Why I don't like John Piper

Before you read my title and call me a heretic just hold your horses. I don't dislike Saint Piper. I just don't like to read his books, listen to his sermons, or watch him on youtube. That's right John Piper is all over youtube. I was looking for some videos of Brennan Manning (The Ragamuffin Gospel) today and somehow a bunch of JP's videos came up too. I watched one. and another. And then I remembered why I don't like John Piper. He talks about Jesus too much. He doesn't talk about me or humanity. Just Jesus really. How I should make much of Jesus. How I need to stop wasting my life and give whatever I have to Jesus. Make him known to the nations. To my neighbor. 

I don't like John Piper because he reminds me that I don't love Jesus; I love me. 

Extravagant Giving

This month I get to be roommates with one of my best friends, Liz. Liz and my other new roommate, her husband Matt, have graciously rented me their extra bedroom while I finish up here at Martin. Matt works evenings, so Liz and I spend a lot of time down-time watching TV together. She's into reality TV. Not MTV trash but tear-jerking home-makeover type stuff. I don't like to watch sappy shows, but I like Liz a lot so I suffer through the stuff.

Tonight we watched Extreme Makeover Home Edition. The crew gave a family an entirely new home, all-expense paid vacation once a year for FOUR years, and remodeled their disabled son's college band's practice field. One of the younger sons really likes guitars and 70's rock music, so one of the crew flew all the way to Nashville to build guitars for his room.

I couldn't believe all the things they were doing the this family. To be honest, it was a little over the top. It was, well, extravagant. The kind of extravagance that makes me uncomfortable. I understand that this particular family had a hard life and dealt with some major obstacles, but is that really reason enough to be impractical and just plain frivolous when building them a new home? Build them a beautiful house. Fine. But take the money that's being wasted and give it to African refugees or the urban poor.

Some of my readers (few as you may be) probably think I was being a "scrooge." And I would disagree. I think I was being more like Jesus' disciples than Ol' Ebenezer.

While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. "Why this waste?" they asked. "This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor."

Aware of this, Jesus said to them, "Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."

Jesus advocates extravagance. As I sat in Liz's living room floor I was overwhelmed by the truth that I have been the recipient of such an extravagant gift. To give a weak, sinful, damaged, beggar like me grace so costly that not only redeems the depraved but also entreats her to dine His table...unthinkable. For a Jew like Jesus, to share a meal was not only an invitation to eat but an invitation to friendship. How extravagant.

"it seems like “God is calling me” is a convenient trump card to avoid talking about deeper issues. We are quick to invoke the hand of God upon our decisions because it keeps us from having to deal with the realities of the Fall – things like uncertainty and doubt and selfishness."

-Bob Thune

Uncertain. Doubtful. Selfish. 

My life in three words. 

What does it mean to follow Jesus?

Last night our Summer Project put on a soccer tournament. The tournament was amazing. We had thirty-two people show up to play. After the tournament was over some of the players came to a cook-out we hosted afterward. As we were eating, I overheard one of the guys who came to play in the tournament ask the table he was sitting at, "What does it mean to follow Jesus?" It sounded like a sincere question. I knew there were quite a few project students at the table and while I was anxious to hear their responses, I was glad I wasn't one of them. 

What does it mean to follow Jesus?

I have been following him for years. Shouldn't I know? I think it might involve a calling of some sort. In the gospels people who followed Jesus were called, like Peter and his brother Andrew who Jesus told to come and follow him. 

I also think there is an element of commitment to following Jesus. When Jesus started teaching some difficult ideas a lot of his disciples left. Jesus asked the twelve if they were going to desert him too. Peter answered for the group that they were staying. Peter didn't say, "Wow Jesus following you is a blast how could we leave when we're having so much fun!" He said something more like, "Jesus you have the answers to life, even though sometimes they're hard to hear. We're staying put." After that, when the pharisees were plotting to kill Jesus, Peter's commitment wavered. He told Jesus die with him, but instead he denied him. I get Peter. There are times when left up to myself I would totally walk away from Jesus. The only thing that holds me here his is a force I cannot explain. So even this idea of commitment is not complete. Or maybe it's just not my commitment to Jesus that counts but His commitment to me. 

Jesus said if we love him will obey his commands. That's probably key to following him as well. But what does that obedience encompass? Jesus said the whole law could be summed up by loving God with everything you are and have and loving your neighbor as yourself. So following Jesus means that the way I relate to God and people have to be different. But a lot of non-followers treat their neighbors better than I do. 

I'm not writing toward an answer that will neatly tie up this question. I just want to start a conversation. How do we follow Jesus?

Exerpt from Kingdom of Couches

The following is an excerpt from The Kingdom of Couches by William Walker. I'm in the process of deleting an old blog, and I ran accross this. I thought it was worth copying and pasting. If you enjoy the excerpt you can find the book at amazon or crupress.com. Unfortunately, it is not in retail stores. "The day before that conversation-about what it means to love God-I ran into an old friend from college at Seattle's Best Coffee. I hadn't seen Jeff in seven years. I remember him as this commando Christian guy who listened to the Bible on tape while he ate dinner. The first thing he told me was that he had "chucked the faith." I inquired, "Chucked it as in you left and came back to the faith or chucked it as in you still don't believe." It was the latter. We talked for a while after that. The conversation was refreshing, because I didn't feel like I needed to explain or prove anything. Jeff already knew everything. At one point we started talking about the Bible. He said, "Man, Paul was either freaking brilliant or tripping on something. His arguments are airtight." I agreed and told him that I had mostly been reading the Gospels for the past couple years. I started talking about the way Jesus interacted with people and how simple and revolutionary his ideas were. As I recounted my discovery of the person of Christ, I began to talk about how Jesus never really asked anyone what they knew or what they could do. Instead He always asked people things like, Do you love me? Will you follow me? Who do you say that I am? All of his invitations were so overtly relational. It's like Jesus wants us to marry him. I was thinking these things out loud, and at this point Jeff interrupted me, "It's weird that you say that. I never read the Gospels much. I was always reading the Epistles. Maybe I married a set of ideas and arguments instead of a person." He asked me how I could keep believing. The only thing I could think to say, the only thing that I felt was true, was, "Dude, I married Jesus. I'm in." He asked me if I ever had questions or doubts. "Of course I do," I said. "There are all kinds of things I don't know, and the life that Jesus has led me into is frustrating sometimes, but I'm not breaking up with Him because of it. We're married. I couldn't imagine life without Jesus." Jeff countered, "But you would be okay if you stopped believing. You really would. At first it felt really weird to me, but after a while I was okay. I learned different ways to cope and found other things to give my energy to. You don't think you would be okay, but you would be after awhile." I sat there for a minute and tried to imagine what it would be like to break up with Jesus and whether or not I could actually be okay someday. I sat there quietly, looking away in thought. Thinking about it made my heart hurt. After a minute or two, I looked at Jeff and said, "I wouldn't be okay. It would feel like divorce to me. In marriage you become one with the other person. Divorce would literally feel like death. If Debbie or Ethan died, I would never get over that. Sure I would cope and get on with life, but I would always feel a sense of loss, like part of me died. That is how it would be if somehow I walked away from Jesus. It would never be okay. We are married."

As I was putting on my make-up

This morning as I was putting on my make-up, my suitemate Emily commented on the music I was playing from the bathroom. "Is that Sara Groves," she asked. "I have her CD." "Yeah, it's her. She's my favorite! Don't you love her," I replied. "I like her, but she isn't my favorite," Emily said. I followed her to her room and recited a list of songs by said artist that I was sure would move Emily, that would stir her very soul that way they had mine. But she just shrugged and said they were all very nice songs. This afternoon I was sitting on my bed eating a bowl of Smart Start when I thought about Emily not loving Sara Groves. I wanted to go to room and ask her why Sara Groves wasn't her favorite and convince her that her songs are better than "nice." I wanted Emily to Love this thing that I love. As I sat on my bed staring at the spoon of whole grain cereal in my hand, I wondered how my life, how the world would be different if I wanted everyone to love Jesus the way I love him. What if Emily didn't love Jesus? (She does by the way.) But if she didn't, would I think about it while eating dinner. Would I be moved to walk accross the bathroom to tell her about him?

"How are you" is not a rhetorical question

I have been working at the bank while I’m on Spring break. Every day I am amazed at the number of customers who stare blankly back at me or at their laps (I work the drive-thru) when I ask them how they’re doing. I can only think of two reasons why my customers seemingly ignore my inquiries as to how they are doing. 1.) "How are you" has become more of a greeting than a sincere question in our culture (I too am guilty of such a communication atrocity.) Walking the halls of the Humanities building I see friends and classmates, and If I had to estimate, I would say 5 out of ten will ask how I'm doing without so much as a backward glance as they pass by with break-neck speed. 2.) We have become so accustom to interacting with machines that we have lost our ability to communicate with humans. I fall prey to this too. My co-teller, Brandy, is talking to me about her husband's dishwashing, or the lack thereof. Instead of looking at her and giving affirming nods and noises, I stare at my computer screen, only half listening to her story. Where have my manners, or more importantly love for others, gone? I was talking to my friend Christian about this over coffee last week, venting because I felt invisible to the general public and sincerely pondering the decay of our culture. Sometimes Christian doesn't respond with as much enthusiasm to my not-so-profound sentiments as I would like. (Most of the time, it's because she's really thinking about it.) I was definitely feeling a lack of interest when all of a sudden she interjected a third option: 3.) We are not present where we are. We don't live in the moments of our lives because we are too busy thinking about our dry cleaning, research paper, grocery shopping, hot date on Friday night, and trip to the bank. I treat God like a drive-thru teller. I don't consider myself religious. Maybe I am. I think everyone has a different definition of what religious means, so whatever. What I'm saying is that I don't believe ritual or rule-compliance is what makes me acceptable to God. I follow Jesus and believe that he is what makes me acceptable to God. When Adam and Eve sinned, they lost relationship with God. Since that time, God has been at work bringing people back into relationship with himself. And that is what the whole Jesus dying on the cross thing is about. I have said all that to say that I have a relationship with God through Jesus, and like another relationship there must be communication. Christian, who I previously mentioned, is my best friend. She and I live four hours apart. If we didn't call and visit each other, I don't think we have a very much of a friendship. God is not like Christian, in that is perfect, all knowing, unlimited by time and space, and ever-present. He is a being that is above and unlike humans. But he is a being whom I am in relationship with all the same. Therefore to know him and have a healthy relationship with him, I must spend time with Him. I do that in the morning most days. I am a morning person, and I figure giving God the first moments of my day is the least I can considering He is God and all. On mornings I wake up late, have an insane geology mid-term where I have to find the gradient and velocity of a stream, the time I spend with God is a lot like when my customers come through the drive-thru without ever looking up from their checkbooks because they are thinking about picking up the oldest from soccer practice and the youngest from daycare. Other mornings, when I am not thinking about all that I have to do that day, the time I spend with God is a lot like having coffee with Christian when neither one of us has a place to be or errands to run. I may be able to apply communication theories and experiences from my earthly relationships to mine with God, but there is a crucial difference. God does not withhold love from me when I'm cranky or give me the silent treatment because I'm late for dinner. This sacred relationship is the only place where I am accepted without proviso.