The Bible calls you back again and again not to reject the reality of bodies or brotherhoods

or things, but to define everything in relationship to God, to put God at the center of your

self-understanding, not to define yourself in terms of things.

So in a world that labors to define us, what determines the Christian's self-understanding?

That's the question John Piper answers from 1 Corinthians 1, 1, 9 in this episode of Light and

Truth. This sermon was originally preached at Bethlehem Baptist Church on January 17, 1998.

Almost all of Paul's 13 letters begin with his identifying himself in relation to God

and his identifying us in relation to God. That's very different from what you'll see on television.

The automobile commercials on television will want you to identify yourself and define yourself and

get your meaning in relation to a thing. The beer commercials will want you to think of yourself

and define yourself in relationship to a brotherhood at the pub or the cafe. The life insurance

commercials will want you to define yourself and get your meaning as you think about the deep

and significant meaning of your family and they'll show these moody shots about little baby

being born and graduating from high school and getting married and having their first home.

And all the soaps and deodorants and foods will want you to think of yourself in terms of your

body and get your meaning by whether you fit that mold or could. The Bible is very different.

The Bible calls you back again and again not to reject the reality of bodies or brotherhoods

or things but to define everything in relationship to God, to put God at the center of yourself

understanding, not to define yourself in terms of things. Look at verse 1. Paul called by the will of God

to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. I just love the strength and the stability and the clarity of Paul's

self-understanding. He knows exactly who he is. Paul and there aren't any like him or you.

He knows exactly where he's going called to be an apostle, an emissary, a representative of Jesus

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