word.

DG LIVE Tonight with Tullian Tchividjian

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:55:00 -0500

(Author: Tyler Kenney)

Final reminder that tonight we will be broadcasting a live interview with Tullian Tchividjian from 7-9PM CT. Join us!

You can submit your own questions for him using Twitter and the hashtag #dglive or by emailing them to dglive@desiringgod.org.

To learn more about Tullian, read our quick introduction to him or check out some of his resources.