Wednesday 20 August 2008

Why we have to be happy in God to glorify Him

'According to my judgment the most important point to be attended to is this: above all things see to it that your souls are happy in the Lord. Other things may press upon you, the Lord's work may even have urgent claims upon your attention, but I deliberately repeat, it is of supreme and paramount importance that you should seek above all things to have your souls truly happy in God Himself!' - George Mueller

Doesn't it sound selfish to make yourself happy in God? Surely that's just using God to make you happy? Below is the reasoning that forces me to believe (like George Mueller) this it is essential to make myself happy in God:

1) The chief purpose of the Christian Life is to glorify God. (1 Cor 10v31)

2) When sinners are born-again they receive a new heart. ( Ezekiel 36v26)

3) The heart's function is to produce desires. (Psalm 37v4b)

4) The new heart (given by God) produces spiritual desires or desires rooted in the Holy Spirit.

5) To be happy is to fulfill desires and cravings. The greatest measure of happiness happens all desires are fulfilled.

6) To be happy in God is to fulfill Spiritual desires from the new heart.

7) Holy-Spirit desires are given so that the fulfilment of them glorifies God. (God does all things for His own glory).

8) By implication of 6) and 7) we must make ourselves happy in God (fulfilling Spiritual desires) because this glorifies Him.

Three Misconceptions about Happiness:

1) I can't be 'happy in God' all the time because sorrow is a good emotion that God wants me to experience (2 Cor 7v10).

This misconception assumes that humans exert one emotion at a time. The truth is we can be happy and sorrowful simultaneously. 2 Cor 6v10: 'sorrowful yet always rejoicing'. A happiness in God can happen when we are filled with sadness.

2) Happiness is given by God sometimes and other times not. It is not to be pursued. It's to be accepted if God chooses to let me enjoy it.

If this is true why did Paul command the Philippians several times to 'Rejoice in the Lord' (Phil 4v4). Not rejoicing is a sin. Getting joy in God is commanded therefore it is our obligation and duty.

3) Pursuing your own Happiness is living by feelings and not faith.

Faith and feelings are not independent of each other. The right faith tends to produce the right feelings (Rom 15v13).

'God is glorified not only by His glory's being seen, but by its being rejoiced in.' -Jonathon Edwards

6 comments:

Hughbo said...

I disagree.
I think Piper is right when he says that God is MOST glorified when we are most satisfied (happy) in him.

But to say that we can only glorify God when we are happy in him is to take it too far.

Can we glorify God in the midst of sadness, bitterness etc ? It's much harder, but I think grace enabled perseverance through bitterness can give glory to God - why, because it's grace enabled, it's God's work, which means the glory goes to God.

See you soon brother

Simon said...

Hey brother

Yes that is Piper's tag line but this implication follows: God is only glorified when we are satisfied in Him. When we act without a sense of loving the glory of God it is sin.

I think you have taken too basic a model of Piper's Christian Hedonism. Look at this quote: The desire to be happy is a proper motive for every good deed, and if you abandon the pursuit of your own joy you cannot love man or please God.' (http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByDate/2006/1797_We_Want_You_to_Be_a_Christian_Hedonist/). If he is right by saying the abandonment of your own pursuit of joy [joy in itself] cannot please God then any act minus joy doesnt please God and therefore is sin.

Piper also says: The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever'. (Opening lines from the Desiring God book). Therefore the way to glorify God is to enjoy Him. Therefore not enjoying God is sin.

Take Augustine for example. He defined love as 'the enjoyment of God for His own names' sake.' Therefore in everything we do we have to love God or enjoy Him=gaining joy from Him. Any 'obedience' (by this I mean outward obedience to the 10 commandments) is a sin without a heart that is loving God. Hence Christ's critisicm of the Pharisees 'they honour me with there lips but there hearts are far from me'.

You say 'that we can only glorify God when we are happy in him is to take it too far.' The question follows: What can we do that pleases God but is not rooted in a delight of Him? Can you find any scripture to back yourself up?

'Can we glorify God in the midst of sadness, bitterness etc?' These are emotions that can be used to glorify and disobey God. We can be sad with sin in a God-glorifying way ONLY if we see that He is offended by it. This implies that we delight to see Him obeyed.

'I think grace enabled perseverance through bitterness can give glory to God - why, because it's grace enabled, it's God's work, which means the glory goes to God.' Only the grace that God gives you to sustain the bitterness glorifies Him-the bitterness itself doesn't because bitterness is a form of anger that flows from being dissatisifed with God's providence. We should be angry with the sin but NOT the outcome of the sin because all things work for our good.

Another question: Can you find fault with the logic in my post?

Sorry for the long response!!

Hughbo said...

Logic is ok. And you probably are right in what you say...

I think I'm thinking that one does not need to be happy in God for God's glory to be displayed in and through that person...


You ask:
What can we do that pleases God but is not rooted in a delight of Him?

I ask:
What can we do that pleases God? (full stop)


God doesn't need us to complete his glory. Rather, and I think this is my point that when it come to us and God's glory, the emphasis is so much more on God's work in and through the believer than the actions. God gets glory from himself, he doesn't get glory from anything we do, but from that which he does in and through us.

I don't have a verse at the moment, but is that not true? Even our acts that come from a delight in him and appear to give him glory are inevitably tainted with pride and false motives...

In summary I guess I am agreeing with what you say, but what you say fails to acknowledge the true source of the glorification of God.

Thoughts?
We'll discuss when you get back!

Simon said...

'What can we do that pleases God? (full stop)'

OK I see where you're coming from.
Answer: we can do nothing to please God in our natural sinful state.

I believe the good that God works in and through us (Phil 2v13) will always be rooted in our enjoyment of Him. The good work looks different ie submition, sacrifice, prayer...etc etc but all of these good works are done with a heart enjoying Him (getting joy from Him) if it is a true work of the Spirit.


'God doesn't need us to complete his glory. Rather, and I think this is my point that when it come to us and God's glory, the emphasis is so much more on God's work in and through the believer than the actions. God gets glory from himself, he doesn't get glory from anything we do, but from that which he does in and through us.'

I partially agree with you. My statement is: When God does a work in and through us we will be enjoying Him (being happy in Him).

Don't you agree that our good works and the manifestation of God's glory (in us-hence Piper's 'God is most glorified IN YOU') are two ends of the same rope? It seems you are seperating them when you say: 'God gets glory from himself, he doesn't get glory from anything we do'. I respond: He does. What we do in the Spirit He does in and through us.

'I guess I am agreeing with what you say, but what you say fails to acknowledge the true source of the glorification of God.'
I say: to explain the source of God's glory wasn't the purpose of the post. The purpose of the post was to explain to people that when an act is done without 'happiness in God' (remembering my earlier definition) it does not come from God working in us and through us. That act does not glorify God becuase the person who is acting is not enjoying God at the time of the action.
Implication:
You can attend church sinfully by not wanting to be there.

As Piper says: 'Pleasing God is being pleased with Him.'

Do we agree?!

PS Really glad we can teach each other in this way :-)

Cat Cotton said...

I think what a lot of this debate is about is actually the word happy. When the bible talks about happiness it isn't the same way we normally do. We deem happiness as always smiling etc. The bible and it's rejoicing and happiness is a deep peaceful content heart in God. We can glorify God with our heart of happiness that is at that particular time in grieving or righteous anger, etc. 2Cor6:10 (to repeat quote what Simon had)

Hughbo said...

Yeh. What Cat said.