Drink from the Fountain

I do not think that in telling people, go for the fountain. Don't stop until you've reached the fountain. Drink from the fountain. I think it's a good thing. You know what the central thing in your life is right now? Whatever. What should we seek? God. Alone. This episode of Light and Truth, John Piper explains how seeking the God. It is his glory, not our own. The sermon was reading. Baptist Church in Wheaton, Illinois on september nineteenth.

88. You know, the text that, if you were to ask me, is a text that sums up best my philosophy of ministry, it would be 1 Peter 4, 11, which goes like this. Let him who serves God. Serve in the strength which God supplies. that in everything God might get the glory through Jesus Christ. Picture that. Let him who serves serve in the strength that God supplies. That means you're not the giver in this contract. You're the getter.

So that in everything God might get the glory through Jesus Christ. The one who gives the power gets the glory. That's what that verse says. And so service to God means Putting yourself in the humble position so that you benefit from his grace and he is magnified by his own glory. Reflecting back off of this lowly, humble receiver. of blessing. And if you receive it joyfully, you compound the glory that God receives in the world.

One last response on this subjection about what becomes of duty and service. Let me focus on the word duty. And here I use an illustration of my wife. I love to use this illustration. My favorite illustration, because I love my wife. We'll be married twenty years in uh December. And uh we met and fell in love at Wheaton College and I gave her my ring at the lagoon. Is it still there? The lagoon?

I wouldn't even know how to find it. But anyway, I remember I had an old army jacket and she had on some kind of old jeans and I wrote two poems and gave her the ring out there wherever it is. I may not even point in the right direction. And so Wheaton College has a lot of uh Nostalgia for us. Twenty years. We'll be married in December. Suppose on that night I come home. It's a Wednesday night this year. I'm trying to figure out what to do special.

So suppose I come home with twenty roses. That sounds original, doesn't it? Behind my back, twenty long stem roses, got wholesale from Leanne Laurian, who has a flower shop. And she opens the door, I don't knock and she looks at me funny and I say, Happy anniversary. And she's beaming, takes the roses. Oh Johnny, thank you. Why did you I see, don't mention it. It's my duty. Now I w I want to ask you, why are you laughing at this historic, age-old, glorious?

Concept of duty. I mean it's not funny. Well, here's the reason you're laughing. I ruined it. I blew it. Why? Didn't I honor her? I mean, don't you honor somebody when you dutifully do things for them? No, you don't, as a matter of fact. And that's why Christianity today is so it's so powerless and vacuous in our worship. We have been taught that's the way to relate to God.

My wife would be insulted, not honored by that. Now, let me ask you, let's go back and replay, replay, and get an answer here that would honor her. All right? Door opens again. Pull out the roses. Happy anniversary. Oh, Johnny, they're beautiful. Why did you? Answer. I couldn't help myself. I just loved it. I I just saw him and I thought of you and I couldn't I couldn't help it. I mean it just makes me so happy to do this.

Or if later in the evening I said, And don't fix supper, because we're going out tonight. And she said, Oh, why? And I say, This would be the right answer. I say, because I can't think of anything I would rather do than spend an evening with you. She would never respond to that by saying, Oh you Christian hedonists, all you ever want to do is what pleases you. It's what you want to do.

Now why wouldn't she say that? Why wouldn't she accuse me of selfishness when I just said there's nothing I'd rather do than be with you? That's selfish, right?

Do you catch on to how to glorify God? You do not glorify God by dutiful performance of commandments. You glorify God by saying to him, I can't help myself. You are so glorified. to be in your presence, to hear your will from my life. To be on the Calvary Road with your Son in fellowship with your Holy Spirit is unspeakably and unimaginably great. What else can I do? To whom else shall we go? You have the word.

That's the hedonistic attitude that glorifies the Lord. The concept of an emotionless, virtuous performance of duty does not please God or glorify him. Any more than my wife would have been pleased. Carnell, Edward John Carnell, a life of tragedy and glory in my judgment.

wrote the book Christian Commitment and it just blew me out of the water because he said almost the very same thing. I read this book after I was using this illustration about Noel and me. Listen to this. I couldn't believe I was reading this. It just made me feel like I was just one with this man and I never met him. In his book, he wrote, Suppose a husband asks his wife if he must kiss her goodnight. Her answer is, you must, but not that kind of must.

What she means is this, I'm still reading, what she means is this, unless a spontaneous affection for my person motivates you, your overtures are stripped. Of all moral value. That's wonderful! That's such a great confirmation! Unless a spontaneous affection for God motivates my desire to kiss him on Sunday morning, say the singing of a hymn. They're stripped of moral value. A raw

Empty, heartless performance of worshipful duty brings the Almighty no glory. In fact, Jesus said, Why do you worship me with your lips when your heart is in? Bursheba. It's just it's far away. It there is such a thing as hypocrisy and worship. Now, one of the questions that arises here, I'm going to mention it and just move on and close quickly, but I'll come back to it on Wednesday night is that's devastating.

Because when I get up on Sunday morning, I often don't feel like worship. Should I just stay home? question. Okay? I'm going to address that question. I'm trying to handle the fact that you you're you're setting such a standard tonight, Piper, of engagement of the emotions with God that I'm out of it. I'm I don't qualify anymore. Okay? I know that that's the response. I said it was a devastating doctrine. I will try to provide that kind of practical help on Wednesday night.

Last objection, it's very brief. What becomes now of God's centeredness? If you tell somebody to pursue their joy, and make that the passion of their lives. Don't they become self-centered? Now here illustrations are more helpful than just expositions, and I could let me use two. And then we're done. You go to a museum, and uh you start walking through the museum and uh You go there in order to have the delight of great art. Suppose you walk then up in front of a piece of art.

And uh instead of looking at the piece of art, you stand there looking down at your chest or your stomach and say, well, come on, heart beat faster. I'm in front of this great art. Come on. Nothing's happening. And the problem is, of course, that you're looking in the wrong direction. You're looking here.

You're supposed to be looking there. Mark Knoll, professor over at at uh Wheaton, we talked after the chapel this morning, and that was the first question he raised. He said, Are we to seek joy or to seek the wine? And my answer to that, I've thought about that a lot, and my first answer was the wine gets no glory if you don't enjoy it. This is taken from Isaiah fifty five. And my second response was we are to seek the joy.

Because if you separate those two and say, Just seek the wine, you fall into this dutiful thing instead of the kind of delight that honours God. So When you say uh the qu the objection being raised here is, do you become self-centered when you become oriented on joy? And my answer is emphatically not, not if you're smart. If you're smart and you want joy and you walk into an art museum, you don't look at your belly.

You look at the paintings, you focus right on the paintings. If somebody says to you, hey, you want joy? Look at your stomach. Look at your heart. Look at your hands. Look at your nose. Get a mirror. Come on, you're really after joy. Stop looking at the paintings. I'd say, get out of here. You don't know how to be a hedonist. So anybody tries to tell me to get my eyes off God when I'm pursuing joy, I say, get out of here. Don't deceive me. Now, here's my last illustration.

Eight little puppies on a kitchen floor. And they're all thirsty. And they're all tangled up like a big ball of fur and they're squabbling around. They're like this dog that that you have. So this wild dog in their house, the Armstrong house. But there are eight of them and they're and they're little and they're all tangled and like this.

And you take a big yellow bowl of water and you set it on the kitchen floor, and immediately they like like eight little furry petals around this center uh flower and they start drinking Uh my question is what is central? And the answer is the water, not the dogs. And so I do not think that in telling people

Go for the fountain. Don't stop until you've reached the fountain. Drink from the fountain. I don't think I'm making them self centered. I'm thinking I think I'm making them fountain centered. God becomes the center because he's the only one who satisfies. You know what the central thing in your life is right now? Whatever makes you Father, apply now your word, I pray, to these friends, that we might in the devastation of them and the liberation of them experience the fullness.

of your glory and your joy. I ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. This is light and truth, God-centered preaching to help you see Christ clearly and treasure him truly. I'm your host, Dan Kruver. Thank you for listening. John Piper continues our ten part series. Love is more than action. I hope you'll join us. For more resources, visit desiring God.org.