The Rabbit Trail The human race was originally made in the image of God, but in the fall that image has been marred, distorted and broken.Christ, the image of God, came to redeem us and conform us back progressively and end the end completely to the image of God. All of His instructions to us are too that end.
There was a time when human beings walked the same earth that we walk and perfectly reflected the character of their creator, displaying the image of God. In mystery they were persuaded by the deceiver and fell. Their character from that moment on was a distortion of his character. No longer could one look at a human and see a consistently accurate reflection of the creator.
Yet, those whom God foreknew he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. The son of God, Christ Jesus, was not made in the image of God as our parents first were but was himself the image of God. When Phillip asked Jesus to show the disciples the Father he told them that “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
Our conforming to the image of the son is captured in Christ’s command to us “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” That is Christs great instruction to us: Be perfect as your Father is. We have been predestined to be perfect, completely conformed the the image of the son. Nothing more (ha!) and nothing less.
It is in this understanding that Christ’s commands can be seen for what they are: Not commands to do what the commander himself does not do, but directions to son from a father saying “This is what I am like son, be like me.” We can then see this in all the commands:
He commands us to “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another” because that is what he is like. That is the image of God.
He commands us to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” because that is what he does in going to the cross for his enemies.
He commands “each one of you speak the truth” because that is what he does. He is the truth and in him their is no falsehood.
He commands us to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” because that my friends is what the father does to the son and the son to the father.
He commands us that “whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” because that is what he is seeking in all that he does.
God’s highest aim is His own glory Our understanding of how means relate to ends will directly effect our understanding of how God’s love relates to His glory.
I had never heard anyone question the idea that God’s highest aim was his own glory before. Maybe I just don’t get out much. I was asking myself “Why do I hold that belief? Where in Scripture do I find that?” I am definitely still wrestling with the question, but I believe I understand at least part of the reasoning that leads people to this view. Whether or not that reasoning is correct is another question.
If I tell you “I am going to start jogging so that I can lose some weight” you wouldn’t respond “You really must love jogging huh?” No, you’d understand that my goal is not jogging, but is losing weight. If I say “I am buying flowers to show my wife that I love her” you understand that the means (buying flowers) are subordinate to the end (showing my wife my love for her.)
I believe that it is this understanding of means and ends that leads us to believe that God’s highest aim or chief end is to glorify himself. Look at these scriptures:
“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.”
“Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
“For my name’s sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.”
“For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the LORD, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.”
“Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make known his mighty power.”
“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”
“Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”
And on and on and on and on and on and on it goes. It is abundantly clear in Scripture that God does things, precious things, loving and kind things for the purpose of bringing himself Glory. Now that much should be clear. It quickly raises the question “Does that mean he loves His glory more then us?” I don’t think that is necessarily what it means, but I also am not sure and most importantly I don’t know if that’s the important question: When God loves you enough to shed the blood of his beloved son I think we should be able to put the “Does he love me enough??” question to rest. The most important question “Does God love me?”has thankfully been answered.
So into technicalities. I don’t think that by definition ”means” are “less” then “ends”. But “ends” are “ends” and that is why some of our Fathers have accurately said that “the chief end of man is to glorify God”. That is clear from God’s word, that whatever we do (means) we do it to the glory of God (ends). Likewise God’s chief end in creating this world, and enduring with fallen mankind and redeeming us through Christ (means) was for the purpose of bringing him his glory (ends).
So here’s to hoping that we can all say (without cringing) “He saved us for his own glory!”
I have found Internet GOLD! No, even better, I’ve found Internet Gospel gold! Now I’m not the first to find this, but by the view counts on YouTube I am definitely one of few. That’s a shame and you’ll understand why it’s a shame shortly.
I believe the first time I heard Max McLean was when the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible had first come out and I got sent a CD of this Max McLean fellow reading the ESV of Hebrews. You can give it a listen too:
I hadn’t heard much about him since then until today when I stumbled upon the Listener’s Bible website. I noticed some videos on the performance section of the site. I hit play on the Mark videos and again found myself mesmerized. Bellow is Max McLean performing the entire book of Mark.
If your experience is like mine then after a few chapters your going to wonder how you can support this. I’m going to pick up the DVD of the performance from Amazon myself.
I’m planning on including this in my family’s devotions starting tomorrow. I can’t wait to ask my kids “Did anything surprise you in that?” or “Why do you think Jesus was so mad at the Pharisees?” or “After seeing that, if someone asked you ‘What’s Jesus like?’ what would you say?”
This extension enhances the YouVersion main page by adding an audio player for each of your bible readings. Listening to your reading list on YouVersion just got that much simpler! To install go to the Google Chrome Extension Gallery
Feel free to leave comments for feedback, bugs or feature requests. If you can come with an enhancement to YouVersion that I’d use then I’ll probably make it!
This is a book of truth. These Sketches are taken from real life. They are facts, not fancies. They are the experiences of some whom the author has known in the course of his ministry. He has not given to them an item of colouring. The only thing about them from which any erroneous impression can possibly arise, is to be found in the fact that they are only sketches, not containing all that could be given in respect to the individuals here mentioned. But they are believed to contain a fair and sufficiently full representation of each case.
The author has made this selection from the materials in his possession, on the principle of avoiding useless repetitions as much as possible, and on the principle of meeting some of the strange difficulties which sometimes trouble inquirers after salvation.
I didn’t know what to expect when I began reading a A Pastor’s Sketches by Ichabod Spencer. Out of the blue I was asked to review the book by a small publisher I had never heard of which was odd for two reasons: 1) I hadn’t updated my blog in months and 2) I would expect a publisher to want well written reviews of their books. I was also worried that if the book was bad I’d have to write a review saying as much, but in the end the lure of a free book was too much for me!
What I found though as I began reading the book was amazing. In fact I was weeping at the end of the first chapter. The book is a collection of conversations that Ichabod Spencer began putting to print in 1851 while pastoring in Brooklyn, New York. This was a time between the Second and Third Great Awakening in America and as such it was a unique period of time. It’s also written in an older, more proper, style of American English. Yet, the relevancy of the book was astonishing to me.
“They wanted to know how a loving God could let people go to hell.”
What kind of love would seek to prevent or pervert justice? It’s very common for parents to blindly defend their children when they’ve committed grievous acts, but is that right of them? At the same time, if a parent does agree with the need for their children to be brought to justice and yet does so without any sadness something is also wrong.
Shortly thereafter I read the book and loved it. We all need direction in our lives and Total Church provides it in some of the simplest of terms. If you’re a Christian and wondering or not if a book about “the church” would really provide direction for you, then you absolutely need to read it! The first three chapters are worth the $10 by themselves.
John Piper provides a thoughtful and firm response to the cloudy, contradictory, and killing view that most of our culture, including our President, holds . . . for now that is.
The Resurgence is launching a new music branch named Re:Sound. Part of me doesn’t understand why, because all of Mars Hills excellent music is already available for freeon their site. But hey, maybe in the future they’ll help get some music from some other local churches on folks radar. I’d love that.
Re:Sound will be launching on June 11th and until then they are giving away a free sampler with tracks from Joe DaysNorthern Conspiracy, Joel BrownsRed Letter and Tim SmithsEx Nihilo – All Mars Hill bands. They’ve also included all the chord sheets for the songs which I am guessing is great if you know how to read music and play an instrument.
Here’s a few of my favorite tracks:
Red Letter – forthcoming release – Author and Perfector
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Northern Conspiracy – forthcoming release – What Have We Done
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Ex Nihilo – Rain City Hymnal – I Sing the Mighty Power
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The Rabbit Trail
“They wanted to know how a loving God could let people go to hell.” 
