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Why God Wants Us to Sing, and 3 More Conference Interview Clips

(Author: Abraham Piper)

Our national conference this year will deal with words and the different ways we use them to glorify God (or not).

Each week we will be posting several video clips from interviews that we did with the speakers. We hope that they will be helpful to you in and of themselves as well as give you a taste of what you'll hear if you come to this event.

Bob Kauflin - Why Does God Want Us to Sing?

Paul Tripp - What Is the War of Words?

Dan Taylor - The Significance of Stories

Sinclair Ferguson - How Will We Be Judged for Our Words?

Learn more about this conference:

• John Piper's invitation
• Video Trailer
• Speakers
• Registration

If You Can Be Godly and Wrong, Does Truth Matter?

(Author: John Piper)

Since there are some Arminians who are more godly than some Calvinists and some Calvinists who are more godly than some Arminians, what is the correlation between true knowledge of God and godliness?

The best of both groups have historically admired the godliness of those in the other group. Whitefield, the Calvinist, said of Wesley, the Arminian, "Mr. Wesley I think is wrong in some things; yet I believe...Mr. Wesley, and others, with whom we do not agree in all things, will shine bright in glory" (Wesley and the Men Who Followed, 71).

But the sad thing about our day, unlike the days of Whitefield and Wesley, is that many infer from this that knowing God with greater truth and fullness is not important, since it doesn't appear to be decisive in what produces godliness. Those who know what the Bible says will be protected from that mistake...

Read the rest of the article.

Pinnock and Sayers on Hell

(Author: John Piper)

Resolved 08, which I spoke at a couple weeks ago, had a sobering theme: Heaven and Hell. In my preparation, I dug up this contrast between Clark Pinnock and Dorothy Sayers.

Clark Pinnock, a Canadian theologian who has moved far from his evangelical roots, wrote:

I was led to question the traditional belief in everlasting conscious torment because of moral revulsion and broader theological considerations, not first of all on scriptural grounds. It just does not make any sense to say that a God of love will torture people forever for sins done in the context of a finite life.... It's time for evangelicals to come out and say that the biblical and morally appropriate doctrine of hell is annihilation, not everlasting torment. (Theological Crossfire: An Evangelical/Liberal Dialogue, 226-7)

Dorothy Sayers, who died in 1957, speaks a wise and faithful antidote to this kind of abandonment of truth.

There seems to be a kind of conspiracy, especially among middle-aged writers of vaguely liberal tendency, to forget, or to conceal, where the doctrine of Hell comes from. One finds frequent references to the "cruel and abominable mediaeval doctrine of hell," or "the childish and grotesque mediaeval imagery of physical fire and worms." ...

But the case is quite otherwise; let us face the facts. The doctrine of hell is not "mediaeval": it is Christ's. It is not a device of "mediaeval priestcraft" for frightening people into giving money to the church: it is Christ's deliberate judgment on sin. The imagery of the undying worm and the unquenchable fire derives, not from "mediaeval superstition," but originally from the Prophet Isaiah, and it was Christ who emphatically used it.... It confronts us in the oldest and least "edited" of the gospels: it is explicit in many of the most familiar parables and implicit in many more: it bulks far larger in the teaching than one realizes, until one reads the Evangelists through instead of picking out the most comfortable texts: one cannot get rid of it without tearing the New Testament to tatters. We cannot repudiate Hell without altogether repudiating Christ. (A Matter of Eternity, 86)

A Caution to Political Candidates

(Author: John Piper)

Not everything is complex when it comes to politics. Here's something that is clear and simple and fearful. If political figures don't humble themselves and give glory to God when they are praised for their speeches, they will eaten by worms.

Now:

On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. And the people were shouting, "The voice of a god, and not of a man!" Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last. (Acts 12:21-23)

Or later:

It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, "where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched." (Mark 9:47-48)

Declare His Glory Among the Nations

(Author: David Mathis)

This week's sermons: "Declare His Glory Among the Nations"

The sixth and final message in the series "Psalms: Thinking and Feeling with God"

The Psalms speak to all of life. They help us in guilt and discouragement. They show us how to praise when our hearts are full. They guide us when we've been wronged.

But there is something missing. God did not make known his ways or reveal his glory or display his marvelous works for us alone, or for our ethnic group alone. He did it for all the peoples—every tongue, tribe, and nation.

He summons us to sing, and in doing so to summon the nations to sing a new song with us. And at the center of our singing for all eternity will be our global Savior, the God-man, the Lamb who was slain.

The Advantages of Providence

(Author: John Piper)

Here is a sampling of God's complete providence in governing the world.

• "I have commanded the ravens to feed you there" (1Kings 17:4)
• "The Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah" (Jonah 4:6).
• "God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered" (Jonah 4:7).
• "I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants" (Exodus 8:21).
• "He summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of bread" (Psalms 105:16).
• "He gave them hail for rain" (Psalms 105:32).
• "He spoke, and the locusts came" (Psalms 105:34).
• "The Lord will whistle for . . . the bee that is in the land of Assyria" (Isaiah 7:18).
• "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord" (Proverbs 16:33).
• "Even the wind and the sea obey him" (Mark 4:41).
• "He removes kings and sets up kings" (Daniel 2:21).
• "Even the unclean spirits, and they obey him" (Mark 1:27).
• "He upholds the universe by the word of his power" (Hebrews 1:3).

The most beautiful confessional statements of God's providence are found in the Heidelberg Catechism:

What do you mean by the providence of God? (Question 27)

The almighty and everywhere present power of God; whereby, as it were by his hand, he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things come, not by chance, but by his fatherly hand.

What advantage is it to us to know that God has created, and by his providence does still uphold all things? (Question 28)

That we may be patient in adversity; thankful in prosperity; and that in all things, which may hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall separate us from his love; since all creatures are so in his hand, that without his will they cannot so much as move.

Read, trust, worship, be radical.

Guns and Martyrdom

(Author: John Piper)

What do the supreme court ruling on guns and the martyrdom of missionaries have to do with each other?

Noël and I watched Beyond Gates of Splendor, the documentary version of End of the Spear, the story of the martyrdom of Jim Elliot, Peter Fleming, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, and Nate Saint in Ecuador in 1956. That same day we heard that the Supreme Court decided in favor of the right of Americans to keep firearms at home for self-defense.

Here's the connection. The missionaries had guns when they were speared to death. One of them shot the gun into the air, it appears, as he was killed, rather than shooting the natives. They had agreed to do this. The reason was simple and staggeringly Christlike:

The natives are not ready for heaven. We are.

I suspect the same could be said for almost anyone who breaks into my house. There are other reasons why I have never owned a firearm and do not have one in my house. But that reason moves me deeply. I hope you don't use your economic stimulus check to buy a gun. Better to find some missionaries like this and support them.

Do You Believe in Djinn?

(Author: Abraham Piper)

This is a guest post from a friend of ours who is a missionary doctor working with Muslims. It is a part of his guest series, "Day-to-day Observations from Asia."

* * *

The other day, I stopped by the house of one of my Muslim friends. He informed me that his 19-year-old nephew was in the hospital and he asked me to come and look him over.

No problem. I'm a Physician. I get this a lot.

The nephew had gotten pretty banged up when he fell from a three-story building, hitting a few things on the way down. Most of the injuries were not alarming and already taken care of—scrapes, cuts, bruises. He had also broken his heel, which will probably take a couple of months in a cast to heal up.

But the main thing was a broken jawbone. The x-ray was impressive, with several breaks. The answer seemed obvious to me: he needed an operation to get his jaw wired shut.

Enter the negotiations.

As it turns out, the accident happened eight days ago. The family had already been told to get his jaw wired shut, but they were refusing to have the operation because they couldn't afford it.

In this country, you pay for your medical care with cash up front or else the doctor won't do it. Makes sense, otherwise nobody would get paid. So the family and the surgeon had been negotiating for eight days while the patient survived on sugar water in an IV drip.

Well, that's no good.

As I looked him over, he just seemed a little odd. He couldn't speak because of his injury, but he followed commands fine. Even so, he was not interacting normally. He didn't look at me or his parents or his uncle; he mostly stared off into space. He didn't even look at the pretty nurse who stopped by…. Now that is odd in a teenage boy.

The next 30 minutes were taken up in an animated discussion of operations and costs and second opinions and so on. I finally left because it was time for me to get on to my next appointment.

I saw my friend the next day in his office and I mentioned that his nephew seemed a little odd. I asked whether his brain might have gotten hurt in the accident? My friend replied, "No, that is the way he has been since he was 12 years old, let me tell you a story..."

But then a customer came in and my friend discontinued the conversation about his nephew.

When I finally got him alone for a bit he told me that his nephew—when he was 12 years old—had been in the countryside, and had walked into a field to empty his bladder. He unknowingly voided on a Djinn, a Muslim spirit being. (They are different than angels, usually viewed as bad, but sometimes neutral or even good.) Therefore the Djinn had cursed him.

The curse was thus: once or twice a month, for 2 or 3 days at a time, the boy would stop functioning. He would just sit and stare straight ahead without speaking. He could eat and drink during these times, but otherwise would just sit for hours and stare.

Various doctors they had consulted had not helped, but the boy's mother (my friend's sister) had a special Koranic prayer book she would chant a prayer from, and then blow them (literally) over her son. This usually worked.

In between the spells he seemed normal, finishing high school and now doing computer-based cloth design.

My secular friend asked me: "Do you believe in Djinn?"

I love this job. We talked awhile.

The next day, my friend asked me to see his nephew in his home. (They had refused to have the operation, and the patient had been transferred home, complete with a massive round-the-head bandage to supposedly hold his jawbone in place while it healed.) He asked me if I could help with the spells.

But when we arrived, there was a crowd in the house, and my non-religious friend did not want me to talk about the ailment at that time.

Based on what Jesus said about the expelled evil spirit who wanders about and then returns to the house to find it empty and moves back in with seven of his friends, I was not sure that an exorcism would do any good yet. It seemed that this young man had a pretty empty house. Filling it with righteousness would be a first step, so that when the Djinn eventually gets expelled, it can't come back in.

After tea, we talked and prayed for healing, and I left them a copy of Psalm 1, and Psalm 42/43 (Hope in God!). I suggested that the boy meditate on this for awhile. I also recommended that the patriarch of the family approve of it before they started reading.

He said OK, with only a brief scanning. They were all gathered around reading aloud when I left.

So anyway, that's what I've done during my lunchtimes the last couple days. How about you?

Day-to-day Observations from Asia

(Author: Tia)

What does a cross-cultural missionary look like? One description won't work. Cross-cultural gospel-spreaders take all kinds of forms: Bible translators, ESL teachers, environmentalists, pizza shop managers.

Missionaries across the world bless their host cultures in diverse ways to demonstrate and teach the love of God. If you want to know what a missionary does all day, we recommend finding some and asking them. They'll appreciate that you did.

But in the meantime, we've asked one for you.

One of our friends is a doctor in an Asian city with a large Muslim population. He cares for people's physical needs while laboring to illuminate their great spiritual need and the Solution.

We've asked him to write his observations on life, and we'll post them here over the next weeks starting tomorrow. (You can subscribe to our blog by RSS or email, if you don't want to miss any.)

Some afternoons he spends lunch discussing evil spirits with his patients and pointing them to Scripture. Some mornings he spends hours stuck in traffic jams of rickshaws and goats.

Mainly, he strives to love Jesus Christ and display this love, so that others too might follow him.

Knowledge Increases Mystery

(Author: John Piper)

From time to time I meet the objection that efforts to understand complex and mysterious doctrines in the Bible are unhelpful because they reduce mystery and therefore diminish wonder and worship.

There are at least two answers to this objection. The first is mine and the other is from Jonathan Edwards.

1. God is more honored by worship that rises from what we know about him than by worship that rises from what we don't know about him.

There is something fishy about saying our wonder and worship are greater, the less we understand about God. One gets the impression that such "wonder" and "worship" are vague aesthetic feelings on the brink of a void, rather than what we meet in the Psalms: "How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!" (Psalms 139:17).

2. Increased knowledge does not equal decreased mystery. It's the other way around.

Edwards responded to this objection at the end of his Essay on the Trinity (PDF). His point is, true learning increases both knowledge and mystery. The more knowledge we have of God from the Bible, the more mysteries we apprehend.

The benefit of increasing mystery this way (rather than by means of preserving ignorance) is that what we do know gives direction to what we don't know. We do not wonder if the mystery contains a sinister God, because what we do know directs us away from that speculation.

Here are Edwards' own words and his three helpful analogies:

[B]y what has been said [concerning the Trinity] some difficulties are lessened, others that are new appear, and the number of those things that appear mysterious, wonderful, and in comprehensible, is increased by it.... I think the word of God teaches us more things concerning it to be believed by us than have been generally believed.

Analogy #1. When we tell a child a little concerning God he has not an hundredth part so many mysteries in view on the nature and attributes of God... as one that is told much concerning God in the Divinity school; and yet [the Divinity school student] knows much more about God and has a much clearer understanding of things of divinity.

Analogy #2. Under the Old Testament the Church of God were not told near so much about the Trinity as they are now. But what the New Testament has revealed, though it has more opened to our view the nature of God, yet it has increased the number of visible mysteries and they thus appear to us exceeding wonderful and in comprehensible.

Analogy #3. 'Tis so not only in divine things but natural things. He that looks on a plant, or the parts of the bodies of animals, or any other works of nature, at a great distance where he has but an obscure sight of it, may see something in it wonderful and beyond his comprehension, but he that is nearer to it and views them narrowly indeed understands more about them, has a clearer and distinct sight of them, and yet the number of things that are wonderful and mysterious in them that appear to him are much more than before, and, if he views them with a microscope, the number of the wonders that he sees will be much increased still, but yet the microscope gives him more of a true knowledge concerning them.

Deep Waters—Swim or Sink?

(Author: Noel Piper)

One verse leapt to my memory as we listened to Psalm 69 in the service this weekend: "I have come into deep waters." It reminded me of a memorable passage from Lilias Trotter, 19th century artist, author, and missionary to Algeria.

"I am come into deep waters" took on a new meaning this morning. It started with perplexing matters concerning the future. Then it dawned that shallow waters were a place where you can neither sink nor swim, but in deep waters it is one or the other: "waters to swim in"—not to float in. Swimming is the intense, most strenuous form of motion—all of you is involved in it—and every inch of you is in abandonment of rest upon the water that bears you up.

"We rest in Thee, and in Thy Name we go." (A Blossom in the Desert, 146, my italics)

It is an encouragement to me to be reminded by this image that deep water doesn't drown us if we swim hard while at the same time we abandon ourselves to God who holds us up—"underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deut. 33:27).

Fighting Covetousness by Looking at Others

(Author: John Piper)

This is overflow from a pastoral staff discussion on how to be free from covetousness. Fred Johnson had drawn our attention to Achan's stealing and lying in Joshua 7:11. Jericho had fallen before Israel. The riches of the city were not to be taken. But Achan took garments and silver and gold. He hid them and tried to deceive the leaders.

Why did he do this? When he was caught, Achan gives the answer: "I coveted them and took them" (Joshua 7:21). Covetousness. He desired the silver, gold, and garments more than he desired fellowship with God...

Read the rest of the article.

12 Sins We Blame on Others

(Author: Ben Reaoch)

The following is a guest post by Ben Reaoch, pastor of Three Rivers Grace Church in downtown Pittsburgh, PA.

* * *

It started in the Garden. Adam said to God,

The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate. (Genesis 3:12)

The first man, caught in the first sin, turns to blame his wife. And he extends the blame to God as well! He implies that he would have remained innocent if God hadn't put Eve in the garden with him.

The blame-shifting in the Garden continues today. Our proud hearts send us desperately looking for someone else to point to every time we're confronted with our own sin. There must be someone else—our spouse, sibling, parent, boss, co-worker, pastor, friend, or God, himself.

We are so desperate to justify ourselves that we become irrational. Here are 12 examples.

1) Anger

I wouldn't lose my temper if my co-workers were easier to get along with, or if my kids behaved better, or if my spouse were more considerate.

2) Impatience

I would be a very patient person if it weren't for traffic jams and long lines in the grocery store. If I didn't have so many things to do, and if the people around me weren't so slow, I would never become impatient!

3) Lust

I would have a pure mind if there weren't so many sensual images in our culture.

4) Anxiety

I wouldn't worry about the future if my life were just a little more secure—if I had more money, and no health problems.

5) Spiritual Apathy

My spiritual life would be so much more vibrant and I would struggle with sin less if my small group were more encouraging, or if Sunday school were more engaging, or if the music in the worship service were more lively, or if the sermons were better.

6) Insubordination

If my parents/bosses/elders were godly leaders, then I would joyfully follow them.

7) A Critical Spirit

It's not my fault that the people around me are ignorant and inexperienced.

8) Bitterness

If you knew what that person did to me, you would understand my bitterness. How could I forgive something like that?

9) Gluttony

My wife/husband/roommate/friend is a wonderful cook! The things they make are impossible to resist.

10) Gossip

It's the people around me who start the conversations. There's no way to avoid hearing what others happen to say. And when others ask me questions, I can't avoid sharing what I know.

11) Self-Pity

I'll never be happy, because my marriage/family/job/ministry is so difficult.

12) Selfishness

I would be more generous if we had more money.

Making excuses like this is arrogant and foolish. It's a proud way of trying to justify our actions and pacify our guilty consciences. And it keeps us from humbling ourselves before God to repent of our sins and seek his forgiveness.

Consider James 1:13-15, which leaves us with no way of escaping our own sin and guilt. We cannot blame God, for he "cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one."

Instead, we have to accept the humbling truth that "each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire." This will end the blame game, and it will send us pleading for Christ's mercy and grace.

They Don’t Teach This Math in School

(Author: Jon Bloom)

There's a lot of gloom and doom in the news these days. If we listen too much, unbiblical fear may begin to govern our actions because we're only putting our trust in what we see.

Imagine for a moment that you are the Apostle Philip. You and your fellow disciples are sitting around Jesus on a mountainside and you're all watching a large crowd make their way up toward you. You're tired from rigorous days of ministry. And you're hungry. This crowd's arrival probably means a meal is not in your near future. You're trying not to resent them.

Then from behind you Jesus says, "Philip, where can we buy bread so that these people may eat?"

You think, He can't be serious. Buy—for the whole crowd? There are thousands of them! Hasn't Judas given Jesus a financial update lately on this little non-profit? We're not sure how we're going to feed ourselves for more than a few days. Not to mention the fact that there's no bread market for miles.

You reply, "Rabbi, two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little."

Andrew thought he'd be a smart aleck: "Here's a boy who has five barley loaves and two fish, but I don't think that's going to be enough!" You laugh with a few others.

Jesus smiles at the boy. Then he gets up and walks over to him, tousles his hair, and inspects the meal. He asks, "May I have this?" The boy hands him his lunch. Jesus nods toward the crowd and says, "Have the people sit down." Andrew looks at you as if to say, "I was just joking." You shrug and get up to obey your rabbi. You sure hope he has food to eat that you know nothing about.

Two hours later you set a basket load of bread fragments down on the grass, straighten your back, and try to get your mind wrapped around what just happened. There are more leftovers in your basket than there were loaves to begin with. One boy's lunch became more than enough for everyone. They didn't teach you this math in school. Apparently five loaves plus Jesus equals 5,000 loaves, or something like that.

The implications of this are huge. If Jesus has this kind of power, your worries are over.

When Jesus performed this wonder, he was giving Philip, the disciples, the boy, the crowd, and us a crucial lesson in kingdom supply-side economics. Namely, that God will supply every need of ours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). If we really believe this, our worries are over.

(Suggested sermon: "Enough for Us")

Pour Out Your Indignation Upon Them

(Author: David Mathis)

This Week's Sermon: "Pour Out Your Indignation Upon Them"

Part 5 of the series "Psalms: Thinking and Feeling with God"

Psalms that curse can make us squirm.

Is this really in the Bible? What about Jesus' command to love?

The key to understanding the imprecatory or cursing psalms is to see how they are handled by the New Testament authors—and even see them on the tongue of Jesus on the cross.

These psalms are both prophetic of God's judgment and reflective of the suffering of God's anointed. They help us to approve of God's judgment, anticipate the sacrifice of Christ, and incline our hearts toward forgiveness and forbearance.

After “It Is Well With My Soul”

(Author: Jon Bloom)

Horatio Spafford wrote the great hymn, "It Is Well With My Soul," after having lost his four daughters in a shipwreck while crossing the Atlantic in 1881.

On June 15th, this year, the wife of Horatio's grandson passed away in Jerusalem. Her obituary gives a brief history of the Spafford legacy in Israel. And it gives us a glimpse into just how deeply he longed for what he wrote about in his fourth stanza:

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll
The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend
Even so, it is well with my soul

John Piper Is Not an Innovator

(Author: John Piper)

I heard Collin Hansen say in an interview that John Piper is not an innovator.

I hope I can live up to that tribute. I would like it to be true. I am very happy with the simple role of blowing the boredom out of people's brains with long-forgotten, old-fashioned, faithful blasts of biblical truth.

So let me try to prove how uncreative I am theologically. Here is C. S. Lewis saying fifty years ago in his Reflections on the Psalms what I have spent most of my adult life trying to say:

The Scotch catechism says that man's chief end is "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever". But we shall know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him. (p. 97)

And I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. (p. 95)

If it were possible for a created soul fully (I mean, up to the full measure conceivable in a finite being) to "appreciate," that is to love and delight in, the worthiest object of all, and simultaneously at every moment to give this delight perfect expression, then that soul would be in supreme beatitude. (p. 96)

I am a shameless conservative (=conserver) in repeating and embellishing such magnificent biblical insights from the past.

Defeating the Fear of Failure

(Author: Lukas Naugle)

Seth Godin, one of today's best marketing minds, wrote a blog post last week entitled "Is it worthy?"

Godin reflects on whether any of his efforts are worth the investments and sacrifices of others, or whether someone else could have done better with the resources that he has been given.

Godin concludes his reflection:

The object isn't to be perfect. The goal isn't to hold back until you've created something beyond reproach. I believe the opposite is true. Our birthright is to fail and to fail often, but to fail in search of something bigger than we can imagine. To do anything else is to waste it all.

There is much to affirm here. Yes, we fail and fail often. Yes, we should participate in something unimaginably big. And, no, the fear of failure should not keep us from continuing in this pursuit.

Godin's remarks also raise two questions for me:

1. Is searching for "something bigger than we can imagine" enough, or do we need to find something, too?

The seeking is essential, but only because what we find is so wonderful. The asking is important and valuable because of the answers.

I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed….
The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. (Psalm 34:4-6, 10)

2. Can we be set free from the fear of failure by telling ourselves that it is in our nature to fail?

In part, yes, but for the Christian there is far more. The fear of failure is ultimately conquered through Christ. We need to…

• …own up to our sin—the real failure. We fall short of and belittle the glory of God by pursuing our own greatness. (Romans 1:18-23;3:23)
• …change our goal. In faith, we should pursue the glory of Christ, the perfect one, rather than our own perfection. (Galatians 5:1-5)
• …trust in Christ for our perfection, because we are judged according to his righteousness as he intercedes on our behalf continually before God, the Father. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

Defeating the Fear of Failure

(Author: Lukas Naugle)

Seth Godin, one of today's best marketing minds, wrote a blog post last week entitled "Is it worthy?"

Godin reflects on whether any of his efforts are worth the investments and sacrifices of others, or whether someone else could have done better with the resources that he has been given.

Godin concludes his reflection:

The object isn't to be perfect. The goal isn't to hold back until you've created something beyond reproach. I believe the opposite is true. Our birthright is to fail and to fail often, but to fail in search of something bigger than we can imagine. To do anything else is to waste it all.

There is much to affirm here. Yes, we fail and fail often. Yes, we should participate in something unimaginably big. And, no, the fear of failure should not keep us from continuing in this pursuit.

Godin's remarks also raise two questions for me:

1. Is searching for "something bigger than we can imagine" enough, or do we need to find something, too?

The seeking is essential, but only because what we find is so wonderful. The asking is important and valuable because of the answers.

I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed….
The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. (Psalm 34:4-6, 10)

2. Can we be set free from the fear of failure by telling ourselves that it is in our nature to fail?

In part, yes, but for the Christian there is far more. The fear of failure is ultimately conquered through Christ. We need to…

• …own up to our sin—the real failure. We fall short of and belittle the glory of God by pursuing our own greatness. (Romans 1:18-23;3:23)
• …change our goal. In faith, we should pursue the glory of Christ, the perfect one, rather than our own perfection. (Galatians 5:1-5)
• …trust in Christ for our perfection, because we are judged according to his righteousness as he intercedes on our behalf continually before God, the Father. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

The Lord’s Money

(Author: John Piper)

Every day is the Lord's day just like all your money is the Lord's money.

Nevertheless one day in seven is called "the Lord's Day" in a special sense (Revelation 1:10; cf. 1 Corinthians 16:2; Acts 20:7). We set this day aside for a special focus on corporate worship and spiritual refreshment.

Similarly, some of the Lord's money that you manage should be set aside for the Lord's church and his mission in the world.

I write this today because I received $1,500 in the mail last Tuesday from the U. S. Government. It is not my money. It is the Lord's. All of it. I know how much of it I will give to the Lord's church. Noël and I are agreed.

How about you?

Why It Matters That God Does Everything for His Own Glory

(Author: John Piper)

Why should we emphasize that God loves, forgives, and saves for his own glory?

Two reasons (among others).

1) Because the Bible does.

I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. (Isaiah 43:25)

For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great. (Psalm 25:11)

Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name's sake! (Psalm 79:9)

Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O Lord, for your name's sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you. (Jeremiah 14:7)

We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against you. Do not spurn us, for your name's sake; do not dishonor your glorious throne. (Jeremiah 14:20-21)

God put [Christ] forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:25-26)

Your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. (1 John 2:12)

2. Because it makes clear that God loves us with the greatest love.

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory. (John 17:24)

God loves us not in a way that makes us supreme, but makes himself supreme. Heaven will not be a hall of mirrors but an increasing vision of infinite greatness. Getting to heaven and finding that we are supreme would be the ultimate let down.

The greatest love makes sure that God does everything in such a way as to uphold and magnify his own supremacy so that when we get there we have something to increase our joy forever—God's glory.

The greatest love is God's giving himself to us for our eternal enjoyment for ever, at the cost of his Son's life (Romans 8:32).

Jesus and Buddha on Happiness

(Author: Jon Bloom)

Greatly disturbed by the suffering he saw in the world, 29-year-old Prince Guatama Siddhartha (563-483 BC), who was later called the Buddha (enlightened one), left his wife and young child and set out on a search for the meaning of life.

What struck him was the impermanence of the world—nothing lasted. In spite of this, people were attached to impermanent things. They desired to hold on to life, health, possessions, and each other. But life, health, possessions and people pass away. This, he reasoned, was the cause of human suffering. Therefore, he concluded that if he could kill desire his suffering would cease and he would be happy.

But the Buddha did desire something: lasting happiness. Ironically, it was this great desire that fueled his philosophy of killing desire.

There is a vacuous absence of God in the Buddha's pursuit of desire-less joy. He didn't say much about God's existence. To him, God was irrelevant to human happiness. Rather, happiness was being free from desire-induced suffering and reincarnation. It was the blissful end of individual existence—the sweet annihilation that is Nirvana.

How different are Jesus' answers from the Buddha's. When a rich young man, not so different from the rich young Guatama, sought out Jesus' direction for eternal happiness, Jesus replied,

You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me. (Mark 10:21).

Note that Jesus did instruct the man to become detached from his possessions, but he did not mean a Buddhist detachment. The Buddha taught that nothing lasts, so be attached to nothing. Jesus taught that One Thing lasts, so at all cost, be attached to that!

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. (Matthew 13:45)

Jesus knows that our desire for happiness is designed by God and so is our desire for permanence. They are not evil. Here is what is evil:

Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:12-13)

We are designed to be satisfied with the one eternal, permanent God. Evil is when we believe that God will not satisfy us and therefore pursue happiness in transient things. That's the essence of sin.

Jesus and the Buddha agree that pursuing happiness in transient things is futile, but they direct us to opposite solutions. The Buddha says satisfaction is treasuring nothing. Jesus says it is treasuring God. In treasuring God we end receiving all things. In treasuring no thing we end up with, well, nothing.

Which, of course, is why we are not Desiring Nothing Ministries.

Promises to Us Don’t Depend on Us

(Author: Tyler Kenney)

After Solomon's reign and the split of the twelve tribes, not one king of Israel, the northern kingdom, was righteous. Nearly every monarch gets the explicit judgment, "he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord."

But despite their unremitting evil the Lord still had mercy:

The Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them, and he turned toward them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them (2 Kings 13:23).

God's good to his people depended on the great promises he made to the patriarchs, promises that went far beyond their lifetimes. They were faithful men who persevered to the end, but they died, and God's word still remained unfulfilled.

So God, being a "man of his word," simply (gloriously!) followed through on what he had sworn. He blessed their descendants for generations, no matter how wicked they became. He didn't count their trespasses against them, but he blessed them because of the faithfulness of their fathers and his faithfulness to his word.

What's even more encouraging is that today God does this same thing for anyone who makes themselves a descendant of Abraham through faith in the Messiah (Romans 4:16). On account of Christ's faithfulness we who gain adoption through him are forgiven all of our trespasses, are reconciled to God, and receive every good thing that his obedience earned.

2 Birthdays and Biblical Inerrancy

(Author: John Piper)

Two birthdays give rise to fill me with thankfulness because of what they signify about the truth of God's word.

On June 22, Bethlehem Baptist Church turns 137, and the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society turns 50. This is a cause for thanksgiving and an occasion for Bethlehem as a church to renew with joy our vision for faithful ministry under the authority of God's inerrant word...

Read the rest of the article.

The Triumph of the Gospel in the New Heavens and the New Earth

(Author: Abraham Piper)

You can now listen to John Piper's 2nd message at Resolved.

You can also read the manuscript he based this message on.

Bless the Lord, O My Soul

(Author: David Mathis)

Message Title: "Bless the Lord, O My Soul"

Part 4 from the series "Psalms: Thinking and Feeling with God."

Not only do the Psalms teach us how to be depressed well and how to feel guilt well, but they also help us deal well with God's goodness toward us.

Psalm 103 teaches us to "bless the Lord"—to praise God—and to do so in the presence of others.

This is one of the key ways in which we can impart trust in Jesus to a coming generation—especially a father to his children.

Gratitude for Power-Restraints

(Author: John Piper)

The Supreme Court rendered a decision last week concerning Guantanamo Bay. Unlawful combatants there now have constitutional habeas rights (protection from unlawful detention). The decision was considered a rebuke to the Bush administration and the way the armed services are doing their work under his leadership.

Here is what amazes me and awakens thankfulness in my heart to God. I heard the president from Rome speak these words: "We will abide by the Court's decision. That doesn't mean that I have to agree with it."

Don't let this go by without wonder and gratitude. Here is the most powerful leader in the world standing in public in the middle of Europe and saying for the whole world to hear that some of his decisions are nullified and his authority is curtailed and that he will submit to it.

Imagine such a thing in Myanmar or North Korea or China or Vietnam or in a half a dozen African regimes. Unthinkable.

What an incredible privilege we have to live in a land where human power is checked.

I believe in the wisdom of this kind of democracy because I believe in the almost unbounded potential of the human heart for evil. Power corrupts. It is biblically wise that there are checks and balances in the American system.

Another reason I believe in the wisdom of such a democracy is that Christian faith cannot be coerced by force, and unbelievers cannot be executed for their unbelief by anyone but the returning King of kings. Therefore, governance that limits the power of men to force faith or kill the faithless is a good thing.

I am thanking God today for the freedoms and the power-restraints of America.

The Echo and the Insufficiency of Hell

(Author: Abraham Piper)

You can now listen to John Piper's first message at Resolved.

He spoke about hell, beginning with 5 things we need to believe about it:

1. It is eternal
2. It involves the suffering of those who are there.
3. It is conscious suffering.
4. God inflicts this suffering.
5. It is righteous.

Then he explained how hell is an echo of God's glory. And finally he made clear that no one can be saved simply by not wanting to go to hell.

There's no manuscript for this message, but you can read the sermon series that this message was based on. It includes much of the same content, including most of the quotes he used.

A Poem for Father’s Day

(Author: John Piper)

I wrote this poem when Noël's Father died. But now it covers both our fathers. We thank God for them. What a gift they were to us. And what a gift they gave.

In Memory of George T. Henry and William S. H. Piper, Our Fathers

Reflections on Psalm 1 and Joshua 24:15

No tree however deep the roots,
However high and green the shoots,
However strong the trunk has stood,
Or firm the fibers of the wood,
No tree was ever meant to be
A never-ending shade for me
Or you. Save one: where Jesus died
With bleeding branches spread as wide
And far as faith, for sinful men.

But there was shade, especially when
The tree was old: the leaves were thick
With life, and though the root was sick,
The bark deep-creased with age, the limbs
Were laden down with love, and hymns
Were heard beneath when wind bestirred
The bowing branches with the Word
Of heaven. O there were years of shade!

And more: there was the fruit he made,
Or better, bore, when all the ground
Seemed dry, we turned again and found
The branches heavy with some rare
Well-watered food and sweet, called Care.
There must have been a river there
Beneath the arid earth somewhere
Deep-flowing up around the tips
Of dying roots, and giving sips
Of everlasting life for him
To share with us while every limb
Gave up its own. O, there was fruit!
Life-giving from the dying root.

And more. Much more. There was the wood
And it was strong. It had withstood
A thousand storms, and everyone
More firm. And now for every son,
Grandchild and every daughter here
He lies a fallen tree and dear,
And leaves in you the solid wood
And bids you stand where he has stood
Beside the river of the Word,
And that you keep what you have heard,
And sing with him in one accord:
"My fruitful house will serve the Lord."

Many Years of Patience

(Author: John Piper)

"The Lord is good to those who wait for him" (Lamentations 3:25).

Charles Simeon was in the Church of England from 1782 to 1836 at Trinity Church in Cambridge. He was appointed to his church by a bishop against the will of the people. They opposed him not because he was a bad preacher, but because he was an evangelical—he believed the Bible and called for conversion and holiness and world evangelization.

For twelve years the people refused to let him give the Sunday afternoon sermon. And during that time they boycotted the Sunday morning service and locked their pews so that no one could sit in them. He preached to people in the aisles for twelve years! The average stay of a pastor in America is about four years, under average circumstances.

Simeon began with twelve years of intense opposition—and lasted fifty-four years. How did he endure with such patience?

In this state of things I saw no remedy but faith and patience. The passage of Scripture which subdued and controlled my mind was this, "The servant of the Lord must not strive." It was painful indeed to see the church, with the exception of the aisles, almost forsaken; but I thought that if God would only give a double blessing to the congregation that did attend, there would on the whole be as much good done as if the congregation were doubled and the blessing limited to only half the amount. This comforted me many, many times, when without such a reflection, I should have sunk under my burden. (H. C. G. Moule, Charles Simeon, [London: The InterVarsity Fellowship, 1948, orig. 1892], p. 39)

Living Unashamed

(Author: Lukas Naugle)

Recently Desiring God has been working with ReachLife Ministries. I've asked Trip Lee of Reach Records to tell us some of what God is doing through their work and our partnership.

* * *

Too many youth today are wasting their lives. Our culture promotes it: "Buy this, wear that, drive this." Some cultures pride themselves on that very message. This is particularly true in the hip hop culture.

Unfortunately, many today believe the hip hop culture is unredeemable, better left to itself. Hip-hop is rarely thought of as a culture that ought to be invaded with the truth of Jesus Christ. Truth is, there's a desperate need of Christians who are willing to spend their lives in order to reach it and say with Paul, "I am not ashamed of the gospel" (Romans 1:16).

Reach Records and ReachLife Ministries are devoted to doing just that; reaching the hip-hop culture for the glory of God. We embrace the truth that all cultures are wicked and sinful—that is, until people within that culture are confronted with the truth of Jesus Christ. Our goal is to be used by God for this very purpose.

Reach Records creates music that is relevant to the culture and is packed full of biblical truth. This platform has proven to be an incredible tool, both to introduce people to Jesus Christ, as well as help others go deeper in their faith. Through our music, we have the opportunity to reach a culture that otherwise would have no interest in what we have to say.

As a result of the music, it became apparent that many in this culture lacked solid biblical tools and resources to disciple them in the Christian life. Therefore, we created ReachLife ministries, a non-profit organization which produces Christ-centered tools and resources for urban churches and ministries to provide what music is not designed to do, disciple.

This summer, we are very excited about the opportunity to travel the country for our first official concert tour. The "Unashamed Tour" will hit around 25 cities in the US and the UK. It will be an incredible opportunity to encourage young believers all over the globe to not waste their lives and to be unashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Each of us at ReachLife has been deeply impacted by the ministry of Desiring God and we are excited about the recent partnership with them. They have agreed to donate 10,000 copies of the book Don't Waste Your Life, which will be distributed free at our concerts this summer.

These books will be placed in the hands of urban youth across the country who have never been exposed to Desiring God or the teachings of John Piper. I cannot express the excitement I feel when I see young hip-hoppers not only hearing about the glory of Christ through our concert, but also leaving with resources that will help them to continue in that excitement.

Please join us in praying that the Lord will use both the tour and the books to glorify himself as he calls this generation to live unashamed.

2008 National Conference: The Power of Words and the Wonder of God

(Author: Abraham Piper)

Registration is open for this Fall's conference. Read John Piper's invitation or watch the trailer:...

God’s Painful Exegetical Help

(Author: John Piper)

In this week's Taste & See Article, I pointed out from Psalm 119: 67 and 71 that God sends affliction to help us learn his word.

Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. . . . It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.

I didn't ask how affliction helps us understand God's word and keep it. There are innumerable answers, as there are innumerable experiences. But here are five:

1. Affliction takes the glibness of life away and makes us more serious so that our mindset is more in tune with the seriousness of God's word.

2. Affliction knocks worldly props from under us and forces us to rely more on God which brings us more in tune with the aim of the word.

3. Affliction makes us search the scriptures with greater desperation for help rather than treating it as marginal to life.

4. Affliction brings us into the fellowship of Christ's sufferings so that we fellowship more closely with him and see the world more readily through his eyes.

5. Affliction mortifies deceitful and distracting fleshly desires, and so brings us into a more spiritual frame which fits God's word more.

How God Teaches the Deep Things of His Word

(Author: John Piper)

The reason Psalm 119 has 176 verses is that the Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters. The psalmist exults in the multifaceted preciousness of God's word by taking each letter of the alphabet and writing eight verses of exultation, each verse beginning with that letter. It's like saying: "The word of God is precious in every way from A to Z—beyond perfection." (Eight is one more than seven, the number of completeness and perfection.)

Ordinarily in each group of eight verses, the psalmist uses mostly different words that start with the letter for that section of the acrostic. For example, the verses beginning with the letter heth (verses 57—64) use eight different words beginning with that letter. But verses 65-72, that start with the Hebrew letter teth, stand out, because they begin with the same word five times—the word good (tov). This makes us sit up and take notice.

Something really good is being emphasized. What is the good he wants us to see?...

Read the rest of the article.

Warfield’s Supernatural Patience

(Author: John Piper)

It takes supernatural power to be patient. That's why Paul seems to go over the top in how he prays for our patience:

May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy. (Colossians 1:11)

But that glorious might makes its way into our attitudes by means of promises that we believe. Like Romans 8:28.

Benjamin B. Warfield was a world-renowned theologian who taught at Princeton Seminary for almost 34 years until his death on February 16, 1921. Many people are aware of his famous books, like The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible. But what most people don't know is that in 1876, at the age of twenty-five, he married Annie Kinkead and took a honeymoon to Germany. During a fierce storm Annie was struck by lightning and permanently paralyzed. After caring for her for thirty-nine years Warfield laid her to rest in 1915. Because of her extraordinary needs, Warfield seldom left his home for more than two hours at a time during all those years of marriage. (Great Leaders of the Christian Church, 344.)

Now here was a shattered dream. I recall saying to my wife the week before we married, "If we have a car accident on our honeymoon, and you are disfigured or paralyzed, I will keep my vows, ‘for better or for worse.'" But for Warfield it actually happened. She was never healed.

Unlike the story of Joseph who suffered but then became vice president of Egypt, there was no kingship in Egypt at the end of Warfield's story—only the spectacular patience and faithfulness of one man to one woman through thirty-eight years of what was never planned—at least, not planned by man.

But when Warfield came to write his thoughts on Romans 8:28, he said,

The fundamental thought is the universal government of God. All that comes to you is under His controlling hand. The secondary thought is the favour of God to those that love Him. If He governs all, then nothing but good can befall those to whom He would do good.... Though we are too weak to help ourselves and too blind to ask for what we need, and can only groan in unformed longings, He is the author in us of these very longings...and He will so govern all things that we shall reap only good from all that befalls us. (Faith and Life, 204)

Unseen Purposes for Disappointment

(Author: John Piper)

When Christ died he purchased for you the Yes to all God's promises (2 Cor. 1:20), and that includes the promise to use his sovereign power to govern all the inexplicable, maddening detours and delays of your life for wise and loving purposes. He is doing a thousand things for you and for his glory in your disappointed plans.

Richard Wurmbrand tells a story that illustrates the necessity of believing God for good, unseen purposes, when all we can see is evil and frustration:

A legend says that Moses once sat near a well in meditation. A wayfarer stopped to drink from the well and when he did so his purse fell from his girdle into the sand. The man departed. Shortly afterwards another man passed near the well, saw the purse and picked it up. Later a third man stopped to assuage his thirst and went to sleep in the shadow of the well. Meanwhile, the first man had discovered that his purse was missing and assuming that he must have lost it at the well, returned, awoke the sleeper (who of course knew nothing) and demanded his money back. An argument followed, and irate, the first man slew the latter. Where upon Moses said to God, "You see, therefore men do not believe you. There is too much evil and injustice in the world. Why should the first man have lost his purse and then become a murderer? Why should the second have gotten a purse full of gold without having worked for it? The third was completely innocent. Why was he slain?"

God answered, "For once and only once, I will give you an explanation. I cannot do it at every step. The first man was a thief's son. The purse contained money stolen by his father from the father of the second man, who finding the purse only found what was due him. The third was a murderer whose crime had never been revealed and who received from the first the punishment he deserved. In the future believe that there is sense and righteousness in what transpires even when you do not understand." (100 Prison Meditations, 6-7)

A Broken And Contrite Heart God Will Not Despise

(Author: David Mathis)

This week's sermon: "A Broken and Contrite Heart God Will Not Despise"

This is the 3rd part in the series "Psalms: Thinking and Feeling with God."

Being crushed with guilt can be good. Psalm 51 teaches us what it's like and how to be crushed with guilt well.

Christians get discouraged. We sin and feel miserable about it. But we are connected by faith to Jesus. This shapes how we think and feel about our sin and guilt.

Being a Christian means being broken. It marks the life of God's happy children until they die. Brokenness is the flavor of Christian joy and praise and witness.

The Wonder of “Idiotic” Perseverance

(Author: John Piper)

In his book, Passion, Karl Olsson tells a story of incredible patience among the early French Protestants called Huguenots.

In the late Seventeenth Century in… southern France, a girl named Marie Durant was brought before the authorities, charged with the Huguenot heresy. She was fourteen years old, bright, attractive, marriageable. She was asked to abjure the Huguenot faith. She was not asked to commit an immoral act, to become a criminal, or even to change the day-to-day quality of her behavior. She was only asked to say, "J'abjure." No more, no less. She did not comply. Together with thirty other Huguenot women she was put into a tower by the sea…. For thirty-eight years she continued…. And instead of the hated word J'abjure she, together with her fellow martyrs, scratched on the wall of the prison tower the single word Resistez, resist!

The word is still seen and gaped at by tourists on the stone wall at Aigues-Mortes…. We do not understand the terrifying simplicity of a religious commitment which asks nothing of time and gets nothing from time. We can understand a religion which enhances time…. but we cannot understand a faith which is not nourished by the temporal hope that tomorrow things will be better. To sit in a prison room with thirty others and to see the day change into night and summer into autumn, to feel the slow systemic changes within one's flesh: the drying and wrinkling of the skin, the loss of muscle tone, the stiffening of the joints, the slow stupefaction of the senses—to feel all this and still to persevere seems almost idiotic to a generation which has no capacity to wait and to endure. (116-117)

Happy Meeting Anniversary, Noel

(Author: John Piper)

Today 42 years ago, I met my wife. I like to mark the day and give thanks. Please indulge a grateful husband.

On the 40th anniversary of that day I wrote this poem. It's still true. Happy Meeting Anniversary, Noël. Let's go out tonight.

Six Six Sixty Six
And That Glad Afternoon

For some the summer marks the ripening
Of seeds sunk in the furrows of the spring,
Or bulbs long buried that return each year
By some in-built awareness: June is here!
But that is not what summer was in June
Of sixty-six for us the afternoon
We met in Fisher Hall. What happened there
Was not a ripening. It came from where
We did not know. We did not plant this thing,
Nor did it ever, like a bulb, upspring
In any field or any time before.
It was original. Of course, a score
Of past millennia had seen the form,
The species, cool, abstract, but not this warm
And living flow'r, this solitary thing
So similar, and yet unlike what spring
Has made in millions. This was new, this plant,
Sprung up so swiftly, in a span that can't
Be measured. There, before I knew your name,
Before a clock could start, the place became
A garden and the flow'r was up, perhaps
More like a yellow dandelion than
The sapling of an oak. How seldom can
The tree be known from its first, sudden shoot!
The prophecy inside the stem is mute.
Do these green vessels flow with love or lust?
God knows. The rest assail sweet sin and trust.

But now, this very day, marks forty years
From that uncertain afternoon. No seers,
No prophets now, are needed to foresee
If that frail shoot would die, or be a tree
With forty solid rings of wood. This was
No dandelion life, then death. What does
The winter mean to us! Another ring
Of solid wood, another ripening
With flow'rs and fruit and feasting in the sun
Pressed down, solidified, beneath a ton
Of snow, until the fibers form like steel,
Another thick unbending ring and seal
Of how I feel for you now forty years
Since that first fragile afternoon: the fears
Of those first days without some prophecy
Of what would be, are gone. This is a tree
With forty rings of love, all thick with joy,
Made firm with winter sorrows that destroy
Frail flowers, but for us encircle spring
And summer bliss, and make another ring
Of solid love. I bless you, happy June
Of sixty-six, and that glad afternoon.

-Johnny

Do the Righteous Always Prosper?

(Author: John Piper)

How does the promise in Psalm 1:3 point to Christ? It says, "In all that he does, he prospers." The righteous prosper in everything they do. Is this naïve or profoundly true?

In this life the wicked often prosper.

• "Fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!" (Psalms 37:7)
• "Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape." (Malachi 3:15)

And in this life the righteous often suffer and their goodness is rewarded with abuse.

• "If we had forgotten the name of our God...would not God discover this? ... Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." (Psalms 44:20-22)

Therefore, when the psalmist says, "He prospers in all that he does," he is pointing through the ambiguities of this life to life after death where the prosperity of all that we have done will appear.

This is the way Paul thought.

• First, he celebrates the victory of Christ over death.
  
  "O death, where is your victory? ... Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1Corinthians 15:55-57).
  
  
• Then, second, he draws out the implication that because of this triumph, every work that believers have ever done will prosper.
  
  "Therefore, my beloved brothers,... your labor is not in vain" (1Corinthians 15:58).
  
  When something is not in vain, it prospers.

Because Jesus died in our place, he guaranteed that every good deed prospers in the end. "Blessed are you when others revile you.... Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven" (Matthew 5:11-12).

Reviled here. Rewarded there.

What seems naïve in the Old Testament ("He prospers in all that he does") points profoundly to the work of Christ and the reality of resurrection.