John Piper
“A Time To Speak” Live Stream Event (John Piper, Matt Chandler, Thabiti Anyabwile, Ed Steltzer, Bryan Lorrits, Etc.)
“In light of recent events in Ferguson, Missouri, Cleveland, and New York, 11 Christian pastors and leaders are gathering Dec. 16 at the historic Lorraine Motel and National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis for A Time to Speak, a live stream event focusing on race, the church and where to go from here.” [Source]
I highly suggest you “attend” this event.
Sign up and view the event from this link (<– this is the same link for the now archived video — updated Dec. 19, 2014).
New: Desiring God and John Piper’s New ‘Look at the Book’
Desiring God, the headquarters of sorts for the ministry of John Piper, has just recently announced the launch of a new ministry. In a recent email they say,
This has been a dream for several years. In recent months, John Piper and the Desiring God team have been working behind the scenes to envision and develop this new tool for helping people to read the Bible for themselves. These 8-12 minute videos put the biblical text on the screen, and show Pastor John’s pen, as his voice guides us through the passage. His hope is not just to feed us from his catch, but to teach us to fish for ourselves.
I love John Piper, his passion for God, and his desire to see himself and others conformed to the world of scripture. I also find myself lining up with him theologically to a significant degree. Therefore, I have essentially no hesitation recommending to you what I believe is likely an incredible resource.
You can find specific ‘Look at the Book’ episodes on Desiring God’ website.
Check out the introduction video below.
7 Principles Concerning Israel and the Land (John Piper)
Yesterday Matt Smethurst published a blog post on Israel, Gaza, and the idea of Israel’s ‘divine right’ to the land (originally posted Nov 22, 2012). In it Matt linked to and shared thoughts from one of John Piper’s sermons on that same topic. I was familiar with this sermon; I have listened to it once or twice previously. But I was reminded of it yesterday; and, like Matt, I thought it would be good to share his principles as well as some commentary.
In the sermon, John Piper provides 7 principles concerning Israel, Palestine, the land, ‘divine right,’ etc. I want to share these because 1) this is incredibly relevant right now and 2) I think Piper is spot on here.
1. God chose Israel from all the peoples of the world to be his own possession.
Deuteronomy 7:6 – The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
2. The Land was part of the inheritance he promised to Abraham and his descendants forever.
Genesis 15:18 – On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.”
Genesis 17:7-8 – “I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
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A devotional examination of “delight to fear your name” (Nehemiah 1:11)
The following was a short exegetical essay for Dr. Richard E. Averbeck’s Pentateuch and Historical Books course at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
At the close of his prayer, Nehemiah describes God’s servants as those who “delight to fear your [YHWH’s] name.” Interestingly, out of the handful of commentaries examined, this author was unable to find a single comment on this quick phrase. However, this somewhat odd and seemingly paradoxical expression is certainly worthy of further study because undoubtedly it speaks volumes to fundamental questions about the source and nature of the believer’s delight, let alone his or her relationship with God.
יָרֵא means to fear, to hold in awe or deference. It connotes a level of honor and respect. And often, it is used to refer to the proper fear due to God (Holladay, 142). But paradoxically, Nehemiah’s words indicate that delight is found in fearing God’s name. (As is commonly known, “name” in the OT is often used to represent one’s essential characteristics. Therefore, this refers to those who fear God as He truly is.) However, this is very much contrary to common opinion; many live, act, and think as though pleasure is found in anything but God and His commandments. In fact, God is even called the “cosmic killjoy.” Contrary to this thought, Nehemiah demonstrates the belief that pleasure is found in fearing God, “that there is a kind of sweetness to the very experience of fearing God” as Piper says. Fear itself is a sweetness to the believer (Piper, “Kindness and Severity of God”). As Piper further explains,
There’s a reason why people run away from scenes of terror in real life, but still go to movies to see the same terror. There’s a reason why no one wants to fall out of an airplane, but they will pay money at Valley Fair for the same sensation of falling. The reason is that we were created to be safely afraid of God. Everything else is an echo of this truth. We were made to be safely afraid of God, because when we are safely afraid of God—when there is no condemnation and we know that he is our Father and our Friend—then what remains in fear of God is deeply pleasant. (Piper, “Kindness and Severity of God”) In sum, Nehemiah’s description of the saint alludes to the reality that there is ironically greater pleasure found in living a life that honors God’s way and refuses the temporary and lesser sinful pleasures. That’s the paradox of “delighting to fear.” It’s not to say that fearing God won’t mean the forfeiting of some pleasures. But paradoxically, the forfeiting of such pleasures in the pursuit of reverencing God yields even greater, unshakable pleasure.
Kirk E. Miller 