God Focused Ministry
It’s All About God’s Glorious Name
Back in the 1990’s, I started reading Desiring God by John Piper. In the beginning of the book, Piper stated upfront that he considered himself a “Christian Hedonist”. I was incredulous! “Here we go again”, I thought, “Here’s one of those hucksters selling another perversion of God's truth”.
It seems that we, as Christians, are so gullible that we buy into everything that comes down the pike. We continue to be duped and disillusioned with all of the new novel fads that come onto the scene. Many jump on the bandwagon at first, it looks and feels good for a while, and then our interest fades away. Soon, it’s time to look for another fix! A recent example would be The Prayer of Jabez by Bruce Wilkinson, among many others.
As I continued reading Desiring God, it became apparent to me that this man wasn’t one of those spiritual hucksters selling his brand of snake oil. Piper quoted many scripture references to make his point, and then for historical support he quoted Jonathan Edwards. It became clear that Piper was dealing with a truth, and a significant one at that! This was a truth that I had seen in my peripheral spiritual vision, but hadn’t taken time to meditate on and consider.
I had been called into ministry when man, especially preachers, were the center of God's attention. God was man-focused, not the other way around. We were challenged to go out and build gigantic churches. We were enamored with famous preachers, large auditoriums, and million-dollar budgets. Oh yes, honorary doctor's degrees were also a huge deal. As I recall, one was bestowed upon a horse.
In reading Piper's book Desiring God, all that and much more came crumbling down. I became aware of God's desire, that is, His Glory. I read references that spoke of God’s Name, such as these:
Psalm 79:9 – “Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Thy Name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for Thy Name's sake.”
Psalm 109:21 – “But do thou for me, O GOD the Lord, for Thy Name's sake: because Thy mercy is good, deliver thou me.”
Psalm 23:3 – “He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake.”
We could fill several pages with the Scripture references relating to God's Glory, and His Name’s sake.
What’s the point? The point is this: our greatest joy and fulfillment in life is to honor the Lord. Why not take the time to look up some of the references in your Bible that relate to God’s name?
In closing, I want to quote one of Piper's statements. “God is most glorified in me when I'm most satisfied with Him.”
Oh, and by the way, I’m not promoting Piper’s book. I’ve never met him personally (I walked past him once). What I am promoting is the great theme of God’s Name and His Glory in His Book! Then, if you want to – read John Piper’s book.
See you down the road.
—Pastor Frank Goodwin