Think Wink.

Yesterday, I overheard a conversation while looking for a book at Barnes and Noble. I got there at the end of the conversation but I heard some very interesting views of religion. One person was saying that pastors or leaders of a synagogue or mosque are people who went to a school for a few years and now he/she is back to tell you how to live your life and to get paid for it. One person said that religion is just a philosophy and so he isn’t religious, he is spiritual. This man is very much a person of the times. This is a characteristic of post-modernism. People don’t want religion in terms of propositions and doctrines and traditions but want what religion gives in terms of psychology (I might have stated that wrong in terms of the psychology). They want the fulfillment of religion but they don’t want the demands of religion. So they become “spiritual.” But as I worked my way over there, they were packing up their things in this book club and were leaving. I was disappointed to say the least.

But I started thinking about what I would have said to them to show that Christianity is what they think it is. I couldn’t help but find myself echoing John Piper’s sermon, The Supremacy of Christ and Joy in a Postmodern World, from last years DG National conference on post-modernism. Piper writes,

What words might the Holy Spirit use to open someone to the truth that their inferiority to God is good news? Perhaps this: What if we asked someone, “Would you want to watch a football game where all the players were no better than you? Or watch a movie where the actors could act no better than you and were no better looking than you? Or go to a museum to see pictures by painters who could paint no better than you?” Why are we willing to be exposed in all these places as utterly inferior? How can we get so much joy out of watching people magnify their superiority over us? The biblical answer is that we were made by God to get our deepest joys not from being superior ourselves but from enjoying God’s superiority. All these other experiences are parables. God’s superiority is absolute in every way, which means our joy in it may be greater than we could ever imagine.

But I wanted to apply this to the pastors they were knocking. I thought to myself as I was driving back to Platte City, “If Jesus said in John 17, ‘But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves,’ and meant that we participate in his joy by understanding what his words mean, then it is the pastors’ job to make known to their congregations the meaning of the words that Jesus spoke (all the words of the Bible I would argue but that is another post) so that the joy that Jesus speaks of is made clear to them.” In other words, the preacher expounds and exposits the text of Scripture. Their exposition must illumine the the hearer and reader and viewer to the joy of Jesus. In this the people of God may have the joy of Jesus. I am to make known the joy of Christ to those who hear my preaching.

Why focus on the joy? That is the focus of Jesus here in the text of John 17:13 (cf. John 15:11). Jesus wants us to have joy. But not just any joy, the joy that he has. The Son of God, the Christ, whose joy is found in his perfect relationship with the Father and Holy Spirit. And furthermore, being of the same divine essence as the Father and Spirit, he too is a perfect being and thus the joy he has is perfect. Jesus spoke these words to us so that we might have perfect joy. Any other joy is sin. To have joy in love over having the joy that Jesus has is sin. To have joy in watching television over having the joy of Jesus is sin. The key word in understanding what I’m saying is having joy in something that far exceeds you having the joy of Christ. I’m not saying love, TV, friends or whatever can give joy is necessarily wrong. But the joy it gives must not exceed the joy that you have in and from Christ. Nothing should ever compete with Christ. If it does, whether your spouse and children or your job or sports, it is an idol and your god. It is more precious to you than Christ. That thing has hold of your affections. Therefore I must preach the joy that Christ offers in his teachings so that his joy can wrest the sinner from his/her idolatry and rebellion against God.

If I don’t do that, I believe I have failed in my task. Believers are not uplifted in their daily struggles during the week. They are not fed by the preaching that I offered. I have not effected/affected any change in them. They are in danger of falling into idolatry to meet that need of joy. So I must preach to that person the joy that they desperately need. To the unbeliever, they will still not see the exceeding joy of Christ and the immeasurable worth of Yahweh over all things in the universe. I still leave them in their sins and rebellion. They still stand over the pit of hell and God’s vindicating justice holding onto a string that is held in check by God’s grace. Jesus’ words of joy, John says in John 20:31, “are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” I need to show them the joy of Christ.

I am reminded of David Brainerd’s words in his journal,

It was surprising to see how their hearts seemed to be pierced with the tender and melting invitations of the gospel, when there was not a word of terror spoken to them (Aug. 6)…while I was discoursing near night to two or three of the awakened persons, a divine influence seemed to attend what was spoken to them in a powerful manner, which caused the persons to cry out in anguish of soul, although I spoke not a word of terror; but, on the contrary, set before them the fulness and all-sufficiency of Christ’s merits, and his willingness to save all that came to him; and thereupon pressed them to come without delay (Aug. 9)…Preached near night, after having spent some hours in private conference with some of my people about their souls’ concerns. Explained and insisted upon the story of the rich man and Lazarus, Luke xvi. 19-26. The word made powerful impressions upon many in the assembly, especially while I discoursed of the blessedness of “Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom.” This, I could perceive, affected them much more than what I spoke of the rich man’s misery and torments. And thus it has been usually with them. They have almost always appeared much more affected with the comfortable than the dreadful truths of God’s word. And that which has distressed many of them under convictions is, that they found they wanted, and could not obtain, the happiness of the godly; at least they have often appeared to be more affected with this, than with the terrors of hell (Nov. 30). (Jonathan Edwards, The Life and Diary of the Rev. David Brainerd)

So I make it my aim in preaching to so the exceeding joy of Jesus and in knowing Jesus. I hope you will too.

Related posts:

Another Tangent

Liberty, Sabbath, and the New Covenant Believer

Service for Miriam