Delight in God, our essential Armament (Part Two)
By Jay Wegter
The Scriptures unfold numerous sources of delighting in God
“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full” (Jn 15:11). It is the Lord’s will that believers have joy in Him. The words of Christ give us access to His joy. Thus, enjoyment of God is to be expected and looked for (Ps 16; Ps 90; Phil 4:4). There are gracious communications made to us in this life. The Spirit is the agent who generates a felt joy and exhilaration in the consciousness in the child of God. Old Testament saints were very well aware of this inward enjoyment of God as a means of grace (Ps 37:4; 43:4, 8). The secret to getting the blessing of God is to humble oneself as far as possible, in a spirit of contrition over sin, and correspondingly, putting Him as high as possible. This is how to begin in prayer (Is 57:15; 66:1-2). For, He delights in reviving the spirit of the lowly, and the heart of the contrite.
Beholding the glory of the Lord not only produces delight in God, it also transforms us into the likeness of our Head. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Cor 3:18). Our transformation is tied to our ongoing apprehension of the glory of the Lord: 1) We are SAVED by the ‘sight’ of the GLORY of God in the FACE OF CHRIST (2 Cor 4:6) → 2) and, in BEHOLDING His glory (2 Cor 3:18) → 3) we are BECOMING like Him (1 Jn 3:2) → 4) so as to DELIGHT in Him (Jn 17:24) → 5) unto DISPLAYING His glory (the Church reflecting Him as His temple (Eph 2:19-22). Our resurrection bodies will make known the glory of God—the cosmos is eagerly poised, waiting for this event; the revealing of the sons of God (Rom 8:17-25).ⁱ
At our glorification we’ll be fitted to delight in the glory of God with very delight that God the FATHER has for His own Son (Jn 17:20-26). God loved me before I was born and created me to enjoy Him eternally. He sent His Son to suffer the agony of the cross in order to secure my eternal blessedness. That surely must be a thought to end all sorrow.ⁱⁱ The Father’s delight is increasingly our delight. Heaven is to be brought into the communal joy, and life of the Trinity. Wave after wave of revealed glory will wash over us—that is the Gospel’s final good.
Evidence that one is truly changed is that we want these things (i.e. forgiveness, the gift of life, the relief of guilt, the favor and love of God) because they bring joy in God, and lasting happiness—that is SAVORING God. Our highest joy from something less makes us idolaters. Our God has moved heaven and earth to restore us to be enthralled with Himself. His glory is displayed through our joy in that glory. God does what is necessary to make us eternally ever-increasingly happy in Himself. Idols go in order to make room for this.ⁱⁱⁱ
“Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Ps 73:25-26). Regarding ‘God our portion’ Augustine states, “He loves Thee too little who loves anything together with Thee which he loves not for Thy sake.” Jesus must be our supreme treasure (Mt 10:37ff.). What you love must be for God’s sake. Christ must be the supreme treasure in our lives if we are to be His disciples (Mt 10:37-39; Lu 14:26-33). He died and rose so we could see and savor His glory. The enjoyment of God, as our possession, as our highest good, is the sum of all that Christ purchased.ⁱᵛ
The supreme worth of the gospel is found in its gift of God Himself to the sinner. For, the gospel is as much to get people to God as it is to get people to heaven. So much of Scripture is filled with this perspective of getting people rightly connected to God in order to know Him in a relationship of intimate communion.
But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead (Phil 3:7-11).
To see Christ’s glory requires a change of heart (2 Cor 4:6). Only by this change are we enabled to see spiritual things for what they really are: true, beautiful, valuable, and satisfying beyond words. Our innate self-absorption means we don’t have the moral ability to see His glory. A profound spiritual change is required (2 Cor 4:6; 5:17). God’s effectual call enables me to see what God wants us to see, namely the spiritual reality and infinite value of these things. Satan doesn’t want us to see this glory; he wants man’s idolatrous infatuation with created things to remain undisturbed by the gospel (2 Cor 4:3-4; Rom 1:25, “they worshipped and served the creation”).ᵛ
Delight in God can flow from many sources. 1) He gives us objects of holy beauty to fix our minds on, such as His attributes, love, mercy, His Son, Spirit and Kingdom, and the doctrines of His grace in calling and redeeming us. 2) He has given us the cross of Christ which has purchased the joy of His people at the expense of His own sufferings (Is 53). 3) He gives us His will in His Word which commands us to rejoice always (Phil 4:4, 1 Thess 5:16). 4) He gives us His Word of promise so that in Christ, it is ‘yes’ and ‘amen’ (2 Cor 1:20). 5) He reminds us in Scripture that He takes much pleasure to see us happy in Himself (Deut 28:47-48). For, the goal of our delight is ultimately not our personal satisfaction, but God’s exaltation. 6) He cautions us to guard against thoughts that can kill our delight in Him. Take heed of an impatient, petty, self-tormenting mind that can bear no cross, no delays, and no disappointments (Phil 2:14-16). Avoid a grumbling or greedy spirit that is quick to show irritability. 7) He guides us in how to preserve delight by a life of faith finding satisfaction in contemplating things unseen (2 Cor 4:16-18; Col 3:1-4). For, without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6). 8) He reminds us that He is our very ‘environment’ (Acts 17:27-28), therefore, we are to let every earthly blessing whether of beautiful sound, sight, taste or comfort lead us to gratitude and delight in Him (1 Cor 10:31). What a contrast this is to the spirit of Faust, which sees earthly treasure in competition with eternal treasure. Remember to increase your delight in God. Do not be satisfied with a rationed diet. Learn even to use your trouble to delight in God. Think upon the wicked who blithely seek to take delight in sinful pleasures with no consideration of the end of what such things will be (Gal 6:7-8).ᵛⁱ
Great divines gave the following counsel: by appropriating these sources, make delight in God an integral part of your own life. There are no shortcuts to holy integrity. Despite his demanding responsibilities, George Mueller resolved to begin each day by making himself happy in God. What a contrast this is to grinding out duty as a formal religious box-checker while reserving one’s heart affections for the world’s passing pleasure and approval. Regard the apostasy of our age to be an outrage against the honor of God (Ps 2:10-12). Let the secular world around you produce a jealousy for the glory of God that intensifies your delight in Him. Decide to make delight in God the purpose behind all other religious duties. Even penitent sorrow ought to be viewed as a purge to cast out those corruptions which prevent you from relishing your spiritual delights. Delight in God is the health of your soul. It is the key to acceptable worship. God is pleased and we are renewed when our obedience is accompanied by delight.
Be sure to include delight in God in your counseling ministry. Troubled marriages more often than not issue from unrealistic expectations placed upon a spouse. If God became one’s highest treasure, then God would be the source of ultimate satisfaction and not one’s partner. Another frequent topic in counseling is the aggravation that comes from besetting sin. A passion for the pleasures of God is a powerful way to overcome the passion for sin. Fight illicit pleasure with holy pleasure; fight pleasure with pleasure! Christians who are deeply satisfied in God, and who are full of His grace and patience, have all of the resources needed to heal troubled relationships.ᵛⁱⁱ
Delight in God is the central part of God’s gift of Himself to us
The best and final gift of the gospel is that we gain Christ (Rom 8:32). The glory of God in the face of Christ is revealed for our everlasting enjoyment. For, the gospel gives us the gift of God Himself in Christ. The world only sees the infinite worth of Christ when the church awakens to the truth that the saving love of God is the gift of Himself, and that God Himself is the goal and great treasure of the gospel (Jn 17:20-23).ᵛⁱⁱⁱ
You have only embraced the true gospel if the glory of Christ is your true treasure—otherwise you have not believed the gospel, even if it looks like you have complied with the gospel. If the promises of God in Christ in justification and eternal life have not led you to behold and embrace God Himself as your highest joy, then you have not embraced the gospel of God.ⁱˣ Thus, a new faculty of soul is needed.
A miracle of God is needed in order for us to take delight in God
Joy in God is beyond the power of nature, a miracle of sovereign grace is required. God is magnified in the treasuring of Christ above all things, but what has to happen for this change to occur? What has to be ‘fixed’ in us for this to happen? Our nature prefers created things over the glory of Christ. We worship and serve the creation rather than God in Christ (Rom 1:23, 25). We break the first command of loving God first and foremost (Deut 6:5). We forsake the ‘fountain’ for the leaky stagnant cistern of created things (Jer 2:13). We love darkness in order to conceal our idolatry from the light of His glory and truth (Jn 3:19-21).ˣ Only the power of God can alter our dilemma.
Churches are so guilty of removing and downplaying punitive language. God sentences people justly to everlasting torment (Piper). To be enslaved to my love affair with creation instead of God sends me to hell (Rom 1:32). Every day as a Christian, I deserve hell, that’s how great God’s glory is. There is not a strict equivalence between sin and punishment, the crime is measured not by its frequency and vileness, but by the dignity of the One you have assaulted. Our great problem is that you will love darkness UNLESS something happens. Your problem is that you demean His glory by preferring His creation to Him. Two things must be remedied in your life:
ONE: the solution to an external problem—you are under wrath and judgment. To be dealt with in judgment (justice)—this means that you will get what you deserve.
TWO: the solution to an internal problem—your predicament is tied to what you are by nature, in yourself. Your motives are to prefer created things to God due to your innate hostility and enmity to God. You love darkness. By nature you are an idolater.ˣⁱ
Both of these problems have to be addressed finally and definitively and radically if your two-part problem is to be solved. The good news is that God has stepped in to solve this problem (see 1 Cor 15:1-3; 1 Pet 2:24; 2 Cor 5:21.) Your sin was condemned in Christ’s flesh—that is the glorious truth of substitution (Is 53:6). The big problem is: how can God bring people to heaven? The answer is that God puts His righteousness on display in the redemption of sinners (Rom 3:23-26). The power of God changes hearts. As long as you have a ‘stone heart’ (Ez 36:26ff.)—you cannot, and will not love God and Christ. Your wasted life will end in utter eternal loss. But, of this miraculous change of granting a new heart, that tender heart of flesh was purchased for you at the cross. A heart of flesh is needed in order to be satisfied in Jesus, and love His glory.
What the gospel requires, the new covenant creates—that is the essence of God’s grace and His glorification of His Son and His grace (Ez 36:26-28; Heb 8:8-12). Because of the blood of Christ, our two problems are solved. The gospel comes bringing new ability, the very ability we lost in the fall. That is why the gospel is the power of God (Rom 1:16-17; 1 Cor 2:15-16). The synergist says, “I made Christ’s work effectual.” “My faith appropriated and unleashed its potential.” Not so, synergism is a misrepresentation of God. For, the gospel comes bringing the very thing necessary for us to comply with its conditions in order to receive its promises—for it promises a heart of flesh! The gospel’s good news is that the power of God restores the true worship of God (Jn 4:23-24).ˣⁱⁱ
Our creation-preferring hearts were not despised by our Lord. He saw us ‘squirming in our blood’ and said “Live!” (Ez 16:6). The awakened sight of the glory of God in the gospel through faith spills over onto others. That is love—you want others to experience His value. Love is the ‘horizontalization’ of my vertical delight in God (2 Cor 8:1; Ps 63:3)—that is the missional heart which desires that multitudes be redeemed, and become lovers of God, brought under Christ’s rule. Grace is not just non-judgment, it is divine power moving into ineffective lives and fixing them. When grace comes down the first effect is joy, “My peace I give, not as the world gives” (Jn 14:27).
The work of Christ is a double imputation resulting in the justification of believing sinners; this is the heart of the gospel. The gospel applied in the effectual call bestows the supreme desire to be with God. Forgiveness is relationship restored. A gospel which only stresses deliverance from hell and the restoration of loved ones, misses the point of reconciliation. Those who subscribe to that view do not treat God as the final and highest good of the gospel. They miss the point by only mentioning the lesser gifts given, entirely skipping over the supreme desire to be with God. The true convert to the gospel wants God above all things. Anticipation of the second coming described in Titus 2:13 captures this desire to be with God.ˣⁱⁱⁱ “. . .looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.” (see also Rom 8:23; Phil 3:20; Heb 9:28.)
Why are we so easily derailed from delight in God? People do not have moral outrage over their sin, over its bitterness, bondage, and enmity toward God (2 Cor 7:8-11). They only have outrage about suffering, and injustices, not about the spiritual consequences of their sin. And we might add to their list of outrages, they are antagonized over the irritations of conscience which drives them to therapy instead of to Christ and His blood.ˣⁱᵛ Godly sorrow over sin precedes delight in the God of all grace (1 Pet 5:10). The prerequisite for godly sorrow over sin is seeing God in the gospel. Fear of hell by itself is not an honor to God. It must be joined to sorrow over failure to prize and cherish God and His glory as it is revealed in Christ. The sight of God’s glory in Christ precedes Christ-exalting contrition over sin (Is 6:1-5). Christ’s work removed every obstacle to being supremely happy in God, for He is joy, pleasure, savor, beauty (Ps 16:11).ˣᵛ The measure of our longing for life with God is the amount of comfort we are willing to give up to get it (1 Cor 9:23-27; 1 Tim 4:7-8). The gift of eternal life in God’s presence is treasured and thereby glorified if we are willing to hate our lives in this world in order to lay hold of it. Delight in God enables us to mortify sin (Jn 12:25; Rom 8:18).ˣᵛⁱ
Delight in God enables us to love supernaturally
The fruits of the flesh are openly hostile and antagonistic toward love. “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal 5:19-21). Thus, the art of being a Christian is very largely the art of managing the corruptions of our soul by means of the Word and the Spirit. It is such a daunting task, for God alone knows what is in man (Jer 17:9-10; Prov 16:32, etc.). Only divine grace can enable a person to govern his own spirit and to mortify the passions of the flesh and his instinctive love of human praise and approval (Gal 5:24; Jn 5:44; 12:43).ˣᵛⁱⁱ
Pride is one of the most common sins in the church today (see 1 Cor 5:2, 6-7). Lowliness of mind and heart does not abound. We are light years away from practicing Philippians 2:2-5 (take on the humble attitude of your Savior, look out for the interest of others, regard others as more important than yourself, see Matthew 11:29 of our Savior’s humility). Instead, we glory in gifts, celebrities, eloquence, and numbers. But, we are not humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God (1 Pet 5:6). But, happy is that believer whose only boast is Christ, who glories only in the cross of Christ (Gal 6:14).ˣᵛⁱⁱⁱ
What is love? The answer is in First John chapter four. Love dies (Christ’s sacrifice) so as to liberate self from bondage so that you can delight in God forever (Piper). Divine redeeming love frees you from a love affair with self—frees you from self-absorption. It took a bloody death—Christ’s propitiation in order to gain this end (1 Jn 4:10). God would be unloving if He didn’t magnify Himself in your presence. You were created to know something vastly greater than self—without that created purpose you wouldn’t know what love is. Love is God expending Himself in the Son (at the cost of His Son) to liberate you from self, so as to make much of God. Left to myself, in my natural, unregenerate state, I will remain blind to these things—never having sight or savor for the things of God and the knowledge of God and His glory.ˣⁱˣ
Thus, to be Spirit-awakened is the merciful destruction of our passion for self-exaltation to make room for being truly loved by God. Self-forgetting joy rejects the self-esteem definition of love. Have we tasted enough self-forgetting joy to help us know what being loved by God really means? Have you been staggered by the thought of all that God is toward you in Christ? (see Ephesians 1-3 for who God is toward you).ˣˣ
Conclusion:
Think of it—that the Father’s love granted in its fullness, requires a resurrection body to manage. To handle the energy of the Father’s love of the Son in you—you need a glorified body to manage it because it is going to land on you with cataclysmic force. In our mortal frame we can only cope with whispers of His love, but at the moment of glorification, God is going to plunge you into the shoreless sea of His love (Eph 3:17-21). This eternal communication of God’s glory to the creature is what our Savior purchased. God’s mind has been consumed with the plan of the cross forever. The book of Revelation speaks of the book of life of the Lamb that was slain—our names are in the book of the slaughtered lamb before the world was created (Rev 13:8). All is summed up in Christ. “It is finished”— finished as in the end and goal of the universe. What He did, is, and was, shall be the content of our praise forever. This cross-work had to happen in order for us to see and savor and treasure the glory that is Christ.ˣˣⁱ Are these truths not a source of delight in God?
Of all the designs God ever had in His works, this is the chief—to honor His mercy, to glorify the riches of His love and grace (Eph 1:6-7, 12). Had it not been for this, He would never have made the world. Therefore, in the world to come, it will be the delight of God to show His saints and angels what He’s able to do for a creature (Eph 2:7-10). Yes, He will declare to all eternity the height of His excellency, glory, love and mercy which is able to raise a poor soul. The very saints and angels will admire and adore and magnify the name of God everlastingly for this grace (Eph 3:10; Rev 5:12-15). Dear saint, you are called and privileged to delight in that which God takes delight.
In order to continually delight in God, let us consider Jesus carrying on this great work of our salvation at His first coming or incarnation period. It’s not enough to study to know these great mysteries. We must muse and meditate and ponder and consider them—explaining their worth to our own hearts. Now, this consideration of fixing our eyes upon Him brings Christ nearer and closer to the soul. We need the Holy Spirit’s assistance, a strengthening of the inner man in order to contemplate these marvels:
. . .that He would grant to you according to the wealth of His glory, with power to be strengthened through the Spirit in the inward man, that the Christ might finally settle down and feel completely at home in your hearts through your faith; in love having been firmly rooted and grounded in order that you may be able to grasp with all the saints what is the breadth and width and height and depth, and to know experientially the love of Christ which surpasses experiential knowledge in order that you may be filled up to the measure of all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:16-19).ˣˣⁱⁱ
This consideration of looking unto Jesus ‘gathers up’ all of the redemptive work of Christ and finds a great deal of sweetness and power flowing from them. This looking unto Jesus fastens Christ more strongly to the soul and it rivets the soul to Christ Jesus and fastens it to the heart (Prov 4:13).ˣˣⁱⁱⁱ
Was not your soul endanger of hell fire? Was not this your case and condition that after a little while on earth you should have been thrown into eternal torments? (Isaac Ambrose). But, God in Christ bid an angel to tell the glad tidings of good news. A virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and He shall be your Jesus and He shall save you from sin and death and hell (Is 7:14; Mt 1:23). He shall deliver your souls and save you to the uttermost (Heb 7:25). And, all who believe in Him shall live with Him in glory (Jn 14:2-3; 17:24). How desperately we needed these glad tidings! For, our very souls were at stake and were in danger forevermore. What good news that Christ would save our souls from the destroyer (Heb 2:14-15; 1 Jn 3:8). Is not such a Savior worthy of our intense pursuit?
Ponder these words as if an angel saw you standing on the brink of hell and should speak even to your own soul. Let this thought sink deeply into your heart that the great God of heaven should condescend so far as to take our nature upon Himself. And, that He should take our nature in the same way we have received it: by conception, gestation, and birth (Gal 4:4). Certainly this is a great mystery that the Word is made flesh and born of a woman. The mother was younger than what she bore! Admire this oh my soul, for this was for thy salvation (Isaac Ambrose). By reason of this hypostatic union of Christ, the Spirit of Christ is given to us in the very moment of our regeneration (Gal 4:6; 1 Jn 4:13; Eph 4:4; 1 Cor 6:17; Eph 3:14, 17).ˣˣⁱᵛ
If you would delight in the Lord, observe that Christ’s heart is open to you. He cannot contain His love and grace within Himself. He cannot keep His own counsels that are the very good of your souls (Isaac Ambrose). But, they must be manifest and opened to sinners by preaching and proclamation in the world. Christ must be laid out to open view. He will have nothing of His love kept back. He commands us in the ministry to make known what He is, and what He has done and suffered for you. Therefore, what is the sum of all your sermons but a discovery of this? That life and light are in Christ for you, that eternal love waits and attends on you. Oh, will your souls now refuse Christ when He is thus, and when He is thus manifested?ˣˣᵛ Delight in God is the believer’s highest priority as the Lord’s disciple. When I count Christ as gain, then I am making much of Christ—enjoying Him so much that no losses here are actual loss compared to counting Christ my gain (2 Cor 4:16-18; Phil 3:7-11).
End Notes:
i Piper, God is the Gospel, pp. 160-161
ii Maurice Roberts, Thought of God, pp. 59, 61, 5
iii Ibid, pp. 162, 121
iv Ibid, pp. 144-145
v Ibid, pp. 47, 54-55, 60
vi Shaw, Ten Great Ideas from Church History, pp. 103-105
vii Ibid, pp. 106-108
viii Piper, God is the Gospel, pp. 11, 13, 17
ix Ibid, pp. 37-38
x Piper, “Desiring God” San Luis Obispo
xi Ibid.
xii Ibid.
xiii Ibid, pp. 44-46
xiv Ibid.
xv Ibid, pp. 109, 111, 147
xvi Piper, Dangerous Duty of Delight, pp 78-79
xvii Maurice Roberts, p. 111
xviii Ibid, pp. 112-113
xix Piper, “Desiring God,” San Luis Obispo
xx Piper, God is the Gospel, p. 151
xxi Piper, “Desiring God,” 2009
xxii Kenneth Wuest, The New Testament: an Expanded Translation by Kenneth S. Wuest, (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1961) 452-453
xxiii Ambrose, Looking unto Jesus, pp. 83, 196
xxiv Ibid, pp. 197, 199
xxv Ibid, p. 244