God-Centric: Pointing Up at the Ligonier Conference

In the opening session of the Ligonier National Conference held last week in Orlando, R. C. Sproul remarked after relating the story of the success of his teaching series-turned-book The Holiness of God that "it's not a testimony of me, but of the subject matter."  When Chris Larson, Executive Vice President of Ligonier Ministries and the conference's host, introduced R. C. Sproul and John Piper for their question and answer session, he said similarly: "We're not here celebrating men, but celebrating God."

Not one man teaching at that conference held any claim to a self-created theology or idea, something new and innovative that no one had seen or tried before.  (The only one who came close was John Piper with his  philosophy of Christian Hedonism, but even so he adopted that from Philippians 1:20 and the works of Jonathan Edwards.)  Rather, the conference sessions themselves revolved around basic doctrine, and the simple truth of who God is.  No one was out to say anything new.

Which seems rather antithetical in a postmodern world like this, yes?  Where even the recycled is the new thing.

The truths of God are basic, though they open up into a lifetime of seeking to understand.  He will stand forever.  The speakers all seemed to have a sense of that, and seemed to have a sense of knowing where their place is: remaining in the shadow of the Almighty.  Their words were of the Lord, exalting Him and praising Him, thinking deeply about Him, studying His Word.  They all spoke about God, and about God first; there was neither self-created theology, nor self-orientation towards the gospel.  In other words, the conference was not about how we live, how we go forth in missions, how we align ourselves to a right living, and then comes God's recognition for it.  The speakers turned their attention to God first, God foremost, God permeating, God in all.  We rightly align our own lives by constantly and consistently fixing our gaze upon Him.  A. W. Tozer wrote that eight hundred pianos cannot be tuned to one another, but they can be tuned to one tuning fork.

The men who spoke did not focus on themselves, on their accolades or accomplishments or philosophic achievements or ministry successes.  They, like a conduit, pointed us to the Lord.  As if, in looking to them, they were telling us, "No, not to us.  Look up, further still."