Brothers We Are Not Professionals (Piper)

I read this book in early 2012 just around the time I received my "Professional Engineer" designation.  I thought it would be a good time to read about how pastors/elders are not "Professionals" at the same time I was receiving a professional license.

The book has 30 chapters which are each only 3-10 pages long.  There's a free eBook out called "Still Not Professionals" which adds 10 new chapters which I am planning to read sometime soon.  Check it out if you'd like here.

Quotes:

Insulated Western Christianity is waking from the dreamworld that being a Christian is normal or safe. (pg ix)

The aim of this book is the spread of radical pastoral passion for the supremacy and centrality of the crucified and risen God-Man, Jesus Christ, in every sphere of life and ministry and culture. (pg xi)

And to those who want me to write for "brothers and sisters," I say, let everyone be fully convinced in his own mind.  As for me, the Biblical teaching is clear: God calls spiritual, humble, Christlike men to lead the family as husbands and to lead the church as elders (Eph. 5:20-33; 1 Tim. 2:12-13).  I believe, and have experienced for twenty years, that godly, gifted, articulate, intelligent, ministering women flourish in such families and churches. (pg xiii)

The preacher... is not a professional man; his ministry is not a profession; it is a divine institution, a divine devotion. - E.M. Bounds (pg 1)

We pastors are being killed by the professionalizing of pastoral ministry. (pg 1)

The aims of our ministry are eternal and spiritual.  They are not shared by any of the professions... The world sets the agenda of the professional man; God sets the agenda of the spiritual man. (pg 3)

God, give us tears for our sins.  Forgive us for being so shallow in prayer, so content amid perishing neighbors, so empty of passion and earnestness in all our conversation. (pg 4)

I wrote this quote down but I wrote beside it "Do I believe this?"  I think I do but it just sounds a bit weird but I think it's true.

God loves His glory more than He loves us, and this is the foundation of His love for us. (pg 5)

Then Piper continues...

For God to be righteous, He must devote Himself 100% with all His heart, soul, and strength, to loving and honoring His own holiness in the display of His glory. (pg 14)

Do you feel most loved by God because He makes much of you, or because He frees you to enjoy making much of Him forever? (pg 16)

This doctrine [of justification by faith] is the head and the cornerstone.  It alone begets, nourishes, builds, preserves, and defends the church of God; and without it the church of God cannot exist for one hour. - Martin Luther (pg 17)

Wherever the knowledge of [justification by faith] is taken away, the glory of Christ is extinguished, religion abolished, the Church destroyed, and the hope of salvation utterly overthrown. - John Calvin (pg 17)

Brothers, Tell Them Not To Serve God: We have all told our people to serve God (Ps. 100:2, Rom. 12:1).  But now it may be the time to tell them not to serve God (Mark 10:45, Acts 17:24-25)... What is God looking for in the world?  Assistants?  No.  The gospel is not a help-wanted ad.  It is a help-available ad.  Nor is the call to Christian service a help-wanted ad.  God is not looking for people to work for Him but people who let Him work mightily in and through them. (pg 40)

It is the giver who gets the glory (pg 44)

Brothers Let Us Pray: Oh, how we need to wake up to how much "nothing" (John 15:5) we spend our time doing.  Apart from prayer, all our scurrying about, all our talking, all our study amounts to "nothing"...Both our flesh and our culture scream against spending an hour on our knees beside a desk piled with papers (pg 55)

I know that the reason so few conversions are happening through my church is not because we lack a program or staff.  It is because do not love the lost and yearn for their salvation the way we should... And without those tears we may shuffle members from church to church, but few people will pass from darkness to light. (pg 56)

Brothers, Beware of Sacred Substitutes: The great threat to our prayer and our meditation on the Word of God is good ministry activity. (pg 59)

So anything that is to be done well ought to occupy the whole man with all his faculties and members... How much more must prayer possess the heart exclusively and completely if it is to be a good prayer!.. It is a good thing to let prayer be the first business in the morning and the last in the evening." - Martin Luther (pg 63)

Brothers, Fight for Your Life: The great pressure on us today is to be productive managers... For your own soul and for the life of your church, fight for time to feed your soul with rich reading... Read classics - pg 66-67

This was the one of many times where Piper encourages pastors to take time to rest, read and pray.  Below you'll find a few other quotes about the importance of reading classic books.

There is so much "devotional" material today that is too light and too shallow and too a-theological to be helpful.  It just doesn't carry a sense of the greatness of God. (pg 69)

"It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.  If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones" - C.S. Lewis (pg 69)

Brothers, Let Us Query The Text: We must train our people that it is not irreverent to see difficulties in the Biblical text and to think hard about how they can be resolved.  Preaching should model this for them week after week (see Phil. 4:6 + 2 Cor. 11:28; 1 Thess. 5:16 + Rom. 12:15; Eph. 5:20 + Rom. 9:2; Matt. 5:39 + Matt 10:23; Exo. 34:6 + Ps. 2:12). (pg 77)

Then there's a whole chapter on the importance of knowing and using the Hebrew and Greek languages. The chapter is titled "Brothers, Bitzer Was A Banker".

"Languages are the scabbard that contains the sword of the Spirit; they are the casket which contains the priceless jewels of antique though; they are the vessel that holds the wine; and as the gospel says, they are the baskets in which the loaves and fishes are kept to feed the multitude... As dear as the gospel is to us all, let us as hard contend with its language." - Martin Luther (pg 81)

"The original Scriptures well deserve your pains, and will richly repay them." - John Newton (pg 81)


In 1982, Baker Book House reissued a 1969 book of daily Scripture readings in Hebrew and Greek called "Light on the Path"...The aim of the editor, who died in 1980, was to help pastors preserve and improve their ability to interpret the Bible from the original languages.  His name was Heinrich Bitzer.  He was a banker.... He said "The more a theologian detaches himself from the basic Hebrew and Greek text of Holy Scripture, the more he detaches himself from the source of real theology!  And real theology is the foundation of a fruitful and blessed ministry." (pg 81-82)

Several things happen as the original languages fall into disuse among pastors.  First, the confidence of pastors to determine the precise meaning of the Biblical text diminishes... For example most of the modern English translations (RSV, NIC, NASB, NLT) do not enable the expositor to see that "have fruit" in Rom. 6:22 links with "bear fruit" five verses later in Rom. 7:4.  They all translate Rom 6:22 without the word "fruit". (pg 82-83)

Further when we fail to stress the use of Greek and Hebrew as valuable in the pastoral office, we create an eldership of professional academicians.  We surrender to the seminaries and universities essential dimensions of our responsibility as elders and overseers of the churches.  I am deeply grateful for seminaries and for Bible-believing, God-centered, Christ-exalting scholars.  But did God really intend that the people who interpret the Bible most carefully be one step removed from the weekly ministry of the Word in the church?... Is it healthy or biblical for the church to cultivate an eldership of pastors (weak in the Word) and an eldership of professors (strong in the Word)? (pg 84)

Why do seminaries not offer incentives and degrees to help pastors maintain the most important pastoral skill - exegesis of the original meaning of Scripture? (pg 85)

I agree with this quote above from page 85.  I've been trying to find a way to do an intensive course at Heritage or TBS or Tyndale or MacDiv but none of them have a Greek I class in the evening or on weekends.

Martin Luther said, "If the languages had not made me positive as to the true meaning of the word, I might have still remained a chained monk, engaged in quietly preaching Romish errors in the obsurity of a cloister; the pope, the sophists, and their anti-Christin empire would have remained unshaken." In other words, he attributes the breakthrough of the Reformation to the penetrating power of the original languages. (pg 86)

Brothers, Read Christian Biography: Hebrews 11 is a divine mandate to read Christian biography. (pg 89)

Good biography is history and guards us against chronological snobbery (as C.S. Lewis calls it) (pg 90)

“Brothers We Must Feel The Truth of Hell.  Is not our most painful failure in the pastorate the inability to weep over the unbelievers in our neighborhoods and the carnal members of our churches?” – pg 113

“Brothers Magnify the Meaning of Baptism. Most of my dead heroes baptized infants.  I do not elevate the time or mode of baptism to a primary doctrine.  The Westminster Confession of Faith states “Baptism is rightly administered by pouring, or sprinkling water upon the person” (28.3) and “the infants of one, or both, believing parents, are to be baptized” (28.4).

“The fact that no infant baptisms are recorded does not prove there weren’t any.” (pg 130)

Piper, like me, is a credo-baptist.  His respect for our paedo-baptist brothers and sisters is encouraging.

“The justification of infant baptism in the Reformed churches hangs on the fact that baptism is the New Testament counterpart of circumcision… I am a Baptist because I believe that on this score we honour both the continuity and discontinuity between Israel and the church and between their respect covenant signs…entry into the old covenant people of God was by physical birth, and entry into the new covenant people of God is by spiritual birth.  It would seem to follow then that the sign of the covenant would reflect this change and would be administered to those who give evidence of spiritual birth.” – pg 133-134

“Brothers Don’t Fight Flesh Tanks With Peashooter Regulations.” – pg 151

“Church membership covenants might be improved by being made more radical and less specific” – pg 152

“Exclusion of people from local church membership should never be taken lightly.  It is a serious matter” – pg 154

“Brothers Tell Them Copper Will Do. We will never persuade our people that the parable of the rich fool in Luke 12 applies to them unless we apply it to ourselves.” – pg 167

“The person who thinks the money he makes is meant mainly to increase his comforts on earth is a fool, Jesus says. Wise people know that all their money belongs to God and should be used to show that God, and not money, is their treasure, their comfort, their joy and their security” – pg 168

“God does not prosper a man’s business so that man can move from a Buick to a BMW.  God prospers a business so that hundreds of unreached peoples can be reached with the gospel.” – pg 169

“Brothers we are leaders, and the burden of change lies most heavily on us… Is your giving to the church pace-setting (not that your people will know what you give, but God does)? Does your burden for the unreached and the poor stab people’s love for luxury and comfort?” – pg 170

“Brothers, Give Them God’s Passion for Missions. I bear witness to the grace of God in my life for giving me a passion for world missions” – pg 187

“If we love God’s fame and are committed to magnifying His name above all things, we cannot be indifferent to world missions.” – pg 187

Then he lists of the 7 truths that were rediscovered at his church about missions 10-20 years ago.

1)      We discovered that God is passionately committed to His fame.  God’s ultimate goal is that His name be known and praised and enjoyed by all the peoples of the earth.

2)      We discovered that God’s purpose to be known and praised and enjoyed among all nations cannot fail.  It is an absolutely certain promise.  It is going to happen.

3)      We discovered that the missionary task is focused on reaching, unreached peoples, not just people – people groups, not just individuals – and is therefore finishable.

4)      We discovered that the scarcity of Paul-type missionaries has been obscured by the quantity of Timothy-type missionaries.

5)      We discovered that domestic ministries are the goal of frontier missions, and frontier missions is the establishment of domestic ministries.

6)       We have come to see that God ordains suffering as the price and the means of finishing the Great Commission.

7)      We have discovered that God is most glorified in us when we are so satisfied in Him that we accept suffering and death for His sake in order to extend our joy to the unreached peoples of the earth.

I love this next quote.

“God's triumph is never in question, only our participation in it” – pg 190

“The great irony we found was that the people who ought to have the biggest heart for frontier missions are the people who have the biggest heart for domestic ministries.  The same love of Christ and the same sense of justice that burdens a person for evangelism and housing and unemployment and hunger in their own cities will also burden a person for these same needs in people groups where no Christian impulse for transformation exists at all.” – pg 194

This book was written in 2002 and Piper calls people to Radical Christianity.  Then in 2012 David Platt took up the same challenge when he wrote "Radical" and "Radical Together" (which I've reviewed here). :)

“So get radical with your people. Don’t let them settle down and be comfortable, middle-class Americans.  Call them to a wartime lifestyle and a world missions orientation.” – pg 196

“Brothers Blow the Trumpet for the Unborn.  Glorify adoption and fan the flames of its spread in your church. Support crisis pregnancy centers with your presence and money.” – pg 212

“Brothers Focus on the Essence of Worship, Not the Form…The essence of worship is not external, localized acts, but an inner, Godward experience that shows itself externally not primarily in church services (though they are important) but primarily in daily expressions of allegiance to God.” – pg 233

“Worship is all about consciously reflecting the worth or value of God.” – pg 233

“The Word will always be central.  The Lord’s Supper will remain a permanent ordinance for the worshiping community.  Singing will always be a part of Christian worship (whether in church or home or in the car).  But the details of how to put it all together in “worship services” is not laid down for us.” – pg 237

“Brothers, Love Your Wives. Oh how crucial it is that pastors love their wives.  It delights and encourages the church.  It models marriage for the other couples.  It upholds the honor of the office of elder.  It blesses the pastor’s children with a haven of love.  It displays the mystery of Christ’s love for the church.  It prevents our prayers from being hindered.  It eases the burdens of the ministry.  It protects the church from devastating scandal.  And it satisfies the soul as we find our joy in God by pursuing it in the joy of the beloved.  This is not marginal, brothers.  Loving our wives is essential for our ministry.  It is ministry!” – pg 246

“Brothers, Pray for the Seminaries…When I was choosing a seminary, someone gave me good advice. ‘A seminary is one thing – faculty. Do not choose a denomination or a library or a location.  Choose a great faculty. Everything else is incidental.’  I believe his advice was right: choose a seminary for its teachers.” – pg 262

“My memory is nearly gone; but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner and that Jesus is a great Saviour.” – John Newton

I also wanted to include for my own self reference these books that Piper recommends in this book as "recommended reading".

BIOGRAPHY

"Portrait of Calvin" by T.H.L. Parker from 1954

“Listening to the Giants"  by W.Wiersbe from 1980

“Walking with the Giants" by W.Wiersbe from 1976

"Autobiography of George Mueller" by George Mueller from 1906

“The Legacy of Sovereign Joy: God’s Triumphant Grace in the Lives of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin" by Piper from 2000

“The Hidden Smile of God: The Fruit of Afflication in the Lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd" by Piper from 2001

“The Roots of Endurance: Invincible Perseverance in the Lives of John Newton, Charles Simeon, and William Wilberforce" by Piper from 2002

“Let The Trumpet Sound - Biography of Martin Luther King Jr" by Stephen Oates

CLASSICS
"Institutes" by John Calvin
"The City of God" by Augustine
"Inspiration and Authority of the Bible" by Warfield
"Religious Affections" by Jonathan Edwards
"Pilgrim's Progress" by Bunyan
"Bruised Reed" by Sibbes
"Saints' Everlasting Rest" by Baxter
"Fourfold State" by Boston
"Christian Contentment" by Burrough
"Holiness" by Ryle
"Christian Ministry" by Bridges
"Precious Remedies" by Brook
"Method of Grace" by Flavel