John Owen

On our ride home from visiting family in Destin, Robert and I listened to a biography by John Piper on John Owen. We actually love to listen to these biographies (Piper has done LOTS of these) on car trips. John Owen was a great pastor-theologian in the 1600's in England whose works have had tremendous impact on readers centuries later, including J.I. Packer:


www.johnowen.org

Two themes from Owen's life that really struck me while listening to his biography were communion with God and authenticity from the pulpit.

From a letter he wrote to a friend:
"Christ is our best friend, and ere long will be our only friend. I pray God will all my heart that I may be weary of everything else but converse and communion with Him."

From Owen's collection of works giving insight into his authenticity:
"A man preacheth that sermon only well unto others which preacheth itself in his own soul. And he that doth not feed on and thrive in the digestion of the food which he provides for others will scarce make it savoury unto them; yea, he knows not but the food he hath provided may be poison, unless he have really tasted of it himself. If the word do not dwell with power in us, it will not pass with power from us."

What a life! What a rich heritage of faith England has!

You just need to hear the whole thing :) Download it here and bring it on your next summer trip:
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/biographies/the-chief-design-of-my-life-mortification-and-universal-holiness

PS - In this same vain, we got to hear about the life of John Wycliffe (reformer in England from the 14th century) this morning in Sunday School. Pastor Henry mentioned that the biographies he read all concluded with this quote about the death of Wycliffe from biographer Thomas Fuller: "The little river conveyed Wycliffe's remains into the Avon, the Avon into the Severn, the Severn into the narrow seas, and they into the main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wycliffe are the emblem of his doctrine, which now is dispensed all the world over."  His "doctrine" included an emphasis of the direct relationship of each believer to God, and he spent the last years of his life translating the Bible into the common language of English. For this and other similar "heresies" his bones were excavated 40-some years after his death, burned, and the ashes thrown into the Avon river. Pastor Henry's talk should be posted sometime this week on our church's sermon archive (http://firstpresdothan.com/media.php?pageID=42).