John Piper - The Supremacy of God in Preaching

G od is still the most important, most valuable, most satisfying, most all-encompassing, and, therefore, most relevant reality in the world. So a little book that focuses on the relationship between his supremacy and preaching is still relevant. Twenty-five years after I first wrote it, this is still what I want to say. It was my focus as I began my pastoral ministry in 1980, and it was my focus to the end, as I concluded that ministry on Easter Sunday, March 31, 2013.

So in this edition, I have added four new chapters in a section called After Thirty-Three Years: God Still Supreme in Preaching and Ministry. One chapter extends my exultation over Jonathan Edwards into my seventh decade. He was seminal for me in my twenties. He is still teaching me and inspiring me in my sixties.

The second new chapter celebrates the freedom, authority, and power that comes with preaching that is tethered to the Word of God. I contrast the Bible-oriented preacher with the entertainment-oriented preacher, and plead for connections between bold sermons and biblical texts that people can actually see and bank on. After thirty-three years, the Bible is more real, more powerful, more alluring, more joy-giving, and more inexhaustible to me than it has ever been. To preach as though anything else is more interesting, more insightful, or more satisfying is a symptom of soul-sickness.

The third new chapter is a brief reflection on the issue of contextualization in preaching. The point is that we should give as much energy to creating new categories in the minds of our listeners as we should to trying to find existent categories to contain the mind-boggling realities of Scripture. Both efforts are crucial. But category creation is the hardestnamely, impossible. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. But he uses our thinking and preaching to bring it about.

The final new chapter is a litany of wonders at the privilege of being a pastor. Its called Thirty Reasons Why It Is a Great Thing to Be a Pastor. This is my tribute to the mercy of God in granting me the unspeakable privilege of being carried in pastoral ministry for so long. I look back with stunned amazement that he kept me and gave me a people of such patience. Their love covered a multitude of sins.

I pray that this revised and expanded edition will encourage veteran pastors and will help launch young pastors on a lifetime of God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated devotion to heralding the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.

John Piper
February 2014