The Problem with Asking, ‘What’s Wrong with It?’ // Ask Pastor John

[Music] well every area of life calls for evaluation should we be doing one thing or something else career a or career b enough school or more school stop spending start investing don't settle for the good when you can go for the great all sorts of books and workshops and apps stand ready to help us live from higher priorities and this is important especially for christians because we live for the highest priority that there is we live for the eternal our everlasting priority bears on our media diets our gaming our careers our parenting really every single decision that we make in life in the summer of 1997 pastor john preached his sermon on hebrews chapter 11 verses 39 to chapter 12 verse 2. a section of scripture popularly referred to as god's hall of fame or the hall of faith a section celebrating our ancestors in the faith who learn to live faithfully in this life turning away from the good in order to pursue the eternally great here's a clip from that sermon sent to us from a listener named melissa in lumberton new jersey here's pastor john and life has begun to be trivial light l-i-t-e bud light life light church light that's who he's writing to chapter 5 verse 12 though by this time you ought to be teachers you have need again for someone to teach you the elemental principles of the oracles of god you come to need milk and not solid food you hear the ache in this writer's voice there's been enough time since you got saved that you should be teaching a class or a small group or a wife or children or a neighbor you should be teaching and you need milk still all these many years later why you're drifting you're coasting you're neglecting you're not vigilant you're treating life as though you can just get up in the morning and meander instead of run that's who he's writing to chapter 12 verse 12 strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble make straight paths for your feet so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed in other words there's still time there's hope for this church this is a metaphor of their spiritual condition hands are kind of weak they're on the bat like this at the home plate come on you don't stand like that at the home plate stand like this the knees are weak just kind of wobbling around and you know what happens with weak knees they get hit from the side and it's over history big surgery big brace and no more basketball so while there's still time do some exercises to get the cartilage and to get the muscles up to speed this is all spiritual talk here he doesn't give a rip about your knees i don't think well a little bit bible says he gives a little bit of a rip but not much he'd rather have your legs cut off and go to heaven than to keep legs and go to hell so have you got the picture now of this church that he's writing to in chapter 12 let's read verse 1 at the end again because here's the main point chapter 12 verse 1 near the end of the verse let us lay aside every encumbrance and sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us now this command let's run let's run let's run does not come out of the blue it comes out of a passion for this church that's in tremendous spiritual danger because of a false concept of life as meandering and coasting and drifting no vigilance no care no watching no earnestness no weightiness and he says this is very dangerous and so please let us look to christ and let us run so the main point of this whole text that i read from verse 39 of chapter 11 to verse 2 of chapter 12 has one imperative even though in english there are several in greek there's one imperative and it's run let us run everything else in this text explains running or motivates running so the point is don't stroll don't meander and don't wander about aimlessly run as in a race with the finish line where everything hangs on the race now what supports it in verse 1 there are a couple of things said here as a means to running it says lay aside every encumbrance and sin which so easily entangles us now i remember as a boy the effect a sermon had on me on this verse and the only thing i remember was the distinction that the preacher made he was preaching from the king james at the time weights translated encumbrances here and sins and he looked out on us and he said not just sins don't just lay aside sins to run this race lay aside every other weight that gets in your way as a boy you know what the effect that it was a revolutionary effect that that had on me because what it said to me was and i speak it now especially for young people kids if you if you can get this but especially young teenagers and teenagers but it applies to everybody what this says is don't just ask what's wrong with it in life don't just say about your music about your movies about your parties about your habits about your computer games don't just say what's wrong with it don't just ask is it a sin that's about the lowest question you can ask in life i'm going to do it if it's not a sin so tell me is it a sin to do this well not exactly okay that's all i wanted to know i'm off to do it and the preacher said and i'm the preacher now saying this text says look to jesus and lay aside sins for sure and lots of other stuff too now that's a different way to live so what well preacher what question as a 13 year old 14 year old should i ask if it's not is it a sin and the answer is does it have me run that's the answer does it get in my way when i'm trying to become more patient more kind more gentle more loving more holy more pure more self-controlled does it get in my way or does it help me run that's the question to ask ask the maximal righteousness question not the minimal righteousness question that was the difference it made in my life and i've been ever since then i didn't always live up to this i'm not making any claim that from age 12 on i did some great spiritual thing but oh i had a trajectory that was so much better than the minimalist ethic that comes with well what's wrong with it what's wrong with it what i don't even talk about what's wrong with it let's talk about does it help me run now you know why that question isn't very often asked because we're not passionate runners we don't want to run we don't get up in the morning saying what's the course today what's the course of purity what's the course of holiness what's the course of humility what's the course of justice what's the course of righteousness what's the course of love what's the course of self-control what's the course of courage and witness oh god i want to maximize my running today if you have that mentality about your life then you'll ask not how many sins can i avoid but how many weights can i lay down so that i am fleet footed in the race of righteousness powerful thank you melissa in lumberton new jersey for the clip this was the first john piper sermon i ever heard she writes it was five years ago my husband and i had both been going through spiritual dry spells trying to navigate life with our very young family without god-centered direction i became spiritually lazy and got lost in the rut of day-to-day life my husband felt god pulling in him to bring more discipleship into our home so one night instead of turning on the tv he went to desiring god and played this sermon within 15 minutes i was in tears god used pastor john's words like a lightning bolt to electrify me and resuscitate my heart while we obviously are not perfect a new sense of purpose and calling drives our lives every day towards jesus towards christ's likeness and towards his purposes for the rest of my life i will hear echoing in my ears pastor john's clarion call does it help me run end quote as a powerful testimony the clip is from john pepper's sermon titled running with the witnesses preached on august 17th 1997. you can find it at desiringgod.org the whole sermon desiringgod.org if you have a life change clip like this one from melissa email me give me your name your hometown the sermon title and the stamp of when the clip happens in the audio and uh and tell me how it impacted you as well put the word clip in the subject line of an email and send it to me at ask pastor john at desiring god.org that's our email address askpastorjohn desiringgod.org well first peter 3 7 calls wives the weaker vessels in the marriage relationship but what exactly does that mean are we talking about physically weaker emotionally weaker spiritually weaker or something altogether different that's next time i'm your host tony reinke will see you back here on friday with pastor john back in the studio you

Channel: Desiring God

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Keywords: Desiring God, John Piper, God, Jesus Christ, Christianity, Christian Hedonism, APJ, Ask Pastor John, Problem, Asking, Wrong, Follow, Give Up, Evaluate, Sin, Heart

Id: Schf47QehPE

Length: 11min 57sec (717 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 14 2021