A Brave New World

A couple nights ago, I finished reading Aldous Huxley's classic novel, Brave New World. Huxley's work is a fictional, yet prophetical glimpse at the future of society, in which the world is a complete dystopia. My goal here is not to give a detailed summary of the novel (though it was fantastic), but rather to point out a couple quotes. To read a more detailed summary, click HERE, otherwise, here is an extremely short explanation to give you some context.

In Huxley's dystopia world, everything in society is conditioned for the sake of complete stability and comfort. Humans aren't conceived by men and women, but are produced in a factory. From their very beginning, all humans are conditioned (by genetically engineering) to exist in one of 5 social castes. Each person is conditioned to do their assigned task with complete contentment and consistency. In other words, humans are deconditioned to think, feel pain, or experience life. This is all done in the name of stability and happiness. So, a person may be genetically conditioned to be a mindless factory worker, who works his 9-5, then spends the rest of his day enjoying a "soma holiday" (universal drug everybody takes to escape reality and experience euphoria), but, he is completely content, because he has been conditioned not to desire anything else. There is a complete escape from pain. There is a complete escape from feeling for that matter.

What struck me as I read Huxley's book was just how accurate some of his conclusions were regarding humans. In his dystopia, we are not oppressed by an evil power; quite the contrary actually. We willingly choose a society of lifelessness, so long as we don't feel anything and can mindlessly enjoy artificial entertainment. Do we do the same thing today? Is our tendency to pursue stability, comfort, and artificial happiness at the expense of truth, beauty, and life? Here is a quote from one of the antagonists,  World Controller, Mustapha Mond, as he decides whether to have a certain scientific article published or not. In his opinion, the ideas in the article were dangerous to the stability of society.

"It was the sort of idea that might easily decondition the more unsettled minds among the higher castes-make them lose their faith in happiness as the Sovereign Good and take to believing, instead, that the goal was somewhere beyond, somewhere outside the present human sphere; that the purpose of life was not the maintenance of well-being, but some intensification and refining of consciousness, some enlargement of knowledge."

The line about the purpose of life being the maintenance of well-being particularly strikes a chord with me. It seems that most people spend their entire lives pursuing this sense of well-being. We chase a well-being that is completely devoid of what it means to be human. We give our lives to the purpose of ultimate comfort, entertainment, and enjoyment, while we fail to realize the joy for which we were created. We make personal happiness the "Sovereign Good", while failing to realize that our very conception of happiness is dull; it is black and white compared to the vivid stream of color that true happiness presents. We fail to see the true purpose for which we were created and the true happiness for which we were made. Our purpose is not to attain a state of well-being that we may escape pain and live in happiness; our purpose is to know God and enjoy Him forever. 

"You No Longer Have to Spend the Rest of Your Life Chasing Your Tail"

A great post from Erik Most @ Glimpses of Grace. I am thankful for the gospel ministry of Tullian Tchividjian. This 6 minutes is well-worth listening to. Tullian is answering the questions posed in the book of Ecclesiates on purpose and meaning.


"He's saying look again at your sin. And be reminded that there is nothing you can do to save yourself. Then come up from that examination, and praise God! That in Christ, Jesus has done for sinners, like you and me, what we could ever do for ourself, EVER! And we can celebrate in this truth, that in my place he stood condemned, and sealed my pardon with his blood. Hallelujah! What a Savior!"

That Which Does Not Perish

"When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal." Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."

John 6:25-29

A couple things.....

1) We all labor for some form of food

         No, this passage is not primarily talking about physical food, but rather what we fill our souls with. Every person on the planet tries to fill their lives with something. We all look to something to find our purpose, significance, security and life. We all look to find satisfaction in something. Here, Jesus confronts his audience by putting a fork in the road.

          In one direction, is the life in pursuit of perishable food.  This could be a number of things. Especially prevalent in American culture are financial security, academic prestige, vocational success, physical appearance, a care-free life, and happiness. For many of us, we look to these things daily. We eat of them daily with the hope that they will give us life; with the hopes that they will give us purpose, meaning, significance and security. The perishable food we pursue often time takes the form of obvious sin, but it is important to realize that not all perishable food has a marred appearance. In fact, many of the perishable things we pursue can be good things. Many of us look to relationships, to family, to love in order to fill us. These things certainly make a good appearance. However, they are in fact perishable. They do not give life. They do not satisfy. They only end in death. Imagine the crowd following Jesus in this story. They continued to follow Jesus because he miracously provided them with physical bread. Yet, they completely failed to realize the purpose of this miracle. It was to point them to Jesus the Savior, the only one who could give them real life. The crowd was completely ignorant to this and foolishly followed Jesus hoping to get more physical food. That is why Jesus asks them why they are seeking perishable food when imperishable food is offered to them. We are the same way. We ignorantly pursue perishable food, hoping it will satisfy us, hoping it will give us life. But we fail to realize that the Bread of Life has himself been given to us, to fill us, and to give us life as it was intended. 

2) Jesus as the Bread of Life

         Later in John 6, Jesus refers to himself as the Bread of Life. He himself is the imperishable food. Someone who eats or fills themselves with imperishable food eats of it, and it is never enough. They come back again and again. It doesn't stick. It doesn't fill the void. In Jesus' interaction with the following crowd, he offers himself as the source of this imperishable food. Jesus freely offers himself to those who seek him. Why then would we eat of anything else?

3) Jesus is only one qualified 

          How is it that Jesus is the one who can satisfy the hearts of men? Well, he answers this very question. Because the Father has set His seal on Him. Since Adam, mans heart has been restless. We have been trying to fix this, but something just isn't quite right. No matter how much success, comfort, prestige, happiness we have, we still are empty. Like Adam and Eve in the garden, we try to cover our shame. Deep down, we all know that there is lack of true life in us. That is because we are out of the fellowship for which we were created. Jesus is the only one qualified to restore this all-satisfying fellowship. All our desires and wants in this life only point to the one true desire for which we were created, and which will truly bring us satisfaction. Jesus gives true joy, true hope, true peace, true life. He is qualified to give this because from eternities past, the Father has set His seal on Jesus to be the Savior of the world. He is the one who is to restore the earth. He is the one whom the Scriptures speak of. THe Old Testament tells of His coming. By Christ's life, death and resurrection, a return to an all-satisfying fellowship is possible. This is what we were made for. We were made to eat of this food. Why tarry?

4) How do we eat this bread?
           Jesus tells us what it means to do the work of God. Actually, the answer is sort of contradictory. Doing the work of God is actually believing in the One whom he has sent (Jesus). It is our human tendency to think what we can actively be doing to be right with God. However, Jesus tells us to do the work of God, is to believe in Him. It is a resting in Jesus. We eat of this bread by trusting in Christ and the work he has done. There is no work we can do to earn this imperishable bread. Therefore, to labor for imperishable food is to believe and trust in Jesus. Doing the work of God means to lean more heavily upon the Break of Life. 

It is about God's Glory

Moses’ Intercession (Exodus 33:12-23 ESV)

Moses said to the LORD, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”

And the LORD said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

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This passage rings of how God's glory defines his purposes. Something I am learning is that God is about one true end, His Glory. He created for his glory, He redeemed us for his glory. The best part about it, is that he designed us and all of our thirsts to be completely satisfied by His Glory. We were created and redeemed for that to be our true reality.

The Gospel is about God, not Us: Part 2

I can't resist sharing another awesome passage from Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream by David Platt.

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"If you were to ask the average Christian sitting in a worship service on Sunday morning to summarize the message of Christianity, you would most likely hear something along the lines of "The message of Christianity is that God loves me." Or someone might say, "The message of Christianity is that God loves me enough to send his Son, Jesus, to die for me."

As wonderful as this sentiment sounds, is it biblical? Isn't it incomplete, based on what we have seen in the Bible? "God loves me" is not the essence of biblical Christianity. Because if "God loves me" is the message of Christianity, then who is the object of Christianity?

God loves me. Me. Christianity's object is me.

Therefore, when I look for a church, I look for the music that best fits me and the programs that best cater to me and my family. When I make plans for my life and career, it is about what works best for me and my family. When I consider the house I will live in, the car I will drive, the clothes I will wear, the way I will live, I will choose according to what is best for me. This is the version of Christianity that largely prevails in our culture.

But it is not biblical Christianity.

The message of biblical Christianity is not "God loves me, period", as if we were the object of our own faith. The message of biblical Christianity is "God loves me so that I might make him -- his ways, his salvation, his glory and his greatness -- known among all nations." Now God is the object of our faith, and Christianity centers around him. We are not the end of the gospel; God is."

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The truth is that God loves us unbelievably. He created us in His image, rescued us after our betrayal of Him, lives in us and will one day spend eternity with us. But we are not the end of God's plan. The end of God's purpose in the world is God, and the supreme glory of His grace, which we have been graciously given our lives to find joy in, proclaim and treasure more than anything else.

May the Lord extend his grace on us as we seek to do so, resting in Jesus and what He has done for us.

Our Purpose

"But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God."

Acts 20:24