Butler Jesus

A good friend of mine recently forwarded me a sermon by John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In this sermon, Piper asserts that for so many people in America, their Christian life never goes beyond turning to Jesus for their needs and wants. Piper states:

"Instead they (nominal Christians) have absorbed the notion that becoming Christian means turning to Jesus get what you always wanted before you were born again. So, if you wanted wealth, you stop depending on yourself for it, and by prayer and faith and obedience you depend on Jesus for wealth. If you wanted to be healthy, you turn from mere human cures to Jesus as the source of your health. If wanted to escape the pain of hell, you turn to Jesus for the escape. If you wanted to have a happy marriage, you come to Jesus for help. If you wanted peace of conscience and freedom from guilt feelings, you turn to Jesus for these things.

In other words, to become a Christian, in this way of seeing things, is to have all the same desires you had as an unregenerate person—only you get them from a new source, Jesus. And he feels so loving when you do. But there’s no change at the bottom of your heart and your cravings. No change in what makes you happy. There’s no change in the decisive foundation of your joy. You just shop at a new store. The dinner is still the same; you just have a new butler. The bags in the hotel room are still the same; you just have a new bellhop."

Piper's point is this: for those who have become followers of Christ, the source of our joy changes. Our foundation of happiness is not found in what Butler Jesus can deliver to us, but rather in Jesus himself. Our joy is not found in what we get from Jesus, but in the fact that we are able, through his death on a cross, to have a relationship with the God the Father. Is my life spent making much of God, or hoping that He makes much of me?

This sermon certainly causes me to do a heart check. Is my passion to see God's name made great, or to see my own needs and wants met? Do I view Jesus just as a my Divine Butler, or are my prayers that he would be glorified through my life? From where does the core of my joy and happiness come? What am I hold onto as the greatest treasure? At the end of the day, no matter how much God blesses me, self will never completely satisfy me. My supreme joy has to come in my relationship with God.