John Piper Book Club

I've discovered a new blog in my blogger wanders, and this one is truly a blessing. It is http://thepreachers-wife.blogspot.com/. There are so many fabulous things I could say about this lady's blog, but there is one aspect that I like the most. The encouragement of deep, meaningful theological discussion. One way she is accomplishing this right now, is the John Piper Spectacular Sins Book Club.

By now you should know of my affinity for the teachings of John Piper. I've been wanting the read this book for some time now (ever since the True Woman conference to be exact), but I haven't picked it up due to my present student circumstances. After finding this "book club" I realized that God is sovereign even over graduate school, and I want to share all my extra time with Him. If you would like to join this book club, click on the banner and join in! I was a few weeks late, but that's totally okay. To give you an idea of what this book is about, I figured I would insert a couple of paragraphs from the Introduction, full citatation listed below. I hope you are blessed with God's grace today, and I hope to see you as a member of the club soon!

Piper wrote:

"Jesus Christ, who was in the beginning with God, and was God (John 1:1), created the universe. He did this as God the Father's equal and as his agent. 'All things were made through him' (John 1:3; 1 Cor. 8:6; Heb.1:2). And he did it to display his glory. 'By him all things were created ...and for him' (Col.1:16). By him and for him. All things were created by Christ and for Christ. The Son of God, who has become a human being - the God-man, Jesus of Nazareth - in perfect concert with his Father, created the universe for the display of his all-satisfying glory.

Not only that, he holds it all together with total authority. 'He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power' (Heb. 1:3). How this massive power - to create and uphold the universe - is weilded to display the glory of Christ is the great issue of our time, and of all time.

THE GREATEST DISPLAY OF THE GLORY OF CHRIST

The apex of the glory of Christ is the glory of his grace - treating people infinitely better than they deserve - giving himself for the everlasting joy of the worst of sinners who will have him as their highest Treasure. And the apex of this grace is the murder of the God-man outside Jerusalem around A.D. 33. The death of Jesus Christ was murder. It was the most spectacular sin ever committed.

At the all-important pivot of human history, the worst sin ever committed served to show the greatest glory of Christ and obtain the sin-conquering gift of God's grace. God did not just overcome evil at the cross. He made evil serve the overcoming of evil. He made evil commit suicide in doing its worst evil.

Evil is anything and everything opposed to the fullest display of the glory of Christ. That's the meaning of evil. In the death of Christ, the powers of darkness did their best to destroy the glory of the Son of God. This is the apex of evil. But instead they found themselves quoting the script of ancient prophecy and acting the part assigned by God. Precisely in putting Christ to death, they put his glory on display - the very glory that they aimed to destroy. The apex of evil achieved the apex of the glory of Christ. The glory of grace."



John Piper, Spectacular Sins and Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2008), 11-12.

Health, Wealth, and Prosperity

One of my husband's and my biggest pet-peeves is the constant use of the so-called "health, wealth, and prosperity gospel." We've known so many people who were looking for a quick-fix miracle cure for their finances, health problems, job issues, etc, etc, and they thought that by saying they believe in God and are "Christians" that He would come down and solve every problem to their liking.

Some of these people were deceived and others just plain lazy. The first chose to believe the hwp gospel when a good speaker came on tv (or to their church, town, etc). The lazy ones just chose to ignore the verses of Scripture which explain that as Christians we will face more hardship because we believe.

The truth is God does look out and provide for His children and wants us to enjoy life to the fullest. But that does not mean He gives us everything we wish we could have. He cares about what is best for us, and sometimes it is not to heal from cancer, get the $100k job, or anything else we may think we need. We live for His glory, not ours. And for those who believe, it is our pleasure and honor to live this way.

My husband and I enjoy Pastor John Piper's sermons and books more than any other living pastor. He doesn't play around, and he's offended a number of people. (Yet his congregation is one of the largest...) Anyway, there is a Youtube video someone put together with Rev. Piper's thoughts about the hwp gospel. I've pasted the link to it below. It is not for the faint of heart, so think hard before watching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTc_FoELt8s