This morning I read a bit of the Washington Post article that showed Arizona State University wouldn't give Obama an honorary degree. In response, Obama said, "I come here not to dispute the suggestion that I haven't yet achieved enough in my life," Obama said in a commencement speech Wednesday. With a smile he added: "First of all, (first lady) Michelle (Obama) concurs with that assessment. She has a long list of things that I have not yet done waiting for me when I get home."
Let's pray for our president. I can't imagine the pressure he must feel to perform well. We've all got our lists, but his must be huge. The gospel would help him tremendously. Pray that he would believe it.
Jesus did all the work to make you acceptable before God, President Obama. And on the cross, he cried out, "It is finished!" You may feel the pressure to make yourself acceptable in the eyes of men, with their lists of things to do. God's list is never-ending. Yet Christ has checked off everything on the list. He has made full atonement for sins. He has ushered in everlasting righteousness. Repent of your trying to atone for your own sins, and believe in what he has done. Repent of basing your right-standing before God on your own good works, and trust in Christ's perfect work. Repent of your self-righteousness and look to Christ alone. His yoke is easy, and his burden is light.
Jesus, God’s Son, "is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power" (Hebrews 1:3a).[1] In what ways does the Bible talk about Christ as the glory of God?I suggest that God glories in Jesus because he is God’s radiant glory.The Father delights in his Son over all things, because since he is God he is greater than and over all things. (So I will have to argue against the idea of God’s impassibility, since I am saying that God is passionate about Jesus.) This means God cherishes most what is most worthy of cherishing – himself.God is God-centered.He is theocentric and therefore Christocentric.And this can only be true because Christ is fully divine.I will argue that the chief end of God in creation, providence, and salvation is to make known the radiance of his glory—which is his Son—in which he has taken infinite pleasure before the foundation of the cosmos.(I will be primarily talking about the way God the Father glorifies God the Son, for since I am limited in time and ability, I cannot traverse much further than the glory of one person of the Godhead.I wish I could elaborate more on how, for example the Son and Spirit glorify the Father.But I must restrain myself for the sake of crystallizing the work at hand.)
The Triune God and The Divine Man who Reveals Him
If one wants to know God, he or she must look at Jesus, His Son, because he is the perfect revelation of God.Gerald Bray says that “the nature of God is most clearly manifested in one particular person of the Trinity [God the Son], who thus provides the reference point for integrating the other two persons into the overall system.”[2]God is trinity and the man, Jesus of Nazareth, is one of the Godhead’s fully divine persons.Jesus is the concept that the Father has had of himself from all eternity.Jesus has existed as long as God has been aware of himself.Daniel P. Fuller says,
The self he beheld had to be totally separate from himself as the knowing subject.According to Jonathan Edwards, “If God beholds himself so as thence to have delight and joy in himself he must become his own Object.”God accomplished this absolutely necessary work for his being God by begetting Jesus Christ, his only Son.[3]
And Jesus reveals God the Father perfectly because he is divine.Psalm 89 mentions God’s covenant with David that “His offspring shall endure forever…” (v. 36).It says that this ruler, this anointed one, this Messiah will live “forever,” which alludes to his eternity and therefore to his divinity.That David recognized the divinity of this promised one is apparent in Psalm 45, where he addresses the coming Messiah as “God” (v. 6).Walter C. Kaiser Jr., referring to that, says that this fact “forever close[s] off the possibility of equating this royal person with an earthly king…Most importantly, he is a divine ruler.”[4]And the author of Hebrews, quoting this Psalm, makes clear that this divine Messiah is Jesus (Hebrews 2:8). Isaiah also prophesied of the Messiah’s divinity.He said he would be “a child” born with the title, “Mighty God” (Isaiah 9:6).Only a divine man can perfectly reveal divinity for men.
Paul called Jesus “the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4; see also Colossians 1:15).Jesus himself said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9b).The verse which began this paper shows this.If one wants his or her eyes enlightened by God’s brilliant panorama, one need only look to Jesus, for “he is the radiance of the glory of God.”And there is One whose heart (please pardon my anthropomorphism) has been bursting with joy throughout endless ages at the sight of his own nature being “most clearly manifested,” namely, God the Father.
The God who Delights in Himself
But is it possible for an immutable, transcendent God to have joy or grief over something?Some early Christians responded with a negative answer, arguing for God’s “impassibility.”God’s impassibility is
The characteristic, usually associated with God, of being unaffected by earthly, temporal circumstances, particularly the experience of suffering and its effects. Many contemporary theologians reject the idea of divine impassibility, suggesting that it reflects Greek philosophical, rather than biblical, concerns. However, the Bible clearly teaches that God cannot be swayed in any way to be unfaithful to what God has promised. Still, it is seemingly impossible to associate pure impassibility with God in light of the fact that Jesus Christ, as the fullest manifestation of God, experienced suffering on the cross.[5]
God the Son, of his truly free will, chose to enter into our suffering on the cross.And he did it “for the joy that was set before him” (Hebrews 12:2).It is indeed possible for the unchanging, illimitable God to both grieve and rejoice.God has affections, as the author of Hebrews quoted God saying to God the Son, “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions” (Hebrews 1:9).Love, hate, and happiness are all emotions in the heart of God.And his heart is most thrilled by the strength and beauty of himself which he sees in his Son, who is “the fullest manifestation of God.”
Both at Jesus’ baptism and at his transfiguration, God the Father could not help but declare his delight in his Son.“This is my beloved Son,” he exclaimed, “with whom I am well pleased,” (Matthew 3:16 & 17:5b).What was it at these two events that elicited such joyful announcements from God?At Jesus’ baptism, the Lord consecrated himself for the work he had come to accomplish on the cross.His immersion in water symbolized the fact that he was on a course to be plunged into the depths of sin and evil and suffering and death and God’s wrath on the cross.And when John lifted him from the dark stream, it was a foreshadowing of Christ being raised to the light of new life after having been buried for three days.Jesus was going to do it.He was perfectly surrendered and committed to the Father’s will.And the Father loved it because his will was being perfectly obeyed, being glorified, being shown to be the best of all possible wills.God loved that God’s will was being glorified because God loves God above all.God is God-centered.
What was it that excited God so much at Christ’s transfiguration?The answer is quite obvious.Mark records that Jesus’ “clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them” (Mark 9:3).Matthew says that “his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light” (Matthew 17:2).Jesus was glorified!“He shone with the glory of God, the same glory that had appeared in the burning bush and in the pillar of cloud and fire, the same glory that had shone for a brief time from the face of Moses.”[6]Luke makes explicit that “they saw his glory” (Luke 9:32).Jesus took Peter, James, and John up the mountain so that he could divulge to them some of his effulgence.Just this glimpse was enough to terrify them (Mark 9:6).But this vision had a different affect on God.This revelation of Christ’s glory excited God, because this glorious vista shined with God’s own glory.God’s glory delights God more than anything else because God is utterly theocentric.
Jesus Christ is God.So he is the perfect display of the Father’s glory.And therefore God the Father loves him with infinite delight.God loves God illimitably.Is this really what the Bible affirms?A look at some passages which assert this will be helpful.In Genesis, Moses recorded that God created mankind “in his own image” (Genesis 1:26-27).So already God is putting the spotlight on himself by having his ultimate creation bear his own image and likeness.Next, he sees fit to charge Adam and Eve, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth…” (v. 28).He wants his image all over the world!Only then, when he has created everything and set his image-bearing, vice-regents over the world to reign and multiply, does Moses record that “God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).God was impressed over the work of his own hands that served to multiply images of himself to spread reflections of his own glory.God makes explicit that this is what he had in mind in Isaiah 43:6-7, saying, “I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; 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, whom I formed and made.”Not only does he create, but God also redeems people out of regard for himself:He says, “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25).And David prays, “For your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great” (Psalm 25:11).Paul even goes so far as to say that everything God does is for his own glory, “For from him and through him and to him are all things.To him be glory forever.Amen” (Romans 11:36).All this is to show that God is passionate for God.
But someone may object that this seems like vanity in God.Any person who cannot take his eyes off his own reflection is a megalomaniac.What is one to think of someone who copies images of himself to spread over the entire world?It would seem as if he has delusions of grandeur.Any finite sinner becoming obsessed over his own image would indeed be someone who has deluded himself.He would be deceiving himself into thinking that he is worth all of his attention.But a limited creature only has limited worth.An infinite Creator, however, does indeed have infinite worth.So for God to think that his reflection, his image, his glory is worth all of his attention is not vanity; it is appropriate.In fact if God were to consider anything other than himself and his own glory to be infinitely valuable he would be an idolater.It is only right, therefore, for God to esteem most what is most worthy of esteem, namely the radiance of his own glory, his Son, Jesus Christ.
The Father Glorifies the Son in Everything He Does
So I would like to argue that everything God does is to ultimately show what is supremely “true…honorable…just…pure…lovely…commendable” excellent and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8), namely, Jesus Christ.In creation, providence, and redemption, the Father’s chief aim is to magnify the majesty of Christ, for the accomplishment of this greatest of all goals is the greatest of all his pleasures.
Infinite wisdom must, in creating, propose to itself the most comprehensive and the most valuable of ends,—the end most worthy of God, and the end most fruitful in good. Only in the light of the end proposed can we properly judge of God’s work, or of God’s character as revealed therein.[7]
Strong seems to stand on the shoulders of Jonathan Edwards, who said,
[T]he whole universe, in all its actings, proceedings, revolutions, and entire series of events, should proceed with a view to God, as the supreme and last end; that every wheel, in all its rotations, should move with a constant invariable regard to him as the ultimate end of all; as perfectly and uniformly as if the whole system were animated and directed by one common soul.[8]
God created the universe to glorify himself.That much has already been settled above.More specifically, God the Father created the cosmos through the agency of the Son for the glory of the Son.Paul says that Jesus is “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:15-16).The universe is a book whose author is the hero.The world is a theater whose builder and architect is the feature presentation.
God upholds the universe to glorify himself, that is to say, the Father sustains the universe through the Son for the sake of the Son.Paul goes on to say that Jesus is “before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17).The author of Hebrews says that Jesus “upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3).Jesus is sovereign over all!Yet Paul also says that it is the Father who “works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11).So who is in control?Jesus or the Father?It is unnecessary and unhelpful to choose which person of the trinity is sovereign.Each person of God is fully divine and therefore fully sovereign.God is sovereign over all, for Paul said that “from him and through him and to him are all things.”What may be helpful, however, is to assert that the Son is the divine agent of the Father’s sovereignty.Jesus said that his Father had given him “All authority in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18).John said, “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand” (John 3:35).And one of those things that the Father gave into his hands was the authority to judge (John 5:22).He gave it to him for this reason:“that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him” (v. 23).What is true for judgment is true for all the other things that the Father has entrusted to his Son—the Father has given him universal supremacy and sovereignty over all so that “all may honor the Son.”
Not only is creation and providence for the glory of Jesus, but so is the accomplishment and application of redemption.Jesus accomplished redemption through his death and resurrection.Throughout the book of John, Jesus refers to the hour of his death.His death for sins accomplished redemption for elect sinners.But it was not just for people, it was for God.It was for the glory of God in Christ.Nevertheless, it was not Jesus who sought to glorify Jesus—this was not his role (his is to glorify his Father).This role of glorifying God the Son belongs to the Father and the Spirit.Jesus said, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing.It is my Father who glorifies me…” (John 8:54), and referring to the Spirit he said, “He will glorify me” (John 16:14).When Jesus approached his hour to make propitiation for his people’s sins, he said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (John 12:23).This is the work he came to do, to die on a cross to make full atonement for sinners.Through this accomplishment of redemption the Father and Spirit glorified the Son.The world was created and sustained as a stage set for God’s glory to be showcased most magnificently in the person and work of his Son’s death and resurrection.
God loves the glory of his Son in his resurrection.Jesus said, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again” (John 10:17).It is true, as Walvoord and Zuck have stated, commenting on the above verse, that “The Father has a special love for Jesus because of His sacrificial obedience to the will of God.”[9]But John’s train of thought does not stop at Christ’s death.It goes on to Christ taking his life “up again.”So what did the Father cherish so much about Christ rising from the grave?A look at Paul’s epistle to the Romans may help us understand this. He said that Jesus “was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4).No mere man could come back to life after having been dead for three days.So Jesus’ resurrection served as a royal declaration that essentially said, “This man who died now lives because he truly is the divine Son of God!”And God the Father loves the pure divinity on display in this declaration.And in this was the Father glorified.
The Father was put on display when his Son was put on display.Jesus said, before his crucifixion, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him” (John 13:31), and “Whatever you ask in my name, this will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13).And he prayed, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you…Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed” (17:1 & 5).So when Jesus is glorified, the Father is glorified.And this glorification has added nothing to the glory he had already been sharing with the Father and Spirit before times eternal.
This brings up something important.To say that God works for his own glory does not mean that he becomes any greater or more glorious than he has always been. That would mean God really was not glorious in the first place, for something that can improve itself must have had some defect to begin with.The glorious God is immutable.He is perfect.So his working to glorify himself cannot mean that he becomes better or prettier.He is the best of all possible beings.He cannot get any better.“God cannot be faulted with a disposition or conduct that contradict[s] the truth of who he is.This truth is that he is infinitely glorious and worthy of all honor and thanks (Rom 1:21).God is totally devoted to uphold and display this truth in all his actions.”[10]When the Father glorifies the Son, he works to make his worth and excellency known and cherished.As Piper said above, God works “to uphold and display” and not to improve his infinite worth.For that would be impossible, as Thomas Watson once noted.He said that people “cannot add to [God’s] glory, but they may exalt it; they cannot raise him in heaven, but they may raise him in the esteem of others here.”[11]
Jesus is glorified in the application of his accomplished feat of redemption.His finished work is applied to individuals and to the cosmos.Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection for chosen sinners, God is just to summon, regenerate, impart faith and repentance to, justify, adopt, sanctify, and glorify them.And Paul shows that this work of redeeming lost humanity serves to fashion a plethora of mirror images of Jesus.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified (Rom 8:29-30).
God will one day finally and fully redeem all those whom he has chosen.He will glorify myriads of people, conforming them “to the image of his Son.”This will be a glorious sight that the Father will love to see.Concerning this, John Murray says, “There will be a perfect coincidence of the revelation of the Father’s glory, of the revelation of the glory of Christ, and of the liberty of the glory of the children of God.The glorification of the elect will coincide with the final act of the Father in the exaltation and glorification of the Son.”[12]
And since Christ as a divine man redeems man, who is God’s vice-regent who rules God’s creation, ergo, God as a man, redeeming man, will restore all things over which man was given authority in Christ.God will glorify Jesus by renewing the cosmos through his resurrection.It was created and has begun to be recreated through Christ.For what does it mean when Paul calls Jesus, “the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent”? (Colossians 1:18).It is quite likely that he had in mind the same thing John did when he called Jesus, “the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead” (Revelation 1:5).So what does John mean by ascribing to Jesus this lofty title?He develops it in the subsequent context.He says that Jesus is “the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation” (Revelation 3:14).G.K. Beale offers invaluable insight into this with his commentary.He says,
“Firstborn” refers to the high, privileged position that Christ has as a result of the resurrection from the dead… Christ has gained such a sovereign position over the cosmos, not in the sense that he is recognized as the first-created being of all creation or as the origin of creation, but in the sense that he is the inaugurator of the new creation by means of his resurrection, as [Revelation] 3:14 explains…[13]
Even N.T. Wright affirms this.He says, “The resurrection constitutes Jesus as the world’s true sovereign… He is the start of the creator’s new world: its pilot project, indeed its pilot.”[14]God has begun to recreate the universe, starting with Christ’s body.Not to put it too crassly, but to get the point across, someone has that that when Christ emerged from the grave as “the firstborn from the dead,” the head of the baby of God’s new creation popped out of the old creation’s womb.When Christ returns, he will finish making all things new, and the new baby will be fully born (Revelation 21:5).God’s new creation broke in to the old creation at Christ’s resurrection.Why?By returning to Paul’s words in Colossians we find the answer.Jesus is “the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.”
Conclusion
Jesus is “preeminent” in God’s sight and esteem because he is the divine image of God who perfectly radiates God’s glory.The Father cherishes “the radiance of his glory” that he sees in his divine Son so much that everything he does is aimed at letting Christ be known and enjoyed and praised as supreme.God glories in Jesus because he is God’s glory.He exults in his own resplendent perfections shining in his Son in their work of creation, providence, and redemption.All that God does is to bring himself glory through Jesus Christ.For he is God’s Son, the One in whom the Father is infinitely, eternally, and immutably pleased.
[1]All Scripture quotations come from The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
[2] Bray, Gerald. The Doctrine of God. New York: InterVarsity P, 1993. 197.
[3] Fuller, Daniel P. The Unity of the Bible. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992. 117.
[4] Kaiser, Jr., Walter C. The Messiah in the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995. 128.
[5] Grenz, S., Guretzki, D., & Nordling, C. F. (1999). Pocket dictionary of theological terms (64). Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press.
[6] Sproul, R. (2000, c1993). Vol. Book two: Before the face of God: Book two: A daily guide for living from the Gospel of Luke. Includes indexes. (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; Before the Face of God. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House; Ligonier Ministries.
[7] Strong, A. H. (2004). Systematic theology. "[This] …work is a revision and enlargement of [his] 'Systematic Theology,' first published in 1886."--Pref. (397). Bellingham, Wa.: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[8] Edwards, Jonathan, and Sereno E. Dwight. "A Dissertation Concerning The End for Which God Created the World." The Works of Jonathan Edwards. Vol. 1. New York: Hendrickson, Incorporated, 1998. 98.
[9] Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-c1985). The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures (2:310). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[10] Piper, John. The Justification of God: An Exegetical and Theological Study of Romans 9:1-23. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1993. 95-96.
[11] "Thomas Watson on Man's Chief End from Body of Divinity." FiveSolas.com. 24 Oct. 2008 .
[12] Murray, John. REDEMPTION Accomplished and Applied. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1955. 177.
[13] Beale, G. K. The Book of Revelation : A Commentary on the Greek Text. Grand Rapids, Mich.; Carlisle, Cumbria: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1999. 191.
[14] Wright, N. T. The Resurrection of the Son of God. Vol. 3. New York: Fortress P, 2003. 731.
I just read a really great paragraph in a reading for my Systematic Theology class. Check out how awesome God is:
"God’s being is also something totally unique. It is not just that God does not need the creation for anything; God could not need the creation for anything. The difference between the creature and the Creator is an immensely vast difference, for God exists in a fundamentally different order of being. It is not just that we exist and God has always existed; it is also that God necessarily exists in an infinitely better, stronger, more excellent way. The difference between God’s being and ours is more than the difference between the sun and a candle, more than the difference between the ocean and a raindrop, more than the difference between the arctic ice cap and a snowflake, more than the difference between the universe and the room we are sitting in: God’s being is qualitatively different. No limitation or imperfection in creation should be projected onto our thought of God. He is the Creator; all else is creaturely. All else can pass away in an instant; he necessarily exists forever."
-Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology : An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 1994). 162.
I love listening to good music. My wife and I enjoy occasionally listening to an artist who wrote such good words as:
You are the sun shining down on everyone Light of the world giving light to everything I see Beauty so brilliant I can hardly take it in And everywhere you are is warmth and light
And I am the moon with no light of my own Still you have made me to shine And as I glow in this cold dark night I know I can't be a light unless I turn my face to you
That's some good stuff. However, lately I've been thinking about the lyrics of another one of her songs, and I must say that although this is a "Christian" artist, these particular words are not altogether Christ-centered. Can you discern the critical flaw? Here are some of the words:
Redemption comes in strange places, small spaces Calling out the best of who we are
And I want to add to the beauty To tell a better story I want to shine with the light That's burning up inside
It comes in loving community It comes in helping a soul find it's worth
Redemption comes in strange places, small spaces Calling out the best of who we are
And I want to add to the beauty To tell a better story I want to shine with the light That's burning up inside
This is grace, an invitation to be beautiful This is grace, an invitation
Redemption comes in strange places, small spaces Calling out our best
And I want to add to the beauty To tell a better story I want to shine with the light That's burning up inside
I feel the need to address some of the things this artist is saying because she's defining vitally important things such as grace and redemption in ways that are unbiblical and man-centered. This is a really pretty song, musically speaking. It's really catchy, and I find myself singing it. And I'm weak enough that I could easily begin to believe these words unless God helps me to see the reality that these words are fallacious in the light of God's word.
Concerning redemption, she says it's about "calling out the best of who we are." Is that what redemption is? Let's see what the Bible says. The Apostle Paul says that those who trust in Jesus "have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace" (Ephesians 1:7, ESV; see also Colossians 1:14). Redemption has nothing to do with calling out our best. It calls out our worst! We're sinners who need "the forgiveness of our trespasses." It doesn't call out our best; it calls out God's best! He's our Redeemer! He forgives trespasses through Christ's blood! Redemption puts the spotlight on God as he opens up the treasure chest of "the riches of his grace" for all who are Christ's to cherish!
Concerning grace, she says it's "an invitation to be beautiful." Is that what grace is? Paul again helps us understand this. He says that sinners who trust in Jesus "are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24, ESV). Grace is a gift. It comes from the Greek word, χάρις which means unmerited favor. So it's God's gift to sinners to freely give them a favorable relationship with himself through Christ. It's nothing we deserve, nothing we can earn, nothing we're worthy of, nothing we can work for, because we're sinners who deserve God's wrath, not his favor. So there is some truth in this artist's definition. She implies that we are ugly since we are invited "to be beautiful." We indeed are ugly to God in our sin, for apart from his grace we do not reflect his beauty. But this is much, MUCH more than a mere invitation.
Grace is not like receiving a card in the mail inviting us to a favorable relationship with God, an invitation that we can accept or deny if we feel like it. His grace is irresistible. God is not a wimp. If he wants to save you, nothing can stop him from doing it. He will open your heart to cause you to believe in him (see Acts 16:14). You see, we cannot accept or deny any invitation of God's in our sin, because we are spiritually dead. A dead person can't do anything to help himself. No matter how much you invite him to come to a party, he'll never RSVP, he can't respond. He'll never come unless God raises him from the dead. And that's exactly what he does! Paul says that "even when we were dead in our trespasses," God "made us alive together with Christ." That's what God does through the good news of Jesus! He makes us alive so that we can believe and celebrate God in Christ forever and ever!
The critical flaw in these lyrics is that they are entirely egocentric. She's singing about the "best of who we are," and "helping a soul find it's worth." This is diametrically opposed to the way the writers of God's word speak. They say, "I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh," and "all have turned aside; together they have become worthless" (Romans 7:8; 3:12 - citing Psalm 53:1-3, ESV).
This is a problem that we in the West all have to deal with. We are in an incredibly egocentric culture, and unfortunately this man-centeredness is even in the church as the above song exemplifies. This self-centeredness does not come from the Bible, it comes from us. It's all over our culture. I see it nearly every morning I put sweetener in my coffee. Check it out on this packet. "Find your inner sweetness." Oh, isn't that cute. It's the same as the public service announcement I saw earlier this year, where the lady from Law & Order SVU, adds to our megalomania saying, "If you like you, everyone else will too." This is just so out of touch with reality it's pathetic. But that's the way we in this culture are apart from Christ. We really are crazy about ourselves. That's how the company, Loreal motivates people to buy its products, "because," they say, "we're worth it." Apart from the truth about Jesus in the Bible, this is what we do: We obsess about our own value and sweetness and likeableness and "the best of who we are," all the while ignoring, belittling, and even scoffing at what's truly sweet and valuable, the infinite worth of our Creator.
This man diagnoses our situation well. Check out this video
We have no inner sweetness. We're bitter inside. We have an inner problem, and we need a solution that comes from outside us. We need the gospel of Christ. The good news of Jesus shines an incomparable glory. We can't, as the aforementioned artist sings, "add to the beauty, to tell a better story." God's glorious beauty is perfect and unchangeable. He is perfect, he need not change. And his message of grace and redemption in Christ in the Bible is the best story ever told. It is the story everyone needs to hear over and over again. It's the story of Christ's death for sins and his resurrection from the dead to justify all who trust in him as their Lord and God and Savior and Treasure. If you haven't yet, I urge you to trust in him as your own Master. You are a sinner, and unless you call on him you will not get to enjoy God forever. If you don't treasure him as yours, you will spend an eternity in hell without him. But if you trust in him, you'll be enabled to turn from your sins to follow Christ. Repent and believe the good news of Jesus!
My name is Adam. I'm a guy who's being saved from sin and death and God's wrath, for God's mercy and glory, by Jesus Christ, inviting all who will to share in this thrilling grace. I'm in love with my wife, relishing God's Word, and working on my B.A. in "Biblical Languages" at the Moody Bible Institute.
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