Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / Why John Piper Reads Books

Transcript

Why John Piper Reads Books · Pastor John Piper's answers

• 0:04
  Well, many of you know I love to read books so much so that
• 0:07
  I wrote a whole book about reading books. And I'm always encouraged to hear
• 0:11
  from readers who have put new emphasis on the priority of book reading in their
• 0:16
  own lives because of the book that I wrote. It's a powerful discipline in
• 0:20
  the Christian life, as you know, Pastor John, and I'm reminded of
• 0:24
  an episode we did the spring about how one percent of a book can change
• 0:27
  your life. That was the title, one percent of a Book can Change
• 0:30
  your Life, the title of Apja nineteen ten. Books have played a huge
• 0:35
  role in your development. And I know this, Pastor John, because every
• 0:38
  once in a while I get to study a book from your library. I
• 0:42
  get to borrow it and take a peek at how you marked it up.
• 0:44
  Most recently, I look through your copy of Mortimer Adler's classic How to Read
• 0:49
  a Book because I was working on another project in the works, actually a
• 0:53
  book about this podcast, actually, but it's getting too complex with books.
• 0:57
  We'll talk about that later. But just being able to thumb through your own
• 1:00
  book was really instructive to see what sentences you underlined, and what sections you
• 1:06
  marked up, and how you drotted down notes in the front and back of
• 1:10
  the book. And perhaps maybe we could talk about how you mark up your
• 1:12
  books in the future. I think that would be really fascinating to hear.
• 1:15
  But this week, for these next two episodes, I want you to explain
• 1:19
  to us why why do you read books? And then who do you read?
• 1:25
  So the why today and the who on Thursday. So first, speaking
• 1:29
  from a macro perspective, what has been the impact of books on your life?
• 1:34
  Well, what a wonderful question. It would be hard to overstate the
• 1:40
  life shaping impact of books on my life. But I'm going to go back
• 1:46
  a little bit and lay a foundation. Foundation number one is the Bible as
• 1:51
  a book. The implications of that fact are simply staggering. When God contemplated
• 1:59
  all the possible ways that existed for him as an infinite, omnipotent all wise
• 2:07
  God, to transmit and preserve his revelation to the world, he chose a
• 2:15
  book. And that's simply astonishing. We have no other authoritative access to the
• 2:23
  knowledge of God and the way of salvation and how to live a life pleasing
• 2:29
  to the Lord. Then through this book, either directly by reading it or
• 2:34
  indirectly from others who have read it. The book is absolutely unique. It's
• 2:40
  inspired in all of its words, and that inspiration secures the sufficiency of the
• 2:46
  book in equipping us for every good deed. I mean that very phrase in
• 2:51
  secon Timothy to seventeen. Every good deed is amazing to me. It's an
• 2:54
  awesome claim that we are equipped fitted out by this book for every good deed
• 3:01
  that God expects of us. He won't expect of us anything he doesn't equip
• 3:06
  us to do through this book. So it's astonishing how unique and powerful this
• 3:12
  book is. And then you add to that if he's in three four where
• 3:15
  Paul said, when you read this you can perceive my insight into the mystery
• 3:22
  of Christ. That's breathtaking to me that reading the book, so the inspiration
• 3:28
  of the book and the reading of the book are the junctures between God and
• 3:35
  man where saving truth is moved from the divine mind into the human mind and
• 3:40
  spirit. This is just staggering implications of saying that reading is the way you
• 3:46
  can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, Paul says, and of
• 3:52
  course it's not possible without the almighty agency of the Holy Spirit. It's not
• 3:57
  merely an intellectual affair. It's but it's not less than an intellectual affair,
• 4:02
  because God has ordained that his truth come through a book, and reading is
• 4:09
  a work of the mind. And of course it also doesn't mean nothing I've
• 4:15
  said is I intend to imply that we could just go about this and our
• 4:20
  own little private cubicle without taking anybody else into account. The Bible is crystal
• 4:26
  clear that God has appointed pastors and teachers people with spiritual gifts, and those
• 4:31
  gifts include wisdom and knowledge and prophecy and teaching and other ways that humans clarify
• 4:39
  and apply and inspire us with the scriptures. So even though God is giving
• 4:45
  us a book, he means for us to understand the book and apply the
• 4:48
  book and be inspired by the book with the help of other people who are
• 4:55
  dead and left their insights in books, and who are live and teach us
• 5:00
  and preach and counsel and converse with us. So once the reality of God's
• 5:08
  privileging the written word with his choice of a book as the decisive means by
• 5:15
  which He would reveal and preserve the revelation of himself. Once that has sunk
• 5:21
  in, you just can never be indifferent to the reality of books. Again,
• 5:28
  God has privileged the book, honored the book, elevated the book,
• 5:31
  esteemed the book above all other means for his centuries long preservation and explanation of
• 5:40
  his revelation. So when I say it would be hard to overstate the life
• 5:46
  shaping impact of books on my life, I think I'm saying something very much
• 5:53
  in line with God's purposes for the world. All that to justify my sentence,
• 6:00
  So let me be specific and answer to your question. Number one,
• 6:03
  books have shown me the glory and the greatness, and the character and the
• 6:09
  attributes and the beauties of God. Number two books have convicted me of sin.
• 6:16
  In fact, most books convict me of sin, one way or the
• 6:19
  other. There was an extended period of time in Germany when every Sunday evening
• 6:25
  I would read an extended portion of Edward's religious affections and found myself devastated week
• 6:32
  in and week out as he peeled away the layers of the self exaltation of
• 6:39
  my heart. Number three books have shown me the path of righteousness. Number
• 6:45
  four books have given me inspiration and encouragement some of my most difficult days.
• 6:53
  And I'm thinking here mainly of biography. Number five books have shaped the way
• 7:00
  I think and the way I express myself. And here I'm thinking, of
• 7:03
  course, of C. S. Lewis here razor sharp logic and a deep
• 7:10
  belief in the reality of reason and logic, while never elevating it above the
• 7:16
  essential importance of the imagination and the affections. And it's not just only his
• 7:24
  deep belief in exemplification setting an example of logic, but the touchable, smellable,
• 7:33
  tastable concreteness of his language. Oh, the power of the concrete over
• 7:42
  the abstract in helping people grasp the greatest things. Number six books have cultivated
• 7:49
  deep convictions in me about things like the aims of reading. I think here
• 7:55
  of E. D. Hirsch in his book Validity Interpretation that suited me profoundly
• 8:03
  that the only objective grounds for any claim to validity in one's interpretation is that
• 8:09
  we have found an author's intention in writing. I think that's right, and
• 8:13
  what a vast implication it has for how you read everything. And finally,
• 8:20
  I would say books have clarified for me biblical concepts that I may never have
• 8:26
  gotten good clarity on myself because of how extensive the scope of one's grasp needs
• 8:33
  to be of scriptures in order to synthesize the way books do. And I'm
• 8:37
  thinking here of George Ladd, for example, one of my professors, George
• 8:41
  Ladd's New Testament Theology or his book The Presence of the Future. So that's
• 8:48
  a that's a tip of the iceberg. To the person Tony who struggles with
• 8:52
  reading, I would simply say, join me, Join Limited Slow Reading,
• 8:56
  John Piper. Admit your limitation, laid down all resentments and anger and self
• 9:03
  pity and self justification, and humbly accept your limitations. Admit them, and
• 9:09
  then do the best you can. Be thankful for every measure of reading you're
• 9:16
  able to do. A man, Yeah, I think, Pastor John,
• 9:20
  and don't miss that Efhesians three four mentioned at the beginning. Pastor John mentioned
• 9:22
  that at the start of this episode there's a whole theology of reading in that
• 9:26
  one little verse Ephesians three four. Well, as you can hear, Pastor
• 9:31
  John is hardly unable to resist from giving us a whole list of book recommendations.
• 9:35
  So let's do that. Next time, Limited Slow Reading John Piper is
• 9:39
  going to give us ten of his favorite authors. When it comes to reading
• 9:41
  theology for your soul. That's Thursday. I'm Tony your rankie. See then