Delighting in our God
Jeremiah 9:23-24
I was really encouraged at our Congregational Retreat, and I felt like we (and I) took significant step in understanding what it means to Dwell in the Gospel and a significant step in tasting, experiencing that Gospel.
Today’s sermon is an extension of our retreat, part testimony, part sermon.
[Jason Min’s testimony]
A perfect pastor would be good at preaching/teaching, leading, and shepherding. The problem is that almost no pastor is gifted at all three. I think my preaching/teaching is my strongest and my leading is my weakest. Over the years I’ve really struggled with various aspects of leadership. Of the three, it is the area of which I am most insecure and most drains me.
Just a few days before our retreat, some issues had come up that again pressed up against my leadership insecurities and were once again discouraging me.
On Saturday afternoon, we had our Hour of Slowness and Solitude, and it was a great time of prayer and reflection for me.
I may not be a good leader, or even a good pastor. [maybe I have to admit that I’m just bad at this]
I may not have great wisdom, or even character. [maybe I lack things, even things I thought I was good at]
I may not love people, just myself. [maybe my problems are deep, fundamental problems]
Can I accept it? Admit it? [Am I comfortable saying, yeah, that’s who I am. I’m not that great.]
No, I fight it. I defend myself and argue my case.
Am I really worse than I know? [Do I honestly see myself as a sinner? No, I fight to think I’m good. Why can’t I accept it? I try to find my identity here—that I’m a good person.]
Help me abandon my hopes in myself and see my failures more clearly.
I delight in my strengths and sorrow in my weaknesses.
I see weakness in me and I hate it. I wish so much that I were better, and if I think I’m getting better, then I’m really happy. And if I think I’m actually worse, then I’m really sad.
If people think I’m a good leader, I would deny it, but inwardly I cling to the hope that well, maybe I’m not as bad as I think. And then I feel really good. If people criticize my leadership, then I get deeply discouraged and inwardly complain, feeling like, “I’m doing the best I can, please leave me alone!”
I delight in character or principles. I like that I have values, principles by which I try to live. If I see how these values are Biblical and good (more so than others), and if I am successful at keeping them, I’m really happy. If I realize my values are off or I’m not keeping these values, I’m really sad.
I delight in myself.
My delight is not to be in myself (my talents, abilities, accomplishments, efforts), but in Christ.
As I was journaling and reflecting, two passages came to mind.
Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise! (Rev. 5:12)
Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
or the strong man boast of his strength
or the rich man boast of his riches,
24 but let him who boasts boast about this:
that he understands and knows me,
that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,” declares the LORD. (Jer. 9:23-24)
Let not the preacher boast in his preaching
nor the leader in his leadership
nor the church member in his spiritual resume
nor the student in his grades
nor the musician in his music
We delight in ourselves. We almost don’t know any other kind of delight, significance or identity. It’s about us. We are radically self-centered.
I’m a good doctor, teacher, consultant, or I’m not.
I’m a good mom, I’m a bad mom.
I’m authentic, I’m real.
I’m spiritual (after an hour of slowness and solitude), I’m committed
I know the Bible, I’m not legalistic, I care about the poor, I care about nonChristians.
I’m humble. That’s great that I’m so humble.
After our Congregational Retreat, we had a pastors’ conference here at Renewal, and then I went out to San Diego to meet with a group of pastors to work together to see if we can do something for younger pastors.
In both cases, there’s a part of me that compares myself with other pastors. Some have bigger churches, some have scholars and have published books, some are very well networked inside and outside our denomination. And I found myself comparing, seeing how I measure up, trying to find some justification, significance in my ministry accomplishments.
I’ve sought delight in myself (talents, abilities, character, spiritual maturity, faith, accomplishments), not in Christ. I repent and delight in Him!
Even in my faith—I have faith, I live by faith, I have the gospel—that was what I was boasting in. I understand the Gospel, and those other guys, they don’t.
We take the very things that are for God and twist it to make it about ourselves, something that we can take pride in.
Sin is so deceiving and we are so blind.
That is why the Bible says our righteousness is like filthy rags.
Then we repent, and think, see I’m a good Christian, I repent of my sin—and we inwardly boast and delight in ourselves again. We must repent of our repentance.
That’s Jer 9:23-24. I must stop boasting in myself and boast in know God, that I have a relationship with God.
My boast, significance, delight, what makes me feel significant and happy is that I know God. Our significance is not to come from something about ourselves but from outside ourselves. It’s not about me. It’s about God.
This is a Copernican revolution for many of us. We’re not at the center of the universe. For so many of us, our world revolves entirely around us. We have difficulty defining ourselves by something outside of us. What does it mean that our pride, our boast is God, not us?
Jeremiah doesn’t leave this “knowing God” vague or undefined. It is that we know that our God exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth. Our God delights in kindness, justice and righteousness.
So I meditated a moment on the fact that our God is a God of kindness, justice and righteousness. The next thought was—the greatest display of God’s kindness, justice and righteousness was the cross!
Our delight is in knowing this God, this God who became a man and died on the cross, this God who demonstrated supreme kindness, who satisfied perfect justice, who acts in merciful righteousness. Sometimes the word righteousness is synonymous with “deliverance” or “salvation.” God acts in a kind, justice and saving way.
My delight in not in myself, but in knowing (experientially) this God, in my life and on this earth.
Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise! (Rev. 5:12)
Our joy, delight, boast is that Jesus died on the cross. The slain Lamb is worthy of all praise.
As we boast in ourselves, we deny that the Lamb deserves all glory and praise. No, we want our own glory and praise. But in heaven, we will give Jesus all glory and honor, and that means we’re not going to be giving or seeking glory and honor for anyone else, ourselves included.
This is not about us. This is about Jesus.
We heard at the retreat that the keys of Gospel Living are repentance and faith.
We see our wicked we are, how we’re so shot through, so twisted with self-centered self-boasting. So we repent. But we’ll never get out of this by the goodness and depth of our repentance, because we’ll probably boast of our repenting! We try to be humble, and then we boast of our humility.
Instead, after looking at our sin and repenting, we must look at Jesus. Repentance and Faith, faith that sees, savors, delights in, rests in Jesus. We must get busy looking at Jesus.
On the last page of our Hour of Slowness and Solitude, we had Psalm 146.
5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,
6 the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
the LORD, who remains faithful forever.
7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free,
8 the LORD gives sight to the blind,
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,
the LORD loves the righteous.
9 The LORD watches over the alien
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
10 The LORD reigns forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the LORD. (Psalm 146:5-10)
Our God cares for the oppressed, hungry, prisoner, blind, fatherless and widow.
Our God exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth.
This is His salvation work for us. We were the oppressed upheld, the hungry fed, the prisoner set free, the blind given sight, the fatherless sustained!
This is what it means to live in the Gospel: to boast in God, not in ourselves. We look at how great, glorious, merciful, kind He is. The greatest display of this is in the cross.
We’re so boastful, so self-centered, so self-glorifying.
But Jesus died for this arrogance, this rebelliousness. He opens our eyes, set us free!
Jesus, instead, didn’t seek His own glory. He didn’t boast in his own strength, wisdom or riches. He delighted in giving glory to the Father.
We’re so taken by His mercy, His goodness, His righteousness.
We don’t boast about ourselves. This is not the good news of me.
We boast about Jesus. This is the good news of Jesus Christ.
We find that we have a greater glory in the other, not in ourselves.
I’m sure Malia and Sasha [picture] are good students, that they have good reading and math scores. Apparently they both play piano and tennis. Malia also does soccer, dance and drama, and Sasha does gymnastics and tap. They both seem sweet and charming. But there are so many other girls who have just as good or better grades, just as good or better musical or athletic abilities. What is their significance, glory? For these girls, the reason they are celebrities is not because of their academic or athletic skills. Their significance is that they are the daughters of President Obama. They are completely and unchangeably loved by the most powerful man in the world. The most significant thing about them is not about them, it’s about their father.
This is true of you. The most significant thing about you is that you are completely loved by the most powerful man in the cosmos. Christ is your glory, your boast.