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Your Main Calling in the End Times · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: We probably all feel something when we watch the news.
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  Speaker 1: We see wars, we hear of rumors of wars, and
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  Speaker 1: of famines and natural disasters all over the globe, not
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  Speaker 1: to mention corruption and large scale crimes. It's very easy
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  Speaker 1: to get overwhelmed by all the bad news, or we
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  Speaker 1: just go completely numb to it all. But what if
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  Speaker 1: Jesus said, don't do either of those two things. Instead,
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  Speaker 1: see those things as signs, as birth pains of the
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  Speaker 1: end times? Today I asked Pastor John our main calling
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  Speaker 1: in the end Times. We'll get there from this question
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  Speaker 1: from Grace, who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. She asks
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  Speaker 1: about this and a very timely question for us. Pastor John,
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  Speaker 1: thank you for this podcast. In Matthew twenty four, verses
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  Speaker 1: three to fourteen, which is in our Bible reading today,
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  Speaker 1: we read it today, Jesus describes signs of the end
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  Speaker 1: time such as wars, famines, earthquakes, and false prophets. As
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  Speaker 1: you see events in the news, natural disasters, political unrest,
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  Speaker 1: or the spread of fake news and deception online? Do
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  Speaker 1: you think of this passage and as warnings? How does
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  Speaker 1: this text shape your understanding of world events? Jesus calls
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  Speaker 1: these the beginning of birth pains, reminding us that such
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  Speaker 1: troubles are part of the world's history before his return.
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  Speaker 1: When you encounter these signs in the media, do they
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  Speaker 1: deepen your sense of urgency to live faithfully and share
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  Speaker 1: the gospel?
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  Speaker 2: Well, the short answer is yes. But let me preface
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  Speaker 2: what I have to say about the signs of the
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  Speaker 2: times with something I think is just as important, or
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  Speaker 2: probably more important, And that caused me to write a
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  Speaker 2: whole book three years ago about the Second Coming. The
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  Speaker 2: biblical text that took hold of me. It still captures
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  Speaker 2: my attention and my heart, especially as I come to
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  Speaker 2: the end of my life. Life is two Timothy four
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  Speaker 2: to seven and eight, which Paul wrote at the end
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  Speaker 2: of his life. He said, I have fought the good fight.
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  Speaker 2: I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
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  Speaker 2: Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,
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  Speaker 2: which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me
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  Speaker 2: on that day. And then he adds and not only
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  Speaker 2: to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing.
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  Speaker 2: That's amazing. The same crown that's going to go to Paul,
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  Speaker 2: it's going to go to everybody. Now I don't think
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  Speaker 2: that's a reference to a select group of Christians. I
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  Speaker 2: think that's Paul's definition of a Christian. Remember, Paul said
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  Speaker 2: in One Corinthian sixteen twenty two, if anyone does not
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  Speaker 2: love the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord come.
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  Speaker 2: So loving Jesus is not second stage christian It is Christianity.
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  Speaker 2: And for Paul to love Jesus is to love his appearing.
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  Speaker 2: How could it not be. To want his fellowship is
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  Speaker 2: to want his fellowship face to face. So my burden
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  Speaker 2: is that. Even more urgent than whether we are tuned
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  Speaker 2: into the signs of the times, is the issue of
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  Speaker 2: whether we love the appearing of the Lord Jesus. Does
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  Speaker 2: it have a prominent place in our affections? Do we
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  Speaker 2: want him to show up? Do we love him? That's
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  Speaker 2: my chief concern. Jesus said, the son of Man is
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  Speaker 2: going to come with his angels in the glory of
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  Speaker 2: his father Matthew sixteen twenty seven. He said, amazingly, he
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  Speaker 2: will dress himself on that day for service and have
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  Speaker 2: them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. Unbelievable, glorious.
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  Speaker 2: Paul said in Colossians three, when Christ who is your
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  Speaker 2: life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
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  Speaker 2: And Philippines three says, our citizenship is in heaven, and
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  Speaker 2: from it we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 2: who will transform our lowly body to be like his
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  Speaker 2: glorious body by the power that enables him to subject
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  Speaker 2: all things to himself. Wow, what an expectancy Paul had.
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  Speaker 2: He just loved the thought of the Lord Jesus coming,
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  Speaker 2: and he had a very clear understanding of what the
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  Speaker 2: second coming would mean, both for those who are still
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  Speaker 2: alive and for those who had died. He said, the
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  Speaker 2: dead in Christ will rise first. Then those who are
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  Speaker 2: alive who are left will be caught up together with
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  Speaker 2: them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
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  Speaker 2: And so we will always be with the Lord, which
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  Speaker 2: is where it all ends. Right, we love the Lord,
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  Speaker 2: We want to be with the Lord. So first Thessalonians
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  Speaker 2: four sixteen and seventeen. What an amazing paragraph. There are
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  Speaker 2: so many reasons to love the Lord and to love
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  Speaker 2: his appearing. That's what we should be giving ourselves to
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  Speaker 2: every day. We should nurture our love for the Lord
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  Speaker 2: and our love for his appearing. So Grace is asking
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  Speaker 2: me if jesus description of the end times in Matthew
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  Speaker 2: twenty four guide me toward a greater sense of urgency
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  Speaker 2: when I see those kinds of things happening today. And
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  Speaker 2: I said yes. And in that text which she refers to,
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  Speaker 2: namely Matthew twenty four three to fourteen, Jesus refers to
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  Speaker 2: signs like these, the appearance of false christs, the appearance
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  Speaker 2: of false prophets, wars that we can hear firsthand, and
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  Speaker 2: reports of wars that are at a distance, famines, earthquakes,
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  Speaker 2: and Luke adds pestilences, that is, plagues, pandemics, opposition to
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  Speaker 2: the Gospel, martyrdom, lawlessness, christians falling away from the faith,
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  Speaker 2: the love of many growing cold, the need to endure
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  Speaker 2: to the end, the Gospel being proclaims as a testimony
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  Speaker 2: to all the nations, and finally, the end of the age,
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  Speaker 2: and verse twenty seven describes it like this, as the
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  Speaker 2: lightning comes from the east and shines as far as
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  Speaker 2: the west, so will be the coming of the Sun
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  Speaker 2: of Man. So it's true, as Grace points out in
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  Speaker 2: her question, that most of these signs have been with
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  Speaker 2: us since the first century, which is why Jesus distinguished
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  Speaker 2: between being alarmed and being ready. He said in verse six,
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  Speaker 2: you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See
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  Speaker 2: that you are not alarmed. For this must take place.
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  Speaker 2: But the end is not yet. But I think it
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  Speaker 2: would dishonor the Lord Jesus. I think it would be
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  Speaker 2: a mistake if we became cynical and said, well, since
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  Speaker 2: the signs have been here all along, they can't have
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  Speaker 2: any effect on making us feel a sense of expectancy
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  Speaker 2: or urgency. I think that's a mistake. Why would the
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  Speaker 2: Lord say these things if he did not intend for
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  Speaker 2: us to be alert spiritually. That's why he says repeatedly,
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  Speaker 2: stay awake, be ready, watch, be alert. The great danger
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  Speaker 2: for Christians is not that we misread the signs, but
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  Speaker 2: that we get drunk and dull, I mean spiritually, emotionally
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  Speaker 2: personally dull, blind, dull and drunk, so that we couldn't
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  Speaker 2: see the Lord's coming if it slapped us in the face.
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  Speaker 2: That's the danger. So while the Lord doesn't want us
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  Speaker 2: to be alarmed at the prospect of his coming, he
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  Speaker 2: does want us to have a sense of urgency to
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  Speaker 2: fight the spiritual battles that will keep us awake at
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  Speaker 2: the issue, keep us alert, fully engaged in doing His will,
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  Speaker 2: so that we won't be ashamed when he comes. Oh,
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  Speaker 2: how often I have returned in my vocational urgency, like
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  Speaker 2: do ask Pastor John with all your heart, preach with
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  Speaker 2: all your heart, witness with all your heart, right with
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  Speaker 2: all your heart. Why Because Matthew twenty four forty six says,
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  Speaker 2: blessed is that servant whom his Master will find so
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  Speaker 2: doing when he comes. That's the issue. Are you pouring
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  Speaker 2: your life out into God's calling on your life with
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  Speaker 2: all your heart? Or are you just coasting in life,
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  Speaker 2: wasting your life while the Lord of Glory is going
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  Speaker 2: to reward us for everything we do. Shows up and
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  Speaker 2: you don't even care. What a crazy way to live.
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  Speaker 2: So the very fact that God has established a connection
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  Speaker 2: between the Second Coming and natural disasters like earthquakes and
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  Speaker 2: famines and pandemics, and between the Second Coming and wars
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  Speaker 2: and apostasy and persecution, these social realities, shows that He
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  Speaker 2: intends for us to see a correlation between the staggering
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  Speaker 2: reality of the Second Coming and the great upheavals in
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  Speaker 2: the earth and in society. So I don't think we
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  Speaker 2: have to become alarmist date setters when we see the
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  Speaker 2: intensifying of such signs. Instead, we should be made sober
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  Speaker 2: minded and prayerful and vigilant over our spiritual lives, and
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  Speaker 2: earnest in all the will of God, and faithful in
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  Speaker 2: all our duties, with the rising desire for the Lord's coming.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that is so good. Even more urgent than whether
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  Speaker 1: we are tuned into the signs of the times is
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  Speaker 1: the issue of whether we love the appearing of the
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  Speaker 1: Lord Jesus. So if you're trying to figure out if
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  Speaker 1: the latest earthquake in the news means that Christ is
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  Speaker 1: returning next Tuesday, you can stop. That's not what it's about.
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  Speaker 1: The goal is to become a professional sign decipherer. Jesus
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  Speaker 1: gave us these birth pains to awaken something deeper in
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  Speaker 1: us than urgency and obedience and a deep eager love
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  Speaker 1: for Him to finally appear. That longing for Christ's return
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  Speaker 1: is the main calling for the Christian in the end times.
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  Speaker 1: So good, And if you want to stoke that love,
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  Speaker 1: be sure to check out Pastor John's twenty twenty three book,
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  Speaker 1: It's a fairly new one. Come Lord, Jesus. You can
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  Speaker 1: download it at desiring good dot org. Forward slash Books,
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  Speaker 1: and specifically that chapter on signs, which is chapter seventeen
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  Speaker 1: of Come Lord Jesus, Thank you, Pastor John. Everything happens
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  Speaker 1: for a reason. You've heard that line, maybe you've said
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  Speaker 1: that line to others. Maybe you've recited that line as
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  Speaker 1: a reminder to yourself. Everything happens for a reason. It's
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  Speaker 1: a cliche. It's a well meaning cliche, but it is
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  Speaker 1: a cliche. People who say it are normally genuinely concerned.
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  Speaker 1: But the problem is that we don't live on cliche
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  Speaker 1: is like this one. We live on divine promises. So
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  Speaker 1: can we ground such a claim on the bedrock of
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  Speaker 1: God's unchanging word. Next time, everything happens for a reason,
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  Speaker 1: I'm Tony Raggy. Will see you back here on Thursday.