John Piper
February 7, 2001
10:30 am
Perseverance is a Community Project
Message Summary
For every believer who has reduced the matter of eternal security to a sterile theological debate, John Piper made it clear that the message of Hebrews 3:6-14 is indeed a matter of the heart. Beginning with the statement, "Eternal security is a community project," Piper exposited the contingency statements in verses 6 and 14. Verse 6 states that we are the house, or dwelling, of Christ if we hold fast to our confidence and persevere until the end for our Lord. If we do not, Piper explained, this does not imply that we have lost our salvation by any means. Rather, it implies that we never truly knew salvation in the first place. Verse 14 states that if we hold fast to our assurance, we have become partakers of Christ.
This passage parallels Matthew 7:21 where Christ states that not everyone who seems to have had a knowledge of God and experience of his blessings will enter the kingdom of Heaven. In light of this, the question must be asked, "Wherein lies our security?" Our security, Piper said, lies not in a past decision we made to accept Christ, but in God's faithfulness to keep us always holding fast to this confession.
What then shall we do to persevere? Verse 12 instructs the brethren to "take care," so that there is no one amongst them with an evil and unbelieving heart. Verse 13 says to encourage and exhort one another. The responsibility to keep members of the body from falling into sin lies within the community of believers. Lest anyone think that this sounds like a works-based salvation, Piper made clear that the true fight for a Christian is not to do everything right, but rather to rest in Jesus as sole treasure. Piper urged those present to not view salvation as a vaccination, but rather as a life-long therapy, recognizing that the all-consuming goal is the glory of Christ.
Student Response
Living as part of a society that hails the individual as the fundamental unit, it is difficult to truly understand what it means to live as an accountable body of believers. Piper's passionate exhortation to go to drastic and extreme measures in order to rid the presence of sin from the body served as a tremendous wake-up call. Familiarity with sin can breed a sense of complacency to it, and Piper's exposition of this passage showed me that believers need one another far more than we realize.
—Amanda Skofstad, Junior, Communication major