T4G 2008: Session 7

Session 7 was amazing as John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN spoke to us concerning the supremacy of Christ and how it calls us to radical Christian sacrifice. He began by simply reading through the following passages from Hebrews in order without comment; Hebrews 10:32, 11:6; 24-26; 35, 12:2, 13:12-14. Mark Dever commented in the panel discussion after the session that this was a sermon in itself. He was right. Reading these passages in order teaches us a great deal about sacrifice in the Christian life.

Piper stated up front that his desire was to call us to a radical Christian life and ministry. Piper called pastor’s to a life of complete sacrifice. He explained that the concept of salt and light that Jesus spoke of involves the joyful embracing of suffering. He said as pastors we must live in such a way that the church learns to rejoice in suffering. He explained that the world is not going to glorify Christ because we as Christians are healthy, wealthy, and prosperous because these are the things the world lives for. They have their own “ticket” to these things and they will simply come to see Christ as our “ticket” to them. The problem of course, Piper stated, is that we throw that ticket away once the show begins. We must embrace the reviling of the world and rejoice in our suffering recognizing it as part of radical Christ centered, Christ exalting sacrifice.

Piper expounded two of the passages he read at the beginning of the message. The first was Hebrews 10:32-24. He explained that the things endured in these verses were endured because of the great reward which is Heaven and ultimately Christ. He proclaimed that “If we could see our hope we would rejoice as we suffer and die for Jesus.”

He also expounded Hebrews 13:12-14. Jesus suffered outside the camp. If we are to be with Him we must meet him outside the camp, in our context the camp is the world, and anyone outside the camp must be prepared to suffer. We must go outside of this city because it is not a lasting city. Piper said “Don’t live for this. It’s coming down and only what’s done for Christ will survive that fire!”

Piper closed by asking us “What’s outside the camp for you?” Be counted in the number of those outside the camp. To be outside the camp is to be with Christ.

Let there be a radical flavor to my life and my ministry. Let’s go outside the camp to meet Him!

God bless,
Pastor Duane