Desiring God Blog : Posts on Commentary

Doug Wilson's first message at the 2012 Conference for Pastors was about the role of fathers in leading the home. Download the audio and video.

He noted six things to learn about fatherhood in the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:16–17),

1. When Jesus was baptized, his father was there.
2. The Father made his presence felt.
3. The Father made his presence known by speaking.
4. The Father's statement identified with his son.
5. The Father expressed his love for his son.
6. The Father expressed his pleasure in his son.

Memorable Quotes

• "Fatherhood in the home and pastoral care in the church are analogous activities. This makes sense only if they are related activities."
• "When Paul considers the leadership of the church he doesn't first refer to a rigorous M. Div. program."
• "The way we image the Father is to be open-handed and generous in all that we have."
• "Masculine toughness has to…

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“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was grieved. Sitting on the beach after breakfast, Jesus had just asked him for the third time if he loved him. Peter had already wholeheartedly answered yes twice. What else was he supposed to say?

With these questions, the Lord was putting his finger on a very tender wound in Peter’s heart. Peter’s failure on the night of Jesus’ trial had been simply horrible. In the hour of his Lord’s greatest anguish, Peter had denied even knowing him. This sin shook Peter to the core of his being.

Jesus had told him that he would do it.¹ But in the Upper Room, over the Passover meal, with his fellow disciples around him, Peter did not believe it. He could still hear himself proclaim, “I will lay down my life for you.”²

He had had no idea how weak he really was. He had imagined himself boldly standing before the Sanhedrin side …

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Psalm 119:25,

My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!

Have you ever felt something of a schizophrenic relationship to the Bible? At times our hearts are alive to the word of God, while at other times our hearts feel dull and almost dead. This is not merely a frustrating dynamic; it is a fearful condition.

But we find a kindred spirit in a surprising place: Psalm 119.

I say “surprising” because Psalm 119 is a poem of love for the word of God. Going here with our problem seems like a person struggling with singleness going to a wedding celebration! Help, however, comes in the stanza devoted to the Hebrew letter daleth (Psalm 119:25–32).

The Struggle of Dust

The psalmist cries out in anguish that his “soul melts away for sorrow” (Psalm 119:28). His struggle, however, is not simply sorrow. The psalmist confesses that his soul “cling…

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The Bible is clear. While we can't exhaustively comprehend it all, the divine authorial intention communicated through the human authors is suffuciently clear for all purposes of salvation (WCF 1.7).

But why is Scripture clear? Here's one of the most basic and solid arguments:

John Frame writes,

Since Scripture is God’s word, it is his communication to us. In Scripture, God speaks, not primarily to himself or to the angels, or to the winds and waves, but to us human beings. God cannot fail to accomplish his purpose, so his communication cannot be anything less than successful. If words are unclear, they fail to communicate; they are not communication. So Scripture must be clear.

The Doctrine of the Christian Life, (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2008), 147.

"All Are Yours" is a new column featuring quotations from living authors writing from a God-centered, …

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Joe Rigney, Instructor of Theology and Christian Worldview at Bethlehem College and Seminary, has assembled a list of resources from John Piper and Doug Wilson that characterize their similarities, influences, and distinct emphases.

C. S. Lewis

• A Conversation on the Imagination of C.S. Lewis (DW)
• Ask Doug: Was C.S. Lewis a Calvinist? (DW)
• Lessons from an Inconsolable Soul: Learning from the Mind and Heart of C.S. Lewis (JP)

G. K. Chesterton

• The Sovereign God of Elf-land (JP)

Christian Hedonism

• Piperian Hedonism 3.0 (DW)
• A Full Tank of Gas and Wyoming Ahead (DW)
• The Barkity-Bark Midnight Dog (DW)
• Math Problems in a Dark Room (DW)
• Creation Is Thick, I Tell You (DW)
• A Tornado with Boots (DW)
• When I Don’t Desire God, Chapter 11 (JP)
• How I Became a Christian Hedonist (JP)
• Rebuilding Some Basics of Bethlehem: Christian Hedonism (JP)
• Getting to the Botto…

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Session 6, Ramez Atallah on "Pastoring with Vision, Creativity, and Courage in Hard Places" —

• "Obligated, eager and not ashamed. These should characterize a church with the gospel."
• "A Christian leader has to have a vision — he must see things other people don't see and empower them to capture it and incarnate it."
• "When I came to understand the gospel for the first time, I knew that this was what my peopled needed."
• "What approach would not threaten the Egyptian Orthodox church? Answer: Inductive Bible study: Observe, understand, and apply the text."
• "Effective leaders should have vision which empowers others."
• "Trust in God's sovereignty gives meaning to even failtures."
• "Creavitiy which transforms obstacles into opportunities."
• "Faith respects people who are eccentric and marginal."
• "Humility allows us to be mission oriented, rather than gift oriented."

Next messag…

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Session 5, Doug Wilson on "Father Hunger" in Leading the Church —

• "Remember the good newsness of the gospel. The gospel is outside of us. It is for us, but is external to us."
• "We must always remember the gospel because we are tempted to forget the gospel in throughout the busyness of ministry."
• "We are privilege to carry around our sin the same way David carried Goliath's head."
• "The gifts to the church are windows you look through, not murals you look at."
• "Because we don't understand how imitation governs the world, we've neglected one of the most important realities we're to imitate."
• "Grace and peace in your life come to you in a person, the Holy Spirit."
• "The church needs fathers who model the Father."
• "Unfortunately the church shows all the signs of being managed by ecclesiastical single moms."
• "For several centuries we've exalted some very feminine virtues t…

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Session 3, Darrin Patrick on "Being and Building Men for the Local Mission" —

• "When you become a leader of men, you plug your life into an ampiflier and everyone hears it."
• "There's nothing more destructive for people who are trying to know God than legalism."
• "You don't obey for your acceptance, you obey from your acceptance."
• "You don't measure your maturity by comparing yourself with others. You judge maturity by comparing yourself to Jesus."
• "You can’t legislate inner character. It can’t be done. Law cannot do anything with the root of anger, greed and lust."
• "Paul tells us to crucify the flesh. Crucifixion is a slow death, but it is a certain death."
• "Your flesh is anything you use other than Jesus to get God’s approval. Your flesh will take your ministry and make it your righteousness."
• "A key to killing your spiritual flesh is through surrounding yourselves…

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Session 2, Crawford Loritts on "Lessons Learned from His Father" —

• "Greatness is not pop or fad. Greatness has a staying power."
• "Manhood is not a private matter. It is a public thing. A man aspires to be the desired destination at which others arrive."
• "This summarizes my dad: Stepping up, never walking away, if it belongs to you, you do something with it."
• "There is a correlation between being a man and keeping promises."
• "Every child is born with two broad categories of emotional need: nurture and discipline."
• "Manhood is imprinted."
• "Our disproportionate desire for relevance is injecting embalming fluid into the next generation."
• "Out of struggle comes strength; out of strength comes discipline; out of discipline comes integrity; out of integrity comes inheritance."
• "How people treat you should never define you. It's not what people call you, but what you ans…

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Session 1, Doug Wilson on "'Father Hunger' in Leading the Home" —

• "Begin with gospel, walk in the gospel, end with the gospel."
• "Fatherhood in the home and pastoral care in the church are analogous activities. This makes sense only if they are related activities."
• "When Paul considers the leadership of the church he doesn't first refer to a rigorous MDiv program."
• "Is there anything that the Father has which he has withheld from us?"
• "The way we image the Father is to be open-handed and generous in all that we have."
• "Masculinity is the glad assumption of sacrificial responsibility."
• "Masculine toughness has to lay underneath masculine tenderness. It is a velvet covered brick."
• "Biblical authority knows how to bleed for others."
• "If you want to preach the gospel to your wife and to your children, then die."
• "When men take up their responsibilites to provide and prot…

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