Wednesday, August 13, 2014

A thesis restatement

The last month has been a lot of things--amazing, exhausting, fruitful--and I feel that the time is ripe to write again.  Before digging back into various issues of the day, I want to expound a bit on this blog, why it's here and why I named it thusly.

Anyone who knows me, knows that one of the biggest influences on my life as a believer has been John Piper, whose writings and sermons along with the community of believers God placed me in have been a big part of my process of being forged into a new man.  And when I decided to start a new blog, I knew that the term he had coined to describe this philosophy and theology of taking ultimate joy in God above and beyond everything else was going to be a major motivating factor.  For one thing, it described God's reordering of my priorities and transformation of my heart, and for another it was incredibly evocative of the sort of introduction to reformed theology I had experienced.  I do remember in past years vaguely hearing things about "Calvinists" and hearing negative things attributed to them ("They believe all babies that die go to hell!" is one thing that sticks out in my mind) but exactly what that was or what it meant, beyond some conception of issues with free will I didn't really grasp.

But reading and listening to Piper, and with my eyes being opened to the full wealth of what is in Scripture, I saw that there was truly a great deal of joy in monergism--in the fact that my salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone.  And the Lord has been faithful to build on that foundation of truth He laid down in me, as I came to understand the necessity of Scripture alone as the sole infallible rule of faith to a meaningful, consistent worldview; of Christ alone as ultimate in all things and as the source of all things; of the glory of God as the ultimate purpose for all things.  And as the concept of "Christian hedonism" became fleshed out for me, the fact that it is not simply "You have ultimate personal satisfaction in Christ," but that it is the coming together of the church and Christ, something far beyond personal happiness, that I have been called into.  God has used my marriage, more than anything else, as a tool to teach me that.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, sothat he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.--Ephesians 5:25-32
My marriage has been a profoundly transforming experience, and since my last post and events, struggles, and many, many talks later, I have been overjoyed to see even a glimpse of the evidences of God's mercies in my life, to save me, to transform me from who I was into who I will be, and it consistently destroys any desires on my part to self-aggrandize.  My time spent with my wife just being, or working, or reading the Bible and praying together, has grown in quality and in its continuing impact on our lives.  We still have so far to go, with so many experiences lying before us, but if God is willing I am hopeful for many years with my bride to see fruit borne in our lives and the lives of children to come.

Probably one of the most fulfilling things we have done together, as simple as it is, has been to simply spend time each night reading some of the Bible together.  We read through Ecclesiastes, and right now we're going through Luke.  It's been incredible to see how God has spoken to us through His Word, and it's been an opportunity for both of us to learn, to be transformed by God's work through it, and to pray together.  Our life in marriage has grown stronger proportionally with our time spent in the Word and in prayer.

And I have been filled with joy and longing as I've learned that being in Christ is not simply a matter of personal fulfillment, though certainly that is a part of it; one should find ultimate strength, of course, in drawing their life from the Author of all things.  But my fulfillment is not ultimate, and that is a lesson I desire to have sink into me and produce some real change.  As an American I've been brought up in an environment where everything is about me, where the message is "pursue the American dream, buy a house, get rich, have kids."  Now, I am looking forward to things like having a home and having kids, but whatever form that comes in, my desire is that it is deeply rooted in being obedient to God's call on me.  The church I'm part of is starting, for lack of a better term, a layman training academy to allow those of us who desire to, to begin studying the deep issues, to pursue the Word and the Spirit in close contact with others.

That's enough about me.  Honestly, what you'll probably see here is more commentary about events and articles, and I plan to start a series on the book of Ephesians, one of my favorite books.  I desire to worship in Spirit and in truth, in this as well as in everything else.