For now - what some other folks made eternal:
Saturday, January 31, 2009
And we are back from the U.S. of A.
Hopefully so, since I am writing this post in advance. Soon to give a complete report on the journey, so fasten your seat belts :)
For now - what some other folks made eternal:
For now - what some other folks made eternal:
Friday, January 30, 2009
Religion: The Evolution of Self-Control
Jan 1, 2009 — A psychologist came up with a new theory of how religion evolved. It evolved to give people more self-control.
Science Daily reported the ideas of Miami psychologist Michael McCullough. Basically, “Religion May Have Evolved Because Of Its Ability To Help People Exercise Self-control,” the article states, with a picture of a rural church to boot. Self-control is a nice thing to have. Apparently, it produces fitness. “This, in turn, might help explain why religious people tend to have lower rates of substance abuse, better school achievement, less delinquency, better health behaviors, less depression, and longer lives.”
McCullough was non-sectarian with his view. The article said “explained” how “the same social force that motivates acts of charity and generosity can also motivate people to strap bomb belts around their waists and then blow themselves up in crowded city buses.” It’s a little more challenging to see why that would improve fitness, but to him, evolution teaches that “religion can motivate people to do just about anything.”
Maybe one thing evolution could do to help scientists is help them get their origin of speciesScience Daily announced, “Longstanding Theory Of Origin Of Species In Oceans Challenged.” According to our 01/15/2003 entry, this has been a religious war of sorts within the Darwinist camp. Sympatric speciation is struggling against allopatric speciation for survival of the fittest theory. In the oceans, the heretics are winning. Maybe they have a better navy.
doctrine right. Another article on Let’s get this straight. Religious people have self-control, therefore religious people are more fit. The question becomes, is it a lack of self-control that is causing Darwinists to say stupid things?
Brace yourself; we’re going to hear a lot more nonsense in the month leading up the King Charles’ 200th Birthday Re-Coronation Ceremony. You see what they do, don’t you? They gloss over the real issues by asking how religion evolved, not whether religion evolved.
This tactic is just the bully asserting his turf. What you do to stand down a bully is face off with him and turn his energy against him. Don’t accept his premise; fling it right back at him. Ask him if he is just saying this just because he is a sinner looking to rationalize his evil ways. What evil ways? he will sputter. Why, the evil of contradicting yourself. What? Right, you continue, pointing out that he said religious people tend to have longer lives. “How does a young boy blowing up a school bus have a longer life? How could that evolve?” you ask, diverging temporarily into a discussion of why a theory that explains opposite things explains nothing at all. “And come to think of it,” you continue gently but relentlessly, “if religion is a positive thing, what religion are you?” He mumbles that he is an atheist. “Then according to your own theory, you are less fit. In fact, you look kind of depressed and delinquent. Better get on a fitness program. Why not make a resolution to get some self-control and righteousness in your life instead of making up stories out of your own imagination? Come on, I’ll take you to church where we can learn about Truth that doesn’t evolve.”
The evolution-of-everything crowd can’t even get their basic core ideas on the origin of species right 150 years after Darwin supposedly figured it out, and they want us to think they can explain religion. Well if religion evolved, it evolved downward from a true knowledge of God to all kinds of deceptions and lies, including evolution. Time for an update of Darwin’s title: On the origin of specious ideas by natural man’s rejection, or the degradation of evident truths in the struggle for existentialism. But then he would just be plagiarizing Paul.
Published without permission, but with greatest respect.
Science Daily reported the ideas of Miami psychologist Michael McCullough. Basically, “Religion May Have Evolved Because Of Its Ability To Help People Exercise Self-control,” the article states, with a picture of a rural church to boot. Self-control is a nice thing to have. Apparently, it produces fitness. “This, in turn, might help explain why religious people tend to have lower rates of substance abuse, better school achievement, less delinquency, better health behaviors, less depression, and longer lives.”
McCullough was non-sectarian with his view. The article said “explained” how “the same social force that motivates acts of charity and generosity can also motivate people to strap bomb belts around their waists and then blow themselves up in crowded city buses.” It’s a little more challenging to see why that would improve fitness, but to him, evolution teaches that “religion can motivate people to do just about anything.”
Maybe one thing evolution could do to help scientists is help them get their origin of speciesScience Daily announced, “Longstanding Theory Of Origin Of Species In Oceans Challenged.” According to our 01/15/2003 entry, this has been a religious war of sorts within the Darwinist camp. Sympatric speciation is struggling against allopatric speciation for survival of the fittest theory. In the oceans, the heretics are winning. Maybe they have a better navy.
doctrine right. Another article on Let’s get this straight. Religious people have self-control, therefore religious people are more fit. The question becomes, is it a lack of self-control that is causing Darwinists to say stupid things?
Brace yourself; we’re going to hear a lot more nonsense in the month leading up the King Charles’ 200th Birthday Re-Coronation Ceremony. You see what they do, don’t you? They gloss over the real issues by asking how religion evolved, not whether religion evolved.
This tactic is just the bully asserting his turf. What you do to stand down a bully is face off with him and turn his energy against him. Don’t accept his premise; fling it right back at him. Ask him if he is just saying this just because he is a sinner looking to rationalize his evil ways. What evil ways? he will sputter. Why, the evil of contradicting yourself. What? Right, you continue, pointing out that he said religious people tend to have longer lives. “How does a young boy blowing up a school bus have a longer life? How could that evolve?” you ask, diverging temporarily into a discussion of why a theory that explains opposite things explains nothing at all. “And come to think of it,” you continue gently but relentlessly, “if religion is a positive thing, what religion are you?” He mumbles that he is an atheist. “Then according to your own theory, you are less fit. In fact, you look kind of depressed and delinquent. Better get on a fitness program. Why not make a resolution to get some self-control and righteousness in your life instead of making up stories out of your own imagination? Come on, I’ll take you to church where we can learn about Truth that doesn’t evolve.”
The evolution-of-everything crowd can’t even get their basic core ideas on the origin of species right 150 years after Darwin supposedly figured it out, and they want us to think they can explain religion. Well if religion evolved, it evolved downward from a true knowledge of God to all kinds of deceptions and lies, including evolution. Time for an update of Darwin’s title: On the origin of specious ideas by natural man’s rejection, or the degradation of evident truths in the struggle for existentialism. But then he would just be plagiarizing Paul.
Published without permission, but with greatest respect.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
'Tethered' Preaching: John Calvin & the Entertaining Pastor
by John Piper
The Bible tethers us to reality. We are not free to think and speak whatever might enter our minds or what might be pleasing to any given audience--except God.
The Bible tethers us to reality. We are not free to think and speak whatever might enter our minds or what might be pleasing to any given audience--except God.
By personal calling and Scripture, I am bound to the word of God and to the preaching of what the Bible says. There are few things that burden me more or refresh me more than saying what I see in the Bible. I love to see what God says in the Bible. I love to savor it. And I love to say it.
I believe with all my heart that this is the way God has appointed for me not to waste my life. His word is true. The Bible is the only completely true book in the world. It is inspired by God. Rightly understood and followed, it will lead us to everlasting joy with him. There is no greater book or greater truth.
The implications of this for preaching are immense. John Calvin, with the other Reformers, rescued the Scriptures from their subordination to tradition in the medieval church. The Reformation, let us thank God, was the recovery of the unique and supreme authority of Scripture over church authority.
Commenting on John 17:20, Calvin wrote,
Woe to the Papists who have no other rule of faith than the tradition of the Church. As for us, let us remember that the Son of God, who alone can and ought to pronounce in this matter, approves of no other faith but that which comes from the doctrine of the Apostles, of which we find no certain testimony except in their writings. (Commentary on John)
Calvin's preaching inspires me to press on with this great and glorious task of heralding the word of God. I feel what he says when he writes to Cardinal Sadolet
O Lord, you have enlightened me with the brightness of your Spirit. You have put your Word as a lamp to my feet. The clouds which before now veiled your glory have been dispelled by it, and the blessings of your Anointed have shone clearly upon my eyes. What I have learnt from your mouth (that is to say, from your Word) I will distribute faithfully to your church. ("Letter to Cardinal Jacopo Sadoleto," quoted in J. H. Merle D'Augigne, Let Christ Be Magnified, Banner of Truth, 2007, p. 13).
For Calvin, preaching was tethered to the Bible. That is why he preached through books of the Bible so relentlessly. In honor of tethered preaching, I would like to suggest the difference I hear between preaching tethered to the word of God and preaching that ranges free and leans toward entertainment.
The difference between an entertainment-oriented preacher and a Bible-oriented preacher is the manifest connection of the preacher's words to the Bible as what authorizes what he says.
The entertainment-oriented preacher gives the impression that he is not tethered to an authoritative book in what he says. What he says doesn't seem to be shaped and constrained by an authority outside himself. He gives the impression that what he says has significance for reasons other than that it manifestly expresses the meaning and significance of the Bible. So he seems untethered to objective authority.
The entertainment-oriented preacher seems to be at ease talking about many things that are not drawn out of the Bible. In his message, he seems to enjoy more talking about other things than what the Bible teaches. His words seem to have a self-standing worth as interesting or fun. They are entertaining. But they don't give the impression that this man stands as the representative of God before God's people to deliver God's message.
The Bible-oriented preacher, on the other hand, does see himself that way--"I am God's representative sent to God's people to deliver a message from God." He knows that the only way a man can dare to assume such a position is with a trembling sense of unworthy servanthood under the authority of the Bible. He knows that the only way he can deliver God's message to God's people is by rooting it in and saturating it with God's own revelation in the Bible.
The Bible-oriented preacher wants the congregation to know that his words, if they have any abiding worth, are in accord with God's words. He wants this to be obvious to them. That is part of his humility and his authority. Therefore, he constantly tries to show the people that his ideas are coming from the Bible. He is hesitant to go too far toward points that are not demonstrable from the Bible.
His stories and illustrations are constrained and reined in by his hesitancy to lead the consciousness of his hearers away from the sense that this message is based on and expressive of what the Bible says. A sense of submission to the Bible and a sense that the Bible alone has words of true and lasting significance for our people mark the Bible-oriented preacher, but not the entertainment-oriented preacher.
People leave the preaching of the Bible-oriented preacher with a sense that the Bible is supremely authoritative and important and wonderfully good news. They feel less entertained than struck at the greatness of God and the weighty power of his word.
Lord, tether us to your mighty word. Cause me and all preachers to show the people that our word is powerless and insignificant in comparison with yours. Grant us to stand before our people as messengers sent with God's message to God's people in God's name by God's Spirit. Grant us to tremble at this responsibility. Protect us from trifling with this holy moment before your people.
Pastor John
By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: www.desiringGod.org. Email: mail@desiringGod.org. Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Psa 36:1-12
(1) To the choirmaster. Of David, the servant of the LORD. Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes.
(2) For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
(3) The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit; he has ceased to act wisely and do good.
(4) He plots trouble while on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject evil.
(5) Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.
(6) Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O LORD.
(7) How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
(8) They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
(9) For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.
(10) Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart!
(11) Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
(12) There the evildoers lie fallen; they are thrust down, unable to rise.
(2) For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
(3) The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit; he has ceased to act wisely and do good.
(4) He plots trouble while on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject evil.
(5) Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.
(6) Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O LORD.
(7) How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
(8) They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
(9) For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.
(10) Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart!
(11) Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
(12) There the evildoers lie fallen; they are thrust down, unable to rise.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Psa 35:1-28
(1) Of David. Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me!
(2) Take hold of shield and buckler and rise for my help!
(3) Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers! Say to my soul, "I am your salvation!"
(4) Let them be put to shame and dishonor who seek after my life! Let them be turned back and disappointed who devise evil against me!
(5) Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them away!
(6) Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the LORD pursuing them!
(7) For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my life.
(8) Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it! And let the net that he hid ensnare him; let him fall into it--to his destruction!
(9) Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD, exulting in his salvation.
(10) All my bones shall say, "O LORD, who is like you, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, the poor and needy from him who robs him?"
(11) Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me of things that I do not know.
(12) They repay me evil for good; my soul is bereft.
(13) But I, when they were sick-- I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest.
(14) I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother; as one who laments his mother, I bowed down in mourning.
(15) But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered; they gathered together against me; wretches whom I did not know tore at me without ceasing;
(16) like profane mockers at a feast, they gnash at me with their teeth.
(17) How long, O Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their destruction, my precious life from the lions!
(18) I will thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you.
(19) Let not those rejoice over me who are wrongfully my foes, and let not those wink the eye who hate me without cause.
(20) For they do not speak peace, but against those who are quiet in the land they devise words of deceit.
(21) They open wide their mouths against me; they say, "Aha, Aha! our eyes have seen it!"
(22) You have seen, O LORD; be not silent! O Lord, be not far from me!
(23) Awake and rouse yourself for my vindication, for my cause, my God and my Lord!
(24) Vindicate me, O LORD, my God, according to your righteousness, and let them not rejoice over me!
(25) Let them not say in their hearts, "Aha, our heart's desire!" Let them not say, "We have swallowed him up."
(26) Let them be put to shame and disappointed altogether who rejoice at my calamity! Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves against me!
(27) Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, "Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!"
(28) Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness and of your praise all the day long.
(2) Take hold of shield and buckler and rise for my help!
(3) Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers! Say to my soul, "I am your salvation!"
(4) Let them be put to shame and dishonor who seek after my life! Let them be turned back and disappointed who devise evil against me!
(5) Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them away!
(6) Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the LORD pursuing them!
(7) For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my life.
(8) Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it! And let the net that he hid ensnare him; let him fall into it--to his destruction!
(9) Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD, exulting in his salvation.
(10) All my bones shall say, "O LORD, who is like you, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, the poor and needy from him who robs him?"
(11) Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me of things that I do not know.
(12) They repay me evil for good; my soul is bereft.
(13) But I, when they were sick-- I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest.
(14) I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother; as one who laments his mother, I bowed down in mourning.
(15) But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered; they gathered together against me; wretches whom I did not know tore at me without ceasing;
(16) like profane mockers at a feast, they gnash at me with their teeth.
(17) How long, O Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their destruction, my precious life from the lions!
(18) I will thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you.
(19) Let not those rejoice over me who are wrongfully my foes, and let not those wink the eye who hate me without cause.
(20) For they do not speak peace, but against those who are quiet in the land they devise words of deceit.
(21) They open wide their mouths against me; they say, "Aha, Aha! our eyes have seen it!"
(22) You have seen, O LORD; be not silent! O Lord, be not far from me!
(23) Awake and rouse yourself for my vindication, for my cause, my God and my Lord!
(24) Vindicate me, O LORD, my God, according to your righteousness, and let them not rejoice over me!
(25) Let them not say in their hearts, "Aha, our heart's desire!" Let them not say, "We have swallowed him up."
(26) Let them be put to shame and disappointed altogether who rejoice at my calamity! Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves against me!
(27) Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, "Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!"
(28) Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness and of your praise all the day long.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Psa 34:1-22
(1) Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away. I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
(2) My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.
(3) Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!
(4) I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
(5) Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.
(6) This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.
(7) The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.
(8) Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
(9) Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!
(10) The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
(11) Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
(12) What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?
(13) Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.
(14) Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
(15) The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.
(16) The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
(17) When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
(18) The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
(19) Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
(20) He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.
(21) Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
(22) The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.
(2) My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.
(3) Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!
(4) I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
(5) Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.
(6) This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.
(7) The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.
(8) Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
(9) Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!
(10) The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
(11) Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
(12) What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?
(13) Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.
(14) Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
(15) The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.
(16) The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
(17) When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
(18) The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
(19) Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
(20) He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.
(21) Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
(22) The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
'Tethered' Preaching: John Calvin & the Entertaining Pastor
by John Piper
The Bible tethers us to reality. We are not free to think and speak whatever might enter our minds or what might be pleasing to any given audience--except God.
The Bible tethers us to reality. We are not free to think and speak whatever might enter our minds or what might be pleasing to any given audience--except God.
By personal calling and Scripture, I am bound to the word of God and to the preaching of what the Bible says. There are few things that burden me more or refresh me more than saying what I see in the Bible. I love to see what God says in the Bible. I love to savor it. And I love to say it.
I believe with all my heart that this is the way God has appointed for me not to waste my life. His word is true. The Bible is the only completely true book in the world. It is inspired by God. Rightly understood and followed, it will lead us to everlasting joy with him. There is no greater book or greater truth.
The implications of this for preaching are immense. John Calvin, with the other Reformers, rescued the Scriptures from their subordination to tradition in the medieval church. The Reformation, let us thank God, was the recovery of the unique and supreme authority of Scripture over church authority.
Commenting on John 17:20, Calvin wrote,
Woe to the Papists who have no other rule of faith than the tradition of the Church. As for us, let us remember that the Son of God, who alone can and ought to pronounce in this matter, approves of no other faith but that which comes from the doctrine of the Apostles, of which we find no certain testimony except in their writings. (Commentary on John)
Calvin's preaching inspires me to press on with this great and glorious task of heralding the word of God. I feel what he says when he writes to Cardinal Sadolet
O Lord, you have enlightened me with the brightness of your Spirit. You have put your Word as a lamp to my feet. The clouds which before now veiled your glory have been dispelled by it, and the blessings of your Anointed have shone clearly upon my eyes. What I have learnt from your mouth (that is to say, from your Word) I will distribute faithfully to your church. ("Letter to Cardinal Jacopo Sadoleto," quoted in J. H. Merle D'Augigne, Let Christ Be Magnified, Banner of Truth, 2007, p. 13).
For Calvin, preaching was tethered to the Bible. That is why he preached through books of the Bible so relentlessly. In honor of tethered preaching, I would like to suggest the difference I hear between preaching tethered to the word of God and preaching that ranges free and leans toward entertainment.
The difference between an entertainment-oriented preacher and a Bible-oriented preacher is the manifest connection of the preacher's words to the Bible as what authorizes what he says.
The entertainment-oriented preacher gives the impression that he is not tethered to an authoritative book in what he says. What he says doesn't seem to be shaped and constrained by an authority outside himself. He gives the impression that what he says has significance for reasons other than that it manifestly expresses the meaning and significance of the Bible. So he seems untethered to objective authority.
The entertainment-oriented preacher seems to be at ease talking about many things that are not drawn out of the Bible. In his message, he seems to enjoy more talking about other things than what the Bible teaches. His words seem to have a self-standing worth as interesting or fun. They are entertaining. But they don't give the impression that this man stands as the representative of God before God's people to deliver God's message.
The Bible-oriented preacher, on the other hand, does see himself that way--"I am God's representative sent to God's people to deliver a message from God." He knows that the only way a man can dare to assume such a position is with a trembling sense of unworthy servanthood under the authority of the Bible. He knows that the only way he can deliver God's message to God's people is by rooting it in and saturating it with God's own revelation in the Bible.
The Bible-oriented preacher wants the congregation to know that his words, if they have any abiding worth, are in accord with God's words. He wants this to be obvious to them. That is part of his humility and his authority. Therefore, he constantly tries to show the people that his ideas are coming from the Bible. He is hesitant to go too far toward points that are not demonstrable from the Bible.
His stories and illustrations are constrained and reined in by his hesitancy to lead the consciousness of his hearers away from the sense that this message is based on and expressive of what the Bible says. A sense of submission to the Bible and a sense that the Bible alone has words of true and lasting significance for our people mark the Bible-oriented preacher, but not the entertainment-oriented preacher.
People leave the preaching of the Bible-oriented preacher with a sense that the Bible is supremely authoritative and important and wonderfully good news. They feel less entertained than struck at the greatness of God and the weighty power of his word.
Lord, tether us to your mighty word. Cause me and all preachers to show the people that our word is powerless and insignificant in comparison with yours. Grant us to stand before our people as messengers sent with God's message to God's people in God's name by God's Spirit. Grant us to tremble at this responsibility. Protect us from trifling with this holy moment before your people.
Pastor John
By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: www.desiringGod.org. Email: mail@desiringGod.org. Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.
The journey starts today
So it begins - yesterday we arrived in Stockholm, spent a night in a nice hotel, and today we are flying to US, Stockholm-Chicago-Washington-Fort Lauderdale. Please keep us in your prayers!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
A Mighty Fortress by Steve Green
A mighty fortress is our God
A bulwark never failing
Our helper He amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe
His craft and power are great
And armed with cruel hate
On Earth is not his equal
Did we in our own strength confide
Our striving would be losing
Were not the right man on our side
The man of God’s own choosing
You ask who that may be
Christ Jesus, it is He
Lord Saboth His name
From age to age the same
And he must win the battle
And through this world with devils filled
Should threaten to undo us
We will not fear
For God hath willed His truth to
Triumph through us
The prince of darkness grim
We tremble not for him, his rage we can endure
For lo, his doom is sure
One little word shall fell him
That word above all earthly powers
No thanks to them, Abideth
The spirit and the gifts are ours
Through Him who with us sideth
Let goods and kindred go
This mortal life also
The body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still
His kingdom is forever
His kingdom is forever
His kingdom is forever
His kingdom is forever and ever
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Chris Tomlin - Holy Is The Lord
We stand and lift up our hands
For the joy of the Lord is our strength
We bow down and worship Him now
How great, how awesome is He
And together we sing
chorus
Holy is the Lord God Almighty
The earth is filled with His glory
Holy is the Lord God Almighty
The earth is filled with His glory
The earth is filled with His glory
We stand and lift up our hands
For the joy of the Lord is our strength
We bow down and worship Him now
How great, how awesome is He
And together we sing
Everyone sing
chorus
Holy is the Lord God Almighty
The earth is filled with His glory
Holy is the Lord God Almighty
The earth is filled with His glory
The earth is filled with His glory
It's rising up all around
It's the anthem of the Lord's renown
repeat
And together we sing,
everyone sing
chorus
Friday, January 16, 2009
Talking about testimonies....
I wrote this testimony to express my gratitude to Dr. James R. White for his ministry. You may read it here:
Another 25th Anniversary E-Mail from Overseas
Another 25th Anniversary E-Mail from Overseas
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
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Monday, January 12, 2009
Listen or watch R.C. Sproul and others on these Renewing Your Mind Broadcasts
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Psa 33:1-22
(1) Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright.
(2) Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
(3) Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
(4) For the word of the LORD is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness.
(5) He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.
(6) By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
(7) He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses.
(8) Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
(9) For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
(10) The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
(11) The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.
(12) Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
(13) The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man;
(14) from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth,
(15) he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.
(16) The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
(17) The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue.
(18) Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love,
(19) that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.
(20) Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.
(21) For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.
(22) Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.
(2) Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
(3) Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
(4) For the word of the LORD is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness.
(5) He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.
(6) By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
(7) He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses.
(8) Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
(9) For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
(10) The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
(11) The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.
(12) Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
(13) The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man;
(14) from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth,
(15) he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.
(16) The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
(17) The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue.
(18) Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love,
(19) that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.
(20) Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.
(21) For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.
(22) Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Psa 32:1-11
(1) A Maskil of David. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
(2) Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
(3) For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
(4) For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah.
(5) I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
(6) Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him.
(7) You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah.
(8) I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
(9) Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.
(10) Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.
(11) Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
(2) Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
(3) For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
(4) For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah.
(5) I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
(6) Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him.
(7) You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah.
(8) I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
(9) Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.
(10) Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.
(11) Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
Friday, January 09, 2009
Psa 31:1-24
(1) To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. In you, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me!
(2) Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily! Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me!
(3) For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me;
(4) you take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge.
(5) Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.
(6) I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the LORD.
(7) I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul,
(8) and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place.
(9) Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief; my soul and my body also.
(10) For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.
(11) Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach, especially to my neighbors, and an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me.
(12) I have been forgotten like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.
(13) For I hear the whispering of many-- terror on every side!-- as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life.
(14) But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God."
(15) My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!
(16) Make your face shine on your servant; save me in your steadfast love!
(17) O LORD, let me not be put to shame, for I call upon you; let the wicked be put to shame; let them go silently to Sheol.
(18) Let the lying lips be mute, which speak insolently against the righteous in pride and contempt.
(19) Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind!
(20) In the cover of your presence you hide them from the plots of men; you store them in your shelter from the strife of tongues.
(21) Blessed be the LORD, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was in a besieged city.
(22) I had said in my alarm, "I am cut off from your sight." But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried to you for help.
(23) Love the LORD, all you his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.
(24) Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!
(2) Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily! Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me!
(3) For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me;
(4) you take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge.
(5) Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.
(6) I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the LORD.
(7) I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul,
(8) and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place.
(9) Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief; my soul and my body also.
(10) For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.
(11) Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach, especially to my neighbors, and an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me.
(12) I have been forgotten like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.
(13) For I hear the whispering of many-- terror on every side!-- as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life.
(14) But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God."
(15) My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!
(16) Make your face shine on your servant; save me in your steadfast love!
(17) O LORD, let me not be put to shame, for I call upon you; let the wicked be put to shame; let them go silently to Sheol.
(18) Let the lying lips be mute, which speak insolently against the righteous in pride and contempt.
(19) Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind!
(20) In the cover of your presence you hide them from the plots of men; you store them in your shelter from the strife of tongues.
(21) Blessed be the LORD, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was in a besieged city.
(22) I had said in my alarm, "I am cut off from your sight." But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried to you for help.
(23) Love the LORD, all you his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.
(24) Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!
Thursday, January 08, 2009
12 Ways to Love Your Wayward Child
by Abraham Piper
My son Abraham, who speaks from the wisdom of experience and Scripture, has written the article that follows. I read it with tears and laughter. It is so compelling that I asked him immediately if I could share it with the church and the wider Christian community. There is no greater joy than to see your children walking in the truth--and expressing it so well. The rest is Abraham's untouched. -John Piper
Many parents are brokenhearted and completely baffled by their unbelieving son or daughter. They have no clue why the child they raised well is making such awful, destructive decisions. I've never been one of these parents, but I have been one of these sons. Reflecting back on that experience, I offer these suggestions to help you reach out to your wayward child.
1. Point them to Christ.
Your rebellious child's real problem is not drugs or sex or cigarettes or pornography or laziness or crime or cussing or slovenliness or homosexuality or being in a punk rock band. The real problem is that they don't see Jesus clearly. The best thing you can do for them--and the only reason to do any of the following suggestions--is to show them Christ. It is not a simple or immediate process, but the sins in their life that distress you and destroy them will only begin to fade away when they see Jesus more like he actually is.
2. Pray.
Only God can save your son or daughter, so keep on asking that he will display himself to them in a way they can't resist worshiping him for.
3. Acknowledge that something is wrong.
If your daughter rejects Jesus, don't pretend everything is fine.
For every unbelieving child, the details will be different. Each one will require parents to reach out in unique ways. Never acceptable, however, is not reaching out at all. If your child is an unbeliever, don't ignore it. Holidays might be easier, but eternity won't be.
4. Don't expect them to be Christ-like.
If your son is not a Christian, he's not going to act like one.
You know that he has forsaken the faith, so don't expect him to live by the standards you raised him with. For example, you might be tempted to say, "I know you're struggling with believing in Jesus, but can't you at least admit that getting wasted every day is sin?"
If he's struggling to believe in Jesus, then there is very little significance in admitting that drunkenness is wrong. You want to protect him, yes. But his unbelief is the most dangerous problem--not partying. No matter how your child's unbelief exemplifies itself in his behavior, always be sure to focus more on the heart's sickness than its symptoms.
5. Welcome them home.
Because the deepest concern is not your child's actions, but his heart, don't create too many requirements for coming home. If he has any inkling to be with you, it is God giving you a chance to love him back to Jesus. Obviously there are some instances in which parents must give ultimatums: "Don't come to this house if you are..." But these will be rare. Don't lessen the likelihood of an opportunity to be with your child by too many rules.
If your daughter smells like weed or an ashtray, spray her jacket with Febreze and change the sheets when she leaves, but let her come home. If you find out she's pregnant, then buy her folic acid, take her to her twenty-week ultrasound, protect her from Planned Parenthood, and by all means let her come home. If your son is broke because he spent all the money you lent him on loose women and ritzy liquor, then forgive his debt as you've been forgiven, don't give him any more money, and let him come home. If he hasn't been around for a week and a half because he's been staying at his girlfriend's--or boyfriend's--apartment, plead with him not to go back, and let him come home.
6. Plead with them more than you rebuke them.
Be gentle in your disappointment.
What really concerns you is that your child is destroying herself, not that she's breaking rules. Treat her in a way that makes this clear. She probably knows--especially if she was raised as a Christian--that what she's doing is wrong. And she definitely knows you think it is. So she doesn't need this pointed out. She needs to see how you are going to react to her evil. Your gentle forbearance and sorrowful hope will show her that you really do trust Jesus.
Her conscience can condemn her by itself. Parents ought to stand kindly and firmly, always living in the hope that they want their child to return to.
7. Connect them to believers who have better access to them.
There are two kinds of access that you may not have to your child: geographical and relational. If your wayward son lives far away, try to find a solid believer in his area and ask him to contact your son. This may seem nosy or stupid or embarrassing to him, but it's worth it--especially if the believer you find can also relate to your son emotionally in a way you can't.
Relational distance will also be a side effect of your child leaving the faith, so your relationship will be tenuous and should be protected if at all possible. But hard rebuke is still necessary.
This is where another believer who has emotional access to your son may be very helpful. If there is a believer who your son trusts and perhaps even enjoys being around, then that believer has a platform to tell your son--in a way he may actually pay attention to--that he's being an idiot. This may sound harsh, but it's a news flash we all need from time to time, and people we trust are usually the only ones who can package a painful rebuke so that it is a gift to us.
A lot of rebellious kids would do well to hear that they're being fools--and it is rare that this can helpfully be pointed out by their parents--so try to keep other Christians in your kids lives.
8. Respect their friends.
Honor your wayward child in the same way you'd honor any other unbeliever. They may run with crowds you'd never consider talking to or even looking at, but they are your child's friends. Respect that--even if the relationship is founded on sin. They're bad for your son, yes. But he's bad for them, too. Nothing will be solved by making it perfectly evident that you don't like who he's hanging around with.
When your son shows up for a family birthday celebration with another girlfriend--one you've never seen before and probably won't see again--be hospitable. She's also someone's wayward child, and she needs Jesus, too.
9. Email them.
Praise God for technology that lets you stay in your kids' lives so easily!
When you read something in the Bible that encourages you and helps you love Jesus more, write it up in a couple lines and send it to your child. The best exhortation for them is positive examples of Christ's joy in your own life.
Don't stress out when you're composing these as if each one needs to be singularly powerful. Just whip them out one after another, and let the cumulative effect of your satisfaction in God gather up in your child's inbox. God's word is never proclaimed in vain.
10. Take them to lunch.
If possible, don't let your only interaction with your child be electronic. Get together with him face to face if you can. You may think this is stressful and uncomfortable, but trust me that it's far worse to be in the child's shoes--he is experiencing all the same discomfort, but compounded by guilt. So if he is willing to get together with you for lunch, praise God, and use the opportunity.
It will feel almost hypocritical to talk about his daily life, since what you really care about is his eternal life, but try to anyway. He needs to know you care about all of him. Then, before lunch is over, pray that the Lord will give you the gumption to ask about his soul. You don't know how he'll respond. Will he roll his eyes like you're an idiot? Will he get mad and leave? Or has God been working in him since you talked last? You don't know until you risk asking.
(Here's a note to parents of younger children: Set up regular times to go out to eat with your kids. Not only will this be valuable for its own sake, but also, if they ever enter a season of rebellion, the tradition of meeting with them will already be in place and it won't feel weird to ask them out to lunch. If a son has been eating out on Saturdays with his dad since he was a tot, it will be much harder for him later in life to say no to his father's invitation--even as a surly nineteen-year-old.)
11. Take an interest in their pursuits.
Odds are that if your daughter is purposefully rejecting Christ, then the way she spends her time will probably disappoint you. Nevertheless, find the value in her interests, if possible, and encourage her. You went to her school plays and soccer games when she was ten; what can you do now that she's twenty to show that you still really care about her interests?
Jesus spent time with tax collectors and prostitutes, and he wasn't even related to them. Imitate Christ by being the kind of parent who will put some earplugs in your pocket and head downtown to that dank little nightclub where your daughter's CD release show is. Encourage her and never stop praying that she will begin to use her gifts for Jesus' glory instead her own.
12. Point them to Christ.
This can't be over-stressed. It is the whole point. No strategy for reaching your son or daughter will have any lasting effect if the underlying goal isn't to help them know Jesus.
Jesus.
It's not so that they will be good kids again; it's not so that they'll get their hair cut and start taking showers; it's not so that they'll like classical music instead of deathcore; it's not so that you can stop being embarrassed at your weekly Bible study; it's not so that they'll vote conservative again by the next election; it's not even so that you can sleep at night, knowing they're not going to hell.
The only ultimate reason to pray for them, welcome them, plead with them, email them, eat with them, or take an interest in their interests is so that their eyes will be opened to Christ.
And not only is he the only point--he's the only hope. When they see the wonder of Jesus, satisfaction will be redefined. He will replace the pathetic vanity of the money, or the praise of man, or the high, or the orgasm that they are staking their eternities on right now. Only his grace can draw them from their perilous pursuits and bind them safely to himself--captive, but satisfied.
He will do this for many. Be faithful and don't give up.
© Desiring God. Website: www.desiringGod.org. Email: mail@desiringGod.org. Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
When the Bible Blows Your Mind
by John Piper
The Bible teaches us to expect mental jolts when we think about God. It teaches us that our familiar ways of seeing things may be replaced. For example, it says, "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!" (Romans 11:33). Or again, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9).
One of the reasons (not the only one) that some people reject the biblical teaching of unconditional election is that it seems and feels to them out of sync with other teachings in the Bible - like the compassion of God for people or the moral accountability of people before God. It seems to many that God can't choose unconditionally to save some and not others and then also feel compassion for those he does not choose and hold them accountable for their sin.
The problem here is that our instinct or intuition for what is right or possible for God does not fit Scripture. And the danger is that we shape Scripture to fit our feelings.
The Scriptures teach that God chooses who will be saved before we are born or have done anything good or evil (Romans 9:10-12). "It depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy" (Romans 9:16). The Scriptures also teach that we are responsible for the obedience of faith and will be judged if we are disobedient. "But for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury" (Romans 2:8). We are chosen (or not chosen) unconditionally for salvation. And we are accountable for our faith (or unbelief).
As I said in my sermon on 12-8-02, I do not fully understand how God renders certain the belief of the elect and the unbelief of the non-elect. If you want to go deeper into this, I recommend Jonathan Edwards' book The Freedom of the Will. It is slow reading, but you will grow more from the effort than you can imagine.
To help you accustom yourself to living with such felt tensions (unconditional election and human accountability) consider two similar ones from the example of Christ.
First, we see Jesus weeping over Jerusalem because the things of the kingdom were "hidden from [their] eyes." But on the other hand we also hear Jesus say that God has "hidden these things."
Luke 19:41-42. And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes."
Luke 10:21. In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will."
Second, we see Jesus feeling compassion for those who were sick - irrespective, it seems of their faith. On the other hand, we know from illustrations and teachings elsewhere in the Bible that God is finally and decisively in control of sickness. So we have Jesus feeling sorry for people who have sicknesses that God's wisdom has ordained (at least for a time).
Matthew 14:14. When [their] went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
Exodus 4:11. Then the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?"
1 Samuel 2:6. The LORD kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
Implications: 1) Don't cancel one truth in the Bible because it feels out of sync with another. 2) Don't draw emotional or behavioral implications from God's sovereignty that contradict faith, compassion, accountability, prayer, evangelism, or hard work. On the contrary, consider Colossians 3:12 and let your unspeakably happy condition as "chosen, holy and loved" produce "compassion, kindness, humility and meekness."
By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: www.desiringGod.org. Email: mail@desiringGod.org. Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
The Sovereignty of God and Prayer
by John Piper
I am often asked, "If you believe God works all things according to the counsel of his will (Ephesians 1:11) and that his knowledge of all things past, present, and future is infallible, then what is the point of praying that anything happen?" Usually this question is asked in relation to human decision: "If God has predestined some to be his sons and chosen them before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4,5), then what's the point in praying for anyone's conversion?"
The implicit argument here is that if prayer is to be possible at all man must have the power of self-determination. That is, all man's decisions must ultimately belong to himself, not God. For otherwise he is determined by God and all his decisions are really fixed in God's eternal counsel. Let's examine the reasonableness of this argument by reflecting on the example cited above.
1. "Why pray for anyone's conversion if God has chosen before the foundation of the world who will be his sons?" A person in need of conversion is "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1); he is "enslaved to sin" (Romans 6:17; John 8:34); "the god of this world has blinded his mind that he might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ" (II Corinthians. 4:4); his heart is hardened against God (Ephesians 4:18) so that he is hostile to God and in rebellion against God's will (Romans 8:7).
Now I would like to turn the question back to my questioner: If you insist that this man must have the power of ultimate self-determination, what is the point of praying for him? What do you want God to do for Him? You can't ask that God overcome the man's rebellion, for rebellion is precisely what the man is now choosing, so that would mean God overcame his choice and took away his power of self-determination. But how can God save this man unless he act so as to change the man's heart from hard hostility to tender trust?
Will you pray that God enlighten his mind so that he truly see the beauty of Christ and believe? If you pray this, you are in effect asking God no longer to leave the determination of the man's will in his own power. You are asking God to do something within the man's mind (or heart) so that he will surely see and believe. That is, you are conceding that the ultimate determination of the man's decision to trust Christ is God's, not merely his.
What I am saying is that it is not the doctrine of God's sovereignty which thwarts prayer for the conversion of sinners. On the contrary, it is the unbiblical notion of self-determination which would consistently put an end to all prayers for the lost. Prayer is a request that God do something. But the only thing God can do to save a lost sinner is to overcome his resistance to God. If you insist that he retain his self-determination, then you are insisting that he remain without Christ. For "no one can come to Christ unless it is given him from the Father" (John 6:65,44).
Only the person who rejects human self-determination can consistently pray for God to save the lost. My prayer for unbelievers is that God will do for them what He did for Lydia: He opened her heart so that she gave heed to what Paul said (Acts 16:14). I will pray that God, who once said, "Let there be light!", will by that same creative power "shine in their hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ" (II Corinthians 4:6). I will pray that HeGod (John 1:13). And with all my praying I will try to "be kind and to teach and correct with gentleness and patience, if perhaps God may grant them repentance and freedom from Satan's snare" (II Timothy 2:24-26). will "take out their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26). I will pray that they be born not of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of
In short, I do not ask God to sit back and wait for my neighbor to decide to change. I do not suggest to God that He keep his distance lest his beauty become irresistible and violate my neighbor's power of self-determination. No! I pray that he ravish my unbelieving neighbor with his beauty, that he unshackle the enslaved will, that he make the dead alive and that he suffer no resistance to stop him lest my neighbor perish.
2. If someone now says, "O.K., granted that a person's conversion is ultimately determined by God' I still don't see the point of your prayer. If God chose before the foundation of the world who would be converted, what function does your prayer have?" My answer is that it has a function like that of preaching: How shall the lost believe in whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher, and how shall they preach unless they are sent (Romans 10:14f.)? Belief in Christ is a gift of God (John 6:65; II Timothy 2:25; Ephesians 2:8), but God has ordained that the means by which men believe on Jesus is through the preaching of men. It is simply naive to say that if no one spread the gospel all those predestined to be sons of God (Ephesians 1:5) would be converted anyway. The reason this is naive is because it overlooks the fact that the preaching of the gospel is just as predestined as is the believing of the gospel: Paul was set apart for his preaching ministry before he was born (Galatians 1:15), as was Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5). Therefore, to ask, "If we don't evangelize, will the elect be saved?" is like asking, "If there is no predestination, will the predestined be saved?" God knows those who are his and he will raise up messengers to win them. If someone refuses to be a part of that plan, because he dislikes the idea of being tampered with before he was born, then he will be the loser, not God and not the elect. "You will certainly carry out God's purpose however you act but it makes a difference to you whether you serve like Judas or like John." (Problem of Pain chapter 7, Anthology, p 910, cf. p 80)
Prayer is like preaching in that it is a human act also. It is a human act that God has ordained and which he delights in because it reflects the dependence of his creatures upon Him. He has promised to respond to prayer, and his response is just as contingent upon our prayer as our prayer is in accordance with his will. "And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us" (I John 5:14). When we don't know how to pray according to God's will but desire it earnestly, "the Spirit of God intercedes for us according to the will of God" (Romans 8:27).
In other words, just as God will see to it that His Word is proclaimed as a means to saving the elect, so He will see to it that all those prayers are prayed which He has promised to respond to. I think Paul's words in Romans 15:18 would apply equally well to his preaching and his praying ministry: "I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles." Even our prayers are a gift from the one who "works in us that which is pleasing in his sight" (Hebrews 13:21). Oh, how grateful we should be that He has chosen us to be employed in this high service! How eager we should be to spend much time in prayer!
By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: www.desiringGod.org. Email: mail@desiringGod.org. Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.
Monday, January 05, 2009
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Election Coverage
On this edition of the program the hosts take a look, not at the national Presidential elections, but at the biblical doctrine of election, and the lack of coverage that this crucial component to the idea of salvation by grace alone receives in Christian circles today. The White Horse Inn: "know what you believe and why you believe it." 
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