my burg

"If I am scholarly, it is not in any sense because I try to stay on the cutting edge in the discipline of biblical and theological studies. I am far too limited for that. What 'scholarly' would mean for me is that the greatest object of knowledge is God and that he has revealed himself authoritatively in a book; and that I should work with all my might and all my heart and all my soul and all my mind to know and enjoy him and to make him known for the joy of others. Surely this is the goal of every pastor."  -- John Piper,  The Pastor as Scholar and the Scholar as Pastor: Reflections on Life and Ministry (Crossway Books, 2011) And here's Martin Lloyd-Jones with a similar viewpoint: 

"And now, O Christ, let there be light So we can see the way aright Between two dismal forms of death, And with that light, O give us breath To live again, and bring us back From pleasures in a foreign shack, Or from the pride of weary arm, While working on the Father’s farm. From demon sloth and pleasures raw, Or demon toil and pride of law. The pathway home from either place Is opened by the word of grace. O Christ, pursue us till we see That all of God’s bequests are free. The ticket that we have to show Is this: that we are glad to go.” (John Piper, in The Prodigal's Sister)  The painting above is "Sacrificial Grace" by Makoto Fujimura.

From Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die , by John Piper... #16 To Give Us a Clear Conscience "How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our  conscience from dead works to serve the living God."  (Hebrews 9:14) Some things never change. The problem of a dirty conscience is as old as Adam and Eve. As soon as they sinned, their  conscience was defiled. Their sense of guilt was ruinous. It ruined their relationship with God—they hid from him. It  ruined their relation to each other—they blamed. It ruined their peace with themselves—for the first time they saw  themselves and felt shame. All through the Old Testament, conscience was an issue. But the animal sacrifices themselves could not cleanse the  conscience.  “Gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food  and drink and various washings, regulatio...

It is impossible to know and love God without thinking.  He has revealed himself not only in his Son, but also by the many words of Scripture.  There is content, and much to learn about God.  We cannot love him without knowing about him .   But thinking is not the end in itself, it is the means.  Here's John Piper on the role and place of thought in loving God... "I will suggest that loving God with the mind means that our thinking is wholly engaged to do all it can to awaken and express the heartfelt fullness of treasuring God above all things. Treasuring God is the essence of loving him, and the mind serves this love by comprehending (imperfectly and partially, but truly) the truth and beauty and worth of the Treasure. "The upshot is that the task of all Christian scholarship—not just biblical studies—is to study reality as a manifestation of God’s glory, to speak and write about it with accuracy, and to savor the beauty of God in it, and to make it...

I first read the post "Why Do You Believe Jesus Rose from the Dead?" by John Piper in A Godward Life , entry #60, which is a bit fuller than what follows.  He wrote this previously to his church on Easter in March 1988.   What I appreciate here is the validation of an appeal to authority, if the authority is in fact reliable.  When people have asked about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead I've felt I must always begin to enumerate historical evidences, and there's certainly a place for that.   The answer, "because the Bible says so" sounds so naive, whereas a phrase like "science has shown" sounds so authoritative.  But, as Piper shows, both are appeals to authority.  Read on... The odd thing about this question [ Why do you believe Jesus rose from the dead? ] is that I usually have to sit and ponder a while to remember some answers that begin to sound compelling to non-Christian seekers. At first this seems phony: If I believe it, w...

Here's a helpful video Q&A with John Piper where he offers some very important cautions about the “New Calvinism.” These cautions are not only helpful for those in that theological tradition, but for all Christians who may love the things of God -- theology, worship, experience -- more than God himself. Well-said, John!