In his first address at Oxygen 11, John Piper challenged church leaders to focus on and glorify God for the right reasons.
“If I’m focussed on God only because He’s focussed on me I’m really focussed on me,” he said.
More than 2000 delegates from five continents and 800 churches descended on the Australian Technology Park in Redfern to hear from Mr Piper as well as Dr John Lennox.
Mr Piper opened the two and a half day conference with a talk about what it means to serve a jealous God who expects his followers to glorify him.
“God is the only being in the universe for whom self-exaltation is the most loving act possible,” he said.
Mr Piper’s preaching style is not what Sydneysiders may be used to, but the teaching pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis was welcomed by the locals.
“He’s a fresh brain in our diocese and he’s saying things that are different but we’re testing them by the Word,” said Simon Manchester.
(Watch Day 1 Vox Pops video)
Mr Piper also challenged the notion that the message of the gospel needs to be contextualised for different people.
“Piper wasn’t thinking about contextualisation,” said Rev Chris Braga of Summer Hill Anglican. “He was concerned for us to just think about God whoever we are; we’re all human beings living in the universe.”
Dr John Lennox, a mathematics professor at Cambridge University, also proffered a challenge to Sydney churches.
“The church won’t grow unless the word grows,” he said.
Dr Lennox also spoke his numerous interactions with atheists like Richard Dawkins and Stephen Hawking. He encouraged leaders to immerse themselves in the gospel to learn more about God and to be able to effectively share the evidence for their faith.
“The proof is all there,” said David Ould of St Augustine’s, Neutral Bay. “[The challenge for us] is how can we best equip the saints to answer objections and faithfully proclaim Christ crucified and resurrected.”
Al Stewart, The Chairman of Katoomba Convention, which organised the Conference, declared it “a great day”.
“We’ve had 160 people fly in from Perth – a great effort ……we’re hoping that as we open the Bible together, this will really refresh people in ministry.
Archbishop Peter Jensen, who was at the conference, said he was delighted to welcome to Sydney such well known teachers as John Piper and John Lennox.
Dr Jensen said he was particularly delighted to see such a large number of Christian leaders gathered to hear God’s word and encourage one another forward in ministry.
Photos: KCC/Asterisk Photography
