The Gospel according to John Piper

Recently I have been very disappointed with the teachings of John Piper. Given, I am not Reformed and so we would naturally be at odds, but it seems to me that Piper has taken to creating unnecessary walls within Christianity. A few months ago it was over the issue of Baptism. Piper, Grudem, Dever and some other got into a discussion of who is allowed to partake in communion and how this relates to church membership. Overall the conversation was fairly civil, but I fail to see the need to create these divisions with the goal of protecting the sanctity of God(as if God could not protect his own sanctity).

Last Tuesday at the Resurgent 2008 conference. John Piper gave this lecture, which in my opinion marks his first open frontal assault on Arminianism. Piper advocates the removal of any teacher or preacher who disagrees with his understanding the gospel.

I believe that I will never fully understand the Truth that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe that it is my responsibility to have faith in Christ, to strive to move closer to the example of Christ, and to follow the leadings of the Holy Spirit. Those are the three things about which I truly care. I do not care if my theology matches the theology of the people with whom I worship or do ministry. In fact, I believe a diversity of theology is beneficial to the kingdom of God as long as it is centered around and grounded in the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

My impression of John Piper is that he believes he knows the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that all other people must come to his understanding or they are not true disciples of Christ. I would argue that there are plenty of true disciples of Jesus Christ who are not disciples of John Piper.

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Numbers 14:1-15:41

At the report of the scouts the people begin to weep and complain.  They are fearful of going into this land and decide that they will select their own leaders and return to Egypt.  The Lord says that he will destroy the people, but Moses intercedes and asks that the people be spared.  God tells the people, “you will discover what it is like to have me for an enemy,” and declares that they are to wander in the wilderness for 40 years and that none of that ungrateful generation will see the promised land with the exception of Caleb and Joshua.  The 10 scouts who stirred up the trouble are struck down with a plague.  The Lord tells the people to go to the wilderness, some disobey and attempt to enter the promised land; these people are killed by the Amalekites and the Canaanites.

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Church

(I finally got caught up on my Bible reading, now if I can get caught up on school, and writing out some book reviews I’ll be all set.)

Today was one of the best trips to church that we have had in a while. We didn’t have to wrangle coats and trudge through snow. It was a beautiful day and the kids were ready to go. It amazes me how much easier it is to enter a spirit of worship when nobody is throwing up, and everybody wants to go to church.

Today we had a group of men who had been at a men’s conference in Chicago speak. One of the things that no body said but struck me was that sometimes we are called to go somewhere for somebody else. Some of these men were not called to go to this conference for their own blessing, but so that God could use them to bless others. I am excited that they were all willing to follow God’s leading and take a weekend to travel, fellowship, disciple, and worship.

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