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God - the Goal of the Gospel
"... all the saving events and all the saving blessings of the gospel are means of getting obstacles out of the way so that we might know and enjoy God most fully. Propitiation, redemption, forgiveness, imputation, sanctification, liberation, healing, heaven - none of these is good news except for one reason: they bring us to God for our everlasting enjoyment of him.... And people who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there. The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God."
- John Piper, God Is The Gospel
Posted by John Samson on April 2, 2006 12:26 AM
Comments
I appreciated very much the last statement of this extract.
Glory to our supremely pure and loving God.
Francesco
Posted by: Francesco De Lucia | April 2, 2006 12:38 PM
Good quote. Very good. Getting to heaven should not be the Christian's primary motive - pleasing God should be.
A. Shepherd
Aspiring Theologian: A Reformed Theology Blog
Posted by: AspiringTheologian | April 2, 2006 03:25 PM
AMEN!
Posted by: Chris | April 2, 2006 03:51 PM
We are most fulfilled when we are most pleased in God. Those whose relationship with God is suspect or obviously non-existant see God's demands for He people to live for His glory as selfish, capricious and dictatorial. However, those who have drawn near to God, love Him deeply. Yes, they fear Him as they should, but their love for Him drives them to live for delighting in Him. This, in turn, deepens our relationship with Him by focusing our hearts on Him personally rather than the blessings He freely gives to them. All of this to say in agreement with AspiringTheologian, "Getting to heaven should not be the Christian's primary motive - pleasing God should be."
In Christ
Mike Ratliff
Posted by: Mike Ratliff | April 2, 2006 08:14 PM
This is why alarm whistles and bells go off in my mind when I hear or read about someone making a comment to the effect of "Oh Heaven will be so wonderful, it's where we get everything we want. It's a place where there is no more suffering or pain, where we'll live in a great big mansion and where there will be peace for us forever.
Unfortunately this seems to be a predominate attitude in peoples expressions concerning heaven. Even though there is truth in it, you can see the focus is on the self and not on God. Nowhere was God mentioned in this statement about heaven.
It seems that a clear biblical understanding of God's sovereignty has disappeared from the mainstream evangelical church and that a large majority of confessing Christians have put their faith in what Christ can do for them instead of what Christ demands of them.
Let us serve Christ with a humble and repentant heart and embrace this short quote by John Piper as sound biblical truth.
As the Westminster Larger Catechism states:
Question 1: What is the chief and highest end of man?
Answer: Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.
Or the Heidelberg Catechism:
1. Q. What is your only comfort in life and death?
A. That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood, and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. Therefore, by His Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Dave.
Posted by: Dave | April 3, 2006 01:24 PM