"Approaching the end of God’s grand design" - excerpts from a sermon by Jonathan Edwards

“God's end in the creation of the world consists in these two things, viz. to communicate Himself & to glorify Himself. God created the world to communicate Himself, not to receive anything. But such was the infinite goodness of God that it was His will to communicate Himself, to communicate of His own glory & happiness; & He made the world to glorify Himself, [as it is] fit that God should glorify Himself. These two things ought [not] to be separated when we speak of God's end in the creation of the world, as the assembly of divines in speaking of the chief end for which man was created have judiciously united glorifying and enjoying {God}. Indeed, God's communicating himself and glorifying {himself} ought not to be looked upon as though they were two distinct ends, but as what together makes one last end, as glorifying God and enjoying {God} make one chief end of man. For God glorifies Himself in communicating Himself, & He communicates Himself in glorifying Himself…

God's design in all the works {of creation} is to glorify His Son, & through Him to glorify Himself… God hath an infinite love to His [Son and] delights to put honor upon Him… The way in which the eternal Son of God is glorified in the creation is by communicating Himself to the creatures, not by receiving anything from the creatures…

[God will] glorify his majesty, power [and] justice before his elect that they might behold the glory and so be happy in the sight of this glory of God, and that they might give God the glory due to him on this account, and that they might be the more sensible of the worth of {their} happiness and of the wonderfulness and sovereignty of God's grace."

- Jonathan Edwards, Approaching the end of God’s grand design

http://edwards.yale.edu/archive?path=aHR0cDovL2Vkd2FyZHMueWFsZS5lZHUvY2dpLWJpbi9uZXdwaGlsby9nZXRvYmplY3QucGw/Yy4yNDo3LndqZW8=

“You were enslaved to righteousness” – Romans 6:18; an exposition by Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.” - Romans 6:18

“A better translation is, ‘You were enslaved to righteousness’; that is exactly what the Apostle says. Not only have we ‘become’ slaves; but we have been ‘enslaved to righteousness’. We were before ‘enslaved to sin’, we have now become ‘enslaved to righteousness’.
Our position, as Christians, is that we have been ‘enslaved to righteousness’. This does not mean that we admire righteousness, not that we desire to be righteous; it does not mean that we are attempting to be righteous, or attempting to practice righteousness in our daily life. It includes all these things but has a much wider content. What the Apostle says is, that we have become ‘slaves to righteousness’ – nothing less. Not ‘servants’, but ‘slaves’ of righteousness! That means that we have come under the power and control and influence of righteousness. As once we were tyrannized over and ruled by, and governed by sin, we are now, we may say, tyrannized over, and governed, and ruled by righteousness. Furthermore, this is something that is true of every one of us from the moment of our regeneration. The Apostle is talking about Christians – any Christian. From the moment we are regenerate it is true to say of us that we are no longer slaves of sin; we are the slaves of righteousness.”

- Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans: Exposition of Chapter 6 : The New Man

http://www.amazon.com/Romans-Exposition-Chapter-New-Man/dp/0851511589

http://www.mlj-usa.org/mlj.nsf/(PRODUCTS-BYCODE-WEB)/MLJ.MP05R

Ash Heap Lives - Francis A. Schaeffer

“We spend most of our time & money for things that will end up in the city dump...

Do we understand that material possessions are not necessarily good in themselves even in this life? Let me give two illustrations from our early days in Switzerland...
When I first came to Europe many women worked in the field because farm machinery was scarce. Even on the larger farms, most jobs had to be done by hand…In those days, the work was hard…And I saw women out laboring with their husbands, sometimes doing the hard work of pitching the hay. I though of all the American women who did not have to do this: “My, wouldn’t it be wonderful if the Swill women could be saved from this hard physical work?” But I have changed my mind. The women who worked with their husbands shoulder to shoulder during the day & then slept with them at night had one of the greatest riches in the world. Is anything worse than our modern affluent situation where the wife has no share in the real life of her husband?
Is it really true, then, that having increased material possessions is automatically good, even in this life? No. Off all people, Christians should know this because God’s Word teaches it. We must not get caught up in practical materialism…

The perspective of our lives should be that we can lay up treasure in one of two places – earth or Heaven…

Death will strip us of all material possessions we leave upon this earth. Death is a thief. Five minutes after we die, our most treasured possessions which are invested in this life are absolutely robbed from us…

We must use money with a view to what counts in eternity…Let me say with tears that as far as material possessions, time, energy & talents are concerned, all too many Bible-believing Christians live as though their entire existence is limited to this side of the grave. We cannot ignore Jesus’ statement about these two irreconcilable reference points: “You cannot serve God & money” (Matt. 6:24). Either riches in this life, or the reality of God & the future – one of them must give the overshadowing cast to our lives…”

- Francis A. Schaeffer, No Little People, sermon “Ash Heap Lives”

http://books.google.com/books?id=f-uy7hbFCh8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=No+Little+People&cd=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false

http://www.wtsbooks.com/product-exec/product_id/2860/nm/No+Little+People