Lost

Lost from HistoryMakers on Vimeo.

The Triumph is Sure

John Piper:

Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you. (Isaiah 25:3) 

Isaiah sees the day coming when all the nations — representatives from all the people groups — will no longer be at odds with Yahweh, the God of Israel and his Messiah, whom we know to be Jesus. 

They will no longer worship Bel or Nebo or Molech or Allah or Buddha or utopian social programs or capitalistic growth possibilities or ancestors or animistic spirits. Instead they will come in faith to the banquet on God’s mountain. 

And they will have the veil of sorrow removed and death shall be swallowed up and the reproach of God's people will be removed and tears shall be gone forever. 

That's the setting for understanding the vision of verse 3: “Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you.” In other words God is stronger than the “strong people” and he is so powerful and so gracious that in the end he will turn ruthless nations to revere him. 

So the picture Isaiah gives us is one of all nations turned to God in worship, a great banquet for all the peoples, the removal of all suffering and grief and reproach from the nations who have become his people, and the final putting away of death forever. 

This triumph is sure because God is doing it. Therefore we can be certain of it. 

Not one life spent in the cause of world evangelization is spent in vain. Not one prayer or one dollar or one sermon or one letter of encouragement mailed or one little light shining in some dark place — nothing in the cause of the advancing kingdom is in vain. 

The triumph is sure.

Piper On The Importance of Sleep

Thinking we can outsmart or outwork how God made us never ends well for the creatures.  It's just a subtle desire to be God and of course that never ends well either.

” … I am emotionally less resilient when I lose sleep. There were early days when I could work without regard to sleep and feel energized and motivated. In more recent years my threshold for despondency is lower on less sleep. For me, adequate sleep is not just a matter of staying healthy. It’s a matter of staying in the ministry – I’m tempted to say it’s a matter of persevering as a Christian. I know it is irrational that my future should look so bleak when I get only four or five hours of sleep several nights in a row. But rational or irrational, that is a fact. And I must live within the limits of fact. Therefore we must watch the changes in our bodies.”

John Piper, When I Don’t Desire God, 205

How Do We "Count It All As Loss"?

John Piper:

In everyday practical terms, what does it mean to do this? It means at least these four things: 

1. Renouncing all (counting all as loss) means that, if we must choose between Christ and anything else, we will choose Christ. 

That is, even though God does not bring us to the crisis of either-or at every point, nevertheless, we are ready, and have resolved in our hearts that, if the choice must be made, we will chose Christ. 

2. Renouncing all (counting all as loss) means that we will deal with everything in ways that draw us nearer to Christ, so that we gain more of Christ, and enjoy more of him, by the way we relate to everything. 

That is, we will embrace everything pleasant, by being thankful to Christ; and we will endure everything hurtful, by being patient through Christ. 

3. Renouncing all (counting all as loss) means that we will seek to deal with the things of this world in ways that show that they are not our treasure, but rather that Christ is our treasure. 

That is, we will hold things loosely, share things generously, and ascribe value to things in relation to Christ. We will seek to live the paradox of 1 Corinthians 7:30-31, “Let [Christians] buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it.”   

4. Renouncing all (counting all as loss) means that if we lose any or all the things this world can offer, we will not lose our joy, or our treasure, or our life — because Christ is our joy and our treasure and our life. 

That is, in smaller losses we will not grumble (Philippians 2:14), and in greater losses we will grieve, but not as those who have not hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13).

Read the rest.  

"We need to eat our unexciting meatloaf in our boring, single-family homes with a few more outcasts around our table."

Matthew Loftus writes well about the "boring" Christian life and the hope of the nations.  How do they fit together?  Here is his conclusion, but read the whole thing.  It's full of insight.

It is important for those of us who have grown up in cultures with strong churches & Christian institutions to recognize the concept of church-planting movements in foreign missions, particularly in regard to three self and unreached people groups principles when discussing foreign missions. For not only is there a larger percentage of faithful, boring Christians in Missouri than in Somalia, but the Christians in Missouri have developed the cultural, theological, and ecclesiological resources necessary to create new churches in their culture and language. This is not true for thousands of people groups that do not know Jesus and have no human means to learn about Him. People in North America certainly need evangelism, discipleship, and theological formation just as much as people in Central Asia. The difference is that the institutions and churches carrying out those works in North America are not merely present, but have the ability to self-sustain, self-fund, and self-reproduce in their own cultural milieu. Such institutions aren’t just virtually absent elsewhere, but often lack the resources and personnel to propagate and persist. If we are serious about the value of these institutions, we should work slowly yet tenaciously to establish them everywhere and send enough Christians to places without them so they might be strengthened. 

There are needs everywhere, of course. Not only are the suburbs of America full of lost people, they are full of Christians who need one another to stay and build one another up through fellowship, prayer, service, and worship. Raising families in an increasingly hostile and materialistic culture is hard work requiring great spiritual resources, and we ought not minimize its importance. However, if we look at the needs of the world and the concentration of wealth, power, education, health, and Biblical knowledge that we’ve been blessed with, it looks a little disproportionate—especially when it comes to the institutions that drive the growth of the church and help to keep her witness faithful. We need to be quiet and patient in a few more places. We need to use the dividends of our thrift a little more intentionally. And we need to eat our unexciting meatloaf in our boring, single-family homes with a few more outcasts around our table.

Read the rest.  

This is a Beautiful Video

Get the book here.

A Conversation on Abortion and the Gospel: Francis Chan and John Piper Talk with John Ensor

Justin Taylor:

John Ensor is the president of Passion Life and the author of several books, including Stand for Life: Answering the Call, Making the Case, Saving Lives (co-authored with Scott Klusendorf), Answering the Call: Saving Innocent Lives One Woman at a Time, and most recently, Innocent Blood: Challenging the Powers of Death with the Gospel of Life. 

He recently sat down to talk with Francis Chan (whose mother died giving birth to him) and John Piper (who has spent time in jail for peaceful pro-life protest) 

Chan talks about his struggles to stand up for life. Piper talks about the need to expose evil, standing up for and defending the voiceless victims of injustice. They view depictions of abortion and talk about the need to respond with the cleansing power of the gospel of grace. 

WARNING: Graphic Images.

Missions: Rescuing from Hell and Renewing the World

John Piper cites an interesting sociological study and makes some astute observations concerning missions in our world today.

His conclusion:

The point is this: Conversion to faith in Christ by the Spirit through faith accomplishes two things — rescue from the wrath of God, and transformation of life. This is ultimately why Robert Woodberry found what he found. “Conversionary Protestants” changed the world, because they didn’t focus first on changing the world, but on faith in Christ. 

This means that the missionaries that will do the most good for eternity and for time — for eternal salvation and temporal transformation — are the missionaries who focus on converting the nations to faith in Christ. And then on that basis, and from that root, teach them to bear the fruit of all that Jesus commanded us (Matthew 28:20).

Read the rest.

For Those Who Want Their Heart Aflame For The Great Things of God

Jon Bloom:

Some things you read are invigorating and expansive for your imagination. Some things you read give you penetrating insight into dealing with complex issues. Some things you read hit the sweet spot of your interests and you’re lost in them for hours. Some awake your wonder or make you weep or laugh your head off. Some simply bore you to tears.
But a few things you read light you on fire. 

These are the things that get at the very core of reality. They help you make fundamental connections that spark your understanding about why you exist and what will bring you the most satisfaction. These are the things that make your heart burn. 

I think you’ll find this ebook one of those reads: An All-Consuming Passion for Jesus. It’s only 88 pages and it’s free of charge. You can read it in less than two hours, though you likely will want to linger near the fire at times and pray. It’s best not to rush when pondering the most important things. 

I have benefited from John Piper for a quarter century. Numerous times fire has flared as I read or listened to these messages over the years. And I just read through this book and my heart is burning again. And again I want to sell all I have for the one Treasure — maybe differently than I ever have before. 

There are lots of reasons to read. But the best reason is to ignite your heart. Especially if what you read illumines the word, because that fire becomes a “light” to the path of your entire life (Psalm 119:105). 

So read this if you want to burn. 

If you’d rather listen to John deliver these messages, here are the links:

• A Passion for the Supremacy of God

• Boasting Only in the Cross

• Getting to the Bottom of Your Joy

• Joy As the Power to Suffer in the Path of Love for the Sake of Liberation

A Short History of Student Missions

Powerful video.

John Piper Reflects on the CROSS Conference

It's a very encouraging read. He writes:

December 27–30, about 3,600 college students met in Louisville, Kentucky, to consider the global glory of Christ, the nature of Christ’s mission to the unreached peoples of the world, and the power of the Christian gospel. For some of us, this was a dream come true.

Read the rest.  

New Digital Book From John Piper is Free

Tony Reinke:

Thousands of college students wait silently in a dark auditorium as you make your way to the podium, under the spotlight. What will you say? What will you offer them?

When he climbs the stage at Passion2014 in Atlanta this weekend, John Piper will face this moment again.

Marking the eighteenth year of his involvement in the conference, this event has inspired some of Piper’s most memorable messages. It was at Passion in 2000 that he appealed to the students to boast only in the cross (Galatians 6:14). The crucifixion of Christ is essential for the Christian’s own identity, he said. “Only boast in the cross of Christ. This is a single idea. A single goal for life. A single passion.”

One Passion, Lived Out

This single passion for Jesus is a shared passion, and it draws Piper back year after year, he said in an interview last year. “The movement is not about any particular cause, it is about the fame of Jesus. This is what unites Louie [Giglio] and me.”

Uniting the aim of every Passion conference is the annual challenge from the students: So how do I live out this single, all-consuming passion for Christ in my own life? What does this look like on my campus, and in my busy schedule?

Answering this challenge has been a theme in Piper’s messages over the years. To breathe fresh life into this theme, and extend its reach further, we collected four of Piper’s pivotal messages from the Passion conferences — including “Boasting Only in the Cross” and three others — into our newest ebook: An All-Consuming Passion for Jesus: Appeals to the Rising Generation.

To download An All-Consuming Passion for Jesus free of charge, click on the following format options:

• Download ebook as a PDF file.
• Download ebook as an EPUB file formatted for readers like the Nook, Sony Reader, and Apple iBooks (iPad, iPhone, iPod).
• Download ebook as a MOBI file formatted for Kindle applications (this option works well on some mobile devices, and not so well on others).

Note: To load the ebook into a mobile device, it may be necessary to view this blog post from within your device and then to click the download option.

God's Goodness in Your Pain

God's Goodness in Your Pain from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

Proud People Don’t Give Thanks

Great thoughts here from John Piper that we'd be wise to consider this Thanksgiving.

Missions Is Not for Wimpy Women — And Nine Other Lessons from Ethiopia

Great post and report here from John Piper.

The Importance of Requiring Obedience in Our Children

 John Piper:

1. Requiring obedience of children is implicit in the biblical requirement that children obey their parents.
2. Obedience is a new-covenant, gospel category.
3. Requiring obedience of children is possible.
4. Requiring obedience should be practiced at home on inconsequential things so that it is possible in public on consequential things.
5. It takes effort to require obedience, and it is worth it.
6. You can break the multi-generational dysfunction.
7. Gracious parenting leads children from external compliance to joyful willingness.
8. Children whose parents require obedience are happier.
9. Requiring obedience is not the same as requiring perfection.

Click over to read the explanations.  

A Word For Busy Moms

A great word here from John Piper.

11 Ways God Works for Us

John Piper:

Only a few things have gripped me with greater joy than the truth that God loves to show his God-ness by working for me, and that his working for me is always before and under and in any working I do for him. 

At first it may sound arrogant of us, and belittling to God, to say that he works for us. But that’s only because of the connotation that I am an employer and God needs a job. That’s not the connotation when the Bible talks about God’s working for us. As in: “God works for those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4). 

The proper connotation of saying God works for me is that I am bankrupt and need a bailout. I am weak and need someone strong. I am endangered and need a protector. I am foolish and need someone wise. I am lost and need a Rescuer. 

"God works for me" means I can’t do the work. 

And this glorifies him not me. The Giver gets the glory. The Powerful One gets the praise.
I just completed a series on Twitter (@JohnPiper) celebrating some of the texts that express this truth. Here’s the summary list. Read and be freed from the burden of bearing your own load. “Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you” (Psalm 55:22). Let him do that work. 

• “No eye has seen a God besides you, who works for those who wait for him.” (Isaiah 64:4) 
• “God is not served by human hands as though he needed anything, but he himself gives life and breath and everything.” (Acts 17:25) 
• “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). 
• “The eyes of the LORD run through the earth, to show himself strong for those who trust him.” (2 Chronicles. 16:9) 
• “If I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you. Call on me, I will deliver you. You will glorify me.” (Psalm 50:15) 
• “To old age I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.” (Isaiah 46:4) 
• “I worked harder than any, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians. 15:10). 
• “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” (Psalm 127:1) 
• “Whoever serves, let him serve by the strength God supplies, so that in everything God may be glorified.” (1 Peter 4:11) 
• “Work out your own salvation, for it is God who works in you, to will and to work.” (Philippians 2:12–13) 
• “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” (1 Corinthians 3:6–7)

In the World, For the World, Against the World - A Conversation on Christ and Culture with John Piper and Douglas Wilson

Such a Great Quote from John Piper

From the classic, Desiring God:

Someone may ask, “If your aim is conversion, why don’t you just use the straightforward, biblical command ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved’ (Acts 16:31)? Why bring in this new terminology of Christian Hedonism?”

My answer has two parts. First, we are surrounded by unconverted people who think they do believe in Jesus. Drunks on the street say they believe. Unmarried couples sleeping together say they believe. Elderly people who haven’t sought worship or fellowship for forty years say they believe. All kinds of lukewarm, world-loving church attenders say they believe. The world abounds with millions of unconverted people who say they believe in Jesus. It does no good to tell these people to believe in the Lord Jesus. The phrase is empty. My responsibility as a preacher of the gospel and a teacher in the church is not to preserve and repeat cherished biblical sentences, but to pierce the heart with Biblical truth. In my neighborhood, every drunk on the street “believes” in Jesus. Drug dealers “believe” in Jesus. Panhandlers who haven’t been to church in forty years “believe” in Jesus. So I use different words to unpack what believe means. In recent years I have asked, “Do you receive Jesus as your Treasure?” Not just your Savior (everybody wants out of hell, but not to be with Jesus). Not just Lord (they might submit begrudgingly). The key is: Do you treasure Him more than everything? Converts to Christian Hedonism say with Paul, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8).

This leads to the second part of my answer. There are other straightforward biblical commands besides “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” The reason for introducing the idea of Christian Hedonism is to force these commands to our attention. Could it be that today the most straightforward biblical command for conversion is not, “Believe in the Lord,” but, "Delight yourself in the Lord”? And might not many slumbering hearts be stabbed broad awake by the words “Unless a man be born again into a Christian Hedonist he cannot see the kingdom of God”?”   (my emphasis)

Get the book here.

(HT:  Yancey)