Light & Heat
Monday, January 14th, 2008from desiringgod.org
Light And Heat
An Introduction to Desiring God
Our people don’t so much need to have their heads stored as to have their hearts touched and they stand in the greatest need of that sort of preaching that has the greatest tendency to do this. [1]
Jonathan Edwards
As Jonathan Edwards observed the spiritual condition of many Christians in his day, he saw men and women with full heads and numb hearts. He also saw some with an “intemperate zeal” – deceived people who had “faith without spiritual light.” He poured much of his life into explaining how the head and heart combine to evidence real saving faith. He believed being a Christian meant being passionate about truth. And Edwards understood truth as this: God is supreme in everything.
More than thirty years ago, John Piper was introduced to Jonathan Edwards’ writings and a dear mentorship formed across the centuries. Edwards demonstrated that God does everything – from creation to redemption to consummation – to display his glory. Therefore, redemptive history is the story of his glory. Edwards also showed Pastor John another stunning Biblical truth: in order to receive maximum glory, God designed humans to seek their happiness in Him. The human heart was designed to find God most delightful because nothing demonstrates the worth of God like our supreme delight in him. That’s why God commanded people to delight in him (Psalm 37:4). God’s pursuit of glory and man’s pursuit of deepest joy is the same pursuit!
For more than a quarter century, first as a college professor and then (since 1980) as Pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Pastor John has been unable to stop speaking about what he has seen and heard. His joy in the all-glorious Trinitarian God has overflowed into numerous books and hundreds of sermons and messages.
In 1994, Bethlehem Baptist birthed Desiring God as an effort to use these resources to “spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.” All the resources we now offer serve this mission. Our goal is to proclaim truth and fan the flame. We want you to be a Christian Hedonist. And since we don’t want money to be a hindrance in your pursuit of joy, we have a “whatever-you-can-afford” payment policy for most resources.
Light and heat. Truth and passion. This is what characterizes a Christian. Your greatest treasure is what produces the most pleasure in your heart. And we want to help you make God your treasure. Because God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him.
[1] Quoted in John Piper, The Supremacy of God in Preaching, Baker Book House, 1990, p. 84.
