John Piper "Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ" Chapter Seven

 

A good name is to be chosen

rather than great riches.

PROVERBS 2 2 : 1

“‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard,

a friend of tax collectors

and sinners!’”

MATTHEW 1 1 : 1 9

THE GLORIOUS POVERTY OF A BAD REPUTATION

The Desecration of Jesus Christ

Excerpts from the Chapter:

“If “a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches” (Proverbs 22:1), Jesus was doubly poor. Not only has he “made himself nothing,” giving up the glorious riches of heaven (Philippians 2:7-8) in order to live among us as one who had “nowhere to lay his head” (Luke 9:58), but through it all, his reputation was stained again and again. The slander was unrelenting. The rumors were incorrigible. The half-truths were too devious to answer. And in the end, the “good name” of the greatest man was ruined in Jerusalem. The crowds that had hailed him as king crucified him as criminal.”

“When someone hates your cause, all strategies of love will be slandered, even opposite ones. Jesus was astonished at this in his generation: “To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces” (Matthew 11:16). They won’t dance with the flute and they won’t weep with the dirge. For them the music of truth is never right. John the Baptist was the dirge. Jesus was the flute. And his generation would hear neither. How shall these two be silenced? Slander.”

“Why did he eat with tax collectors and sinners? He gave the answer himself: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31-32). Behind the slander of gluttony is the splendor of mercy. Jesus sacrificed his good name to sit with sinners and save them.”

“On and on the slanders go. “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath” (John 9:16). “This man is a sinner” (John 9:24). “He is out of his mind” (Mark 3:21). “He saved others; he cannot save himself” (Matthew 27:42). “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands’” (Mark 14:58). But in every case, “wisdom is justified by her deeds” (Matthew 11:19). “If this man were not from God, he could do nothing” (John 9:33). “No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again” (John 10:18).”

“In the end, the only “good name” that matters is not how men feel about us, but how God feels about us. The ultimate slander came on the cross. “Let God deliver him now, if he desires him” (Matthew 27:43). If? There is no question. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). This is the only good name that matters in the end. This is true riches. This is the glory of Christ.”

A P R A Y E R

Father in heaven, you are the only one whose judgment matters in the end.

What men think of us can burden or brighten our days.

But it is of little account in the end.

A good name among people may be better than great riches now, but neither name nor riches will survive the fire of your crucible.

Truth is all that will matter.

Not money or man’s opinion.

This we have learned from your Son, Jesus.

Oh, how we love his unswerving indifference to the approval of men.

We praise you that he was fixed on you as the polestar of his life.

What men said did not sway him to the right or the left.

His compass was fixed on you.

We are grieved that men with our own sinful nature spoke so ill of him.

We have seen our own corruption in their slander.

Forgive us for all our participation in speaking evil of the Son of God, or speaking nothing.

Fill our minds and our mouths, O Lord, with the truth of Christ that we may speak well of him. Forbid that we would add to the avalanche of error spoken about Christ in the world.

Let our mouths be signals on a hill that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

Flesh and blood do not teach this to us; it is revealed from you, O Father, in heaven.

Speak, O God, through your written Word with stone-cleaving power, and grant us to see the truth of Jesus everywhere.

Bend our affections toward him.

Blow away the bad reputation of the Lord wherever we speak.

May your Son be glorified in everything we say!

In his name we pray,

amen.