Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / How to Study the Bible on a Topic

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How to Study the Bible on a Topic · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Well, we'd love to get emails to us that crystallize sort of abstract thoughts
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  and put those thoughts into concrete questions. And today we have an intriguing question
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  from Jacob, a listener, about the importance of popularity and likability in our
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  gospel witness. Jacob wonders if being disliked by others makes him a bad representative
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  of Christ. Here's his email, Pastor, John, am I wrong?
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  If people around me don't like me? Does being unliked by others make me
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  a bad representative of Christ? We can't be people pleasers all the time,
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  or we will be pushovers. And at what point has our seeking to be
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  accepted by people compromised our faithfulness to God? I think what might be helpful
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  to do in answer to Jacob's question is to illustrate for him how from scriptures
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  he might go about answering his own question. And I hope in doing it
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  this way, really a hundred questions of this nature and lots of natures might
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  be answered, in the sense that people will realize that all John Piper does
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  to get ready for these little ten minute talks is to open my Bible and
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  find some scriptures that come close to relating to the issue and think about them
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  and then put my thoughts down. Frankly, I think most people who listen
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  to APJ, that's particular kind of people could do this if they were encouraged
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  actually to work at it. So so I'm doing I'm encouraging you like you
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  could do this. You could have your own, your own little APJ.
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  I'd like to empower you to do that. So just watch now. First
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  thing I did was to type the word please, because we're talking about when
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  is it right to please people? Is it not right to please? Type
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  the word please into my logoss you can have. There's a lot of different
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  Pible programs out there. I happened to use logoss. I typed it into
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  my Bible computer search, and I told it to find all the places where
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  pleased or pleased is used in Paul, because I knew that a bunch of
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  places in Paul that I couldn't think of where they were dealt with this very
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  issue of sometimes pleasing people and sometimes not pleasing people. And poop there they
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  come, Oh bunch of uses of please, not all of them relevant.
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  And I picked out the five that were relevant, and I isolated them and
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  I began to read them, and as I read them, I circled and
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  I underlined, and I am bolden words that seemed relevant for a answering the
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  question, Now, when's it right to please people? When's it wrong to
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  polease people? Is Paul tipping me off in these verses as to when he
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  doesn't when he doesn't do it? And I assume Paul's not contradicting himself.
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  And so here's what I'm gonna do, And it's gonna read you these five
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  verses and show you what I saw, because I think you could see it
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  and then you wouldn't have to write APJ. So Galatians chapter one, verse
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  ten, I mean, I'm tony. You know, we are into empowering
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  people to go to the Bible and find God and help there not be dependent
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  on me. So here we go. Galatians one ten. Paul has just
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  said some unbelievably harsh things about those who are bringing a different gospel. He
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  says, if anyone this is verse nine, if anyone is preaching to you
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  a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be cursed damned.
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  Now those are not pleasing words to the false teachers. I dare say,
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  Now, should Paul worry about that he has just displeased somebody big time?
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  I guess is lots of contemporary readers don't like it either. So he says
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  in verse ten, am I trying to get the approval of Man? Or
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  God? Am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to
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  please Man, I would not be a servant of Christ. So the least
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  we can conclude from these words is that sometimes being a faithful servant of Christ
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  when the Gospel is being corrupted will require harsh words, and we should not
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  let that stand in our way, that these are displeasing to some people.
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  Number two First Desalonians two three through six. Here's what he says, Just
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  as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Gospel, so
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  we speak not to please man, but to please God, who tests our
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  hearts. For we never came with flattery, as you know, nor with
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  a pretext for greed God has witness. Nor did we seek glory from people,
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  whether from you or from others. Now that seems to me to be
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  really helpful, because Paul mentions three things at least that he is trying to
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  avoid in pleasing other people. In the way he talks, he's trying to
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  avoid flattery, he's avoiding giving a pretext for greed, and he's avoiding trying
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  to get glory from people. In other words, what Paul was opposed to
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  here was trying to please people by buttering them up in the hope of getting
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  money or getting raise and glory. So the key issue there in First Thessalonians
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  two is not primarily whether somebody likes what you say or doesn't like it.
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  The issue is are you self serving or are you other serving? Are you
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  manipulating the relationship to try to to say what they want to hear because you
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  want money, or you want glory, or you want something that they don't
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  expect you to want given what you're saying. Here's the third text Coustions three
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  twenty two. Bond servants obeying everything those who are your earthly masters, not
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  by way of eye service, as men pleasers, not by way of eye
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  service as men people pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.
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  So it seems to me that what Paul means by eye service is that
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  the goal is really not the goal of so that who talks with eye service
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  or acts with eye services not to really go any deeper than what meets the
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  eye, which is why Paul contrasts it with sincerity of heart and with fearing
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  the Lord. In other words, pleasing someone might be just fine if it
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  was not insincere, and if it didn't compromise fearing the Lord and just real
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  quick. The two passages that say he does try to please people are one
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  Corinthians ten thirty one to thirty three goes like this, So whether you eat
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  or drink, or whatever you do to all, to the glory of God,
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  give no offense to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the Church
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  of God. Just as I try to please everyone in everything, I do
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  not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be
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  saved. And Romans fifteen wanted to we who are strong have an obligation to
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  bear with the failings of the week, and not to please ourselves. But
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  let each of you please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.
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  So when Paul is trying to please others, he says five things about
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  it that make it good. One I'm not seeking my own advantage. Two
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  I'm seeking their advantage. Three I'm trying to bring them to salvation. Four,
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  I'm seeking their good. Five I'm seeking to build them up, that
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  is in faith and holiness. So summary, I think the answer to Jacob's
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  question about when it's right when it's wrong to please people would go something like
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  this. And all I'm doing now is trying to summarize. These don't come
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  out of nowhere. I'm just trying to summarize what we've seen in those verses.
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  If you are not motivated by flattery, and not motivated by trying to
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  manipulate people to get money for yourself or glory or praise for yourself, If
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  you are not speaking or acting insincerely but in the fear of God, if
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  you are seeking their advantage and their good and their salvation and their up building,
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  If all those things characterize your behavior and your speech, then yes,
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  yes, seek to please people. Your effort to please them will be protected
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  from sin, and it will be used for righteousness and for the glory of
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  God. Thank you bestor John for this answer, but more importantly for empowering
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  us all to seek answers in the Bible for ourselves. This is just true
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  lifelong learning right here. Feel free to start your own podcast, But please
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  don't stop sending your questions D A PJ. And you can do that by
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  emailing them to us at ask Pastor John at Desiringgod dot org. That's our
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  email address, ask Pastor John at Desiringgod dot org. But obviously try to
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  figure them out on your own first, and then explain to us the process
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  and the remaining question that you have. Yeah, but please keep the emails
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  coming. On your host, Tony Reiki. December starts tomorrow, already December
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  tomorrow. We're back on Monday. We'll see you in December.