God is the Gospel! This is a devastatingly powerful title.
Recently while at the Desiring God conference, Piper made the statement (paraphrase) that he thinks that the most important book that he has written is “God is the Gospel.” I’ve been pondering this statement as of late because Piper has written several tremendously important books (including the foremost in my opinion: Desiring God, The Pleasures of God, and Future Grace). Considering the significance of the books which Piper has written I find this recent statement of his to be very weighty.
The thesis of God is the Gospel is this: God is the highest, best, good which makes the “good news” so good. Christianity has often made lesser things, glorious though they may be, to be the highest good which makes the “good news” so good; things like heaven, no more pain, reunion with departed family members, sanctification, justification, and glorification. These things are glorious and are not to be minimized, but they are not to be desired, longed for, or appreciated and adored more than God Himself. God is the good news! The good news is good news because God is! And that we may be able to know Him and enjoy Him now and for eternity is breathtakingly magnificent - because God is breathtakingly magnificent.
The title of the introduction to this book is: What the world needs most - the gospel’s greatest gift, God.
Words can not do justice to the gratefulness which fills my heart and no doubt countless more for the goodness of God, who gives to His church gifts like John Piper, in order that we may see more clearly the glories and majesties of our infinitely desirable God!
God is the most valuable being in existence. I simply would not have seen this to the extent that I have, without the ministry of such people who have written extraordinarily helpful books and preached messages and lived lives which display the infinite worth of our glorious God.
4 comments:
I thought that Christ was the Gospel. I guess they are one in the same, but then again they are not. Hmmm... interesting paradox.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 14:9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
1Peter 3:18a For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God,
All of the good things which the Gospel entails are leading to one ultimate end: God. If God were not the ultimate end of the Gospel then??? Would there be any good news?
Piper asks a troubling question: Would you want to go to heaven and enjoy perfect health, fellowship with all your friends and family, great and majestic scenery, and no more pain or trouble - but Jesus wasn’t there?
The trouble with the question is that it gets right to the heart of our affections. The sad and difficult truth is that our affections very often are delighting in the wrong thing(s), as opposed to delighting in the ultimately delightful and Infinite God.
What I mean by paradox is that Christ IS God incarnate, but still Christ would pray to the Father. He wasn't praying to himself, but to the Father. But he is God. Blows my mind. I've never been able to understand the Trinity.
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