I suppose we had to address this at some point, and today is the day that we talk about preaching gestures. Behind the pulpit, Pastor John, you'll hop, you twist, you point, you chop, and I think for every Greek preposition there's at least one trademark Piper gesture. Have you always used gestures?

Where did they come from, and what role did those gestures play in your preaching? I think I better preface anything I say about my gestures by pointing out that my hero, Jonathan Edwards, in the two or three contemporaneous descriptions of his preaching was known for being amazingly still. Edwards scarcely gestured.

At one point in his ministry he would put his elbow on a cushion, hold his notes in his right hand, and read them. Same thing with Thomas Chalmers, who had such a great effect in Scotland. One of the Princetonians, and I forget who it was, Alexander maybe, went to Scotland and listened to Chalmers, and when he came back they said, "Now what is the key to Chalmers' effectiveness in preaching?" And he said, "His blood earnestness." In other words, Chalmers read his manuscripts, and if you're reading your manuscripts you don't have a lot of freedom to move around or do very much.

So it is possible to leap and wave and holler and entertain and say nothing, and entertain people and be useless. And I don't want to do that, and therefore gestures in my mind are not of the essence of the demonstration of the Spirit and power. That's just not what they are, because you know that, because people can listen to sheer audio of messages and have their lives changed.

They can't see you at all when that's happening. So with regard to me, I just have almost nothing to say about this, because I don't think about it. I have never planned a gesture. I never stand in front of a mirror and try to figure out what would be an effective move here.

I just never, ever do that. And when I'm preaching, to the degree that I'm aware, I'm in trouble, because then it's artificial, then it feels really phony to me. "Well, what would be the next best move to do here?" If I'm watching myself preach, I'm lost. Self-consciousness is the curse of the preacher.

It's horrible to think, "What am I going to say next? What am I going to move next?" And to be outside yourself, watching yourself preach, is just a curse. And therefore, whatever I do in the pulpit just comes naturally. And I've never studied gesture. I've never planned gesture. I don't think about gesture while I'm preaching.

And I had a woman say to me one time, Hazel, she's still there at Bethlehem, one of our older Saints. It's back on the left. Actually, she doesn't come anymore, because she's not quite able to get out. But until last year or so, she came, and she took my arm one time, like older people do, drew me in close, and she said, "Pastor John, I just love to watch you preach.

I understand you because of your hands." That's what she said. "I understand you because of your hands." Now, that was a compliment to me, because in my mind, what my body is doing is twofold. It is simply spontaneously trying to clarify. I'm doing it right now, believe it or not.

I'm trying to clarify what I'm saying, and this is why I'm doing it right now. It's just part of the energy, right? It's part of the expressiveness. It's the soul becoming visible and not just hearable, and that's what you want. You want the significance of what you're saying to be seen and felt, and I suppose it's a largely personality thing as to how much expressiveness you give with your voice and how much expressiveness you give with your body.

But for me, it's just who I am and what I do, and it's part of the language. I don't think we have a video of you preaching circa 1980 in the early days, but do you suspect that you would have used the same gestures 30 years ago, or were you more reserved?

I think I'm less reserved and probably more expressive. You'd have to ask some people that have been around a long time. I know Char, she's still around. You can ask Char. Char said she liked the early John Piper better, but when she said that years ago, she said, "He didn't shout so much." I don't know whether she would say about the gesturing as much either, but my guess is all of us, as we become relaxed with the people we're with, as you have more family, you know, feeling for your people, and you're just more at ease with your manuscript or your notes, you loosen up and you become more who you are.

And so I would say I haven't become more, I hope, artificially emotive, but rather I've just become more me, because I'm less intimidated by the situation. Thank you, Pastor John. Please email your preaching questions to us at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org. You can find thousands of other free resources online from johnpiper@desiringgod.org.

I'm your host Tony Reinke. Thanks for listening.