Finally alive - Piper - I - Introduction

Today we begin our first Sower Saturday with John Piper's 'Finally alive'. 

I know this club is supposed to be for Reformed classics and so you may be asking the question, 'If this book has only been published in 2009 how can it be a classic already?  But the glowing endorsements inside the cover from such people as DA Carson, Iain Murray and JI Packer, who have all written classics of their own, convinced me that this book is set to be a classic.  Plus it's free at John Piper's website which fits with one of the other main requirements of including a book in the club - that it should be freely available on the web.

Required reading
Finally alive by John Piper (available from Amazon or free on the internet here) - Read the introduction.

My summary
In the introduction Piper outlines why he wrote the book.  Basically the label 'born again' is commonly misused in American Christian churches.  Piper focuses on the Barna Group as his main example: 'I want to say loud and clear that when the Barna Group uses the term born again to describe American church-goers whose lives are indistinguishable from the world, and who sin as much as the world...the Barna Group is making a profound mistake.  It is using the biblical term born again in a way that would make it unrecognizable by Jesus and the biblical writers.'

Thus Piper has written 'Finally alive' to try and correct this damaging mistake and bring great blessing to the church.

What grabbed me
I liked Piper's willingness to clearly state hard truths which others would fear to do so: '...the broadly defined evangelical church as a whole in America and the West in general is apparently not very unlike the world.  It goes to church on Sunday and has a veneer of religion, but its religion is basically an add-on to the same way of life the world lives, not a transforming power.'

And again later on he says: 'But my conviction is not rosy news for the church.  It implies that there are millions of church attenders who are not born again.'

This is why ministers should not stop teaching the gospel Sunday by Sunday.  Just because there may not be anyone 'new' in the pews, doesn't mean there aren't non-Christians sitting right in front of you who need to hear that they 'must be born again'. 

Next week's reading
Part One which includes Chapters One and Two.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.