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The Perils of a Quick Fix · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Michelle has a broken heart, and we see why today
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  Speaker 1: in her question. Her family turned away from the faith
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  Speaker 1: to follow spiritual mediums.
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  Speaker 2: Why?
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  Speaker 1: Because God wasn't fixing their problems fast enough. And that's
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  Speaker 1: not just a question for Michelle, who lives in Malaysia.
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  Speaker 1: That's a question for all of us today. Today on
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  Speaker 1: Ask Pastor John, the perils of a quick fix. Hello,
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  Speaker 1: Pastor John. My name is Michelle. Desiring God has been
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  Speaker 1: a great help to me since I became a Christian
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  Speaker 1: a few years ago. My family practices Taoism. They turn
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  Speaker 1: to it after having experienced some frightening experiences with evil spirits.
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  Speaker 1: Some of them have professed to be Christians in the past,
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  Speaker 1: but when they didn't think God helped them fast enough,
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  Speaker 1: they gave up on him and gave up on the faith.
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  Speaker 1: Now they believe spiritual mediums can give them faster answers.
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  Speaker 1: When I was growing up, my family made me participate
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  Speaker 1: in these rituals. They told me they would be the
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  Speaker 1: path to a happy life. Instead, I felt confused, depressed,
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  Speaker 1: and desperate to find out for myself what was true
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  Speaker 1: and false. By God's grace, he led me to Christ
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  Speaker 1: and I trusted in him for my salvation. But my
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  Speaker 1: family still refuses to believe in anything that will not
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  Speaker 1: give them immediate blessings in this life, health or money
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  Speaker 1: or a quick solution to a problem. How do I
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  Speaker 1: lovingly challenge this conditional view of faith when I have
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  Speaker 1: come to discover that our joy is found in trusting
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  Speaker 1: God even when the hardest circumstances of life don't immediately change?
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  Speaker 2: Michelle says that many, in her family were once professing
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  Speaker 2: Christians but felt that God did not help them during
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  Speaker 2: their trials. They now believe spiritual mediums provide faster and
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  Speaker 2: more tangible solutions than God does. And she asks, how
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  Speaker 2: do I lovingly address their conditional view of faith, especially
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  Speaker 2: when I know True joy comes from trusting God regardless
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  Speaker 2: of the circumstances, that is, regardless of whether there's quick
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  Speaker 2: and tangible solutions to our daily problems. And the first
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  Speaker 2: thing is to clarify our starting point. We have to
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  Speaker 2: start by agreeing with her family at one level. They
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  Speaker 2: have decided that God did not help them the way
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  Speaker 2: they wanted to be helped. And that now, by means
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  Speaker 2: of these spiritual mediums, they're getting faster results. They're getting
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  Speaker 2: more tangible solutions. That's simply true. I think that's where
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  Speaker 2: we have to start. It's just true. And as long
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  Speaker 2: as that's their criterion for judging truth and value and
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  Speaker 2: beauty and meaning, we won't be able to convince them
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  Speaker 2: that God is true and better. They're like the Israelites
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  Speaker 2: in that regard, in the wilderness, complaining to Moses that
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  Speaker 2: God just does not come through the way they want
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  Speaker 2: him to. They've gotten tired of the manna. They don't
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  Speaker 2: like the way God provides the water or not. And
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  Speaker 2: they want meat. And these things are making them godless.
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  Speaker 2: For one main reason, they are not thrilled any longer
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  Speaker 2: at the thought that the promised land is just over
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  Speaker 2: the horizon. If they had trusted the Lord instead of
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  Speaker 2: rebelling against him, it would have only been months away.
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  Speaker 2: And now it's going to be 40 years. For them,
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  Speaker 2: it's the here and now that matters. Just here and now,
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  Speaker 2: quick and tangible. And so they would rather have a
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  Speaker 2: golden calf than the living God, spiritual mediums rather than Jesus. So,
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  Speaker 2: The first way to address their condition, I think, is
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  Speaker 2: by prayer and reliance on the Spirit, try to shock
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  Speaker 2: them into a sense of how foolish it is to
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  Speaker 2: care so much about the small things of this life
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  Speaker 2: and ignore the massive things of the life to come.
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  Speaker 2: Sometimes just reading about another person's experience with eternity can
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  Speaker 2: shock us awake to the reality of the life to
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  Speaker 2: come and how huge it is. For example, this is
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  Speaker 2: the effect that it has had on me recently to
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  Speaker 2: read a biography of Blaise Pascal. Pascal, middle of the 1600s,
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  Speaker 2: found it incomprehensible that people would never think about the
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  Speaker 2: inevitability of death and what might happen after it. He wrote,
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  Speaker 2: as for those who spend their lives without a thought
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  Speaker 2: for this final end of life, their negligence in a
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  Speaker 2: matter where they themselves, their eternity, their all are at stake,
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  Speaker 2: fills me more with irritation than pity. It astounds me.
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  Speaker 2: It appalls me. It seems quite monstrous to me. The
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  Speaker 2: author of this biography, Graham Tomlin, comments, the idea that
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  Speaker 2: there are people who get terribly upset if they lose
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  Speaker 2: their job or are insulted in some fashion and yet
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  Speaker 2: never for a moment ponder the question of what happens
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  Speaker 2: after death is simply incomprehensible to Pascal. Page 264. So
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  Speaker 2: the first thing you might focus on, Michelle, is how
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  Speaker 2: can I shock my family into seeing that spiritual mediums
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  Speaker 2: may improve life on a sinking ship, but they don't
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  Speaker 2: provide any lifeboats for what happens if the ship goes down,
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  Speaker 2: and it's going down. Jesus promises that those who trust
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  Speaker 2: him receive eternal life with God. And the Bible tells
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  Speaker 2: us that in God's presence is fullness of joy and
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  Speaker 2: pleasures forevermore. Psalm 1611. This present life, this momentary affliction,
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  Speaker 2: is working for us an eternal weight of glory beyond
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  Speaker 2: all comparison. There is a promised land coming. that makes
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  Speaker 2: every hardship in the world worth it. Maybe include in
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  Speaker 2: your conversation with your family a very explicit and wonderful
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  Speaker 2: promise like Ephesians 2.7. In the coming ages, God will
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  Speaker 2: show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward
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  Speaker 2: us in Christ Jesus. The coming ages are endless and
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  Speaker 2: the kindness is inexhaustible. if we have Christ. So that's
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  Speaker 2: the first thing. Just try to shock them into the
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  Speaker 2: incomprehensible foolishness of wanting immediate, tangible results for little problems
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  Speaker 2: when the huge problem of eternity is ignored. Here's one
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  Speaker 2: other approach you might consider. What if you asked your family,
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  Speaker 2: what's the more beautiful demonstration of love? Is it when
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  Speaker 2: a wealthy person brings you nice gifts on your birthday?
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  Speaker 2: Or is it when somebody you have treated very badly
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  Speaker 2: risks his life or even loses it to save yours,
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  Speaker 2: even if he never gave you a gift on your birthday?
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  Speaker 2: I wonder if they would answer, well, I suppose it's
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  Speaker 2: the person who made the greater sacrifice. And besides that,
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  Speaker 2: they might say, He saved my life, and my life
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  Speaker 2: is more important to me than a few birthday gifts.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe then you could help them make the connection between
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  Speaker 2: what it means to be loved by the spiritual mediums
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  Speaker 2: and loved by Jesus. Maybe it will awaken them to
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  Speaker 2: see that the spiritual mediums probably aren't making any sacrifices
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  Speaker 2: for them at all. In fact, they may be requiring sacrifices.
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  Speaker 2: then maybe they might feel the wonder that Jesus, who
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  Speaker 2: was infinitely rich, gave it all up in order to
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  Speaker 2: suffer and die in our place, to give us forgiveness
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  Speaker 2: of sins, to take away all our shame, to give
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  Speaker 2: us eternal life. At least you'll give them something to
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  Speaker 2: think about, because I doubt that they ever made the
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  Speaker 2: connection or the comparison between how they are being loved
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  Speaker 2: by spiritual mediums and how they are being loved by Christ.
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  Speaker 2: And maybe one aspect of the love of Christ that
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  Speaker 2: they might be moved by is that he himself lived
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  Speaker 2: in the very way that he calls us to live
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  Speaker 2: when he doesn't immediately solve every problem that we have.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe they would be struck by Hebrews 12 too. that
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  Speaker 2: for the joy that was set before him, he endured
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  Speaker 2: the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the
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  Speaker 2: right hand of God. He endured the cross just like
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  Speaker 2: he calls us to take up our cross. And he
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  Speaker 2: did it just the same way he calls us to
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  Speaker 2: do it, namely, look at the joy before you, look
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  Speaker 2: at life, look at eternity, look at everlasting happiness with God.
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  Speaker 2: I pray, Michelle, yes, I do, that the Lord will
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  Speaker 2: give you wisdom and courage as you try to Love
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  Speaker 2: your family with these few truths and other ways that
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  Speaker 2: he will guide you. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, there are few, if any, quick fixes in this
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  Speaker 1: life because God is working in our lives an eternal
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  Speaker 1: weight of glory. And that means light and momentary afflictions
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  Speaker 1: have a role to play in shaping our lives to
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  Speaker 1: this end, to an eternal weight of glory. But some
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  Speaker 1: people lose sight of that plan and they would just
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  Speaker 1: rather have a golden calf than the living God. Wow. Wow.
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  Speaker 1: It's the high cost of a quick fix or so-called
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  Speaker 1: quick fix. Thank you, Pastor John. We have looked at divination, necromancy, mediums, witches, sorcerers, charmers,
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  Speaker 1: fortune tellers, and palm readers, the use of signs, omens, seances,
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  Speaker 1: Ouija boards, and talking to angels, demons, the dead. All
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  Speaker 1: of that is in the APJ book on page 347.
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  Speaker 1: Some key biblical principles that apply to all these categories
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  Speaker 1: that we need to be aware of. I'm just reminded
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  Speaker 1: of these as we look at Michelle and her family
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  Speaker 1: and their struggles. And speaking of slow fixes, the gospel
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ, Christ dying for our sins on the cross,
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  Speaker 1: that's a divine, glorious reality that played out over several
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  Speaker 1: centuries of prophecy and prediction, and then finally on the cross.
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  Speaker 1: And yet, Jesus proclaimed the gospel throughout his earthly ministry.
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  Speaker 1: So what was the gospel that Jesus preached before he died?
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  Speaker 1: Interesting Bible question up next. I'm Tony Reinke. We'll see
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  Speaker 1: you back here on Thursday.