Being raised in an arch-conservative, ultra-fundamentalist tradition, it still boggles my mind that guys like John Piper and Mark Driscoll find common ground and work together in the ministry. On the surface, they are about as different as two leaders can be.
John Piper
Piper is old school. He still wears a tie and a jacket every Sunday. He wears those shirts with the little buttons to keep the collars down. He is pencil-thin, and looks more like an academic than anything else. His preaching is slow and deliberate, packed with theological definitions and allusions to long-dead Christian thinkers.
In 1980, Piper became the pastor of a traditional church – Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They have a massive choir and their worship services include liturgical elements.
Of all things, Piper is well-known for advocating “Christian hedonism” which basically means you enjoy things the way God intended them to be. The best illustration of this might be marriage and sex. Some theologies view sex as something you don’t talk about, a “secret” that you almost feel guilty about enjoying. Piper would say that God created sex to be enjoyed – that it is an act of worship and brings glory to God when it is experienced as part of our fellowship with God and each other. When we enjoy what God created as God created it, it connects us with God.
Mark Driscoll
When Piper took over as the preaching pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church, Mark Driscoll was getting ready for the 5th grade. At thirty-seven years old, he is young enough to be Piper’s son. Broad-shouldered, rope-necklace-wearing, and spiky haired, Driscoll looks every bit the “Generation X” pastor and talks like one as well.
His church does worship in a punk style. He has no pulpit on stage. His church is full of people with piercings and tattoos.
Early in his ministry, Driscoll became known as the “cussing pastor” because of his use of strong language in his preaching. Since then Driscoll has developed a reputation for being confrontational, even being labeled as “misogynist” by more than a couple feminist groups.
Looking at these two, it seems an almost guaranteed fact that the two of them could not get along. Certainly, Piper would condemn Driscoll for being liberal. And there is no way that Driscoll would be seen dead with a preacher from the previous generation who wears a tie every Sunday, right?
WRONG.
Finding Common Ground
At the 2006 Desiring God Conference, Piper warned Driscoll that because of his style and presentation, people would imitate him. To this day, I don’t understand how Mark is going to prevent that. To his credit, Piper later commented:
You can see that Mark and I are in this battle together. We both want to speak in a way that is NOT boring about the greatest things in the world and is not worn out and tired and hackneyed. It is a sin to bore people with God. So pray for us. The line is fine between choosing words to strike the soul with glory and strike a clever pose.
He quoted himself in an email to Driscoll that night and clarified the situation numerous times, but people still see the two of them at odds – which is just not the case. Driscoll and Piper get along very well. Here is just a bit of their exchange via email after the conference:
DRISCOLL: I want the men who are supportive of me to be supportive of you also and in my heart would be very grieved if there was an appearance that somehow we were at odds because it is untrue.
PIPER: Tell the world that I would not have .001 seconds hesitation in having Mark Driscoll come back tomorrow to our church or our conference. I LOVE being on the same team and consider myself a learner in your presence more than a counselor.
WOW…Here is the “elder statesman” telling the world that the “young upstart” is on his level. The impact of this exchange cannot be expressed. Despite radical differences, these two are both serving the same God and are open to what God has to say through them to each other and the world. They are even co-hosting this year’s Resurgence Conference entitled “Text and Context.”
Their common ground is what our common ground should be – the Word of God. It isn’t a shared theology or a shared tradition or anything else. It is simply God’s Word. The two of them are as different as night and day when it comes to style and appearance, but they are on the same page when it comes to the Bible. Both advocate literalism; both understand that human beings are finite and thus limited in their understanding of God’s Word. And that’s enough to overcome differences of opinion on minor things.
So, back to my upbringing. I was raised in environments where you were either right or not important. We had no room for people who adopted different looks or presented the eternal truth of God’s Word in different ways. This kind of intolerance bred superiority and conflict, but I never knew that.
But now, I am on the other side of things. There are many, many “elder statesmen” who I respect very much but who do not have the time or inclination, or possibly the love, to see that in our “new way” of doing things, we are honoring God’s Word. There is nothing more important to me or the church I lead than the Word of God. We want to know it; understand it; and teach it.
For all of you at Heritage, stay true to the course. Don’t let detractors distract you from God’s Word. You know what God’s vision is for us; and we have to teach it and do it, no matter who opposes us. And we cannot have anger or bitterness toward those who disagree.
As for me, I just wish I could go to the Resurgence Conference this year – Mark Driscoll, John Piper together…way cool. Sadly, it is in Seattle!
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