Marriage: An Exposition of Covenant-Keeping Grace

As we're preparing to move, we've been going through our stuff, cleaning up, throwing out, and figuring out what we're going to take with us. During that time, we found some extra programs from our wedding ceremony on July 19th, 2008. In them, we wrote a message to our guests, basically trying to make plain the interrelatedness of marriage and the Gospel. I'd like to share that with you, and would welcome your comments.

It's a bit longer than even some of my long posts, and it's also probably best read slowly. On top of that, I'd recommend strongly mousing over the Scripture references to see what those are as well. So it'll be somewhat of a time commitment, but that's OK because my last few posts have been short. :o) And as always, I pray that you'll be benefited by reading.

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The most foundational thing that can be said about marriage is that it is the doing of God (Gen 2:22; Mk10:9). And the most ultimate thing that can be said about marriage is that it is the display of God (Eph 5:32).

Unfortunately, we are so wired by selfishness, sin, and cultural adaptation, that the glory of marriage is scarcely perceivable by our minds and hearts today. Janna and I would like to do our best to help you perceive the glory of marriage as it is, and not how our world has imagined it to be.*

Marriage is indeed a wonderful, glorious, and beautiful thing. But the truth is that marriage is not those things in and of itself. You see, marriage is actually only a symbol, or a picture, that points to something greater than itself. And it is only so wonderful, glorious, and beautiful because of that something greater that it points to. And so the only way to fully grasp the glory of marriage is to grasp the glory of the substance that marriage is a picture of. And that is the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To understand marriage, we must first understand the Gospel.

The Bible teaches that there is a self-existent, self-sufficient, Triune God in heaven (Ex 3:14; Jn 8:58; Gen 1:2). Even before the creation of time, God is the most righteous, pure, good, benevolent, and exuberantly joyful Being that we can imagine (Ac 2:25-28, 17:24-25; Heb 1:9). Out of this fullness of everything that is right, God desired that His greatness and glory be communicated (Is 43:7). With such a disposition to communicate His glory, He created the entire universe in six days (Gen 1:31-2:3). He desired that His creation know His glory, His goodness, and His loveliness, and that all creatures enjoy Him for all those things that He is (Rom 9:23).

God the Father also desired that out of the human race, created uniquely in the image of God, that there be a holy, pure, and gorgeous bride to give to God the Son. But we, through our representative Adam, sinned by rebelling against God, worshiping our own desires and not enjoying God for all that He is (Gen 3:6-7). As a result, humanity fell from their state of communion with God into enmity with Him (Gen 3:23; Rom 5:12, 18-19), and became darkness (Eph 2:1-3), which has no fellowship with the Light that God Himself is (1Jn 1:5). Because of this, the Father could not properly present to His Son the bride that He is worthy of (Rev 5:12-13). In fact, because of our sin, all of humanity is rightly banished from the purity of God’s presence and into eternal torment away from Him, what we know as hell (Matt 13:41-42).

But when the fullness of the time came, God the Father sent the Son to the Earth to live a life as both God and Man (Mk 1:1; Jn 3:13), and to rescue a remnant of humanity, purchasing them with His own blood (Mk 10:45; Gal 4:4-5; Ac 20:28). He was born of a virgin (Lk 1:30-35, 2:7) and given the name Jesus (Lk 2:21). He lived a life that was entirely worthy of the holiness and purity of His Father (Matt 3:16-17). He never sinned against God (Is 53:9; 1Jn 3:5), the way all of us have (Rom 3:23). He satisfied God’s righteous requirement of perfection (Rom 8:3-4), and He willingly laid down His life as the payment for the penalty that the sins of humanity incurred (Jn 10:15, 18). His life of perfect obedience satisfied the Father’s just wrath against our sin (Is 53:4-5, 10), and the Father imputed (or ascribed) Jesus’ perfect life to us while at the same time imputing our sinfulness to Christ (2Cor 5:21; Gal 3:13-14). By His sacrifice, we who receive Him by faith are saved from the sin that separated us from God (Ac 15:8-9; Rom 3:28; Gal 2:16), and are given the gift of eternal life in His presence (Rom 6:23; 1Pet 3:18).

All those that Jesus redeemed are called the Church (Ac 20:28; Col 1:18), who is properly called the Bride of Christ (Rev 19:7-8). This people, totally unworthy of the Father and so unworthy to be presented to His Son, is purified by the Son Himself (Tit 2:14). The dowry for Jesus’ bride cost Him nothing less than His life. But in the majesty of His abundant grace, Jesus willingly paid that price for the joy set before Him (Heb 12:2). And at the end of all things, after the Lord Jesus returns to set up His kingdom on earth and rightfully rule over His creation, the Father will present to Him the Bride He Himself purified, having no spot, wrinkle, or any such thing (Eph 5:25-27).

And though that celebration remains a future event, the Church is Christ’s betrothed, and so we love Him and joyfully serve Him in the present (1Pet 1:8). We submit to His loving, sacrificial leadership and experience His grace and love each day until He returns. He has promised that He will never leave nor forsake His Bride (Heb 13:5), and that no matter how much we continue to sin against Him and even break that covenant of marriage that He died to institute, He will remain faithful to Himself (2Tim 2:11-13; Deut 7:9), and always remain united to us (Hos 2:19-20; 1Jn 2:1-2; Ps 89:30-34).

That’s what marriage points to. That’s what marriage is about. It is an institution set up by God with a specific purpose: to glorify Him (to make much of Him) by magnifying the relationship of covenant-keeping grace that exists between Christ and His Bride, the Church. And in Ephesians 5 God tells what that relationship is like. To wives He says: “Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.” And to husbands He says: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body.”

What we desire most of all for our marriage is that it would be an exposition of the nature of that covenant-keeping, grace-fueled relationship between Jesus Christ and His church that is so clearly and beautifully expressed in that passage. It says that the husband is to be the leader of the wife, as Christ is the leader of the Church. So we ask, “How does Christ exercise leadership over His bride?” He did so first by laying down His life for her so that He might purify her. In the same way, a husband’s leadership over his wife is to be characterized by life-giving, sacrificial service with a view towards her sanctification. And the reason is because that’s how Christ did it with His bride, and that’s what marriage was designed to depict.

And His leadership is so sweet to His people. Jesus rules lovingly and as a meek shepherd (Matt 11:28-30) and always with the ultimate good of His Bride as a primary purpose (Rom 8:28). He does this in such a way that His people joyfully come to Him and submit to His leadership out of delight and desire, and not begrudgingly or out of compulsion (Psalm 119:97, 103; Jn 10:27). Because of this, I (Mike) need to see to it that my leadership is equally loving, meek, tender, and always after Christ Himself, so that it makes it an absolute joy for Janna to submit to my leadership, the same way it is an absolute joy for me to submit to Christ’s leadership. I am to so follow Christ, that Janna’s submission to my leadership should be as sweet and enjoyable as the Church’s submission is to Christ. And as it is such a joy for the Church to submit to Christ, I (Janna) will respect Michael in everything, honoring his leadership by joyfully submitting to him as he follows Christ. It is with eagerness that I will support him with words of kindness and encouragement, making it a delight for Michael to exercise loving and gracious leadership as my head.

So we want you to see that marriage only has meaning when it is founded upon Christ and His relationship to His people. Since it exists to illustrate that relationship, we will seek to ask about everything in our marriage, “Is this properly and accurately illustrating the relationship between Christ and the Church?” Put more simply, “Is our marriage telling the truth about Jesus Christ?”

Our prayer is that in our wedding ceremony the truth of Jesus Christ has been proclaimed. And we pray that as you reflect on that truth and read these things, a light would go off in your soul, and you would awaken to the self-authenticating glory of God manifested in what marriage points to. If you haven’t acknowledged your rebellion and alienation against God because of your sin, His righteous condemnation of you, and your total inability to do anything about it, we pray that you would see your own insufficiency to meet God’s requirement of perfect purity and holiness, and at the same time see how perfectly sufficient Jesus Christ is to do just that. We pray that you would put your faith in Him for your righteousness before the Father, and so joyfully receive Him as your Lord, your Savior, and as your Husband!

If you have already tasted the glory of Jesus Christ by receiving Him as the Treasure of your life, we rejoice with you! And at the same time, we pray that you would see the glory of Christ in this institution of marriage. We pray that you would implement these truths in your own marriages, and in so doing, that you would enjoy all God is for you in Christ. Rejoice that you’re His and that He’s yours! Rejoice, for by His grace you have the Perfect Husband!

In the Fullness of His Joy,

Mike and Janna
_____________________
* The first two paragraphs are borrowed from Piper's series on marriage, found here.

God is the Gospel

So I've just finished reading God is the Gospel, by John Piper.

What an amazing experience it was for me. It seems that anything I would have ever wanted to say about the God-centeredness of God (and therefore the God-centeredness of people) has been said in that book. It's very refreshing when someone makes the point you were trying to make, and with stunningly greater precision and conciseness than you could have dreamed of.

So beyond an unqualified recommendation, I give a strong exhortation: read this book. It's worth the money to have a physical copy, without question. But you can also read it online for free at the Desiring God website.

I'm thinking about reproducing some passages from the book in a future post here and there. But there was a particular section that dealt with the Greatest Commandment and its being the foundation of the Second, which was much of what I was concerned with at the start of this blog. Here's what Piper says about that, from page 162:

We exist by Him, through Him, and for Him (Rom 11:36). The ultimate and greatest good of the gospel is not self-admiration or self-exaltation, but being able to see the glory of God without disintegrating, and being able to delight in the glory of Christ with the very delight of God the Father for His own Son, and being able to do visible Christ-exalting deeds that flow from this delight.

So being like God is the ground of seeing God for who He is, and this seeing is the ground of savoring and delighting in the glory of God with the very delight of God, which then overflows with visible displays of God's glory.

That summarizes my thoughts very nicely.

The following is one expression of the thesis of the book, and, I believe, captures his thinking (not to mention the essence of the Gospel) quite well. From page 147 (emphases mine):

The best news of the Christian gospel is that the supremely glorious Creator of the universe has acted in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection to remove every obstacle between us and Himself so that we may find everlasting joy in seeing and savoring His infinite beauty. The saving love of God is His doing whatever must be done, at great cost to Himself, and for the least deserving, so that He might enthrall them with what will make them supremely happy forever, namely, Himself. Therefore, the gospel of God and the love of God are expressed finally and fully in God's gift of Himself for our everlasting pleasure. "In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore" (Ps 16:11).

Little else comes to mind aside from, "Amen."

In the video below, Piper discusses two implications of discovering and receiving the truth that God is the Gospel, the first personal, and the second pastoral.

So again, I strongly encourage you to read this book and have your understanding shaped by Scripture presented through Piper, Edwards, Calvin, Owen, and others about what the supreme passion of God is in all things, and therefore what our supreme passion should be in all things.

This is what we should in short seek in the whole of Scripture:
truly to know Jesus Christ,
and the infinite riches that are comprised in him
and are offered to us by him
from God the Father.
- John Calvin -
(See here, p. 70.)

For Christ also died for sins once for all,
the just for the unjust,
so that He might bring us to God.
- 1 Peter 3:18 -

UPDATE: Find links to the posts in this series below:

• God Himself is His Greatest Gift
• Exploding the Doctrine of Man-Centered Love
• God-Centered Love
• A God-Centered Gospel
• A Matter of Life and Death
• Fasting
• The Power of God Unto Sanctification
  

Greater Riches

Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?

Take a minute before reading any more and meditate on those questions from 1 Corinthians 6, and adapt your worldview to the Apostle Paul's.


This type of thinking and questioning just cuts directly to the heart of our selfishness. This question really separates the confessors from the professors, the transformed from the hypocrites. I read this and I consider his line of thinking and I ask myself, “How in the world could he reason like this?! What makes a man think it's strange to prefer not to be wronged and defrauded?”

And the answer that comes to me is that his God must have been so big! His God must have been so sweet to him. His God must have been so beautiful, and soul-satisfying, and captivating, and compelling. That he would gladly suffer loss of all things (Phil 3:8), prefer to be wronged and defrauded, and call it gain because He got Christ! He must have known and enjoyed one wonderful God!

What makes a man reason this way? What makes a man prefer to be wronged and defrauded for the sake of his brethren? He was looking to his great reward (Lk 6:35; Heb 11:26). He was seeking a better, lasting city (Heb 11:16, 13:14) than the present one that promised him vain, fleeting comforts. He was going after greater riches (Heb 11:26) than worldly ease and vindication.

I want to know and enjoy his God.

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.
- Luke 6:35 -

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.
- Hebrews 11:24-26 -

No Will, or Enslaved Will?

One thing I've noticed from different conversations and interactions with Arminians is that many of them seem to think that if humans have "a will" at all then it must be a free will. They say, "If we don't have free will then we're robots."

But there's something terribly wrong with that conclusion. Robots don't have any will at all. The very fact that "will" is modified by the adjective "free" should communicate to our English-speaking minds that our wills can be free and our wills can be enslaved.

So the opposite of free will is not "no will"; it's an enslaved will (John 8:34; Rom 6:6, 6:16-20, 8:7-8). Everyone makes choices. But they can only make choices in accordance with their nature. In humanity's case, that nature is a sin, death, and child-of-wrath nature (Eph 2:1-3).

The unregenerate sinner has a will (i.e., a moral inclination to this or that). But his will is enslaved to sin until freed (or changed) by the sovereign grace of God (Eph 2:4-5; John 1:13; Jas 1:18).

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air,
of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh,
indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
- Ephesians 2:1-3 -

Jesus answered them,
"Truly, truly, I say to you,
everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin."
- John 8:34 -

...children of God, who were born,
not of blood
nor of the will of the flesh
nor of the will of man,
but of God.
- John 1:13 -

In the exercise of His will
He brought us forth by the word of truth,
so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.
- James 1:18 -

Why Do We Know the Things We Know

A friend and brother of mine, Jonathan Parnell, recently wrote a great post called "Discovery for the Glory of Christ" over at his place. He asked, "Why do we know the things we know?" Not how, but why. Why is it given to us to know anything about anything, especially things about God? Read his post below:

Why do we know certain things that we know? The knowledge of things is not an end of itself. We know that we might do–there is an effect, a result, an action in accordance with discovery.

More specifically, God shows us things about ourselves never for sake of our just knowing about them. Understanding more of the depths of our hearts, our sinful propensities, the roots of our struggles, is never so that we can acknowledge it’s there and move on to something else. We see them in order to bring the implications of the gospel to bear on them. Actually, I think it is in those discoveries of ourselves that the gospel shines the brightest. It is in those times, in the face of those inner realities, that the gospel declares the definitive word and is embraced afresh as really good news.

The gospel does not allow any ’sweeping under the rug.’ The gospel does not avoid, it overcomes. It takes these inner discoveries, these circumstances, and it proclaims through them the sufficiency and glory of Jesus’ death and resurrection for us and our salvation.

The point Jonathan makes is a point that as Christians we can never hear enough of. Edwards talked about true religion consisting very much in the affections. We are to be affected. Lloyd-Jones in his wonderful book Preaching and Preachers repeatedly makes the point that as a preacher you are there to do something to the people. Something is to happen to them. We are to behold the glory of the Lord, and then be transformed into that same image (2Cor 3:18).

When I led a study through Edwards’ The End for Which God Created the World last summer, I said at the outset of the study to the group that it would be entirely profitless, and even blasphemous, if we talked about these glorious, wondrous, deep things of God for 10 weeks, and all we did was say, “Hunh… wow… that’s cool. Huh! I never saw that before! Wow, what an amazing thought!”

God does not want to be reacted to so nonchalantly. When we see His glory, He wants us to be thrilled. He’s worthy of our world being turned upside-down every time we catch a glimpse of the beauty of one of His manifold perfections!

And yet, how prone we are to either “sweep it under the rug,” as Jonathan says, or try to work up the awe in our own strength because we know it’s right. May God reveal Himself to us, and then change us because of it!

A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken! Who can but prophesy?
- Amos 3:8 -

I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the LORD.
- Ezekiel 38:23 -

I Have You in My Heart

A couple of weeks ago I ended a series on what it meant to love as Jesus loved us (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) by presenting some thoughts about the Church and the Apostle Paul from Acts 20:17-32. But I didn't get to comment on the final few verses in the chapter, in which we learn of the great love and deep affection he and the brothers had for each other.

Paul loved the believers at Ephesus as Christ loved him. And so in Acts 20:36-38 you see tremendous affection.

³⁶When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. ³⁷And they began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him, ³⁸grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again And they were accompanying him to the ship.

I read this and I rejoice, because this affection is only right! It makes every bit of sense! Paul loves the Ephesian elders as Christ has loved him -- that is, by presenting Christ to them. And so the believers are delighted by Paul. They have a deep affection and love for Him.

Can you find traces of this in your life? For me, I am delighted by my brothers and sisters, and I have a deep affection for my brothers and sisters because they minister Christ to me! They present to me what is most delightful to see and gaze into: Jesus!!!

This challenges, though, our understanding of what fellowship and love for the brethren are. When Christ said they'd know us by our love for each other, he didn't mean that we would enjoy each other based on favorite sports teams, common hobbies, musical/artistic preferences, or anything else. The deep affection you see the New Testament believers having for each other is because, as partakers of grace (Phil 1:7), they minister grace to me. As partakers of Christ (Heb 3:14), they minister Christ to me.

Like I said, that presents a challenge to me: Why do I like my Christian friends? Do I like the Christian friends I have because they're Yankee fans and I'm a Yankee fan? Is it because maybe we're just generally nice and polite people who don't step on each other's toes enough to be genuinely upset with one other? Is it because we like the same movies, or exclude the same people from our clique, or because we're all pretty funny and clever and make each other laugh? Do I like them because they stroke my ego, seem interested in any insights I might have, tell me that they really like what I say? Or do I have them in my heart, does my heart rejoice when I see them, because I know that time spent with them will be time spent with my Savior? Do I love them for the sake of Christ?

A similar challenge is: Why am I liked by my Christian friends? Is it just because of our similarity in worldliness? For the reasons listed in the above paragraph? This understanding of the affection for New Testament believers challenges me to love my brothers and sisters, and therefore be delightful to them, by benefiting them with Christ.

So one way I can measure my love -- my true, Christlike, 'Love-as-I-have-loved-you' love -- for my brothers and sisters is whether I am engendering that true, godly, affection in them. They rejoice at the prospect of seeing, talking, spending time with me because I bring to them their greatest benefit, because I present to their mind's eye the beautiful glory of their Savior. But remember, I can be of no benefit to them if I am not benefited by Christ myself. And so even true, Godly fellowship depends on a vital, thriving relationship with God in the study of His Word and in prayer. And to the degree that we are rooted in the Word -- to the degree we are benefited and affected by Jesus -- to that degree we ought to be delightful to our brethren.

May those who fear You see me and be glad, Because I wait for Your word.
- Psalm 119:74 -

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me. For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 1:3-8 -

I have said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together.
- 2 Corinthians 7:3 -

Boasting and Self-Pity

Andy Naselli: Another Dagger-Like Tweet from John Piper

Boasting is the response of pride to success. Self-pity is the response of pride to failure.

And here’s a follow up:

BOASTING: "I deserve praise because I’ve achieved so much."

SELF-PITY: "I deserve praise because I’ve endured so much."

I truly envy, in what I believe is a Godly way, John Piper's ability to be concise and profound, to present truth so effectively and yet so succinctly. Andy Naselli rightly describes this clip from Piper as dagger-like. I pray that God would sharpen me and by grace give me the skillfulness to present His truth in such a beneficial way to His people.



Which one of these manifestations of pride characterizes you more?

The root of both boasting and self-pity is pride. How does knowing that aid in your battle against sin?

Piper, Wright, and Redemption

So my last post contended that polemical argumentation, rebuke, correction of error, etc. can be of great benefit to the Church, as it aids in the service of presenting Christ clearly to His people. This post includes some polemical argumentation, rebuke, and correction of error.

People may or may not be aware of the Justification debate going on between N. T. Wright and John Piper. If you're not aware of it, it may be a greater benefit to you that you continue to be unaware of it. But sadly, there are quite a few people confused by and even enamored with the erroneous conclusions that Wright has propounded about the framework of justification.

When I was away for the weekend on a mini-vacation a couple weeks back, I spent some time thinking about these things. I was recognizing that the thoughts that Wright is presenting are actually harming the body of Christ by leading some into confusion and perhaps others into shipwreck. And I believe I'm acting in service to you, to present to you your greatest benefit, when I warn you that N. T. Wright is simply wrong in this debate. You should not be confused. You should not be enamored.

With those thoughts fresh in my mind, I checked Between Two Worlds and found a link to a Christianity Today article in which Trevin Wax compiled snippets from both Piper and Wright on various aspects of the question of justification; e.g., the problem, the law, God's righteousness, etc.

Now, I haven't read everything Wright's ever written, and I'm not qualified to systematically refute the New Perspective on Paul. (Read The Future of Justification for a masterful response to Wright's teaching.) But what I read in this compilation is troubling. So I am going to comment on some of the things both men say in this compilation of their thoughts on the basics.

They both discuss "The Problem":

Piper: God created a good world that was subjected to futility because of the sinful, treasonous choice of the first human beings. Because of this offense against the glory of God, humans are alienated from their Creator and deserve his just condemnation for their sins.

I love it. It's plain. It's simple. A child could understand it. It's the bad news side of the Gospel that we've received.

Wright: God created a good world, designed to be looked after and brought to its intended purpose through his image-bearing human beings. This purpose was thwarted [um, Job 42:1-2?] by the sinful choice of the first human beings. Because of human sinfulness, the world needs to be put to rights again and its original purpose taken forward to completion. God's purpose in putting humans "right" is that through them, the world can be put to rights.

But what is that?

Lots of things could be said, but what I come away with here is that Wright seeks to make the focus of God's creative and redemptive acts the physical creation itself. Since we humans screwed it up, now we're the instruments through which God gets His creation back to how He wanted it. However, what does the Bible teach about God's purpose in redemption?

• 1 John 3:8 - ...the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.
• 1 Timothy 1:15 - It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.
• 1 Peter 3:18 - For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God.
• Hebrews 1:3 - When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
• Titus 2:14 - who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

Indeed, the glory of His name is said to depend on the redemption of sinners:

• Isaiah 48:11 - For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another.
• Ezekiel 36:22-23 - "It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD," declares the Lord GOD, "when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight."
• Isaiah 43:25 - I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake.

God's redemptive purpose certainly does extend to the creation (Rom 8:21), and indeed, "as far as the curse is found." But we see even in that passage that the primary object of redemption is God's flock, His elect, a people for His own possession, and that the creation anxiously longs for the revealing of the sons of God. Creation will be restored in order to give a glorified Bride and Her resplendent King a habitable dwelling for eternity.

These ideas are rooted in God's ultimate purpose, which Piper actually expresses quite nicely in the article.

The essence of God's righteousness is his unwavering faithfulness to uphold the glory of his name in all he does. ... All his acts are done in righteousness.

We are to realize that all God's acts are done in righteousness. And we are to realize that for an act to be done in righteousness it must be utterly committed to upholding the glory of His name. God, dear friends, is about glorifying Himself in all things. And that is great news.

But for His glory to be His ultimate end in creation, a "penultimate" end (so to speak) must not be to restore the physical creation, but instead to redeem a spiritual people. Why? Because that creation does not glorify Him in His fullness without serving as a manifestation of His glory.

But somebody says, "But the creation does manifest the glory of God!" And they're right (Ps 19:1; Rom 1:20)! But to what or to whom does the creation manifest the bountiful perfections of God? To God Himself? Well, sure. God beholds the goodness of His creation, sees the glory and the perfection and wisdom in His work, and enjoys the expression of His abundant beneficence (Gen 1:31). But I contend that the face of the Son, eternally reflecting the exact representation of the radiance of the Father's own glory (Heb 1:3; John 17:5) is a better instrument of manifesting the glory of God to Himself than the creation is.

No, the creation manifests the bountiful perfections of God to the creature, to human beings. God is not as glorified by someone (or something) who merely sees and reflects His beauty as He is by someone who sees, reflects, and rejoices in His beauty. God is not honored unless the perfection of His character is enjoyed and rejoiced in, because He's worthy of such praise. And such worship -- such delight of affections -- is impossible for the inanimate creation.

In God's plan of redemption, He's not just getting through us so He can have His world back all nice again. He is purifying for Himself, not a creation, not an earth, but a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds which reflect His own magnificence. That the creation will be restored is certainly another benefit of His mercy and grace. But His Bride is the apple of His eye (Zech 2:8), because it is in Her -- in the Church -- that His glory is put on fullest display.

...the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
- Ephesians 1:23 -

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
- Ephesians 2:4-7 -

...that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- Ephesians 3:10-11 -