Quest For Joy

                                                  


Recently our family drove from Nova Scotia to Ontario to visit family and friends whom we had not seen in a while.

Before I went, I sent a message to a relative. It said, "Can I ask a favour of you?" The reply was "Of course!" I replied, "I was wondering if you could please read the following pamphlet at least twice before [we arrive in ON], and then we can we get together and talk about it." 

I included 6 pictures: one for every page of John Piper's Gospel tract entitled Quest for Joy.

Thankfully the reply I received was, "Ok. Looking forward to that." I was prepared for a different answer.

I wish I could convey in words how encouraged I was to hear that the light was green.

This would turn out to be the second (and hopefully not the last) conversation with this person about the Gospel. I felt the conversation went remarkably well: no pressure, no guilt, no strong-arming, just speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). Thankful x1,000,000.

So the purpose of this blog is twofold.

1. To encourage you to take steps to be intentional about sharing the Gospel with people in your sphere of influence (and even with complete strangers)

Believer, why are you not in hell right now? 

There are several reasons, but I submit that the chief one is God's great grace. "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy." (Psalm 103:8). There are 192 more verses in the Bible that say something very similar to this. Every believer is a trophy of God's grace. "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).

Another question: why are you not in heaven right now? 

If the goal was only to redeem your soul from the destruction that you deserve, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23), then what is the point of keeping you on the earth longer than two minutes past the moment you turned from your sins and put your full trust in the Lord Jesus Christ? ("I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. Acts 20:21) 

There are several reasons, but I submit that the chief one is God's great commission. "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Matthew 24:14. Someone once said: "For heaven's sake. What on earth are you doing?" I know you are busy. Everyone is. We all have our priorities. 

If one of yours is not taking the Gospel to the lost, please let me encourage you to reprioritize today. 

“If there existed only one man or woman who did not love the Savior, and if that person lived among the wilds of Siberia, and if it were necessary that all the millions of believers on the face of the earth should journey there, and every one of them plead with him to come to Jesus before he could be converted, it would be well worth all the zeal, labor, and expense. If we had to preach to thousands year after year, and never rescued but one soul, that one soul would be full reward for all our labor, for a soul is of a countless price.”     - Charles H. Spurgeon

Do you believe that?


2. To point out some amazing truths that I learned from reading Piper's Gospel tract.
Our Pastor encouraged people to take the new Gospel tracts with us when we left the building one morning. I did and am so glad that I did. I have read lots of Gospel tracts... being an evangelist, that's kinda 'my thing', you could say. Some of them are terrible. Truly. I could not be paid or bribed or forced to distribute them. Many tracts today literally do not include words like "sin, hell, blood, cross, and resurrection" - this is very disturbing - I call some of them "tracts" but not "Gospel tracts", because they do include the Gospel.

I would like to tell you three reasons why I think John Piper's Quest for Joy tract is now one of my favourites.

i. It is extremely God-centered.

Culture has a way of slowly finding its way into our minds, homes, and gatherings of worship... kind of like cancer. Most Gospel tracts today are basically bribe techniques (a "Wow! You won't believe the deal we have for you!" mentality). 

Not so with this Gospel tract: it focuses on God. The key word in the Gospel presentation is "glory": it appears twelve times in total. 

Just listen to the six main points: 1. God Created Us For His Glory 2. Every Human Should Live For God's Glory 3. All Of Us Fail To Glorify God As We Should 4. All Of Us Are Subject To God's Just Condemnation 5. God Sent His Only Son To Provide Eternal Life And Joy 6. The Benefits Purchased By The Death Of Christ Belong To Those Who Repent And Trust Him. 

ii. It defines Romans 3:23 excellently. One of the most fruitful things that I ever have done, personally, is study intently the book of Romans; it is primarily what the Lord used to save me seven years into my Pastoral ministry in 2004. Romans 3:23 gets thrown around so flippantly in Christian circles today. It is a summary on verses 1-22, and sets up perhaps the three most amazing verses in the entire Bible in my opinion: Romans 3:24-26. A lot of people will quote a verse like 1 John 3:4, "Sin is the transgression of [God's] law" when referencing Romans 3:23 - as they should - but Piper here goes one step further. 

He says, "What does it mean to 'fall short of the glory of God?" It means that none of us has trusted and treasured God the way we should...we have sought satisfaction in other things and have treated them as more valuable than God, which is the essence of idolatry". 

Wow. Powerful...and true. Love it.

There are a ton more reasons why John Piper's Quest for Joy Gospel is incredible. Since this is a blog and not a book, I will leave it there. Get some. Get a lot of them. Read it a few times...slowly. Let each word find root in your heart. Email them out. Mail them out. Give them out. Don't hide you or your faith under a bushel.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.  Romans 1:16

Sincerely, 

Kirk Hubick

**Kirk is the Director of  Going and Sowing Ministries, and a regular street evangelist. He and hiw wife, Denise, have been married for 22 years and have four children: Kyle (last week's blog contributor), Berea (besties with Brooke), Silas (the bagpipe player extraordinaire), and Abigail (Berea's awesome l'il sister)!**