The Christian Hedonist & Kind Dishwasher

A Clumsy Tribute

I have started a thank-you note to John Piper about seventeen kajillion times. His influence on my life and ministry cannot be overstated. Every time I see him at a conference, I stand in line and rehearse my remarks, but I end up stumbling through a thank-you while the crowd behind me wonders why I’m taking so long. I never feel like I say all that needs to be said. Recently, in a conversation with an intern about my philosophy of preaching, I realized that Expository Exultation is my favorite preaching book because it allows me to enjoy Scripture the way I did before I became a “professional.”[1] What follows here is a clumsy tribute to my mother and the thank you I have been waiting to give to John Piper.  

A Mother’s Influence

My mother was undoubtedly the most influential person in my life. Growing up, I often heard her share stories about her parents' faith, Jasper and Isabel Standley, and her love for Scripture. As a teenager, she participated in Youth for Christ and demonstrated a fearless dedication to Jesus during her youth. She later attended Kansas City Bible College, now known as Calvary University, where she met my dad, Jerry. One of my most treasured possessions is a term paper she had handwritten for her Systematic Theology class. Her cursive is so neat that it looks like a computer-generated font. It’s incredible to think about the theology she studied as a college student, which ultimately shaped me.  

 Since I was young, Scripture has deeply captivated me, sparking an insatiable curiosity for the Word of God, especially nurtured by my mom. As a child, whenever I found an exciting passage in my studies, I would dash to the kitchen where my mother was busy washing dishes. I'd hop up on the counter by the sink to share my excitement. She would kindly listen, ask questions, and encourage me not only to read the Bible but to stay excited about it. We had hundreds of those countertop conversations over the years.  

When I began training for vocational ministry, I received extensive instruction in preaching and teaching. I read many books on hermeneutics and homiletics. Classics like Biblical Preaching by Haddon Robinson and Christ-Centered Preaching by Brian Chapell laid the foundation for my preaching early on. But during preaching, I also felt a sense of familiar joy in discussing Scripture. Preaching was an opportunity to show joy in the Word of God. Often, I felt like an impostor. I felt that my preaching should be much more austere than it was. It should be compelling, certainly, but ultimately, it must be a clear and skillful rhetorical explanation of a Scripture passage, where the preacher instructs the congregation in truth and protects them from error. Passion should be for the truth, serving the correct interpretation and application of the text. Don’t get it wrong, and don’t make it weird.  

A Pastor’s Permission

In 2018, I read Expository Exultation by John Piper and wept in my study. Piper had already served me well through his writing. I often tell people that Knowing God by J.I. Packer arranged theological kindling in my heart, and Desiring God by John Piper set it all on fire. Christian Hedonism was compelling on every level. The idea that the chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying him forever was more than a rhetorical twist. He persuaded me with text after text from Scripture. Joyfully treasuring God (Matthew 13:44) is the reason for the Christian life. Let the Nations Be Glad sang the same song with the pithy, “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't.”[2] He framed the entire missional engagement of the church of Christ in terms of passing on the passion of delight in God. His early preaching book, The Supremacy of God in Preaching, reminded me, “Our people need to hear God-entranced preaching. They need someone, at least once a week, to lift up his voice and magnify the supremacy of God.”[3] He touched on gratitude and gladness of preaching in this short, but profound book as well,[4] but it was Expository Exultation that profoundly hit me. Here was a preacher telling me to get the text right (expository) and permitting me to freak out about it (exultation).

The message of the preacher, the herald, is not merely a body of facts to be understood. It is a constellation of glories to be treasured. It is, at times, a tempest of horrors to be fled. Preaching is both accurate teaching and heartfelt heralding. It is expository exultation.[5]

This is the center of my thanksgiving to God for John Piper. He taught me that delighting in God is mandatory and that displaying that delight is a form of ministry.  

“Preach the Word” means show the glory of God as supremely valuable so that people can behold it, treasure it, and be transformed. Which means that the preacher must aim at worship and act worship. He must exhibit and experience the worth of Christ. He must explain and extol. He must take up the happy burden of expository exultation.[6]

 There it is. The preacher must aim at worship and act in worship. The preacher (essentially) invites everyone into the kitchen to see and savor the glory of God through his Word. My calling as a preacher dates back to my kitchen with my mom, where I began to act out worship alongside her as she washed dishes. Piper’s work connected the dots for me and showed me that expository exultation had always been there and shouldn’t go anywhere. There was such a sweet familiarity in 2018 when I read Expository Exultation. I could feel the counter beneath me and smell the Palmolive soap. My lovely mom passed away in 2020, and I don’t think she ever heard how all these things fit together for me. But she heard me preach many times, and I’m sure there was something familiar about the sound.

Thank you, Pastor John, for your writing and preaching. Thank you for your honesty, humility, and clarity about your calling and struggles in ministry. Thank you for Desiring God and all your God-glorifying, Christ-exalting writing. And speaking for Diane Jessen and me, thank you for Expository Exultation.

Notes:

[1] But, brothers, we are not. John Piper, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry, Updated and Expanded Edition (Nashville: B&H Books, 2013).

[2] John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions, 3rd edition (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2010), 17.

[3] John Piper, The Supremacy of God in Preaching (Wheaton: Crossway, 2021), 19.

[4] Piper, The Supremacy of God in Preaching, 55–70.

[5] John Piper, Expository Exultation: Christian Preaching as Worship, First Edition (Wheaton: Crossway, 2018), 66.

[6] Piper, Expository Exultation, 86.