{ Part of this blog is from a paper I wrote for seminary covering a book Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. }
What object occupies the first spot in God's heart?
What is it that God loves more than anything in the universe?
Answer: Himself
God's first love and most treasured object is Himself. God treasures His own glory higher than anything. God loves His own glory more than all things combined in the universe.
That may surprise you.
In fact, if we're honest, that may sound very prideful and ego-centric.
You may be asking, "Is it ok for God to love Himself and treasure Himself more than He loves me?" Or "Why does God get to worship Himself when we are told not to worship ourselves?"
For God to love any other object more than He loves Himself would be idolatry. The fact that that surprises some people actually reveals how much we have moved ourselves (mankind) into the center of God's affections.
In the last fifteen years of pastoring, one of the most prominent goals in everything I have done, whether preaching, teaching, discipling guys, trainings, or even our events, is to present a high and exalted view of God.
I was influenced most significantly with this purpose and idea from both John Piper and A.W. Tozer. I cut my teeth in “Christian Hedonism” with both The Pleasures of God and Desiring God by Piper. They were two of the first books I was given when I surrendered my life to Christ. Tozer’s The Pursuit of God also challenged me to see how cultural Christianity in America had allowed such a low and ignoble view of God to permeate our churches. The second chapter (in Piper’s style) is a snippet of the idea that God loves His own glory and therefore we should live for His glory in all we do. Again, this, for me, is an emphasis on proclaiming a high and exalted view of God instead of a high and exalted view of man.
Yes, God loves man, but we should be amazed and shocked that God loves us when we rightly understand His elevated holiness and complete “otherly” qualities when in comparison to us in our lowly state of depravity.
One of my favorite parts in Brothers, We Are Not Professionals is “the Holy Spirit is to burn in me what He has been burning with for all eternity: God’s love for God,” (6). This rightly corrects my thinking that I’m a spec in the ultimate plan and purposes of God. Yes, God loves me and values me immeasurably, (e.g. death of His holy Son-that much!) despite my sin and corruption, but God’s first and highest priority is His own glory. As Piper shares, it would be idolatrous of God to love or treasure anything other than or more than Himself.
God’s view of God must be insatiable. I need to ask the Holy Spirit for more of His own desire for God’s name to be hallowed and lifted up. I need to ask the Holy Spirit for more of His own love and pleasure in the Trinity to be forwarded to me. The Great Commandment (Matt. 22) is shaped by God’s own discretion, desires, and values. Another sentence that I believe is worthy of using as a filter through which we think is Piper’s question and answer:
“Why is it important to be stunned by the God-centeredness of God? Because many people are willing to be God-centered as long as they feel that God is man-centered. It is a subtle danger.”
Wow. That has implications from our theology all the way down to our practical outworkings of ministries. We must be careful of allowing our own minds, as well as those we shepherd, to love God as long as they believe God has us on a pedestal. This is clearly the motivating factor behind the prosperity gospel. It is interesting to see what happens to people’s view of God when their life comes unraveled. If, for long periods of time, I have ingested the idea that God’s sole purpose in existence is to provide me and my family with health, wealth, riches, material possessions, and comfort, then what happens when cancer puts a wrinkle in that? What happens when events hit my life that are completely opposite of those things?
Therefore, we must think hard and long on whether we are leading our own hearts or our people to have a love with God that is based on His own man-centeredness. That could filter the way we pray. That could filter the way we plan and strategize. That could filter the way we plant churches. That could filter the way we spend millions of dollars and hours on reaching unreached people groups. So, God’s love for His own glory has the potential to shift paradigms for everything we do.
Sankie P. Lynch
www.nbchurch.info
www.nbfamilies.info
sankie@nbchurch.info
John Piper Brothers, We Are Not Professionals
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