Are We Satisfied ‘in God’ or ‘by God’?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - Podcast listener Dawn writes in to ask this,
00:00:07.400 | "Pastor John, when you say God is most glorified in us
00:00:10.260 | "when we are most satisfied in Him,
00:00:12.780 | "could you substitute the word by for in?
00:00:16.160 | "It seems easier to understand
00:00:17.740 | "if you say God is most glorified by us
00:00:20.920 | "when we are most satisfied by Him."
00:00:23.660 | So what do you think about this change up in words,
00:00:25.320 | Pastor John?
00:00:26.160 | (laughing)
00:00:27.140 | - Oh my, I love words.
00:00:29.120 | And they are so slippery and so,
00:00:32.840 | connotations and denotations are so different.
00:00:38.900 | But here we go, Dawn, let me give a try to why I,
00:00:43.300 | after thinking through the possibility
00:00:45.380 | of going with your suggestion,
00:00:48.000 | God is most glorified by us
00:00:50.460 | when we are most satisfied by Him.
00:00:52.940 | I am gonna stay with in,
00:00:55.580 | and I've got reasons in both halves.
00:00:59.440 | I think it communicates what I wanna communicate
00:01:03.920 | better than by, so let me try to explain.
00:01:06.780 | First, it might be helpful just to make sure
00:01:10.200 | everybody knows what I mean by that sentence.
00:01:13.180 | God is most glorified in us
00:01:14.940 | when we're most satisfied in Him.
00:01:16.680 | I don't mean that there aren't any other ways
00:01:19.880 | to glorify God than being satisfied in Him.
00:01:22.800 | I mean that if that is missing,
00:01:26.280 | then He's not glorified most.
00:01:29.560 | Something very important is missing.
00:01:32.740 | And I don't mean God doesn't get glory
00:01:37.740 | from the lives of unbelievers in certain ways
00:01:42.200 | who aren't finding any satisfaction in Him,
00:01:45.380 | because they're reflecting the image of God
00:01:49.000 | in which they were created,
00:01:51.180 | even if they don't believe that.
00:01:53.040 | And even if they turn out to be objects of God's wrath
00:01:59.180 | because of their unbelief and rebellion,
00:02:03.700 | that will reflect His justice and the glory of His justice.
00:02:08.060 | So I'm not talking about how God is glorified in unbelievers
00:02:12.980 | who don't find satisfaction in God.
00:02:15.060 | I'm talking about us, us.
00:02:17.740 | God is most glorified in us,
00:02:19.580 | believers, when we are most satisfied in Him.
00:02:23.060 | In other words, if a believer thinks being satisfied
00:02:27.840 | in God emotionally is a marginal issue
00:02:31.460 | or a merely optional issue,
00:02:33.800 | he is gravely mistaken because he's indifferent
00:02:38.800 | to how he can show God to be more glorious.
00:02:42.740 | You ought not to be indifferent to something
00:02:45.020 | that shows God to be more glorious.
00:02:47.400 | And the reason God is most glorified in us
00:02:49.860 | when we're most satisfied in Him
00:02:51.780 | is that the way God designed emotions to work is that way.
00:02:56.780 | A boss who is obeyed at work,
00:03:03.140 | but not enjoyed, not admired,
00:03:05.880 | we all know he's not honored
00:03:09.220 | as much as if he were both obeyed and enjoyed.
00:03:14.020 | That's what emotions say.
00:03:16.260 | That's the way God set them up to work.
00:03:18.540 | It says, "You have remarkable qualities
00:03:22.740 | that make me glad to obey you."
00:03:25.820 | And those remarkable qualities
00:03:27.360 | that add gladness to the obedience
00:03:29.600 | give him more honor and more glory
00:03:31.780 | than if he only was obeyed.
00:03:34.000 | So that's what I mean by the sentence.
00:03:36.060 | Now, why use the word in instead of by?
00:03:39.380 | Let's just start with the second half.
00:03:41.740 | When we are most satisfied in Him,
00:03:46.460 | not satisfied by Him.
00:03:48.660 | And the reason is that the word by Him
00:03:52.660 | could mean he's the one who satisfies us
00:03:56.860 | with something other than himself.
00:03:59.200 | A teenager might say,
00:04:02.740 | "I got to go to the game with my friends
00:04:05.060 | and that satisfied me."
00:04:06.780 | And then he could add,
00:04:07.780 | "And my dad drove us to the game
00:04:10.700 | so that I was satisfied by the game
00:04:13.260 | and I was thus satisfied by my dad."
00:04:15.700 | But the dad wasn't the satisfaction.
00:04:17.940 | The dad was just the means
00:04:19.260 | to get the satisfaction in the game.
00:04:22.140 | And that's emphatically not what I want to say.
00:04:24.460 | So if I say, "When we are most satisfied by God,"
00:04:28.980 | it's possible someone might take me to mean
00:04:31.260 | that God is the one who's given me such good gifts
00:04:35.940 | in my life, my marriage, my family, my job,
00:04:39.420 | and those satisfy me so much
00:04:40.980 | and therefore I've been satisfied by God
00:04:45.380 | giving me those gifts in which I find so much pleasure.
00:04:48.940 | Now, I don't want anybody to take me to mean that,
00:04:51.480 | even though it's good to enjoy God's gifts.
00:04:54.180 | I don't mean to say that.
00:04:55.420 | So I say, "When we are satisfied in God,"
00:05:00.100 | that is, God himself is the object of the satisfaction,
00:05:04.060 | not just the supplier of the object of the satisfaction.
00:05:09.060 | So that's the reason I want to use it in the second half.
00:05:11.580 | Now, in the first half, "God is most glorified in us,"
00:05:16.580 | instead of "God is most glorified by us,"
00:05:19.620 | they almost, almost are identical in meaning in my mind.
00:05:24.620 | And so I just used in because it sounds better
00:05:28.820 | to have in in both halves
00:05:30.060 | rather than by in one half and in in the other half.
00:05:32.260 | However, there is a slight difference
00:05:35.460 | that I think would make me want to have it anyway.
00:05:38.220 | The word in, when you use it in the first half,
00:05:41.300 | "God is most glorified in us,"
00:05:43.380 | takes the focus off of my intentionality to glorify him.
00:05:48.380 | When I say, "God is glorified in us,"
00:05:55.100 | I'm not calling any attention to our intention
00:05:59.380 | to glorify him in that moment.
00:06:01.800 | Whereas, "God is most glorified by us"
00:06:05.380 | does seem to call attention to our intention to glorify him.
00:06:10.380 | And you would ask, rightly,
00:06:12.700 | well, why in the world would it be bad
00:06:16.220 | to call attention to our intention to glorify God?
00:06:20.660 | And here's the problem.
00:06:22.300 | This is why words are so delicate.
00:06:25.220 | Glorifying God by enjoying him
00:06:30.060 | can't be intentional in the moment of the enjoyment of God.
00:06:36.060 | That's not the way pleasure works.
00:06:39.620 | Try it.
00:06:40.460 | I mean, just try it right now.
00:06:42.140 | Say, "Okay, soul, my intention right now is to glorify God.
00:06:47.140 | So now, go ahead, soul, rejoice in him."
00:06:51.860 | It doesn't work.
00:06:53.220 | The nature of the emotions
00:06:56.300 | is that they are psychological ends in themselves
00:07:01.300 | if they are authentic.
00:07:04.240 | For example, you can't authentically fear
00:07:08.740 | in order to make a bear charging you look terrifying.
00:07:12.900 | You can't do it for that reason.
00:07:14.380 | You can't say, "Okay, now, I'm supposed to feel fear
00:07:17.500 | right now because I want people to know
00:07:19.620 | that I am making much of the horrible look
00:07:23.140 | on that bear's face as he charges me.
00:07:25.380 | So go ahead, heart, fear
00:07:27.860 | in order to make him look terrifying."
00:07:29.780 | Emotions are not that kind of thing.
00:07:33.340 | So either fear wells up in you at the approach of the bear
00:07:37.600 | or it doesn't, and you can't make it intentional.
00:07:42.420 | You can't authentically feel sorrow
00:07:45.700 | in order to help a grieving person feel loved.
00:07:49.560 | So you want to say, "Well, I'd like that person
00:07:51.240 | to feel loved right now,
00:07:52.880 | and I'm not feeling any sorrow for their loss.
00:07:56.580 | So soul, we want to make them feel loved.
00:08:00.020 | So right now, would you feel sorrow, soul?"
00:08:03.140 | It doesn't work.
00:08:04.300 | If the loss in that person's life
00:08:06.580 | doesn't make you feel sorrow authentically right now
00:08:10.460 | without any intentionality to do anything for them,
00:08:13.900 | just because you feel sorrow,
00:08:16.580 | then you're not going to be able to communicate love
00:08:19.020 | to that person.
00:08:19.840 | Emotions don't work like that.
00:08:21.460 | Neither does joy in God, in God.
00:08:26.460 | If God's glory, His love, His power, wisdom,
00:08:30.980 | justice, truth, and all of His other glorious attributes,
00:08:34.300 | if they don't awaken spontaneous joy in God,
00:08:39.300 | you can't pause and say,
00:08:43.240 | "Well, God Himself doesn't awaken joy in me,
00:08:47.260 | but I know I'm supposed to glorify Him.
00:08:49.480 | So now soul, start rejoicing in Him."
00:08:53.540 | That's just not the way it works.
00:08:56.720 | So that's what I want to avoid
00:08:59.620 | by not using the word "by,"
00:09:02.700 | but using the word "in."
00:09:04.980 | God is most glorified in us.
00:09:07.540 | I'm not calling any attention
00:09:09.780 | to my intentionality in that moment,
00:09:12.780 | because in that moment,
00:09:14.260 | it's okay to intend to glorify God with our emotions.
00:09:17.180 | I do that.
00:09:18.000 | Right now, I'm talking to you.
00:09:19.100 | I'm intending that in the future days,
00:09:21.260 | I hope John Piper will be so happy in God,
00:09:23.740 | people will see God as glorious.
00:09:25.380 | But in the very moment of the pleasure of God
00:09:29.420 | in worship or in devotions
00:09:31.540 | or in some sight of His glory,
00:09:33.440 | in the gospel, in that moment,
00:09:35.960 | there's no standing outside yourself
00:09:38.500 | and saying, "I'm doing that,"
00:09:40.460 | in order to make that God look great.
00:09:43.540 | So my answer is I'm sticking by "in,"
00:09:47.020 | in both halves for those reasons,
00:09:50.780 | and maybe some more that I can't even remember.
00:09:53.180 | Very well put.
00:09:55.020 | Thank you, Pastor John.
00:09:56.300 | At Desiring God, we believe joy is not optional.
00:09:59.340 | It's essential.
00:10:00.580 | And if this is new to you,
00:10:02.140 | I would invite you to watch a little four-minute video
00:10:04.540 | we have at our site.
00:10:06.260 | Go to DesiringGod.org and click on the About tab
00:10:09.460 | at the top of the screen.
00:10:10.900 | There you can find a short film,
00:10:12.480 | a little introduction to who we are
00:10:13.900 | and what we're all about.
00:10:15.340 | Well, speaking of our joy in God,
00:10:17.220 | if God is all that we need,
00:10:18.860 | then why was God not enough for Adam in the garden?
00:10:22.420 | Why was it not good for him to be alone?
00:10:25.040 | It's an important relational question,
00:10:27.300 | and we'll address it tomorrow.
00:10:28.580 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:10:29.420 | Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast.
00:10:31.980 | (silence)
00:10:34.140 | (silence)
00:10:36.300 | (silence)
00:10:38.460 | [BLANK_AUDIO]