Spectacular Sins Book Club - Chapter 7

After a couple of weeks of hiatus, we're back to finish up the last two chapters of Spectacular Sins.

First of all, please note the new golden seal addition to this book above and in my sidebar! It won the ECPA 2009 Book of the Year Award in the category Christian Living. The award was announced last Thursday evening at the Awards Dinner held during the kick-off of the Christian Book Expo.

Now without further ado, here are Missy's questions and my answers on Chapter 7, The Sinful Origin of the Son of David.

1. Why did the Israelites demand an earthly king? Why did they want to be "like other nations"? The bottom line is that they were sinful. They rejected God as their King, and in spite of the warnings that Samuel gave them, they said "We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles." (I Samuel 8:19-20) The lure of peer pressure and "keeping up with the Joneses" has been a struggle for humans for millenia!

2. Piper discusses how God does things "for His own name's sake." What does this mean?

God will be glorified. And He will be faithful to Himself. All that He does has one purpose - to bring honor to His name. In studying the Old Testament, I discovered that many of the great prayers of Moses and the prophets were based on this very concept - they beseeched God to answer their prayers for His name's sake and for His honor among the nation.

3. Can you tell of a time when God gave you something that you wanted, but didn't need? What were the repercussions? Can you see how God ultimately used it for "His own name's sake"?

It's always hard for me to come up with memories and examples. Fortunately for me, most of the time, I have been able to look back and see that God did not give me what I wanted and I have been very grateful in hindsight!! But generally, anytime I insist on my own way, the repercussions are usually misery, embarrassment, and regret. And God uses it for "His own name's sake to bring me right back in repentance to line my will up with His!

4. Samuel said, "Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil." Does this give you comfort, if so, how?

This is a beautiful picture of grace. As Piper points out, it seems like Samuel would have said "Be afraid; you have done all this evil." But grace give us what we don't deserve. Piper explains that

God's allegiance to his own name is the foudation of his faithfulness to us. God means for us to learn from this spectacular sin that the grace of our salvation is ultimately based not on our value to him, but his value to himself.

Praise God for that truth! How lost we would be without it!

Go visit The Preacher's Wife to see more discussion!