Why I Like: John Piper

From time to time I am going to take a moment to write about the major influences on my life: authors, preachers, music, movies, and the like. I will put these posts up in a thoroughly biased manner because each post will strictly be my opinion. I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but hopefully, they will shed some light on why I think the way I think. And, maybe, you'll come to appreciate them too.


It is fitting for the inaugural post in this ongoing series to be about the influence John Piper has had on me. In his writing and preaching I discovered the emotional and spiritual grounding for the notoriously intellectual theology I most resonate with - Reformed Theology (or Calvinism, though the total system doesn't belong solely to John Calvin...but I digress). Piper's books came in and infused my largely academic faith with passion, purpose, and a desire to pursue God in His Word, my thought life, relationships, and even nature. His preaching makes me say, "Wow, I need to read my Bible more..." and, "How great is the glory of God!"

To be perfectly honest, the first time I picked up Desiring God, his seminal work and my '+1' book, while in college, I couldn't get through a chapter without falling asleep. I was patently not a reader at that point, and his sentences weigh about 800lbs each. The combination was exhausting, literally.

My desire for learning eventually caught up, and I have been reading and listening to Piper for the better part of a decade. His most commonly used statement is visible in my personal mission.

               Piper: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.

               Me: To be joyfully spent making others glad in God.

The pursuit of our own joy is and can only truly be simultaneously the pursuit of knowing Jesus and passionately pursuing the glory of God in our own lives and the lives of others.

His words inspire reverence, biblical astuteness, deep thought, conviction, repentance, joy, passion, and missions, to name a few of the side effects I have experienced. Further, his teaching has been one of the sparks that has caused what is being called the New Reformed movement (or, more awkwardly, the Young, Restless, and Reformed movement), headed up by such leaders as Mark Driscoll, Matt Chandler, Joshua Harris, and revolving around events like the Passion Conference.

In short, I cannot overestimate the impact John Piper's ministry has had on my personal walk with Christ. He's not Jesus; he's by no means perfect. But his ministry, his words, have been of great benefit to me and many others over the last 30+ years.

Here are some great resources to check out:
Books:
Desiring God
The Pleasures of God
Don't Waste Your Life
Let the Nations Be Glad
Think


Sermons:
Romans (over 200 messages)
Hebrews