For over twenty-five years John Piper has trumpeted the truth that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” He calls it Christian Hedonism. The problem is that many people, after being persuaded, find that this truth is both liberating and devastating.It’s liberating because it endorses our inborn desire for joy. And it’s devastating because it reveals that we don’t desire God the way we should. What do you do when you discover the good news that God wants you to be content in him, but then find that you aren’t?If joy in God were merely the icing on the cake of Christian commitment, this book would be insignificant. But Piper argues that joy is so much more. Our being satisfied in God is necessary to show God’s worthiness and to sustain sacrifices of love.Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before him. He tasted it. It sustained him through the deepest suffering. His Father was glorified. His people were saved. That is what joy in God does.The absolutely urgent question becomes: What can I do if I don’t have it? With a pastor’s heart and with radical passion for the glory of Christ, John Piper helps you answer that question.

Scripture reveals that the great business of life is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. In this paradigm-shattering classic, newly revised and expanded, John Piper reveals that the debate between duty and delight doesn't truly exist: Delight is our duty. Readers will embark on a dramatically different and joyful experience of their faith.A modern manual of true spirituality.—R. C. SproulA soul-stirring celebration of the pleasures of knowing God...a must-read for every Christian, and a feast for the spiritually hungry.—John MacArthurThe healthy biblical realism of this study in Christian motivation comes as a breath of fresh air. Jonathan Edwards, whose ghost walks through most of Piper's pages, would be delighted with his disciple.—Jim Packer

Athanasius. John Owen. J. Gresham Machen. Each of these men stood for the truth of God's Word in the face of opposition — all out of a deep love for Christ and a desire for people to know God in his fullness. Popularity was not a concern, and they took no joy in controversy for argument's sake. However, these men were willing to suffer for the sake of guarding the sanctity of the gospel. Many threats, years of exile, deaths of loved ones, opposition from friends and authorities, sickness and pain — none of these setbacks could keep these three from maintaining their efforts for the furthering of Christ's Kingdom or quench their zeal for Christ himself. In this book, John Piper has given us biographies of Athanasius, John Owen, and J. Gresham Machen — bishop, pastor, and seminary founder. In the life of each one, personal holiness was emphasized publicly and privately despite suffering. They were true soldiers for the sake of the cross, and each man offers life lessons for Christians today."I love this book. John Piper reminds us that it is not enough to affirm or defend our faith, we must also be willing, under fire, to contend for our faith."—R.C. Sproul

N. T. Wright, a world-renowned New Testament scholar and bishop of Durham in the Church of England, has spent years studying the apostle Paul's writings and has offered a "fresh perspective" on Paul's theology. Among his conclusions are that "the discussions of justification in much of the history of the church--certainly since Augustine--got off on the wrong foot, at least in terms of understanding Paul's and they have stayed there ever since."Wright's confidence that the church has gotten it wrong for 1,500 years, given his enormous influence, has set off warning bells for Christian leaders such as John Piper, a pastor and New Testament scholar. If Wright's framework for interpreting the New Testament text and his understanding of justification find a home in the church, not only could the doctrine of justification be distorted for generations to come, but the New Testament writers' original intent could be silenced. So Piper is sounding a crucial warning in this book, reminding all Christians to exercise great caution regarding "fresh" interpretations of the Bible and to hold fast to the biblical view of justification.

In Let the Nations Be Glad!, John Piper provides a sound theological foundation for missions. Drawing on texts from the Old and New Testaments, he demonstrates that worship is the ultimate goal of the church and that proper worship drives missionary outreach. Piper describes prayer as the fuel of missions work because of its focus on a relationship with God rather than the needs of the world. He goes on to illustrate that while suffering is the price of missions, God is worthy of any sacrifice. He examines whether Jesus is the only way to salvation and discusses the extent of the missionary enterprise, seeking to define the scope of the task and the means to reaching "all nations." This book is essential reading for all those involved in or preparing for missions work and provides inspiring theological reflection for college and seminary students. This book also offers enlightenment for pastors, youth workers, those involved in campus ministries, and all who want to connect their labors to God's global purposes.

away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass …. In the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away …. So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Ps. 90:5–12, ESV).

What does a pastoral heart of wisdom do when it discovers that death is sure, that life is short, and that suffering is inevitable and necessary? The answer is given two verses later in Psalm 90. It is a prayer: “Have pity on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days” (vv. 13b–14, ESV). In the face of toil, trouble, suffering, and death, the wise preacher cries out with the psalmist, “Satisfy us in the morning with Your steadfast love.” He prays this both for himself and for his people: “O God, grant that we would be satisfied with Your steadfast love always, and need nothing else”—and then he preaches to that end.

Why? Because if a preacher leaves his people where they are, seeking satisfaction in family and job and leisure and toys and sex and money and food and power and esteem, when suffering and death strip it all away they will be embittered and angry and depressed. And the worth and beauty and goodness and power and wisdom of God, the glory of God, will vanish in the cloud of murmuring, complaining, and cursing.

But if the preacher has prayed well (that God would satisfy them with Himself); if the preacher has preached well (showing them that they must suffer, but that God is more to be desired than comfort and the steadfast love of the Lord is better than life (Ps. 63:3); if the preacher has lived well (rejoicing to suffer for their sakes); and if the preacher has lingered long enough in one place of ministry, then many of the people will suffer well and die well, counting it gain because they are satisfied in God alone. God will therefore be mightily glorified, and the great end of preaching will be achieved.

This excerpt is adapted from John Piper's contribution to Feed My Sheep.

many rich”).

In Paul’s way of thinking, “unknown,” “dying,” “disciplined,” “sorrowful,” “poor,” and “having nothing” are all true of him. So at the beginning of verse 9, he shifts from false claims corrected by true ones and begins to list pairs that are both true but form a bit of paradox: unknown/known, dying/alive, disciplined/not killed, sorrowful/joyful, poor/enriching. So yes, Paul thinks of himself truly as “sorrowful.” This is no surprise in view of Romans 9:2–3: “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart . . . for my kinsmen according to the flesh.” Unceasing sorrow and anguish. Amazing.

If this was true of the great Apostle of joy, how much more is it true for us? Surely, our lives will be marked by continual sorrows (and joy) as well. If they are not, it may be that we don’t love lost people the way Paul did.

Serious Joy

So the ethos of Christian Hedonism is not a joy or a happiness that is breezy, glib, jokey, trifling, petty, silly, or comic. Christian Hedonism can be utterly overcome with laughter, but this has little to do with a pervasive levity that has almost no room for serious joy.

C.S. Lewis said in his Letters to Malcolm, “Joy is the serious business of heaven.” Amen. And he wrote in his Christian Reflections: “We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously—no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.”

There is a tender heart that rejoices with those who rejoice and weeps with those who weep—simultaneously. Sometimes one is showing; sometimes the other. But each flavors the other. You can taste the peculiar flavor of this joy and this sorrow.

of by redemption. He is the highest good, and the sum of all that good which Christ purchased. God is the inheritance of the saints; he is the portion of their souls. God is their wealth and treasure, their food, their life, their dwelling place, their ornament and diadem, and their everlasting honor and glory. They have none in heaven but God; he is the great good which the redeemed are received to at death, and which they are to rise to at the end of the world. The Lord God, he is the light of the heavenly Jerusalem; and is the "river of the water of life" that runs, and the tree of life that grows, "in the midst of the paradise of God." The glorious excellencies and beauty of God will be what will forever entertain the minds of the saints, and the love of God will be their everlasting feast. The redeemed will indeed enjoy other things; they will enjoy the angels, and will enjoy one another: but that which they shall enjoy in the angels, or each other, or in anything else whatsoever, that will yield them delight and happiness, will be what will be seen of God in them._

The gospel is ultimately about God. He alone is the author and goal of salvation. The good news of John 3:16 is that God is the chief end of the gospel. He so loved the world not simply to give us forgiveness or eternal life but to give us something even greater—Himself.

led by faithful shepherds, who live as examples and care for the souls of their particular sheep. No online preacher can take the place on the ground of these shepherds.

Let me add two further considerations:

First, what we should desire from our pastor in his preaching is not mainly rhetorical or oratorical skill, but faithful explanation of God's Word and application to our lives, especially the life we are living together right here in this church and city, making an impact on our specific community. So I say to every church member, value your pastor as the one who opens the Scriptures for you in your situation, in your community, in your web of relationships week in and week out. Support him in this.

Second, we need to acknowledge the huge importance of corporate worship, as a whole, in the life of a believer. Gathering with God's people every week—gathering, not just putting on your headphones and listening to a worship song—to exalt Jesus together, and hear each other say great things about the One whom we love and cherish, is the way God means for us to thrive in relation to him. I have found this weekly rhythm of corporate communion with God essential to my faith over the last fifty years.

Preaching is essential to that corporate experience. Preaching is not after worship. It is worship. It is the pastor exulting over the truth of God's Word. It is expository exultation. In other words, preaching is not an isolated moment of instruction, as if the service just switched from music to class. No, the service is worship from start to finish. We are going vertical from beginning to end, and we are connecting with God through prayers and communion and singing and giving and in the sermon. We are leaning on the pastor to draw us into his explanation and exultation over the Word of God as part of corporate worship. Podcasters cannot do this. If people only hear preaching outside the context of corporate worship, they are neglecting part of its life and its power.

I love podcasting. I think it has a place in the growth and learning of contemporary Christians. But nothing can replace the church gathered and the community of believers under the leadership and care of shepherds who minister God's Word to them and care for their souls.

years, he served as senior pastor at Bethlehem. John is the author of more than fifty books, including_ This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence_,_ Don't Waste Your Life_, and Desiring God__. More than thirty years of his preaching and teaching is available free at Desiring God._

original standard of greatness and beauty. All created greatness and beauty comes from it and points to it, but such things do not comprehensively or adequately reproduce it.

"The glory of God" is a way to say that there is an objective, absolute reality to which all human wonder, awe, veneration, praise, honor, acclaim, and worship is pointing. We were made to find our deepest pleasure in admiring the infinitely admirable—the glory of God. This glory is not the psychological projection of unsatisfied human longing onto reality. On the contrary, inconsolable human longing is evidence that we were made for God's glory.

How Central Is the Glory of God?

The glory of God is the goal of all things (1 Cor. 10:31; Isa. 43:6–7). The great mission of the church is to declare God's glory among the nations. "Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!" (Ps. 96:1–3; Ezek. 39:21; Isa. 66:18–19).

What Is Our Hope?

Our ultimate hope is to see God's glory. "We rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Rom. 5:2). God will "present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy" (Jude 24). He will "make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory" (Rom. 9:23). Jesus, in all His person and work, is the incarnation and ultimate revelation of the glory of God (John 17:24; Heb. 1:3).

Moreover, we will not only see God's glory, but we will also, in some sense, share in His glory. "So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed" (1 Peter 5:1). "Those whom he justified he also glorified" (Rom. 8:30). Hope that is really known and treasured has a decisive effect on our present values, choices, and actions.

Treasuring the Glory of God

Get to know the glory of God. Study the glory of God, the glory of Christ. Study your soul. Know the glories that you are seduced by and why you treasure glories that are not God's glory.

Study your own soul to know how to make the glories of the world collapse like Dagon in pitiful pieces on the floor of the world's temples (1 Sam. 5:4). Hunger to see and share in more of the glory of Christ, the image of God.

though they were not inexpressibly precious and essential to life.

The main reason this would be folly is that God chose to send His Son into our nursery and speak baby talk with us. Jesus Christ became a child with us. There was a time when Jesus Himself would have said, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child and thought like a child and reasoned like a child.” That is what the incarnation means. He accommodated Himself to our baby talk. He stammered with us in the nursery of human life in this age.

Jesus spoke baby talk. The Sermon on the Mount is our baby talk. His High Priestly Prayer in John 17 is baby talk. “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34) is baby talk—infinitely precious, true, glorious baby talk.

More than that, God inspired an entire Bible of baby talk. True baby talk. Baby talk with absolute authority and power. Baby talk that is sweeter than honey and more to be desired than gold. John Calvin said that “God, in so speaking, lisps with us as nurses are wont to do with little children” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1.13.1). How precious is the baby talk of God. It is not like grass that withers or flowers that fade; it abides forever (Isa. 40:8).

There will be another language and thought and reasoning in the age to come. And we will see things that could not have been expressed in our present baby talk. But when God sent His Son into our human nursery, talking baby talk and dying for the toddlers, He shut the mouths of those who ridicule the possibilities of truth and beauty in the mouth of babes.

And when God inspired a book with baby talk as the infallible interpretation of Himself, what shall we say of the children who make light of the gift of human language as the medium of knowing God? Woe to those who despise, belittle, exploit, or manipulate this gift to the children of man. It is not a toy in the nursery. It is the breath of life. “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63).

conviction that the Bible is the very Word of God. He said:

The law and the prophecies are not teaching delivered by the will of men, but dictated by the Holy Ghost.... We owe the Scripture the same reverence which we owe to God, because it has proceeded from Him alone, and has nothing of man mixed with it.

What Calvin saw in the Bible, above all things, was the majesty of God. He said that through the Scriptures "in a way that surpasses human judgment, we are made absolutely certain, just as if we beheld there the majesty of God Himself."

The Bible, for Calvin, was above all a witness of God to the majesty of God. This led inevitably to what is the heart of Calvinism. Benjamin Warfield put it like this:

The Calvinist is the [person] who sees God behind all phenomena, and in all that occurs recognizes the hand of God...'who makes the attitude of the soul to God in prayer the permanent attitude...' and who casts himself on the grace of God alone, excluding every trace of dependence on self from the whole work of salvation.

That is what I want to be: one who excludes every trace of dependence on self from the whole work of my salvation. In that way, I will enjoy the peace that rests in God alone, and God will get all the glory as the one from whom and through whom and to whom are all things, and the message of the church will resound for the nations.

body.” Matthew 18:20: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

4. The food laws that set Israel apart from the nations have been fulfilled and ended in Christ. Mark 7:18–19: “[Jesus] said to them, ‘Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him…?’ (Thus he declared all foods clean).”

5. The establishment of civil law on the basis of an ethnically rooted people, who are ruled directly by God, has ceased. The people of God are no longer a unified political body, an ethnic group, or a nation-state, but are exiles and sojourners among all ethnic groups and all states. Therefore, God’s will for states is not taken directly from the Old Testament theocratic order, but should now be reestablished from place to place and from time to time by means that correspond to God’s sovereign rule over all peoples, and that correspond to the fact that genuine obedience, rooted as it is in faith in Christ, cannot be coerced by law.

The state is therefore grounded in God, but not expressive of God’s immediate rule. Romans 13:1: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authorit y except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” John 18:36: “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting.”

Let us worship the wonder of Christ, who unleashed these massive changes in the world.

that flies, has warrant to do so; he that stands, has warrant to do so. Yea, the same man may both fly and stand, as the call and working of God with his heart may be. Moses fled, Ex. 2:15; Moses stood, Heb. 11:27. David fled, 1 Sam. 19:12; David stood, 1 Sam. 24:8. Jeremiah fled, Jer. 37:11– 12; Jeremiah stood, Jer. 38:17. Christ withdrew himself, Luke 19:10; Christ stood, John 18:1–8. Paul f led, 2 Cor. 11:33; Paul stood, Act 20:22–23. ...

There are few rules in this case. The man himself is best able to judge concerning his present strength, and what weight this or that argument has upon his heart to stand or fly.... Do not fly out of a slavish fear, but rather because flying is an ordinance of God, opening a door for the escape of some, which door is opened by God’s providence, and the escape countenanced by God’s Word, Matt. 10:23. ...

If, therefore, when thou hast fled, thou art taken, be not offended at God or man: not at God, for thou art his servant, thy life and thy all are his; not at man, for he is but God’s rod, and is ordained, in this, to do thee good. Hast thou escaped? Laugh. Art thou taken? Laugh. I mean, be pleased which [how] soever things shall go, for that the scales are still in God’s hand. (p. 726).

Let us be slow to judge the missionary who chooses death rather than escape. And let us be slow to judge the missionary who chooses life. Rather, let us give ourselves daily to the disciplines of Word saturation and obedience that transform us by the renewing of our minds, that we may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect in the moment of absolute urgency (Rom. 12:2).

perish. He will be our highest treasure, or He will be our enemy. The safest place in the universe is at the feet of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. If we choose to turn from Him for another treasure, His wrath will be against us.

...for his wrath is quickly kindled.

The word quickly may not be the best here. The word can mean quickly in the sense of suddenly. Repeatedly in the Bible, God is said to be “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Ex. 34:6). Not “quick to anger” but “slow to anger.” Therefore, I am inclined to think Psalm 2:12 means “His wrath can break out suddenly.” In other words, don’t trifle with Him in His patience, because suddenly it may run out and you will be overtaken in wrath. If you go on kissing His creation and not His Son (Rom. 1:25), suddenly you will find the fangs of a serpent in your lip. Don’t presume upon the patience of God (Rom. 2:4).

Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

The only safe place from the wrath of God is in God. Everywhere outside of His care is dangerous. He is the only hiding place from His own wrath. If you see Him as frightening and try to run away and hide, you will not find a place to hide. There is none. Outside of God’s care there is only wrath. But there is a refuge from the wrath of God, namely, God. The safest place from the wrath of God — the only safe place — is God. Come to God. Take refuge in God. Hide in the shadow of His wings. This is where we live and serve with joyful trembling. It is terrible and it is wonderful. It is like the eye of a hurricane — terror all around, and totally beautiful and calm. Here there is sweet fellowship. Here is quiet, loving communion. Here we speak to Him as to a friend. Here He ministers to our deepest needs. He wants you to come.

know. Many thoughts, circumstances, and feelings may be feeding into this question that we don’t know about or understand. Careful listening may help you pick up those things. It may be that there is just a small clue that some crucial circumstance is behind the question. If you catch the clue, because you are listening carefully, you may be able to draw that out and be able to answer the question much more helpfully.

Questions are made up of words. Words have meanings that are formed by a person’s experience and education. These words may not carry the same meaning for both you and the questioner. If you want to answer what he is really asking, you must listen very carefully. When the possibility exists that his question is rooted in a different understanding of a word, you will be wise to talk about the meaning of the words before you talk about the answer to the question. I find that talking about the definitions of words in questions usually produces the answers to the questions.

Proverbs 18:13 says it is our “folly” to answer before we hear. That is, it will make us a fool. One reason for this is that almost all premature answers are based on thinking we know all we need to know. But that is “foolish.” Our attitude should be: What can I learn from this question? The fool thinks he knows all he needs to know.

And finally Proverbs 18:13 says that it is our “shame” to answer before we hear. What if you are asked publicly, “My wife and I have had serious problems and we were wondering . . .,” and you cut the questioner off by giving your answer about the value of counseling and what counselors might be helpful. But then he says, “Well, actually, what I was going to say was, ‘My wife and I have had serious problems and we were wondering, now that our counseling is over and things are better than ever, how you would suggest that we celebrate?’” Then you will be shamed for not listening.

I’m still learning to listen with you.

physical, and some relational: “Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones” (Prov. 3:7–8)

Sixth, confess your sin of anger to some trusted friend, as well as to the offender, if possible. This is a great healing act: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16).

Seventh, let your anger be the key to unlock the dungeons of pride and self-pity in your heart and replace them with love: “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor. 13:4–7).

Eighth, remember that God is going to work it all for your good as you trust in His future grace. Your offender is even doing you good, if you will respond with love: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28). “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2–4).

Ninth, remember that God will vindicate your just cause and settle all accounts better than you could. Either your offender will pay in hell or Christ has paid for him. Your payback would be double jeopardy or an offence to the cross: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Rom. 12:19). “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting his cause to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23).

May we kill our anger, and fight for joy and love each day.

that seeing Christ can be a pitfall? He did so because of what he read nine chapters later in 2 Corinthians 12:7–10. Paul says there that he had been "caught up into paradise" (v. 3) and that he had been given "visions and revelations of the Lord" (v. 1). Then he says that because of these visions and revelations of the Lord, he has been given a "thorn in the flesh" (v. 7) to keep him from being puffed up. Paul pleaded with the Lord to take it away (v. 8). But the Lord said that His own grace would shine the more brightly in Paul's thorn-caused weakness than if he were whole.

This means that Paul's visions of the Lord were dangerous for his soul. He had to be lamed by a thorn to keep these visions from hurting him. Here is the way Edwards says it:

There is great danger. I know great degrees of the spiritual presence of God tend greatly to restrain and keep down pride. But yet 'tis not all grace. And though in such cases there be much to restrain one way, so there is much to tempt and provoke it another. Temptations in such cases are often exceeding great. To be highly loved and exalted of God tends to feed pride exceedingly, if there be any left. The apostle Paul himself was not out of danger (2 Cor. 12:7).

In other words, the danger of spiritual pride is so subtle that we must even watch for it at the place of greatest sanctification — seeing the glory of the Lord. If there is any remnant of pride in us, even pure glory can be twisted to feed it.

So I exhort you, and myself, in the words of Jonathan Edwards: "You had need to have the greatest watch imaginable with respect to this matter, and to cry most earnestly to the great searcher of hearts: for he that trusts his own heart is a fool" (Works, vol. 22, p. 531).

strength of another. It looks to the wisdom of another. It is entirely other-directed and other-dependent. Therefore, it can’t boast in itself, for it can’t even look at itself. It is the kind of thing that in a sense has no “self.” As soon as the unique act of the soul exists, it is attached to another from whom it gets all its reality.

Second, boasting is excluded by election: “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1 Cor. 1:27–29).

God’s election is designed to remove boasting. The point is that God does not choose people with a view to any feature in us that would allow us to boast. In fact, Romans 9:11 makes it clear that God’s election is designed to make God’s saving purpose rest finally on God alone, not any act of the human soul: “Though [Jacob and Esau] were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad — in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls [God chose Jacob not Esau]”. The contrast with works here is not faith but “him who calls.” The choice of God rests finally on God alone. He decides who will believe and who will be saved undeservingly.

Therefore, let us look away from ourselves and all human help. Let all boasting in man and man’s accomplishments cease, and let us boast in the Lord.

sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Rom. 8:23). The exiles are groaning with the whole creation. We are waiting.

However, Christian exiles are not passive. We do not smirk at the misery or the merrymaking of immoral culture. We weep. Or we should. This is my main point: being exiles does not mean being cynical. It does not mean being indifferent or uninvolved. The salt of the earth does not mock rotting meat. Where it can, it saves and seasons. Where it can’t, it weeps. And the light of the world does not withdraw, saying “good riddance” to godless darkness. It labors to illuminate. But not dominate.

Being Christian exiles in American culture does not end our influence; it takes the swagger out of it. We don’t get cranky that our country has been taken away. We don’t whine about the triumphs of evil. We are not hardened with anger. We understand. This is not new. This was the way it was in the beginning — Antioch, Corinth, Athens, Rome. The Empire was not just degenerate, it was deadly. For three explosive centuries, Christians paid for their Christ-exalting joy with blood. Many still do. More will.

It never occurred to those early exiles that they should rant about the ubiquity of secular humanism. The Imperial words were still ringing in their ears: “You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Mark 13:13). This was a time for indomitable joy and unwavering ministries of mercy.

Yes, it was a time for influence — as it is now, but not with huffing and puffing as if to reclaim our lost laws. Rather with tears, persuasion, and perseverance, knowing that the folly of racism, the exploitation of the poor, the de-Godding of education, the horror of abortion, and the collapse of heterosexual marriage are the tragic death-tremors of joy, not the victory of the left or the right.

The greatness of Christian exiles is not success but service. Whether we win or lose, we witness to the way of truth, beauty, and joy. We don’t own culture, and we don’t rule it. We serve it with brokenhearted joy and longsuffering mercy, for the good of man and the glory of Jesus Christ.

me puzzled.

She does not know how to put her finger on the problem but senses that something is wrong here. So I say, That’s a problem, isn’t it? How can a person who really did break the law and do the bad thing, be told by the judge that he is a law-keeper, a righteous person, with full rights to the freedoms of the country, and doesn’t have to go to jail or be punished? She shakes her head. Then I go back to Romans 4:5 and show her that God “justifies the ungodly.” Her brow is furrowed. I show her that she has sinned and I have sinned and we are all like this second criminal. And when God “justifies” us, He knows we are sinners and “ungodly” and “lawbreakers.” And I ask her, “What did God do so that it’s right for Him to say to us sinners: you are not guilty; you are law-keepers in my eyes; you are righteous; and you are free to enjoy all that this country has to offer?”

She knows it has something to do with Jesus and His coming and dying in our place. That much she has learned. But what more do I tell her now? The answer to this question will depend on whether mom and dad have faithfully taught about the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. Will they tell her that Jesus was the perfect law-keeper and never sinned, but did everything the judge and his country expected of Him? And will they tell her that when He lived and died, He not only took her place as a punishment-bearer but also stood in her place as a law-keeper? Will they say that He was punished for her and He obeyed the law for her? And if she will trust Him, the Judge, God, will let Jesus’ punishment and Jesus’ righteousness count for hers. So when God “justifies” her — says that she is forgiven and righteous (even though she was not punished and did not keep the law) — He does it because of Jesus. Jesus is her righteousness, and Jesus is her punishment. Trusting Jesus makes Jesus so much her Lord and Savior that He is her perfect goodness and her perfect punishment.

There are thousands of Christian families in the world who never have conversations like this, not at six or sixteen. I don’t think we have to look far, then, for the weakness of the church: the fun-oriented superficiality of many youth ministries that contribute to the stunning fall-out rate after high school. But how shall parents teach their children if the message they get week in and week out from the pulpit is that doctrine is unimportant? So, yes, I have a family to care for, and therefore I must understand the central doctrines of my faith — understand them so well that they can be translated for all the different ages of my children.

strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting” (Isa. 50:6).

I have to work hard in my imagination to keep before me what iron will this required. Humans recoil from suffering. We recoil a hundred times more from suffering that is caused by unjust, ugly, sniveling, low-down, arrogant people. At every moment of pain and indignity, Jesus chose not to do what would have been immediately just. He gave His back to the smiter. He gave His cheek to slapping. He gave His beard to plucking. He offered His face to spitting. And He was doing it for the very ones causing the pain.

A fourth way we see the intentionality of Jesus’ suffering is in the way Peter explains how this was possible. He said, “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23).

The way Jesus handled the injustice of it all was not by saying, “Injustice doesn’t matter,” but by entrusting His cause to “him who judges justly.” God would see that justice was done. That was not Jesus’ calling at Calvary nor is it our highest calling now: “‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Rom. 12:19).

The fifth and perhaps the clearest statement that Jesus makes about His own intentionality to die is in John 10:17–18: “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

Jesus’ point in these words is that He is acting completely voluntarily. He is under no constraint from any mere human. Circumstances have not overtaken Him. He is not being swept along in the injustice of the moment. He is in control.

Therefore, when John says, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us” (1 John 3:16), we should feel the intensity of His love for us to the degree that we see His intentionality to suffer and die. I pray that you will feel it profoundly. And may that profound experience of being loved by Christ have this effect on you: “The love of Christ controls us . . . he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Cor. 5:14–15).