Desiring God Conference

So I just got home from my first real conference that wasn't associated with Campus Crusade for Christ. Ryan and I drove up to Minneapolis to hit up the annual Desiring God National Conference, which is part of Pastor John Piper's extensive ministry. This year's conference theme was The Power of Words and the Wonder of God. I remember the title so well thanks to Dr. Piper's humorous explanation of it this morning.

If the theme title peaks your interest at all, I am going to suggest you watch (not just listen, but watch) these three videos I am listing below from the speakers this weekend. These three were the most powerful for me personally and from those with who I have chatted the consensus seems to agree with me. I do hope you will take the time to watch to at least the first, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson, who hails from Scotland so you will at least get a sweet accent to hear the entire time. If you have the time, however, watch not only to these three, but to all of them. They are all free so you might as well take advantage of them!

Dr. Sinclair Ferguson: "The Tongue, The Bridle, The Blessing"
Mark Driscoll: "How Sharp the Edge: Christ, Controversy, and Cutting Words"
Paul Tripp: “War of Words: Getting to the Heart for God’s Sake”

For a little humor you can also check out the first speaker panel, where Driscoll gives Dr. Piper a "special" gift.

I am very thankful for all the speakers and their unique contribution to this really amazing conference. God used them, the worship through music, and the conversations about the conference in amazing ways that I am just now beginning to unpack. I was able to get away to a nice coffee shop today in Stillwater, MN, which is right on the St. Croix River. During that time I was able to flesh out things regarding my calling, as I look more into that, and particularly how Dr. Ferguson's idea of "taming the tongue through the ministry of the Word in our hearts" plays a role--or lacks a role for that matter--in my life. I was convicted of my sin, and convinced of His grace this weekend. Christ was very much exalted and I hope that you will listen to these talks that He may be exalted through you as well.

By His Grace.

"I Don't Feel Like Reading The Bible..."

...But how do you really feel? The summer is an enormous challenge for so many college students who follow Jesus. All students I know are relieved when school is finished in May, looking forward to the good, quality time they will get to read and reflect throughout the summer. Regardless of how much is actually on one's plate during the summer, it is significantly slower paced than the fall or spring for most. But as the days and the weeks go by most find themselves not getting in the Word as much as they thought. The logic goes something like this:

I get up at 10:00 am with nothing to do, so that means I can spend time in the Bible later...I mean I've got nothing today except catching that TNT movie at noon and possibly the reruns of classic Real World episodes...I can read the Bible later...I don't feel like doing it right now...it's 7:00 pm and my parents want to go to dinner...it's 10:00 and my friends want to hang out...it's 1:00 am and I'm tired...I'll read the Bible tomorrow...it's too late to do it now and I don't feel like spending only 5 minutes...ummm...the summer's over...what the ????........

The same thing happens to countless students who return home from around the world after serving on a Campus Crusade Summer Project where they experienced ridiculous community, extreme highs in their walks with Jesus, and where they labored hard for His Kingdom, witnessing His Spirit move in the lives of people who never knew Him before. But when they get home they fall into some kind of dark abyss-time-warp-thingy where weeks go by and they can't remember a thing they did, though they know they spent very little alone time with Jesus.

And as the lens zooms out to cover the entire year we all know those times where it just seems like Jesus isn't there, the Bible is just another book, and we don't feel like reading it, period. It could be throughout the day; it could be for an extended period of time. But I say almost the same exact words each time: "I don't feel like doing that right now."

But I was challenged with a different perspective this morning while reading Desiring God. Piper's context is a little different as he is challenging the idea that "love is not what you feel, but what you do." Here is what he says:

One thing is for sure: Love cannot be equated with sacrificial action! It cannot be equated with any action! This is a powerful antidote to the common teaching that love is not what you feel, but what you do. The good in this popular teaching is the twofold intention to show (1) that mere warm feelings can never replace actual deeds of love (James 2:16; 1 John 3:18) and (2) that efforts of love must be made even in the absence of the joy that one might wish were present. but it is careless and inaccurate to support these two truths by saying that love is simply what you do, and not what you feel.

The very definition of love in 1 Corinthians refutes this narrow conception of love. For example, Paul says love is not jealous and not easily provoked and that it rejoices in the truth and hopes all things (13:4-7). All these are feelings!

The main point he is making is that every action has some kind of feeling that motivates it. We are not numb, unfeeling beings, like moving statues who are insusceptible to thought, physical sensations, and emotions. We are humans. We feel and oh how beautiful it is that we get to experience the enormous range of feelings God has given us!

Back to the matter at hand though. Often when we say to a friend or a mentor, "I don't feel like reading the Bible," that person usually responds with either, "That's okay. We are all like that sometimes" or "Well...do it anyway." I usually fall in the latter camp, recognizing that even if I don't feel like doing something sometimes doesn't mean it isn't good for me. Working out is an example of that. I hate it. Always have. But I do it anyway, even though I don't feel like it.

However, today I came to the realization--though it may not be startling to you, it was for me--that I am feeling something. Too often I focus on the negative, the not feeling and never think to ask, "What am I feeling?" I did that this morning, looking back on times when I didn't feel like reading the Bible, or praying, or going to church, or sharing the gospel, or whatever, and what it exposed was that I felt other things--I felt like checking my e-mail, I felt like seeing who was on Facebook, I felt like reading another book, I felt like watching TV, I felt like eating some food, I felt like sleeping, I felt like hanging out with friends. The feeling, which led to those actions, was actually--and this is tough to admit--delight. I originally thought it was laziness or complacency, but truth is in those moments when "I don't feel like reading the Bible" I actually think that whatever else I do instead I will be able to delight in more than the Scriptures themselves and that I will be more satisfied reading Drudge Report, watching Sportscenter, eating Frosted Mini Wheats, sleeping on my soft cotton sheets, or seeing the 470 friends who have recently changed their status updates, than I would actually reading the very Word of God! Now these things are not bad in and of themselves, but when they take away from our alone time with Jesus, it is time to really think about their place in our lives.

Two Questions from Psalm 19:10
Is God's Word really sweeter than the sweetest tastes in the world?

Is God's Word really more valuable than all the riches in all the earth?

If we answer with a resounding yes, then why do we often feel differently? Well because we are human. We feel. And in our feelings we often sin. And that's the point here as I wrap up.

In those times when you know you should be spending time in the Word, knowing that being in God's presence brings fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11) and that His Word is our delight (see all of Psalm 119), but just don't feel like it, ask yourself what you are really feeling. As you do so, call it for what it is--sin--and follow the example of David:

I acknowledged my sin to You,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,"
and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.
-Psalm 32:5

In other words, don't run from God. Run to Him! Bring your sin before Him and delight in the fact that He is willing to forgive you now, forever, and always because of Jesus Christ's blood which was shed on the Cross (1 John 1:7-9). And since you are already there before Him, drenched in the light of Christ, exposed, naked, and in need of Him, you might as well stay there and continue to delight in His presence! Enjoy His Word! Enjoy Him!

By His Grace.

Discovering Joy Is A Daily Process

I damned the fact that joy is the core of existence...
-Hank Rearden in Atlas Shrugged

"If I were were to ask you why you have believe in Christ, why you have become Christians, every man will answer truly 'for the sake of happiness.'
-Saint Augustine

Joy. Happiness. Delight. Jesus endured the Cross because before Him, right in front of Him, in the midst of His pain, His suffering, His taking on the wrath of God the Father, was pure, complete, and perfect JOY (Hebrews 12:2)! I am reading Desiring God by John Piper because as Atlas Shrugged was Ayn Rand's masterwork, Desiring God is Piper's and I have yet to read it. For me, this is the summer of masterworks I guess. I resolved to read this book at the beginning of the summer as I continually fight for joy in my own life. Piper's premise in this book, and for that matter all his books, is that God's ultimate purpose and our ultimate purpose are the exact same thing--His glory. The vehicle through which this is accomplished is also the same for both God and man--by enjoying Him. To put it Piper's words,

The chief end of man God is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.

and

The chief end of God is to glorify Himself by enjoying Himself forever.

Now I know that for some who read this it may seem controversial. From whatever background you may come from--Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Mormon, Jehovah's Witness, Hindu, spiritualist, agnostic, atheist--I suggest reading the book and allowing Piper to defend his premise from where he derives it, the Bible. Then make your conclusions. I am not writing to for the purpose of summarizing him.

However, I am writing about joy and my pursuit of it because I know that this is a pursuit for all of us. I think that most humanity discovers early on that the experience of joy--sheer, unadulterated joy--is something we desire at the very core of who we are. Some people suppress it, calling it sacrifice, kind of like Hank Rearden in Atlas Shrugged; some have it stripped away from them through abuse or addictions and they lose all sense of value of who they are as humans, performing basic instinctual functions, such as breathing, eating, etc., but aren't really alive anymore.

The phrase I mentioned in a previous post comes to mind here: Whatever makes you happy. That cop-out phrase not only exposes our lack of really wanting to dig deep into each others' lives, but it also reveals that we all desire joy and happiness. For most people my age, they think this will come through marriage. Once they find that right person, then...oh then...then they will be happy. But it comes in other forms: A nice house, the latest iPhone, a good movie, a successful job, a fun night out with friends, having a lot of sex. We all want to be happy in our own way.

But Augustine, who's Confessions shares that his own pursuit of joy looks very similar to that of a college-aged frat guy, realized that after looking around and living in this world, for this world, that joy can be found nowhere else in its most complete form than in that which is most enjoyable, namely God Himself.

How often do people hear that they will never find more joy in anything else--anything else--than they would in God? How often do Christians themselves know and live in this truth?

There are many who say, 'Who will show us some good?
Lift up the light of Your face upon us, O Lord!
You have put more joy in my heart
than they have when their grain and wine abound.
-Psalm 4:6-7

You make known to me the path of life;
in Your presence there is fullness of joy
at Your right hand there are pleasures evermore.
-Psalm 16:11

Fullness of joy is in God--Father, Son, and Spirit! This truth stands with a glaring, piercing eye toward a world that screams joy is found in everything else but God. I personally believe that the understanding and experience of joy in God Himself is missing immensely in the church today, both in practice and in teaching. I personally do not live in the joy of God much in my life, and confess how I am more often filled with anger, an anger that I am continually bringing before Him. But I fight and I press on, because I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. I know that deep down, because of Jesus Christ's beautiful work on the Cross, that I am filled with a joy that is glorious and inexpressible (1 Pet. 1:8). Knowing this, the daily process of discovering His joy and how He has moved me from death to life is what I go through.

So I must humbly ask some questions that are difficult because as Christians we like to come off as if we have it all together. I also fight (against myself and my pride) to be the first to say that I don't. The questions I am asking these days are,

Do I delight more in my anger than in God?

Do I actually enjoy being angry more than I enjoy Jesus?

On an intellectual level the answer is easily no, but I know my heart and I know seek to and delight in and enjoy my anger more than God Himself. These are difficult questions to ask because they expose what I want to hide and keep in the darkness. But as Christ is the "light of the world" (John 8:12) and by His light He exposes darkness, I trust these questions come by His grace and love. Though I am quick to anger, God is slow to it and abounding in love toward me (Psalm 103:8), because ultimately He doesn't want me to enjoy my anger; my Father wants me to enjoy that which is most enjoyable--Him. So He is patient, drawing me and countless others closer to Himself. I am immeasurably thankful for Him and how He deals with me.

But the questions can be asked for you as well. What do you seek to delight in more than God? What do you seek to enjoy more than Jesus? Do you even know or have you ever been taught that you were created to enjoy God, and by doing so, you actually experience the most fulfilling, most satisfying, most enjoyable joy you could ever know?

I pray that you will sincerely try to answer these questions as I have been doing. Your joy is at stake.

By His Grace.