I also listen to several audio sermons each week to stimulate my own heart to joyful obedience to Christ. And one pastor that has consistently stimulated my heart to joy in Christ is John Piper. I am drawn to his preaching because he makes me long to know and experience the glory of God like no one else apart from Scripture itself has ever done for me. The glory of God is not just a theological topic that is divorced (I use that word intentionally) from reality, as his current series on marriage is demonstrating.
In his most recent message, he articulated the theme of the series in one brief sentence: “You cannot say to often that marriage is a model of Christ and the church.”
His sermons are providing the reasons why he says that: 1) This lifts marriage out of the sordid sitcom images and gives it the magnificent meaning God meant it to have; 2) this gives marriage a solid basis in grace, since Christ obtained and sustains his bride by grace alone; and 3) this shows that the husband’s headship and the wife’s submission are crucial and crucified. That is, they are woven into the very meaning of marriage as a display of Christ and the church, but they are both defined by Christ’s self-denying work on the cross so that their pride and slavishness are cancelled.
Three messages have been preached already. More are on the way. Listen to them here (manuscripts for each message are also available on the DG website):
- Staying Married Is Not About Staying in Love, Part 1
- Staying Married Is Not About Staying in Love, Part 2
- Marriage: God's Showcase of Covenant-Keeping Grace
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