Its time I reinstated Piper Friday here, It had never been canceled, merely put on hold! Writing a book has taught me that many tasks take a lot longer than our instant coffee generation wants us to believe. My deadline rapidly approaches now, but I hope that in many ways my book is the product not just of the 2 years or so that I have been studying specifically the resurrection, but also my entire Christian life to this point.
Often, however, I do still feel like I am merely a beginner in this walk of ours. I still have much to learn. Piper is one great source of such learning, and his series on Romans 6 is a great place that has helped me much in my thinking about how the resurrection of Jesus affects us. If I went there looking for a “quick fix” solution to all my problems and the troubles of the church, today’s Piper quote disabuses me of that notion!
Here’s the difference between the pragmatists and the Puritans: pragmatists do not have the patience to sink the roots of hospitality and brotherly kindness and authentic love in the deep rock of Romans 6-8. We want to jump straight from justification to the practical application of chapter 12. Just give us a list. Tell us what to do. Fix the problem at the immediate surface level, so it goes away. But the Puritans were different. They looked at the book of Romans and saw that life is built another way. Being a sage, being a Redwood, being unshakable in storm and useful in times of indescribable suffering – that does not come quickly or easily. Romans is not two chapters long. It is 16 chapters long. It does not skip from chapter 5 to 12. It leads us down deep into the roots of godliness, so that when we come up, we are not people with lists, but people with unshakable life and strength and holiness and wisdom and love. John Piper on Romans 6 September 24, 2000 READ MORE.
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