Grace Baptist Church

Seven Reasons Why Preaching Is NOT Enough - John Piper

Much like Grace, Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN (where John Piper is lead pastor) has been transitioning in structure for small group ministry.  In his exposition on John 5, Piper explained the importance of small group for healthy body life and why preaching is NOT enough.  From Piper’s manuscript (emphasis mine):

Last Sunday when I met with the small group leaders of the Downtown Campus, I tried to show them how essential their role is at this church by giving them seven reasons my preaching is not enough—seven reasons why perseverance in faith and growth in faith call for Christians to meet regularly in a face-to-face way to “serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4:10). God intends to do things in you which he will only do through the ministry of other believers.

7 Reasons We Need Small Groups

He has given pastors to the church “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-12). I believe in what I do. And I believe that it is not enough. Here are the seven reasons I gave the small group leaders.

1. The impulse [to] avoid painful growth by disappearing safely into the crowd in corporate worship is very strong.
2. The tendency toward passivity in listening to a sermon is part of our human weakness.
3. Listeners in a big group can more easily evade redemptive crises. If tears well up in your eyes in a small group, wise friends will gently find out why. But in a large gathering, you can just walk away from it.
4. Listeners in a large group tend to neglect efforts of personal application. The sermon may touch a nerve of conviction, but without someone to press in, it can easily be avoided.
5. Opportunity for questions leading to growth is missing. Sermons are not dialogue. Nor should they be. But asking questions is a key to understanding and growth. Small groups are great occasions for this.
6. Accountability for follow-through on good resolves is missing. But if someone knows what you intended to do, the resolve is stronger.
7. Prayer support for a specific need or conviction or resolve goes wanting. O how many blessings we do not have because we are not surrounded by a band of friends who pray for us.

So please know that when this small-group ministry of our church is lifted up, I don’t think it’s an optional add-on to basic Christian living. I think it is normal, healthy, needed, New Testament Christianity. I pray that you will be part of one of these small groups or that you will get the training and start one. This is the main strategy through which our pastors and elders shepherd the flock at Bethlehem: Elders > small group leaders > members to one another.

These seven points provided Piper are important to consider, especially because of the fact that we are all members of one another and participants in the change God wants to bring in conforming us more into the image of Christ.

Labels: Bethlehem Baptist Church, Community, Grace Baptist Church, John Piper, Small Groups | posted by TimBrister at 2:01 pm | Categories: Community, Small Groups |

John Piper on Making Much of Christ in the Workplace

One of the books that has greatly impacted my life in recent years is Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper. In his book, Piper has written a chapter entitled, “Making Much of Christ from 8 to 5″ (read it online), where he provides six answers to the question, “How can my life count for the glory of God in my secular vocation?” Check out his answers (quotes are excerpted):

1. We can make much of God in our secular job through the fellowship that we enjoy with him throughout the day in all our work.

“In [this] way we fellowship with God, listening to him through his Word and thanking him and praising him and calling on him for all we need. It is an honor to God if you stay in your secular job ‘with God’ in this way. This is not a wasted life. God delights in being trusted and enjoyed. It shows his value.”

2. We make much of Christ in our secular work by the joyful, trusting, God-exalting design of our creativity and industry.

“[T]he essence of our work as humans must be that it is done in conscious reliance on God’s power, and in conscious quest of God’s pattern of excellence, and in deliberate aim to reflect God’s glory.”

3. We make much of Christ in our secular work when it confirms and enhances the portrait of Christ’s glory that people hear in the spoken Gospel.

“[This] is by having such high standards of excellence and such integrity and such manifest goodwill that we put no obstacles in the way of the Gospel but rather call attention to the all-satisfying beauty of Christ. When we adorn the Gospel with our work, we are not wasting our lives.”

4. We make much of Christ in our secular work by earning money to keep us from depending on others, while focusing on the helpfulness of our work rather than financial rewards.

“Christ has lifted the curse of work. He has replaced anxious toil with trust in God’s promise to supply our needs (Philippians 4:19) and has thus awakened in us a different passion in our work. We turn with joy to the call of Jesus: Seek the kingdom of God first and his righteousness, and the food that perishes will be added to you. So don’t labor for the food that perishes. Labor to love people and honor God. Think of new ways that your work can bless people. Stop thinking mainly of profitability, and think mainly of how helpful your product or service can become.”

“Jesus calls us to be aliens and exiles in the world. Not by taking us out of the world, but by changing, at the root, how we view the world and how we do our work in it. If we simply work to earn a living–if we labor for the bread that perishes–we will waste our lives. But if we labor with the sweet assurance that God will supply all our needs–that Christ died to purchase every undeserved blessing–then all our labor will be a labor of love and a boasting only in the cross.”

5. We make much of Christ in our secular work by earning money with the desire to use our money to make others glad in God.

“[O]ur secular work can become a great God-exalting blessing to the world if we aim to take the earnings we don’t need for ourselves (and we need far less than we think) and meet the needs of others in the name of Jesus.”

6. We make much of Christ in our secular work by treating the web of relationships it creates as a gift of God to be loved by sharing the Gospel and by practical deeds of help.

“[God] has woven you into the fabric of others’ lives so that you will tell them the Gospel. Without this, all our adorning behavior may lack the one thing that could make it live-giving. The Christian’s calling includes making his or her mouth a fountain of life. ‘The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life’ (Proverbs 10:11). The link with eternal life is faith in Jesus Christ. No nice feelings about you as a good employee will save anyone. People must know the Gospel, which is the power of God unto eternal life (Romans 1:16).”

Piper’s conclusion:

“If you work like the world, you will waste your life, no matter how rich you get. But if your work creates a web of redemptive relationships and becomes an adornment for the Gospel of the glory of Christ, your satisfaction will last forever and God will be exalted in your joy.”

Labels: Calling, Don't Waste Your Life, John Piper, Vocation, Work | posted by TimBrister at 12:19 pm | Categories: Work/Vocation |

6 Reasons God Appoints Suffering for His Servants

In his book, Let the Nations Be Glad: The Supremacy of God in Missions, John Piper gives six reasons why God appoints suffering for His servants.  They are:

1.  Suffering Deepens Faith and Holiness (2 Cor. 1:8-9)

“God disciplines his children through suffering [and] his aim is deeper faith and deeper holiness” (86).

2.  Suffering Makes Your Cup Increase (2 Cor. 4:17-18)

“By enduring suffering with patience, the reward of our experience of God’s glory in heaven increases” (87).
“One of the aims of God in the suffering of the saints is to enlarge their capacity to enjoy his glory both here and in the age to come” (89).

3.  Suffering Is the Price of Making Others Bold (Phil. 1:14)

“God uses the suffering of his missionaries to awaken others out of their slumbers of indifference and amke them bold” (90).

4.  Suffering Fills Up What Is Lacking in Christ’s Afflictions (Col. 1:24)

“The suffering of Christ’s messengers ministers to those they are trying to reach and may open them to the gospel” (91).

5.  Suffering Enforces the Missionary Command to Go [Acts 8]

“The suffering of the church is used by God to reposition the missionary troops in places they might not have otherwise gone” (94).

6.  The Supremacy of Christ Is Manifest in Suffering (2 Cor. 12:9-10)

“The suffering of missionaries is meant by God to magnify the power and sufficiency of Christ” (98).
“What proves that the giver is precious is the glad-hearted readiness to leave all his gifts to be with him.  That is why suffering is so central in the mission of the church” (101).
“Joy in suffering for Christ’s sake makes the supremacy of God shine more clearly than all our gratitude or wealth” (102).

Labels: John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad, Suffering | posted by TimBrister at 1:07 pm | Categories: Suffering |

Personal and Family Devotions for Little Children

With a 15 month-old boy and another one due in five weeks, I appreciate the words of John Piper as he explains how the Piper household developed personal and family devotions for little children.  With a full stomach and a good night’s rest, Piper explains what happens at their breakfast table with young infants:

And at that moment Daddy gets out a big book. And he reads from it, a paragraph maybe. This little child doesn’t understand anything I’m saying. He’s six months old, or nine months, or a year.

He doesn’t understand anything I’m saying, but he’s learning big time what is going on here: he’s watching daddy take leadership; he’s noticing a book; he’s hearing reading; he’s watching them pray afterwards; and he’s learning massively important things before he understands a word that is going on here.

So he is included in family devotions. He is being trained in devoting himself to God through his word.

Go here to read or listen to the entire piece by Piper.  Good, practical advice on cultivating godly habits in little children.

Labels: Family Devotion, Family Worship, John Piper, Parenting | posted by TimBrister at 8:31 am | Categories: Parenting/Family, Resources |

Never Empty Your Brain of the Gospel!

Labels: Gospel-Saturated, John Piper, What Is a Healthy Church Member? | posted by TimBrister at 6:39 am | Categories: Gospel, Sunday School Stuff |

You Never, Never, Never Outgrow Your Need for the Gospel

Labels: Gospel in 6 Minutes, Gospel-Saturated, John Piper, What Is a Healthy Church Member? | posted by TimBrister at 6:33 am | Categories: Gospel, Sunday School Stuff |

Barnabas Piper on His Parent’s 40th Anniversary

On the 40th anniversary of his parents, John and Noel Piper, Barnabas Piper shares 22 things he admires about his parents.  I encourage you to read his list, some of which includes:

2. The open door policy. Anyone can visit any time.
4. Their availability at any time, particularly times of need or crisis.
6. That they were excited to expand our family by adopting when they were 50 or close to it.
15. That they taught me to enjoy going to church.
17. Including visitors in family devotions.
22. That I learned to pray from listening to countless prayers from both of them.

Labels: Barnabas Piper, John Piper, Noel Piper, Parenting | posted by TimBrister at 12:54 pm | Categories: Parenting/Family |