From My Christmas Blog 2

There are one or two thi8ngs about this publication that I am a little unhappy about but if you want a good little book that will give you a good angle on the Christmas story do get this book and read it or try here on YouTube to bear John Piper reading it aloud.

Preview for April 7 2019

John Piper Sermons

I notice that all John Piper's sermons are now available on the ESV site. Go here and click the cloud above (bit Freudian, eh?) for available apps.

C S Lewis and the Olympics

I glanced recently at an article on the Olympics by John Piper (here) and I noticed that he has an aside about his great hero "The good Brit C. S. Lewis". He adds "(who’d be happy to see London host the games)". That struck me as a little odd so I looked up C S Lewis and sport on google and the first entry is a wikianswer to the question "What sport did CSL like?" The answer (which sounds right to me) is "C S Lewis did not like any sport very much. He was born without joints in his thumbs and was awkward when growing up, which meant that he had difficulty playing any sport and never got involved in them, either to play or as a fan."

I also noticed a journal article (abstract here) C S Lewis at the 2012 London Olympics a theological analysis of modern professional sport, in particular the modern Olympic Games which sets out to give a theological assessment "in light of some of C.S. Lewis’s writings on pride and humility."

They conclude "by suggesting that the modern professional sports institution and the Olympic movement, while possessing many positive and enriching attributes, requires “wholesale spiritual rehabilitation” due in-part to both individual and national pride. However, we also believe that the modern Olympic Games that are characterised by passionate international sports competition, has many positive and life-affirming attributes and that there is hope of a lasting “legacy”"

Helm at the Piper

Damaged Piper

Tending to be a bit fuzzy myself (more or  less, as it were) I like clear thinking. Try this here for some clarity.

Pastor Scholar Pastor

I've just read the short American book The pastor as scholar and the scholar as pastor by John Piper and Don Carson picked up at the EMA. For the background see here. See here too. Given the subject matter I, not surprisingly, found it interesting. 

Both are great communicators and use enough biographical and anecdotal material to keep interest up even where it may seem slightly irrelevant. Good structure helps too. It's the sort of book to get you thinking. One odd thing, in the afterword David Mathis says that both Piper and Carson refer to F F Bruce but only Piper is referenced in the index as doing so. Presumably one of the anonymous people in Carson's paper is Bruce. Which one?

Facebook

I'm not so well today so I've been over on Facebook having a longer look than usual. People are still in a quandary with it I think. I notice that John Piper has decided to disappear until January and Jan Akkerman is finding it difficult to manage over a thousand friends. I have 146 at present and try not to get too bothered about keeping up. Apparently you can subdivide your friends into groups but that looks rather invidious, I guess. My grandchildren (I have none as yet) will know just what to do perhaps.

Book Buys May

The main bit of book buying in May was at the Assembly bookstall where I got the following:

1. Paul Garner - the New Creationism

2. Erroll Hulse -Who saves God or me?

3. "E M Hicham" - Your questions answered - a reply to muslim friends

4. Alec Motyer - Life 2 the sequel

5. William Grimshaw (selected by Faith Cook) - Living the Christian Life

I also bought the Dan Walker thing from Day One. They sent me a free copy so I gave mine to a boy in the congregation. I'd already bought 10 of the Jonathan Holdt one mentioned here, which we are reading on Sundays as a family bit by bit. I notice that a member of the congregation who bought a copy has started to come Sunday evenings. Yes, I also got the John Blanchard travel guide I mentioned here for reference.

In May I also bought these two online:

1. John Piper - Finally Alive

2. Carl Trueman - John Owen

Then there were three secular books. I love the Thames Hudson New Horizon series (translated from the French) and have several volumes. It is quite an old series now so you sometimes see them going cheap. I saw the one on jazz somewhere and bought it and the one on Shakespeare in the NPG. Then at some other point I was in a charity shop and saw the Neil Gaiman book Coraline. I rarely read children's books but as it's out as a film I thought I'd buy it and read it. It's well written but not really my cup of tea now nor would it have been as a child. Fantasy/horror is not really my thing.

Two good quotations

1. C S Lewis
I am finally learning how to use Facebook and got this one from Doug McMasters of Tooting
“If you do not listen to Theology, that will not mean that you have no ideas about God. It will mean that you have a lot of wrong ones - bad, muddled, out-of-date ideas. For a great many of the ideas about God which are trotted out as novelties today, are simply the ones which real Theologians tried centuries ago and rejected.”
2. John Piper
The second I found in Don Carson's companion volume to the M'Cheyne readings.
"The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night."
(A Hunger for God: Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer

LTS

Building work at the LTS continues apace. They have also recently appointed new administrator. I'm sorry to say though that the drinks machine is playing up!
It was good to be involved in interviews there on Monday. There were several candidates, all good men and all with interesting stories of how they were converted and have come to a conviction that God wants them to prepare for Christian ministry.
All based in the UK, there was great variety in these men in all sorts of ways – age (24-44 I think it was), background (3 were oriental, one was from Wales, one Afro-Caribbean Londoner and 2 quite different Englishmen), profession – some growing up in Christian homes some having no background at all, convictions about baptism and church order, way of speaking.
I was struck by two particular things – the involvement in various sorts of Pentecostalism that has marked several of them before turning from it and the Reformed influence the internet is having on people – particularly through John Piper, Tim Keller and others (John MacArthur, Paul Washer, etc). Indeed, the importance of the internet is clearly not to be underestimated.

Piper Sovereignty Responsibility

This helpful answer was given by John Piper at a recent Desiring God Conference Q&A

Great minds

"Nothing could be more eternally important than Christian people knowing what the Bible teaches about the new birth and knowing that they have experienced it. One wonders why it’s taken so long for a book on the new birth to be written! But now it has and I pray every reader rejoices in God for the rich beauties of Christ Jesus so compellingly shared in its pages."

Thabiti Anyabwile, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

"Regeneration, or new birth, meaning simply the new you through, with, in, and under Christ, is a largely neglected theme today, but this fine set of sermons, criss-crossing the New Testament data with great precision, goes far to fill the gap. Highly recommended."
J . I. Packer, Professor of Theology, Regent College, Vancouver, Canada

"I cannot too strongly celebrate the publication of this book. Owing in part to several decades of dispute over justification and how a person is set right with God, we have tended to neglect another component of conversion no less important. Conversion under the terms of the new covenant is more than a matter of position and status in Christ, though never less: it includes miraculous Spirit-given transformation, something immeasurably beyond mere human resolution. It is new birth; it makes us new creatures; it demonstrates that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. All the creedal orthodoxy in the world cannot replace it. The reason why “You must be born again” is so important is that you must be born again."

D. A. Carson, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois

"For those curious about the Christian faith to those deeply committed to Christ and his ways, come read and behold the glory of any and every sinner’s only hope — the miracle of the new birth that brings forth new life in Christ that will never end."
Bruce Ware, Professor of Christian Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky

"Theologically thorough and yet heart-warmingly pastoral and practical, this important book should help God’s people to value the remarkable status and responsibility of being ‘born again.’" Richard Cunningham, Director of UCCF, UK

"Expository and practical, this rich survey of New Testament teaching explores the nature of the new birth and the life which flows from it. Full of refreshment and encouragement, it reveals more deeply the glory of Christ and the gospel and motivates a renewed commitment to live out this good news and share it with others."
David Jackman, President of The Proclamation Trust, London

"When I was a boy my grandmother asked me, ‘Have you been born again?’ Though I didn’t understand what she meant at the time, that question led to my conversion to Christ. In this wonderful book, Pastor John Piper rescues the term ‘born again’ from the abuse and overuse to which it is subject in our culture today. This is a fresh presentation of the evangelical doctrine of the new birth, a work filled with theological insight and pastoral wisdom."
Timothy George, Dean of Beeson Divinity School, Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama

"Many will be thankful that John Piper is here addressing the key need of our times. Every awakening begins with the renewed discovery of Christ's teaching on the new birth. Here is that amazing teaching in lucid yet comprehensive form; with a relevance to readers worldwide."
Iain H. Murray, Banner of Truth

"Have I been born again? is not a question to be answered hastily. In this book, Piper strips away our complacency, arguing that many people falsely believe they are Christians. By examining the Bible’s teaching on the new birth, he shows us how to be certain our faith is genuine. Because no issue could be more critical, I believe this is the most important book Piper has written."
Adrian Warnock, blogger

"Classic Piper—crystal clear exposition and a must read."
Alistair Begg, Parkside Church, Chagrin Falls, Ohio

This is just a reminder about my book What the Bible teaches about being born again. The above comments refer, of course, to John Piper's new book on regeneration Finally Alive. I've not seen a copy but he looks to be covering similar ground. I was aware of it but it was Jeremy Walker who drew my attention to the interesting comment by Thabiti Anyabwile.

Note - must seek more endorsements next time I write something.