November 2002 Archives

This is beginning to become a habit I rather enjoy.

Meditation: 1 John 3:2-3 — Hope that Purifies

“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3)

Observation

John has spent a few verses explaining why we are children of God, and he will do so in more detail in chapter 4. But until then, he says that “the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.” (2:23b) So we are children of God, but he’s not sure exactly what our destiny is in detail in terms of what we will really become (3:2a), but he knows that we will be like Jesus because “we will see Him just as He is.” (3:2b)

He says that dwelling on that hope is essential. To what end? “Everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies Himself, just as He is pure.” (3:3) It seems like John is saying that seeing Christ as He is is either equated (the same thing as) or equals (results in) being like Him. Whatever the case, suffice it say that seeing Christ as He is and dwelling on Christ as He is is a tremendous foundation for purifying yourself.

Interpretation

Of course, we know that living a purified life is not an end in itself, but a sign of something more important. “For His name’s sake.” (2:12) If living a purified life were an end in itself, then the Mormons and other groups with high moral standards would be doing great. But a purified life that is the result of faith… that is crucial. That is what separates the child of God from all the children of the world. “And this is the victory that overcomes the world—our faith.” (5:4)

Living a purified life is an ultimate end of a believer, but not the chief end. In The End for which God Created the World, Jonathan Edwards explains that a chief end is an ultimate end, but not all ultimate ends are chief ends. I’ll paraphrase him.

A person may get in his car, fuel up with gas, head down I-35, arrive in a city, stay with his friends, and thus be satisfied with their fellowship. Filling up a car with gas is not a pleasant experience for someone to do unless it results in something greater. In this case, the person is undertaking a great many sequence of events (“subordinate ends,” he calls them) to achieve an end (ultimate), namely in this example, the satisfaction of fellowship. It is this goal that is pleasing in itself to the person, as all the others are merely means to this end. This is what Edwards would call an ultimate end: Something that is pleasing in and of itself. There are many ultimate ends a person desires, and there is a hierarchy of importance of these ends.

Among ultimate ends, there is one chief end. This is the highest ultimate end. This is the foundation that makes all the other ultimate ends enjoyable.

Tying all this philosophical meanderings together, we must fix our eyes on the prospect of knowing [i.e., delighting in] Christ. As the song says, “Knowing You, Jesus, Knowing You; there is no greater thing.” That is our chief end, through which all our ultimate ends ought to be in harmony. Because when we know Christ, we will become like Him, pure, holy, righteous. And in that satisfaction in Christ, God is equally glorified. Our chief end and His chief end are in perfect sync.

And this is God’s chief end in creation:

“God is glorified not only by His glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they should only see it. His glory is then received by the whole soul, both by the understanding and by the heart. God made the world that He might communicate, and the creature receive, His glory; and that it might be received both by the mind and heart. He that testifies his idea of God’s glory doesn’t glorify God so much as he that testifies also his approbation [An expression of warm approval] of it and his delight in it.” (Jonathan Edwards)

Conclusion — Why This All Matters

Have your hope fixed on Jesus. Literally, every day, spend some time consciously thinking about your future prospect of enjoying Christ with no inhibitions. He is infinitely lovely, so much more than the most lovely person you know. And in placing your hope in Him, you will live a life that is both pleasing to Him, and pleased in Him. This is why I say that faith is not mere agreement of the truth of Christ’s identity, but an embracing of the spiritual beauty of Christ. All of God’s promises to us to do us good and not evil are made good in Christ. Two verses drive this home:

“For as many are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.” (2 Corinthians 1:20)

“Let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews 12:1-3)

Fixed on the hope of Christ,

Rob

I present to you highlights from another meditation sent to Tim Elam. Sorry I haven’t updated more often, but it’s my hope these little thoughts will somehow cause you to rejoice in God all the more.

My Meditation: 1 John 2:12

I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake.

Observation

In 1 John 1:7-10, John mentions the fact that we receive forgiveness from our sins through the blood of Christ if we confess them. He also says that he writes this epistle so that the readers may not sin (2:2). He goes on to say that if we sin, we have an Advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous (2:1). On a side note, remember from my last email that righteousness could be very well defined as “To place supreme value on what is supremely valuable, with all the just actions that follow.”

I did not observe any ultimate end as to why forgiveness of sins is valuable in the text until 2:12. John says the reason why we have had our sins forgiven is for His name’s sake.

Interpretation

Piper devotes an entire chapter [in The Pleasures of God] on God’s pleasure in His fame. In it, he explains that when God does something for His name’s sake, that’s another way of saying, “For His own glory.” Now, if we follow the reasoning in Desiring God and in The Pleasures of God, we would know that for God to receive maximum glory in us, we must be maximally satisfied in Him. Thus, we may safely say that John meant that the sins of his readers (his own included) have been forgiven for God’s glory. Without the proper understanding that God’s glorification and our satisfaction are, in fact, the same pursuit, you can easily conclude that “for God’s glory” is just some theological statement that has little to do with our maximum happiness. But no, John seems to make this very important.

So taking that all into account, it is remarkable that the ultimate end that John says is behind our sins being forgiven, and indeed, our godly living, our avoiding false teaching, and loving the brethren… these all hinge upon His name’s sake.

Check out Piper’s thoughts on 1 John 2:12.

The new understanding is that Jesus has now atoned for sin and vindicated the Father’s honor so that our sins are forgiven “on account of His name” (1 John 2:12). We will see this again and again in the chapters to come — how the Father’s infinite pleasure in His own perfections is that fountain of our everlasting joy. The fact that the pleasure of God in His Son is pleasure in Himself is not vanity. It is the gospel. (Pleasures, p. 44)

The death of Jesus so honored the Father and and so vindicated the glory of His name that God is bound by justice, not just His mercy, to forgive all who stake their lives on the worth of Jesus. “Your sins are forgiven for the sake of His name,” John says (1 John 2:12). Christ’s name, and therefore God’s name and God’s honor, is at stake whenever we fly to Jesus for refuge and bank on His worth instead of our own. This is why there is no contradiction in saying that God loves His name above all things, and yet is committed with all His heart to the good of His people — the people who hope in Jesus. He will not turn away from doing good to them. He rejoices in doing this good for them. (Pleasures, p. 194)

Conclusion — Why This All Matters

When I read that my sins have been forgiven for His name’s sake, it is a great comfort because all of my sin has been transferred to Christ, and His righteousness has been imputed to my account, all so that I might give Him more glory by enjoying Him forever. The roadblock preventing me from supremely valuing the Supremely Valuable, namely, my sin, has been removed so that I might not only experience eternal life in the future praising God in heaven, but eternal life now in enjoying all that God has promised to be for me through Christ.

For His name’s sake,

Rob

This is a snippet from an email I sent to Tim Elam, as he and I are both reading The Pleasures of God. This is his first time through and my second. I hope this is a blessing in some way.

My Meditation: Righteousness

Here’s something I found incredibly thought-provoking, and yet very practical: What is the essence of righteousness? In Protestant doctrine, we believe that our sin was transferred to Christ at His death, and Christ’s righteousness is imputed to our accounts at the moment we repent of our state of sin and place our faith in Christ, therefore God can legally declare us to be righteous (c.f., Romans 3). That is the Protestant doctrine of justification. Catholics believe in infused righteousness, that is, that Christ’s righteousness is applied to our account as we take part in the sacraments, and our sins are transferred to Christ as we confess them at each confession. Every time we go to confession, all our sins, up to that point, are transferred to Christ and we receive grace through confession and are declared righteous at that moment until we commit a “mortal” sin.

My point is not to discuss Catholic dogma vs. Protestant theology, but to bring up this question: What is the essence of righteousness? Is it some static, impersonal attribute, such as God’s omnipotence or His immutability? Or is it a personal attribute, something He not only possesses but performs?

“There is none righteous, no, not even one,” Romans 3 tells us. What does Paul use to illustrate such UNrighteousness? “There is none who seeks after God.”

Now, it may be deduced from this passage that part of righteousness, at least, involves seeking after God. Here is where Chapter One comes in from The Pleasures of God (I found it helpful to read this slowly and aloud):

God must love and delight in His own beauty and perfection above all things. For us to do this in front of the mirror is the essence of vanity; for God to do this is in front of His Son is the essence of righteousness.

Is not the essence of righteousness to place supreme value on what is supremely valuable, with all the just actions that follow? And isn’t the opposite to set our highest affections on things of little or no worth, with all the unjust actions that follow? Thus the righteousness of God is the infinite zeal and joy and pleasure that He has in what is supremely valuable, namely, His own perfection and worth. And if He were ever to act contrary to this eternal passion for His own perfections He would be unrighteous, He would be an idolater.

This is not irrelevant speculation. It is the foundation of all Christian hope: In this God-centered, divine righteousness lies the greatest obstacle to our salvation. For how shall such a righteous God ever set His affection on sinners like us who have scorned His perfections? But the wonder of the gospel is that in this divine righteousness lies also the very foundation of our salvation. The infinite regard that the Father has for the Son makes it possible for me, a wicked sinner, to be loved and accepted in the Son, because in His death He vindicated the worth and glory of His Father.

The fact that the pleasure of God in His Son is pleasure in Himself is not vanity. It is the gospel. (pp. 43-44, par. 2-4)

There you have it: The essence of righteousness is “to place supreme value on what is supremely valuable, with all the just actions that follow.” So Romans 5:19 is all the more beautiful and makes more sense: “For as through the one man’s [Adam’s] disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One [Christ] the many will be made righteous.”

And the application: If we are made righteous at salvation, what else does it mean but that we become Christian Hedonists? Not just people who say they desire God, but people whose very actions epitomize their delirious lovesickness for God. See the following verse in Romans 5:21:

So that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

That verse in itself is worth an extended email, but alas, time has gotten away from me (as usual). But here’s the formula for you to follow my thinking on that verse:

• Grace = The pleasure of God to magnify the worth of God by giving sinners the right and power to delight in God without obscuring the glory of God.
• Righteousness = To place supreme value on what is supremely valuable, with all the just actions that follow.
• Eternal Life = Knowing God, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. (John 17:3).