God at the Center

Think of the Bible as a work of literature. Who is the main character? Who is the protagonist? Abraham? Moses? David? Peter? Paul?

No. None of these.

The protagonist of the Bible is God.

The opening line of the Bible makes this clear: “In the beginning, God . . .”

Before all things – before there was a beginning – God is. He exists. And He chooses for the beginning to happen. He is not created; He creates.

Now, remember a bit of basic grammar. Look at this sentence: “The Panthers beat the Jets.” What is the subject of this sentence? Who acts? The Panthers. What is the verb in this sentence? What action is taking place? Beating. What is the object of the action? The Jets. Subject = Panthers, Verb = beat, Object = Jets.

So now consider the first several paragraphs of the Bible, Genesis 1. This chapter contains 42 active verbs (other than in sentences God speaks). Who is the subject of these active verbs? Who is acting? In 41 of these cases, God is the subject of the active verb (and in the 42nd, the earth fulfills God’s command).

God is the subject. God is the one who acts. God is the main character in this introduction to the Bible – and indeed, in the entire book. This book is centered on God.

Why does God act in Genesis 1? Why is He the subject of all these verbs? Why does He create anything?

The Bible tells us that God created the world to show His glory. Psalm 19:1 tells us this is true of the material universe: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” Isaiah 43:6 and 7 explain that mankind also is created for God’s glory: “Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory.” Later in the same chapter God speaks of “the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise” (Isaiah 43:21).

What does “created for my glory” mean? That last verse helps. The Bible uses the word “glory” to mean: “What makes an object good, or important, or interesting.” Creation tells us about God – about what makes Him good, important, and interesting. Creation exists – we exist – to display to others what God is like. And since God is fully praiseworthy, in order to fulfill that purpose, we must declare His praise, we must praise Him with all of our being.

Thus, Genesis 1, this first chapter of the Bible, must be God-centered. He is the one who acts. All He does, all His acts are for the praise of His own glory.

Friends, this is theme of the entire Bible. If we are His people, we are called to be God-centered. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We are to focus our every desire on Him. We are to say with the psalmist, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you” (Psalm 73:25, emphasis added). We are to focus our attention on Him: “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

It is easy to get sidetracked from this, isn’t it? It is easy to get wrapped up in the affairs of this world or even in Christian activity and end up violating the call to be God-centered.

This happens in other parts of our lives also. Consider school, at any level. What is the primary purpose of school? To learn! We could say that school is supposed to be Learning-centered. But do all students stay centered on learning?

  • The focus of one student is, “How can I impress that girl?”
  • The focus of another is, “How can I have fun today?”
  • The focus of a third is, “I hope our basketball team wins!”
  • The focus of a fourth is, “I want to do well on the SAT!”

None of these considerations is bad in and of itself. But all of them – even the focus on the test – can be a distraction from the central purpose of school: Learning. If the school is to fulfill its purpose, the focus must be first and foremost on learning.

We too are easily sidetracked from the purpose of our creation, both as individuals and as churches. We easily slip into becoming man-centered or activity-centered. For us to serve our main purpose, we must remember that God is the subject of all creation. He is the main character in the Bible – and thus in all of history. Our purpose is to magnify Him.

We as a church must remind ourselves of this time and again. That’s why our first core value is to be God-centered:

We value putting God at the center of all that we do. We put His glory and His honor first, asking in every decision, “Will this bring the greatest glory and praise to our God?”

May we fulfill this statement in all our acts as a church, and in each of our individual lives – so that we truly might live to the praise of His glorious grace (Ephesians 1:6).

[The sermon “In the Beginning – God!” on Genesis 1:1-2:3, preached 4/18/04, expands on these thoughts. Audio is here.]

To Desire God

[This devotion is based on one section of the July 21 sermon. Audio will be available at this link soon.]

We call ourselves Desiring God Community Church. Verses 25 and 26 of Psalm are therefore central to who we aspire to be:

Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Think of what these verses tell us concerning, first, this present life, and, second, our future life.

In this present life, we have many desires: We want security; we want joy and satisfaction; we want a sense of accomplishment, to feel like we have some importance; we want to be loved and cared for. And to the extent we have attained the objects of those desires, we don’t want to lose them. We don’t want to lose our strength, or our friends, or our family members, or our other joys.

Yet our bodies are weak and eventually wear out; in the vicissitudes of life we are always at risk of losing what we have; in addition, many of our desires are never fulfilled – and then, even when we attain what we think we desire most, so often we remain unsatisfied, longing for that unarticulated something that is still missing.

The psalmist recognizes this. Left to his own resources, his flesh and heart fail. His body loses strength and his thoughts and affections grasp for what he does not have. No matter what he might have, no matter what he might have attained, eventually he is dissatisfied and disgruntled.

But as he comes into the sanctuary, as he worships (Psalm 73:17), he sees God for Who He is. He encounters the reality of the one true God – and that reality strengthens and changes him.

He sees that today, in the midst of whatever trials and difficulties God’s people might face, God Himself is the strength of our hearts:

  • He lifts us up
  • He enables us to fight temptation
  • He listens to our cries
  • He comforts our souls
  • He answers our prayers
  • He accomplishes His work through us.

We see even more than the psalmist from our side of the Cross:

  • He sent His Son to die for us
  • He reconciled us to Himself through that death
  • He provides us in Christ with life and breath and everything pertaining to life and godliness
  • He works all things together for our good and His glory
  • He loves us as His own precious possession in Christ, hearing our prayers and giving us Himself.

So if we have Him – what else should we desire?

But note: When the psalmist says, “There is nothing on earth that I desire besides you,” he is not denying that he has the desires detailed above – for joy, satisfaction, health, accomplishment, or love. Rather, he is saying:

Now that worship has sobered me, I see: There is no joy apart from You, there is no satisfaction apart from You. I do not deserve, I do not earn anything good in this life – indeed, I only deserve and earn Your judgment on me. But worshiping You among Your people has made clear to me: Everything good in this life is an undeserved gift from you – life and breath and everything. If I have You, I have the source and fountain of all good. So there can be nothing I desire on earth apart from You.

That’s true now, in this present life. What about in eternity, in our future life?

The psalmist says these same truths hold even then, even in heaven: “Whom have I in heaven but You? … God is … my portion forever.”

That is, my great inheritance – what I can look forward to receiving – is God Himself.

What do you look forward to in heaven? There is an overflowing abundance of good promised to God’s people: Bodies that don’t grow weary and never wear out; reunion with loved ones who are in Christ; the opportunity to get to know giants of the faith who lived centuries before (or after!) us; knowing all of God’s people made perfect, without any sin, without even any wrong desires; all the goodness of material prosperity without selfishness or smugness.

Yet all that abundance of good cannot compare with the greatest good of knowing God, of knowing Jesus (John 17:3). God Himself is not only the source of all those other goods, but the One to Whom they all point. He opens the way for us to come to Him, He brings us to Himself in and through Christ, and He rejoices in us in Christ for all eternity. All things are from Him, through Him, and to Him (Romans 11:36). Jesus Himself is our peace (Ephesians 2:14), and in heaven in Him we have the true peace, the true shalom, of being part of God’s beloved family forever.

So the psalmist speaks this precious truth that we today can see even more clearly: Now and for all eternity, God’s people have Him – and in Christ, life-giving relationships with one another, with ourselves, and with the created order. All of that is true shalom.

Do you have this peace? Can you say with the psalmist, “Earth has nothing I desire besides You”? Do you recognize that far and away the greatest joy in eternity is knowing God?

Worship Him – and so desire Him above all else. In this way – and only in this way – will you find your greatest joy.

 

The Father’s Great, Secondary Love for His People

The June 30 sermon (available soon at this link) included as a heading, “God’s love for us is secondary to His love for His Son.” Let me expand on that point here, explaining why this is good news for all of God’s people. Indeed, this is the best news possible.

Consider Ephesians 2:4-7, part of one of the most well-known passages in Scripture. Here is that passage with some modifications. Without looking at the Bible, can you figure out what is different?

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive — by grace you have been saved — and raised us up and seated us in the heavenly places, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us. (Ephesians 2:4-7, modified)

How does that sound? Does that version capture the essential truths of the Gospel?

Many professing Christians act and think as if it does. But actually it greatly distorts Paul’s message, for it leaves out both the goal of salvation and the means. Paul actually wrote the following (underlining what was left out):

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved– and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7)

Five times in that short passage the Apostle highlights that our salvation is in Christ, for Christ, and because of Christ. We cannot leave out Christ without grossly changing his meaning. The church, redeemed humanity, is the Father’s love gift to the Son (John 17:6, 24). As Paul has already said in Ephesians, the Father’s purpose and plan is to unite all things in the Son (Ephesians 1:10); the Father has put all things under Him and then given Him as head to His people, the church (Ephesians 1:22).

So our salvation is not an end in itself. Nor is it the high point, the goal of God’s plan. Our salvation is part of God the Father’s great plan to sum up all things in the Son, to exalt His Name, to show what He is like.

And this indeed is the best news possible. The Father’s love for His people is an expression of His eternal, perfect love for the Son. The Father incorporates us into the Son; He therefore looks upon us with the same delight and favor with which He looks at the Son. He is well pleased with us because He is well pleased with the Son. He will never change His love for us because He will never change His love for the Son.

So don’t fall into the common error of thinking of salvation as all about us. Don’t ever leave out the Son when thinking of the Father’s love for us.

Instead, exalt the Son! Praise Jesus! Know that if you are in Him, you are eternally secure in the Father’s love for the Son. And that is the greatest love of all.