Wash My Feet, Lord: Seeing and Savoring the Glory of God

"Wash My Feet, Lord"

I am a sinner, saved by grace, loving and loved by the Saviour, and striving to live the words of Scripture throughout my sanctification. I need to be convicted and changed more into the image of Christ. I desire to share with you, within this blog, all that I am daily learning. I want to serve Christ and become more and more like Him. I don’t want to live a legalistic life, but I do want to live a holy one. I want to see God receive the glory He deserves. I want to see the depth and richness of the Gospel come back to the Church. I want to see God’s people encouraging and building one another up in Christ. I want to encourage young people, and be encouraged by them, to live a set-apart life. I want to give up my life for the sake of the Kingdom and it’s King.
May you accept what is written here, if it truly honors the Lord, as coming from a heart that purely wants to honor Jesus Christ, my Savior. As He teaches me, rebukes me, corrects me, and trains me in righteousness, I hope to grow in my knowledge and love for Him. May everything that is said here bring Him glory. If I stray from the truths of Scriptures, please tell me. May my words be full of grace, as though seasoned with salt. May "the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.” (Ps. 19:14)

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Seeing and Savoring the Glory of God

I have recently finished reading this excellent book by John Piper called, "Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ." It is a life changing book because Pastor Piper unashamedly presents to us Jesus Christ, in all His glory; in a way we never new Him before. I intend to share this book with you through my blog over the next couple of weeks. And what better time to learn about the person of Jesus than now, especially as we remember His glorious birth!

"The heavens declare the glory of God." Psalm 19:1

"God, who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Corinthians 4:6

Chapter One ~ Seeing and Savoring the Glory of God

The Ultimate Aim of Jesus Christ

The created universe is all about glory. The deepest longing of the human heart and the deepest meaning of heaven and earth are summed up in this: the glory of God. The universe was made to show it, and we were made to see it and savor it. Nothing less will do. Which is why the world is as disordered and as dysfunctional as it is. We have exchanged the glory of God for other things (Romans 1:23).

'The heavens declare the glory of God' (Psalm 19:1). That is why all the universe exists. It's all about glory. The Hubble Space Telescope sends back infrared images of faint galaxies perhaps twelve billion light-years away (twelve billion time six trillion miles.) Even within our Milky Way there are stars so great as to defy description, like Eta Carinae, which is five million times brighter than our sun.

Sometimes people stumble over this vastness in relation to the apparent insignificance of man. it does seem to make us infinitesimally small. But the meaning of this magnitude is not mainly about us. It's about God. "The heavens declare the glory of God," says the Scripture. The reason for "wasting" so much space on a universe to house a speck of humanity is to make a point about our Maker, not us. "Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these [stars]? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing" (Isaiah 40:26).

The deepest longing of the human heart is to know and enjoy the glory of God. We were made for this. "Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth...whom I created for my glory,"says the Lord (Isaiah 43:6-7). To see it, to savor it, and to show it - that is why we exist. The untracked , unimaginable stretches of the created universe are a parable about the inexhaustible "riches of his glory" (Romans 9:23). The physical eye is meant to say to the spiritual eye, "Not this, but the Make of this, is the Desire of your soul." Saint Paul said, "We rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Romans 5:2). Or, even more precisely, he said that we were "prepared beforehand for glory" (Romans 9:23). This is why we were created - that he might "make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy" (Romans 9:23).

The ache in every human heart is an ache for this. But we suppress it and do not see fit to have God in our knowledge (Romans1:28). Therefore the entire creation has fallen into disorder. The most prominent example of this in the disordering of our sexual lives. Paul says that the exchange of the glory of God for other things is the root cause for the homosexual (and heterosexual) disordering of our relationships. "Their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature... the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another" (Romans 1:26-27). If we exchange God's glory for lesser things, he gives us up to lived- out parables of depravity - the other exchanges that mirror, in our misery, the ultimate sellout.

The point is this: We were made to know and treasure the glory of God above all things; and when we trade that treasure for images, everything is disordered. The sun of God's glory was made to shine at the center of the solar system of our soul. And when it does, all the planets of our life are held in their proper orbit. But when the sun is displaced, everything flies apart. The healing of the soul begins by restoring the glory of God to its flaming, all-attracting place at the center.

We are all starved for the glory of God, not self. No one goes to the Grand Canyon to increase self-esteem. Why do we go? Because there is greater healing for the soul in beholding splendor than there is in beholding self. Indeed, what could be more ludicrous in a vast and glorious universe like this than a human being, on the speck called earth, standing in front of a mirror trying to find significance in his own self-image? It is a great sadness that this is the gospel of the modern world.

But it is not the Christian Gospel. Into the darkness of petty self-[reoccupation has shone "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Corinthians 4:4). The Christians Gospel is about "the glory of Christ," not about me. And when it is - in some measure - about me, it is not about my being made much of by God, but about God mercifully enabling me to enjoy making much of him forever.

What was the most loving things Jesus could do for us? What was the endpoint, the highest good, of the Gospel? Redemption? Forgiveness? Justification Reconciliation? Sanctification? Adoption? Are not all of these great wonders simply means to something greater? Something final? Something that Jesus asked his Father to give us? "Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me" (John 17:24).

The Christian Gospel is "the gospel of the glory of Christ" because its final aim is that we would see and savor and show the glory of Christ. For this is none other than the glory of God. "He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature" (Hebrews 1:3). "He is the image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15). When the light of the Gospel shines in our hearts, it is "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). And when we "rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Romans 5:2), that hope is "our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13). The glory of Christ is the glory of God.

In one sense, Christ laid the glory of God aside when he came: "And now, Father, glorify me together in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed" (John 17:5). Therefore, in the Gospel we see and savor "the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). And this kind of "seeing" is the healing of our disordered lives. "We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

A Prayer ~

O Father of glory, this is the cry of our hearts - to be changed from one degree of glory to another, until, in the resurrection , at the last trumpet, we are completely conformed to the image of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Until then, we long to grow in grace and in the knowledge of his glory. We want to see it as clearly as we see the sun, and to savor it as deeply as our most desired pleasure. O merciful God, incline our hearts to your Word and the wonders of your glory. Wean us from our obsession with trivial things. Open the eyes of our hearts to see each day what the created universe is telling about your glory. Enlighten our minds to see the glory of your Son in the Gospel. We believe that you are the All-glorious One, and that there is none like you. Help our unbelief. Forgive the wandering of our affections and the undue attention we give to lesser things. Have mercy on us for Christ's sake, and fulfill in us your great design to display the glory of your grace.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen."

Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ, Revised Edition

Author: John Piper

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Wash My Feet, Lord

This blog is about sin, salvation, sanctification, and the Savior. The title comes from John 13. The book of Luke tells of the disciples arguing in the upper room during the Passover meal about who was the greatest. All too proud to humble themselves, the twelve were stunned into silence as Jesus gently brought out the basin of water and a towel and washed the feet of the ones He loved. But when He comes to Peter, he says to Jesus, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.”Pastor John Macarthur explains this passage in his NASB notes on John 13: 6-10, “While others remained silent, Peter, perhaps on behalf of others, spoke up in indignation that Jesus would stoop so low as to wash his feet. He failed to see beyond the humble service itself to the symbolism of spiritual cleansing involved. Jesus’ response made the real point of His actions clear: Unless the Lamb of God cleanses a person’s sin (as portrayed in the symbolism of washing), one can have no part with Him. The cleansing that Christ does at salvation never needs to be repeated – atonement is complete at that point. But all who have been cleansed by God’s gracious justification need constant washing in the experiential sense as they battle sin in the flesh. Believers are justified and granted imputed righteousness, but still need sanctification and personal righteousness.”So here lies the essence of this blog. We are all sinners in desperate need of salvation. After we are declared righteous by God - justified, and repent of our sin, we live the lifelong process of sanctification. This is only possible because of the Saviour. Just as Peter and the disciples needed Jesus to wash their feet, so, too, do we need Jesus to forgive us and cleanse us of the sin in our lives. We need His correction, reproof, teaching, and discipline throughout our lives. For those who do not know Christ, the entire body must be cleansed, but for those who have been given new hearts, we must recognize our utter helplessness without Him and say, “Lord, wash my feet.”