9. Come, Lord Jesus

Come, Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Second Coming of Christ. John Piper. 2023. [January] 322 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: The aim of this book is to help you love the second coming of Jesus Christ. The contents and title were inspired partly by the biblical prayers "Come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22:20) and "Our Lord, come! (1 Corinthians 16:22). But mainly the book was inspired by the heart affection beneath these prayers which Paul expressed in 2 Timothy 4:8: There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. A crown of righteousness is promised to those who love the second coming of Christ. We pray for his appearing, because we love his appearing. 

Come, Lord Jesus is a weighty book. Perhaps I have misunderstood the word 'meditation' for most of my life--possible, for sure. I was expecting meaty devotions themed around the second coming, end times, last days, final judgment, heaven, new heaven and earth. I was not expecting a scholarly work packed--stuffed--with footnotes. I wasn't expecting Greek, Greek, and more Greek. There is a LOT for readers to unpack. This is no 5-minute-rice theology. 

The theme is right on target. I would say it covers--end times, signs of the the last days, final judgment, tribulation, second coming, rapture, new heaven and earth, etc. It spans the teachings of the New Testament (New Testament authors). It seeks to reconcile the teachings of Jesus and Paul, to name an example. 

I would say it challenges readers from the start. It asks much. And that's not a bad thing. To read without engaging this one would be a disservice. It asks you to think, to consider, to ponder, to wrestle with your own views and traditions. It holds the Bible in highest esteem. It lays out the Bible for you--chapter and verse. It unpacks all the angles. Piper has his views, but he is 'showing his work' if you will and not asking you to take his word for it on blind faith. 

I found it thought-provoking. Even when I wanted to stop thinking about it, I couldn't. The end times, like it or not, can make you squirm a bit, be a bit uncomfortable. There are some subjects where I tend to be a little like Scarlett O'Hara, I'll think about that tomorrow. For me, the end times is that subject I'm always pushing to tomorrow. I think because it is so easy to get confused and stay confused. Perhaps because it is a subject that can feel extra-heated. Sometimes people have very STRONG feelings on what they think will happen, how it all unfolds. Trigger warning: Piper doesn't hold to a separate rapture of believers occurring pre-tribulation (or mid-tribulation for that matter). He believes in ONE second coming--the verses that speak of believers meeting him in the air is the same second coming where he's coming to judge the world.

I can honestly say that I've never asked myself the question do I [actively] love the second coming of Christ. Passively sure I think many Christians fall into that camp. But actively--desiring, longing, hoping, loving--that's a BIG, bold statement. Piper, especially at the beginning and perhaps again towards the end, makes the argument that "the test of our love for the Christ who HAS appeared is our longing for the Christ who WILL appear." He argues that it is our LOVE for his appearing that enables us to ENDURE through anything/everything. It is our LOVE for his appearing, so Piper claims Paul writes, that protects our hearts and minds from loving this world too much, from becoming too entangled with worldly-world influences. It is our LOVE for his appearing that will encourage and promote holy living--sanctification. It is our LOVE for his appearing that will keep us gathering together as believers and encouraging one another. 

Piper further writes that it isn't enough to love certain things about his second coming [loving the gifts more than the giver] but our love for the second coming needs to fit into Christ's purpose for coming again. Here Piper does what Piper does best--talk about GLORY and delighting in the GLORY of the Lord. (Christian hedonism is Piper's default mode.) Here in this one it does make sense though.

He writes, "Absolutely crucial to God's ultimate purpose in the second coming is not only that the glory of Christ be revealed, but that it be loved. Rightly loved." 

I am glad I read this one. It may be worth revisiting again. For being a book about the end of times or "day of the Lord" it covers SO much theological territory. 

One of my favorite quotes:

Our hope is that the joy we have tasted in this life (1 Peter 2:3) will be given an injection of supernatural capacity beyond imagination. This is what Jesus prayed for. This is what will happen. God will pour his own love for Christ into us. We will enjoy Christ with the very enjoyment of God. It is true that our joy in Jesus even now is a work of God--God the Holy Spirit. Our joy in God and his Son is owing to the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, creating the capacity to delight in God and Christ (Romans 14:17; 15:13; 1 Thessalonians 1:6)... Jesus promises that he will go further: he will make God known in new and unimagined ways, with the result that God's own love for the Son will become more fully our own love for the Son, so that we will be able to enjoy Christ with the purity and intensity we ought. We will not be lamed by our present worldliness and remaining corruptions, and by the constrains of a fallen body.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

34. What is Saving Faith?

What is Saving Faith? Reflections on Receiving Christ as Treasure. John Piper. 2022. [April] 304 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: Why do so many thoughtful Christians from centuries ago describe saving faith as though it were an experience involving the affections and not just a decision of the will? 

What is Saving Faith? That is the question John Piper is asking and answering in his newly published book. The question in and of itself is a good one. Every Christian needs to be able to know--somewhere on the spectrum of vague and fuzzy to academically precise--what saving faith is...or...what saving faith is not. Those two--what it is and what it is not--do seem to be two sides of the coin. 

In this book, Piper argues that saving faith is a RECEIVING faith and that that receiving faith is intricately and intimately connected to receiving Christ as TREASURE. In other words, it's not merely an intellectual receiving but a whole receiving--mind, heart/body, soul/spirit. ALL of you receives ALL of Christ. And in that receiving there is great joy and delight. Christ is seen as the ultimate one-and-only treasure. 

Piper is many things, but concise is not exactly one of them. This question has been asked and answered beautifully in Piper's previous book GOD IS THE GOSPEL. God is the Gospel is all kinds of fantastic (aka some kind of wonderful.) It is more concise, more straight forward, definitely more reader friendly. 

What Is Saving Faith? is a bit unwieldy (not in a literal sense), dry, academic, repetitive. It has moments of beauty. How could it not? It talks of the mighty, glorious, wondrous person of Jesus Christ. But the journey there is more of a hike than it perhaps has to be. (Not that I'm opposed to academic/scholarly, "proper theology" books. I'm not.) 

I will give credit to Piper's almost exclusive reliance on Scripture for answering the question(s) at hand. He uses Scripture and almost always Scripture foremost to lay out his argument before readers. He does make use of church fathers/church history. But only as secondary resources. 

He tackles the subject thoroughly taking absolutely no short cuts; he makes no assumptions. He is willing to admit when and where his arguments present as controversial or against the status quo. He does try to logically and reasonably counter argue with his opponents or would-be opponents.

Perhaps this is the kind of book you want. Perhaps you don't want a quick "big picture" view of the subject. Perhaps it is not enough to say, hey there's grass. You want someone to look at every single blade of grass in a pasture. 

But when a question is so fundamentally BASIC and ESSENTIAL and foundational, in my humble opinion, a more straight-forward, more concise book is to be desired. God is the Gospel, for me, is one of those books. I realized this early on--relatively--when Piper started saying things like, "Where Christ is not received as treasure, he is being used. This is not saving faith. It is tragic that many think it is." 

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

74. Good News of Great Joy

Good News of Great Joy. John Piper. 2021. [September] 144 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: What does Jesus want this Christmas? We can see the answer in his prayers. What does he ask God for? His longest prayer is John 17. The climax of his desire is in verse 24. [John 17:24]

Good News of Great Joy is an advent devotional by John Piper. Several years ago--2012 or 2013 depending on whether you trust Amazon or GoodReads more--Piper published an advent devotional with the same name. (I reviewed it in 2016). I read this one unsure if it was the *same* devotional or if it was just recycling the name. I am not 100% sure since I cannot find the table of contents of the original book and the link on Piper's website has switched from the old to the new. (That right there might be an indication that it is just recycling the same old book.) But I reread my review and all the quotes I mentioned, all the phrases I talked about....ARE in this devotional. My best guess, my best educated guess, is that most of this--if not all of this--is previously published. Of course, I might be wrong. Maybe he carried over some of his best work--the stuff I happened to quote--and maybe there's new material as well. 

Quotes:

If you don't need a Savior, you don't need Christmas. 

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

32. Providence

Providence. John Piper. 2021. 752 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: God has revealed the goal and nature and extent of his providence. He has not been silent. He has shown us these things in the Bible. This is one of the reasons that the apostle Paul says, “All Scripture is . . . profitable” (2 Tim. 3:16). The profit lies not mainly in the validation of a theological viewpoint but in the revelation of a great God, the exaltation of his invincible grace, and the liberation of his undeserving people. God has revealed his purposeful sovereignty over good and evil in order to humble human pride, intensify human worship, shatter human hopelessness, and put ballast in the battered boat of human faith, steel in the spine of human courage, gladness in the groans of affliction, and love in the heart that sees no way forward.

It is finished! It took me over a month--perhaps closer to two--to finish this one. Was it worth it? Yes. Do I see this as a book worthy of a reread? Yes. I think it is a substantive, weighty book where a reader would benefit from a second read. Or perhaps as an alternative as a resource to go back to again and again. 

I will not try to provide an in-depth review of each part, each section, each chapter. 

Part 1: A Definition and a Difficulty

1. What is Divine Providence

2. Is Divine Self-Exaltation Good News?

Part 2: The Ultimate Goal of Providence

Section 1: The Ultimate Goal of Providence before Creation and in Creation

3. Before Creation

4. The Act of Creation

Section 2: The Ultimate Goal of Providence in the History of Israel

5. Overview from Abraham to the Age to Come

6. The Exodus Unfolds

7. Remembering the Exodus

8. The Law, the Wilderness, and the Conquest of Canaan

9. The Time of the Judges and the Days of the Monarchy

10. The Protection, Destruction, and Restoration of Jerusalem

Section 3: The Ultimate Goal of Providence in the Design and Enactment of the New Covenant

11. The Designs of the New Covenant

12. Christ's Foundational Act in Establishing the New Covenant

13. The Entrance of Sin into Creation and the Glory of the Gospel

14. The Glory o fChrist in the Glorification of His People

Part 3: The Nature and Extent of Providence

Section 1: Setting the Stage

15. Knowing the Providence of the God Who Is

Section 2: Providence Over Nature

16. The Loss and Recovery of a Theater of Wonders

17. Earth, Water, Wind, Plants, and Animals

Section 3: Providence over Satan and Demons

18. Satan and Demons

19. The Ongoing Existence of Satan

Section 4: Providence over Kings and Nations

20. Israel's Divine King is King of the Nations

21. Human Kingship and the King of Kings

22. To Know and Rejoice That the Most High Rules

Section 5: Providence Over Life and Death

23. A Bath of Truth and the Gift of Birth

24. The Lord Has Taken Away; Blessed Be the Name of the Lord

25. We Are Immortal till Our Work is Done

Section 6: Providence Over Sin

26. Natural Human Willing and Acting

27. Things We Know and Things We Do Not Need to Know

28. Joseph: God's Good Meaning in a Sinful Act

29. Israel Hated, Pharaoh Hardened, God Exalted, Helpless Saved

30. Broken Families

31. Deception and Dullness of Heart

32. Though He Cause Grief, He Will Have Compassion

33. A Wickedness God Especially Abhorred

Section 7: Providence Over Conversion

34. Our Condition Before Conversion

35. Three Biblical Pictures of How God Brings People to Faith

36. Saving Faith as the Gift of Providence

37. Driven Back to the Precious Roots of Election

Section 8: Providence Over Christian Living

38. Forgiveness, Justification, and Obedience

39. God's Command-and-Warning Strategy

40. Those Whom He Called, He Also Glorified

41. Blood-Bought Zeal for Good Works

42. Working In Us That Which Is Pleasing In His Sight

43. Killing Sin and Creating Love--By Faith

Section 9: The Final Achievement of Providence

44. The Triumph of Missions and the Coming of Christ

45. New Bodies, New World, Never-Ending Gladness in God 

If you take the time to thoughtfully read the table of contents you see that Piper's book covers just about anything and everything. 

Is it accessible or reader friendly? This will vary reader by reader, of course, but I think if taken one to three chapters at a time, it IS more accessible than not. I do want to point out that it isn't equally accessible cover to cover. There are chapters--or paragraphs within chapters--that are quite complex and where Piper's approach is more technical/scholarly. The good news is that if you keep reading, keep on keeping on, that you will get back to parts you are able to understand/comprehend/appreciate. And sometimes he even provides summary of the harder bits by the end of the chapter or section. Don't give up.

The book covers just about everything--it's very broad in its subject. I think it's only natural that some readers will "love" some chapters and sections more than others. While all chapters are relevant when seen in the grand scheme of seeing God's Providence, not all chapters are equally relevant in showing how God's providence relates back to the reader. The last third of the book is, in my opinion, the best. 

Quotes:

• I am going to use the word providence to refer to a biblical reality. The reality is not found in any single Bible word. It emerges from the way God has revealed himself through many texts and many stories in the Bible. They are like threads woven together into a beautiful tapestry greater than any one thread. We are using a word that is not in the Bible for the sake of this larger truth of the Bible.
• The focus of this book is on God’s sovereignty considered not simply as powerful but as purposeful. Historically, the term providence has been used as shorthand for this more specific focus.
• God does not simply see as a passive bystander. As God, he is never merely an observer. He is not a passive observer of the world—and not a passive predictor of the future. Wherever God is looking, God is acting. In other words, there is a profound theological reason why God’s providence does not merely mean his seeing, but rather his seeing to. When God sees something, he sees to it.
• Providence says, Whatever God ordains must be; but the wisdom of God never ordains anything without a purpose. Everything in this world is working for some one great end. 
• It is cheap grace, not genuine grace, that thinks life in Christ is without remorse for past sin and for remaining corruption.
• The fear of the Lord is not the opposite of joy in the Lord; it is the depth and seriousness of it.
• Jesus is both the ground of our salvation, and the glory we were saved to see and savor and share. He was the price that was paid for our deliverance, and the prize we were destined to enjoy. He redeemed us from hell, and he rewarded us with himself.
• Though death is real, (1) Christ has defeated it by his death and resurrection, so that (2) those who treasure him need not fear what kills the body, because (3) in that moment we will be with Christ, seeing his glory, savoring his love, feeling at home, until the day of his appearing, when (4) he will raise our bodies from the dead, and (5) give us a body like his glorious body, and (6) renew all creation as our eternal habitation, and (7) bring us to fullness of joy and pleasures forever in the radiance of his glorious presence. That is bracing reality.
• What if I look you in the eye and ask, “Are you a Christian? Do you have saving faith in Jesus?” And what if you say, “Yes, I do,” and I then ask, “How did that happen? How did you cease to be a person who preferred other things to God and become a person who treasures Christ?” Will you be able to give me a true, biblical answer? This is not theoretical. This is urgent. For most people, the answer presses for an answer with more urgency than the question of election. It feels like something great hangs in the balance. And it does.
• I am not asking about what you can remember about the circumstances—young or old, recent or distant. Those facts may be precious in memory or long forgotten. The genuineness of our conversion does not depend on its being remembered. If it did, people with dementia would be in a desperate spiritual plight. Salvation is not by works—including the work of memory.
• Far more important than the human circumstances God used to bring you to faith is how God himself was involved at the moment when you passed from death to life (Eph. 2:5). And we learn that from Scripture, not from memory. In fact, many people must unlearn aspects of what they think happened, when they finally see in Scripture what truly happened in their conversion.
• Experience does not teach us the depth of our difficulty. Only God can do that. And he does it by his word and Spirit.
• The point is that any sin—because it is sin (a preference for something over God)—will destroy us if we cordon it off from opposition, give it amnesty, and keep it as our beloved rebellion against God.
• I often ask people, How do you know you will wake up a Christian tomorrow morning? The bottom-line answer is that God will cause you to wake up a Christian, or you won’t. God will be faithful. God will keep you. Everything hangs on the faithfulness of God to his promise: “Those whom he called . . . he also glorified.”
• Holiness is the opposite of sin. Therefore, treasuring God above all things is the essence of holiness.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Book Review: God is the Gospel

God is the Gospel: Meditations on God's Love as the Gift of Himself. John Piper. 2005. Crossway. 192 pages. [Source: Bought]

First sentence: Today--as it is in every generation--it is stunning to watch the shift away from God as the all-satisfying gift of God's love. It is stunning how seldom God himself is proclaimed as the greatest gift of the gospel. But the Bible teaches that the best and final gift of God's love is the enjoyment of God's beauty. 

The premise of this one is self-evident: God IS the gospel. Since that statement is more likely than not going to cause confusion, I'll rephrase it. What makes the good news good? Ultimately, what makes the good news GOOD. There are dozens of reasons why it's "good news". But really only one ultimate reason why it's GOOD NEWS.

To answer this question, it might be handy to ask another question: what is the chief end of man? The answer to that is TO GLORIFY GOD AND TO ENJOY HIM FOREVER.

Piper answers this one question [what ultimately makes the good news GOOD?] dozens of times throughout his book. In the introduction, his answer is concise: "The best and final gift of the gospel is that we gain Christ...this is the all-encompassing gift of God's love through the gospel--to see and savor the glory of Christ forever."

The saving love of God is God's commitment to do everything necessary to enthrall us with what is most deeply and durably satisfying, namely himself. 

The supreme demonstration of God's love was the sending of his Son to die for our sins and to rise again so that sinners might have the right to approach God and might have the pleasure of his presence forever. 

The good news is not that there is no pain or death or sin or hell. There is. The good news is that the King himself has come, and these enemies have been defeated, and if we trust in what he has done and what he promises, we will escape the death sentence and see the glory of our Liberator and live with him forever. 

Everything else in the gospel is meant to display God's glory and remove every obstacle in him (such as his wrath) and in us (such as our rebellion) so that we can enjoy him forever. God is the gospel. That is, he is what makes the good news good. Nothing less can make the gospel good news. God is the final and highest gift that makes the good news good. Until people use the gospel to get to God, they use it wrongly.

If God is not treasured as the ultimate gift of the gospel, none of his gifts will be gospel, good news. And if God is treasured as the supremely valuable gift of the gospel, then all the other lesser gifts will be enjoyed as well. 

The gospel would not be good news if it did not reveal the glory of Christ for us to see and savor. It is the glory of Christ that finally satisfies our souls. We are made for Christ, and Christ died so that every obstacle would be removed that keeps us from seeing and savoring the most satisfying treasure in the universe--namely Christ, who is the image of God.

We must make plain to people that if their hope stops short of seeing and savoring the glory of God in Christ, they are not fixing their hearts on the main thing and the best thing Christ died to accomplish--seeing and savoring the glory of God in the face of Christ with everlasting and ever-increasing joy. 

The affections of our joy should not rest on the gifts but ride the gift up to God himself. 

The aim of the gospel is not an easy life. It is deeper knowledge of God and deeper trust in God.

The highest act of love is the giving of the best gift, and if necessary, at the greatest cost, to the least deserving. This is what God did. 

God loves us by giving us himself to enjoy.  

God is The Gospel explores the gospel message and clarifying what the gospel is. Piper does this by turning to Scripture and expositing various passages. Piper also makes use of other theologians like John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, and John Owens. (Though never to the exclusion of Scripture itself.) The book not only examines the CONTENT of the gospel--though Piper never loses sight of the fact that the gospel has specific content--but also the PURPOSE of the gospel. Not all gospel-centered books focus on the PURPOSE of the gospel. And the WHY is equally important to the WHEN, WHERE, and WHO.

Many of the "lesser things" discussed in God is the Gospel are worthy subjects. In fact there are dozens--if not hundreds or thousands--of books about these biblical topics. Subjects like justification, sanctification, forgiveness, prayer, worship, etc.

Piper can be bold.

Propitiation, redemption, forgiveness, imputation, sanctification, liberation, healing, heaven--none of these is good news except for one reason: they bring us to God for our everlasting enjoyment of him. If we believe all these things have happened to us, but do not embrace them for the sake of getting to God, they have not happened to us. Christ did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God. And people who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there. The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God. It's a way of overcoming every obstacle to everlasting joy in God. If we don't want God above all things, we have not been converted by the gospel. 

The holiness of Christian people and the conversion of perishing people hang on seeing and savoring the glory of God in the gospel.

Only an artificial joy does not pass through sorrow for sin on its way to the thrill of being forgiven. 

All other gods must go. All other delights that are not delights in God must go--not because anything good must be taken away, but to make room for what is infinitely best, God himself. 

Death is a gift because it takes us more quickly to the great good of the gospel--seeing and savoring the glory of God in the face of Christ. 

The gospel is strange. Its goal is not my immediate ease. Its goal is my being so in love with Christ and so passionate about his glory that when my suffering can highlight his worth I will bear it gladly.  

How does faith in Christ relate to delight in Christ? How do trusting God and savoring the glory of God relate to each other? To answer this we should ask: What should faith trust Christ for? It would be defective to trust him to supply pornography. I only use this gross example to make the principle clear. Faith is not saving faith if it tries to trust Christ for the wrong things. So this makes clear that trust per se, without reference to what we trust him for, is not the seance of a saving relationship to Christ. Something else must be present in faith if it is to be saving faith that honors Christ rather than just using him. Saving faith must have a quality to it that tastes what is Christ-exalting and embraces it. 

If we are not captured by his personality and character, displayed in his saving work, then all our declarations of thanksgiving are like the gratitude of a wife to a husband for the money she gets from him to use in her affair with another man. 

It is a shocking thing to learn that one of today's most common descriptions of the cross--namely how much of our value it celebrates--may well be a description of natural self-love with no spiritual value. 

Whole systems of imitation Christianity can be built on distorted images of the love of God and the gospel of God. 

Being loved by God is the wonderful replacement of self as the foundation of our joy. God's best gift is not the gift of self-esteem. God's best gift is God--for our everlasting and ever-increasing enjoyment.

Woe to us if we speak of our existence, or our being, for its own sake. God has given us existence. 

Piper challenges readers to ponder, meditate, reflect, reconsider....he does this by asking unexpected questions and pushing beyond the quick and easy.

Do you feel more loved because God makes much of you, or because, at the cost of his Son, he enables you to enjoy making much of him forever? 

Does your happiness hang on seeing the cross of Christ as a witness to your worth, or as a way to enjoy God's worth forever? 

If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflicts or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?

Do we preach and teach and lead in such a way that people are prepared to hear that question and answer with a resounding No? Have we presented the gospel in such a way that the gift of the glory of God in the face of Christ is marginal rather than central and ultimate? Can we really say that our people are prepared for heaven where Christ himself, not his gifts, will be the supreme pleasure? And if our people are unfit for that, will they even go there?

Why is it good news to you that your sins are forgiven? 

Why is it good news to you that you stand righteous in the courtroom of the Judge of the universe? 

How do all the gifts that flow to us from the gospel relate to God as the ultimate and all important gift of the gospel?

Piper also defines and clarifies.

Doctrine means teaching, explaining, clarifying. Doctrine is part of the gospel because news can't be just declared by the mouth of a herald--it has to be understood in the mind of a hearer. When the gospel is proclaimed, it must be explained. Gospel doctrine matters because the good news is so full and rich and wonderful that it must be opened like a treasure chest, and all its treasures brought out for the enjoyment of the world. Doctrine is the description of these treasures. Doctrine describes their true value and why and they are so valuable. 

Grace is the free blessing of God that flows from his heart to guilty, undeserving sinners. 

Justification has these two sides: the removal of sin because Christ bears our curse, and the imputation of righteousness because we are in Christ and his righteousness is counted as ours. 

Love is doing whatever you need to do to help people see and savor the glory of God in Christ forever and ever. Love keeps God central. Giving ourselves without giving God looks loving to the world. But it is not. We are a poor substitute for God. 

This is my second time to read the book. I loved, loved, loved it.


© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Book Review: Expository Exultation

Expository Exultation: Christian Preaching as Worship. John Piper. 2018. Crossway. 336 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: This is a book about preaching in worship.

In the introduction, John Piper writes:

"This book is an organic outgrowth of two previous books. Together they form a kind of trilogy. The first volume, A Peculiar Glory (2016), focuses on how we can know that the Bible is God’s word and is completely true. The second volume, Reading the Bible Supernaturally (2017), focuses on how to read the Bible—specifically, how to read it in the pursuit of its own ultimate goal that God be worshiped with white-hot affection by all the peoples of the world. This third volume, Expository Exultation, now asks, If the Bible is completely true and is to be read supernaturally in the pursuit of worship, what does it mean to preach this word, and how should we do it? On what basis does the congregation gather for worship, and why is preaching part of it?"

What is preaching? What is worship? Why is preaching an essential part of worship? Why is corporate worship important? And is preaching an essential part of corporate worship? What kind of preaching is best? What is expository exultation? Why is this the best way to preach? How does one go about preaching? What is involved in preparing the sermon? What is involved in the actual preaching? What should be the minister's goals? What guidelines for preaching does the Bible give us? What does a good sermon look like? A bad one?

Expository Exultation answers these questions...and more. In the hands of another author perhaps this one would not be accessible or readable. In the hands of another author perhaps this one would be a dense academic read: fine for those with years of training behind them but not for the rest of us. But Piper writes with passion AND clarity. God is a God who wants to be known. Piper is a preacher who wants God to be known. For it is only when God is known that he can be worshiped. The absolute best response to knowledge--to understanding--IS worship. The minister's job, Piper argues, is to clearly, logically, passionately show God to their congregations. The job is to connect the Bible--the words on the page--with reality. It is not their job to share their thoughts, opinions, experiences. It is their job to deal with specific texts from the Bible and clearly present God.

The primary audience is pastors or ministers. But. I think it can be read and enjoyed by all believers regardless of their profession. One reason why is that it is focused on worship, focused on the glory of God, focused on the act of glorifying God.

Quotes:

• The Bible exists for the glory of God, now and forever. Reading it and preaching it share that goal.
• A single ultimate purpose has given rise to the existence, the reading, and the preaching of Christian Scripture. The purpose is that God’s infinite worth and beauty be exalted in the everlasting, white-hot worship of the blood-bought bride of Christ from every people, language, tribe, and nation.
• God has ordained that until his ultimate purpose of white-hot worship is achieved in the regular gatherings of his people, the everyday sacrifices of love, and the everlasting pleasures of the age to come, reading the Bible supernaturally and preaching its reality by the Spirit will not cease from the earth.
• God’s purpose on the earth will advance through Bible-saturated, Christ-exalting, God-centered churches, where the gravity and gladness of eternal worship is awakened and rehearsed each week in the presence and power of expository exultation.
• When the heart is far from God, worship is vain, empty, and nonexistent, no matter how proper the forms are. The experience of the heart is the defining, vital, indispensable essence of worship.
• This is worship: to act in a way that shows the heart’s valuing of the glory of God and the name of the Lord Jesus. Or, as we said in the introduction, worship means consciously knowing and treasuring and showing the supreme worth and beauty of God.
• I love to sum up what I call “Christian hedonism” with the phrase “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” If you wonder where I got that phrase, the answer is, right here in Philippians 1:20–21. Christ is magnified in my death, when in my death I am satisfied with him—when I experience death as gain because I gain him. Or another way to say it is that the essence of praising Christ is prizing Christ. Christ will be praised in my death, if in my death he is prized above life.
• The inner essence of worship is prizing Christ—cherishing him, treasuring him, being satisfied with him.
• Authentic, truth-based, heartfelt, corporate expressions of praise and thanks to God will have an edifying effect on others—it will stir them up to see the truth and feel the value that other believers see and feel. But it will have this effect precisely because God is the focus, not man.
• There are 168 hours in the week. Most of those hours are spent focusing on horizontal pursuits. Therefore, most people are unaccustomed to the kind of joyful seriousness that makes a focus on God spiritually possible and deeply thrilling. Gladness mingled with gravity—the weight of glory—is foreign to most modern people, unless they have suffered much. But I think this is our goal—to know, to treasure, and to show the worth and beauty of God and his ways. And to do it together. To do it corporately. Because, given the greatness of God and the wonder of his ways, the nature of his chosen people, and the possibilities of fathomless joy in his presence, it is beautifully fitting that we do so.
• Here’s the heart of it from John Stott, and it is what I mean by exposition: It is my contention that all true Christian preaching is expository preaching. Of course, if by an “expository” sermon is meant a verseby-verse explanation of a lengthy passage of Scripture, then indeed it is only one possible way of preaching, but this would be a misuse of the word. Properly speaking, “exposition” has a much broader meaning. It refers to the content of the sermon (biblical truth) rather than its style (a running commentary). To expound Scripture is to bring out of the text what is there and expose it to view. The expositor pries open what appears to be closed, makes plain what is obscure, unravels what is knotted and unfolds what is tightly packed. The opposite of exposition is “imposition,” which is to impose on the text what is not there. But the “text” in question could be a verse, or a sentence, or even a single word. It could equally be a paragraph, or a chapter, or a whole book. The size of the text is immaterial, so long as it is biblical. What matters is what we do with it. Whether it is long or short, our responsibility as expositors is to open it up in such a way that it speaks its message clearly, plainly, accurately, relevantly, without addition, subtraction or falsification.
• When Stott says the content of the sermon is “biblical truth,” I want to make sure that the word “truth” refers not just to grammatical and historical propositions but to the reality that is being referred to—its nature, its value, and its implications for real life now.
• The Devil can do biblical exposition—even speaking true propositions about the text’s meaning. But the Devil cannot exult over the divine glory of the meaning of Scripture. He hates it. So he cannot preach—not the way I am defining it.
• Of course, mindless enthusiasts who totally ignore the meaning of texts can exult as they preach, but not in the true meaning of the text and the reality behind it. So exultation per se is not the defining mark of preaching. But together—exposition, as making clear what the Scripture really means, and exultation, as openly treasuring the divine glories of that meaning—they combine to make preaching what it is.
• Scripture is inspired by God in order to awaken, nurture, and bring to final consummation the white-hot worship of the bloodbought bride of Christ from every people, language, tribe, and nation. Preaching is intended by God to herald these Scriptures and advance their purpose. Therefore, preaching aims at worship—that is, it aims to bring into being and sustain a people who know and enjoy and show the glory and worth of God.
• Preaching does not contradict its own aim by being indifferent to the glories of Scripture. It aims at worship by being an act of worship. As it clarifies truth, it cherishes the worth of truth. As it explains, it exults.
• Faith sees, and at once savors—perceives and at once values—the supreme truth and beauty of Christ in the gospel.
• We see and simultaneously savor. We know and we love. We behold and we embrace. That’s the way Jesus described faith in John 6:35: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” Notice the parallel between coming to satisfy hunger, and believing to satisfy thirst. Hungering and thirsting refer to the same soul-emptiness. And believing and coming are the same soulact.
• Knowing and delighting are essential to who God is. Human beings have these same capacities: knowing and delighting. God’s ultimate purposes in giving them to us is that we might reflect and magnify his beauty and worth by knowing and delighting in him. That is what worship is: truly knowing, duly enjoying, and thus showing the worth and beauty of God.
• We are not designed to live on yesterday’s mercies.
• What makes preaching unique is that it is a miracle aiming to be the agent of miracles. And the main miracle it aims to experience and bring about is the spiritual sight and spiritual savoring of the glory of God revealed in Scripture.
• Preaching is worship seeking worship. And neither of these acts of worship is less than the miraculous seeing and savoring of the beauty of Christ, which the natural man regards as foolishness. He cannot see Christ for who he really is—supremely beautiful and valuable.
• Worship is seeing, savoring, and showing the supreme beauty and worth of the triune God. Preaching is one act of that worship. But human beings cannot see or savor or show this God as their supreme treasure apart from the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. He is the one who reveals his glory (2 Cor. 4:6), enlightens the eyes of the heart (Eph. 1:18), opens the darkened mind (Luke 24:45), and gives a glimpse of the glory of Christ that the “natural person” cannot perceive (Matt. 16:17).
• The Christian preacher has nothing to hide. The Devil is in the business of hiding. The preacher reveals. The Devil obscures. The preacher clarifies. The Devil dulls the mind and heart. The preacher shines and burns. He is ashamed of nothing in his message.
• C. S. Lewis once wrote a letter to a child who had asked for advice on how to write well.23 Lewis’s answer is so relevant for how preaching gains a sympathetic hearing that I am going to include his five suggestions here: 1. Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything else. 2. Always prefer the clean, direct word to the long, vague one. Don’t implement promises, but keep them. 3. Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean “More people died” don’t say “Mortality rose.” 4. In writing, don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the things you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us the thing is “terrible,” describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don’t say it was “delightful”; make us say “delightful” when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers “Please, will you do my job for me.” 5. Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say “infinitely” when you mean “very”; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.
• Preaching and Scripture have the same goal. What the Scriptures aim to do, preaching aims to do. What the Scriptures aim to reveal, preaching aims to reveal. The assumption is that Scripture is inspired by God and therefore aims to communicate what human beings need, in order for God’s purposes through Scripture to be realized. Preaching that brings out from Scripture what is really there joins God in bringing about his ultimate purposes.
• The reality we are meant to perceive and experience does not hover over the text like a cloud to be divined somehow separately from what the authors wrote. The pathway to it is the right handling of the very words of the text. This is true of the preacher’s private discovery in study, and it is true of his public explanation in preaching. The preacher unveils reality for his people by pointing to the very words of Scripture and helping the people see how those words fit together to reveal that reality.
• My plea here is that all of us pray for a greater gifting in our ability to help people see what we see through biblical texts. Many preachers assume people are following them when, in fact, the people are quite muddled in what they are hearing. The preacher proclaims an insight that he found in the text, and he assumes the people hear the insight and see where it comes from in the text. Perhaps he assumes this because the text was read at the beginning of the message ten or fifteen or thirty minutes earlier. But I can assure those preachers that the people do not remember the text well enough to know how you are getting your insights from it.
• The people must see how the text communicates the reality. Otherwise, the opinion of the preacher replaces the authority of the text. The authority of preaching lies in the manifest correspondence between sermon and Scripture. Again, the key word is manifest.
• The words of God are the best means of displaying the glory of God.
• Every revelation of his character and ways, every description of Christ, every word he spoke, every rebuke of our sin, every promise of his grace, every practical command to walk in love and holiness, every warning against unrighteousness—all of these are blood-bought means of walking in joyful fellowship with God. This is what Jesus died for. Therefore, to preach Christ crucified, as Paul implied in 1 Corinthians 2:2 and Galatians 6:14, is not to turn every sermon into a message that climaxes with a rehearsal of the atonement. Rather, it is to treat seriously and carefully every word and every clause and every logical connection in the text in order to show how Christ—crucified, and risen, and present by the Spirit—empowers and shapes the new way of life described in the text.
• Preaching is not everything, but it affects everything. It is the trumpet of truth in the church. And it echoes in every ministry and every household, for joy and strength and love and perseverance—or not. If every part of the engine is in working order but the sparkplug fails to fire in its appointed rhythm, the whole car lurches or stops.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Book Review: Reading the Bible Supernaturally

Reading the Bible Supernaturally. John Piper. 2017. Crossway. 320 pages. [Source: Review copy]


Reading the Bible Supernaturally is a companion book to John Piper's A Peculiar Glory. Don't worry if you haven't read it, though. He tells you just enough about the first book to situate readers for this second book. (What book should come first? It's almost like The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe and A Magician's Nephew. Almost. I would liken Reading the Bible Supernaturally to be The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe and A Peculiar Glory to A Magician's Nephew.)

This is John Piper writing so expect logic and clarity. He does a great job of explaining everything precisely and logically.

The book has three divisions: "The Ultimate Goal of Reading the Bible," "The Supernatural Act of Reading the Bible," and "The Natural Act of Reading the Bible Supernaturally."

"Part 1 poses the all-important question What does the Bible tell us is the ultimate goal of reading the Bible? I propose an answer with six implications and then devote ten chapters to unfolding and testing those implications. Part 2 works out the inference from part 1 that reading the Bible really must be a supernatural act, if God’s goals for our reading the Bible are to be reached. Finally, part 3 treats the practical outworking of such a claim in the seemingly ordinary human act of reading—the natural act of reading the Bible supernaturally."

So what does Piper see as the ultimate goal in reading the Bible?!

"The Bible itself shows that our ultimate goal in reading the Bible is that God’s infinite worth and beauty would be exalted in the everlasting, white-hot worship of the blood-bought bride of Christ from every people, language, tribe, and nation. In other words, each time we pick up the Bible to read, we should intend that reading would lead to this end. The way that we as individuals are caught up into this ultimate aim as we read the Bible becomes clear as we spell out six implications that flow from this proposed answer to our question. When we say that the ultimate goal of reading the Bible is that God’s infinite worth and beauty would be exalted in the everlasting, white-hot worship of the blood-bought bride of Christ from every people, language, tribe, and nation, we imply that: 1. the infinite worth and beauty of God are the ultimate value and excellence of the universe; 2. that the supremely authentic and intense worship of God’s worth and beauty is the ultimate aim of all his work and word; 3. that we should always read his word in order to see this supreme worth and beauty; 4. that we should aim in all our seeing to savor his excellence above all things; 5. that we should aim to be transformed by this seeing and savoring into the likeness of his beauty, 6. so that more and more people would be drawn into the worshiping family of God until the bride of Christ—across all centuries and cultures—is complete in number and beauty."

Why must the Bible be read supernaturally? What does Piper mean by this phrase?

"What I mean is that the act of reading, in order to be done as God intended, must be done in dependence on God’s supernatural help. The Bible gives two decisive reasons: Satan and sin. That is, we have a blinding enemy outside and a blinding disease inside. Together these two forces make it impossible for human beings to read the Bible, as God intended, without supernatural help. It seems to me that thousands of people approach the Bible with little sense of their own helplessness in reading the way God wants them to."

He continues,

"Bible reading that only collects facts, or relieves a guilty conscience, or gathers doctrinal arguments, or titillates esthetic literary tastes, or feeds historical curiosities—this kind of Bible reading Satan is perfectly happy to leave alone. He has already won the battle. But reading that hopes to see the supreme worth and beauty of God—reading that aims to be satisfied with all that God is for us in Christ, reading that seeks to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps. 34:8)—this reading Satan will oppose with all his might. And his might is supernatural. Therefore, any reading that hopes to overcome his blinding power will be a supernatural reading."

Ultimately he concludes,

"It is a miracle when God’s word is implanted in us, and it is a miracle when in it we taste the sweetness of God’s goodness. From that moment on, all our reading of God’s word is supposed to be an extension of that miracle in daily life—until we “grow up into salvation."

If the Bible is to be read supernaturally, what is natural about the process?

"God does not see for us. God enables us to see. We do the seeing. And the supernatural act of seeing “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” is by means of the natural act of seeing the story of the gospel written (or spoken) in natural human words." 

And,

"All the human effort and skill that you can muster to construe the meaning of biblical passages will be called for. The glory is seen through the meaning of the text. And the meaning is found by reading and thinking. God is united to the man Jesus. The glory of God is united to the meaning of biblical texts. Therefore, when the miracle of seeing and savoring the glory of God happens, it is in the act of reading and thinking. We read. God reveals. God gives the supernatural miracle. We act the supernatural miracle."

In the final chapters of the book, he addresses this question: "How do you go about living the Christian life in such a way that you are actually doing the living, and yet another—the Holy Spirit—is decisively doing the living in and through your living?" His answers are all in acronyms.

I said Piper was logical, and, I meant it. I did. But also expect passion and enthusiasm. Piper's love of God, love of the Word, is apparent on every page of this book. Piper DELIGHTS in God and DELIGHTS in teaching others to delight in God too.

Here's one of my favorite passages:

"So we open our Bibles with a sweet sense that even though we don’t deserve it, God will lead us and instruct us. Our very reading is the experience of gospel grace. Christ died for sinners so that the promise would come true: God helps sinners understand the Bible. These blood-bought promises are given to us so that we might believe them. Not just hear them. Believe them. Trust them. Because, remember from Galatians 3:5, God “supplies the Spirit to you . . . by hearing with faith.” We stand before the Bible ready to read. We hear a promise. “I will instruct you and teach you.” We put our faith in it. The Spirit moves in the channel of faith, and we “act the miracle.” We read supernaturally. So it is good to gather some of these precious promises and store them up: The Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright. (Prov. 2:6–7) Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Prov. 3:5–6) I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. (Ps. 32:8) You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. (Ps. 73:24) Do not be anxious about . . . what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. (Luke 12:11–12) Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31–32) If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a doubleminded man, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:5–8)" 

And also this one:

"When we read the Bible, its meaning is not the ideas that come into our head that may be “meaningful” to us. Those ideas may or may not be part of what the author meant. Rather, when we read the Bible we are digging for the gold of what inspired writers wanted to communicate. We are not creating meaning. We are seeking it." 

A good book is worth reading and occasionally quoting. A great book is worth rereading and quoting liberally. This book is one of the best I've read this year. I will definitely want to reread it!!!

Favorite quotes:

• "No one merely decides to experience the Christian Scriptures as the all-compelling, all-satisfying truth of one’s life. Seeing is a gift." 
• "The ultimate aim of all Bible reading, I argue, is that God’s infinite worth and beauty would be exalted in everlasting, white-hot worship. There is nothing higher than the worth and beauty of God."
• "Lukewarm affection for God gives the impression that he is moderately pleasing. He is not moderately pleasing. He is infinitely pleasing. If we are not intensely pleased, we need forgiveness and healing. Which, of course, we do."
• "Emotions for God that do not spring from seeing God cannot honor God."
• "If there is no true seeing of the glory of God, there can be no true savoring of the glory of God. And without savoring—delighting, cherishing, enjoying, treasuring—there will be no true transformation into the image of God. And if the people of God fail to be transformed into the image of Christ—from glory to glory—the ultimate purpose of God will fail. That cannot happen. God cannot fail in his ultimate purpose. Therefore, if we would be part of his Christ-reflecting, Christ-exalting family, we must read the Bible in order to see his glory—and then savor him above all things."
• "It is also clear from Scripture that God uses not only pleasant emotions in response to seeing his glory, but also painful emotions. These too come from seeing the glory of God in Scripture. And these too are meant to be transforming, in their own way. They are meant to bring about change in a more indirect way, driving us away from destructive sins, in the hope that we will be drawn positively by the superior satisfaction of God’s holiness. God does not cease to be glorious when he disciplines his children. Yet this glory leads us first to sorrow. And then, through sorrow and repentance, to joy. God does not cease to be glorious when he says to those who are entangled in sin, “Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you” (James 4:9–10). His aim is that we enjoy the experience of “he will exalt you.” But on the way there, God’s strategy may be rebuke. It is fitting. Together with all God’s ways and purposes, it too is part of his peculiar glory. It may stretch the ordinary meaning of language, but this too we should “savor.” “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness” (James 1:2–3). There are foods that blend the sour and the sweet in such a way as to make the sweet all the richer."
• "Our Bible reading is never just for seeing, never just for learning and doctrine. It is not even just for savoring, if that savoring is thought of in a private way that leaves us unchanged in our relationship with others. No. We read the Bible—we always read the Bible—for the kind of seeing and savoring Christ that transforms us into his likeness."
• "The ultimate purpose of God—to be worshiped with white-hot affection by a redeemed people, complete in number and beauty—will be accomplished by the one who “works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11). There is no doubt about it. He cannot fail. And he will do it by his Spirit through his word. Through the reading of the Scriptures."
• "If we are going to read the Scriptures about Jesus and see him and savor him and be transformed into his image, it will not be by mere human means. It will be a “blessing” that opens the eyes of our hearts to see his all satisfying glory for what it really is."
• "Life is war. And the main battles are fought at the level of desires, not deeds."
• "The great, central, all-pervading message of the Bible is that God is to be loved above all things, and with all that we are" 
• "The meaning of a biblical text is what the author intended to communicate by his words...To read with the aim of creating your own meaning, instead of finding the author’s meaning, leaves you trapped in the tiny world of self."

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Book Review: Good News of Great Joy

Good News of Great Joy. John Piper. 2012. 70 pages. [Source: Bought]

Good News of Great Joy by John Piper is an advent devotional. I read two Piper devotionals this advent season. Both were good. I happened to like this one a little bit more than the other. But really, they build on each other and complement each other well. Piper's passion for the Lord is contagious, I think. And this one is a lovely gift to treat yourself with each season.

I love how each reading is short and straightforward, and not easily dismissed. Each gives readers something weighty--or meaty--to contemplate.

For example, "Christmas is an indictment before it becomes a delight." And, "If you can only make Christmas exciting with material things, how will the children get a thirst for God?" And last but not least, "be much in the Scriptures, and memorize the great passages! “Is not my word like fire, says the Lord!” (Jeremiah 23:29) Gather ‘round that fire this Advent season. It is warm. It is sparkling with colors of grace. It is healing for a thousand hurts. It is light for dark nights."

My absolute favorite quote:

You can read every fairy tale that was ever written, every mystery thriller, every ghost story, and you will never find anything so shocking, so strange, so weird and so spellbinding as the story of the incarnation of the Son of God. How dead we are! How callous and unfeeling to his glory and his story! How often have I had to repent and say, “God, I am sorry that the stories men have made up stir my emotions, my awe and wonder and admiration and joy, more than your own true story.”

Other favorite quotes:

Christmas is the replacement of shadows with the real thing.

O, don’t let all the sweet things of this season become substitutes of the final great, all-satisfying Sweetness.

His birth was not a coming into being of a new person, but a coming into the world of an infinitely old person.

We make progress in overcoming our sin when we have hope that our failures will be forgiven. If you don’t have hope that God will forgive your failures, when you start fighting sin, you give up.

Christ will really help us in our fight. He really will help you. He is on your side. He didn’t come to destroy sin because sin is fun. He came to destroy sin because it is fatal. It is a deceptive work of the devil and will destroy us if we don’t fight it. He came to help us, not hurt us.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Book Review: The Dawning of Indestructible Joy

The Dawning of Indestructible Joy. John Piper. 2013. 94 pages. [Source: Bought]

The Dawning of Indestructible Joy by John Piper is an Advent themed devotional book well worth reading. If you've not read John Piper in the past, this would be an excellent introduction to his work, his theology. Piper loves to teach on joy, and, this devotional book is about INDESTRUCTIBLE JOY that is ours in Christ.

Each days' reading is drawn from Scripture. There are readings for December 1 through December 25.
The readings are relatively short but definitely rich in truth. So for not many minutes each day, you get a lot of food for thought.

Here are six little "gems" from the book:

Don’t leave Christmas in the abstract. Your sin. Your conflict with the Devil. Your victory. He came for this. (December 5)

Christmas is the reassertion of the foundation of all truth and goodness and beauty, because Christmas means: God is truthful. God’s truthfulness is the constant in a universe of flux. God’s truthfulness is the unwavering absolute. If we forsake God’s truthfulness, the anchor is up, the rudder is loose, the keel is broken, and the ship of life (political life, social life, educational life, scientific life, family life) is simply at the mercy of the wind of human wishes. Say to the next generation again and again: God is truthful; God keeps his word; God does not lie; God can be trusted! That’s one blessing of Advent. Receive it as a wonderful Christmas gift, and give it to as many people as you can. (December 8)

Thus says the Lord: the meaning of Christmas is that what is good and precious in your life need never be lost, and what is evil and undesirable in your life can be changed. The fears that the few good things that make you happy are slipping through your fingers, and the frustrations that the bad things you hate about yourself or your situation can’t be changed—these fears and these frustrations are what Christmas came to destroy. It is God’s message of hope this Advent that what is good need never be lost and what is bad can be changed. The Devil works to take the good and bring the bad. And Jesus came to destroy the works of the Devil. (December 10)

Our God does not need our service, nor is he glorified by recruits who want to help him out. Our God is so full and so self-sufficient and so overflowing in power and life and joy that he glorifies himself by serving us. He does this by taking on humanity and seeking us out and then telling us that he did not come to get our service, but to be our servant. Here is a general truth to ponder and believe: every time Jesus commands something for us to do, it is his way of telling us how he wants to serve us. Let me say it another way: the path of obedience is the place where Christ meets us as our servant to carry our burdens and give us his power. When you become a Christian—a disciple of Jesus—you do not become his helper. He becomes your helper. You do not become his benefactor. He becomes your benefactor. You do not become his servant. He becomes your servant. Jesus does not need your help; he commands your obedience and offers his help. Christmas. He came to serve, not to be served. He came to help us do everything he calls us to do. (December 17)

Let all your frustrations with this world throw you onto the Word of God. It will become sweet—like walking into paradise. (December 18)

Christmas means: the infinitely self-sufficient God has come not to be assisted but to be enjoyed. (December 19)

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Book Review: David Brainerd

David Brainerd: May I Never Loiter On My Heavenly Journey. John Piper. 2012. Desiring God. 34 pages. [Source: Free Download]

First sentence: David Brainerd was born on April 20, 1718 in Haddam, Connecticut. That year John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards turned 14. Benjamin Franklin turned 12 and George Whitefield 3. The Great Awakening was just over the horizon and Brainerd would live through both waves of it in the mid thirties and early forties, then die of tuberculosis in Jonathan Edwards’ house at the age of 29 on October 9, 1747.

Premise/plot: A short biography of David Brainerd written by John Piper. The first half is the biography itself. The facts of his life, the times in which he lived, what he did, etc. The second half examines WHY David Brainerd is and was influential. In other words, why our lives might be better for having come into contact with David Brainerd's diary or journal.

Who was David Brainerd? A man who felt God's calling to be a preacher. But having been expelled from Yale, he found himself with a strong calling and no outlet. He then is led to become a missionary to the Indians. His lifework--as such--was not his plan "A" or probably even his plan "B." He was a sick, weak man--literally a dying man--the last five to seven years of his (short) life. But he was a man who felt the importance of redeeming the time, and, not wasting one's suffering.

Piper writes, "The amazing thing may not be that he died so early and accomplished so little, but that, being as sick as he was, he lived as long as he did and accomplished so much."

He continues, "It was a short life: twenty-nine years, five months and nineteen days. Only eight of those years as a believer, and only four of those as a missionary. Why has Brainerd’s life made the impact that it has? One obvious reason is that Jonathan Edwards took the Diaries and published them as a Life of Brainerd in 1749. But why has this book never been out of print?"

Piper doesn't seek to answer this question for everyone. But he does answer it all the same.

The answer for me is that Brainerd’s life is a vivid, powerful testimony to the truth that God can and does use weak, sick, discouraged, beat-down, lonely, struggling saints, who cry to him day and night, to accomplish amazing things for his glory.

My thoughts: Brainerd's life teaches that one can't always know or predict what one's legacy will be or might be. God can use pain, suffering, weakness, hardships and strains--both physical and emotional--to bring glory to his name and accomplish his will. One doesn't have to be a success in the world's eyes and according to the reckoning of others--to be used mightily by God.

Piper admired Brainerd because despite his circumstances--he clung mightily to God and was dependent on Him to sustain him. Brainerd was often sick, often in great pain, often depressed and discouraged, often lonely, often unable to see the 'bright side' of life, and, yet he spent his time seeking God and obeying Him.

Reading this short biography made me want to read David Brainerd's Diary for myself.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Book Review: Five Points

Five Points: Towards a Deeper Experience of God's Grace. John Piper. 2013. 94 pages. [Source: Bought]

First sentence: Christians love God. He is our great Treasure, and nothing can compare with him.

Premise/plot: John Piper wants his readers to know God better, to taste and see for themselves how GOOD God is. His goal in writing is to have his readers ENJOY God more and more. "Enjoying God is the way to glorify God, because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.
But to enjoy him we must know him. Seeing is savoring. If he remains a blurry, vague fog, we may be intrigued for a season. But we will not be stunned with joy..." He asserts in this short little book that the "most crucial kind of knowledge [for believers to know] is the knowledge of what God is like in salvation." He continues, "To experience God fully, we need to know not just how he acts in general, but specifically how he saves us—how did he save me?" And just one more, "To know him in his sovereignty is to become like an oak tree in the wind of adversity and confusion. And along with strength is sweetness and tenderness beyond imagination. The sovereign Lion of Judah is the sweet Lamb of God."

John Piper introduces readers to the doctrines of grace, the "five points" of Calvinism. While he stays with the TULIP acronym, he rearranges the book to suit his own purposes.

I have found, however, that people grasp these points more easily if we go in the order in which we ourselves often experience them when we become Christians.
1. We experience first our depravity and need of salvation.
2. Then we experience the irresistible grace of God leading us toward faith.
3. Then we trust the sufficiency of the atoning death of Christ for our sins.
4. Then we discover that behind the work of God to atone for our sins and bring us to faith was the unconditional election of God.
5. And finally we rest in his electing grace to give us the strength and will to persevere to the end in faith.

The first chapter is essentially an introduction. The second chapter addresses the historical roots of the doctrines of grace and offers a basic summary of all five points. The eighth chapter is John Piper's testimony about what understanding the doctrines of grace have meant to him. The ninth chapter is more testimonies--these testimonies are all from the cloud of witnesses (Augustine, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, George Mueller, Charles Spurgeon). The tenth chapter includes two final appeals: quotes from Charles Spurgeon and J.I. Packer.

Chapters three through seven focus on the five points: Total Depravity, Irresistible Grace, Limited Atonement, Unconditional Election, and Perseverance of the Saints.

My thoughts: I really loved this one. I've read dozens of books on the five points of Calvinism or the doctrines of grace. Some I've liked better than others. Some are very weighty--theologically--and not practical to recommend. Keep in mind that a) not every believer likes to read to begin with, b) not every believer likes to read theology c) not every believer is equally familiar with Scripture, d) not every believer has been exposed to reformed theology, e) to someone who has never been exposed to reformed teaching and preaching, the doctrines of grace may prove so overwhelmingly contrary to everything they think they know that they shut down and become defensive.

I would recommend this one. Why? It is short. It is straightforward. It is logically organized. All the main points and insights are backed up clearly with Scripture. Sometimes Scripture passages are unpacked for readers in the text. Sometimes only Scripture references are provided. Skeptical readers can be like the Bereans and see for themselves if it is so. (Acts 17:11) It is passionately, zealously presented. Far from being dry and boring, this one illustrates how theology can energize your life. Piper also packs this one with quotes.

I agree with Piper (and nearly everyone else) that the place to begin sharing about the doctrines of grace is with the "T" of Total Depravity. If you can show someone that the Bible clearly, plainly teaches the total depravity of man, then it will be easier to persuade them of the truth of the other four points.

Man’s depravity is total in at least four senses.
1. Our rebellion against God is total.
2. In his total rebellion everything man does is sin.
3. Man’s inability to submit to God and do good is total.
4. Our rebellion is totally deserving of eternal punishment.

The aim of this book is to deepen our experience of God’s grace. The aim is not to depress or to discourage or to paralyze. Knowing the seriousness of our disease will make us all the more amazed at the greatness of our Physician. Knowing the extent of our deep-seated rebellion will stun us at the long- suffering grace and patience of God toward us. The way we worship God and the way we treat other people, especially our enemies, are profoundly and wonderfully affected by knowing our depravity to the full.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Book Review: Lessons from A Hospital Bed

Lessons from a Hospital Bed. John Piper. 2016. Crossway. 80 pages. [Source: Free from Desiring God Ministries.]

Lessons From A Hospital Bed by John Piper is a fantastic short book. How short is short? Just 80 pages. Yet for being so very little, it magnifies a BIG GOD and declares some mighty truths.

The book is divided into two sections. The first part is "Ten Beliefs I Brought to the Hospital." Essentially these are ten oh-so-basic gospel truths that form the foundation of (Christian) living--in or out of a hospital. The first is "The Bible is the Word of God and should be trusted." The tenth is "Your life and your illness are not meaningless." The other eight are just as good, I promise.

The second part of the book is "Ten Lessons From My Hospital Bed." I know a little something about learning lessons from a hospital bed myself. I spent 12 days in the hospital in December 2015, 9 of those days in a cancer ward. (My tumor turned out not to be cancer like they first thought.) I learned a LOT, believe me. So I was curious what Piper learned and if we'd share any lessons in common. We did a few. His first lesson was "Don't murmor about delays and inefficiencies in the hospital when you are getting medical care that surpasses by a hundredfold what is available in 90 percent of the world."

I want to quote from this first chapter:

Instead of focusing on the fact that your nurse isn't responding or the man in the next bed is snoring or the intravenous device is beeping or the ice chips have run out, think about the fact that 150 years ago you would probably be dead by this point. And if not, you might be groaning in unrelieved pain with no morphine to help. And you may have no clue what's wrong with you or whether or not you are dying.

This thought occurred to me over and over again. How fortunate I am to be alive today; to be living at this time and to have faced this crisis in 2015 instead of 1915! I don't doubt that I probably would have died if I'd been living a hundred years ago or 150 years ago as Piper mentions.

He also mentions the importance of not grumbling or complaining.

Do you want to 'shine as a light' in the medical world? The Bible says, the bright of your shining is the absence of your grumbling. Amazing! Why is freedom from grumbling so bright and amazing? Because grumbling is the most natural thing in the world. When we grumble, we act like everybody else. You don't need the Holy Spirit to grumble. You don't need Christ to grumble. You don't need love to grumble. You don't need faith to grumble. All you need is your own entitled self.

I knew one thing that was very important to me personally. To NOT act like my grandmother did in the hospital. The first thing she did was make ENEMIES of all the nurses within minutes. It didn't matter how long or how short her stay. Nurses are your advocates, your helpers, you want them on YOUR side. Plus, I agree that you don't meet people accidentally.

He mentions in several chapters about how difficult and challenging it can be to focus when you're in the hospital. Both because you are in a lot of pain and you are surrounded by a lot of noise. The fifth lesson is "Realize that physical pain makes focusing on God's promises more difficult and demands greater concentrating effort."
He writes,

It's not just the barrage of sounds that disorient our souls; it's the pain. I don't want this to blindside you. The very thing we need God for can blur our vision of God. At this point, it is so very important that you have in your heart some very simple, short biblical truths about God that you can declare to yourself. Long complex reasoning about God's sovereignty and goodness won't work in this situation, because the pain is too disorienting. It doesn't allow the mind to work at full capacity. What you need is this: "The Lord is my Shepherd." Period. "Christ gave himself for me." Period. "I will never leave you." Period. "Nothing is too hard for the Lord." Period. "Everything works for good." Period. These are like white stones with your name on them. And you hold them in your hand as you groan and wait.

This is one reason why Bible reading is so important. You need to have these truths stored away in your heart for you never know WHEN you're going to need them.

I especially loved the tenth lesson: "Pray that none of these hospital hours, none of this pain, none of these fears, none of these relationships, none of this life-altering season will be wasted." 

We may or may not have a choice on if we suffer, if we are in pain, if we face a long--or even a short--illness. But we can choose to glorify God through it all, no matter what. We can choose to rejoice, to praise God, to hold onto the hope that we have in Him, we can cling all the more to a Savior who KNOWS exactly what we need at any moment.


© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Book Review: A Sweet and Bitter Providence

A Sweet and Bitter Providence: Sex, Race, and The Sovereignty of God. John Piper. 2010. Crossway. 160 pages.

Long subtitle for a great little book. What is this one about? It's a book about another short--but great--book. The book of Ruth. From the Old Testament. It's an analysis of that book. Chapter by chapter. Piper explores the Bible story and provides his insights into the book's significance. He is looking for universal themes, looking for ways to make Ruth's story (and Boaz's story, and Naomi's story, etc.) relevant to you and your life. One of the more obvious reasons why this story is so significant is because Ruth and Boaz's child is part of Christ's genealogy. God brought Ruth, a Moabite woman, into the heritage, the lineage, of Jesus Christ. Is Piper successful with his arguments? I think so. I think he makes quite a few good points. (I almost wish he hadn't subtitled it though.)

As a means to that end--and everything is a means to glorifying Christ--the book of Ruth reveals the hidden hand of God in the bitter experiences of his people. The point of this book is not just that God is preparing the way for the coming of the King of Glory, but that he's doing it in such a way that all of us should learn that the worst of times are not wasted. They are not wasted globally, historically, or personally.

When you think he is farthest from you, or has even turned against you, the truth is that as you cling to him, he is laying foundation stones of greater happiness in your life. (24)

The book does stress the sovereignty of God. And I loved it for that reason. I did. I think there aren't enough books--can't be enough books--telling modern readers this absolute truth, this very fundamental, very biblical truth.

What did I appreciate in this one? How rich it is in Scripture! In truth! I also loved how accessible it is to readers. I'll admit it can be a bit intimidating to pick up Christian nonfiction. One never knows how it's going to be. If it's going to be something you can understand, something you can grasp, or if it's going to be written in such a way that it feels like its going miles over your head. (If you're going to drown in footnotes and Greek words.) This Piper book is reader-friendly. That doesn't mean it's fluff--far from it. The truths are just as deep, as substantive, but it's also written to be understood.

Throughout the book, Piper references "God Moves In A Mysterious Way" by William Cowper. I don't believe he ever shares it in full. And so I thought I'd share that here as well.

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible