Understanding the Importance of the Order of Things | Part Four
We have considered Augustine’s contention that we live with “disordered loves” – we love the wrong things or we love the right things in the wrong order.
We have then considered the wisdom of J I Packer who suggests that we have elevated human comfort above reverence for God in what he terms the “New Gospel”. Effectively we have made Love for humankind (maybe even love for ourselves) above our need to love and worship God
The primary concern of the Gospel… “was always to give glory to God. It was always and essentially a proclamation of Divine sovereignty in mercy and judgment, a summons to bow down and worship the mighty Lord on whom (humanity) depends for all good, both in nature and in grace. Its centre of reference was unambiguously God. But in the new gospel, the centre of reference is (people). This is just to say that the old gospel was religious in a way that the new gospel is not. Whereas the chief aim of the old was to teach (people) to worship God, the concern of the new seems limited to making them feel better. The subject of the old gospel was God and his ways with (people); the subject of the new is (people) and the help God gives them. There is a world of difference. The whole perspective and emphasis of gospel preaching has changed.”[1]
Throughout the scriptures we see that God’s motivation for doing anything is
“For His name’s sake”[2]
“For His own glory”[3]
“To the praise of the glory of His grace”[4]
When we view this through our sin-tainted human lens, we find this difficult to comprehend. We conclude that any human acting in this way would be labelled intolerant, arrogant, self-centred even un-loving. But that cannot be true; so, our next question must be: “What is the glory of God?”
Blessings
Brian
We, and our young people, tend to default to seeing and interpreting everything through our personal circumstances and comfort. How can we intentionally shift that perspective?
[1] Owen, J The Death of Death in the Death of Christ Reprint May 2019 Monergism Books, Oregon (page 8)
[2] Psalm 106:6-8; 1 John 2:12; Isaiah 48:9-11; 1 Samuel 12:20-22; Isaiah 43:25; Psalm 25:11 et al
[3] Isaiah 43:6-7; Isaiah 49:3; Jeremiah 13:11 et al
[4] Ephesians 1:4-6; Ephesians 1:12-14 et al