The Leaders of the Church | John Piper

so my task is to speak on leaders the

leaders of the church I will build my

church and the Gates of Hell will not

Prevail against him I'm going to do it

through

leaders and I would like to invite you

into

a

five-step pathway into a Biblical

understanding of Christian

leadership I'll summarize the steps and

then we'll take them one at a time step

one I'll try to show that it is God's

will that there be leaders in all the

churches step two I will try to

formulate a definition of Christian

leadership or what do they do what do we

do third I'll point to some biblical

cautions

that

Jesus and I want to

raise about leadership

fourth I'm going to zero in on what is

it that makes leadership

effective or successful or

fruitful and finally end with two

practical implications or applications

that in my own personal experience of of

leading a

church have me a great deal so if you

like one-word summaries of those five it

would be a justification for

leadership a definition of

leadership cautions about

leadership

implementation of leadership and

illustrations two illustrations of

leadership so let's take number

one it is God's will that there be

leaders in all the Christian churches we

know this that it is God's will because

God himself in seven different ways has

described the leaders of his church in

the New Testament number one here's the

seven names for leaders number one

leader the word leader it's first found

in Matthew chapter 2: 6 that

says from you Bethlehem shall come forth

a

leader this is the

present participle of

HEI heos that's way it's always

occurs here and three times in Hebrews

shall come forth a leader who shall

Shepherd My People Israel and then in

the book of Hebrews chapter 13 we read

remember your

leaders those who spoke to you the word

of God consider the outcome of their way

of life and imitate their faith chapter

13: 7 of of Hebrews we're going to come

back to that that will be a pivotal text

later just illustrating seven words for

leadership right now or obey your

leaders and submit to them for they are

keeping watch over your souls as those

who will have to give an account let

them do this with joy and not with

groaning for that would be of no

advantage to you verse 17 second the

word sometimes

translated govern it literally means one

who stands before PR

1 Thessalonians 5:12 we ask you Brothers

to respect those who labor among you and

are over you in the Lord or stand before

you in the Lord and admonish you or 1

Timothy 5:17 let the elders who rule

stand before you price to May

govern well be considered worthy of

double honor third overseer episcopos

pay careful attention to yourselves and

to to all the flock in which the Holy

Spirit has made you

overseers to Shepherd the Church of God

which is which he obtained with his own

blood acts 20:28 and then Titus 1:7 an

overseer as God's household manager must

be above reproach

fourth household

manager o

canus the Lord said this Jesus now who

then is the faithful and wise manager

household manager Steward whom his

master Shall Set over his household to

give them their portion of food at the

proper time I always love that text

while I was in the pastor because the

the point of the larger context is when

Jesus comes back what he's going to look

for is have you fed your have you fed

the house I said yes yes Lord I fed him

I fed

him that was very comforting to me I

just he just wants me to be found

faithful feeding his house or Titus 1:7

an overseer of as God's household

manager must be above reproach number

five Shepherd both in the verb form Po

and the noun form once po pay careful

attention to yourselves and to all the

flock in which the Holy Spirit has made

you overseers to Shepherd the Church of

God which he obtained with his own blood

or 1 Peter 5 I exhort the elders among

you Shepherd the flock of God that is

among you or the noun form Ephesians

4:11 God gave the to the church Apostles

prophets evangels and Shepherds and

teachers number six the word Elder

presbuteros they appointed Elders for

them in every Church acts 14 this is why

I left you in cre so that you might

appoint Elders in every town Titus one

let the elders who rule well be

considered worthy of double honor

especially those who labor in preaching

and teaching 1 Timothy 5 finally number

seven did ollos teacher Christ gave to

the church Apostles prophets evangelists

the Shepherds teachers Ephesians 4:11

and an overseer must be able to

teach so I conclude from these seven

god-given

designations of leaders that there

should be leaders in all the church

churches those seven names

designations all refer to the same kind

of people the same people by and large

and they get at different aspects of

leadership and they connote different

angles so for example leader heos

connotes direction or

guidance one who stands before proinos

connotes a chairman likee governance of

a

meeting group overseer connotes watchful

supervisory

role household manager connotes

Administration

organization

stewardship shepher connotes protection

nourishment and guidance Elder connotes

maturity exemplary responsibility

teacher connotes the impartation and

explanation of Truth and I believe that

as I look out now on

you almost everybody in this room that's

you that's you either you're there or

you're on your way there or you've been

there you're thinking about going there

that's you which means that the rest of

this message is very relevant for

you let's move to step number two a

definition of what this leadership is or

what leaders

do so from those seven designations and

descriptions or names I

infer three things about the meaning of

of

leadership

one when you see these designations

guidance governance supervision

organization modeling application of

Truth to people's lives it seems obvious

to me that one of the meanings of

leadership is getting people from where

they are to where God wants them to

be you're

here and God says be there in your

thinking be there in your feeling be

there in your action maybe be there in

your geography and leaders say okay my

job get them there I'm going to get them

there that's my job to get people from

where they are to where God wants them

to

be uh in other words a goal is implied

with

leadership God doesn't put leaders in a

group for them to aimlessly go in

circles that's not the point of leaders

the point of leaders is put them in a

group and go

somewhere move from here to where God is

calling that group of people

to

be he puts leaders in a group to get

them to a goal in their thinking in

their feeling in their action and maybe

in their geography that's number one

leadership

implies a goal and getting people from

where they are to that

place

second when you see these seven

designations watchful supervision

governance Administration

organization protection nourishment

teaching being examples it's obvious

when you just think about them God has

Ways and Means and methods that he wants

you to use to get people from here to

there Christian leaders key off of God

not only for the

goal but for the method we don't look to

the

world to learn the main the means and

the ways and the methods of getting

people from A to B we look to God

because he has ideas about how he wants

this to be done we don't look mainly to

the

world number

three even though it's not explicit it

in any of these words it's clear say

from 1 Peter 410 and 11 that the banner

flying over these words and this

function is that we do it in Reliance

upon God's strength so here's 1 Peter

4:10 and 11 as each has received a gift

use it as to serve one another as good

stewards of God's varied Grace whoever

speaks

as one who speaks Oracles of God whoever

serves even in a a role of leadership

whoever serves as one who served by the

strength that God

supplies in order that in everything God

may be glorified through Jesus Christ to

him belongs glory for and Dominion

forever and ever so essential to

Christian

leadership is a gifted

leader a goal God's goal God's gifted

leader God's goal God's

methods by God's power so th those four

things go into the definition of

Christian leadership and there's one

piece missing and that

is it's not Christian leadership if

nobody's

following followers God's appointed

followers I'm not a leader

if I know exactly where God wants people

to go and nobody is following

me I'm not a

leader and I'm not a leader if

everybody's following me and I'm not

going where God wants me to go I'm not a

Christian leader might be a leader and

leading people straight to hell but

you're not a Christian leader if you got

a great following and you're taking them

in in the wrong direction that's not

Christian leadership I'm not a Christian

leader if the place where I'm going is

exactly where God wants them to be and

there's a big following and my methods

stink they're worldly through and

through that's not a Christian

leadership and I'm not a leader I'm not

a Christian leader if I'm going where

God wants me to go and everybody's

following and I'm using Christian

methods and I'm totally

self-reliant that's not Christian

leadership so those are the elements

that go into the definition of what it

is and and the sentence would go like

this Christian leadership is uh knowing

where God wants people to

be taking the initiative to get them

there using God's

gifts God's

methods by God's power

with God's appointed people following

that's Christian leadership might be 10

people might be a Sunday school

class and it might be a 10,000 person

Church it might be a Ministry a mission

it might be a

business whatever God calls people to be

you should get out in front of them and

take them there

when you go home that's what you're

supposed to do discern where God wants

your people to be get out in front of

them and take them

there if God calls them to be trusting

in his promises you get out in front and

take them to that

trust if God wants them to have

unshakable hope in the face of cultural

collapse you get out in front and take

take them there if God calls them to be

radically God centered Christ exalting

Bible saturated you get in front and

take them there if God calls them to

spread a passion for the supremacy of

God in all things for the joy of all

people through Jesus you get out in

front and take them there if God calls

them to be

happy in all their suffering you get out

in front and take them there

if God calls them to love their neighbor

and make great sacrifices for the needy

you get out in front and take them there

if God calls them to be pure and holy

and separate from the world you get out

in front and take them there if God

calls them to be self-controlled and

dignified and sober minded you get out

in front and take them there if God

calls them to be childlike and meek and

gentle and humble you get out in front

and take them there if God calls them to

be bold as a lion you get out in front

and take them there if God calls them to

be generous and sacrificial in their

giving you get out in front and set the

great example of giving most in the

church if God calls them to be World

Christians and with a global mindset and

a burden for the unreached peoples of

the world you get out in front and take

them there if God calls them to lay down

their lives for Jesus you get out in

front and take them

there that's leadership you feel that

that's your

job you get out in front and take them

there Christian leadership in our

churches is knowing where God wants

people to be you I'll take in a minute

how how we learned that knowing where

God wants people to be taking the

initiative to use God's methods and

God's gifts to get them there and

Reliance upon God's power with God's

people joyfully following your

leadership step

three some biblical cautions about

leadership and we start with a caution

about the wording of that

last three

minutes get out in

front it's a

metaphor it's not a geographic mandate

it's a

metaphor because in fact you might be

behind them pushing with all your

might you might be beside them

protecting them from a horrible assault

on their

flank you might be underneath them

building a foundation so they don't fall

through to

hell you might be hovering over them

saying up here up

here you might be smack dab in the

middle of the them suffering everything

they suffer so it's a it's a metaphor

got this get out in front do what you

have to do to get him

there that's the first caution here's

caution number two I think I have

three second caution comes from

Jesus oh did he care about this

caution so this is Luke 22 24-

27 a dispute arose among them among the

apostles as to which of them was to be

regarded as the greatest now that word

regarded is very important I

think I want to be regarded as the

greatest he didn't say be the

greatest the argument was how can I be

regarded as the

greatest verse

25 he said to them the kings of the

Gentiles exercise lordship over them and

those in authority over them are

called that's

important are

called

benefactors not so with you rather let

the greatest among you become as the

youngest and the

leader as one who

serves for who is the greater one who

reclines at table like a guest an

honored guest or one who serves a a

table server which is greater is not the

one reclining at table greater yes

obviously however I am among you as one

who

serves so the unmistakable point of that

paragraph that in interaction is let the

leader become as one

who

serves which means leaders lead for the

good of the people not the glory of

their

name okay this is so clear leaders

lead to get their people to the place of

their good for for your

good it's not about my glory it's about

your

good that we lead not to get glory for

our name but get good for our people

he's not to

be out for regard me regard me regard me

as a

benefactor regard me as the greatest

it's just not about regarding

you rather it's about the good of the

people their temporal good and

especially their Eternal good now

Paul I I think gives a commentary on

this text in 2 Corinthians 1 uh verse 24

as he uses the very same word

kurin Lord it over not that we lord it

over that's the same word Jesus used

about the Gentiles

Lord not that we lord it over your faith

we we work with you for your

joy for you stand firm in your

faith so Paul the leader has a goal

what's the goal the joy of Faith that's

the goal of your ministry I hope the joy

of the faith of my people not just Faith

Joy of Faith it's a genitive in

Philippians 1 the joy of Faith just

bound together if you got real Faith you

got joy in Jesus if you got joy in Jesus

that's real it's rooted in faith these

are one thing that's the goal of your

life on want get my people there going I

get them there and to do what I have to

do to get my people to the joy of faith

and and he said the way to do that is

not by lording it over

them will never work it's what Jesus was

saying it's what Paul was saying rather

you you work with them for their good so

that's caution number two caution number

three is a caution about the

cautions we live in a day where we need

cautions about the caution

ctions of

leadership Luke

22:26 let the leader become as one who

lead

serves is meant by Jesus to make leaders

humble and

loving

and for 50

years ever since I've been embroiled in

the conflict surrounding

complementarianism and egality arianism

which goes back for me 50

years ever since the beginning of that

Conflict for my personal experience this

verse Luke

22:26 has been used to cancel

leadership and make it all service and

no

leadership now today this 50 years

later um the met too movement

and multiple pastoral

abuses and the indiscriminate

disparaging as all male leadership as

toxic

masculinity has just about turned this

text

into a means by which any call to

leadership is

silenced and

nullified and

servanthood is elevated to the point of

striking

down leadership now here's here 50 years

ago here was my answer to that

criticism I said you

know in that room that night before

Jesus was crucified when he he took off

his outer garment and bound himself with

a towel and he got down on his knees and

he washed his disciples feet and they

were thunder

struck

nobody doubted who the leader was in

that

room there wasn't the slightest whiff of

doubt that oh he's not my leader

anymore that's a crazy

conclusion to infer from that text that

because he became a slave to get under

his people and save them somehow he

stopped being the leader of the

pack he he didn't he was the leader all

the way home and is

today it isn't true it just isn't true

that to become a servant is to stop

being a

leader so for example you're in a staff

meeting or maybe it's more realistic

say not not an elder meeting but let's

say a congregational

meeting and someone goes to the

microphone say there's 200 people

there or 100 or 50 somebody goes to the

microphone and they start making a case

for a

position in the

body and you can see

immediately there are factual mistakes

in what they're

saying it's incomplete information in

what they're

saying unbiblical assump assumptions are

weaving their way through what they're

saying and they're drawing illogical

conclusions and they're using ad homonym

arguments to emotionally manipulate the

congregation and and you're sitting

there as the pastor and you're

watching your people got an angle on

them and you can

tell they're buying

this they're buying

this what do you do

what does a

servant

leader

do

um if you do nothing if you sit there in

silence you're not a

leader and you're not a servant of this

people Meek as you may seem honoring

everybody's

opinion it's a

failure it's either a failure of

discernment or it's a failure of

cowardice or a success of cowardice I

guess you could say it's not leadership

so what's your job at that

moment and you'll see in a minute I mean

some of you are ahead of me and you know

why this is so explosively relevant

what's your job at that moment your job

at that moment is to hear them out and

then to take your prerogative and go to

the mic micophone there may be 10 people

lined up the microphone and you go to

the microphone you're the pastor you're

preempting you're going to the

microphone and see I just need to make a

couple of comments

here and you point out two or three

things in what was just said that are

correct and you thank them for that

correctness and then you point out the

problem and you set the record straight

with facts you set the record straight

with Biblical truthfulness and principle

and you set the record straight with

clear logical

thinking and you can

see the 150 people that were leaning in

suddenly they're swaying back to the

truth dozens of them out there could

smell the problem they could smell it

they couldn't name it that's your

job they're not leaders that's why

they're not up there they smell it you

name it that's what leaders do they

smell and name they see it they see the

wolf they see the problem they see the

misled Goodwill

person and they set it

straight and those dozens of people are

so thankful they're Whispering thank God

God thank God we have a

Shepherd

now if you sit there and you think

this if I stand up and go to the

microphone and correct this person in

public you know what that's going to

result

in they're going to call it

shaming and then that will become the

accusation of

abuse now at that point you're

thinking I'm this is a no win situation

here that's not

true because you're sitting there and

you're

thinking okay I want to be a humble

caring servant leader of my flock here

and they are being swayed in a terrible

Direction it's unbiblical it's unfactual

it's misleading it's damaging to the

people and very few people are seeing it

some are smelling it they can't name it

I see it I name it I know exactly what's

going on here my job is to do something

and then you think Jesus said blessed

are you when men persecute you and

revile you and say all kinds of things

against you

falsely rejoice in that day and be glad

Jesus this kind of situation does not

take Jesus off guard you just have to be

willing to take it and if you get fired

if they go on Twitter and you're

crucified that's the price you pay I'm a

faithful

Shepherd so my caution about the

cautions is don't be overly

cautious

so be biblically cautious just not

ego

cautious that's the end of step three

the caution step four how do leaders

lead

successfully let's zero in on the heart

of the matter now uh what What's the

heart of what makes this successful or

effective or fruitful when I take these

seven designations of leadership leading

governing overseeing managing

shepherding modeling

teaching every one of them

cries God I need to hear from

you I need to hear from you in

leading I need to know from you God

where I want this where you want these

people to

go governing I need to know from you God

how to govern overseeing I need to know

from you God what I'm watching for what

I'm what I'm supervising here how to do

it in managing I need to know from you

God how how I'm organizing these people

what is this organization all about in

shepherding I need to know what I'm

supposed to feed my people and what are

the enemies I'm supposed to protect them

from in modeling what kind of example am

I supposed to set God in teaching what

truth am I supposed to apply God I got

to have a word I can't do this without

you're telling me all about this

leadership so we're back to Hebrews

137 remember your

leaders those who spoke to you the word

of God consider the outcome of their way

of

life and imitate their faith now

wouldn't you agree that a simple

summary of that verse would be that the

author is drawing out two things about

leaders they spoke the word word of

God and they lived the word of God so

that you can watch them I think the

outcome of their lives means they were

faithful all the way till they died

might have been martym might have not

been martyrum but just all the way to

the end you can trace their lives all

the way to the outcome all the way

faithful watch that everybody watch that

what's your leader all the way to the

end you can't quit 65 that's cheating

all the way to the end what happens when

what happens between 65 and 85 that

matters all the way to the outcome you

watch them and you imitate the faith

that you see played out in that

Leader's

life they spoke the word of God remember

your leaders who spoke to you the word

and then and

secondly consider the outcome of their

way of

life and imitate their faith So my

answer to the question how how do you

lead

successfully fruitfully

is speak the word and live the

word speak the word and live the word

the implications of both those are huge

and this conference has been much about

that but that's my summary of Christian

leadership so I move now to two

illustrations that might flesh out that

a little bit so that you can be

encouraged I hope by the way I

experience the the the weight of those

two mandates that they are weighty right

to speak the word of God to people and

to be the life of God before the people

is a weighty

calling so fleshing them out number

one

if effective leadership speaks the word

of God and lives the word of God then

your

lifelong

calling

priority unwavering

vocation is to handle the word of

God the Bible in such a way that you

penetrate through its carefully

construed

sentences you you do the careful

construing so you come to the Bible you

do your hard work of construing

historically grammatically these

sentences and you penetrate through them

to Ultimate Reality which God is

intending to communicate through the

words that's a long convoluted sentence

but it's not it's not complicated if you

just think about it for a moment your

lifelong calling is to handle this deal

with

this and by dealing with it I mean

you work with the propositions and the

narratives that are

here so

assiduously and so prayerfully and so

dependently upon God that you you go

through them to Ultimate

Reality and the people will know the

people will know whether you're

terminating on words or you're going to

reality they'll know they don't need

more

words you got plenty of words

everybody's got

words they need a use of words that get

through the words to reality for example

1 Samuel

3:21 the Lord appeared at

Shiloh now get that word appeared it

sounds like oh oh he showed up the sh

kind of Glory showed up no that's not

what

happened the Lord appeared at Shiloh for

the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at

Shiloh by the word of the Lord oh I love

that

text because doesn't leave any doubt in

my mind how I know

him how I meet him how I fellowship with

him how I see him and this so much of

this conference so far has been you got

to see him you're gonna be changed if

you see him you lift your people up into

the glories if you see him and that

leaves us say like where do I see him

he's not

visible let me read it again the Lord

appeared at

shaloh for the Lord revealed

himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word

of the

Lord or take Ephesians

3:4 when you read

this Mark the word

read when you read

this

Ephesians you can

perceive

my Apostolic god-given inspired

insight into the mystery of

Christ I didn't even see that verse

until Tom Stellar showed

me

if you if you read Ephesians

right you actually penetrate through the

words with a spiritual

perception joining Paul in what he saw

about the mystery of

Christ so knowing Ultimate

Reality and being formed by Ultimate

Reality are not two distinct pastor

Toral acts right this just goes back to

Michael Reeves comments on 2 Corinthians

3:18 beholding the glory of the Lord we

are being changed from one degree of

glory to the next so knowing god through

penetrating through the words to the

Ultimate

Reality and being shaped by that

Ultimate Reality are not separate task

here's where I study and here's here

where I become like

Jesus

your encounter with the word I hope this

is happening in all of our classes at

betham College and Seminary is the kind

of

encounter that students walk out

thinking

whoa I met him today I saw more of him

today I will be changed I'll be a

different person because of what I saw

of God today 2 Corinthians

318 and four verses later in 2

Corinthians

4:4 Paul tells us where you look like

beholding the glory of the Lord we are

being changed where where where's the

glory you say well the sky yeah that's

true but that's not what he has in mind

at

all he has in mind New Covenant Glory

the kind of Glory that happens when

Satan's blinding effects are removed and

we are able to see what I'll read it to

you this is verse 4 when satanic

blindness is removed in verse four of 2

Corinthians 4 we see the light of the

Gospel of the glory of Christ who is the

image of God Gospel of the glory of

Christ so where do you see the glory

that changes you from one degree of

glory to the next you see it in the

gospel of the glory of Christ it's the

gospel it's the word of God if Satan

takes away the what did he call it the

smear takes away the smear the blinding

smear of worldliness off of off of our

eyes or deadness off of our eyes what we

see as we read the gospel we read the

narratives of the gospels as we read the

prophetic word that's pointing to Christ

as we see that we see right through it

to

Glory Ultimate Reality that's your

lifelong vocation as a pastor I'm

arguing that's what you do every day

that's your job that's your main job is

to see it is to handle the word in such

a way that by rightly conru ring the

sentences you penetrate through them to

Ultimate Reality and then you speak that

and you live that before your people

that's implication or application number

one here's the last

one we need to know this is going to

sound complicated at first but I I'll

try to come back and explain it we need

to know or

realize that

what we know of God and the world and

the degree to which we

become like

him uh in this lifelong encounter with

Ultimate Reality through God's word is

very limited in this

life yet it is without

limit in its relevance and application

to

everything

what in the world does that

mean your knowledge of God your

knowledge of the

[Music]

world your Conformity to God and your

Conformity to impact the world is very

limited in this

world and it is of such a nature that it

is without

limit in its relevance to everything in

the world let me try to explain because

this Brothers has been a Lifeline for me

and my survival in the

work during my 33 years as a pastor and

now lot longer than that in just

Ministry

General few things threatened to

paralyze me in Ministry like the endless

stream of

proposals

for how I should do the

ministry a constant stream of Articles

seminars lectures courses degrees

programs books videos

conferences telling me how to do it

proposing every ma imaginable

technique not to mention the whole

universe of

knowledge of culture politics business

industry education philosophy geography

anthropology history physics chemistry

astronomy sociology psychology

literature entertainment medicine and

and and and it is

utterly

paralyzing compared to what can be

known of God in the world you don't know

anything I mean compared to what can be

known of God and the

world what what you know compared to

what is you wouldn't be able to see it

it's

just and that's that's demoralizing

that's just demoralizing it it's

paralyzing for a leader whose job is to

take people from here to where they're

supposed to

be except for

this and and this kept me going for all

those years and still does keeps me

going

today our our

encounter

with god with Ultimate Reality

through his

word is without

limit in its relevance and application

to

everything let me say that again our

encounter with God and our knowledge of

God and our being changed by God is

without limit in its relevance to

everything if you know God if you if you

know God through his word and have

insight into the mystery of Christ then

what you know and what you are

becoming is without limit in its

relevance to

everything for this reason why is that

so Ultimate Reality has a crucial

relationship to all of

reality so obvious

So

Glorious Ultimate Reality what's his

name

God has a crucial relationship to all

reality if you get Ultimate

Reality you have the most significant

thing for all

reality you know the most important

thing about all reality let me say it

again Brothers if you know God

you know the most important thing about

everything I mean whoa

freedom I don't need to know everything

I know the most important thing that

relates to everything I know the most

important thing about

everything you talk about boldness you

talk about

confidence good night which means

that you walk into any conversation

anywhere in the world on any Topic in

the world you walk into that room you

have the most important thing to say in

the room let me say that again any room

anywhere on any topic being discussed

you walk into that room you tonight you

have the most important thing to say

about what's being discussed in that

room I I don't care what it is it might

be Rick I've been listening to these

podcasts you steered me to it might be

mondria my goodness it might be

microscopic Machinery inside the human

cell that's what they're talking about

in this room it might be mathematical

calculations that gets a Rover to

pinpoint land on Mars it might be

bizarre cultural customs of a tribe you

never heard of you think you're a small

player in those

discussions come on do you think that

you're a small player in those

discussions you're not if you have

penetrated Through the Bible into

Ultimate Reality to God to Creation to

Providence to Christ to Redemption if

you just penetrated through to Ultimate

Reality you know the most important

thing in every conversation on every

topic everywhere in the

world here's what you say

hello uh God made

this he made it to reveal his glory to

you

men his aim is that you would see his

glory and worship him if you don't see

it Brothers you're blind you're blinded

by your sin

he has taken care of that blindness and

sin problem in Jesus Christ and if you

would believe in him that your blindness

could be removed you could see reality

for what it really is and all these

cells that you're talking about in this

Machinery inside the cell and all these

equations that get to Mars and all these

Customs for anthropology would be turned

into an Enterprise of

worship that's the most important thing

that needs to be said in every

discussion in the world

you know the most important thing about

everything you don't need to cower you

don't Piper is a slow

reader how was I talking to oh yeah

Jonathan Leman Jonathan did you make it

back tonight no he's still traveling

back from South Carolina bless his heart

um so we were talking about Tim Keller

right in the new in the biography that

Colin Hansen and and he's saying Tim

Keller is was a super high level

cultural commentator and and apologist

just so effective and I knew Tim really

well we talked a lot we were we were

very different people we both love we

both love Edwards and we both love Lewis

and I always said you became Lewis I

became Edwards that's what it

did and and what what that meant was

that Tim Keller subscribed I think he

said to about 10 different cultural

magazines read everything

read everything he knew everything

happened in Manhattan knew all the

latest philosophical stuff Piper doesn't

read

anything paper can't

[Applause]

read so he maximizes his strength and I

maximize mine I just know one thing it's

the most important thing in the

world

I'll say it anywhere to anybody and not

be intimidated in the least by anybody

that I know the most important thing in

this conversation God God's the most

important thing here Redemption is the

most important thing here worship is the

most important thing here can I help you

guys get your act

together look that may sound funny it

saved my

life I'm just I I know most of you are

like me you're just ordinary you think

I'm not ordinary I know that but I am

I'm really ordinary in so many ways and

I'm I I've found a way to maximize my

ordinariness and you can do this too you

just you figure out a way to trick

everybody into thinking you're

smart and and then you you you do as

well as you can do this little slice of

reality that you're good at I know my

Bible I know my Bible and I know my God

and I love my God and I'm going to show

people the Bible I'm going to show

people God and guess what you will lead

people you will take them from here to

there cuz that's what they want they

don't want you to be another expert on

anything they got experts in the New

York Times They got experts at Fox News

they got experts CNN they got experts

coming out of their ears they're not

they're not coming to church to hear the

latest smarts politically or

economically they want to know what has

God said pastor tell us something for

our

lives and oh my this is inexhaustible

this is

inexhaustible so take Heart Take heart

from

this and glory in this your people need

from you not that you know everything

but that you say the most important

thing about

everything what God has revealed about

himself and how you are being shaped by

it and how that works speak the word of

God and live the word of God and if you

do that for a

lifetime I hope I hope I make it to the

end saying it and living it if you live

it for a lifetime maybe somebody will

say remember your

leader remember him he spoke to us the

word of

God you consider the outcome of his life

and you imitate his faith wouldn't you

love for somebody to say that about you

let's

pray

father there may be a a tiny handful of

people who are who are the the wonderful

Tim Kellers who can do that

extraordinary important work of cultural

apologetics most of us aren't going to

be able to read that much we're not

going to operate at the level of

philosophical assumptions bless those

who have that calling and that gift but

most of us are are

not what can keep us going when we're

paralyzed and demoralized by the endless

possibilities of things we couldn't know

what's going to keep us going and the

answer I think

is our job is to know one book really

well to dig into people's lives and know

them really well to speak the word of

God be the word of

God and say the most important thing

about everything

everywhere and so I ask for these

brothers that they would be granted the

patience and the humility and the

courage to do that in Jesus name

amen