John Piper from DesiringGod.org answers the question at Google.com in Mountain View, CA, "Is Jesus Christ an Egomaniac?" Piper begins with:
My hope in these few minutes is to listen carefully to four people who have been troubled by the self-exaltation of Jesus and of God in the Christian Scriptures, and then to offer a serious answer to their objections that has not only been satisfying to my mind, but a great source of joy and worship of Jesus Christ.
The four people Piper quotes before sharing his answer are:
- Erik Reece (writer in residence at University of Kentucky, Lexington)
- Michael Prowse (article in London's Financial Times)
- Oprah Winfrey
- Brad Pitt
Piper ends the talk with this:
Conclusion: Therefore, when Jesus tells us that we must love him — treasure him, be satisfied in him — above all others, he is loving us. He is desiring and working and willing to suffer to enthrall us with the fullest and longest happiness, namely, himself.
Here is the end of the matter: God is the one being in the universe for whom self-exaltation is not the act of a needy ego, but an act of infinite giving. The reason God seeks our supreme praise, or that Jesus seeks our supreme love, is not because he’s needy and won’t be fully God until he gets it, but because we are needy and won’t be fully happy until we give it.
This is not arrogance. This is grace. This is not egomania. This is love.
And the very heart of the Christian gospel is that this is what Christ died to achieve — our full and everlasting enjoyment of the greatness of God.
Note: The audio breaks up a few times during the entirety of the talk and answer time.
