Hi, my name is Ashley. I'm a wife, mom to five kids, and I'm their teacher. We all live in Phoenix, Arizona. I have been a ministry partner with Desiring God for five years. You are listening to the Ask Pastor John Podcast with Jon Piper. Ashley, thank you. We're going to talk with Ashley here in just a minute, but first, today's episode.

If I want to see Jesus, what must change inside of me? That's the question Pastor John took up in his sermon in 2011. He was preaching on John chapter 7, specifically verses 17 and 18, where Jesus says this, "If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.

The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood." This text has some incredible implications for our lives, and we will hear that in a sermon clip sent to us by Harley, who lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

It's a really good clip about seeing the glory of Christ and the challenge of self-glory seeking at the same time. Here's Pastor John to explain. If we stopped at verse 17, which is where we are right now, didn't go on into verse 18, we'd have a general truth. It'd be a true truth, but it would be without specifics.

The general truth would be something like this. You will discern that Jesus is a reliable spokesman from God when your will deeply and profoundly comes into sync with God's will. That's the true general truth of verse 17. You will know Jesus, you will recognize him for who he is as a true spokesman for God when your will is brought into sync with God's will.

When your willing is in sync with God's, your knowing will be in sync with truth. That's the general truth. But we're not going to stop at verse 17 because Jesus has much more help to give us here. I didn't see this as clearly until I was a pastor at this church in the mid-80s.

So verse 18, so life-affecting for me in relation to verse 17. So let's work with this for a minute. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true. And in him there is no falsehood or no unrighteousness would be more literal.

Now remember when the crowds were impressed with Jesus' learning, he said to them in verse 16, "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me." So he deflected their amazement at his learning to God from self-exaltation. He deflects it from self-exaltation to God-exaltation. That's what's going on. They're coming at him, "You're amazing." And he says, "Well, whatever that is, my words are not mine.

They're God's." So if you want to be amazed, be amazed at God. Now he explains in verse 18 that this, what he did in verse 16, this is how you can know he's true. The one who seeks his own glory, the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him, that's what he was doing, is true.

And in him, there is no falsehood. So let's put 17 and 18 together now and try to figure out their relationship. So verse 17 says, "If your will is to do God's will, you can know whether Jesus is a true spokesman for God." Verse 18 says, "The way you can know if he's true is whether he's seeking the glory of God above all things." Okay.

Now that sets the stage for a lot of thinking about the relationship between those two verses. My will's got to get changed so I can know him. And the way I know him is that he loves the glory of God more than anything. I mean, he's not into self-exaltation, he's into God exaltation.

That's true. That's the mark of truth. So what's the relationship now between these two verses? Verse 17, "Willing God's will enables us to know him for who he really is." And verse 18, "You can know that he's really true because he's totally committed to exalting his father." And the way I put the two together is this.

Verse 18 describes specifically the deepest change that has to happen in my will in order to see Jesus as who he is. The mark of his truth is a passion for God exaltation, not self-exaltation. Got that? That's verse 18. The mark of his truthfulness is a passion for God exaltation, not self-exaltation.

Now for me to see that and be drawn to it and recognize it as the mark of truth, I've got to be changed. That's not the way I am by nature, nor you. By nature, we love our own glory. We love the praise of man. That's the way we're wired.

To be made much of feels better to us than anything in the world when we come into this world. And something really profound in the alteration of our wills has to happen for us to begin to enjoy making much of God more than we enjoy being made much of by people.

Something really profound has to happen, and that's the change being called for in verse 17. Our wills have to come into sync with God's will, and God's will for his son and for us is that we live for his glory, that we deflect to him, that we love to see him made much of and we're not addicted any longer to this craving for human praise that governed us.

That's a super powerful clip. The desire for self-praise shrouds Christ to us. Therefore, knowing Christ is not just about learning with the mind, but it depends on a holistic realignment of our entire being to the priorities of God. Man, that was good. That was from John Piper's sermon on February 14th, 2011, titled "Willing God's Will as a Way of Knowing Christ's Word." It's a good title.

"Willing God's Will as a Way of Knowing Christ's Word." You can find it at DesiringGod.org. Thank you, Harley, for sharing it with us. Speaking of all the sermons and all the resources at Desiring God, before we go, I want you to meet Ashley. You heard her voice at the beginning of this episode, and Ashley joins me now over the phone.

Thank you for spending a little bit of time with us today, Ashley. You are a ministry partner with Desiring God. You helped make this podcast possible. You helped make John Piper's sermons possible and make all of them available to the world free of charge. First of all, thank you.

Thank you for being a part of the team. In light of that, take a moment and tell us a little bit about why are you a donor with Desiring God? Desiring God is a team of people that are passionate about what they do, and they bring a level of excellence combined with the gospel, and they bring it to everybody—moms, businessmen, teens, pastors, anybody and everybody that needs encouragement, needs direction, needs to hear from God.

And they bring it in a way that is easy to chew in multiple formats. There's something for everybody there. That's our aspiration for sure. Very encouraging. Well, we just listened to a John Piper sermon clip. I know his preaching has meant a lot to you. Tell us a little more about your own story and how did you get into DG Resources yourself?

I started listening to Desiring God—well, I started listening to Piper's sermon when I was a young mom and seemed like I rarely was able to sit into a church service. So I started turning on his sermons and would listen while I nursed. And then years later, I realized that as God gave me more blessings, more children, I started to buy into the world's idea of the burden that they were, and I couldn't see past the cultural influence of—I saw the other moms when I was going into Trader Joe's, they were going to business lunches all dressed up, and I was discontent and discouraged and overwhelmed with the daily mundane tasks.

So it didn't matter what the day held, no matter how well anything went, it was never good enough. I didn't have any joy. And then I started—my husband actually brought home some books that were from Desiring God and some little books. I think one of the Christmases, John Piper put out an Advent book, and I just would get up every morning and gobble it up.

And I realized I was looking—I was desperate for joy. And I didn't have—I had every reason to be happy. I had plenty of things—a happy family, a happy marriage, but I just wasn't content. And I realized that I was looking for it in all the wrong places. John Piper's books really pointed me towards happiness in God.

And it was John Piper's Reformation Sunday sermon. And I'm like, "Oh, that's what Jesus did for me." I grew up a believer, but I didn't understand the impact, why everybody was so crazy about Jesus. Like, I didn't—I understood obeying the law. I rested on my own righteousness. And I finally saw that it's not me because I can't.

And I think I was under that weight as a young mom, and I was trying to raise children. It's like, "How do I get these little people to do what they're supposed to do? Oh, I can't." And so that has freed me completely. That and the sovereignty of God, which I didn't have that theology growing up.

And so with all of those kids, you can't control them or the outcome of their life or anything. It's a false reality. So that has made me a grace-filled mom, is giving me a different lease on life, and has been completely life-changing. So I have desire in God to thank for that.

And because of that, yeah, I'm like, if somebody else has that opportunity, have that realization to experience, to truly understand the gospel, I absolutely want to give it to every young mom that I can. And the best way to do that, the fastest way is to help Zyren God do that, because they have such a further reach than I do.

I would around my neighborhood and in my little spheres of influence, but I absolutely want every mom to experience that. Incredible. Yeah. So speak to somebody who's listening and just now thinking of this, the cost of ministry, making podcasts and sermons and articles and books, and then spreading those resources to moms around the globe.

It's not cheap. It costs a lot of money. So what would you say to a listener who's now maybe just thinking for the first time, "Yeah, you know what? I want to join Ashley and become a ministry partner with Zyren God." How would you encourage them? I would encourage them wholeheartedly to give for the work God is doing through Zyren God, as they have freely been given, freely they can give, and I believe that they will be truly blessed by blessing somebody else.

The team of Zyren God is some of the happiest, most authentic, humble. I feel like when I am with the Zyren God team, I see Jesus in the flesh, and that is inspiring. It's inspiring to me. So I am super grateful for what you guys do. I'm privileged to be a part of it.

Thank you for the opportunity. We're honored to have you along, Ashley. Thank you so much for your partnership. You bet. Right now, you can join Ashley in supporting this podcast and all of our work at Zyren God. Go to ZyrenGod.org/donate. That's ZyrenGod.org/donate. We really appreciate it. I'm Tony Reinke.

We'll see you back here on Friday with Pastor John back in the studio. We really appreciate it. I'm Tony Reiki, we'll see you back here on Friday with Pastor John back in the studio.