Truth is ancient; it's grey hairs may make it venerable;
it comes from Him who is the ancient of days. --Thomas Watson

 

22 October, 2006   comments: (0) Audio Clips   'Chipper Churches' Distort Reality of Christian Life John Piper had this to say in his bio of John Bunyan: One of the main reasons that the Puritans are still being read today is that the fragrance of heaven and the fragrance of hell are on them. Because, they were written in a century (from 1560 to 1660) which was permeated by persecution and suffering, and life was simply hard in the the 17th century even when life was good. Whereas in America, and in the west today we are 'chipper'. Church is chipper, TV is chipper, books are chipper; we're a chipper people. Which means there's not much to be read today that's worth reading, because the smell of hell and heaven isn't on it. When you're always walking along the precipice of eternity, there's a smell about your preaching which is almost missing today entirely. Thank God for [old] books where we can bathe our brains with something other than 'chipper' theology. ... In America we don't suffer much; we are a fun loving folk. You can be as fun loving and happy-go-lucky and as chipper as you want, but as soon as somebody tells you that you've got cancer, or as soon as you find out that your child is blind, you turn away from the chipper pastors, to somebody who is a man of sorrows and is acquainted with grief. I know there is tremendous pressure on you [pastors] in many seminars to grow churches by helping people feel chipper and good, and I think perhaps your church may grow more slowly if you're a serious pastor, but your people have got to know that you know what it feels like to [suffer]. ... John Bunyan's suffering opened his understanding to the truth that the Christian life is hard, and that following Jesus means to have the wind in your face. In this 11 minute audio clip, John Piper gives you a small glimpse at the life of the author of The Pilgrim's Progress. At the same time, I think Piper's message has something valuable to say to so many of today's growth-oriented pastors who have been mislead to believe that church needs to always be positive, upbeat, fun, or conveying earthly happiness. Certainly there is a place for all of these things, but the reality of the Christian life is distorted when the upbeat/positive becomes the emphasis of church week in and week out. The life of suffering and persecution that John Bunyan lived, reminds us of the other side of Christianity; the side that today's "happy clappy" churches tend to avoid . . . like the plague. CLICK HERE TO PLAY NOW . . . or to download this MP3 file for later: right click the link and then "save target as"   More Old Truth Audio Files: 04/25/08 - The False Peace of Truth-Compromised 03/20/08 - The Arrogance of Abandoning Church History 02/25/08 - Judging Fruit By Biblical Standards 01/30/08 - The History of Praise Songs: Simple from Semple 11/06/07 - Audio Archive: How God Converts The Human Soul 07/19/07 - Theology Q&A's: Does Prayer Change God's Mind? 06/03/07 - Addressing Our Culture w/Reformed Christianity 05/28/07 - Don't Make The Church Mars Hill, Go There Instead 05/07/07 - Old Truths versus The Quest For 'Something New' 04/27/07 - Lost and Found: The Fear of The Lord Detailed Listing of All Audio Files   Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.321   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism