The Problem with Asking, ‘What’s Wrong with It?’
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | Well, every area of life calls for evaluation.
00:00:07.300 | Should we be doing one thing or something else?
00:00:09.640 | Career A or Career B?
00:00:11.700 | Enough school or more school?
00:00:13.780 | Stop spending, start investing.
00:00:16.020 | Don't settle for the good when you can go for the great.
00:00:19.060 | All sorts of books and workshops and apps stand ready
00:00:21.660 | to help us live from higher priorities.
00:00:24.460 | And this is important, especially for Christians,
00:00:26.140 | because we live for the highest priority that there is.
00:00:29.460 | We live for the eternal.
00:00:32.140 | Our everlasting priority bears on our media diets,
00:00:37.060 | our gaming, our careers, our parenting,
00:00:39.980 | really every single decision that we make in life.
00:00:42.940 | In the summer of 1997, Pastor John preached a sermon
00:00:45.660 | on Hebrews 11:39-12.2, a section of scripture
00:00:50.660 | popularly referred to as God's Hall of Fame
00:00:53.100 | or the Hall of Faith, a section celebrating our ancestors
00:00:56.940 | in the faith who learned to live faithfully in this life,
00:01:00.420 | turning away from the good in order to pursue
00:01:04.300 | the eternally great.
00:01:06.220 | Here's a clip from that sermon sent to us
00:01:08.780 | from a listener named Melissa in Lumberton, New Jersey.
00:01:12.800 | Here's Pastor John.
00:01:14.380 | - And life has begun to be trivial, light, L-I-T-E,
00:01:19.380 | blood light, life light, church light.
00:01:25.220 | - That's who he's writing to.
00:01:26.720 | Chapter five, verse 12.
00:01:29.380 | Though by this time you ought to be teachers,
00:01:34.380 | you have need again for someone to teach you
00:01:37.700 | the elemental principles of the oracles of God.
00:01:40.900 | You come to need milk and not solid food.
00:01:45.900 | You hear the ache in this writer's voice?
00:01:49.140 | There's been enough time since you got saved
00:01:51.740 | that you should be teaching a class.
00:01:55.460 | Or a small group, or a wife, or children, or a neighbor.
00:02:00.460 | You should be teaching.
00:02:04.580 | And you need milk still all these many years later.
00:02:09.940 | Why?
00:02:10.780 | You're drifting, you're coasting, you're neglecting,
00:02:13.420 | you're not vigilant.
00:02:14.640 | You're treating life as though you can just get up
00:02:17.260 | in the morning and meander instead of run.
00:02:23.240 | That's who he's writing to.
00:02:24.640 | Chapter 12, verse 12.
00:02:27.420 | Strengthen the hands that are weak
00:02:32.440 | and the knees that are feeble.
00:02:35.500 | Make straight paths for your feet
00:02:39.360 | so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint,
00:02:44.360 | but rather be healed.
00:02:47.920 | In other words, there's still time,
00:02:49.700 | there's hope for this church.
00:02:51.120 | This is a metaphor of their spiritual condition.
00:02:55.080 | Hands are kind of weak.
00:02:57.520 | They're on the bat like this at the home plate.
00:03:01.280 | You don't stand like that at the home plate.
00:03:04.160 | You stand like this.
00:03:05.840 | The knees are weak, just kind of wobbling around.
00:03:11.840 | And you know what happens with weak knees?
00:03:13.480 | They get hit from the side and it's over.
00:03:15.640 | History, big surgery, big brace, and no more basketball.
00:03:20.880 | So while there's still time, do some exercises
00:03:25.280 | to get the cartilage and to get the muscles up to speed.
00:03:28.960 | This is all spiritual talk here.
00:03:30.320 | He doesn't give a rip about your knees, I don't think.
00:03:33.180 | Well, a little bit.
00:03:34.020 | The Bible says he gives a little bit of a rip,
00:03:37.100 | but not much.
00:03:38.160 | He'd rather have your legs cut off and go to heaven
00:03:41.360 | than to keep legs and go to hell.
00:03:43.940 | So have you got the picture now of this church
00:03:47.860 | that he's writing to in chapter 12?
00:03:51.580 | Let's read verse one at the end again,
00:03:54.160 | 'cause here's the main point.
00:03:56.080 | Chapter 12, verse one, near the end of the verse.
00:03:58.920 | Let us lay aside every encumbrance and sin
00:04:03.920 | which so easily entangles us,
00:04:07.960 | and let us run with endurance the race
00:04:11.320 | that is set before us.
00:04:13.280 | Now this command, let's run, let's run, let's run,
00:04:17.300 | does not come out of the blue.
00:04:19.480 | It comes out of a passion for this church
00:04:22.280 | that's in tremendous spiritual danger
00:04:26.240 | because of a false concept of life as meandering
00:04:30.840 | and coasting and drifting, no vigilance, no care,
00:04:35.120 | no watching, no earnestness, no weightiness.
00:04:39.040 | And he says, "This is very dangerous.
00:04:42.640 | And so please let us look to Christ and let us run."
00:04:47.640 | So the main point of this whole text that I read
00:04:52.940 | from verse 39 of chapter 11 to verse two of chapter 12
00:04:56.700 | has one imperative, even though in English there's several,
00:04:59.220 | in Greek there's one imperative and it's run.
00:05:02.320 | Let us run.
00:05:06.880 | Everything else in this text explains running
00:05:10.380 | or motivates running.
00:05:12.720 | So the point is don't stroll, don't meander,
00:05:17.560 | and don't wonder about aimlessly run
00:05:21.520 | as in a race with a finish line
00:05:23.200 | where everything hangs on the race.
00:05:25.240 | Now, what supports it?
00:05:28.480 | In verse one, there are a couple of things said here
00:05:34.120 | as a means to running.
00:05:37.160 | It says, "Lay aside every encumbrance and sin
00:05:42.160 | which so easily entangles us."
00:05:48.820 | Now, I remember as a boy the effect a sermon had on me
00:05:53.880 | on this verse.
00:05:57.420 | And the only thing I remember was the distinction
00:06:01.860 | that the preacher made between,
00:06:06.100 | he was preaching from the King James at the time,
00:06:08.980 | weights translated encumbrances here and sins.
00:06:13.980 | And he looked out on us and he said, "Not just sins.
00:06:19.820 | Don't just lay aside sins to run this race.
00:06:23.500 | Lay aside every other weight that gets in your way."
00:06:28.140 | As a boy, you know what the effect,
00:06:31.820 | it was a revolutionary effect that that had on me
00:06:35.940 | because what it said to me was,
00:06:38.740 | and I speak it now, especially for young people,
00:06:42.180 | kids, if you can get this,
00:06:43.700 | but especially young teenagers and teenagers,
00:06:46.520 | but it applies to everybody.
00:06:48.140 | What this says is,
00:06:50.940 | don't just ask, "What's wrong with it?"
00:06:56.980 | In life.
00:06:59.740 | Don't just say about your music, about your movies,
00:07:05.700 | about your parties, about your habits,
00:07:09.180 | about your computer games.
00:07:11.260 | Don't just say, "What's wrong with it?"
00:07:15.580 | Don't just ask, "Is it a sin?"
00:07:20.260 | That's about the lowest question you can ask in life.
00:07:25.100 | I'm gonna do it if it's not a sin.
00:07:29.580 | So tell me, is it a sin to do this?
00:07:32.460 | Well, not exactly.
00:07:35.500 | Okay, that's all I wanna know.
00:07:36.700 | I'm gonna have to do it.
00:07:37.900 | And the preacher said, and I'm the preacher now,
00:07:43.380 | saying, "This text says,
00:07:46.060 | "look to Jesus and lay aside sins for sure
00:07:52.180 | "and lots of other stuff too."
00:07:57.340 | Now that's a different way to live.
00:07:59.420 | So what, well, preacher, what question
00:08:01.500 | as a 13-year-old, 14-year-old,
00:08:03.660 | should I ask if it's not, is it a sin?
00:08:06.740 | And the answer is, does it help me run?
00:08:11.140 | That's the answer.
00:08:12.700 | Does it get in my way when I'm trying to become
00:08:16.020 | more patient, more kind, more gentle,
00:08:19.100 | more loving, more holy, more pure, more self-controlled?
00:08:23.740 | Does it get in my way or does it help me run?
00:08:28.740 | That's the question to ask.
00:08:31.860 | Ask the maximal righteousness question,
00:08:34.780 | not the minimal righteousness question.
00:08:37.260 | That was the difference it made in my life.
00:08:39.420 | And I've been ever since then,
00:08:41.100 | I didn't always live up to this.
00:08:42.380 | I'm not making any claim that from age 12 on,
00:08:46.340 | I did some great spiritual thing,
00:08:48.380 | but oh, I had a trajectory that was so much better
00:08:53.180 | than the minimalist ethic that comes with,
00:08:56.940 | well, what's wrong with it?
00:08:59.300 | What's wrong with it?
00:09:01.060 | What?
00:09:01.900 | I don't even wanna talk about what's wrong with it.
00:09:04.700 | Let's talk about, does it help me run?
00:09:08.100 | Now, you know why that question isn't very often asked?
00:09:12.780 | Because we're not passionate runners.
00:09:15.020 | We don't wanna run.
00:09:18.340 | We don't get up in the morning saying,
00:09:20.260 | what's the course today?
00:09:23.700 | What's the course of purity?
00:09:25.180 | What's the course of holiness?
00:09:26.660 | What's the course of humility?
00:09:28.180 | What's the course of justice?
00:09:29.660 | What's the course of righteousness?
00:09:31.220 | What's the course of love?
00:09:32.500 | What's the course of self-control?
00:09:34.380 | What's the course of courage and witness?
00:09:36.580 | Oh God, I wanna maximize my running today.
00:09:40.540 | If you have that mentality about your life,
00:09:43.340 | then you'll ask not how many sins can I avoid,
00:09:47.860 | but how many weights can I lay down
00:09:51.340 | so that I am fleet-footed in the race of righteousness.
00:09:56.340 | - Powerful.
00:09:58.580 | Thank you, Melissa in Lumberton, New Jersey for the clip.
00:10:01.180 | This was the first John Piper sermon I ever heard.
00:10:04.420 | She writes, "It was five years ago.
00:10:06.140 | "My husband and I had both been going through
00:10:07.860 | "spiritual dry spells, trying to navigate life
00:10:10.960 | "with our very young family without God-centered direction.
00:10:14.820 | "I became spiritually lazy and got lost
00:10:16.980 | "in the rut of day-to-day life.
00:10:18.300 | "My husband felt God pulling at him
00:10:20.520 | "to bring more discipleship into our home.
00:10:22.520 | "So one night, instead of turning on the TV,
00:10:25.160 | "he went to Desiring God and played this sermon.
00:10:27.720 | "Within 15 minutes, I was in tears.
00:10:30.380 | "God used Pastor John's words like a lightning bolt
00:10:32.480 | "to electrify me and resuscitate my heart.
00:10:35.280 | "While we obviously are not perfect,
00:10:36.800 | "a new sense of purpose and calling
00:10:38.700 | "drives our lives every day towards Jesus,
00:10:41.820 | "towards Christ-likeness and towards his purposes.
00:10:45.120 | "For the rest of my life, I will hear echoing in my ears
00:10:48.560 | "Pastor John's clarion call, 'Does it help me run?'"
00:10:53.060 | That's a powerful testimony.
00:10:55.940 | The clip is from John Piper's sermon
00:10:57.400 | titled "Running with the Witnesses"
00:10:58.760 | preached on August 17th, 1997.
00:11:01.600 | You can find it at DesiringGod.org,
00:11:03.820 | the whole sermon, DesiringGod.org.
00:11:05.900 | If you have a life-change clip like this one
00:11:09.420 | from Melissa, email me.
00:11:11.000 | Give me your name, your hometown, the sermon title,
00:11:12.800 | and the timestamp of when the clip happens in the audio,
00:11:16.240 | and tell me how it impacted you as well.
00:11:18.340 | Put the word "clip" in the subject line of an email
00:11:20.680 | and send it to me at AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org.
00:11:23.960 | That's our email address,
00:11:25.160 | AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org.
00:11:27.340 | Well, 1 Peter 3:7 calls wives the weaker vessels
00:11:32.400 | in the marriage relationship,
00:11:33.920 | but what exactly does that mean?
00:11:35.520 | Are we talking about physically weaker,
00:11:37.240 | emotionally weaker, spiritually weaker,
00:11:39.160 | or something altogether different?
00:11:41.800 | That's next time.
00:11:42.720 | I'm your host, Tony Reinhke.
00:11:43.920 | We'll see you back here on Friday with Pastor John
00:11:46.580 | back in the studio.
00:11:47.540 | (upbeat music)
00:11:50.120 | (upbeat music)
00:11:52.700 | [BLANK_AUDIO]