John Piper

So, having heard much of John Piper and how amazingly awesome he is, I finally decided to go to Oneplace.com and search for his radio show, Desiring God Radio. I listened to the sermon that was aired on November 27th, 2006 entitled Dead to the Law, Serving in the Spirit.

Piper made the lynchpin of his sermon the question, "Why does it that the fact that we are no longer under the law make us lovers of the law instead of lawless?" Why don't we all go out and just start sinning because it doesn't apply to us anymore?

I loved Piper's explanation. He used the analogy of lover's throughout the whole sermon. As we died to the law and were redeemed by Christ's blood, we are no longer bound by the letter of the law but that we now serve "in the newness of the Spirit"(Romans 7:6). The purpose of our being freed from the law is not so that we can break it with impunity; we were freed so that we might serve Him with whom we are united (v. 4) so that we may bear fruit. We are "married" or united with Jesus. That joining together means that, fundamentally, we are changed; if we are not changed, we are not married.

Thinking about that, you can think of James, who says in 2:18 "show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do." If we are fundamentally changed in our union with Christ, then how much more can we continue in the actions loved by the world. How much more can we continue to show outward allegience to wordly temptations and successes?

So why are we not lawless? Why does becoming a Christian not give us an excuse to go and do whatever it is that we want? Because we are transformed in the newness of the Spirit, in service to God, bearing fruit for him... and one cannot do that when you continue along the path of action that you were taking before you were united.

(Just so you don't think I"m some crazy theologian, do remember that I'm sort of mulling over Piper's sermon and ideas and analyzing them in my head. Anything above there is just a restatment of the sermon. Go listen to it yourself here.)

On a funnier note, if you do go to listen to it, take note of 10:45 until about 11:15 where Piper rails on the NASB for it's not being a literal translation. His exact quote "C'mon NASB don't let me down when I need you."