Every now an again, it is my privilege to share with you what the Lord is speaking to me through the minsitry of others. As usual, this powerful quote comes from John Piper, of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN. It is an except from a sermon preached on Feb. 12, 2011, out of John chapter 7.The mark of [Jesus] truth is a passion for God-exaltation, not self-exaltation. "The one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true." For me to see that as a mark of his truth, my will has to join him in that. I have to will God-exaltation over self-exaltation. And this is not what I will by nature. I am like the brothers of Jesus and like the Jewish crowds. I want him to do his miracles in a way that endorses my own love for self-exaltation. I want him to endorse my Sabbath-keeping, my law-keeping, in a way that confirms my self-exaltation.
And my whole life, Jesus is saying, contradicts that way of willing. That is why you can't know me. You can't know me until your will is to do God's will—to do what the law most deeply demands, namely, to treasure (to love!) the glory of God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength, and your paralyzed neighbor as yourself.
Full sermon is available here.
