John Piper has cancer: Blasting self-reliance and worldliness with cancer
Beloved Pastor John Piper, a man who's ministry has greatly blessed my family has been diagnosed with prostrate cancer. Thanks to his assistant, Justin Taylor for this update on his blog.

Go HERE for more from Justin Taylor.

Pastor John, once preached a sermon entitled, 'Christ and Cancer'. One of my top ten.

To the church Piper is pastor over he writes: 'This news has, of course, been good for me. The most dangerous thing in the world is the sin of self-reliance and the stupor of worldliness. The news of cancer has a wonderfully blasting effect on both. I thank God for that. The times with Christ in these days have been unusually sweet.'

On Sunday, 01-08-2006 Piper said the following, during his sermon, which I found quite profound:

Why Talk About One’s Own Sickness?
I want you to know that I am aware that there are dangers in talking about one’s own sickness in the pulpit. Let me mention three of these so that you can pray with me that they don’t come true.
The first danger is melodrama—that is, talking about one’s condition in an overblown or sensationalizing way. So please know, I am aware that many of you are dealing with things that make my situation look like chicken pox. I don’t’ want to make light of anyone’s illness by overstating my own.
The second danger would be to forget that I am pain free right now and have not dealt with the discouragements of long, drawn out suffering. So my faith has not been tested nearly as much as it will be some day, and to put myself forward as rising above extended suffering with triumphant faith would be untrue. By the grace of God my faith is strong. God has been good. But my test is still small—smaller than many of yours.
The third danger would be indulgence in self-pity. How pleasant it would be for the sinful ego to exploit this moment to try to awaken sympathy or admiration. You may recall from Desiring God that self-pity and boasting are both forms of pride. Self-pity is pride posing in the demeanor of weakness. And boasting is pride posing in the demeanor of strength. Both are pride and both are sinful.
So you should ask: In view of all these dangers, why did you choose to talk about this cancer in a sermon? There are two answers, one from experience, and one from the Scripture.
From experience I would say there is something terribly dysfunctional in a family when dad has cancer and nobody is talking about it. Dad’s not talking, and nobody knows how he feels about it, and everyone is afraid to ask him. So everyone is tiptoeing around the issue and everybody knows there is an elephant in the room, but no one can name it. A church is a kind of family. I, with the other elders, am a kind of father. And I want us to handle our sicknesses and our struggles in a healthy way. I hope I can set an example for how to do that—even if not a perfect one. (Incidentally, we had a deep and sweet time on Christmas evening when I shared this news with the family.)
The biblical reason for talking about it is the word of Paul in 1 Thessalonians 2:7-8, “We were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. 8 So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.” I think Paul is setting us an example here for how to be good shepherds, good fathers. We are eager to share with you both the gospel of God and our own selves. That’s the plan