As Christians, preaching and singing is part of our weekly routine. It feels normal enough, but if you look around, you'll notice this routine is actually quite odd. So why do we preach and why do we sing? Pastor John explained in his message at the Passion Conference to about 20,000 students in Atlanta on January 3, 2015.

Here's what he said. I wonder if you have paused to ponder how simple and strange what we are doing at Passion is. We sing and we preach and we preach and we sing and there's message and there's music and music and message. How strange and simple that is. No other religion does this.

None. No other philosophical or political movement on the planet does this. Muslims don't do this. Hindus don't do this. Buddhists don't do this. Sikhs don't do this. Apple computer, even though they have their worship services, and Tim Cook may preach, they don't sing. Only Christians do this. Why is that?

This cries out for an explanation. I don't like to do things without a reason. I don't like to just year after year go to Passion because it's done. It's fun. Other people have done it. I'll do it too. Let's just do it. I like to have reasons for what I do.

Reasons that are sunk down into ultimate reality. Reasons that have goals that reach up into ultimate reality so that I'm anchored at the bottom and anchored at the top and my life does what it does because there's connection with ultimate reality. That's what I like to do. So maybe someone would respond to that and say, "Good grief.

Lighten up. Can't we just do stuff? For goodness sakes, you have to have a reason for doing everything you do. Can't we just do stuff?" And of course, the answer to that is yes, you can just do stuff. There's a name for that way of life. It's called instinct.

Eagles just do stuff. Elephants just do stuff. Butterflies just do stuff. Beavers, they just do stuff. Of course, they do some amazing things, but they don't know what they're doing. You weren't made to be like that. You're not a mere animal. Animals are made to live by instinct. You're not.

You're made to have reasons for what you do. You have a mind. You're supposed to know what you do, why you do it. You're supposed to think down into the bottom of things and connect and think up into the ultimate heights of things and connect so that it's a trajectory to your life.

It has meaning. You're not an animal. You don't just do stuff, I hope. So, I'm coming to passion. Why? We're going to preach and sing and preach and sing and preach and sing. That's weird. Nobody does that. There's not any other movement on the planet that gets together to preach and then sing and sing and sing and preach some more and then sing.

Why are we doing this? That's what I want to talk about. I believe that one of the -- I'm just going to say one of the -- I might be tempted to say the main, but let's just leave it at one of the biggest reasons for why Christians around the world do this.

Preach and sing. Preach and sing. Preach and sing. One of the reasons why Christians all over the world do this is because Christianity is the only religion, the only movement that is created by and sustained by news. News. The sort of thing you see at 5 o'clock on television.

The sort of thing you see at 10 o'clock on television. News. Something happened. What is it? What happened? Christianity is the only faith that is created by and sustained by a news character. News. Go up on a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news.

Lift it up. Fear not. Say to the cities of Judah, "Behold, your God." How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns." And then, in the fullness of time, "Behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be to all the people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." I've got news, shepherds. News. Go tell it on the mountains. There's news behind this thing called Christianity. So, something happened. And you and I had nothing to do with it. It happened suddenly, single-handedly, unilaterally, crashing into history, and you and I were not part of the cause.

We didn't shape it. We didn't make it happen. It just happened. God Almighty said, "Time, news." You had nothing, no hand in it at all. It arrives as news to you. In the fullness of time, born of a virgin, a God-man on the planet, living the life of perfection we needed and didn't have, suffering a punishment we deserved and didn't want, rising from the dead with a life that we share.

That is finished. It's news. You didn't make it happen. You didn't shape it. There was no Congress. There was no consultation. God Almighty, single-handed, said, "It is time. I'm coming." And He did it, and it's finished. The God-man, the perfect life, the atoning death, the massive, triumphant resurrection is simply over and news.

It's news. It's a kind of news that creates its own kind of event and communication. So good. This clip was taken from the beginning of John Piper's conference message titled, "Why do Christians preach and sing at Passion in Atlanta?" to 20,000 students on January 3rd, 2015. The full message, both audio and video, can be found at our site, DesiringGod.org.

If you have a favorite clip from a John Piper sermon, old or recent, email us the name of the sermon and the time stamp of when and where the clip occurs in the audio. If we post your clip, we'll, of course, give you credit for it. Put the word "clip" in the subject line of an email and send it to AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org.

Well, a podcast listener named Eric writes in to ask, "Is joy in God and love for God the same thing?" We'll address that tomorrow. I'm your host, Tony Reinke. I'll see you tomorrow.