In preparing for my James sermons I began perusing other sermons on the texts I had for the week. I found a John Piper sermon called “where does child-killing come from?” based on James 4:1-10 (http://www.desiringgod.org/library/bible_books/James.html. Seeing the title I began panicking that I had missed the whole point of the text (what I considered to be friendship with the world means enmity with God). After looking at Spurgeon and other commentaries I was pleased to see I had not fallen off the rocker, but I wondered where Piper was going with the sermon.

The sermon by Piper is an example of what Greg posts about on his “other blog” concerning proof-texting a political point. I appreciate Piper’s God-blessed ministry, but what do we make of this particular sermon? Do the other elders think Piper went too far with this emphasis? Was he an expositional preacher on this given Sunday? If so, how does one know when he can make efforts to move this far in a sermon?

Posted in Church Life, Pastoral Ministry |