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Of these verses Luther wrote they contained, “the chief point, and the very central place of the Epistle, and of the whole Bible”. For in them Paul answers succinctly the question, “How does God save sinners?” On the surface that seems simple as John 3:16 tells us, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” That’s “why” he saved sinners.

But how God saves sinners is far more sobering as it requires the satisfying of God’s wrath against all sinners. For God’s cup of wrath (Isaiah 51:17) must be drunk in its entirety by Jesus, down to the last drop. Not until he drank it at the cross, would God “be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).

For the coming Sundays we will unpack these verses to better see God as just in his wrath against all sinners and the justifier of all sinners who trust in Christ.

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If in God “there is fullness of joy” and at “[his] right hand are
pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11) plus God commands his children to
“Rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4) then how do we sustain our happiness as Christian hedonists?

I will give fifteen practical tips by John Piper to help us drink deeply from God’s fountain of joy so that we can display God’s character more consistently.

As we drink of God’s fountain of joy daily, we can then “rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15) for our deep satisfaction and God’s greatest glory!

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All people must be adopted!

At least this is absolute when it comes to the family of God. Because of our sin natures (Romans 3:23) you could say all people are born into the family of our adversary, the devil. That is why our Heavenly Father must spiritually adopt all his children.

This is Paul’s understanding behind Jesus’ birth: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God” (Galatians 4:4-7).

This Sunday, Orphan Sunday, Neil will speak to us of our heavenly Father’s heart for adoption. When we participate in caring for orphans (with adoption as an option) we are imaging forth God’s longing for “religion that is pure and undefiled” (James 1:27).

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This took my breath away when I read these opening lines to chapter 8 in Desiring God by John Piper.

Piper wrote, “The reason there is so much misery in marriage is not that husbands and wives seek their own pleasure, but that they do not seek it in the pleasure of their spouses. The biblical mandate to husbands and wives is to seek your own joy in the joy of your spouse. Make marriage a matrix for Christian Hedonism” (172).

Paul gives eternal significance and sustaining joy for all Christian marriages when he wrote, “This mystery [Christian marriage] is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband” (Ephesians 5:32-33).

This Sunday may be one of the most hope filled messages for marriages. Men, I am asking God to bring exactly the right men whom he has in mind to hear how we can heighten our joy quota in our marriages and homes.

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Money: The Currency of Christian Hedonism (Chapter 7 in Desiring God by John Piper).

Piper begins this chapter by stating, “Money is the currency of Christian Hedonism. What you do with it—or desire to do with it—can make or break your happiness forever.” From 1 Timothy 6:9 and 6:18-19 he concludes we are “to use our money in a way that will bring us the greatest and longest gain. That is, God advocates Christian Hedonism” (pp.153).

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Our souls are made to feast individually and collectively on God in the worship of all his glory and beauty.

I fear that many, if not most, Christians are starving themselves or at best regurgitating on the garbage of this world’s temporary
pleasures in self-worship found most vividly in reality TV. Our soul’s appetites as Christian Hedonist are too easily satisfied with
spiritual junk food.

This week we learn that “worship is a way of gladly reflecting back to God the radiance of his worth” (Piper). Get ready to feast in our
corporate worship of God in all his beauty!

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