John Piper & Me (#1)

Sorry for such a plain title for this post (hopefully the first of a brief series). I recently mentioned John’s 30th anniversary in the pulpit of BBC, and was asked this by a blog reader:

What was John Piper like on a personal level, how did he influence or change your perspective on ministry, and what would you say is the most important thing he taught you?

John Piper, and the people of Bethlehem Baptist Church (downtown Minneapolis) changed my life in profound ways in the late 1980’s. I had a fine internship at Wooddale Church — one of the largest churches in the BGC, in the suburbs of Mpls — serving under Dr Leith Anderson (now President of the NAE). I learned a lot (!) about “how to do ministry” there, and will always be grateful. Yet my soul longed for a greater connection between my reformed theology and my ministry.

Enter John Piper. Some old friends encouraged me to check out what was going on at BBC (downtown). We did. It was 1987, and I recall he was preaching through the sermons which would later become his book, “The Pleasure of God.” It was all that my soul craved — sound, reformed theology driving the preaching and shape of ministry. Within a few months Laurel and I started attending BBC; within a few months more, we moved into the inner city (that’s a great story in itself!).

What was it that captured us in the preaching of John Piper? First, (what is now obvious to the world) was his passion for the Lord and His Word. He is a preacher set on fire — heart, mind, soul and mouth — by what he sees in the Word, and desire to spread that glorious sight to others. Or perhaps I should say GOD was marvelously present in those services, in every part of them! [I'll have more to say on worship].

Second, when John preaches the BIBLE text is always front and center (unlike so much of what passes as evangelical preaching in America). This was a messenger who was faithful to the Word, and obligated to deliver it (like Paul in Romans 1, “…I am under obligation … I am eager to preach the gospel …”).

Third, what drew me to John’s preaching was the clarity of application. Everything had purpose and presented opportunities to grow in faith and to exercise faith in the Word. And as we settled in at the church, we saw a growing body of believers living out their professions in powerful ways (eg, being genuinely connected to the neighborhoods downtown).

I might add that John is much the same in person as in the pulpit, except (of course) for the volume and the mannerism that attend his preaching. The passion for God is ever on his lips and in his interactions (even in his volleyball playing!).

Thank you, Lord, for Pastor John Piper, and the saints at BBC who have been such a blessing to me, my wife, and so many.

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30 years ago today…

…John Piper accepted God’s call to be a pastor in a local church (he was a professor at a Christian college). Being a pastor is a unique job, and a very special vocation. The way the Lord called John Piper is nicely summarized by blogger Justin Taylor (a

John Piper January 1979

former Piper student). I first met John in those early years, while visiting Bethlehem Baptist Church in 1982 (and later was privileged to serve as an intern there while in seminary in 1987-89).

As Piper contemplated the call to the pastorate, his father Bill Piper (a very active and effective baptist evangelist) wrote to him, and included these words (below) on the nature of the pastor’s job. After my 20 years as a pastor I find them right on target…

Now I want you to remember a few things about the pastorate. Being a pastor today involves more than merely teaching and preaching. You’ll be the comforter of the fatherless and the widow. You’ll counsel constantly with those whose homes and hearts are broken. You’ll have to handle divorce problems and a thousand marital situations. You’ll have to exhort and advise young people involved in sordid and illicit sex, with drugs and violence. You’ll have to visit the hospitals, the shut-ins, the elderly. A mountain of problems will be laid on your shoulders and at your doorstep.

And then there’s the heartache of ministering to a weak and carnal and worldly, apathetic group of professing Christians, very few of whom will be found trustworthy and dependable.

Then there a hundred administrative responsibilities as pastor. You’re the generator and sometimes the janitor. The church will look to you for guidance in building programs, church growth, youth activities, outreach, extra services, etc. You’ll be called upon to arbitrate all kinds of problems. At times you will feel the weight of the world on your shoulders. Many pastors have broken under the strain.

If the Lord has called you, these things will not deter nor dismay you. But I wanted you to know the whole picture. As in all of our Lord’s work there will be a thousand compensations. You’ll see that people trust Christ as Savior and Lord. You’ll see these grow in the knowledge of Christ and his Word. You’ll witness saints enabled by your preaching to face all manner of tests. You’ll see God at work in human lives, and there is no joy comparable to this. Just ask yourself, son, if you are prepared not only to preach and teach, but also to weep over men’s souls, to care for the sick and dying, and to bear the burdens carried today by the saints of God.

No matter what, I’ll back you all the way with my encouragement and prayers.

Praise the Lord for His calling and encouraging pastors!
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Duties of Sermon-hearers

Let us all be reminded of the good counsel that the Westminster Larger Catechism provides about hearing sermons:

Question 160: What is required of those that hear the word preached?

Answer: It is required of those that hear the word preached, that they attend upon it with diligence, preparation, and prayer; examine what they hear by the scriptures; receive the truth with faith, love, meekness, and readiness of mind, as the word of God; meditate, and confer of it; hide it in their hearts, and bring forth the fruit of it in their lives.

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Omnipotence

Omnipotence is the attribute of God (alone) describing His unlimited power, and ability to do anything He pleases. Commenting on this, the great 19th century preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon writes….

Omnipotence may build a thousand planets, and fill them with treasures; Omnipotence may crush mountains into dust, and cause all the seas to evaporate, and destroy the stars, but Omnipotence cannot do one unloving thing toward a believer. Oh! Rest assured, Christian, a harsh act, an unloving action from God toward one of His own people is quite impossible. He is just as kind to you when He throws you into prison as when He takes you into a palace; He is as good to you when He sends famine into your house as when He fills your cupboards with plenty. The only question is, “Are you His child?” If so, He has rebuked you in affection, and there is love in His discipline.

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A Saturday night Savior

Charles Spurgeon brings hope to the Saturday night sinner (and all of us) as he speaks of Jesus Christ, using this text from Hebrews 2:18:
“He himself hath suffered being tempted.”

It is a common-place thought, and yet it tastes like nectar to the weary heart—Jesus was tempted as I am. You have heard that truth many times: have you grasped it? He was tempted to the very same sins into which we fall. Do not dissociate Jesus from our common manhood. It is a dark room which you are going through, but Jesus went through it before. It is a sharp fight which you are waging, but Jesus has stood foot to foot with the same enemy.

Let us be of good cheer, Christ has borne the load before us, and the blood-stained footsteps of the King of glory may be seen along the road which we traverse at this hour.

There is something sweeter yet—Jesus was tempted, but Jesus never sinned. Then, my soul, it is not needful for thee to sin, for Jesus was a man, and if one man endured these temptations and sinned not, then in his power his members may also cease from sin. Some beginners in the divine life think that they cannot be tempted without sinning, but they mistake; there is no sin in being tempted, but there is sin in yielding to temptation.

Herein is comfort for the sorely tempted ones. There is still more to encourage them if they reflect that the Lord Jesus, though tempted, gloriously triumphed, and as he overcame, so surely shall his followers also, for Jesus is the representative man for his people; the Head has triumphed, and the members share in the victory. Fears are needless, for Christ is with us, armed for our defence. Our place of safety is the bosom of the Saviour. Perhaps we are tempted just now, in order to drive us nearer to him. Blessed be any wind that blows us into the port of our Saviour’s love! Happy wounds, which make us seek the beloved Physician.

Ye tempted ones, come to your tempted Saviour, for he can be touched with a feeling of your infirmities, and will succour every tried and tempted one.

(from CHS’ Morning & Evening devotions for October 3rd)

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Manton: measured by your mouth

Puritan pastor Thomas Manton makes a point…

The ox bellows, the ass brayeth, goats and sheep may be known by their bleat; and so is a man by the tenor of his discourse. As the constitution of the mind is, so are the words. …. Still the tap runs according to the liquor with which the vessel is filled; and a man’s speech betrays him of what kind he is….

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Love the church…

Dr Derek Thomas recently wrote of his love for the church – I couldn’t agree more! Ponder his warm, even passionate words…

“Love me, love my dog,” they say, and my poor dog has been sick all summer and continues to be in bad shape. But it is not dogs I am writing about here; it is the church. Jesus seems to say, again and again: “Love me, love my church.”

Something is terribly wrong when professing Christians do not identify with the church and love being a part of her. Something is wrong when professing Christians fail to be passionate about every aspect of the church and long to invest themselves in her, taking all that the church represents and does to heart. Listen, for example, to the way Paul instructs the Ephesians: “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:25-27).

I fell in love with the church the moment I was converted as a freshman in college in 1971. Having never attended any church until then, I discovered a community that was, to me, like a family: caring, loving, and nourishing. The church I found was able to tell me that I was wrong about some things without driving me away. I knew that I was loved. The church showed me acts of kindness and fellowship that I recall with affection to this day. I was introduced to expository preaching from the start – a style of preaching that puts the Bible above the personality and idiosyncrasies of the preacher. I discovered communal prayer times, and joyful singing, all of which have been the mainstay of my Christian life ever since. True, I have had my share of worship wars, when Christians disagree over important things and sometimes trivial things; but for all that, I have taken delight in her rituals of song and sacrament, prayer and proclamation, more times than I can relate. I love the church. I fully endorse Calvin’s way of putting it (and the shadow of Cyprian that lies behind it): “For there is no other way to enter into life unless this mother conceive us in her womb, give us birth, nourish us at her breast, and lastly, unless she keep us under her care and guidance until, putting off mortal flesh, we become like the angels” (Inst. 4.1.4). In the church, I have discovered saints and angels (though not, as far as I know, real angels). I have witnessed deeds of extraordinary kindness done to myself and to others, and I have been the beneficiary of kindnesses done to me by those who remained anonymous.

Yes, there is a dark side to the church as there is to all things in this fallen world. The church is not perfect. It has her share of malcontents and killjoys, her energy-sapping attention-getters and despondent hearts. Adullam’s cave has nothing on some churches I have seen, but none of this robs me of my love for the church. Even at her most eccentric – the King James Version’s rendition of 1 Peter 2:9 as “ye are … a peculiar people” is painfully accurate, if quaint — she is still Christ’s body. “Love me, love my church” is what Jesus seems to say in the Bible. I would not have it any other way. Would you?

Manton: Knowledge & effect

” We are apt to abuse our knowledge. Saving [spiritual] knowledge makes us more humble; but carnal [sinful] knowledge more proud. … The more we know God or ourselves by a divine light, the more humble we shall be. … When Adam’s eyes were opened he ran into the bushes, he was ashamed; so when God opens the eyes, and teaches a Christian, this makes him more humble.”

“Man’s light may make us more learned, but God’s light more holy.”

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“He shall not be afraid of evil tidings”

Are you afraid of getting bad news? Commenting on Psalm 112:7 (above), the great Charles H Spurgeon, in his fine Morning & Evening devotional book, writes this….

Christian, you ought not to dread the arrival of evil tidings; because if you are distressed by them, what do you more than other men? Other men have not your God to fly to; they have never proved his faithfulness as you have done, and it is no wonder if they are bowed down with alarm and cowed with fear: but you profess to be of another spirit; you have been begotten again unto a lively hope, and your heart lives in heaven and not on earthly things; now, if you are seen to be distracted as other men, what is the value of that grace which you profess to have received? Where is the dignity of that new nature which you claim to possess?

Again, if you should be filled with alarm, as others are, you would, doubtless, be led into the sins so common to others under trying circumstances. The ungodly, when they are overtaken by evil tidings, rebel against God; they murmur, and think that God deals hardly with them. Will you fall into that same sin? Will you provoke the Lord as they do?

Moreover, unconverted men often run to wrong means in order to escape from difficulties, and you will be sure to do the same if your mind yields to the present pressure. Trust in the Lord, and wait patiently for him. Your wisest course is to do as Moses did at the Red Sea, “Stand still and see the salvation of God.” For if you give way to fear when you hear of evil tidings, you will be unable to meet the trouble with that calm composure which nerves for duty, and sustains under adversity. How can you glorify God if you play the coward? Saints have often sung God’s high praises in the fires, but will your doubting and desponding, as if you had none to help you, magnify the Most High? Then take courage, and relying in sure confidence upon the faithfulness of your covenant God, “let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Sound exhortations from the ‘prince of preachers’
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PS — Why not set your browser START page to: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/spurgeon/morneve.today.html.
This address automatically changes to the current day’s address…

Basketball Hall of Fame lessons

“Be like David, not like Mike,” writes Voddie Bauchman as he contrasts the recent Basketball Hall of Fame acceptance speeches of David Robinson and Michael Jordan. More:

Modern American sports serve as an incubator for the self-centeredness that resides in each of us. The better one performs, the harder it is to avoid “the big-head.”

I cannot imagine how difficult it would be do handle Michael Jordan’s level of success. What else could he be? Where would he acquire humility, class, and selflessness? Ironically, many argue that these are the very character traits team sports build in young people. Nothing could be further from the truth. Nevertheless, these traits were definitely present in David Robinson.

But where did they come from? Did the Spurs do a better job at fostering this character than the Bulls? I doubt it. Did the Naval Academy do a better job at fostering it than the University of North Carolina? Perhaps. However, I believe the key is in the speech. The “seed of faith” planted by his mom and dad; the ‘preaching’ by teammates like Avery Johnson, and the Christ to whom Robinson referred in his closing remarks all came together to shape the man who made that speech.

David Robinson is far from perfect. I’m sure he has as many flaws, foibles and faults as the rest of us. However, for seven minutes, he represented his team, his family, and his Lord very well. And he showed us all how attractive humility and grace can be.

Pray for David as he strives to walk with God. Also, pray for M.J. as he seeks to fill a massive void in the center of his life that basketball, money, fame, championships, and women can never satisfy. Pray that Christ saves him and turns his gaze to something loftier than his own highlights. Not because Jesus needs Jordan’s voice, but because M.J. needs Jesus (just like the rest of us).

Read the whole thing here.

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