For some excellent insight on the Old vs. the New Calvinism discussion (debate?) check out the Reformed Forum podcast on this issue. While you're there read Jim Cassidy's post, 5 Reasons Why I Am Not a New Calvinist. Folks, this is good stuff and we should spend some time thinking on these issues. The discussion was born out of John Piper's recent lecture at Westminster Seminary for the Seventh Annual Gaffin Lecture. For the record, I'm an Old Calvinist but have sympathy and even embrace some of the distinctives of the New Calvinists. Still, there are issues of great import that we should consider. Below is Dr. Piper's lecture.
Showing posts with label John Piper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Piper. Show all posts
29 June 2013
01 June 2013
28 May 2013
Which city will you chose?
How we need to learn the lesson of suffering...
"Is there a lesson here for how we should suffer? Have you ever noticed that we are not only to imitate the Lord's suffering, but the Lord's joy in it? Paul said to the Thessalonians, "You became imitators...of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit" (1 Thessalonians 1:6). It was the joy of the Lord in affliction that filled this young church.
"This is a call to us now in our day. Will we embrace suffering for the cause of Christ? Not joylessness, but suffering. Will we heed the call of Hebrews 13:13, "Let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured"? The answer is going to hang on whether the city of God is more desirable to us than the city of man. Will we answer, "Here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come" (Hebrews 13:14)?
...For those who have tasted the joy of Jesus, surely nothing is more compelling than the all-surpassing hope of hearing his final word, "Well done good and faithful servant...Enter into the joy of your master" (Matthew 25:21). The city of God is a city of joy. And that joy is the indestructible joy of Christ. Taken from Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ by John Piper, pgs. 38-39.
Which city will you chose, the city of man or the city of God?
"Is there a lesson here for how we should suffer? Have you ever noticed that we are not only to imitate the Lord's suffering, but the Lord's joy in it? Paul said to the Thessalonians, "You became imitators...of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit" (1 Thessalonians 1:6). It was the joy of the Lord in affliction that filled this young church.
"This is a call to us now in our day. Will we embrace suffering for the cause of Christ? Not joylessness, but suffering. Will we heed the call of Hebrews 13:13, "Let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured"? The answer is going to hang on whether the city of God is more desirable to us than the city of man. Will we answer, "Here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come" (Hebrews 13:14)?
...For those who have tasted the joy of Jesus, surely nothing is more compelling than the all-surpassing hope of hearing his final word, "Well done good and faithful servant...Enter into the joy of your master" (Matthew 25:21). The city of God is a city of joy. And that joy is the indestructible joy of Christ. Taken from Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ by John Piper, pgs. 38-39.
Which city will you chose, the city of man or the city of God?
08 March 2013
Don't Wait to Prepare to Suffer
John Piper reminds us:
...If when you become a Christian you write a big red “LOSS” across all the things in the world except Christ, then when Christ calls you to forfeit some of those things, it is not strange or unexpected. The pain and the sorrow may be great. The tears may be many, as they were for Jesus in Gethsemane. But we will be prepared. We will know that the value of Christ surpasses all the things the world can offer and that in losing them we gain more of Christ.
Consider now those things you've lost or will lose as gaining Christ. Don't wait. Seek Him out today.
Suffering is nothing more than the taking away of bad things or good things that the world offers for our enjoyment — reputation, esteem among peers, job, money, spouse, sexual life, children, friends, health, strength, sight, hearing, success, etc. When these things are taken away (by force or by circumstance or by choice), we suffer. But if we have followed Paul and the teaching of Jesus and have already counted them as loss for the surpassing value of gaining Christ, then we are prepared to suffer.
...If when you become a Christian you write a big red “LOSS” across all the things in the world except Christ, then when Christ calls you to forfeit some of those things, it is not strange or unexpected. The pain and the sorrow may be great. The tears may be many, as they were for Jesus in Gethsemane. But we will be prepared. We will know that the value of Christ surpasses all the things the world can offer and that in losing them we gain more of Christ.
Consider now those things you've lost or will lose as gaining Christ. Don't wait. Seek Him out today.
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ
Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and
count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
(Philippians 3:7-8 ESV)
Read more here.
09 January 2013
Bridges & Piper
Two of my living heroes of the faith in one video, John Piper and Jerry Bridges. It just doesn't get any better.
08 January 2013
Let's stop fooling ourselves...
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| John Piper |
When Paul says, “If the dead are not raised, let us eat and
drink,” he does not mean, “Let’s all become lechers.” He means, there is a
normal, simple, comfortable, ordinary life of human delights that we may enjoy
with no troubling thoughts of heaven or hell or sin or holiness or God – if
there is no resurrection from the dead. And what stunned me about this train of
thought is that many professing Christians seem to aim at just this, and call
it Christianity. Paul did not see his relation to Christ as the key to
maximizing his physical comforts and pleasures in this life. No, Paul’s
relation to Christ was a call to choose suffering – a suffering that was beyond
what would make atheism “meaningful” or “beautiful” or “heroic.” It was a
suffering that would have been utterly foolish and pitiable to choose if there
is no resurrection into the joyful presence of Christ… Judge for yourself. How
many Christians do you know who could say, “The lifestyle I have chosen as a
Christian would be utterly foolish and pitiable if there is no resurrection?”
John Piper
Desiring God, 1996, p. 219
12 December 2012
The Innkeeper
You've likely have seen this but for those of you who have not, this is too good not to share...
03 November 2012
After Darkness...
In case you missed the FB posts earlier this week...
After Darkness... Light from Desiring God on Vimeo.
After Darkness... Light from Desiring God on Vimeo.
07 October 2012
Christian, be a Christian
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| John Piper |
That is, live in such a way that Christ gets trusted, you get helped, people get served, and God gets glory.
When you face a challenge or a temptation, do APTAT:
A: Admit that without Christ you can do nothing.
P: Pray for God's help.
T: Trust in a promise suited to your need.
A: Act with humble confidence in God's help.
T: Thank him for the good that comes.
The first two and the last are acts of prayer. So let us remember that prayer is not a mere devotional interlude in the real business of living; it is the pathway of faith and obedience. There is no other.
John Piper. Sanctification in the Everyday: Three Sermons by John Piper (Kindle Location 277). Desiring God Foundation.
20 September 2012
Our Deepest Need in Adversity
Like most of us, when I encounter a problem or trial or some deep affliction, I start plotting how to get myself through it and get relief. But my plans are not God's plans and 99.9% of the time my plans are thwarted. The Lord has something different in mind. I must constantly take myself back to Scripture and remind myself of 2 Corinthians 12:9-10:
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ESV)
We're often meant to suffer through the trial and learn what the Lord has for us in it. Our first instinct to escape could not be more wrong. John Piper's comments serve us well here:
The deepest need that you and I have in weakness and adversity is not quick relief, but well-grounded confidence that what is happening to us is part of the greatest purpose of God on the universe - the glorification of his Son - the grace and power that bore him to the cross and kept him there until the work of love was done. That's what God is building into our lives. (Quoted from Be Still, My Soul, Embracing God's Purpose and Provision in Suffering, Edited by Nancy Guthrie, Crossway Books, page 152.)
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ESV)
The deepest need that you and I have in weakness and adversity is not quick relief, but well-grounded confidence that what is happening to us is part of the greatest purpose of God on the universe - the glorification of his Son - the grace and power that bore him to the cross and kept him there until the work of love was done. That's what God is building into our lives. (Quoted from Be Still, My Soul, Embracing God's Purpose and Provision in Suffering, Edited by Nancy Guthrie, Crossway Books, page 152.)
04 September 2012
Sanctification - Piper & Keller
Love these guys...
Piper and Keller Wrestle with Sanctification from Desiring God on Vimeo.
More on Sanctification from Piper and Keller from Desiring God on Vimeo.
Piper and Keller Wrestle with Sanctification from Desiring God on Vimeo.
More on Sanctification from Piper and Keller from Desiring God on Vimeo.
02 September 2012
11 August 2012
Spiritual Depression in the Psalms - John Piper
A simply wonderful and moving sermon on the issue of spiritual depression.
07 July 2012
John Piper onThe Effects of Aging on Sanctification
Terrific interview with John Piper on sanctification...
As I often grieve over my lack of increasing sanctification I found that Piper's comments comport with my own thoughts and are very comforting. What a blessing it is to have and know the Gospel.
[A]ll the saving events and all the saving blessings of the gospel are means of getting obstacles out of the way so that we might know and enjoy God most fully. Propitiation, redemption, forgiveness, imputation, sanctification, liberation, healing, heaven—none of these is good news except for one reason: they bring us to God for our everlasting enjoyment of him. If we believe all these things have happened to us, but do not embrace them for the sake of getting to God, they have not happened to us. Christ did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God. And people who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there. The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God. It’s a way of overcoming every obstacle to everlasting joy in God. If we don’t want God above all things, we have not been converted by the gospel. -John Piper, God is the Gospel.
As I often grieve over my lack of increasing sanctification I found that Piper's comments comport with my own thoughts and are very comforting. What a blessing it is to have and know the Gospel.
[A]ll the saving events and all the saving blessings of the gospel are means of getting obstacles out of the way so that we might know and enjoy God most fully. Propitiation, redemption, forgiveness, imputation, sanctification, liberation, healing, heaven—none of these is good news except for one reason: they bring us to God for our everlasting enjoyment of him. If we believe all these things have happened to us, but do not embrace them for the sake of getting to God, they have not happened to us. Christ did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God. And people who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there. The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God. It’s a way of overcoming every obstacle to everlasting joy in God. If we don’t want God above all things, we have not been converted by the gospel. -John Piper, God is the Gospel.
05 June 2012
01 June 2012
The Masculine Christianity of JC Ryle - John Piper
The best part of the yearly pastor's conference...
31 March 2012
Wasting our Afflictions
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| John Piper |
The design of God in our cancer is not to train us in the rationalistic, human calculation of odds. The world gets comfort from their odds. Not Christians. Some count their chariots (percentages of survival) and some count their horses (side effects of treatment), but we trust in the name of the Lord our God (Psalm 20:7). God’s design is clear from 2 Corinthians 1:9: “We felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” The aim of God in our cancer (among a thousand other good things) is to knock props out from under our hearts so that we rely utterly on him. - John Piper, Don't Waste Your Cancer, Crossway Books. Download the free pdf here.
30 January 2012
Embrace More Affliction
Piper, John (2008-04-07). The Hidden Smile of God: The Fruit of Affliction in the Lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd (Swans Are Not Silent) . Good News Publishers/Crossway Books. Kindle Edition.
27 December 2011
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