Encouragement from John Piper

Piper's defining work.

"The difference between Uncle Sam and Jesus Christ is that Uncle Sam won't enlist you in his service unless you are healthy and Jesus won't enlist you unless you are sick:  'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I came not to call the righteous, but sinners' (Mark 2:17).  Christianity is fundamentally convalescence ('Pray without ceasing' = Keep buzzing the nurse).  Patients do not serve physicians. They trust them for good prescriptions. The Sermon on the Mount and the Ten Commandments are the Doctor's prescribed health regimen, not the employee's job description."

From Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist by John Piper

The Prodigal God

When you first see the title, The Prodigal God, you think you have misread the words.  Isn't the Bible story called 'The Prodigal Son'?  Actually, that title is an addition, a organizing help that is inserted in Bibles that use subtitles to help us find passages and note divisions in the text.

The Bible story is about a man with two sons.  All three characters are critical to the story, but it is, obviously, important to note who is telling the story--Jesus--and who He is telling it to.  The intended audience, the people with the front row seats, were not the buddies of the younger son.  Jesus did not preach this sermon in a honky-tonk.  The primary audience was made up of Pharisees, the ones who were like the older brother.

The Prodigal, according to Tim Keller, was not the young guy who spent all his inheritance on wine, women, and song.  The Prodigal was the father in the story. 

Keller writes,

 The word "prodigal" does not mean "wayward" but, according to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, "recklessly spendthrift."  It means to spend until you have nothing left.  The term is therefore as appropriate for describing the father in the story as the younger son.  The father's welcome to the repentant son was literally reckless, because he refused to "reckon" or count his sin against him or demand repayment....In this story the father represents the Heavenly Father Jesus knew so well....Jesus is showing us the God of Great Expenditure, who is nothing if not prodigal toward us, his children. God's reckless grace is our greatest hope, a life-changing experience, and the subject of this book.

I have come to appreciate and profit from Tim Keller's books.  King's Cross is a great study of the life of Christ as seen through the Gospel of Mark and The Meaning of Marriage is a great study as well.  But The Prodigal God is, perhaps, the best place to begin reading and meditating on a familiar parable seen and unpacked (exegeted) in greater fullness.

If there are those who want to order copies of the book, let me know.

Note:  The Tuesday night study for men (of all ages) is studying and discussing The Prodigal God. 

Another Fruit of the Reformation--the King James Bible



A great study of history, literature, and theology.

This year, 2011, marks four hundred years since the King James Bible was first published. At this time, when we focus upon the Reformation, we should also remember the blessings of the King James Bible. Although the publication of the King James Bible occurred nearly one hundred years after Luther posted the 95 Theses on the church door at Wittenberg, both events are closely linked.


The greater significance of Luther’s hammer and nails is the chain reaction of events that followed. The Reformation was not a one man show or even a two or four man show. What made the Reformation world-changing and on-going was the many sparks that it ignited across Europe and across time.

The battle for the Bible in English is a rich and tumultuous story. The very fact that James Stuart, who was James I of England and James VI of Scotland, is associated with a faithful translation of the Bible is richly ironic in many ways. Although he was well trained theologically, morally he was degenerate. His leadership style is antithetical to imitation. Otto Scott said that his name being attached to a Bible is a blasphemous joke.

King James threatened to “harry the Puritans out of the land.” This statement illustrates the several great accomplishments of his troubled reign, all of which came about in opposition to his personal and theological preferences. He helped create a Puritan commonwealth in the New World. He fortified Puritans in England, and he commissioned a Bible to blunt the edge of Puritan theology (by countering the Geneva Bible). One is stunned into seeing the Sovereign God ruling history for His own glory when contemplating England during the time of the Stuart kings. (And such a vision for history should give us some comfort in our own leadership-challenged times.)

Dr. Leland Ryken has written a book that highlights and celebrates the history and influence of the King James Bible. The book is titled The Legacy of the King James Bible: Celebrating 400 Years of the Most Influential English Translation.  This book is published by Crossway Books (one of my favorite publishers).

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