The God Who Commands Our Emotions

Ask Pastor John

Desiring God

John Piper, Unknown, 163859, Pastor, Ask, Theology, Desiring God, Religion & Spirituality/christianity, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Questions

4.8 • 3.8K Ratings

🗓️ 12 August 2015

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If telling someone to be happy doesn’t make them happy, then why does the Bible constantly command us to feel a certain way?

Transcript

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0:00.0	to obey God is to love God, right? Well, it depends on what you mean. As John Piper explained
0:12.5	in his message titled, what Jesus demands from the world preached at the Gospel Coalition
0:17.4	2015 conference. Here's what Pastor John said.
0:22.6	And how many people have you ever heard say, loving God or loving Jesus is obeying Jesus,
0:34.6	basing it on the text, if you love me, you will keep my commandments, John 14, 15. If you
0:43.3	love me, you'll keep my commandments. That text says the opposite of that. On if-then-sentence
0:53.8	doesn't say that the then or the if are the same. Like, if I'm hungry, I'll eat lunch, doesn't
1:03.2	mean hunger is lunch. If you love me, you'll obey, doesn't mean love is obedience. It means, in
1:11.7	fact, it comes before and enables. If you love me, you will obey, but they're not the same. Love
1:19.6	goes first underneath, holding up, staying in the yoke, abiding, enjoying, treasuring, marveling,
1:28.1	being entranced by, being filled with. And out of that, a good tree bears good fruit, a bad tree
1:40.4	bears bad fruit, make the tree good. That's another command that's off later in the book. So my
1:50.1	answer to the second question, what is this love is first, it is not synonymous with obedience. What
2:00.0	is it? Well, how about Matthew 624? No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one
2:07.2	and love, love the other, or he'll be devoted, devoted to the one and despise the other. What kind of
2:14.9	language is that? Hate love despises devotion. That's real heart-laden, emotional, affectional language,
2:24.0	right? And that's the way Jesus talked about whether you love God or money. Are you sold out
2:33.1	in such a love affair with money and what it can buy that Jesus is not your highest treasure anymore
2:41.1	or is Jesus so completely satisfying as your highest treasure that money is not in that
2:47.9	idolatrous position? Those are your two options. So love in Jesus' talk is not doing, it is
2:56.1	treasuring. It is treasuring me above everything and that brings us back to 1037 and Matthew, right?
3:03.6	If you love me, last in your mom and dad, if you love your children more than you love me,
	...

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