John Piper

[desmalia]

Posting this here on brother Julio's advice.

And I'm sorry if this subject has been posted previously. Just wondering what everyone thinks of John Piper. I've only heard of him recently (all with great appreciation for his work), and would love more feedback.
Thanks.

 

[wnwall]

John Piper has been the major mentor of my Christian walk. I usually don't go a day without listening to a Piper sermon. To sum up his beliefs:

He's believes strongly in God's sovereignty in all things and calls himself a "7 point Calvinist", adding two points to clarify common points of confusion.

He's a Baptist, but he thinks people who were baptized as infants (and have carefully considered rebaptism but cannot due to their conscience) should be allowed to join the local church since not being credobaptized does not exclude you from the body of Christ.

He's a Christian Hedonist. If you're not familiar with the term it means the essence of our duty is to delight in God and if we serve him without taking joy in him he is only half-glorified. He sums it up by saying, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him."

He is very missions minded. He has said more than once that there are only 3 types of Christians: Those who go, those who send, and disobedient.

His mission statement sums up his beliefs, "We exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples."

Another distinctive belief of his is his outspokenness against retirement,

Consider a story from the February 1998 edition of Reader’s Digest, which tells about a couple who “took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot trawler, play softball and collect shells.” At first, when I read it I thought it might be a joke. A spoof on the American Dream. But it wasn’t. Tragically, this was the dream: Come to the end of your life—your one and only precious, God-given life—and let the last great work of your life, before you give an account to your Creator, be this: playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: “Look, Lord. See my shells.” That is a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. Over against that, I put my protest: Don’t buy it. Don’t waste your life. (Don't Waste Your Life, 45-46)
​

As an intro to his preaching, this is one of the best clips I've seen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXl9oiCa-dE
​

 

[xapis]

Piper is solid on most theological issues and he has done a lot to advance the Reformed faith. His greatest contribution from a theological standpoint is probably this: http://www.amazon.com/Justification...9927260?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193230280&sr=8-1

 

[desmalia]

Thanks, guys! One more question for ya. How do Piper's teachings compare to Sproul's?

 

[wnwall]

Thanks, guys! One more question for ya. How do Piper's teachings compare to Sproul's?

He disagrees with Sproul on infant baptism, but that's about it. They're good friends and do many conferences together. Piper has had Sproul preach at Desiring God conferences and Sproul has had Piper speak at Ligonier conferences.

 

[desmalia]

He disagrees with Sproul on infant baptism, but that's about it. They're good friends and do many conferences together. Piper has had Sproul preach at Desiring God conferences and Sproul has had Piper speak at Ligonier conferences.

Excellent. I will have to check out his work.
Thanks!

 

[nasa1]

John Piper has been the major mentor of my Christian walk. I usually don't go a day without listening to a Piper sermon. To sum up his beliefs:

He's believes strongly in God's sovereignty in all things and calls himself a "7 point Calvinist", adding two points to clarify common points of confusion.

He's a Baptist, but he thinks people who were baptized as infants (and have carefully considered rebaptism but cannot due to their conscience) should be allowed to join the local church since not being credobaptized does not exclude you from the body of Christ.

He's a Christian Hedonist. If you're not familiar with the term it means the essence of our duty is to delight in God and if we serve him without taking joy in him he is only half-glorified. He sums it up by saying, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him."

He is very missions minded. He has said more than once that there are only 3 types of Christians: Those who go, those who send, and disobedient.

His mission statement sums up his beliefs, "We exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples."

Another distinctive belief of his is his outspokenness against retirement,

Consider a story from the February 1998 edition of Reader’s Digest, which tells about a couple who “took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot trawler, play softball and collect shells.” At first, when I read it I thought it might be a joke. A spoof on the American Dream. But it wasn’t. Tragically, this was the dream: Come to the end of your life—your one and only precious, God-given life—and let the last great work of your life, before you give an account to your Creator, be this: playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: “Look, Lord. See my shells.” That is a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. Over against that, I put my protest: Don’t buy it. Don’t waste your life. (Don't Waste Your Life, 45-46)
​

As an intro to his preaching, this is one of the best clips I've seen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXl9oiCa-dE
​

Wow, good points by John Piper. I have only read one sermon by him but it was very good.

I would say that there are some Christian ministries that are a waste as well, and that is probably the saddest thing. It seems that Christians spend alot of time converting other Christians to their beliefs.

NASA

 

[xapis]

Audio: http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/Desiring_God/