Lunch Meeting with John Piper

I had the privilege to attend a Pastor’s lunch today where John Piper was the guest speaker.  I think their were about 100 pastors gathered together in Indianapolis so it was a relatively intimate setting.  Dr. Piper is a great preacher and a gift to the universal church.  His preaching and writing ministries have positively impacted thousands and thousands of pastors.  I am not a “Piper-ite” but I definitely appreciate this man’s unalterable commitment to the gospel and to sound theology.  We should all really pray for him this next month as he begins two important writing projects (one on the New Perspective and another on Christian marriage).  Pastor John said he is exhausted after a very busy Spring (go figure).  Please pray for him and his family.

 

In most areas I believe Piper’s “Christian Hedonism” campaign is very biblical.  I sometimes wonder though if he imposes this life long theological pursuit on too many passages of Scripture?  I know he (and his supporters) would argue otherwise.  They see God’s passion for His glory and the theology behind the slogan, ‘God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him’ as two of the most central doctrines in all of Scripture.  (I believe the first statement is entirely correct and that the second with qualifications is also a valuable statement).  I think Piper’s error is similar to what happens with some Covenant theologians/preachers.  Sometimes Covenant theologians in their noble effort to find/preach Christ in every verse of Scripture do a little hermeneutical esogesis.  In my humble opinion, this happens with John Piper in some of his lectures and sermons as well.

 

Dr. Piper spoke briefly on John 11:1-6 and showed the connection between God’s passion for His glory (v. 4) and the greater joy that is experienced by man when they too find their satisfaction in God’s love/power/glory.  He pointed out how important the Greek word translated in V. 6 as “so” or “therefore” is to the entire passage.  Jesus stayed for two extra days so that all these things could take place:  He was able to glorify himself and demonstrate His great love towards Martha’s family in and through this wonderful demonstration of His power/love/glory found in v. 11.  Dr. Piper than went to Philippians 1:20-26 and showed much of the same. 

One of the other major points John Piper tried to make was that God could be considered an egomaniac if He’s only concerned about His glory/fame/name.  Piper noted that because our joy is bound up in this very thing (namely that God is most glorified in us when we’re most satisfied in Him) that God therefore is not unattractive nor an egomaniac, etc, etc.  This is true because our supreme JOY is bound up in God’s glory.  To a certain degree I see what John Piper is saying here but I’m still trying to process it out more fully in my mind.  I guess I don’t know if God would be unlovable, unjust, unattractive or what have you if He existed for His own glory apart from the part that we find our greatest joy in this very thing.  Read on and perhaps my dilemma here will make more sense.

 

During the Q & A session I was able to ask John Piper this question.  “Please help me understand the following:  Where does God’s unconditional election (in that He only chooses some unto salvation) and the doctrine/reality of endless punishment (hell) fit into your two major statements (That God exists to bring glory to Himself and that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him).” 

 

In other words, If God’s sovereign plan throughout redemptive history was/is to bring the most glory unto His own name (which it is); and IF ‘God is MOST glorified in us when we’re most satisfied in Him’, than how come God did not choose everyone?  Obviously the non-elect will never find their satisfaction in God like we believers do. 

 

Now don’t misunderstand me here. I believe God’s plan of redemptive history does and will bring Him all the glory He rightly deserves!  In my estimation this includes His sovereign election of unworthy sinners like you and I (the elect); AND His eternal damnation of unrepentant sinners (the non-elect).

 

Dr. Piper graciously answered my question by going to Romans 9:20-23.  He agreed with me that God’s grace is magnified in His wrath and His wrath is magnified in looking at His grace.  Dr. Piper believes that God is MORE glorified in His grace than He is through His wrath.  Which is probably why he says God is MOST glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.  On this point I don’t know if I wholly agree with him…Anyways, John Piper thanked me for my question and told me that his popular statement “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him” definitely needs to be qualified.  Is God more glorified in the salvation of sinners than he is his punishment of evildoers?  Or is he equally glorified in both aspects in that they perfectly complement/magnify one another?  Clearly his statement is correct if we’re only talking about Christians.

 

Friends these are very small disagreements that I think I have with a Christian brother whom I hold in very high regard.  My thinking may be wrong here.  Feel free to express your biblical perspectives on this post but do not take this as a free for all to smash this dear saint.  This is not my point in posting this blog nor will I allow comments to remain posted that miss the spirit of this post.  All biblical teaching is subject to further examination, even the preaching of great teachers like Piper, MacArthur, & Sproul.  Any helpful thoughts here?  I will link the audio of this event when it is available.