Thoughts on God’s All-Sufficiency and Why He Calls Us to Praise Him: A Conversation with Three Johns
1:27 PM Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Since this reflection is in conversation with John Owen and Jonathan Edwards I thought it necessary to have a long title for this devotional thought. The other “John” involved in this conversation is John Piper.
Now that I am out of school for the semester, I have been able to apply myself to reading some books I have wanted to finish. Just before the semester ended, I began reading John Owen’s masterful work Communion with the Triune God.[1] This is a breathtaking book in which Owen describes how the believer’s life is intimately tied to, and acquainted with, each Person of the Trinity. He gives an exposition of each Person of the Trinity, shows how they relate to the believer, and how the believer relates to each Person. Stated simply, Owen asserts that the believer’s relationship with God consists of mutual relations, that is, a giving and receiving from God. Owen states this beautifully when he writes:
Our communion, then, with God consists in his communication of himself unto us, with our return unto him of that which he requires and accepts, flowing from that union which in Jesus Christ we have with him.[2]
Owen describes the relationship that a believer has with God as a “walk together in a covenant of peace, ratified in the blood of Jesus.” These thoughts immediately cause a believer’s heart to swell with praise. Think about how Owen describes the relationship that we have with God: He notes that in the gospel God communicates himself unto us. That is to say that, in the gospel God gives himself to us! The beauty of the gospel is that you get God! Now you can understand why John Piper wrote a book called God is the Gospel (which I highly recommend!). I’m sure most believers are not aware of the closeness that exists between them and God. To see the closeness that exists between God and the believer one need only read Scripture with an eye to the “marriage language,” i.e. the church is the “Bride” (Rev. 21:2); Paul talks about presenting the church as a pure “virgin” (2 Cor. 11:2); when God’s people are unfaithful they are said to be committing “adultery” (see Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Hosea); believers will attend the “Marriage Supper of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:7, 9). Thus, in the gospel God gives himself to us completely, and we are to give ourselves to him completely (as a husband and wife do).
A person only experiences true and lasting satisfaction when they are in a relationship with the Triune God. But how is this possible? Owen asserts, and I agree, that a person can only find true and lasting joy in God because only God is all-sufficient. That is to say, because God “has all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself,” (Westminster Confession 2.2) only he can truly satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts. Nothing on earth will ever completely satisfy us. Eternal joy is found only in the Triune God. As C. S. Lewis remarks, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
Owen says it is God’s all-sufficiency which enables him to “impart” and “communicate” goodness to believers and so to “satisfy and fill them, in their utmost capacity, with whatever is good and desirable to them.” God fills believers with “joy inexpressible” (1 Pt. 1:8), not by giving them other things, but by giving them himself. A believer’s greatest joy is God, not other things that God gives them. Thus, the Psalmist is able to express, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you (Ps. 73:25). Such a statement is an indictment on believers who use the all-sufficient God to get other things. God does not give himself to such people. As John Piper says, “God will not be used as currency for the purchase of idols.”[3]
Why does the all-sufficient God give himself to people? Owen says it best: God gives himself “as an all-sufficient God, to be enjoyed by the creatures, to hold out all that is in him for the satiating [satisfying] and making them blessed.” That is to say, God gives himself to his people so that they might enjoy him, be satisfied in him, and be blessed. All of these blessings are found solely in Christ. The Persons of the Trinity, however, cannot be separated, though it is true that each Person is distinct. Owen’s point here clarifies that believers do not have a direct experience with the Holy Spirit that is detached from the Person of Christ. Owen goes on to say that when a person realizes all of this, they will see God “as their exceeding great reward.”
All of this leads believers to praise God. In response to this we could ask, “Why does God ask us to praise him?” If he is all-sufficient, why does he ask for our praise?”
At the Ligonier Conference, Don Carson was one of the speakers. And aside from being a seminary professor, he is also involved in college campus missionary work. So he speaks at different events and lectures on a variety of issues, most of which would be different apologetic topics.
Out of all of the years he’s been doing this, he said it’s only been in the recent years where this question has come up numerous times. That is, “Why is God always asking people to praise him, and why do I have to do it?” This is said with a defiant attitude. By the way, this is something the new atheists always mention (Richard Dawkins, Chris Hitchens, etc.).
That is, they say the God of the Bible is like a woman begging for compliments. He’s always saying, “Praise me! Praise me!”
The argument seems to go like this: God is a God of love. 1 Cor. 13:5 says, “Love is not self-seeking.” But all throughout the Bible we find God seeking people to praise him. Therefore, God must not be a God of love. Further, in the Ten Commandments God tells us not to covet (Ex. 20), which could be taken to mean that God does not want us to be jealous of other people because of what they have. So God does not want us to be jealous. Yet on more than one occasion in the Bible, God says he is a jealous God. In fact, in Ex. 34:14, God says his Name is jealous. So is this unfair? Is God saying its okay for him to be jealous, but it’s not okay for us?
If love is not self-seeking, and God seeks praise, how can he be loving? In other words, is God for us, or for himself? Let me answer it this way: God’s calling us to praise him is the meaning and definition of his love. Because God knows only he can satisfy the longing of our hearts, and true joy is found in him, he calls us to praise him, and to share in the joy that he has in himself.
So God calls us to praise him not to add something to him as if he has some sort of deficiency, but rather he calls us to worship him because he loves us. But his love for us and his love for himself are not at odds with one another. They are one and the same thing. This is what Jonathan Edwards and John Piper like to talk about so much.
You ask yourself, “How can that be? How can God’s love for himself and his love for me be the same thing?” John Piper puts it this way, “God’s esteeming himself supremely is not contrary to his esteeming human happiness, since He is that happiness.”[4]
So God’s passion for his glory and his desire for us to praise him do not make God an egomaniac (i.e. do not make him like a woman begging for compliments) because God’s desire that we praise him does not stem from a self-deficiency. Rather, his desire to be praised flows out of his desire to share with us the same passion he has for himself.
Here is the greatest quote that John Piper gives: “When we see that God’s passion for his own glory leads him to share that passion with us, we also see why his passion for himself is not ‘selfish’ in a pejorative sense. God is the one being in the universe for whom self-exaltation is the highest virtue and the most loving act, because in exalting himself he displays the one Reality in the universe that can satisfy our souls and he shares the very passion for that Reality that satisfies him. The object of our happiness is God, and our happiness is God’s happiness. No greater happiness can be conceived.”[5]
So God calls us to praise him not because he has a need that needs to filled, but because he loves us. God invites us to praise him so that we might experience the joy that he has been experiencing in the fellowship of the most Holy Trinity.
In summary, only God can fill us with eternally lasting joy because in his all-sufficiency he is able to “impart” and “communicate” that to us. In response, we praise God for this wonderful gift. That response of praise, however, does not add anything to God. Rather, we praise him because it is a feast for our soul; it is our joy and delight. It is our privilege to enter into the joy that the Godhead has been experiencing for all eternity. And it will be our delight to do this for all eternity.
Question: What comfort do you receive from the article about the life everlasting?
Answer: Since I now already feel in my heart the beginning of eternal joy, I shall after this life possess perfect blessedness, such as no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived—a blessedness in which to praise God forever (Heidelberg Catechism Q. 58).
[1] John Owen. Communion with the Triune God. Eds. Kelly M. Kapic and Justin Taylor. (Wheaton: Crossway, 2007).
[2] Ibid, 94, emphasis mine.
[3] John Piper. Pierced by the Word. (Sisters: Multnomah, 2003), 18.
[4] John Piper. God’s Passion for His Glory: Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards. With the Complete Text of The End for Which God Created the World. (Wheaton: Crossway, 1998), 169.
[5] Ibid, 158, footnote 39, emphasis mine.
Now that I am out of school for the semester, I have been able to apply myself to reading some books I have wanted to finish. Just before the semester ended, I began reading John Owen’s masterful work Communion with the Triune God.[1] This is a breathtaking book in which Owen describes how the believer’s life is intimately tied to, and acquainted with, each Person of the Trinity. He gives an exposition of each Person of the Trinity, shows how they relate to the believer, and how the believer relates to each Person. Stated simply, Owen asserts that the believer’s relationship with God consists of mutual relations, that is, a giving and receiving from God. Owen states this beautifully when he writes:
Our communion, then, with God consists in his communication of himself unto us, with our return unto him of that which he requires and accepts, flowing from that union which in Jesus Christ we have with him.[2]
Owen describes the relationship that a believer has with God as a “walk together in a covenant of peace, ratified in the blood of Jesus.” These thoughts immediately cause a believer’s heart to swell with praise. Think about how Owen describes the relationship that we have with God: He notes that in the gospel God communicates himself unto us. That is to say that, in the gospel God gives himself to us! The beauty of the gospel is that you get God! Now you can understand why John Piper wrote a book called God is the Gospel (which I highly recommend!). I’m sure most believers are not aware of the closeness that exists between them and God. To see the closeness that exists between God and the believer one need only read Scripture with an eye to the “marriage language,” i.e. the church is the “Bride” (Rev. 21:2); Paul talks about presenting the church as a pure “virgin” (2 Cor. 11:2); when God’s people are unfaithful they are said to be committing “adultery” (see Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Hosea); believers will attend the “Marriage Supper of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:7, 9). Thus, in the gospel God gives himself to us completely, and we are to give ourselves to him completely (as a husband and wife do).
A person only experiences true and lasting satisfaction when they are in a relationship with the Triune God. But how is this possible? Owen asserts, and I agree, that a person can only find true and lasting joy in God because only God is all-sufficient. That is to say, because God “has all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself,” (Westminster Confession 2.2) only he can truly satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts. Nothing on earth will ever completely satisfy us. Eternal joy is found only in the Triune God. As C. S. Lewis remarks, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
Owen says it is God’s all-sufficiency which enables him to “impart” and “communicate” goodness to believers and so to “satisfy and fill them, in their utmost capacity, with whatever is good and desirable to them.” God fills believers with “joy inexpressible” (1 Pt. 1:8), not by giving them other things, but by giving them himself. A believer’s greatest joy is God, not other things that God gives them. Thus, the Psalmist is able to express, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you (Ps. 73:25). Such a statement is an indictment on believers who use the all-sufficient God to get other things. God does not give himself to such people. As John Piper says, “God will not be used as currency for the purchase of idols.”[3]
Why does the all-sufficient God give himself to people? Owen says it best: God gives himself “as an all-sufficient God, to be enjoyed by the creatures, to hold out all that is in him for the satiating [satisfying] and making them blessed.” That is to say, God gives himself to his people so that they might enjoy him, be satisfied in him, and be blessed. All of these blessings are found solely in Christ. The Persons of the Trinity, however, cannot be separated, though it is true that each Person is distinct. Owen’s point here clarifies that believers do not have a direct experience with the Holy Spirit that is detached from the Person of Christ. Owen goes on to say that when a person realizes all of this, they will see God “as their exceeding great reward.”
All of this leads believers to praise God. In response to this we could ask, “Why does God ask us to praise him?” If he is all-sufficient, why does he ask for our praise?”
At the Ligonier Conference, Don Carson was one of the speakers. And aside from being a seminary professor, he is also involved in college campus missionary work. So he speaks at different events and lectures on a variety of issues, most of which would be different apologetic topics.
Out of all of the years he’s been doing this, he said it’s only been in the recent years where this question has come up numerous times. That is, “Why is God always asking people to praise him, and why do I have to do it?” This is said with a defiant attitude. By the way, this is something the new atheists always mention (Richard Dawkins, Chris Hitchens, etc.).
That is, they say the God of the Bible is like a woman begging for compliments. He’s always saying, “Praise me! Praise me!”
The argument seems to go like this: God is a God of love. 1 Cor. 13:5 says, “Love is not self-seeking.” But all throughout the Bible we find God seeking people to praise him. Therefore, God must not be a God of love. Further, in the Ten Commandments God tells us not to covet (Ex. 20), which could be taken to mean that God does not want us to be jealous of other people because of what they have. So God does not want us to be jealous. Yet on more than one occasion in the Bible, God says he is a jealous God. In fact, in Ex. 34:14, God says his Name is jealous. So is this unfair? Is God saying its okay for him to be jealous, but it’s not okay for us?
If love is not self-seeking, and God seeks praise, how can he be loving? In other words, is God for us, or for himself? Let me answer it this way: God’s calling us to praise him is the meaning and definition of his love. Because God knows only he can satisfy the longing of our hearts, and true joy is found in him, he calls us to praise him, and to share in the joy that he has in himself.
So God calls us to praise him not to add something to him as if he has some sort of deficiency, but rather he calls us to worship him because he loves us. But his love for us and his love for himself are not at odds with one another. They are one and the same thing. This is what Jonathan Edwards and John Piper like to talk about so much.
You ask yourself, “How can that be? How can God’s love for himself and his love for me be the same thing?” John Piper puts it this way, “God’s esteeming himself supremely is not contrary to his esteeming human happiness, since He is that happiness.”[4]
So God’s passion for his glory and his desire for us to praise him do not make God an egomaniac (i.e. do not make him like a woman begging for compliments) because God’s desire that we praise him does not stem from a self-deficiency. Rather, his desire to be praised flows out of his desire to share with us the same passion he has for himself.
Here is the greatest quote that John Piper gives: “When we see that God’s passion for his own glory leads him to share that passion with us, we also see why his passion for himself is not ‘selfish’ in a pejorative sense. God is the one being in the universe for whom self-exaltation is the highest virtue and the most loving act, because in exalting himself he displays the one Reality in the universe that can satisfy our souls and he shares the very passion for that Reality that satisfies him. The object of our happiness is God, and our happiness is God’s happiness. No greater happiness can be conceived.”[5]
So God calls us to praise him not because he has a need that needs to filled, but because he loves us. God invites us to praise him so that we might experience the joy that he has been experiencing in the fellowship of the most Holy Trinity.
In summary, only God can fill us with eternally lasting joy because in his all-sufficiency he is able to “impart” and “communicate” that to us. In response, we praise God for this wonderful gift. That response of praise, however, does not add anything to God. Rather, we praise him because it is a feast for our soul; it is our joy and delight. It is our privilege to enter into the joy that the Godhead has been experiencing for all eternity. And it will be our delight to do this for all eternity.
Question: What comfort do you receive from the article about the life everlasting?
Answer: Since I now already feel in my heart the beginning of eternal joy, I shall after this life possess perfect blessedness, such as no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived—a blessedness in which to praise God forever (Heidelberg Catechism Q. 58).
[1] John Owen. Communion with the Triune God. Eds. Kelly M. Kapic and Justin Taylor. (Wheaton: Crossway, 2007).
[2] Ibid, 94, emphasis mine.
[3] John Piper. Pierced by the Word. (Sisters: Multnomah, 2003), 18.
[4] John Piper. God’s Passion for His Glory: Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards. With the Complete Text of The End for Which God Created the World. (Wheaton: Crossway, 1998), 169.
[5] Ibid, 158, footnote 39, emphasis mine.
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