Desiring God Blog : Posts by Matt Perman

Christians should be on the forefront of using technology for the sake of the gospel. We don’t want to blindly and uncritically move ahead, but neither do we want to miss out on this opportunity. And the best ideas come from getting together.

That’s why I’m excited about the Christian Web Conference. Some of us attended it last year and really enjoyed it, and I’m looking forward to it again this year.

The conference is an opportunity for Christian web leaders and creatives to get together, learn, connect, share ideas, and come out with even better and more creative ways to use technology and new media for the sake of the gospel.

As I look around, I am amazed at what God is doing throug…

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I agree that the final judgment is according to works. We are justified—made right with God and given a title to heaven—by faith alone apart from works. This faith, though, always and necessarily leads to good works, such that at the final judgment works can be necessary as evidence that we have already been accepted by God. So works are necessary as evidence, not basis.

One analogy may be going to a concert. When you are going to a concert you buy a ticket. Then, to get into the concert, you have to bring the ticket. But the ticket is not what gave you the right to get in. Paying the money is what gives you the right. The ticket is the evidence that you paid, that you bought entrance into…

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I talked this morning at our Friday morning chapel on why sound doctrine grounds and leads to effective action for good. I asked six questions in my message:

First, does the Bible teach this—that is, does the Bible teach that doctrine grounds and leads to diligent and zealous practical action for good? Second, if so, why does sound doctrine lead to effective action? Third, is doctrine alone enough? Fourth, what are some historical examples of this? And fifth, what are the implications of this?

Here’s part of what I had to say on my first point:

To show that the Bible teaches that sound doctrine is the foundation of good works and leads to good works, there are two pieces of evidence I …

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As I prepare for my seminar Friday at our National Conference on “Rethinking Productivity in Light of Justification by Faith Alone,” I'm realizing that a lot of things in my preparation probably won't make it into the actual seminar. Here's one such segment which, although it might not make it in to the seminar, is absolutely critical to the way we should be as Christians and why things like learning to be more productive matter:

Christians are to be eager and enthusiastic in dreaming up ways to do good for others. We are to not just to do good when the opportunity comes to us—although we are to do it then, also—but we are to think hard about ways we can be proactive in serving people. And…

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Prosperity teachers sometimes teach that if we give, God will in turn give back more to us than we have given. This, then, becomes an incentive to give and a subtle way of advocating the idea that "God wants you to be rich."

There are two main problems with this worth mentioning. First, while it is true that God absolutely does give back to us more than we have given (see, for example, Matthew 19:29 or the feeding of the five thousand), this is not always (or usually) financial. God gives to us in a multitude of ways, and finances are only one such way—and, by far, not the most important.

Second, when God does give back to us, it is not so that we can keep it to ourselves—as though …

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This is a well-balanced and helpful word from Tim Keller in his book Ministries of Mercy:

Often books and speakers tell Christians that they should help the needy because they have so much. That is, of course, quite true. Common sense tells us that, if human beings are to live together on the planet, there should be a constant sharing of resources. So when the statistics are brought out to show Americans how much of the world’s resources we use, it creates (rightly) a sense of concern for those with less than ourselves.

But this approach is very limited in its motivating power. Ultimately it produces guilt. It says, “How selfish you are to eat steak and drive two …

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Posting all of our content online for free is something we love to do. There is also a theology behind it. We made this video to talk a bit about that. In it I discuss three reasons we post everything for free:

1. It reduces friction
2. The gospel is free
3. We exist first to serve, not be served

You might also be interested in a couple of articles I wrote about this:

• Make it Free
• Objections to Making it Free

Mark Driscoll has a great word in his book The Radical Reformission: Reaching Out Without Selling Out :

Every day, people eat, sleep, work, play, love, and hate, but they do not know why. Not knowing where they come from or to whom they are going, they lack the ability to make their lives meaningful. 

Consequently, our culture is filled with "successful" people who are mired in anxiety and confusion because they do not know the point of all their toil. But the gospel reveals Jesus as Lord over all of life, who infuses even mundane tasks such as dishwashing with meaning as acts of worship.

This also makes me think of Steven Curtis Chapman's song "A Moment …

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When Christ returns, he will raise the dead. All of the dead will be raised (Acts 24:15). What does this resurrection mean for believers?

One of the most helpful passages on this is Philippians 3:20-21:

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself.

This passage is so helpful because it gives us a guiding principle for how to think about the resurrection: Jesus will transform our body to be like his glorious body (see also 1 Corinthians 15:48-49).

This tells us at least four things about the c…

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Our mission at Desiring God is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. By turning a few things around, we can also see what our mission is not – and therefore more clearly what it is.

Our mission is not to create cul-de-sacs, but to spread.

Our mission is not to spread just knowledge about God. It is to spread a passion for God. Head and heart.

Our mission is not to spread a passion for the mediocrity of God or for the overlooking of God or for the assuming of God. It is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God.

Our mission is not to spread a passion for the supremacy of human beings or Western material…

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