Here are the questions for your consideration while studying Chapter 2 of Don't Waste Your Life.
The first comment for this post has the detailed notes for the Chapter Study.
The first comment for this post has the detailed notes for the Chapter Study.
- Why is objective meaning, and specifically the objective meaning of the Bible, so important?
- In the previous chapter (see p.13) Piper asked, “What is the meaning of life? How do I live my life well?” He came to the conviction in his early years that there is an objective answer to this question. What is the answer he discovers in this chapter? What two things seem to be in tension yet are solved with this discovery.
- Explain how Jesus is both the means to our joy and is himself our very joy.
- What is Piper’s definition of love (pp.33-35)? Why does Piper spend time explaining and defining biblical love in contrast to a modern conception of love?
- In light of the first two chapters, how does Piper answer the question, “How do I not waste my life?” Try to synthesize the numerous places where Piper explicitly talks about the wasted and not wasted life.
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Lesson 2 – Examining the Christian Worldview: The Promise of Everlasting Happiness
Based on the material from Chapter
2: Breakthrough – The Beauty of Christ, My Joy
In the previous lesson we learned that the assumptions we have about the world, truth, and meaning are part of what is called a worldview. The two important elements to examining a worldview that were discussed are its offer of happiness and its truthfulness. John Piper states the Christian worldview’s offer of happiness in his when he states the reason of our existence: “to enjoy and display God’s supremacy for the joy of all peoples” (p.37). The Christian joy is en enjoyment of God. Here we will take a look at this joy, its nature, foundations, and how it is to be attained.
1. That the Bible makes the offer of happiness and joy is beyond dispute
1.1. Revelation 20:4; 1 Peter 1:8-9; 1 John 1:4; 2 Corinthians 1:23-24; John 15:11; 6:35; Matthew 5:11-12
1.2. Some of the best theologians have recognized that pursuing this happiness is the foundation of all Christian duties – Read Resolution #22 by Jonathan Edwards on page 22 in DWYL
2. But what is it specifically that will make our hearts infinitely happy?
2.1. The Psalmists say much about the joy they have. Examine the following three Psalms and explain what it is that they rejoice in:
2.1.1. Psalm 90:14
2.1.1.1. What does Moses ask to be satisfied with?
2.1.1.2. How long does Moses expect this joy and gladness to last?
2.1.2. Psalm 16:11
2.1.2.1. Where does David say joy can be found?
2.1.2.2. What is the extent of the joy?
2.1.3. Psalm 43:3-4
2.1.3.1. Who does the Psalmist say his “exceeding joy” is?
2.1.4. The happiness and joy that these Psalms describe is an experience of the lovingkindness of God that brings us into his presence so that we may enjoy God himself forever
2.2. The Bible says that being in the presence of God will bring us full and everlasting joy because:
2.2.1. We were created to see and admire the glory of God – Isaiah 43:7
2.2.2. Admiration of what is truly beautiful and worthy of honor is the highest of delights
2.2.3. Jesus’ prayer for us is that we may see his glory forever – John 17:24
2.2.4. Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory – Hebrews 1:1-3; cf. 2 Corinthians 4:4-6
2.3. Furthermore, because God is an infinite God, and his glory is an infinite glory, and it will take eternity for God to show “the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness” to finite humans beings who are in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:7), therefore our joy will be ever-increasing into eternity.
2.4. So the joy offered in Christianity is the deepest and most lasting kind of joy because it is the enjoyment of the infinitely beautiful, infinitely valuable, infinitely magnificent God himself
3. How does one attain this everlasting, ever-increasing fullness of joy?
3.1. What obstacles stand in the way of enjoying God forever?
3.1.1. Sin
3.1.1.1. Romans 3:23
3.1.1.2. Everyone sins and is cut off from seeing and savoring the glory of God
3.1.2. Wrath
3.1.2.1. John 3:36; Romans 1:18; 2:25; Ephesians 5:6; 2 Thessalonians 1:9
3.1.2.2. Because of sin, everyone is subject to God’s righteous condemnation: eternal, conscious torment in hell Page 9 of 27
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3.1.3. Futility/suffering/death
3.1.3.1. Genesis 3:16-19; Psalm 44:17-26; Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:23; Romans 5:12-14
3.1.3.2. Fear of all these enemies and obstacles can attack one’s hope in an enduring and secure joy
3.2. What has God done to overcome these enemies and provide a pathway to joy in himself?
3.2.1. He condemned sin in the flesh – Romans 8:3-4
3.2.2. He put Christ forward as a propitiation – Romans 3:25-26
3.2.3. He defeated death by raising Christ from the dead – 1 Corinthians 15:50-58; Hebrews 2:14-15
3.2.4. He redeemed us from this present evil age in the sacrifice of his firstborn Son – Galatians 1:3-5
3.3. To whom does God extend these benefits?
3.3.1. Romans 10:9
3.4. What God has done in Christ Jesus is the foundation for an unshakable confidence that we cannot be separated from God’s love (Romans 8:31-39)
4. The Bible proclaims good news. It offers an everlasting and infinite joy, as well as a doorway to that joy, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is of supreme importance to determine the truthfulness of the Bible, for a false offer of good news is no good news at all.
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