Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / Hoping in God When Our Heroes Die

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Hoping in God When Our Heroes Die · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  In every generation, the church is gifted with a few influential leaders, dynamic
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  voices that emerge and leave an indelible mark on countless lives. With the gospel,
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  Pastor John, this would include you in our current era. However,
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  as you well know, all such leaders eventually exit the stage. A harsh
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  reality we faced this spring, and this void left by such leaders can evoke
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  fear about the church's future, an anxiety put to words by Natasha from Jacksonville,
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  Florida, in her email to you, Pastor John, Your ministry has
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  built mi in my husband's faith for the last twenty years, she writes,
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  we adopted three girls from Liberia, inspired to not waste our lives. I've
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  always felt so much encouragement in my walk, knowing I'm part of a larger
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  body of Christian believers and leaders. My problem is the fear that I find
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  myself feeling over the state of the modern church. Many leaders have fallen to
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  temptation or quit the ministry altogether. Very few last as long as the older
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  generations did. When Tim Keller passed away earlier this year, I found myself
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  worried over what leaders and what quality of leaders will take the Baton in the
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  future. I know the Lord wants me to find my hope in him and
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  him alone. However, I find myself thinking negatively and with like some insight
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  into the hope of the Christian Church when the elder statesman like yourself and Tim
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  Keller are gone. This question has a special relevance for me because I can
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  remember the very place I was standing on our back porch in Greenville, South
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  Carolina, when I was fourteen years old, as the fearful thought entered my
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  mind, what will we do if Billy Graham dies? I mean, I
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  can remember that this is so clearly. It was a very powerful moment.
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  So some of our younger listeners may not even know who Billy is. Right.
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  I was talking to somebody the other day. They did not know who
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  he was. Oh my goodness. Billy Graham was the most well known evangelical
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  Christian in the twentieth century. As an immature, provincial, fourteen year old
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  Christian, I thought the future of Christianity hangs on the preservation of Billy Graham.
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  So I have tasted this anxiety expressed in this question. Is there is
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  there a healthy, strong future for the Bible believing evangelical church when influential leaders
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  are passing off the scene. Now, I think I could point out some
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  factors among the younger generation today that would be encouraging. I think I could
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  do that, but I think it will have more lasting and deeper effect on
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  our encouragement if I cite instead five scriptures that relate to this issue, very
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  definitely. Number one, when the author of the Book of Hebrews said in
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  chapter thirteen, verse seven, remember your leaders, those who spoke to you
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  the word of God, Consider the outcome of their way of life, and
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  imitate their faith. Do you know what the very next words were out of
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  that author's mouth after he said remember your leaders. The next words were,
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  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Now why did
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  he do that? Why did he say that? Why was that the next
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  thing to say after the command to remember the leaders and imitate their faith?
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  Why a promise that Jesus is the same from generation to generation. And surely
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  he did that to counter the fear that if leaders are passing off the scene,
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  which they were this is past ten since chapter thirteen, verse seven,
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  they're passing off the scene, then we're going to be bereft of the kind
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  of leadership we've been used to and that we need, and to remedy that
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  fear, the writer says, actually, Jesus will be there, and he
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  will be the same. He will do what needs to be done. Number
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  two, when Elijah was despairing over the condition of Israel in his own day,
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  he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God
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  of Hosts, for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down
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  your altars, killed your prophets with the sword, and I even I only
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  am left, and they seek my life to take it away. That's First
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  King's nineteen ten. Now the apostle Paul picks up on Elijah's despairing words and
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  asks in Romans eleven, if in his own day God had rejected his people
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  the way Elijah feels like is over for Israel, and he quotes Elijah's words,
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  But then he writes, but what does God reply to Elijah. God's
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  reply is I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the
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  knee to bail from which Paul concludes, so too, at the present time,
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  there is a remnant chosen by Grace Romans eleven two through five, and
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  the keywords are I have kept for myself. So God never leaves the fate
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  of his people to mere chance or to the vagaries of human history and the
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  rise and fall of leaders, even Christian leaders. He does the keeping of
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  his people. Third, the existence of godly leaders in Christ's Church are Christ's
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  gift to the church. Christ's gift to the Church, not history's gifts,
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  not the Church's gift, not Fate's gift. Christ gives leaders. They don't
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  just happen. They are Christ's appointment, not the mere work of man.
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  So Ephesians four eleven. Christ gave shepherds and teachers to the church to equip
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  the saints. Acts twenty twenty eight. Elders, pay careful attention to yourselves
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  and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit set you ethetah in Greek
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  tith. They may set you put you as overseers. The Spirit did that.
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  Man didn't do that. Colossians four seventeen say to Archippus, see that
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  you fulfill the ministry that you received from the Lord. The Lord gives the
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  ministry Luke twelve forty two. The Lord said, who then is the faithful
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  and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household to give them
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  their food at the proper time. The Lord sets managers over his household.
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  This is not a mere human thing. It's not a mere matter of the
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  ebb and flow of history. The Lord of history appoints leaders. So our
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  role is Matthew nine point thirty eight. The harvest is plentiful, the laborers
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  are few. Pray the Lord of the harvest. Pray earnestly to the Lord
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  of the Church, the Lord of the harvest, the Lord of the mission,
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  the Lord of the world. Send out laborers into your harvest. That's
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  what we should be praying, and we usually just restrict that text to missionaries.
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  It means anywhere there's some initiative needed to harvest and to grow the church,
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  pray it down. Number four. Jesus said in Matthew sixteen eighteen,
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  I will build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against
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  it. So ultimately, the perseverance and the strength of the Church is owing
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  to the will of the sovereign Christ, not to his leaders, but to
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  Christ himself, who uses leaders and raises them up. We must always look
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  finally to him. And then fifth. When we read the history of the
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  kings of Israel, one of the things that stands out is the quality the
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  faithfulness of the kings, and how it does not depend on who their father
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  was. In other words, a very bad king may have a good son,
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  a good king may have a bad son. So godliness in the line
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  of Judas kings may skip a generation or two. Now this you might feel
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  this is pessimistic because I am suggesting that can happen in the evangelical church.
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  But the fact that God is in control of that, and this has happened
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  many times before, it means there's always a future. For example, Jotham
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  was a good king, not a perfect king, but second Kings fifteen thirty
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  four says he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. But
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  his son ahaz was a wicked king. But his son Hazekiah was a faithful
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  king. But his son and grandson were wicked kings Manessa and Ammon, but
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  AMA's son Josiah was a good king. What this implies is that the godliness
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  of leadership in one generation is no guarantee of the godliness of the next generation.
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  But more hopeful is the other implication. The ungodliness of leadership in one
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  generation is no guarantee that the next generation will be ungodly. I've seen that.
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  I've seen this in the church today. Just when you think that the
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  sources of faithful leadership have all gone astray, faithful leaders come out of nowhere.
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  This is what God loves to do. In fact, this is precisely
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  why He chose to make Abraham and Sarah the parents of all future godly leadership.
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  Because it was humanly impossible. Abraham was too old, Sarah was barren.
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  All hope of godly leadership coming out of their loins was feudle. It
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  wasn't going to happen. But Paul makes it crystal clear what God's doing,
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  and he knew what he was doing. God, he says, made the
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  promise to Abraham. He gives life to the dead and calls into existence things
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  that do not exist. There it is so maybe the word to close on
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  on this is you of leadership. If you look around and you wonder will
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  there be faithful pastors and leaders to come, and you don't see what you
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  want to see. Remember, God calls into existence things that do not exist.
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  Yeah. Amen, God, sovereignly reigns generation by generation. Thank you,
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  Pastor John. And you're Billy Graham mentioned here reminds me of the story
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  you told about when you first met him. You reminisced on the encounter and
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  his life has impact on you, and you're fears for the future of the
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  church when Graham would be gone. All of that you shared ironically on the
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  day Billy Graham passed away in twenty eighteen. We titled that episode on the
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  Day Billy Graham died. You can find it in the archive at ask Pastor
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  John dot com. Well speaking of life after loss, next time, Andrea,
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  a broken woman who recently lost her husband to pay creative cancer, seeks
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  guidance from Pastor John on how to navigate the long process of returning back to
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  a normal life. Despite holding on to the Word of God and receiving support
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  from friends, she's struggling to move on. How do we return to normal
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  life after tragedy? That's up next. I'm your host, Tony Rank.
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  We'll see you Thursday.