What’s Keeping Me from Seeing Jesus?
00:00:00.000 | Hi, my name is Ashley.
00:00:02.240 | I'm a wife, mom to five kids, and I'm their teacher.
00:00:05.860 | We all live in Phoenix, Arizona.
00:00:07.760 | I have been a ministry partner with Desiring God for five years.
00:00:11.660 | You are listening to the Ask Pastor John Podcast with Jon Piper.
00:00:16.800 | Ashley, thank you.
00:00:20.960 | We're going to talk with Ashley here in just a minute, but first, today's episode.
00:00:25.680 | If I want to see Jesus, what must change inside of me?
00:00:30.120 | That's the question Pastor John took up in his sermon in 2011.
00:00:33.600 | He was preaching on John chapter 7, specifically verses 17 and 18, where Jesus says this, "If
00:00:40.200 | anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether
00:00:45.720 | I am speaking on my own authority.
00:00:48.260 | The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory
00:00:53.120 | of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood."
00:01:00.640 | This text has some incredible implications for our lives, and we will hear that in a
00:01:05.720 | sermon clip sent to us by Harley, who lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
00:01:09.320 | It's a really good clip about seeing the glory of Christ and the challenge of self-glory
00:01:15.800 | seeking at the same time.
00:01:17.960 | Here's Pastor John to explain.
00:01:20.760 | If we stopped at verse 17, which is where we are right now, didn't go on into verse
00:01:27.840 | 18, we'd have a general truth.
00:01:30.720 | It'd be a true truth, but it would be without specifics.
00:01:36.040 | The general truth would be something like this.
00:01:39.380 | You will discern that Jesus is a reliable spokesman from God when your will deeply and
00:01:48.680 | profoundly comes into sync with God's will.
00:01:52.760 | That's the true general truth of verse 17.
00:01:57.220 | You will know Jesus, you will recognize him for who he is as a true spokesman for God
00:02:05.520 | when your will is brought into sync with God's will.
00:02:11.260 | When your willing is in sync with God's, your knowing will be in sync with truth.
00:02:18.160 | That's the general truth.
00:02:19.800 | But we're not going to stop at verse 17 because Jesus has much more help to give us here.
00:02:27.000 | I didn't see this as clearly until I was a pastor at this church in the mid-80s.
00:02:37.320 | So verse 18, so life-affecting for me in relation to verse 17.
00:02:43.760 | So let's work with this for a minute.
00:02:46.940 | The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory
00:02:55.560 | of him who sent him is true.
00:03:00.160 | And in him there is no falsehood or no unrighteousness would be more literal.
00:03:06.760 | Now remember when the crowds were impressed with Jesus' learning, he said to them in verse
00:03:12.400 | 16, "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me."
00:03:17.980 | So he deflected their amazement at his learning to God from self-exaltation.
00:03:25.900 | He deflects it from self-exaltation to God-exaltation.
00:03:29.780 | That's what's going on.
00:03:30.780 | They're coming at him, "You're amazing."
00:03:33.140 | And he says, "Well, whatever that is, my words are not mine.
00:03:41.540 | They're God's."
00:03:44.060 | So if you want to be amazed, be amazed at God.
00:03:47.900 | Now he explains in verse 18 that this, what he did in verse 16, this is how you can know
00:03:55.500 | he's true.
00:03:58.340 | The one who seeks his own glory, the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him, that's
00:04:05.780 | what he was doing, is true.
00:04:09.340 | And in him, there is no falsehood.
00:04:13.860 | So let's put 17 and 18 together now and try to figure out their relationship.
00:04:18.780 | So verse 17 says, "If your will is to do God's will, you can know whether Jesus is a true
00:04:29.140 | spokesman for God."
00:04:31.740 | Verse 18 says, "The way you can know if he's true is whether he's seeking the glory of
00:04:40.580 | God above all things."
00:04:42.900 | Okay.
00:04:44.900 | Now that sets the stage for a lot of thinking about the relationship between those two verses.
00:04:52.460 | My will's got to get changed so I can know him.
00:04:55.820 | And the way I know him is that he loves the glory of God more than anything.
00:05:03.580 | I mean, he's not into self-exaltation, he's into God exaltation.
00:05:08.340 | That's true.
00:05:09.340 | That's the mark of truth.
00:05:12.260 | So what's the relationship now between these two verses?
00:05:17.020 | Verse 17, "Willing God's will enables us to know him for who he really is."
00:05:22.980 | And verse 18, "You can know that he's really true because he's totally committed to exalting
00:05:30.020 | his father."
00:05:31.020 | And the way I put the two together is this.
00:05:34.700 | Verse 18 describes specifically the deepest change that has to happen in my will in order
00:05:44.520 | to see Jesus as who he is.
00:05:48.420 | The mark of his truth is a passion for God exaltation, not self-exaltation.
00:05:51.780 | Got that?
00:05:52.780 | That's verse 18.
00:05:54.700 | The mark of his truthfulness is a passion for God exaltation, not self-exaltation.
00:06:01.580 | Now for me to see that and be drawn to it and recognize it as the mark of truth, I've
00:06:10.380 | got to be changed.
00:06:13.540 | That's not the way I am by nature, nor you.
00:06:18.700 | By nature, we love our own glory.
00:06:21.860 | We love the praise of man.
00:06:23.780 | That's the way we're wired.
00:06:26.620 | To be made much of feels better to us than anything in the world when we come into this
00:06:32.020 | world.
00:06:33.500 | And something really profound in the alteration of our wills has to happen for us to begin
00:06:40.900 | to enjoy making much of God more than we enjoy being made much of by people.
00:06:48.620 | Something really profound has to happen, and that's the change being called for in verse
00:06:52.940 | 17.
00:06:54.620 | Our wills have to come into sync with God's will, and God's will for his son and for us
00:07:01.020 | is that we live for his glory, that we deflect to him, that we love to see him made much
00:07:08.580 | of and we're not addicted any longer to this craving for human praise that governed us.
00:07:16.260 | That's a super powerful clip.
00:07:17.540 | The desire for self-praise shrouds Christ to us.
00:07:23.740 | Therefore, knowing Christ is not just about learning with the mind, but it depends on
00:07:28.260 | a holistic realignment of our entire being to the priorities of God.
00:07:34.300 | Man, that was good.
00:07:35.300 | That was from John Piper's sermon on February 14th, 2011, titled "Willing God's Will as
00:07:40.780 | a Way of Knowing Christ's Word."
00:07:42.780 | It's a good title.
00:07:44.300 | "Willing God's Will as a Way of Knowing Christ's Word."
00:07:47.660 | You can find it at DesiringGod.org.
00:07:50.100 | Thank you, Harley, for sharing it with us.
00:07:52.940 | Speaking of all the sermons and all the resources at Desiring God, before we go, I want you
00:07:56.340 | to meet Ashley.
00:07:57.460 | You heard her voice at the beginning of this episode, and Ashley joins me now over the
00:08:00.620 | phone.
00:08:01.620 | Thank you for spending a little bit of time with us today, Ashley.
00:08:04.020 | You are a ministry partner with Desiring God.
00:08:07.320 | You helped make this podcast possible.
00:08:09.920 | You helped make John Piper's sermons possible and make all of them available to the world
00:08:14.300 | free of charge.
00:08:15.380 | First of all, thank you.
00:08:16.380 | Thank you for being a part of the team.
00:08:18.900 | In light of that, take a moment and tell us a little bit about why are you a donor with
00:08:23.380 | Desiring God?
00:08:25.220 | Desiring God is a team of people that are passionate about what they do, and they bring
00:08:32.060 | a level of excellence combined with the gospel, and they bring it to everybody—moms, businessmen,
00:08:41.060 | teens, pastors, anybody and everybody that needs encouragement, needs direction, needs
00:08:48.940 | to hear from God.
00:08:50.500 | And they bring it in a way that is easy to chew in multiple formats.
00:08:55.580 | There's something for everybody there.
00:08:57.920 | That's our aspiration for sure.
00:08:59.580 | Very encouraging.
00:09:00.580 | Well, we just listened to a John Piper sermon clip.
00:09:02.500 | I know his preaching has meant a lot to you.
00:09:04.980 | Tell us a little more about your own story and how did you get into DG Resources yourself?
00:09:11.500 | I started listening to Desiring God—well, I started listening to Piper's sermon when
00:09:16.540 | I was a young mom and seemed like I rarely was able to sit into a church service.
00:09:22.700 | So I started turning on his sermons and would listen while I nursed.
00:09:27.060 | And then years later, I realized that as God gave me more blessings, more children, I started
00:09:34.780 | to buy into the world's idea of the burden that they were, and I couldn't see past the
00:09:41.100 | cultural influence of—I saw the other moms when I was going into Trader Joe's, they
00:09:45.380 | were going to business lunches all dressed up, and I was discontent and discouraged and
00:09:50.240 | overwhelmed with the daily mundane tasks.
00:09:53.580 | So it didn't matter what the day held, no matter how well anything went, it was never
00:09:57.700 | good enough.
00:09:58.700 | I didn't have any joy.
00:10:00.220 | And then I started—my husband actually brought home some books that were from Desiring God
00:10:06.060 | and some little books.
00:10:07.820 | I think one of the Christmases, John Piper put out an Advent book, and I just would get
00:10:12.200 | up every morning and gobble it up.
00:10:13.900 | And I realized I was looking—I was desperate for joy.
00:10:18.540 | And I didn't have—I had every reason to be happy.
00:10:20.780 | I had plenty of things—a happy family, a happy marriage, but I just wasn't content.
00:10:26.820 | And I realized that I was looking for it in all the wrong places.
00:10:30.460 | John Piper's books really pointed me towards happiness in God.
00:10:34.220 | And it was John Piper's Reformation Sunday sermon.
00:10:38.140 | And I'm like, "Oh, that's what Jesus did for me."
00:10:41.220 | I grew up a believer, but I didn't understand the impact, why everybody was so crazy about
00:10:47.060 | Jesus.
00:10:48.060 | Like, I didn't—I understood obeying the law.
00:10:50.220 | I rested on my own righteousness.
00:10:52.620 | And I finally saw that it's not me because I can't.
00:10:56.420 | And I think I was under that weight as a young mom, and I was trying to raise children.
00:10:59.540 | It's like, "How do I get these little people to do what they're supposed to do?
00:11:03.020 | Oh, I can't."
00:11:04.380 | And so that has freed me completely.
00:11:08.060 | That and the sovereignty of God, which I didn't have that theology growing up.
00:11:12.100 | And so with all of those kids, you can't control them or the outcome of their life
00:11:16.020 | or anything.
00:11:17.020 | It's a false reality.
00:11:18.900 | So that has made me a grace-filled mom, is giving me a different lease on life, and has
00:11:26.220 | been completely life-changing.
00:11:28.020 | So I have desire in God to thank for that.
00:11:31.580 | And because of that, yeah, I'm like, if somebody else has that opportunity, have that
00:11:35.500 | realization to experience, to truly understand the gospel, I absolutely want to give it to
00:11:42.140 | every young mom that I can.
00:11:44.900 | And the best way to do that, the fastest way is to help Zyren God do that, because they
00:11:49.660 | have such a further reach than I do.
00:11:51.500 | I would around my neighborhood and in my little spheres of influence, but I absolutely want
00:11:56.860 | every mom to experience that.
00:11:58.380 | Incredible.
00:11:59.380 | Yeah.
00:12:00.380 | So speak to somebody who's listening and just now thinking of this, the cost of ministry,
00:12:04.380 | making podcasts and sermons and articles and books, and then spreading those resources
00:12:09.060 | to moms around the globe.
00:12:10.780 | It's not cheap.
00:12:11.780 | It costs a lot of money.
00:12:12.780 | So what would you say to a listener who's now maybe just thinking for the first time,
00:12:16.180 | "Yeah, you know what?
00:12:17.180 | I want to join Ashley and become a ministry partner with Zyren God."
00:12:20.540 | How would you encourage them?
00:12:21.700 | I would encourage them wholeheartedly to give for the work God is doing through Zyren God,
00:12:27.500 | as they have freely been given, freely they can give, and I believe that they will be
00:12:34.520 | truly blessed by blessing somebody else.
00:12:37.540 | The team of Zyren God is some of the happiest, most authentic, humble.
00:12:44.420 | I feel like when I am with the Zyren God team, I see Jesus in the flesh, and that is inspiring.
00:12:50.500 | It's inspiring to me.
00:12:51.900 | So I am super grateful for what you guys do.
00:12:55.060 | I'm privileged to be a part of it.
00:12:56.740 | Thank you for the opportunity.
00:12:57.740 | We're honored to have you along, Ashley.
00:12:59.340 | Thank you so much for your partnership.
00:13:00.860 | You bet.
00:13:01.860 | Right now, you can join Ashley in supporting this podcast and all of our work at Zyren
00:13:05.620 | God.
00:13:06.620 | Go to ZyrenGod.org/donate.
00:13:07.620 | That's ZyrenGod.org/donate.
00:13:08.620 | We really appreciate it.
00:13:09.620 | I'm Tony Reinke.
00:13:10.620 | We'll see you back here on Friday with Pastor John back in the studio.
00:13:10.620 | We really appreciate it.
00:13:14.640 | I'm Tony Reiki, we'll see you back here on Friday with Pastor John back in the studio.
00:13:19.080 | [BLANK_AUDIO]