Think: On Scholarship

"He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things were created through him and for him."  Colossians 1:15-16


I'm continuing to make my way through John Piper's book Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God, as he makes his case that all thinking ultimately exists for the love of God and the love of our fellow man.  In chapter 13, Dr. Piper directs the reader's attention to the truth that all scholarship should be for the love of God and mankind; that God not only reveals himself through the person of Jesus Christ, as recorded in Scripture, but he also reveals himself through the created world, nature and human life.  He writes:

"All the natural world was created through and for Jesus.  This is a spectacular statement.  Every scholar who devotes himself to observing the world should think long and hard about the words 'All things were created. . .for Christ.' Surely, the least we can say is that this means all thinking - all scholarship - of every kind exists ultimately to discover and display the glory of God, that is, the glory of Jesus Christ, in his Word and in his world. . .Therefore, the task of all Christian scholarship - not just biblical studies - is to study reality as a manifestation of God's glory, to speak and write about it with accuracy, and to savor the beauty of God in it, and to make it serve the good of man.  It is an abdication of scholarship when Christians do academic work with little reference to God.  If all the universe and everything in it exist by the design of an infinite, personal God, to make his manifold glory known and loved, then to treat any subject without reference to God's glory is not scholarship but insurrection."

Quotable - Think

"To all who did receive him [Jesus], who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12).

Faith that receives Jesus is saving faith.  But what does it mean to "receive Jesus"?  Many people say they have received Jesus, but they give little evidence of being a new creature in Christ, and they have little interest in pursuing the excellencies and beauty of Christ as their all in all. If this is the case, have they really received Jesus?

John Piper comments:  

"One way to describe this problem is to say that when these people 'receive Christ,' they do not receive him as supremely valuable.  They receive him simply as sin forgiver (because they love being guilt-free), and as a rescuer-from-hell (because they love being pain-free), and as healer (because they love being disease-free), and as protector (because they love being safe), and as prosperity-giver (because they love being wealthy), and as creator (because they want a personal universe), and as Lord of history (because they want order and purpose).  But they don't receive him as supremely and personally valuable for who he is.  They don't receive him the way Paul did when he spoke of 'the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.'  They don't receive him as he really is -- more glorious, more beautiful, more wonderful, more satisfying, than everything else in the universe.  They don't prize him or treasure him or cherish him or delight in him.

Such a 'receiving' of Christ is the kind of receiving an unregenerate, 'natural' person can do.  This is a 'receiving' of Christ that requires no change in human nature.  You don't have to be born again to love being guilt-free and pain-free and disease-free and safe and wealthy.  All natural men without any spiritual life love these things.  But to embrace Jesus as your supreme treasure requires a new nature.  No one does this naturally.  You must be born again (John 3:3)." 

~taken from Think by John Piper, pp. 71-72. 

Think

I just began reading John Piper's book Think:  The Life of the Mind and the Love of God.  I hope to share some nuggets with you as I read through the book. In the first chapter, John discusses his lifelong tension between thinking and feeling and doing. Here is today's quote on the importance of thinking:

"Thinking is indispensable on the path to passion for God.  Thinking is not an end in itself.  Nothing but God himself is finally an end in itself. Thinking is not the goal of life.  Thinking, like non-thinking, can be the ground for boasting.  Thinking, without prayer, without the Holy Spirit, without obedience, without love, will puff up and destroy (1 Cor. 8:1).  But thinking under the might hand of God, thinking soaked in prayer, thinking carried by the Holy Spirit, thinking tethered to the Bible, thinking in pursuit of more reasons to praise and proclaim the glories of God, thinking in the service of love -- such thinking is indispensable in a life of fullest praise to God."  (p. 27)