Enslaved yet accountable

The person thus enslaved to sin cannot believe without the miracle of regeneration, but is nevertheless accountable because of the evil of his heart, which disposes him to be unmoved by reasonable motives in the gospel.

(Piper, John, and Jonathan Edwards. God's Passion for His Glory: Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards, with the Complete Text of The End for Which God Created the World. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2006. Print. 88)

God's display of glory

One of the nagging questions of theology that continues to present profitable opportunities to think hard is the existence of sin. Why did God allow it in the first place? This is a tough question, but John Piper has helped me partially answer this. I believe, as per my understanding of Piper's stance on this, that the world we live in will reflect the glory of God in the highest possible degree. That is, at the end of time when all is said and done, God will be revealed as more glorious then He would be in any other world. Christ's atonement will be seen with the uttermost glory possible. So, somehow, sin had to be part of that picture. Along those lines, I present this quote from Jonathan Edwards which declares that it is a more glorious work to uphold our souls in grace than it would have been had we never sinned to begin with; the display of God's grace and glory is greater in our sinning then it would be in an Edenic innocence.

So 'tis a more glorious work of power to uphold a soul in a state of grace and holiness, and to carry it on till it is brought to glory, when there is so much sin remaining in the heart resisting, and Satan with all his might opposing, then it would have been to have kept man from falling at first, when Satan had nothing in man. Jonathan Edwards, Sermon - God Glorified in Man's Dependence

Roots and a trunk

"In other words, the strong timber of the tree of evangelicalism has historically been the great doctrines of the Bible—God’s glorious perfections, man’s fallen nature, the wonders of redemptive history, the magnificent work of redemption in Christ, the saving and sanctifying work of grace in the soul, the great mission of the church in conflict with the world and the flesh and the devil, and the greatness of our hope of everlasting joy at God’s right hand. These things once defined us and were the strong fiber and timber beneath the fragile leaves and fruit of our religious experiences. But this is the case less and less. And that is why the waving leaves of success and the sweet fruit of prosperity are not as auspicious to David Wells and Os Guinness as they are to many. It is a hollow triumph, and the tree is getting weaker and weaker while the branches are waving in the sun." (John, Piper,. God's Passion for His Glory. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway, 1998.78)


I want there to be a GREAT trunk and DEEP roots supporting and nourishing my religious experience. I want the experience too, but, not without the foundation.

The most Valuable valuing what is of most value!

Consider how greatly valuable you are in God's estimation. He valued you with such high regard that he created you! He so highly valued your worth that He did not immediately punish you for your sins which would have be justly done. He sent His Son to the cross to die for sins of people whom He considered valuable. He is preparing a place where His own can spend eternity with Him. All this is amazing; the gracious actions of a merciful and loving God. But there something else I would like you to consider.

DICTATE FOUR of SECTION ONE, in Jonathan Edwards' "The End for which God Created the World", is this:

God's moral rectitude consists in his valuing the most valuable, namely, himself.

We like to think God makes much of us. And in some senses, as discussed above, He does. But when we take a broader perspective of the reality of things, we see God makes much of himself. Edwards goes on,

All things else, with regard to worthiness, importance, and excellence, are perfectly as nothing in comparison of him. And therefore, if God has respect to things according to their nature and proportions, he must necessarily have the greatest respect to himself. It would be against the perfection of his nature, his wisdom, holiness, and perfect rectitude, whereby he is disposed to do everything that is fit to be done, to suppose otherwise.

And so we see that God's valuing of beings takes into account their worthiness and excellency. And it is no surprises, with excellency and worthiness taken into consideration, that all beings pale in comparison.

The worthiness of others is as nothing to his; so that to him belongs all possible respect.

To him belongs the whole of the respect that any intelligent being is capable of.

So, Edwards concludes this dictate of reason with the following:

Hence it will follow, that the moral rectitude of the disposition, inclination, or affection of God CHIEFLY consists in a regard to HIMSELF, infinitely above his regard to all other beings; in other words, his holiness consists in this.

From God's Passion for His Glory (John, Piper,. God's passion for His glory living the vision of Jonathan Edwards, with the complete text of The end for which God created the world. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway, 1998. Print.)

The sweet taste and rational knowledge

From God's Passion for His Glory (John, Piper,. God's passion for His glory living the vision of Jonathan Edwards, with the complete text of The end for which God created the world. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway, 1998. Print.)

It is not in vain to do rational work, Edwards says, even though everything hangs on God’s free gift of spiritual life and sight. The reason is that “the more you have of a rational knowledge of divine things, the more opportunity will there be, when the Spirit shall be breathed into your heart, to see the excellency of these things, and to taste the sweetness of them.”(43, Edwards quote from The Religious Affections, p. 120)

I am continually reminding myself, as I read theological books and listen to gospel-centered preaching a participate in (hopefully) rational discussions about God-things, that it should be preparing me, more and more, to taste the sweetness and see the excellency of the very things I am reading, hearing, and discussing. Help me Holy Spirit! Help me to see with clarity of vision the excellency of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Help me to taste and savour the sweetness of the cross and the One who hung on it for my redemption.

Implications of an Edwardian Vision

From God's Passion for His Glory by John Piper (John, Piper,. God's passion for His glory living the vision of Jonathan Edwards, with the complete text of The end for which God created the world. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway, 1998. Print.)

"Thus the exhibition of God’s glory and the deepest joy of human souls are one thing. The implications of this are breathtaking. I mention fifteen in acorn-form. Any one of them could become a great oak tree with book-length branches." (33)

Two Great Passions Not at Odds
Implication #1. God’s passion for his own glory and his passion for my joy in him are not at odds.
God Is Committed to the Joy of the Saints
Implication #2. Therefore, God is as committed to my eternal and ever-increasing joy in him as he is to his own glory.
The Essence of God’s Love for You
Implication #3. The love of God for sinners is not his making much of them, but his graciously freeing and empowering them to enjoy making much of him.
What Is the Essence of True Virtue?
Implication #4. If the exhibition of God’s glory and the deepest joy of human souls are one thing, then all true virtue among human beings must aim at bringing people to rejoice in the glory of God.
Sin Is Sacrilege and Suicide
Implication #5. It also follows that sin is the suicidal exchange of the glory of God for the broken cisterns of created things.
Ever-increasing Joy in an Inexhaustible God
Implication #6. Heaven will be a never-ending, ever-increasing discovery of more and more of God’s glory with greater and ever greater joy in him.
When Creatures Refuse to Be Happy in God
Implication #7. Hell is unspeakably real, conscious, horrible and eternal—the experience in which God vindicates the worth of his glory in holy wrath on those who would not delight in what is infinitely glorious.
Evangelism: Laboring to Waken a Taste for God
Implication #8. If the exhibition of God’s glory and the deepest joy of human souls are one thing, then evangelism means depicting the beauty of Christ and his saving work with a heartfelt urgency of love that labors to help people find their satisfaction in him.
Preaching: Luring out People to God
Implication #9. Similarly, Christian preaching, as part of the corporate worship of Christ’s church, is an expository exultation over the glories of God in his word, designed to lure God’s people from the fleeting pleasures of sin into the sacrificial path of obedient satisfaction in him.
Corporate Worship: The Heart Hunger That Honors God
Implication #10. The essence of authentic, corporate worship is the collective experience of heartfelt satisfaction in the glory of God, or a trembling that we do not have it and a great longing for it.
World Missions: A Passion for God’s Glory in the Joy of All Peoples
Implication #11. If the exhibition of God’s glory and the deepest joy of human souls are one thing, then world missions is a declaration of the glories of God among all the unreached peoples, with a view to gathering worshippers who magnify God through the gladness of radically obedient lives.
We Get the Help, He Gets the Glory
Implication #12. Prayer is calling on God for help; so it is plain that he is gloriously resourceful and we are humbly and happily in need of grace.
Scholarship: Seeing and Savoring God in Every Branch of Learning
Implication #13. The task of Christian scholarship is to study reality as a manifestation of God’s glory, to speak about it with accuracy, and to savor the beauty of God in it.
God Is Glorified When Death Is Gain
Implication #14. The way to magnify God in death is by meeting death as gain.
The Great Duty: Be as Happy as You Can—in God Forever
Implication #15. Finally, if the exhibition of God’s glory and the deepest joy of human souls are one thing, then, as C. S. Lewis said, “It is a Christian duty, as you know, for everyone to be as happy as he can.”