God in His Sovereignty

In his book The Supremacy of God in Preaching, John Piper writes:

Years ago during the January prayer week at our church, I decided to preach on the holiness of God from Isaiah 6. I resolved on the first Sunday of the year to unfold the vision of God’s holiness found in the first four verses of that chapter:

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim; each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

So I preached on the holiness of God and did my best to display the majesty of such a great and holy God. I gave not one word of application to the lives of the people. Application is essential in the normal course of preaching, but I felt led that day to make a test: Would the passionate portrayal of the greatness of God in and of itself meet the needs of people?

I didn’t realize that not long before this Sunday one of the young families of our church discovered that their child was being sexually abused by a close relative. It was incredibly traumatic. They were there that Sunday morning and sat under that message. I wonder how many advisers to us pastors today would have said: “Pastor Piper, can’t you see your people are hurting? Can’t you come down out of the heavens and get practical? Don’t you realize what kind of people sit in front of you on Sunday?” Some weeks later I learned the story. The husband took me aside one Sunday after a service. “John,” he said, “these have been the hardest months of our lives. Do you know what has gotten me through? The vision of the greatness of God’s holiness that you gave me the first week of January. It has been the rock we could stand on.”

The greatness and the glory of God are relevant. It does not matter if surveys turn up a list of perceived needs that does not include the supreme greatness of the sovereign God of grace. That is the deepest need. Our people are starving for God.

This is one of those books I've gone back to again and again if only to be stirred by the mind and the passion behind it.

What books do that for you?

The Sovereignty of God: A Neglected Teaching?

Last week, I mentioned and asked about my recently-assigned topic: The Sovereignty of God. Several ideas and suggestions came in. Thanks!

Getting started in my study, just for kicks I did a few searches over at Restoration Serials Index, a really useful resource I've blogged about before. Here are the words I keyed in, followed by the number of matches:

attendance: 291

obedience: 801

baptism: 1570

sovereignty: 45

reign: 44

supremacy: 10

Now, I know, simply giving the number of hits for certain words is arbitrary. (Ever tried to find the word love in the Book of Acts?) At the same time, I can't help thinking that the huge disparity of those numbers has to be saying something.

It's reported that G. C. Brewer once preached night after night about the greatness of Christ, the sacrifice of Jesus. A church member asked him, "When are you going to start preaching the gospel?" Brewer understood what he meant. He was asking, "When are you going to start talking about the mode, necessity, and purpose of baptism?"

It seems that in the Churches of Christ we've talked a lot about certain acts of obedience. And that is extensively appropriate. According to Romans 1:5, the gospel of Jesus Christ calls us "to the obedience that comes from faith."

However, what we haven't done so much is to talk about the source and the reason for our obedience. Earlier in the same verse, Paul mentions it. The apostolic mission of announcing the gospel of Jesus Christ is "through him and for his name's sake."

We must obey the Lord. We must continue to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. But the reason and the power must come first: "for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose" (Philippians 2:12-13).

Got any thoughts about this you'd like to share? I'm still studying and thinking, and would be glad to hear what comes to your mind.

Cooking Something New: Help Wanted

It might sound ironic at first, but I really like it whenever I'm asked to preach or write and the topic is assigned.

For one thing, being assigned a topic saves me from the sometimes-agonizing question: So what exactly will I speak (or write) about? It's already decided. They're expecting to hear from me about that.

Something else. Of the better things I've ever come up with, many were the result of an assignment. I have a theory about why. I think it's because, whenever I pick the topic, it's something I think I already know about. Now, it's true that I do know something about a few things. The only problem is, when I select a topic that I think I already know about, I don't begin to search. Instead, I simply try to figure out how to say what I think I already know.

The result? Not much digging. No new discoveries. No trying to figure out a thing for myself. None of the excitement that comes from a fresh insight. Just trying to convey what I think I know. It feels like I'm taking something out of the freezer and tossing it in the microwave. "Ding!" Ready to eat?

I'd much rather serve and eat a home-cooked meal made of fresh ingredients. And that's more often what I come up with whenever I start with an assigned topic. So I'm happy that I was recently asked to deliver lessons (about 30 minutes each) for these titles:

1. The Sovereignty of God

2. Christianity as Counter Culture

Now I want your help. Would you name one or more biblical texts to go with each title?

Also, can you name something else--a book or an article or a movie clip or anything--on these topics that you think I should know about?

Thanks for any feedback. I always like hearing from my blog buddies.