http://rss.desiringgod.org/link/10732/16131823/partnering-with-god-in-a-thousand-prayers
Death Can Only Make Me Better: Remembering Tim Keller (1950–2023)
Today Tim Keller entered the reward of his Master. In this special episode of Ask Pastor John, Tony Reinke shares a sermon clip from Dr. Keller on the joy of God in the face of cancer.
You Might also like
-
The Wholehearted Pastor: Why Men of God Pursue Purity
Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in . . . purity. (1 Timothy 4:12)
Pastoral ministry is not something low we pastors settle for. It’s something lofty we keep reaching for — by faith in God’s grace, in repentance for our sins, and with courage always to believe God for his reviving power.
The high calling God has given us as pastors is obvious in the final word of our agenda-setting verse, 1 Timothy 4:12. That word is purity. It’s a sure way any young pastor can gain the respect of people of all ages in his congregation.
Purity Demanded and Created
Purity is a bold word, isn’t it? It’s blunt and strong, leaving no room for compromise. That’s why the word is in this verse for us pastors. We need this splash of cold water in our faces. The morally corrosive ethos of our times (so contrary to purity) is well stated by Marilynne Robinson in her insightful book The Death of Adam:
When a good man or woman stumbles, we say, “I knew it all along,” and when a bad one has a gracious moment, we sneer at the hypocrisy. It is as if there is nothing to mourn or admire, only a hidden narrative now and then apparent through the false, surface narrative. And the hidden narrative, because it is ugly and sinister, is therefore true. (The Death of Adam, 78)
That fashionable outlook is deeply corrupt. There is a difference between sin and corruption. For all his serious errors, Pope Francis helped me articulate the critical difference between the two. He argued that corruption is sin repeated and repeated until it deepens to such a point that sin doesn’t feel sinful anymore (“The Limits of Dialogue”). Corruption makes sin feel normal. As a result, the corrupted sinner is no longer open to grace. And how can that end well? Whole denominations can be thrust into anguish over corruption in their midst.
Brothers, we must never allow the darkness of our times to start feeling normal. Men of God know that purity is not a throwback to a bygone era. It is not an embarrassment. It is the beautiful image of Christ himself marking us and honoring us, so that every one of us can be “a vessel for honorable use” in the hands of the Lord (2 Timothy 2:20–21). Is that not what you and I earnestly desire — purity within us and among us?
So, let’s be decisive. Let’s emphatically reject all cynicism that scoffs at purity as if it were somehow posing. Let’s humble ourselves, swallow God’s word whole, and by God’s grace keep walking the path of authentic Christianity that all generations of faithful pastors before us have walked. That path includes purity. It demands purity. It creates purity.
The Many Facets of Purity
What then is pastoral purity? Obviously, it cannot be sinless perfection. The man who wrote this called himself, earlier in this same letter, “the foremost” of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). There is, however, a real purity that everyone in our churches can rightly expect from us flawed but faithful pastors. The apostle considered purity essential to gospel ministry (2 Corinthians 6:6). Jesus considered purity of heart essential to kingdom identity (Matthew 5:8). Whatever purity is — it includes sexual integrity, but it is far more — we must deeply accept its all-encompassing authority over us.
Imagine with me that we could pick up this word translated purity like a beautiful gem, hold it up in the sunlight, and turn it over and over in our hands, looking at it from different angles, being dazzled by the splendors on its various facets. What would we see there? We would see the gem of purity sparkling with holiness, reverence, integrity, innocence, honesty, and sincerity — for starters.
Purity is wholeheartedness, dignifying every area of a pastor’s life. The Bible says, “Purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:8). It’s why Søren Kierkegaard wrote, “Purity of heart is to will one thing.” It is possible to minister the gospel with a divided heart (Philippians 1:17). It is possible to preach the truth, but not “in truth” (Philippians 1:18). You and I turn away from such a sight with grief and abhorrence. We turn back to Christ himself both as our message and as our motive.
Purity in the Wild
Sadly, our world today is no friend of a pastor’s purity. Anything like purity just isn’t cool. To this tragic world, the very word purity can sound quaint, phony, even offensive. But God delights in our purity. To him, all aspects of the purity he sees in us are beautiful, and beautiful with something of his own beauty.
What does a pastor of exemplary purity look like? He has no hidden agendas. He can be taken at face value. He proves true time after time. He can be safely trusted. He follows through and keeps his promises. He doesn’t use people, but actually loves people. He doesn’t assess others with a selfish cost-benefit analysis but gives his heart away and remains a steadfast friend over the long haul.
When he accepted the call from his church to minister the gospel there, he meant it, and he means it — even when he is tested by hardship. His congregation never has to wonder what he really wants or what he really cares about. They know that their pastor is “the real deal.” That’s what a man set apart by exemplary purity looks like. What a glorious privilege for every pastor!
Men Who Stand Out
So then, my brother pastor, here is what you must accept. In some circles, if you commit to purity, you won’t fit in. The Septuagint uses this word translated purity in Numbers 6:2–3. It says there, of the person who takes a Nazarite vow, “When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink . . .” And your purity will set you apart in our day.
I don’t mean you will stand aloof from people. I hope you won’t! But if you devote yourself to purity before the Lord and your church, you might not be perceived as “just one of the guys.” Instead of fitting in, you will stand out. And some people might not know how to respond. A few might even despise you. But more and more, over time, fair-minded people will see you as you truly are: a remarkable example of Christian authenticity.
By God’s grace alone, for his glory alone, you can fulfill the exemplary calling of 1 Timothy 4:12. You will be respected. Your people will be blessed. And the watching world will know that a man of God has walked among them.
-
Who Are the Ministers in the Church? Ephesians 4:11–14, Part 4
John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Providence.
-
How Much Jewelry Is Too Much Jewelry?
Audio Transcript
Welcome back to the podcast. Well, how much jewelry is too much jewelry? It’s a question of concern on the podcast because you ask about it. More importantly, it’s a question of concern because it’s a topic of concern in the Bible, specifically in 1 Peter 3:3, a text that has provoked many emails to us over the years on how to limit adornments. Here’s a representative question I pulled out, from a husband and father. “Hello, Pastor John, and thank you for this podcast! My wife and I are trying to figure out if it’s good to allow our daughter to wear nail polish. She’s 2 and loves to play dress-up. I don’t want this to become a necessity, but I suppose it’s fine as an expression of her childlike creativity. It’s ultimately a question for my wife as well. She doesn’t wear makeup or jewelry often and I’m happy with that. She does, however, enjoy having her toes painted. Considering 1 Peter 3:3–4, I don’t know many people who argue that all feminine adornments are bad. But clearly some are wrong. Where do we draw that line today?”
Let me start with a general observation and analogy from the New Testament and then talk about some specifics. Consider an analogy between adornment of hair and stylish clothing and use of makeup, on the one hand, and riches and wealth, on the other hand. Here’s the analogy. The New Testament does not call riches and wealth evil in and of themselves, but almost the entire New Testament has a trajectory away from luxury, away from opulence, and toward simplicity, toward a kind of wartime lifestyle that is aware of the dangers of money and the appearance of loving this world more than we love God.
Now the comparison or the analogy is this: the Bible does not call fashion or makeup or hair styling evil in and of itself. But the trajectory of the New Testament is toward simplicity and modesty and inward beauty of character and what you might call undistracting personhood-revealing — as opposed to body-revealing — apparel. That’s my general observation. Now let’s talk a few specifics.
Two Texts on Beauty
It would be good to put in front of us two of the most straightforward texts about a woman’s clothing and adornment and how she presents herself. And there are, as you can see in these texts, clear implications for men as well, but they’re addressed to women.
So, 1 Peter 3:3–4. He’s saying this to wives who are married to unbelieving husbands, probably because of the temptation to use their sexual reality to somehow influence this unbelieving husband. And Peter’s saying,
Do not let your adorning be external — the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear — but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.
Now here’s 1 Timothy 2:9–10:
[I desire] that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness — with good works.
Now, from these two texts, we can say the following.
Three Principles for Modesty
First, don’t focus more on the external beauty than the internal beauty. “Do not let your adorning be external . . . but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart” (1 Peter 3:3–4). So there’s the great principle for women — and, I would say, obviously for men as well. It’s like bodily exercise. We like to quote this: “While bodily exercise is of some value, godliness is of value in every way” (1 Timothy 4:8). And so outward adornment, you could say, is of little value, and internal adornment is valuable in every way. That’s the first thing we can infer from those texts.
“Don’t focus more on the external beauty than the internal beauty.”
Second, Peter’s and Paul’s restrictions are not meant to be total. And the reason we know that is because right after saying, “Do not let your adorning be . . . the braiding of hair and jewelry,” he says, “Do not let your adorning be . . . the clothing that you wear” (1 Peter 3:3). That does not mean, “Don’t wear clothing.” It means, “Don’t devote your main efforts and concerns to your clothing but to inner beauty.” It doesn’t mean no jewelry or no hairstyles.
Third, the language of Paul in 1 Timothy 2:9–10 about clothing is almost entirely about what is “fitting” or “becoming” or “appropriate” (these are Greek phrases that I made sure I got right):
katastolē kosmiō: “becoming attire”
meta aidous: “with respect for convention or what’s fitting”
mē himatismō . . . polytelei: “not in costly attire, not lavish or gaudy”
prepei gynaixin epangellomenais theosebeian: “as is proper for women who profess godliness”Now, the implication of these guidelines seems to be this: within an ever-changing, highly corrupt culture then and now, with fringe elements of grunge and gaudy and provocation, focus on what your clothing and adornment and makeup say about you as a person, not you as skin or you as shape. Paul calls this “what is proper for women who profess godliness” (1 Timothy 2:10).
Faithful Femininity
Now, back to the question about the little girl who wants to paint her nails. This brings up the issue — and it’s such a relevant issue — of male and female sexuality and what they are. What’s the difference between male and female? Twenty years ago, we might have felt like we didn’t need to talk about that. Everybody knew what that is. Well, now we need to be alert to the fact that our little girl should grow up with a happy, thoughtful awareness that God made her a girl and not a boy. And our son should grow up with a happy, thoughtful awareness that God made him a boy and not a girl.
So I will unashamedly say we should be happy when our daughter at 2 years old wants to paint her nails, and our son does not want to paint his nails. We should affirm her inclination toward this expression of femininity, and we should discourage our son’s dabbling in this expression of femininity (and there are sensitive ways to do that). And I use the term “expression of femininity” because I’m fully aware that nail polish is a cultural expression, not an innate one. It’s not in her genes that nail polish has to be on her fingernails. Girls aren’t born with painted nails.
But what is innate, God-given innate, is that healthy boys moving toward mature manhood are inclined by God-given nature to embrace culturally appropriate expressions of manhood. And we should help them with this. And healthy girls moving toward mature womanhood are inclined by God-given nature to embrace culturally appropriate expressions of womanhood. And I believe Paul teaches that very thing in 1 Corinthians 11:14. “Does not nature itself teach you?” he says. And he teaches the same in Romans 1, where he says people are acting against nature (Romans 1:21–28).
So I would be thankful that my daughter wants to paint her nails. And I would, along with my wife, train her up in how innocent and utterly insignificant nail polish is to her worth as a person and her influence in the world. We want her to have a worldview such that even if her fingers are all cut off in a machine accident, she would know she can be a beautiful, worthwhile, fruitful person as a believer in Jesus Christ and as the daughter of the King of the universe.
Drawing Eyes Upward
So besides getting our priorities right, besides embracing the goodness of maleness and femaleness, and dressing in ways that are becoming and fitting to our devotion to Christ, and dressing in ways that point to our personhood instead of our body, and besides avoiding the arrogance that seeks to defy convention in shocking ways — besides all that, I would add a special concern here that we raise our daughters and sons not to be sexually provocative.
“The eyes that are drawn to more skin are not drawn to more skin because it’s beautiful, but because it’s more skin.”
Now, that means exposing less skin, not more skin. And it means less tight-fitting leggings and shirts. And if a woman gets upset with me at this point and says, “I don’t need to calculate my clothing according to male sexual temptation” (which is such a common retort if you try to say anything about modesty these days), my response is, “Well, that’s true. You don’t have to calculate your clothing that way. But I would ask you this question (which I think women understand who want to embrace feminine beauty and feminine godliness): Do you believe that beautiful attractiveness is increased by the amount of skin you expose?”
Now, here’s my answer: the eyes that are drawn to more skin are not drawn to more skin because it’s beautiful, but because it’s more skin — period. More skin is not beauty; it’s a magnet. It has nothing to do with beauty. It has everything to do with pure, physical, magnetizing skin. The real test of whether one is beautifully attractive is not how sexy she can be or he can be, because sex and beauty are not at all the same. And a godly woman knows this. She does not want to be a skin magnet. She wants to say with her clothing, “I’m thankful I’m a woman, I love beautiful simplicity, and Christ is my greatest treasure.”