Showing posts with label john piper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label john piper. Show all posts
God wields an empire to bless his children
"Mary sees clearly a most remarkable thing about God: He is about to change the course of all human history. The most important three decades in all of time are about to begin. And where is God? Occupying himself with two obscure, humble women—one old and barren (Elizabeth), one young and virginal (Mary). And Mary is so moved by this vision of God, the lover of the lowly, that she breaks out in song — a song that has come to be known as “the Magnificat” (Luke 1:46–55)...
...Have you ever felt, like me, little and insignificant in a world of seven billion people, where all the news is of big political and economic and social movements and of outstanding people with lots of power and prestige?If you have, don’t let that make you disheartened or unhappy. For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mammoth political forces and all the giant industrial complexes, without their even knowing it, are being guided by God, not for their own sake but for the sake of God’s little people—the little Mary and the little Joseph who have to be got from Nazareth to Bethlehem. God wields an empire to bless his children."
get to the next level with Jesus
"As followers of Christ, we will be able to run further faster if we don’t have sin clinging to us and weighing us down. If you want your relationship with Jesus to go to the next level then it starts with you stripping down… If you want to pick up the pace in your pursuit of Jesus, then start by stripping off the sin that is weighing you down. All of these things, whether big or small, add weight to our lives and slow us down in our pursuit of Jesus."
This seems sensible and maybe inspirational but this is not the gospel and will crush people rather than setting them free. If I have to strip off my sin in order to take my relationship with Jesus to "the next level" then I've got no chance. If I have to get rid of the weight around my neck then I'm hopeless.
It sounds a bit like Hebrews 12, but with us as the active party and Jesus in the distance waiting for us to catch up. The actual Hebrews 12 is a bit different:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.John Piper on this passage:
(Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV)
"It might be very easy to hear the command, "Run the race! Fight the fight!" and conclude that obeying that command and finishing the race and making it to glory depends decisively on us. But that would be a great mistake. We are responsible to obey. But the writer wants to encourage us to look to Jesus. Verse 2: "Looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith."
I see Jesus as the pioneer and perfecter of our faith in three ways.
So don't even begin to think that finishing this race will redound to your glory because it depended on your strength. We run in the strength that God supplies that in everything God may get the glory through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 4:11). So look to Jesus, take heart, trust him, and run."
- First, he has given a foundation of our faith from start to finish. He pioneered by enduring the cross and despising the shame; and he perfected by sitting down triumphantly at the right hand of the throne of God (v. 2; cf. 2:10). Our redemption, the foundation of our faith, is complete.
- Second, he has given a perfect model for faith from start to finish. He trusted his Father from beginning to end in his earthly race.
- Third, he is the giver and sustainer of our faith from start to finish. Hebrews 13:21, "May God equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in you that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ." And "without faith it is impossible to please God" (11:6). So the God who began a good work in us is going to complete it—through Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith.
God wields an empire to bless his children
"Mary sees clearly a most remarkable thing about God: He is about to change the course of all human history. The most important three decades in all of time are about to begin. And where is God? Occupying himself with two obscure, humble women—one old and barren (Elizabeth), one young and virginal (Mary). And Mary is so moved by this vision of God, the lover of the lowly, that she breaks out in song — a song that has come to be known as “the Magnificat” (Luke 1:46–55)...
...Have you ever felt, like me, little and insignificant in a world of seven billion people, where all the news is of big political and economic and social movements and of outstanding people with lots of power and prestige?If you have, don’t let that make you disheartened or unhappy. For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mammoth political forces and all the giant industrial complexes, without their even knowing it, are being guided by God, not for their own sake but for the sake of God’s little people—the little Mary and the little Joseph who have to be got from Nazareth to Bethlehem. God wields an empire to bless his children."
light the fuse
"See the little Refugee
Play where once He split the sea.
With a square and plane to ply
Make us mansions in the sky.
Loaves and fishes in His hand,
Crumbs as countless as the sand.
...
Light the fuse on Christmas night,
Soon a flash of dynamite."
John Piper, Meditation on a manger mustard seed
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