God’s Pleasure in His Fame

July 29, 2006

Saturday means book recommendations, right?  I will add more about our present discussion some other time, but I had this thought on Thursday and I was going to share it then but decided to wait until today.  I want to recommend – no, plead with – anyone reading this site to read the book The Pleasures of God by John Piper.  If you contact me, I will gladly give you a copy for free as long as you promise to read it!  I figure I can still do that with our current readership hovering in single digits!   

I first read the Pleasures of God in January of 2003, and I think I’ve read it cover to cover three times, with other selected parts many times more.  Even the way that book came into my hands was a testament to the providence of God, but that is for another post.   

The reason I remember so well the time I read this book is because I know that apart from the Bible, nothing has shaped my life more than reading this book.  I don’t use the term “life-changing” flippantly, but for me the Pleasures of God truly was. 

I was reminded of that this week because of preparing my sermon for Sunday night on Psalm 57.  The message concerns the role of prayer in the life of worship, and a focus is on the words of David repeated in verses 5 and 11, “Be exalted O God, above the heavens!  Let Your glory be over all the earth!”  I am making much of David’s burden to see the glory of God spread, even in the midst of intense personal conflict in his life.  Despite his trials, David was consumed in the desire not for comfort, but for the exaltation of the name and renown of his God. 

In preparing for the message I picked up the Pleasures of God, because I remembered so vividly how this burden of David became my own when I read it three and a half years ago.  So I was skimming through Chapter 4, “The Pleasure of God in His Fame”, and it hit me for the first time: this chapter is why this book has so changed my life.  The whole book is outstanding, and Chapter 2 comes close in its impact upon me, but I really think I can say that “The Pleasure of God in His Fame” is the most important thing I have ever read outside the Bible.  And of course it impacted me because it is so thoroughly rooted in the Scriptures. 

In the first paragraph of the chapter Piper quotes David Brainerd’s words to a young ministerial candidate: “Give yourself to prayer, to reading and meditation on divine truths: strive to penetrate to the bottom of them and never be content with a superficial knowledge.” Piper then continues, 

“It was good advice.  And not just for pastors, because at the bottom of things you find a granite foundation of hope for victory in the global mission of the church.  You find a God whose commitment to the cause of His people is grounded not in His people but in Himself.  His passion to save and to purify feeds itself not from the shallow soil of our value, but from the infinite depths of His own.”   

Those last two sentences sum up the portrait of God that is the burning passion of my life, and the theme of the entire Bible.  God’s commitment to His people is rooted in His commitment to display the infinite value of His own worth, and His highest passion is His passion for His own glory.  Every good gift that comes to me and every other living thing, comes because of the pleasure of God in His fame spreading throughout the ends of the earth.   

To say any more would be inadequate; this chapter, and this book, must speak for itself.  By all means, get it and read it twice!  And as you read, be good Bereans and test everything by the Word of God.  John Piper is no infallible author, but I praise God for the way He has equipped Piper to discern and reveal the passions of God’s heart through his books and sermons.   

Celebrating with you God’s pleasure in Himself,  

Larry 

Posted by Larry | Filed Under Uncategorized 

Comments

One Response to “God’s Pleasure in His Fame”

  1. on October 16th, 2006 11:03 am

    [...] * The Pleasures of God, by John Piper — This is without question the most influential book that I have ever read, apart from the Holy Scriptures.  God’s greatest passion is God; that truth has changed my life, and Piper helped me see it.  For more of my thoughts on this book, click here.  [...]

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