How God Makes Much of You

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | Welcome back to the podcast.

00:00:05.560 | Last Wednesday, we looked at the fact

00:00:07.880 | that God makes much of us, his children.

00:00:10.040 | He really does make much of us.

00:00:12.000 | Why does he make so much of us?

00:00:14.520 | He makes so much of us because he is glorifying himself

00:00:17.960 | by redeeming us.

00:00:20.080 | In ABJ 1772, we looked at that point in detail.

00:00:24.040 | But in that same sermon, we get another point added.

00:00:26.200 | It's a follow-up, and one essential

00:00:28.920 | to the overall argument Pastor John is making.

00:00:32.000 | And it's worth reflecting on here in the podcast

00:00:33.880 | because Pastor John knows that for many people,

00:00:36.680 | to hear that they were saved

00:00:38.080 | so that God would glorify himself in us

00:00:40.760 | seems to take away some of the luster of that love.

00:00:45.540 | Pastor John will directly push back against that point

00:00:48.400 | a little bit later.

00:00:49.240 | He'll answer that question and that concern

00:00:51.640 | and show clearly why it's not less loving

00:00:54.160 | for God to love us for himself.

00:00:56.260 | But before we get there, and we'll get there soon,

00:00:59.520 | Pastor John wants to simply dwell

00:01:01.520 | on this previously stated fact.

00:01:03.660 | If you are God's blood-bought child,

00:01:07.120 | God makes much of you.

00:01:10.680 | He does, he really does.

00:01:13.040 | In fact, he makes more of you and more of me

00:01:15.300 | than we could ever dare imagine.

00:01:17.820 | Here's the biblical proof he was eager to share

00:01:20.740 | with his church, and this is what he told them.

00:01:23.840 | So that's what I meant when I said,

00:01:26.540 | why does the Bible relentlessly reveal

00:01:30.140 | the love of God for us in a way

00:01:33.000 | that constantly calls attention to the fact

00:01:36.460 | that it is done for his glory?

00:01:39.140 | Because so many people, when they hear that,

00:01:41.580 | feel it as not loving.

00:01:44.160 | The point of those texts throughout the Bible

00:01:50.100 | where God performs his love for us for his glory

00:01:55.100 | is to show that he loves us in the greatest possible way.

00:02:00.160 | Why?

00:02:02.920 | How does that show that it's a greater love?

00:02:04.760 | How is it a greater love when he loves me for his glory

00:02:09.000 | than if he just loved me and it all terminated on me?

00:02:12.080 | Well, before I answer that question,

00:02:15.920 | I will answer it.

00:02:17.960 | Before I answer it, let me dwell with you

00:02:22.580 | on the truth that evidently some have assumed,

00:02:27.580 | I denied, in asking, do you feel more loved by God

00:02:34.320 | when he makes much of you?

00:02:36.820 | Or do you feel more loved by God when he frees you

00:02:40.360 | at the cost of his son to enjoy making much of him forever?

00:02:43.400 | It's been assumed by some, oh, you don't think

00:02:46.500 | he makes much of us.

00:02:48.800 | Well, that's a non sequitur.

00:02:52.200 | It doesn't follow from what I said, but okay,

00:02:56.300 | I don't want to defend myself.

00:02:58.820 | Some have gotten that idea and I would like to now fix it

00:03:01.960 | and keep fixing it.

00:03:04.760 | If I get things imbalanced, I'd like to get them

00:03:06.920 | back into balance, okay?

00:03:09.000 | So here we are, trying to help those who heard it that way.

00:03:14.740 | The answer is yes, God makes more of you

00:03:17.900 | than you could ever imagine.

00:03:21.080 | And I will blow you away for the next five minutes, okay?

00:03:25.100 | Put your seatbelt on if you have trouble

00:03:30.840 | with being made much of by God

00:03:33.080 | because you might leave otherwise.

00:03:35.260 | Number one, I think I have seven of these

00:03:39.760 | and they'll go back quickly.

00:03:41.360 | Number one, God makes much of us by being pleased with us

00:03:46.360 | and commending our lives.

00:03:49.760 | Alan Jacobs wrote a great biography of C.S. Lewis

00:03:54.100 | and he says in C.S. Lewis's biography

00:03:56.600 | that the greatest sermon that C.S. Lewis ever preached

00:04:00.420 | was called the weight of glory.

00:04:02.020 | That is, believers will one day have a weight of glory

00:04:09.420 | that will be so heavy they will imagine,

00:04:12.680 | I don't know if I can bear this, it's so good.

00:04:15.400 | What do you think the weight of glory was in that sermon?

00:04:20.220 | It was the words, well done, good and faithful servant.

00:04:25.860 | And here's what Lewis said.

00:04:29.440 | To please God, to be a real ingredient

00:04:36.500 | in the divine happiness, to be loved by God

00:04:41.500 | not merely pitied but delighted in,

00:04:45.600 | as an artist delights in his work or a father in his son,

00:04:51.620 | it seems impossible.

00:04:55.460 | A weight or a burden of glory

00:04:59.420 | which our thoughts can hardly sustain, but so it is.

00:05:05.380 | But so it is and he's right.

00:05:09.100 | That's number one.

00:05:11.980 | God makes much of us by being pleased with us,

00:05:17.860 | making us an ingredient, ingredient in the divine happiness.

00:05:22.860 | Like a artist with something he painted

00:05:29.140 | or like a father, a son.

00:05:33.140 | Number two, God makes much of us

00:05:35.880 | by making us fellow heirs with his son who owns everything.

00:05:40.880 | Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the what?

00:05:48.780 | I wonder if you believe that.

00:05:51.220 | I do, mine.

00:05:56.580 | I don't need it now therefore, right?

00:06:00.780 | I don't need it now, I don't need to scrounge

00:06:02.860 | to get a piece of earth for about 50 years

00:06:06.780 | and then maybe lose everything.

00:06:09.460 | I am very happy to belong to King Jesus,

00:06:12.260 | be a fellow heir of Jesus Christ who owns the universe

00:06:15.220 | and get my globe at death or maybe at the resurrection.

00:06:20.220 | And I won't mind sharing it with you.

00:06:24.700 | And if that's a problem, he'll make another globe.

00:06:28.020 | In fact, he won't have to make another globe,

00:06:29.860 | they're out there.

00:06:31.820 | You get quasar 10, which is probably greener.

00:06:36.820 | The promise to Abraham, I'm reading another text

00:06:42.540 | on this point, the promise to Abraham and his offspring

00:06:45.700 | is that he would be heir of the world.

00:06:49.860 | Are you an heir of Abraham?

00:06:51.100 | You indeed are an heir.

00:06:52.420 | In Christ, we are Abraham's offspring

00:06:55.380 | and Abraham was promised the world, Romans 4, 13.

00:06:58.660 | One more, 1 Corinthians 3, 21.

00:07:00.580 | Is this the best of all?

00:07:01.620 | Probably.

00:07:03.100 | Let no one boast of men.

00:07:04.900 | He's trying to help Bethlehem not boast.

00:07:10.660 | Boast in pastors, boast in elders,

00:07:13.180 | boast in buildings, boast in anything.

00:07:15.740 | Let no one boast in men for, here's the argument,

00:07:19.300 | all things are yours.

00:07:21.380 | Whether Paul or Cephas or Apollos or life or death

00:07:24.940 | or the world or things to come, all are yours

00:07:27.460 | and you are Christ's and Christ is God's.

00:07:30.260 | What an argument.

00:07:31.500 | These rag tag Corinthians are being told,

00:07:36.180 | would you stop saying I'm of Paul, I'm of Cephas

00:07:40.020 | and realize you own everything.

00:07:43.180 | It's just a matter of time, very short time.

00:07:48.520 | Number three, God makes much of us by having us sit

00:07:53.340 | at table when he returns and serving us

00:07:58.220 | as though he were the slave and we are the masters.

00:08:03.020 | This is the parable of the second coming

00:08:07.180 | that is the most unbelievable.

00:08:09.540 | It's Luke 12, I'll just read you verse 37.

00:08:13.460 | He's describing the second coming and he says,

00:08:15.900 | "Truly I say to you, he will dress himself for service

00:08:20.900 | and have us sit at table and he will come and serve us."

00:08:27.940 | What will it take to make you feel much of?

00:08:31.220 | Feel made much of?

00:08:32.460 | I used to think until I saw that parable

00:08:36.780 | that he did that on the earth, right?

00:08:40.500 | Last supper, bound a towel, got up, washed their feet.

00:08:43.260 | That's an incarnation action but now,

00:08:46.260 | name above every name, he's coming on a white horse,

00:08:48.980 | sword out of his mouth, slaying his enemies,

00:08:51.740 | making everybody serve him at table.

00:08:54.260 | And that's not what it says.

00:08:57.180 | He will never cease to be our servant.

00:09:03.300 | We will tremble, we will say with Peter,

00:09:07.020 | "You can't wash my feet, get your towel off,

00:09:09.780 | I'm going to, sit down."

00:09:11.820 | And he will say, no he won't.

00:09:14.000 | I wanna say he'll say, "Get behind me Satan."

00:09:17.300 | But I think probably at that point,

00:09:20.680 | we will be sanctified enough that we won't be satanic

00:09:23.700 | like Peter was.

00:09:24.760 | So there we are sitting at table,

00:09:29.660 | shortly with Jesus serving us.

00:09:34.660 | That's number three.

00:09:35.620 | Number four, God makes much of us by appointing us

00:09:39.700 | to carry out judgment of angels.

00:09:42.000 | 1 Corinthians 6 verse three,

00:09:45.300 | "Do you not know that we are to judge angels?"

00:09:50.300 | Take a deep breath and say,

00:09:53.260 | "Why I don't think I could do that."

00:09:55.740 | (laughs)

00:09:56.740 | You will, you will.

00:09:59.460 | Number five, God makes much of us by ascribing value to us

00:10:05.660 | and rejoicing over us as his treasured possession.

00:10:09.960 | Two verses, Matthew 10, 30, 31.

00:10:15.860 | "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny

00:10:19.500 | and not one of them will fall to the ground

00:10:21.620 | apart from your father?

00:10:23.340 | Fear not, therefore you are of more value

00:10:27.060 | than many sparrows.

00:10:29.340 | I attend to the minutest detail of a sparrow's life.

00:10:32.980 | You don't compare.

00:10:34.540 | You are, I would say, infinitely more valuable than a bird.

00:10:39.380 | So don't worry, I've got your back.

00:10:43.940 | I won't let anything happen that's not for your good.

00:10:48.680 | I love you, I value you.

00:10:50.980 | You're coming home.

00:10:51.980 | I decided this before the foundation of the world."

00:10:55.300 | Number six, oh, I said there were two verses there.

00:10:59.900 | I said, "Values you and sings over you, rejoices over you."

00:11:03.420 | This is Zephaniah 3, 17.

00:11:05.360 | "The Lord your God will rejoice over you with gladness.

00:11:08.820 | He will quiet you by his love.

00:11:10.700 | He will exult over you with loud singing."

00:11:13.540 | You ever heard God sing?

00:11:16.180 | I haven't.

00:11:20.680 | I suppose Jesus sang a hymn when he went out

00:11:23.620 | into the garden.

00:11:24.460 | When everybody else sang, he didn't sit there quiet.

00:11:27.020 | But when God sings, universes come into being.

00:11:30.120 | God's gonna sing, and it's gonna be a sound

00:11:33.280 | like you've never heard over you.

00:11:35.780 | Over the blood-bought bride of his son.

00:11:41.660 | He will lead the song at the wedding feast.

00:11:46.980 | Number six, "God makes much of us by giving us

00:11:51.980 | a glorious body like Jesus' resurrection body.

00:11:57.900 | He will transform our lowly body to be like

00:12:02.600 | his glorious body by the power that enables him

00:12:04.940 | to subject all things to himself," Philippians 3:21.

00:12:09.160 | But here's the one that has captured me

00:12:11.160 | for all the years since I saw it.

00:12:14.000 | In the parable in Matthew 13, 43,

00:12:17.040 | the righteous will shine like the sun

00:12:20.600 | in the kingdom of their father.

00:12:23.300 | Remember seeing Jesus in Revelation 1?

00:12:26.380 | Hair white like snow, girded, brass belt,

00:12:30.500 | truth, just pillars for legs, and his face,

00:12:33.860 | it says, "We're shining like the sun,"

00:12:36.900 | and John was on his face.

00:12:40.080 | So will you.

00:12:42.040 | We would not be able to look at each other

00:12:45.600 | in the resurrection unless God had given us

00:12:48.880 | new spiritual resurrection eyes.

00:12:52.640 | We will be so bright.

00:12:55.600 | No more wheelchairs, no more depression,

00:13:00.080 | no more fallen countenances, no more discouragement,

00:13:05.000 | no more disease, no more alienation,

00:13:08.880 | everything new, and your face shining like the sun.

00:13:15.120 | So that C.S. Lewis said, "We would be tempted to bow down

00:13:17.960 | and worship each other if God hadn't given us an eyes

00:13:22.200 | and a heart to know better."

00:13:25.160 | Most amazingly, I think, maybe not,

00:13:31.580 | God makes much of us by granting us to sit

00:13:34.160 | with Christ on his throne.

00:13:38.840 | Revelation 321, "The one who conquers,

00:13:42.560 | I will grant to sit with me on my throne

00:13:47.880 | as I also conquered and sat down on my father's throne."

00:13:55.920 | I don't know what to do with that.

00:13:58.920 | So I'll try.

00:14:00.800 | Maybe Ephesians 1:23 helps.

00:14:03.520 | "The church is Christ's body, the fullness of him

00:14:08.920 | who fills all in all."

00:14:11.680 | The fullness, meaning--

00:14:14.240 | OK, we're going to sit on the throne of God with Jesus

00:14:17.880 | because the thrones merge.

00:14:20.040 | We're on Jesus' throne.

00:14:21.120 | He sits on the father's throne.

00:14:22.400 | Now we're all on the same throne, God, the son, and us

00:14:26.640 | sitting on the throne of the universe.

00:14:29.960 | If I put those two texts together,

00:14:31.320 | I think it means something like everywhere

00:14:33.720 | the father extends his rule in the universe,

00:14:36.720 | he will do it through you.

00:14:39.600 | God created the world, you, for a reason.

00:14:44.800 | And it isn't to throw you away at the end.

00:14:47.280 | It's so that you would fulfill what

00:14:48.800 | he gave you to do in the beginning,

00:14:50.280 | namely to be a governor of the universe.

00:14:52.280 | Subdue it, multiply, fill it, enjoy it, make something of it.

00:14:56.400 | Now I've made you new.

00:14:57.320 | I'll make the world new.

00:14:58.320 | Now get about it.

00:14:59.320 | And any place I stick my hand to rule,

00:15:02.120 | I'm ruling through people.

00:15:03.880 | I'm ruling.

00:15:04.880 | He's going through people.

00:15:08.680 | So let it be known loud and clear, God makes much of us.

00:15:14.640 | God makes much of his son's bride.

00:15:17.840 | God loves his church with a kind of love

00:15:20.560 | that will make more of her because he makes much of her

00:15:27.440 | for his glory.

00:15:30.320 | Stunning, so rich.

00:15:31.680 | This is from John Piper's April 18, 2010 sermon on Psalm 79,

00:15:36.040 | titled "How Much Does God Love This Church?"

00:15:39.600 | The whole thing is online.

00:15:40.880 | I'd encourage you to listen to it.

00:15:42.260 | I found this clip.

00:15:43.160 | But if you find one, email it to me.

00:15:44.720 | Give me your name, hometown, the sermon title, the time stamp

00:15:47.560 | of where the clip happens in the audio,

00:15:48.840 | and make a note of what stands out to you in the clip.

00:15:51.240 | Put the word "clip" in the subject line of the email

00:15:53.320 | and send it to me at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org.

00:15:56.680 | That's an email address, askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org.

00:16:02.040 | Well, we're going to end the week with a heartbreaking email

00:16:04.540 | from a young woman recently widowed.

00:16:06.880 | And she may be newly widowed because she

00:16:09.740 | made a bad medical decision about her husband's sickness.

00:16:15.840 | He's now gone.

00:16:16.840 | And she's now left with a very heavy burden on her soul.

00:16:20.160 | And she writes in for counsel.

00:16:21.880 | Pastor John will answer that when he returns to the studio

00:16:24.640 | with us on Friday.

00:16:26.600 | We'll see you then.

00:16:28.600 | [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:16:31.960 | [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:16:35.320 | you

How God Makes Much of You

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