In a 2000 sermon, John Piper draws out six truths from 1 Peter 2:9-17 about how Christians should be involved in society and culture.

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1. We were once all in darkness, along with the whole world.

Notice the phrase near the end of verse 9: "Him who has called you out of darkness." We were once in darkness. The darkness of sin and unbelief and ignorance about God and his ways. It was the darkness of deadness in sin, as Paul says in Ephesians 2:5. This is the condition of our culture and our society. And we were once a part of it by nature. Why are we no longer?

2. God called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

This truth comes from the same phrase in verse 9: "Him wh…

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John Piper addressed Bethlehem Baptist Church this Spring about the elders' hope for clarity regarding his succession as the Pastor for Preaching and Vision. As many of our readers have been prayerfully observing this process, below is the update Pastor John gave in last weekend's sermon.

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Update on the Antioch Moment
June 11, 2011
John Piper

On April 9, I said that the elders would be praying every Thursday for six weeks seeking the Lord’s mind on three issues facing us at this moment in the 140-year life of our church: succession (when should a new pastor for preaching and vision take my place and I move over to teach and write and mentor), structure (one church on multiple c…

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Our options are endless if we want to evade the reality of our brokenness, but there is only one liberator. John Piper explains in this video excerpt:

. . . All of us are prone to say "I don't need you, Jesus. I've have my ethnicity," or "I don't need you, Jesus, I've got my religion, I've got my God," or "I don't need you, Jesus, I've got my moral superiority, I'm just an average Joe keeping my nose clean, surely not like some of these rascals sleeping around."

None of those work.

One thing works: "If the Son sets you free, you will be freed indeed."

That's it. That's the message of the text. There are all kinds of escapes, there are all kinds of evasions, but there's only one liber…

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On the third Sunday of each January, John Piper preaches a sermon on abortion, exposing the injustice and providing a biblical defense for the sanctity of human life.

Here are three notable sermons you might consider listening to and passing on to others:

Abortion: You Desire and Do Not Have, So You Kill (1987)

• In this sermon John Piper answers three foundational questions regarding abortion: What is happening? Why is it happening? What should our response be?

Abortion, Race, Gender, and Christ (2005)

• In this sermon John Piper connects the millions of abortions around the world to the outworking of sexism and racism.

The Baby in My Womb Leaped for Joy (2009)

• At one point in this s…

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Throughout the history of ideas there have been sprouts of thought that claim the mind to have a naturally transcendent capacity, dwarfing the commonality of our other faculties, never leading us astray.

This is not so, though its persuasion is terribly subtle. Thinking can be easy and regular such that we often drift from one project to the next, presuming we'll gather all the data and start down the right path every time.

We think a lot, but we don't always think rightly. The effects of sin taint our ability to reason as much as our ability to choose — yes, we are that broken.

John Webster writes,

Like all other aspects of human life, reason is a field of God's sanctifying work.…

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The glory of God — and our joy in him — is the heart of mission.

John Piper writes,

The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God. "The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!" (Psalm 97:1). "Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy! (Psalm 67:3-4). . . Missions begins and ends in worship.

(Let the Nations Be Glad, 3rd ed. [Grand Rapids: Baker, 2010], 36)

Lesslie Newbigin writes,

There has been a long tradition which sees the mission of the Church primarily as obedience to a command. It has been customary to speak of "the missionary mandate." This way of pu…

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In this excerpt from the weekly sermon, John Piper explains that cause is never the decisive explanation of anything:

. . . No matter what mess you have gotten yourselves into, no matter what pain you're in right now from any number of human causes, that's not the main point of it. . . .

Watch, listen, or download "The Works of God and the Worship of Jesus."

Charles Spurgeon writes,

. . . the real reason why God's people do not feed under a gospel ministry, is, because they have not faith. If you believed, if you did but hear one promise, that would be enough; if you only heard one good thing from the pulpit here would be food for your soul, for it is not the quantity we hear, but the quantity we believe, that does us good—it is that which we receive into our hearts with true and lively faith, that is our profit (excerpted from "The Sin of Unbelief"). 

The massive consumerism of our age has taught us to be critical. We are constantly confronted with options—from allergy medicines to zero-calorie soft drinks. We examine and test and compare…

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In this video, Francis Chan talks about the experience of Christ's fellowship when we're out there making him known:

(Watch on Vimeo)

Here are some past saints who have felt the sufferings and joys of proclaiming Christ:

• Adoniram Judson - How Few There Are Who Die So Hard!
• Athanasius - Contending for Our All
• Charles Simeon - Brothers, We Must Not Mind a Little Suffering
• David Brainerd - Oh, That I May Never Loiter On My Heavenly Journey!
• John Bunyan - To Live Upon God that Is Invisible
• John G. Paton - You Will Be Eaten by Cannibals!

In his article, "Pursuing the Servant's Mindset" (PDF), Stuart Scott explains the biblical concept of pride. He writes:

What's the definition of pride?

If we could sum it up, it's the mindset of self, the pursuit of self-exaltation, a focus on the desire to control all things for self. In exalting himself, the person actually believes, "I am valuable and worthy. I am the source of anything good or wise or successful. I deserve the credit for whatever I achieve or acquire. I deserve love, admiration, and respect. All good things are from me, through me and to me. All honor and glory should go to me for my enjoyment and pleasure."

Our instinct is to say, as Nebuchadnezzar did when he walke…

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