This Made Me Cry

I love this man. I want to be like him.

He started preaching and pastoring when he was 34, two years younger than I am now.

In his most difficult years of ministry, in the mid/late-90's, when people had left and the church was plateaued, his books and sermons were dramatically impacting me and my friends at the University of Northern Iowa--friends like Justin Taylor, Matt Perman, and my friends laying down their lives for Syrian refugees in Jordan.

God has used him in my life more than any person that I don't know personally.

He'll preach his last sermon as pastor today. (You can watch the live-stream tonight around 6:10 PM U.S. Central Time.)

"When all your favorite preachers are gone,

and all their books forgotten,

you will have your Bible.

Master it. Master it."

~ John Piper

A Complete Bibliography: John Piper's Books

With the recent publishing of For the Fame of God’s Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper, I started thinking about when I first started reading John Piper’s books. I was a sophomore in college when I first read Desiring God. At that time, he had only published five books. I remember getting and reading Future Grace and A Hunger for God as they were first published.

That got me to wondering how many books he has published. I could not find a complete bibliography of John Piper’s works online (even Desiring God’s website was lacking some titles in its list). So, I took the time to compile this "complete" list of John Piper’s books, roughly in the order of publication. (I am not counting titles that he contributed to, written a foreword for or which were published as booklets at Bethlehem; only those he has edited or authored. If I’ve missed any titles that he has authored or edited, please let me know!) I will update it as new titles are published.

Enjoy! And may God be glorified in us, as we are satisfied in him!

• Love Your Enemies: Jesus' Love Command in the Synoptic Gospels and the Early Christian Paraenesis
• The Justification of God: An Exegetical and Theological Study of Romans 9:1-23
• Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist
• The Supremacy of God in Preaching
• The Pleasures of God
• Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (Co-editor)
• Let the Nations Be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions
• The Purifying Power of Living By Faith In Future Grace
• A Hunger for God: Desiring God Through Fasting and Prayer
• A Godward Life: Savoring the Supremacy of God in All of Life
• God's Passion for His Glory: Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards
• The Innkeeper
• A Godward Life, Book Two: Savoring the Supremacy of God in All of Life (Republished as Taste and See)
• The Legacy of Sovereign Joy: God's Triumphant Grace in the Lives of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin
• The Hidden Smile of God: The Fruit of Affliction in the Lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd

• Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ
• The Dangerous Duty of Delight
• The Misery of Job and the Mercy of God
• Brothers, We Are not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry
• The Roots of Endurance: Invincible Perseverance in the Lives of John Newton, Charles Simeon, and William Wilberforce
• Counted Righteous in Christ: Should We Abandon the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness?
• Beyond the Bounds (Co-editor)
• Don't Waste Your Life (additional study guide).
• Pierced By the Word
• The Prodigal's Sister
• The Passion of Jesus Christ (republished as Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die)
• When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy
• Life As a Vapor
• A God Entranced Vision of All Things (Co-editor)
• Sex and the Supremacy of Christ (Co-editor).
• Taste and See
• God is the Gospel 
• Contending for Our All: Defending Truth and Treasuring Christ in the Lives of Athanasius, John Owen, and J. Gresham Machen

• What's the Difference?
• Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die
• Suffering and the Sovereignty of God
• What Jesus Demands from the World
• When the Darkness Will Not Lift
• Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce
• The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World (Co-editor)
• The Future of Justification
• Battling Unbelief: Defeating Sin with Superior Pleasure
• Spectacular Sins: And Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ
• John Calvin and His Passion for the Majesty of God
• Stand: A Call for the Endurance of the Saints (Co-editor)
• Finally Alive
• This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence
• Velvet Steel: The Joy of Being Married to You
• Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ: The Cost of Bringing the Gospel to the Nations in the Lives of William Tyndale, Adoniram Judson, and John Paton
• A Sweet and Bitter Providence: Sex, Race, and the Sovereignty of God
• Ruth: Under the Wings of God
• Rethinking Retirement: Finishing Life for the Glory of Christ
• The Power of Words and the Wonder of God (Co-editor)
• Jesus: The Only Way to God: Must You Hear the Gospel to be Saved?
• Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God
• The Gadarene
• The Pastor as Scholar and the Scholar as Pastor: Reflections on Life and Ministry
• Don't Waste Your Cancer

• Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian
• Thinking. Loving. Doing.: A Call to Glorify God with Heart and Mind (Co-editor)

Note: Many of these titles are available for free on-line here.

What Tone Should Preachers Aim At?

This is a really helpful piece by John Piper. He writes:

Over my 31 years in the pulpit, I have received a fairly steady stream of affirmation and criticism related to the tone of my preaching. The very same sermon can elicit opposite pleas. “More of that, pastor!” “No, we already get too much of that.”

This is totally understandable. Listeners have personalities too. Which means they have default tonal desires. They have preferences. They know what makes them feel loved. Or encouraged. Or hopeful. Or challenged. And some people feel challenged by the very tone that makes another feel angered or discouraged.

So I ask again: What tone should you aim at in preaching?

My answer is: Pursue the tone of the text. But let it be informed, not muted, by the tonal balance of Jesus and the apostles and by the gospel of grace.

This is followed by ten explanatory comments.

Read the rest.

What Piper felt 25 years ago...

John Piper shares a journal excerpt from the day he received the first copy of Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist:

The Book that Made me a Hedonist: 25th Anniversary Reference Edition

I became a hedonist my sophomore year of college after reading John Piper's Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist.

This year marks the 25th Anniversary of its publication. (But, not the 25th anniversary of my sophomore year in college!!!)

To mark the occasion, a 25th Anniversary Reference Edition has been released, which includes additional material.

Head over to Justin Taylor's blog to see some photos of a young John Piper finishing the original manuscript and to read an interview with an old John Piper reflecting on the book.

An Excellent Introduction to Christian Hedonism

Should we enjoy God? Are we commanded to? Is delight in God at the core of glorifying God?

When you think of Christian Hedonism (the phrase coined by John Piper), you likely think of Piper's Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (now available in a hardcover, 25th anniversary reference edition).

Piper's work is excellent, particularly in how it works through a host of issues (marriage, money, missions, etc.) to show how Christian hedonism applies in all areas.

I recently picked up and read Sam Storm's One Thing, which is an excellent introduction to Christian Hedonism. In some instances, I would recommend it before Piper, particularly for those who might be intimidated by the length and intensity of Desiring God.

Like Bus Drivers Ignorant of Clark Kent: Why We Don't Pray

In Desiring God, John Piper discusses from John 4:9-10 why we don't pray:

Jesus says to the woman, “If you just knew the gift of God and who I am, you would ask Me—you would pray to Me!” There is a direct correlation between not knowing Jesus well and not asking much from Him. A failure in our prayer life is generally a failure to know Jesus. “If you knew who was talking to you, you would ask Me!” A prayerless Christian is like a bus driver trying alone to push his bus out of a rut because he doesn’t know Clark Kent is on board. “If you knew, you would ask.” A prayerless Christian is like having your room wallpapered with Saks Fifth Avenue gift certificates but always shopping at Goodwill because you can’t read. “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that speaks to you, you would ask—you would ask!”

John Piper's latest -- Jesus: The Only Way to God

A new "mini-book" (144 pages) by John Piper, Jesus: The Only Way to God, defends a "yes" answer to the follow questions:

• Is there an eternal hell of conscious torment to be rescued from?
• Is the death and resurrection of Christ essential for that rescue?
• And do people need to hear this good news and believe it in order to be rescued?

(HT:JT)

John Piper answers: Why Be a Church Member?

Piper & Politics: Taylor's Response

Read this excellent response by Justin Taylor to a recent video of John Piper commenting on today's election: Piper, Politics, and Abortion: A Few Thoughts

When Your Preacher is NOT John Piper

So, you go to the conference, download the sermon or watch the DVD - you see/hear John Piper preach (he's the guy to the left, imitating Morris the Moose). Then, you head back to your local church and it quickly becomes apparent - your preacher is not John Piper.

That can be discouraging - particularly if that preacher is you!

The folks at BulletinInserts.org offer some good advice in "When Your Preacher is Not John Piper." To summarize, here are the five points:

1. Rejoice that your preacher is a man who proclaims the gospel.
2. Recognize that certain men are uniquely gifted by the Lord to have an international ministry and appeal, but this is not the norm.
3. If your pastor is (honestly) dull, but he preaches the truth faithfully...remember: "The mature worshipper is easily edified."
4. Listen "outwardly" to the preaching.
5. Verbally encourage the preacher(s) in your church [with specific, meaningful feedback on how you were convicted and taught].