16
Why Do We Praise?
I am absolutely loving the book Desiring God! And as you can tell from a couple of my previous posts the subject of Joy has been on my spirit lately. The following is a phenomenal excerpt. Are we slowly putting together an ingredient list for Joy?
“But the most obvious fact about praise – whether of God or any thing – strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honor. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless (sometimes even if) shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it. The world rings with praise – lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game – praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars. I had not noticed how the humblest, and at the same time most balanced and capacious, minds praised most, while the cranks, misfits and malcontents praised least…
I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: “Isn’t she lovely? Wasn’t it glorious? Don’t you think that magnificent?” The Psalmist in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about. My whole, more general, difficulty about the praise of God depended on my absurdly denying to us, as regards the supremely Valuable, what we delight to do, what indeed we can’t help doing, about everything else we value.
I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.” (C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, 93-5)
“There is the solution! We praise what we enjoy because the delight is incomplete until it is expressed in praise. If we were not allowed to speak of what we value and celebrate what we love and praise what we admire, our joy would not be full. So if God loves us enough to make our joy full, He must not only give us Himself; He must also win from us the praise of our hearts – not because He needs to shore up some weakness in Himself or compensate for some deficiency, but because He loves us and seeks the fullness of our joy that can be found only in knowing and praising Him, the most magnificent of all Beings. If He is truly for us, He must be fore Himself!” (John Piper, Desiring God, 49)
10
Joy… The Key to Worship?
I can’t fully explain it right now, but for some reason the Lord has really been working on me. It all actually began a couple of years ago, but the intensity has really seemed to increase dramatically during the past six month – even more during the past few weeks. My prayer is simply that I’ll be able to keep pace!
Earlier this year I remember struggling with the thought that the last time I truly felt a steady and consistent “joy” in my life was back in my college days at SBU. The culmination of that mental journey was an article that I titled Repentance… The Key to Joy? And once again I may be diving into this one a little early, because it is very new in my mind and spirit, but I often find it helpful to write my thoughts down.
My new favorite preacher is John Piper. He is the founder of Desiring God and the Pastor for Preaching of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I’ve been listening to his sermon podcasts while in my car for a few months now, and his enthusiasm for Scripture and Truth has forced me down this path of searching for more depth in my relationship with God. This newly found desire to become more passionate myself has naturally led me to his book which is appropriately titled Desiring God.
In the book (and his podcasts) he has introduced me to the phrase Christian Hedonism. I recall feeling a tad uncomfortable when I first heard the phrase; my initial response was that it seemed like an oxymoron – I’ve always viewed Hedonism as a bad thing! But now this Piper guy has me baffled, and yet in my bewilderment I’m being exposed to what very well may be becoming a reformation of my personal faith structure.
C.S. Lewis says, God in the Psalms is the “all-satisfying Object.” Psalm 16:11 states, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (ESV) If it is true that God is all-satisfying, then is it also true that to not enjoy God is dishonoring to him? Piper responds, “I must pursue joy in God if I am to glorify Him as the surpassingly valuable Reality in the universe. Joy is not a mere option alongside worship. It is an essential component of worship.”
The transformation has just begun, and I look forward to future posts.
The chief end of man is to glorify God
by
enjoying Him forever.
22
Repentance… The Key to Joy?
Ok, so I’m biting off way more than I can chew with this one because I’m no where close to the understanding that I need to be writing on this. However, I don’t know if I will ever have that level of understanding! Therefore, I’m going to tackle it anyway.
About six months ago I found myself in a very introspective state and took some time to just be quiet and ponder my place in life. A single thought led me into this state:
Something is missing in my life… like a joy or something.
Why is it that there was a time in my life when I experienced more joy than I am today? I can remember thinking of a number of reasons, circumstances, and life situations that I felt may have been having that negative impact in my life. Things like not pursuing God with the same fervor that I had as a young and idealistic believer. Or maybe back then my biological time clock wasn’t shedding as bright of a light on my lack of being loved by a woman. And possibly the fact that I had yet to experience my big business failure that put me in a hole that I’m still digging out of to this day. More likely, a combination of those three (plus who knows what else).
Fast forward to today… Where am I right now?
I no longer believe that the lack of joy that I’ve been experiencing is a result of the aforementioned things. Sure, those items may be downers, but I don’t believe they lead to a lack of joy. You see, those things are all worldly in nature. My religious discipline ought not affect my joy. My singleness ought not affect my joy. And my financial condition ought not affect my joy. The blood of Christ is beyond all of those! And even those that I did not mention.
Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ…willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance. – Martin Luther, The Ninety-Five Theses
Is it possible that having a backwards view of repentance could lead to a life void of true joy?
The following is an excerpt from Tim Keller’s article titled “All of Life is Repentance.”
“In religion we only are sorry for sin because of it’s consequences to us. It will bring punishment – and we want to avoid that. So we repent. But the gospel tells us that sin can’t ultimately bring us into condemnation (Rom 8:1.) It’s heinousness is therefore what it does to God – it displeases and dishonors him. Thus in religion, repentance is self-centered; the gospel makes it God-centered. In religion we are mainly sorry for the consequences of sin, but in the gospel we are sorry for the sin itself.
“Furthermore, ‘religious’ repentance is self-righteous. Repentance can easily become a form of ‘atoning’ for the sin. Religious repentance often becomes a form of self-flagellation in which we convince God (and ourselves) that we are so truly miserable and regretful that we deserve to be forgiven. In the gospel, however, we know that Jesus suffered and was miserable for our sin. We do not have to make ourselves suffer in order to merit forgiveness. We simply receive the forgiveness earned by Christ. (1 John 1:8) says that God forgives us because he is ‘just.’ That is a remarkable statement. It would be unjust of God to ever deny us forgiveness, because Jesus earned our acceptance! In religion we earn our forgiveness with our repentance, but in the gospel we just receive it.
“Last, religious repentance is ‘bitter all the way down.’ In religion our only hope is to live a good enough life for God to bless us. Therefore every instance of sin and repentance is traumatic, unnatural, and horribly threatening. Only under great duress does a religious person admit they have sinned – because their only hope is their moral goodness. But in the gospel the knowledge of our acceptance in Christ makes it easier to admit we are flawed (because we know we won’t be cast off if we confess the true depths of our sinfulness.) Our hope is in Christ’s righteousness, not our own – so it is not so traumatic to admit our weaknesses and lapses. In religion we repent less and less often. But the more accepted and loved in the gospel we feel the more and more often we will be repenting. And though of course there is always some bitterness in any repentance, in the gospel there is ultimately a sweetness. This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. The more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God’s grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God’s grace and acceptance in Christ, the more able you are to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the true dimensions of your sin. The sin under all other sins is a lack of joy in Christ.
“If you clearly understand these two different ways to go about repentance, then (and only then!) you can profit greatly from a regular and exacting discipline of self-examination and repentance.”
I’m beginning to think that viewing and practicing a gospel-oriented repentance may very well be the key to joy. I pray the Lord will help me see clearly on this journey. And beyond that even, I pray the Lord will help me find that long lost joy.
