Transformed by Beholding the Glory of God

I recently finished reading “This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence” by John Piper. Wow, I have to say it is the best book on marriage I have ever read outside of the Bible. It is a book that is valuable for men and women, married, single, parents, and those who aren't parents. Indeed, Piper actually addresses all of these categories of people in this book. The book has universal appeal because it gets at the very purpose of human existence for everyone—to glorify God by imaging the gospel. As you can guess by the title, the primary focus of the book is how we image the gospel in marriage. This book does not contain 50 steps toward a better marriage, nor does it expound on the numerous societal benefits of marriage. Rather, it gives us something much deeper by giving us a glimpse into the wonder of God’s design for marriage in the greater scheme of His glory and our joy in knowing Him for all eternity. I love this quote from it:

“Focusing on the pragmatic effects of marriage undermines the very power of marriage to achieve the effects we desire. In other words, for the sake of all these beneficial practical effects, we should not focus on them. This is the way life is designed by God to work. Make him and the glory of His Son central, and you get the practical effects thrown in. Make the practical effects central, and you lose both.” P. 177

Isn’t that true for all things in life? “Make Him and the glory of His Son central, and you get the practical effects thrown in. Make the practical effects central and you lose both.”

Knowing and beholding the glory of God in the face of Christ, by the Holy Spirit, through the Word in worship is how we see practical fruit in our marriages, in our friendships, in our churches, and in all aspects of our lives. Here it is in Scripture:

2 Corinthians 3:18 “And 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. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

2 Corinthians 4:1-6 “Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light 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.”

For a more on this topic, check out this post by Kristian:

http://thereligiousaffections.blogspot.com/2008/02/oh-taste-and-see-that-lord-is-good.html

Dear Heavenly Father, You are glorious! Please show us your glory everyday through Jesus, through the Word, and by the power of your Spirit, . Show us what it means to worship you, God. Show us the beauty of your character and the gospel of your amazing grace and radical love. Transform us through worship. Show us the unforced rhythms of grace--that our transformation flows from beholding and worshipping you rather than by our efforts and plans. In Jesus' Precious Name, Amen

Song

I can’t sing well, and I don’t know much about music. I can’t even clap and sing at the same time unless I have someone to follow. However, I can look back on my life (both in significant moments and more generally), and I can remember ways that God has ministered to me in song or ways that song has helped me express my heart to God.

“More Love, More Power” comes to my heart today. The words and the music speak to me and help me speak to God today.

More Love, More Power, More of you in my life.
More Love, More Power, More of you in my life.
I will worship You with all my heart.
I will worship You with all my mind.
I will worship You with all my strength.
For you are my Lord.
More Love, More Power,
More of you in my life.

You can listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klq3HkSfx-s
From Michael W. Smith’s album, “Worship” track 11.

I want to know God for who He is in truth. I want more of God’s true love in me. I want to abide in His Trinitarian love for Himself (John 15:9). I want to rest in His love for me (Ephesians 3:14-21). I want to be filled with His love for others (John 15:12). I want this love to be sincere, Spirit-enabled, truth-rooted, affections-engaged, and sacrificial action-producing love. I want this love to “abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment” so that I “may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,” being “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God” (Phil 1). I want “to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” so that I “may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:19). I want more of His power, which is His Spirit- God Himself. I want to be filled with His Spirit- Himself- in increasing measure. I want the same power that raised Jesus from the dead to birth supernatural love in me- more love for God and more love for all of the people He puts in my path. In all this, I want to worship the One who alone is worthy of my worship.

Spirtual Service of Worship

Romans 12:1-2 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

There is a difference between worship itself and the ways in which I worship. Worship does not equal acts of service, just like love does not equal acts of love. Because I love my husband, I give him a back rub. A back rub does not equal love, but rather is an expression of it. It is entirely possible to give someone a back rub without loving them. It is even entirely possible for me to give my husband a back rub without being motivated by love in my action that day.

In John 4:23-24, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman at the well that “the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." God wants us to grow in our Biblical understanding of who He is (in truth), and He wants us to worship Him with sincerity of our affection (in spirit).

Worship is my love, adoration, affection, and reverence for God, and this manifests in my actions. My actions only constitute “service of worship” if they are a manifestation of a heart of adoration, affection, and reverence for God.

Dear God, I pray that you grow me in an accurate knowledge of you by opening my eyes to your truth in Scripture. I pray that you would fill my heart with increasing love, adoration, affection, and reverence for you as I see who you are in Scripture. I pray that my actions would stem from this love, adoration, affection, and reverence of you, so that they would be a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to you. In Jesus’ glorious name, Amen.

Below is a link to a great sermon by Pastor John Piper on worshipping in spirit and in truth. I listened to this sermon twice today because it was that good and because my mind is too slow to soak up all the goodness with just one listening.

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1984/433_God_Seeks_People_to_Worship_Him_in_Spirit_and_Truth/

Here are some highlights:

“Worship is first and foremost an experience of the heart. Prayer without heart is vain. Songs without heart are vain. Confession and creeds and liturgies and sermons that don't come from the heart are empty and worthless in God's eyes.”

“Worship must be vital and real from within and it must be based on a true perception of God. Now verse 23 (John 4:23) sums this up with the key phrase "in spirit and truth": ‘But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.’ The two words, spirit and truth, correspond to the how and the whom of worship. Worshiping in spirit is the opposite of worshiping in mere external ways. It's the opposite of formalism and traditionalism. Worshiping in truth is the opposite of worship based on an inadequate view of God. Together the words "spirit and truth" mean that real worship comes from the spirit within and is based on true views of God. Worship must have heart and worship must have head. Worship must engage your emotions and worship must engage your thought. Truth without emotion produces dead orthodoxy and a church full of unspiritual fighters. Emotion without truth produces empty frenzy and cultivates flaky people who reject the discipline of rigorous thought. True worship comes from people who are deeply emotional and who love deep and sound doctrine. Therefore, as a pastor I agree with Jonathan Edwards when he said, "I should think myself in the way of my duty, to raise the affections of my hearers as high as I possibly can, provided they are affected with nothing but truth, and with affections that are not disagreeable to the nature of what they are affected with." I think of it something like this: The fuel of worship is the truth of a gracious, sovereign God; the furnace of worship is your spirit; and the heat of worship is the vital affections of reverence, fear, adoration, contrition, trust, joy, gratitude, and hope. But something is missing from that analogy, namely, fire. The fuel of truth in the furnace of your spirit does not automatically produce the heat of worship. There has to be fire, which I think is the Holy Spirit.”

O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus

We sang this song in church today. I just love it. It reminds me of John 15 and why Jesus tells me to abide in His love. Jesus' love took Him to the cross. It accomplished something for me on the cross, and it accomplishes something in me throughout my life. It flows like a river between the Father and Son by the Spirit to me and through me to others and from others to me and back to God- the same is true for all Christians. It is the power and point of life for Christians because, as the last line of the song goes, it lifts us up to glory, for it lifts us up to Him!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free! Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me! Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love. Leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, spread His praise from shore to shore! How He loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, nevermore! How He watches o’er His loved ones, died to call them all His own; How for them He intercedeth, watcheth o’er them from the throne!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of every love the best! 'Tis an ocean full of blessing, ’tis a haven giving rest! O the deep, deep love of Jesus, ’tis a heaven of heavens to me; And it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee!

It reminds me of this Scripture:

Ephesians 3:14-21 " For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."