God fulfills his purpose for the church by his work in the church: He magnifies his grace by beautifying his people.

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Before I became a missionary, I assumed missionaries were supposed to be super-saints — un-caped crusaders faithfully following God anywhere and everywhere. I (almost) imagined them arriving on the field with a voice from heaven introducing them: “Holier than your local pastor. More powerful than a legion of demons. Able to speak the gospel in many languages. It’s the missionary!”

I knew that missionaries — even greats like William Carey, Lottie Moon, and Jim Elliot — were sinful humans like me, but I found it easy to suppose they had entered a higher level of spiritual life that equipped them for the powerful things God did through them. I doubt I’m the only one to think that way.

The church I grew up in did a wonderful job emphasizing the importance of missions, but it also tended to aggrandize the work of missionaries in a way that made them seem spiritually elite. Similarly, many of the missionary biographies I read deeply edified me by recounting their unique callings, significant challenges, and fruitful legacies, but they often seemed to be missing a chapter on how missionaries were fallen humans who continued to struggle with sin even as they ministered. It wasn’t until my own calling to become a missionary that I came to grips with a surprising fact: Of all the significant challenges missionaries face in seeking to minister the gospel in unreached places, our own indwelling sin might be the biggest challenge of all.

Sin Doesn’t Stay Home

I didn’t expect to become instantly holier when I first committed to serve as a missionary. My wife and I sensed a call to minister to an unreached people group in Asia, and the Lord led us to an amazing ministry. I knew that I still struggled with sin, but I think I hoped to grow into the super-saint image I had of a missionary. So, I was genuinely surprised to find that my battles with sin and temptation actually got harder instead of easier. In retrospect, however, this makes perfect sense.

Moving across cultures is stressful, and people tend to struggle with sin more under stress. The process inevitably includes loss and sadness, and people often cope with emotional weariness through sinful means. On top of that, missionaries normally leave situations of robust spiritual support (like good Christian friends and strong churches) to serve in places that lack such community (or where a language barrier prohibits access). Missionaries sign up to minister in these kinds of situations, but it means we face greater spiritual darkness and spiritual warfare with fewer resources, more emotional weariness, and more stress than ever before.

It is always discouraging to be confronted with one’s sin, but things get even messier if a missionary feels inner or outer pressure to be a super-saint. When anyone sins, we know that Jesus is our advocate, and we know that, when we confess our sins, God is “faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). But it is common for missionaries to feel like they need to pretend, hide, or perform so as not to let others down (back home or on the field).

Ugliness Exposed

I would like to say this struggle with sin as a missionary is a temporary issue that only rookies undergo. However, after years of serving as a missionary, working with other missionaries, and leading missionaries, I can confidently confirm that the battle with sin does not cease.

Cultural stress can still spark anger in our hearts. Anxiety can still cripple us — and not just in situations when our lives are in danger but sometimes for no apparent reason at all. There are still regular temptations toward animosity with colleagues, irritability with national partners, and impatience with sending organizations. Marriage struggles don’t disappear either; they often feel amplified. Parenting struggles don’t go away; they get more complex. And envy, perhaps the greatest temptation facing missionaries, can emerge even after years of faithful service, when others seem successful and we do not.

It’s not that becoming a missionary makes people sin; rather, as John Owen writes, “Temptations and occasions put nothing into a man, but only draw out what was in him before” (Works, 6:169). The challenges of serving as a missionary expose sins that might otherwise have stayed hidden in less challenging settings. Seeing this ugliness in our hearts may lead us to exclaim with the apostle Paul, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24).

He Saves and Sanctifies

However, neither mission senders nor goers need be discouraged by this reality. Yes, serving as a missionary (like serving as a pastor or deacon) requires a measure of spiritual maturity, and churches are wise to discern which men and women are qualified for the task. But God does not expect missionaries to be super-saints. Instead, he calls them to cherish the very gospel they proclaim.

The chapter missing from many missionary biographies could be titled, “Missions Is Sanctification,” revealing missions as one of the most powerful means of holiness a Christian can enjoy this side of eternity. Missionaries may find themselves struggling more with sin rather than less, but God delights to use missions to draw them closer, inviting them to relish the goodness and power of his gospel.

Paul assures us “that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). God always finishes what he starts, and he cares about the sanctification of the missionary as well as the salvation of the unreached. And in God’s marvelous and wise providence, he chose to knit these two together so that even as a missionary seeks to evangelize, God works to sanctify the missionary and deliver him from indwelling sin.

Missionaries need the gospel too, and when they hear and respond with repentance and faith, they make Jesus look even greater and more glorious. They declare with the psalmist, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26).

Paul could have commanded Philemon, with all the force of an apostle, to treat his runaway slave with love. So, why does Paul prefer to appeal to Philemon’s faith?

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If you were to name a book that profoundly shaped your life and ministry as a pastor, which would you choose? For me, one answer comes easily.

I first read God Is the Gospel soon after its release in 2005. At that point, I think I had read everything John Piper had written (and had been profoundly affected by Desiring God, When I Don’t Desire God, and Future Grace in particular). I lapped up the biographical addresses he delivered at the Pastors Conferences. But none of these matched the impact that God Is the Gospel had on my life and ministry.

One passage in particular (on page 56 of my well-thumbed and heavily marked copy) sums up the message that struck me so powerfully:

The ultimate good of the gospel is seeing and savoring the beauty and value of God. God’s wrath and our sin obstruct that vision and that pleasure. You can’t see and savor God as supremely satisfying while you are full of rebellion against him and he is full of wrath against you. The removal of this wrath and this rebellion is what the gospel is for. The ultimate aim of the gospel is the display of God’s glory and the removal of every obstacle to our seeing it and savoring it as our highest treasure. “Behold your God!” is the most gracious command and the best gift of the gospel. If we do not see him and savor him as our greatest fortune, we have not obeyed or believed the gospel.

Why did this book have such a far-reaching impact on me? There are at least three reasons.

My Main Job as a Preacher

First, the book clarified the goal of my preaching.

I had been a pastor for about eleven years when I read God Is the Gospel. We had just come through a challenging season. In hindsight, I realize I was exhausted and worn down. So, what now? In the pages of this book, the answer hit me like a freight train: My job is to invite people to “Behold your God” in and through the gospel.

It’s not that I wasn’t trying to do that before. But, like many preachers, my preaching lacked laser-like focus. I longed to exegete the text in all its richness so that people would be thrilled, equipped, and strengthened, but my target often seemed slightly fuzzy. Piper helped to sharpen that aim immeasurably.

Reading this book triggered a gradual but profound shift in my preparation. I still labored to understand and explain the text, but I poured more and more energy into thinking through the impact this text should have on the people in front of me and, in particular, how this sermon might help them to see and savor God in Christ more. More explicitly than ever, my goal became helping people to gasp at, glory in, bow before, delight in the Lord Jesus.

God Beyond the Means

God also used this book to recenter my own life.

I suspect I am not alone in tending toward the cerebral. Reading theology or musing over exegetical problems has always come more easily to me than engaging with God himself. God Is the Gospel provided me with a timely reminder of the fact that God gives us himself. When Piper (channeling Jonathan Edwards’s 1733 sermon “The Christian Pilgrim”) asked, “Would you be happy in heaven if God were not there?” he exposed a long-hidden deficiency in my thinking. He continues,

Propitiation, redemption, forgiveness, imputation, sanctification, liberation, healing, heaven — none of these is good except for one reason: they bring us to God for our everlasting enjoyment of him. . . . The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God. It’s a way of overcoming every obstacle to everlasting joy in God. If we don’t want God above all things, then we have not been converted by the gospel. (47)

I realized that in much of my thinking (as well as my preaching), I had been attempting to help people marvel at the means God uses, rather than pointing them to the end of all his activity: delighting in God himself as the “greatest treasure of my longing soul” (as the song “O Lord, My Rock and My Redeemer” puts it). For that alone I am deeply grateful.

Key Ministry Signature

Finally, God Is the Gospel may have even changed the key signature of my ministry.

I am aware of the danger of exaggerating the difference one book can make. It’s certainly not as if my life and ministry pre-2005 were bereft of the gospel or any hint of “sovereign joy,” and reading God Is the Gospel suddenly changed everything. That was not the case. But it would also be a mistake to underestimate the impact that this book had on me.

Looking back, I can see this was a season when something terribly important shifted. I had longed for people to come to God, and even to come to know God, for many years, but after reading this book, I yearned for people to come to delight in God through Christ. Because of this, the tone of my preaching and conversations began to change, as a dominant note of enjoying God — Father, Son, and Spirit — enhanced and enriched my proclamation of the gospel.

In addition, the insights summed up so beautifully in God Is the Gospel provided both a rich biblical framework and a vocabulary for ensuring that my ministry remains genuinely Trinitarian, as the sovereign initiative of the Father, the decisive intervention of the Son, and the intimate ministry of the Holy Spirit work together to enable us to glorify and enjoy God forever. This is no small thing.

In the providence of God, God Is the Gospel has had a significant, lasting impact on my life and ministry. I thank God for it with all my heart.

Why should believers live without fear? In this episode of Light + Truth, John Piper opens Romans 8:1–8 to show how the Spirit’s presence gives us courage.

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God’s children are set apart as saints, given the privilege of sharing in Christ’s moral beauty. Pastor John explains how God’s holiness draws us to him.

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How can finite sinners learn to delight in God? In this episode of Light + Truth, John Piper turns to John 17:26 to show how the Spirit is God’s own love given to us.

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ABSTRACT: God appointed a series of annual festivals to order Israel’s year around celebrations of his works of deliverance and provision. The celebrations were meant not only to remind but also to instruct the people about who God was and how he had worked in their midst. Understanding the nature and purpose of these festivals, outlined in Leviticus 23, provides Christians the necessary tools to read them well and apply them in the life of the church today.

When I was growing up, there were certain rituals that my family engaged in. These rituals did two things: They reminded me of important truths and taught me important lessons.

To take just one example: On birthdays, we always took time out of our regular activities to celebrate. Doing so reminded me of the importance of this person in my life and taught me the importance of showing them my love in tangible ways.

Simply put, rituals serve as important reminders and as wonderful teaching tools. It is no wonder, then, that the Lord wove ritual celebrations into the life of the Israelites. He wanted them to have regular reminders of who he was and what he had done for them, and he wanted them to teach these important truths to the generations to come.

Some of the most powerful rituals were Israel’s annual holy times. While Christians, as members of the new covenant, are no longer required to celebrate these old-covenant festivals today, they have much to teach us about God’s character and deeds, especially as they relate to the redemption he has brought about in and through Jesus.

The annual holy times are described most fully in Leviticus 23 and Numbers 28–29. We’ll focus on Leviticus 23 in what follows. For each one, I’ll briefly identify the holy time’s purpose and its time of celebration; then I’ll follow with a fuller description of what it was meant to teach Israel — and what it can teach us.

Spring Holy Days (March Through June)

The following holy times were observed in the first half of the year: Passover, the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Offering of the Firstfruits, and the Festival of Weeks/Harvest/Pentecost.

Passover and Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:5–8)

Purpose: For the Israelites to celebrate how the Lord rescued them from his judgment on Egypt and delivered them from slavery.

Time of year: Month 1, day 14 (Passover), and month 1, days 15–21 (Festival of Unleavened Bread). In today’s calendar: sometime in March or April.

God commanded the Israelites to slaughter a lamb on the evening of the last plague and place its blood on the doorposts of their homes. Later that night, when God went through the land and slew all the firstborn, he passed over every home that had the blood, and any firstborn within that home was safe (Exodus 12:23, 29–30). The next day, the Egyptians urged the Israelites to leave so quickly that they did not have time to add yeast to their dough and so ate unleavened bread as they began their journey of freedom (Exodus 12:34, 39). The feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread — observed back-to-back — remembered and celebrated these events.

The importance of this rescue and deliverance in Israelite history cannot be overstated. In fact, the Lord commanded that their calendar now begin with this month (Exodus 12:2), the month of his liberation, meaning the Israelites would begin each year with the reminder that their God was above all a redeeming God. To put it differently: This was their Easter, the moment when the Lord saved them from judgment and slavery and freed them into his glorious service.

Not surprisingly, the New Testament connects this celebration of deliverance with the far greater deliverance that happens in Jesus. As I have noted elsewhere:

The New Testament writers use the Passover to explain the death of Jesus, who was crucified at the same general time as the Passover (Matthew 26:17; 27:15–26), and is described as “our Passover lamb” (1 Corinthians 5:7). It is a fitting metaphor, since Jesus’s sacrifice also delivers us from the Lord’s judgment (1 Thessalonians 1:10) and leads us out of sin’s slavery into adoption as the Lord’s children (John 1:12; Ephesians 1:5; cf. Exodus 4:22). It is during the communion meal, instituted by Jesus at the Passover feast (Luke 22:1–23), that Christians remember and proclaim, “Jesus, you are the mighty Savior, the sacrificial lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (cf. Isaiah 53:5–12; John 1:29)¹

Offering of the Firstfruits (Leviticus 23:9–14)

Purpose: For the Israelites to honor the Lord as their provider by giving back to him the firstfruits of their harvest. These firstfruits would in turn support the priests.

Time of year: The day after the first Sabbath of the harvest. In today’s calendar: sometime in April.

The barley harvest came first in Israel, happening in the early spring. Bringing these firstfruits was a way to acknowledge God’s provision, both of the harvest and of the bountiful land he had provided. Deuteronomy 26:1–10 gives a script for the Israelites to repeat when they presented their gifts. The script rehearses the Lord’s deliverance of Israel, his leading them to the land of milk and honey, and his provision of the harvest. It could not be clearer that the Lord is a God who graciously redeems and bountifully provides.

To present the firstfruits was therefore especially appropriate because the firstfruits were considered the harvest’s very best (Numbers 18:12). Lavish provision from God called for lavish praise to God, a tangible proclamation that he was the King worthy of their very best. Moreover, by requiring the Israelites to present these firstfruits before they themselves ate from the harvest (Leviticus 23:14), the law protected them from taking the Lord’s provision for granted. “Thankfulness is one of the first emotions to evaporate; this requirement made sure the Israelites gave proper thanksgiving and honor to their bountiful King before enjoying his generous provision (cf. Deuteronomy 26:10–11; Proverbs 3:9–10).”² As they say in fundraising circles, “Thank before you bank.”

As a final note, the Lord took the Israelites’ firstfruits and gave them to support the priests (Numbers 18:12–13), who were without land and therefore dependent on the Israelites’ offerings. In this way, the Israelites were taught the importance of caring for their spiritual leaders’ physical needs.

The themes named above remain important for believers today. When we give of our treasure, time, or talent to the Lord, we are acknowledging that he is the one who has generously provided these things to us in the first place. We are returning to him what is already his. And when we give the best of these things, we are saying that he is worthy of the best we have — because he is the one most worthy of praise. Finally, the New Testament also teaches that those who devote themselves to serving the church should have their physical needs met by it (1 Corinthians 9:13–14; Galatians 6:6). Providing for pastors is important for the sake of the gospel and the church. “Hungry shepherds cannot care well for their sheep.”³

Festival of Weeks (Leviticus 23:15–22)

Purpose: For the Israelites to honor the Lord as their provider by giving back to him the firstfruits of their harvest. These firstfruits would in turn support the priests.

Time of year: The fiftieth day after offering the firstfruits. In today’s calendar: sometime in May or June.

Wheat ripens later than barley, so there was a second harvest festival seven weeks after the first. Though not named here, other passages give this festival one of three names, each highlighting a different aspect of it: “the Festival of Weeks (occurs seven ‘weeks’ after firstfruits presentation), the Festival of the Harvest of Firstfruits (corresponds to the wheat harvest ‘firstfruits’), and, in postexilic times, Pentecost,” since it occurs on the fiftieth day after firstfruits (“fiftieth” is pentekostos in Greek).⁴

As a harvest festival, its purpose mirrors the previous one: giving thanks and honor to the Lord as well as providing for his priests. But the laws for this festival add another element by ending with this command: “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 23:22). This verse repeats a law given earlier in Leviticus 19:9–10. By repeating it, the Lord taught the Israelites the value that he puts on compassion and care for others. Maximizing personal profit is not the highest priority for Yahweh followers. Caring for fellow image-bearers is.

The New Testament applications will be the same as those named for the Offerings of the Firstfruits, with the added emphasis here on the importance of showing compassion and care for the less fortunate, which was taught by Jesus (Matthew 5:42; Luke 14:13) and by his apostles after him (James 1:27). Because God has been so generous in his provision to us, we should consider it a privilege to embody his generosity to others.

Fall Holy Days (September/October)

The following holy times were observed in the second half of the year, all in the seventh month: the Day of Trumpet Blasts, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and the Festival of Booths/Succoth/Ingathering (and its Closing Assembly).

Day of Trumpet Blasts (Leviticus 23:23–25)

Purpose: For the Israelites to acknowledge that Yahweh was their God and to ask for his favor.

Time of year: Month 7, day 1. In today’s calendar: sometime in September or October.

The Day of Trumpet Blasts is celebrated today in Judaism as Rosh Hashanah, marking the start of the New Year. (Whether it functioned that way in ancient Israel is debated.)⁵ The law for this day opens by saying, “In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation” (Leviticus 23:24). The word memorial here could also be translated reminder and leads to an important question: Who was this reminder of trumpet blasts for?

Numbers 10:10 helps answer this question. There, God makes clear that trumpets could be used as a reminder of the Israelites before the Lord. Of course, the Lord had not forgotten his people. Rather, the biblical

language of remembrance describes the Lord showing his people they are in the forefront of his thoughts. He does this by granting them favor (Genesis 8:1; 19:29; 30:22; Numbers 10:9) and, in particular, by demonstrating faithfulness to his covenant promises (Genesis 9:15, 16; Exodus 2:24; 6:5; 32:13; Leviticus 26:42, 45). The “reminder” is thus a request from the Israelites, “O Lord, show us your favor and be faithful to your covenant promises to us.”⁶

That the Lord commanded Israel to seek his favor in this way was his encouragement that he loved to give it! And this glorious truth applies just as much to us today. Jesus teaches us to come to our heavenly Father with our needs, knowing that he is not stingy with his care and provision but lavish (Matthew 7:7–10). Jesus puts a point on this by concluding, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11).

Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:26–32)

Purpose: For the Israelites to make atonement for their sins and impurities.

Time of year: Month 7, day 10. In today’s calendar: sometime in September or October.

In Hebrew, “day of atonement” is yom kippur, which gives this holy time its name in modern Judaism. While Leviticus 23 emphasizes that the Israelites must be sure to celebrate this day — especially by “humbling themselves” through prayer and fasting and avoiding all work — Leviticus 16 describes the tabernacle ritual to be performed by the high priest. From that chapter, we learn that the high priest makes atonement in three distinct phases.

In the first phase, the Israelites’ sins and impurities are pictured as a defiling substance clinging to the tabernacle and needing to be cleansed away (Leviticus 16:11–19). (Compare how we might think of improper actions on the part of a family member bringing shame on the entire household and how that shame needs to be cleansed away from the household.) The cleansing happens by means of the sin offerings (often now translated by commentators as “purification offerings”),⁷ especially by placing their blood on the objects to be cleansed. Sacrificial blood has the power to cleanse sin and impurity — a point New Testament writers emphasize when speaking of the sacrificial blood of Jesus (Hebrews 9:14; 1 John 1:7).

In the second phase, the Israelites’ sins are treated as a lethal burden that needs to be borne away (Leviticus 16:20–22). This happens as the high priest confesses the Israelites’ sins and places them on the scapegoat’s head — meaning the scapegoat now bears responsibility for them. “To bear sin on one’s head means to be held responsible for it. ‘Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty and bringing down on their heads what they have done,’ prays Solomon, asking the Lord to hold the guilty responsible for their wrongs (2 Chronicles 6:23).”⁸ When the scapegoat is then sent into the wilderness, cut off from the people of God, it both removes the sin from their midst and bears the penalty that sin deserves: It is cut off so the people don’t have to be.

In the third phase, additional atoning sacrifices are made (16:24b). Since repeating an act three times in Israel was a way to emphasize it (see, for example, 1 Samuel 20:41), these final sacrifices made clear that the atonement of that day was full and complete. It’s also worth noting that the year of jubilee that took place every fifty years would start on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 25:9). How fitting that, having experienced the Lord’s extreme grace and generosity in forgiving their spiritual debts, the Israelites now had the opportunity to forgive one another’s material debts.

Biblical authors in both the Old Testament and the New Testament look back to the Day of Atonement as they explain God’s ways of working in the world. When Isaiah describes the suffering servant who would bear the penalty of others’ sins, he uses the language of the scapegoat (in what follows, words in italics are parallel to the language of Leviticus 16:21–22):

He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities. . . . He was cut off out of the land of the living. . . . He shall bear their iniquities. . . . He bore the sin of many. (Isaiah 53:5a, 8b, 11–12)

This is especially significant because New Testament writers see the suffering servant as a picture of Jesus, who “bore our sins in his body on the tree” and by whose “wounds [we] have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24; see also Acts 8:32–33; Hebrews 9:28). He is the servant who was also the scapegoat, removing the sin of others and suffering for it in their place.

Other authors pick up on other aspects of the Day of Atonement and apply them to Jesus. As noted above, his blood is the ultimate means of cleansing sin away (Hebrews 9:14; 1 John 1:7). The book of Hebrews leans into the “how much more” of Jesus, contrasting the work of Israel’s high priest, who had to repeat the same sacrifices year after year, with the work of Jesus as the great high priest, whose atoning sacrifice of himself dealt with sin once and for all (Hebrews 9:25–10:10). Indeed, the blood of Jesus cleanses so deeply that believers today have confidence to do what lay Israelites would never dream of doing: enter the Most Holy Place, fully clean and pure through the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19–22).

Festival of Booths (and Its Closing Assembly) (Leviticus 23:33–36, 39–43)

Purpose: For the Israelites to celebrate the Lord’s provision in the harvest and to rehearse the story of his deliverance for future generations.

Time of year: Month 7, days 15–22. In today’s calendar: sometime in September or October.

The Festival of Booths was significant for two reasons. First, because this festival took place at the end of the harvest (Leviticus 23:39), it was a time to celebrate God’s rich provision and to honor him as the great provider. Second, during the festival, the Israelites were to build temporary shelters to dwell in. These were known in Hebrew as sukkoth (leading to this festival’s name in modern Judaism) and they had a teaching purpose: “You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 23:42–43).

In short, this was a festival of praise and remembrance: praise for the Lord’s current provision and remembrance of his past deliverance. And what a festival it was! Over the course of the week, the nation presented burnt offerings of at least 70 bulls, 15 rams, and 105 male lambs, not to mention 8 sin offerings and the daily burnt offerings (Numbers 29:12–38).⁹ As a result, “the festival involved more sacrifices than any other and, as the final festival in the religious calendar, brought the year to a close with tremendous celebration of the Lord’s faithful redemption and provision.”¹⁰

The lavishness of this festival makes me wonder: What might such celebration look like for believers today? I wonder if sometimes, in an effort to be good stewards, we risk being more like those who rebuked Mary for pouring an expensive bottle of perfume on Jesus’s feet and less like Jesus himself, who praised her for her lavish love (Mark 14:3–9; John 12:1–8). How can thankfulness for the lavish provision of grace that God gives us in Christ translate into lavish love for him and others in practical ways?

The Calendar as a Classroom

In looking back over the holy times that the Lord had the Israelites celebrate, it becomes clear that he structured their calendar as a classroom. The holy times were not only regular reminders for them of who their Lord was and what he had done for them; they were also powerful teaching tools for passing on these wonderful truths to the next generation.

The Christian rituals of baptism and the Lord’s Supper serve Christians in a similar way, so we do well to think carefully about how to use such rites both to remind and to instruct. With the Lord’s Supper especially, it’s worth asking if the way we celebrate it comes across as a “tack-on” to the end of a service or as a powerful picture of the gospel in which we “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). As we partake, do we remind ourselves to feast on and celebrate the wonders of his grace in the context of the covenant community — and teach our children to do the same?

That is the power of rituals. That is why the Lord gives them to us. May we use them well.

Not long ago, I walked into the kitchen and found my eight-year-old daughter emptying the dishwasher. She was not being punished. Neither my wife nor I had promised her any payment. No one asked her to do this. But there she was, putting away plates and cups and silverware — with a smile on her face!

A bit surprised, I told her, “Wow, thanks for doing that, hon.” To which she replied, “Sure, Dad, glad to help!”

It was a moment that would make any parent proud. It also provides a little picture of a glorious reality that lies at the core of the Christian life: As believers in Christ, we happily engage in God-honoring actions because our hearts contain God-honoring affections. Serving him makes us glad.

Life Beyond Lists

Some people have the impression that the Christian life consists in suppressing desires. They think following Jesus essentially amounts to self-inflicted misery in this life, with joy deferred until the life to come. But this isn’t true. It is vain to honor God with our lips while our hearts remain far from him (Isaiah 29:13). Christianity is more than a list of duties to obey; it is a life of delight to enjoy (Psalm 119:47).

Scottish minister Henry Scougal writes,

[Christianity] may be defined by the word life because it is an inward, free, and self-moving principle. Those who make progress in it are not motivated by external forces . . . but are powerfully inclined to that which is good, and they delight in its performance. (The Life of God in the Soul of Man, 32)

The question is: Where does this inward principle come from? How can this powerful inclination to that which is good manifest itself in my life? And what will cause me to increasingly delight in obedience?

The answer: union with Christ.

Union with Christ refers to the believer’s new position in Christ established at conversion, experienced in all of life, and enjoyed forever. When God saves us, he unites us to his Son. This union changes our fundamental position in life. We who were once dead in sin are made alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:1–5). We experience this new life in Christ through a whole host of new desires.

New Nature, New Desires

Every spiritual blessing comes to us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1:3), including the spiritual blessing of God-honoring desires. Scougal writes, “The love that someone bears toward God and toward goodness comes . . . by a new nature instructing them and prompting them in that direction” (32).

We don’t come into this world hardwired for joyful obedience to God. We were born in rebellion. But in Christ, we are born again. And this new birth comes with a new heart filled with the Spirit of God, who fuels our desire to obey (Ezekiel 36:26–27). In other words, we are born again in Christ to live like Christ. And “the life [Jesus] lives he lives to God” (Romans 6:10). Jesus lives to the glory of his Father — and loves to do so.

At one point in his ministry, when Jesus’s disciples encouraged him to eat after a tiresome journey, he replied, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me” (John 4:34). Why didn’t he say, “My purpose is to do the will of him who sent me”? Or “My duty is to do the will of him who sent me”? Why “my food”? He didn’t mean that he had no need to eat. He was truly human, which included having earthly needs for food and rest. Rather, he used the analogy of food to demonstrate to his disciples the satisfaction he found in obeying his Father. Obedience was his purpose but also his passion. It was his duty but also his delight.

Jesus has a healthy appetite for honoring the Father. And since we are united with him, the same hunger and the same delight exist in us. Yes, our spiritual palates need refining. Sometimes God’s instructions seem more like cough syrup than honey. But the more we cultivate the good desires God has put within our hearts, the more we will discover the sweetness of his commands (Psalm 119:103).

Cultivating Delight

How can we cultivate these Christlike desires, increasing our delight in obedience and decreasing the allure of temptation?

First, cultivate delight in obedience by feasting upon the goodness of God. Notice, Jesus says, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me.” This is not allegiance to an abstract moral code. This is fellowship with a person. The Son loves the Father and delights to do his will.

The more we taste and see that the Lord is good, the more we will long to live in a way that honors him as well. John Owen writes, “He that is satisfied with the kindness of God, as with marrow and fatness — that is, every day entertained at the banquet of wine, wine upon the lees, and well refined [Isaiah 25:6] — has a holy contempt of the baits and allurements that lie in prevailing temptations, and is safe” (Overcoming Sin and Temptation, 215).

Do you want to diminish temptation’s power? Do you want to cultivate a desire to obey? Feast upon the goodness of God. Open the Scriptures to meditate upon the truth, beauty, and wisdom of his word. Worship each Lord’s Day with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Explore and enjoy the wonders of creation, which speak of his awesome power and gracious love.

Second, cultivate delight in obedience by walking in obedience. We sometimes think we should wait to obey until we want to obey. After all, people may look on the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). So, if my heart’s not in it, should I even bother?

Yes, because obedience, even embattled obedience, is always better than disobedience. And as we walk in obedience, we will increasingly discover the blessings of obedience. True, we should beware of pretending that our heart is warm when it’s not. But if we acknowledge our lack of desire, pray for the gift of delight, and obey anyway, we have good reason to hope God will meet us in our obedience.

Think about it: How did the psalmist come to discover the blessing of walking in the law of the Lord (Psalm 119:1)? By walking in the law of the Lord! He obeyed, and the more he did, the more he delighted in God’s testimonies (Psalm 119:14).

Has this not been your experience? Think of a time you were tempted, but by God’s grace and in his strength, you obeyed. Did you regret it? Of course not. Shame and regret are found on the other side of sin. Gratitude and joy are found on the other side of obedience. This is why J.C. Ryle says that the pursuit of holiness “is the only way to be really happy” (Holiness, 38). And in union with Christ, we too can find that it is our food to do the will of the Father.

So, fight sin by fostering delight — delight in God himself and in all his ways.

How does Christian love touch and refresh all our relationships? Springing up from personal delight in Jesus, love overflows to do good to others for his sake.

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