Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / Living Pure in a Corrupting Screen Age

Transcript

Living Pure in a Corrupting Screen Age · Pastor John Piper's answers

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Tomorrow we begin our August readings in the Navigator's Bible
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: reading Plan, and that means we start for Timothy to
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: hear again Paul's call that we pursue a life of
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: love that issues from a pure heart and a good
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: conscience for Timothy one to five. So how do we
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: maintain a pure heart and good conscience in a world
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: so full of corrupting and leude media. Big question one
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: that's been asked all the time, testified by the fact
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: that we've covered a lot of ground here in the
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: passages you'll see by thumbing through the APJ book and
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: that whole section on television, movies and entertainment culture on
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: pages two ninety one to three oh seven. A lot
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: has been said, There's a lot to say, So how
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: do we live authentically? In the screen age the dilemma
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: face by one young woman who writes, is this Hello,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Pastor John and TONI thank you for this podcast. I
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: have been learning a lot about the conscience lately and
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: how some things affect me in aring degrees compared to
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: other Christians. I know I cannot pass judgment on those
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: who do not share my convictions of conscience on things
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: that are not inherently sinful, but I do struggle to
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: apply my convictions to group setting, specifically constantly watching television
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: and playing video games as an adult way heavy on
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: my conscience. These are the things my family, who I
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: still live with, and my friends maintain as part of
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: their daily lifestyles. If I listen to my conscience and
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: don't participate, my time spent with them is greatly reduced.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: But if I do participate, the weight on my conscience
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: brings me great misery. I ask them, but get nowhere
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: because it's not a clear sin issue. So how do
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: I live in a space that does not share my
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: convictions with love and grace? And especially when it comes
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: to screens.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: I suspect that in the modern technological age that we
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: have entered, especially an age of ever present visual entertainment
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: created within the framework of a God ignoring or God
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: hostile worldview, I suspect that in this new entertainment saturated world,
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: the pursuit of purity of heart and possessing the mind
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: of Christ, and setting our affections on things that are
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: above and being renewed in the spirit of our thoughts,
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: and being transformed in our emotions, and keeping our lives
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: unstained from the sinfulness of the world, and laying up
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: treasures in heaven and not on earth, and keeping a
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: clear vision of light, the light of the Gospel, of
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: the glory of Christ, and enjoying the daily fellowship of
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: the Son of God, and having the eyes of our
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: hearts enlightened to know what is the hope of our calling,
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: and the riches of the glory of our inheritance, and
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: the immeasurable greatness of God's power toward believers, and the
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: taste of the age to come, and freedom from the
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: desires of the eyes and the desires of the flesh,
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: and the pride of life, and the power of the
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: Spirit in our inner being, and a clear sight of
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: the breadth and length and height and depth of the
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: love of Christ, and the enjoyment of all the fullness
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: of God. I suspect that in this new world of
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: incessant screen time, whether widescreen TV or computer or tablet
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: or smartphone, all these precious marks of what it means
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: to be real Christians will require a kind of radical
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: recovery of the ancient Early Church commitment to being more
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: intentionally detached from the patterns of the world, especially the
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: patterns of entertainment for the sake of the everlasting enjoyment
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: of the greatness of Christ. For decades, most Christians have
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: simply drifted into the embrace of the patterns of the
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: world in the way we spend our evenings and our weekends,
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: with the exception of a couple hours for church on Sunday.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: At first, this drift seemed harmless because there was such
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: an overlap between the supposedly Christian worldview and the products
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: of the media and entertainment empires. That overlap was not
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: as great as we thought it was. At least I
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: think I really blew it as a kid and didn't
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: see it. It was superficially Christian in that many taboos
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: in the culture were still shared with Christianity, but God
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: was absent, and we scarcely noticed, let alone were heartsick
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: or offended. But now that superficial overlap of media culture
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: and Christian culture is very small, and the vast majority
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: of programs and movies are through and through void not
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: only of God and Christ and any worthy advocates for
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: His greatness or his righteousness, but also increasingly void of
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: any restraints on the celebration of sin. Sin is consistently
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: destigmatized and normalized in what Christians watch with pleasure. And yet,
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: even though these changes have happened, most Christians have not
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: altered their pattern of immersion in that entertainment culture for
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: their own enjoyment. Therefore, millions of Christians find themselves pleased
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: with God omitting Christ, neglecting man centered ego, exalting sexually,
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: titil aid sin, normalizing entertainment night after night. The effect
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: of this is a church that more and more absorbs
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: the intuitions, the instincts, the reflexes, the preferences, the desires
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: of the world. The church that regularly makes the world
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: the source of its relaxation and enjoyment must become a
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: worldly church. And a worldly church is a powerless church.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: It will not experience the fullness of the Holy Spirit,
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: and boldness in prayer, and courage in witness, and readiness
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: to sacrifice for the salvation of lost people and for
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: the exaltation of Christ. You cannot feel broken hearted over
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: lost people when you enjoy night after night being entertained
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: by them in their laws. This is why I said
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: to be a real Christian in the days ahead will
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: require a kind of radical recovery of the ancient Early
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: Church commitment to being more intentionally detached from the patterns
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: of the world, especially the patterns of entertainment. I do
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: believe that God will raise up a generation who are
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: so thrilled with what they gain in God and Christ
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: and salvation and the way of righteousness and the sacrifices
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: of love, that they will not be intimidated by the
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: accusations that they are a new kind of fundamentalist. They
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: will joyfully recover with seriousness and joy the words of
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: the Apostle when he said, what agreement has the Temple
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: of God with idols? For we are the temple of
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: the Living God. As God said, I will make my
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore,
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: go out from their midst and be separate from them,
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing. Then I
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: will welcome you, and I will be a father to you,
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: the Lord Almighty, Second Corinthians six sixteen to eighteen. The
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: recovery of this kind of radical detachment from the emptiness
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: of the world will not be for its own sake.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: We will not make the mistake of thinking that separation
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: for the sake of separation is a christ exalting virtue.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: It's not. We will say no for the sake of
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: the glorious all satisfying. Yes, we will say no to
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: being children of the age because of the spectacular privilege
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: of being sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: We will say no to the short term, unsatisfying titillation
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: of our lusts for the sake of the deep, profound
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: satisfaction of savoring Christ and serving Him with the conviction
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: We will say no to the desires of the flesh,
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: and the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life,
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: because we are on a quest for something vastly deeper
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: and higher, and richer and fuller and more lasting than
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: anything secular entertainment can offer. This will not be easy.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: The young woman who has written this question is showing
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: us what we are up against. Thousands of Christians simply
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: default to TV watching and video games. They are not
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: yet awakened to what's happening to them, and the fact
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: that they would resent. Someone's discontent with their pattern of
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: entertainment is simply more evidence of how profoundly saturated they
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: have become with the spirit of the age. My simple
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: counsel to this young woman is that she thank God
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: for the direction her conscience is pointing, and that she
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: put all her focus on cultivating a great and glorious
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: yes to God and his kingdom and his righteousness and
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: his promises and his fellowship, so that whatever no she
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: must speak and live toward her family, it would point
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: mainly to a great and better yes, the glory of Christ.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: You won't regret it, and neither will they if Paul's
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: words become your passion, since then you have been raised
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: with Christ. Seek the things that are above, where Christ
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: is seated at the right hand of God. Set your
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: mind on things that are above, not on things that
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: are on the earth. The pleasures found in this path
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: are greater and their last forever.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I a man think best job for that perspective.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: You cannot feel broken hearted over lost people when you
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: enjoy night after night being entertained by them in their lostness.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: That's pointed. We've been on this topic a lot over
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: the years. As you can see by thumbing through the
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: EPG book on that whole section on television, movies and
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: entertainment culture. See the APG book on pages two ninety
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: one to three oh seven for more of the ground
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: in which we have covered in the past. Thank you,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: Pastor John, and thanks for joining us today. If you
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: have a question to ask Pastor John like this good
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: one today, find a link to email us and find
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: our complete episode archive at askpastor John dot com. Every
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: episode with audio in full transcripts available for you to
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: twenty four seven three sixty five. Well, on Monday, we
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: looked at God's role in our pain as our sovereign father.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: We know from scripture that God disciplines his children, that's true,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: and he judges those who are not his children. So
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: before we came to faith, was our pain in this
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: life explained by his fatherly discipline or by his righteous wrath?
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Interesting question on pain in our pre faith life. A'mtono
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: ranki for that. We'll see you on Monday.