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Tag Archives: John Piper

Israel, Palestine, Gaza and What in the World Does the Bible Have to Say About All This?

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The New York Times reported yesterday that Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire,. With all that is going on in the news concerning Israel, and all the “Christian” and “biblical” commentary being offered,  it would be helpful to see what the Bible actually has to say about all this.

 In 2004, John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, delivered a sermon from Romans 11:25-32 titled “Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East.” In it, he offers seven principles concerning the ever-contentious issue of “the Land” and I think that these principles are not only biblical, but extremely helpful in understanding and processing the situation in the middle east.

1. God chose Israel from all the peoples of the world to be his own possession.

2. The Land was part of the inheritance he promised to Abraham and his descendants forever.

3. The promises made to Abraham, including the promise of the Land, will be inherited as an everlasting gift only by true, spiritual Israel, not disobedient, unbelieving Israel.

4. Jesus Christ has come into the world as the Jewish Messiah, and his own people rejected him and broke covenant with their God.

5. Therefore, the secular state of Israel today may not claim a present divine right to the Land, but they and we should seek a peaceful settlement not based on present divine rights, but on international principles of justice, mercy, and practical feasibility.

6. By faith in Jesus Christ, the Jewish Messiah, Gentiles become heirs of the promise of Abraham, including the promise of the Land.

7. Finally, this inheritance of Christ’s people will happen at the Second Coming of Christ to establish his kingdom, not before; and till then, we Christians must not take up arms to claim our inheritance; but rather lay down our lives to share our inheritance with as many as we can.

The bottom line here is this: Israel certainly WAS God’s people, but they are by no means his people now. We are living in a NEW Covenant on this side of the cross. God has rejected Israel as a nation (though he has chosen to keep some Israelites; see Romans 11:1-10, 25-32).

Our treatment of the nation of Israel really has no bearing on God’s treatment of us as a nation or any other nation. God made a covenant with Israel in the OT and that was fulfilled and completed in Christ. Israel has been “broken off” that gentiles might be in covenant with God. There is coming a time when SOME Jews who are elect will come to faith, but Israel as a nation is no longer under God’s favor. The only way Israel could be in God’s favor would be through Christ; the same way you and I are.

FAITH: What It Is (Part 2)

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Faith is based on evidence and reason, and according to Augustine, it is also based on the credible testimony of witness, “With respect to things we have seen or see, we are our own witnesses; but with respect to those we believe, we are moved to faith by other witnesses.”

The persuasiveness and logical soundness of a witness’ testimony, whether it be our own or another’s, can be, and often is, the basis of our faith. It certainly was in the early first century. As Jesus himself told the apostles, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” The testimony of the apostles was the foundation of faith in the first century church.

Fred Zaspel defines faith well:

Nevertheless, faith is not an arbitrary act; it is a mental state or act “determined by sufficient reasons.” Consent of belief is not the same as consent of the will. The consent of belief is a “forced consent” driven by compelling evidence. Belief is neither arbitrary nor voluntary, but a necessary consent of the mind to what it perceives to be sufficient reasons or evidence. . . Although faith is forced consent, the product of evidence and not of volition, it nonetheless can be mistaken. Our beliefs may not, in fact, correspond with reality. We can be misinformed or misunderstand the evidence and this believe what is in fact not true. Our minds may mistake weak evidence as strong evidence or strong evidence as weak, and believe or not believe accordingly. . . Reason underlies faith, to be sure, but there is involved also a judgement as to the authority of the evidence, its credibility. Faith, therefore, entails “trust” as one of its prominent components. In fact, it seems evident that the notion of “trust” is the implication that rules the usage of the term “faith, belief” and “determines its applications throughout the whole course of its development.

It is possible to believe something that is not true, indeed, to trust in something that is not true. Faith does not necessitate that its object be true, it merely necessitates that it be reasonable and credible.

A. W. Tozer describes faith as “the gaze of a soul upon a saving God.” Tozer goes beyond Warfield’s description of faith as a mental act and engages the soul. “Believing then,” continues Tozer, “is directing the heart’s attention to Jesus. It is lifting the mind to ‘behold the Lamb of God’ (John 1:29), and never ceasing that beholding for the rest of our lives.”

Similar to Edwards, Tozer connects faith with the heart.  It is the heart along with the mind that sets itself toward an object. For the Christian, that object is Christ.  In very similar fashion, concerning the relationship of faith and affections to the Christian’s life, John Piper writes:

The heart of biblical faith in Jesus is coming to him for the satisfaction of all that God is for us in him. Jesus said in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst.” From this we have drawn out the truth that belief in Jesus means coming to Jesus for the satisfaction of all that is for us in him. And unbelief is a turning away from Jesus in order to seek satisfaction in other things.

Belief is not merely an agreement with the facts in the head; it is also an appetite for God in the heart, which fastens on Jesus for satisfaction. . . Therefore eternal life is not given to people who merely think that Jesus is the Son of God. It is given to people who drink from Jesus as the Son of God.

Like Tozer, Piper defines faith as more than mental assent. Their is more to faith than the engagement of the mind. Belief is the investment of the heart in Christ. Unless a Christian is drawing his satisfaction from Christ, then he cannot be said to have real faith in Christ.

Contrastingly, Piper also defines unbelief. He writes:

Unbelief is a turning away from God and his Son in order to seek satisfaction in other things. Pride is a turning away from God specifically to take satisfaction in self. So pride is one specific form of unbelief.

For Piper, the act of turning away from God as the fountain and source of satisfaction is unbelief. Conversely, true belief is the turning to God as the source and sufficient supply of satisfaction for the heart in the Christian life. Faith is the essential element necessary to obedience. Again Piper remarks:

If we ask what was missing from the hearts of so many who heard the law and failed to walk in it, one clear biblical answer is that faith was missing. . . the word [ancient Israel] heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. The word of God did not bear fruit in their lives because they did not trust him.

Again and again this is the missing ingredient in the Old Testament that short-circuits obedience to God’s commandments. Obedience is impossible apart from faith. Without faith, the Christian could not and does not want to obey. Godly practice is not possible without or apart from faith.

One last distinction is necessary.  Tozer makes some important remarks on the function of faith. Faith is not the basis or cause of reward. It is not a source of merit. He writes:

Faith is not in itself a meritorious act; the merit is in the One toward Whom it is directed. Faith is a re-directing of our sight, a getting out of the focus of our own vision and getting God into focus.

Faith is not the basis on which sanctification occurs, it is, however, the means by which holiness takes place. The channel through which sanctification occurs is faith. Faith is the funnel from holiness to the individual believer

The Gospel and Everyday Life

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I love what David Powlison has to say about how the gospel relates to everyday life. So I’ve included his words below.

One criterion for evaluating proposals about how we should live as Christians is this family of questions, “Does this work for peasants and factory workers? Would this be plausible for a mother of pre-schoolers or a lonely man who is dying?” Jesus has a way with people facing trouble. The Bible works with people who get sweaty, weary or teary, who worry about money, who find pain and sickness a long hard road. It is for war-weary sufferers. Ministry works to make unassuming warriors with quiet courage and perseverance.

Here’s a companion question: “Does this work for strugglers?” Jesus has a way with people who feel their sins, who are tempted to drink too much, who get too angry too easily and can’t let it go, who are consumed by irrational fears and can’t even imagine an exit strategy. Scripture works with people who find it hard to walk in the light, and too easy to stumble and fall. Ministry works to make unsung heroes who learn to make small, difficult choices.

These problems of daily life are the flashpoint for our life in Christ—the places we need him, the places we seek him, the places we find him, the places where faith walks out into love. We meet Jesus in our troubles and in our struggles, our vulnerability to suffering and tendency to sin.

Jesus meets you in your pressures and preoccupations.

His underlying foundation sounds so unassuming: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Jesus meets you in your obsessions and compulsions.

His overarching goals sound so basic: “Love is patient. Love is kind. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances.”

Jesus calms drivenness and lightens burdens. He is making you a person of peace, peaceable, at peace, a maker of peace, abiding in the peace that passes all understanding. He’s good for the long hard road in the right direction. Jesus meets you every day and helps with everyday things.

CyberChimps