» John Piper

John Piper: A Challenge to Women

Word Warrior — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:02:39 +0000

John Piper posted a 15-point “Challenge to Women” (as well as a list of potential ministry opportunities) that was truly challenging to me. Oh that we would have a vast army of women realize their potential for the Kingdom! Very powerful. Here are two of them, and I would encourage you to go and read the rest. This is refrigerator worthy.

Don’t forget to come back and share your thoughts!

#11. ”That you not assume that secular employment is a greater challenge or a better use of your life than the countless opportunities of service and witness in the home the neighborhood, the community, the church, and the world. That you not only pose the question: Career vs. full time mom? But that you ask as seriously: Full time career vs. freedom for ministry? That you ask: Which would be greater for the Kingdom— to be in the employ of someone telling you what to do to make his business prosper, or to be God’s free agent dreaming your own dream about how your time and your home and your creativity could make God’s business prosper? And that in all this you make your choices not on the basis of secular trends or yuppie lifestyle expectations, but on the basis of what will strengthen the family and advance the cause of Christ.”

#13. ”That you develop a wartime mentality and lifestyle; that you never forget that life is short, that billions of people hang in the balance of heaven and hell every day, that the love of money is spiritual suicide, that the goals of upward mobility (nicer clothes, cars, houses, vacations, food, hobbies) are a poor and dangerous substitute for the goals of living for Christ with all your might, and maximizing your joy in ministry to people’s needs.”

Read the rest…

Biblical Authority: Truth is Not Truth if It’s a Lie

Word Warrior — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 19:31:49 +0000

I continue to be utterly heart-broken and dumbfounded as “the new Christianity” re-defines what hitherto the body of Christ has largely agreed were clear, Scriptural principles.

I choose for this post as an example, among many of those principles, “authority in marriage”. And instead of belaboring the point about wrong interpretations, what “headship” really means or how so many men have abused this principle and therefore the principle must certainly be wrong, I give you this example of a godly man who believes in and teaches the appropriate truth of the Bible regarding marriage roles. John Piper who has taken a leave of absence from his ministry for the remainder of the year (that is, a leave from even blog writing and tweeting), writes:

“Noël and I are rock solid in our commitment to each other, and there is no whiff of unfaithfulness on either side. But, as I told the elders, “rock solid” is not always an emotionally satisfying metaphor, especially to a woman. A rock is not the best image of a woman’s tender companion. In other words, the precious garden of my home needs tending. I want to say to Noël that she is precious to me in a way that, at this point in our 41-year pilgrimage, can be said best by stepping back for a season from virtually all public commitments.”

I post his thoughts here to reveal what complementarians hold as TRUTH…that a man can be (and should be) the head of his home and the servant-leader Christ was. He can “lead” his wife and love her as himself. We don’t believe that authority and tenderness are mutually exclusive, but that the very leading Christ calls men to is only rightly done through serving. Headship doesn’t equal abuse, just because some do abuse it.

Nor do we reject the idea of authority just because we don’t like the way it sounds. We know that God’s written Word is true and right and we submit to it because we are submitted to Him.

Call out the man who abuses his responsibilities before his wife and children but in the name of all that is holy DO NOT tell me that Scripture is just wrong or badly written.

Put blame where blame is due. But DO NOT tell me that because I believe when the Bible says, “the husband is the head of the wife” that I am too stupid to understand what is really being taught.

Teach men the proper way to lead their homes but DO NOT tell me, as my husband lives with trepidation before the Lord, loving me as Christ loves the church, that I have been brainwashed with cultish doctrines.

More and more, those who don’t like the idea of authority are villainizing it by using abusive examples to throw out every example. It’s the proverbial “baby with the bath water”, only with more serious implications.

Truth is beautiful truth. Don’t cover a lie with an appeal to feelings and self-actualization. Don’t use the misuse of God’s principles as an excuse to eradicate them. Sinners abusing a Scriptural principle does not make the principle erroneous. Don’t, in an effort to right a problem, create another one.

Authority is not a bad thing. God has given it to us–to fathers, to parents, to churches, to governments–to handle with great care. We are accountable for the way we use it.

But we will also be accountable if we don’t.

“Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished. For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and they will honor you.” Romans 13:1-3

How Can a Loving God Hate Us in Our Sin?

Word Warrior — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:27:26 +0000

I would like to leave Mark Driscoll behind, and yet revisit something he said in a quote from yesterday’s post…a topic already on my mind lately.

Read through the end of this post…if you stop short, the gospel will be incomplete.

There is a theological point missing from most modern-day pulpits. A point we don’t like to hear, a point that flies in the face of our very reason (as often the mysteries of God do), and yet a point so important for us to understand as Christians.

The quote by Driscoll some found bothersome was this:

“…God looks down and says ‘I hate you, you are my enemy, and I will crush you,’ and we say that is deserved, right and just, and then God says ‘Because of Jesus I will love you and forgive you.’ This is a miracle.”

The hard part for us is that God, as a Holy, perfect Being, cannot even look on sin. Oh the irony!!! Our finite brains can barely wrap around the infinite character of God. That’s why we get so angry! “How dare you say God hated us!” I didn’t say it…He did!

But this is why it is SO important for us to properly understand God’s character:

We cannot know the depth and height of His love until we know the depth and height of His hatred of sin. If God doesn’t loathe our sinfulness, Jesus would have died in vain, and His love would be ordinary. The fact that this holy, perfect, spotless God of the universe made a way for us to be spotless and beloved in His sight is unthinkable!

Before we were reconciled, he both loved and hated us–Paul said “we were objects of wrath and destruction” (Ephesians 2, paraphrased). And YET, because of His great love, which is only possible because of His holiness, He provided a means of redemption for those who believe.

“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation…” Colossians 1:21

John Piper gave a beautiful explanation:

“By nature we are children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3) and the anger of God is resting upon us because of our depravity (John 3:36).

Last week I wrote in the STAR that God met me on Saturday afternoon and gave me a deep and peaceful hour. I said that the foundation of my salvation was so real that I felt, as I walked across the bridge, like I weighed two ounces standing in the gentle sun on a mountain of granite ten thousand miles thick. I meant—utterly secure on the mountain of Romans 8:29-30.

But it wasn’t always so for John Piper. There was a time when the mountain of granite was not under me but over me, ready to fall and crush me. It was the mountain of God’s wrath against my sin. God hated me in my sin.

God Hates Unrepentant Sinners

Yes, I think we need to go the full biblical length and say that God hates unrepentant sinners. If I were to soften it, as we so often do, and say that God hates sin, most of you would immediately translate that to mean: he hates sin but loves the sinner. But Psalm 5:5 says, “The boastful may not stand before thy eyes; thou hatest all evildoers.” And Psalm 11:5 says, “The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and his soul hates him that loves violence.”

“Six things the Lord hates, seven which are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and a man who sows discord among brothers.” (Proverbs 6:16-19)

God hates unrepentant sinners—which means that his infinite wrath hangs over them like a mountain of granite and will in the end fall. “Surely God will shatter the head of his enemies, the hairy crown of him who goes on in his guilty deeds” (Psalm 68:21).

What Good Is for a Sinner?

My only hope is that God may not only contemplate me as a depraved sinner but also may contemplate me in Jesus Christ—chosen, loved, and destined for glory. My only hope is that God will fulfill his predestined purpose for me by appeasing his own wrath and acquitting me of all my sin and conquering the depravity of my heart—a thought that is so wonderful it can scarcely be imagined. But the gospel message is that God has done this in the death of his Son.

Desiring God

True Love Hates

Word Warrior — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:00:29 +0000

Piper’s short message here articulates so clearly a huge misunderstanding among the modern church…that if we stand *against* things we are somehow unloving or judgmental; when in fact, the simple message from Scripture and Christ’s teaching is that LOVE MUST HATE.

In Honor of Godly Fathers: John Piper’s Journal

Word Warrior — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 13:40:22 +0000

The following is John Piper’s journal entry narrating his father’s death on Tuesday, March 6, 2007.

“The big hospital clock in room 4326 of Greenville Memorial Hospital said, with both hands straight up, midnight. Daddy had just taken his last breath. My watch said 12:01, March 6, 2007.

I had slept a little since his last morphine shot at ten. One ear sleeping, one on the breathing. At 11:45, I awoke. The breaths were coming more frequently and were very shallow. I will not sleep again, I thought. For ten minutes, I prayed aloud into his left ear with Bible texts and pleadings to Jesus to come and take him. I had made this case before, and this time felt an unusual sense of partnership with Daddy as I pressed on the Lord to relieve this warrior of his burden.

I finished and lay down. Good. Thank you, Lord. It will not be long. And, grace upon grace, hundreds of prayers are being answered: He is not choking. The gurgling that threatened to spill over and drown him in the afternoon had sunk deep, and now there was simple clear air, shorter and shorter. I listened from where I lay next to him on a foldout chair.

That’s it. I rose and waited. Will he breathe again? Nothing. Fifteen or twenty seconds, and then a gasp. I was told to expect these false endings. But it was not false. The gasp was the first of two. But no more breaths. I waited, watching. No facial expressions. His face had frozen in place hours before. One more jerk. That was all. Perhaps an eyebrow twitch a moment later. Nothing more.

I stroked his forehead and sang,
My gracious Master and My God, assist me to proclaimTo spread through all the earth abroad the honors of thy name.

Daddy, how many thousands awaited you because of your proclamation of the great gospel. You were faithful. You kept the faith, finished the race, fought the fight. “Make friends for yourselves with unrighteous mammon that they might receive you into eternal habitations.”

I watched, wondering if there could be other reflexes. I combed his hair. He always wore a tie. The indignities of death are many, but we tried to minimize them. Keep the covers straight. Pull the gown up around his neck so it looks like a sharp turtleneck. Tuck the gappy shoulder slits down behind so they don’t show. Use a wet washcloth to keep the secretions from crusting in the eyelashes. And by all means, keep his hair combed. So now I straightened his bedding and combed his hair and wiped his eyes and put the mouth moisturizer on his lips and tried to close his mouth. His mouth would not stay closed. It had been set in that position from hours and hours of strained breathing. But he was neat. A strong, dignified face.

I called my sister Beverly first, then Noël. Tearfully we gave thanks. Get a good night’s rest. I will take care of things here with the doctor and the nurses and the mortuary arrangements. I will gather all our things and take them back to the motel. “I wish I had been there,” Beverly lamented. Yes. That is good. But don’t let that feeling dominate now. In the days to come, you will look back with enormous gratitude for the hundreds of hours you gave serving Daddy. It is my turn to be blessed.

The nurse came to give him his scheduled morphine shot. As she walked toward me I said, “He won’t need that any more.” “Is he gone?” “Yes. And thank you so much for your ministry to him.” “I will notify the doctor so he can come and verify. I will leave you alone.” “Yes, thank you.”

The doctor in his green frock came at 12:40 and listened with his stethoscope to four different places on Daddy’s chest. Then he pulled back the sheet and said, “I must apply some pain stimuli to his nail base to see if he reacts. Then he used his flashlight to test Daddy’s eyes. “The nurse supervisor will come and get the information we need about the mortuary.” Thank you.

Alone again, I felt his cheeks. Finally cool after the fevered and flushed fight. I felt his nose, as though I were blind. Then I felt mine. I thought, very soon my nose will be like your nose. It is already like your nose.

The nurse came. No thank you, an autopsy will not be necessary. Mackey Mortuary on Century Drive. My name is John, his son. My cell phone is . . . . “You may stay as long as you like.” Thank you. I will be leaving soon.

Now I just look at him. Nothing has changed in his face here in the darkness of this dim light. Just no movement. But I have watched his chest so long—even now, was that a slight rise and fall? No, surely not. It’s like sailing on the sea for days. On the land the waves still roll.
He has four-day’s beard and dark eyes. I lift an eyelid to see him eye to eye. They are dilated.

Thank you, Daddy. Thank you for sixty-one years of faithfulness to me. I am simply looking into his face now. Thank you. You were a good father. You never put me down. Discipline, yes. Spankings, yes. But you never scorned me. You never treated me with contempt. You never spoke of my future with hopelessness in your voice. You believed God’s hand was on me. You approved of my ministry. You prayed for me. Everyday. That may be the biggest change in these new days: Daddy is no longer praying for me.

I look you in the face and promise you with all my heart: Never will I forsake your gospel. O how you believed in hell and heaven and Christ and cross and blood and righteousness and faith and salvation and the Holy Spirit and the life of holiness and love. I rededicate myself, Daddy, to serve your great and glorious Lord Jesus with all my heart and with all my strength. You have not lived in vain. Your life goes on in thousands. I am glad to be one.

I kissed him on his cold cheek and on his forehead. I love you, Daddy. Thank you.

It was 12:55 as I walked out of room 4326. Just before the elevators on the fourth floor in the lounge, a young man in his twenties was sitting alone listening to his iPod with headphones. I paused. Then I walked toward him. He stopped his music. Hello, my father just died. One of the greatest tributes I could pay to him is to ask you, Are you ready to meet God? “Yes, Sir.” That would make my father very happy. You know Jesus is the only way? “Yes, Sir.” Good. Thank you for letting me talk to you.

As I drove out of the parking lot, I stopped. The moon was a day past full. It was cold—for Greenville. I looked at this great hospital. Thank you, Lord, for this hospital. I will probably never lay eyes on it again.”

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John Piper: Marriage & The Christian Husband

Word Warrior — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:43:39 +0000

Hoping to continue to clarify what the BIBLE teaches, what I hope to communicate to a Christian culture so prone to listen to the world’s distortion of marriage…there is hope in Christ. It is not biblical teaching that makes bad husbands and bad marriages; it is sin. There is joy in submission to God’s Word. His Word is never wrong. Hold fast to the One who made you and knows you and is with you. His glory WILL be revealed through your obedience. Piper says it so beautifully..this is a short clip.