Tucker Project

The think I like about Piper is that he always takes me to Christ and not himself or even myself. So many Christians are preoccupied with telling themselves and others how special they are, or how God has such incredible faith in them. They portray God as some doting lover who just can’t live without them or some super-proud parent who believes their child is some super-genius who can do anything. I will go so far as to say that almost all of these comments come completely detached from who we are in Christ or in the best of moments the fact of Christ is merely assumed. In such a self-obsessed culture, this ideology detached from the person and work of Jesus Chris is insulting to God and cheapens the Gospel. We must push past the smallness of me-centered theology to something bigger (and much better and more biblical). Christ is the end and chief of all desires and joys and without Him, we are NOTHING.

I think this is why I stand in awe of men like Spurgeon, Luther,and Newton. At the end of everything, they found their glory and strength in Christ. Their answer to the question “Do I have what it takes?” was a resounding “NO!” followed by the Pauline answer of “‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)‘ and everything I do I do ‘with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. (Colossians 1:29)‘”

The love of God is not God’s making much of us, but God’s saving us from self-centeredness so that we can enjoy making much of him forever. And our love to others is not our making much of them, but helping them to find satisfaction in making much of God. True love aims at satisfying people in the glory of God. Any love that terminates on man is eventually destructive. It does not lead people to the only lasting joy, namely, God. Love must be God-centered, or it is not true love; it leaves people without their final hope of joy.

John Piper from an article entitled “The Goal of God’s Love May Not Be What You Think It Is.”

or to push the idea even further…

If you want to know why you can have security in God; it’s because God loves God so much…God loves God more than He loves you. And that’s why His love for you will stand. And if He didn’t love Himself more than He loved you, you would have no hope in Him because His love would be man-centered which is no foundation at all.

“In the world it is called Tolerance, but in hell it is called Despair, the sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die.”

(Thanks to my friend Amanda Setser for this gem.)

I Corinthians 15:1-8 (ESV):

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.”

1 Corinthians 15:13-19 (ESV):

“13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.“