The Self-Centered God

Pictures of stars and galaxies afar made my imagination flare. Why would God create such wondrous beauties far beyond our grasp, but still allow them to take our breath away through a mediated image of them? Lets face it: if these stars and galaxies are just a string of cosmic reactions that are purely coincidence, then we probably would have been blown up by now. But if God made these to display His glory, now that is something that makes sense. 

God loves His glory, and He loves to display His glory. We see evidence of this in nature and life. They all reflect His glory. But what if I told you that God is for His own glory. He is centered upon His glory and is concerned about His glory being exalted. Well, that makes him a self-centered, kind of selfish God, right? I once had a friend told me that he was leaving community because he didn't want to believe that God was primarily for Himself. If we say that then we say we would rather have an idolatrous God because its idolatry to hold anything to His standard outside of Himself (Isaiah 42:8). 

Humanity has tainted the idea of self-centeredness to the point where the very God who made us is considered "selfish" for making us for His glory (Isaiah 43:7). But John Piper explains this in a great way saying: "He must be for Himself if He is to be for us." The glory emanating from His presence is the highest thing in all of existence, so if He wasn't for the exaltation of His glory then it would almost be as if He is giving way for evil to reign. We merely receive the blessing of Him working for His own glory.

Now the issue is how humanity views the idea of self-centeredness. This idea becomes renewed or transformed in God. To explain, God is centered on His glory and He is motivated by the exaltation of His glory and that spills out onto His people for His praise. Now to apply this idea to ourselves, we can be motivated by our own joy or happiness or love as long as it is also centered on the exaltation of God's glory.

As Christians we generally rebuke the idea of being "for ourself." This is considered selfish, especially in light of 1 Cor. 13:5 which says, "love is not self-seeking." We have denied the idea that we can be motivated by something that is self-gratifying. Yet we all are motivated by something that is self-gratifying. If we desire Heaven and to be with God, then aren't we ultimately being motivated by something we want for ourself? This is echoed a number of times in the New Testament by the disciples and especially by Paul!

I will take the idea of joy to prove my point. In Philippians 2:2, Paul says, "then make my joy complete . . ." Paul wants for himself for his joy to be complete. But his joy is not something he draws from solely for himself. His joy is in the Lord, and it is because of this joy that his joy becomes synonymous with the joy of others (1 Thess. 2:19-20, Phil. 4:1). And that is what happens when we draw from the joy of the Father! Its spills out in abundance for other people to also praise Him! It is only because His joy is centered on the exaltation of God's glory that his own joy becomes transformed in such a way that though it pleases himself, it is not in the least sense selfish. We see this in Matthew 13:44 also where the man who finds the treasure in the field is motivated by His joy to sell everything he has. We don't call this man selfish for finding satisfaction in his joy, we call him wise! Because his joy was for the exaltation of God's glory.
Then there is the example of Jesus. In Romans: 15:3 it speaks the truth that Christ did not please Himself. But we know that Christ came to die for our sins and that was the mission set forth by God. He was mainly centered on glorifying His Father in Heaven (John 17:4-5). But Jesus had joy in returning to His Father. This is seen in Hebrews 12:2 where it says: "who for the joy set before Him endured the cross." Jesus had a motivating joy, and while this joy would satisfy Him, it is for the benefit of us all that this joy would satisfy Him. The fulfillment of Jesus' joy means that He has completed His Father's task and that we have been reconciled with God. Him being motivated by His own joy to glorify God is not in the least sense selfish. If Jesus was mainly concerned for His own joy, He wouldn't have endured the cross. 
And thats how it is for a lot of us. It is for our benefit in the Kingdom of God that someone who is centered on God's glory is motivated and fulfilled in their joy of Him. We are built up by someone who is motivated by their own joy, but this joy has to be centered on the exaltation of His glory, because if it isn't, then it is a joy that is truly centered on them self for their own satisfaction.

Just like John Piper said: "He must be for Himself if He is to be for us." But in the same way, we must be for Him, if we are to be, in the right nature, for ourself.

"We who are strong ought to bear with

the failings of the weak and not to please

ourselves. Each of us should please His neighbor

for his good, to build him up.

For even Christ did not please Himself . . . "

-Romans 15:1-3