Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / Trapped in a Meaningless Life

Transcript

Trapped in a Meaningless Life · Pastor John Piper's answers

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Many of you have experienced a loss in life that
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: was such a gut punch and so unforeseen that it
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: shattered your world. Everything was smooth. Everything was progressing beautifully.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Everything was under control. And then, boom, it happened. Your
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: fragile world is now in a pile of shattered pieces.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: And now you are entertaining the most despairing thoughts. What
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: if this whole life is pointless? What if it's all
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: just a jumble of randomness that has no meaning in
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: the end? Today on Ask Pastor John, when it feels
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: like you are trapped in a meaningless life. We're reading
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: 1 Peter together, and there are some precious texts in
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: there for sufferers, including 1 Peter 1 verses 5 to 7,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: especially 1 Peter 3, 18. Anyone who is facing personal
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: suffering should familiarize themselves with 1 Peter. Just so relevant
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: to this question from an anonymous 22-year-old. Pastor John, I'm
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: writing to you because I'm in a hole I can't
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: get out of. Recently, I went through a loss that
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: has completely broken my world and now I'm spiraling into
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: a deep depression. I look at the world and I
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: don't see God's purposes. I just see a meaningless jumble
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: of randomness. Does this world have any wise or good
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: purpose behind it? I'm pleading with you for an answer here.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Is there any reason to keep going when everything feels pointless?
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Here's how Pastor John answered this very question from these
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: key texts in 1 Peter in answering a young man
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: named Abijah in 2021.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Abijah, I hear three distinct and interrelated sorrows that have
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: brought you to this place of doubt about the meaning
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: of your life. I hear depression. I hear loss. I
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: hear a kind of fixation in your mind. You say,
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: I can't seem to get myself out of wondering why
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: life is even a thing. In other words, the tape
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: keeps playing over and over in your mind. Is life
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: really significant at all? Or is it just a meaningless
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: jumble coming from nowhere, going nowhere, nothing in between but randomness?
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: So I take your question, your plea, very seriously. I
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: have tasted a little bit of what you're talking about,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: and I know others who have tasted all of what
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: you're talking about. I have seen myself come through. I
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: have seen others come through, and I believe you can
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: come through. You can come out into the light of
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: confidence in God, confidence in Christ. confident in the certain
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: purpose that God has for this world, the wise, good, just,
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: holy purpose that God has for this world and your
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: place in it. Even in the words that you use, Abijah,
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: you put your finger on the meaning of life. You
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: say you are depressed about the whole meaning of your
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: life and your own purpose. And I think that's right.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: I think you're absolutely right. That meaning consists in purpose,
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: a good purpose, a wise, just satisfying purpose or design
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: for you, for the world. So the whole question is,
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: does the world with all of its beauty and ugliness,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: gladness and groaning, love and hate, pleasure and pain, nobility
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: and vulgarity, kindness and abuse, selfishness and sacrifice? Does such
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: a world as ours have a wise, good, just, satisfying
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: purpose under the providence of an all-wise, all-powerful God? Or
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: was the atheist Bertrand Russell right at the end of
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: his life when he said, There is darkness without, and
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: when I die there will be darkness within. There is
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: no splendor, no vastness anywhere, only triviality for a moment,
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: and then nothing. Are the words of Macbeth. In Shakespeare's play,
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: when he hears about his wife's death, are those words true?
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: Are they a reflection of reality? When he said, out, out,
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: brief candle. Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: then is heard no more. It's a tale told by
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Abijah,
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: I think one of the common strategies of Satan, whom
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: you know is a thief and a murderer, he steals
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: truth from the mind, he kills the soul. One of
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: his common strategies is to fixate our mind on such possibilities.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Life is a tale told by an idiot, isn't it?
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: full of sound and fury signifying nothing. Satan doesn't even
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: care if you believe that. He just wants you to
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: be fixated on it, to think about it all the
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: time and wonder if it might be true. He wants
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: to steal from you and me every vestige of confidence
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: that God is wise and good and just and holy
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: and that God is working everything together for a great purpose.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: So my purpose right now in this past Pastor John
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: is to pray for you, that you would have power
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: to resist the devil, and that I could put a sword,
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: the sword of the Spirit, in your hand so that
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: you could do battle valiantly and triumphantly against the darkness.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: The sword of the Spirit, you know this, the sword
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: of the Spirit is the Word of God. God knew
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: when he wrote his book. God knew that you would
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: go through this. God knew about your depression. He knew
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: about your loss. He knew about the fixation of doubt
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: in your mind. And he wrote about these things over
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: and over again in his Word to help you. and
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: all of us. The meaning of life, according to that Word,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: God's Word, is to know God as He really is
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: and to enjoy Him and all that He is for
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: us in Christ and to reflect in this dark world,
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: some of the light that he has shown to us
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: when Christ, the very Son of God, died in our place,
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: precisely that we might know God and enjoy God in
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: spite of our sin, and then one day see him
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: and know him perfectly, unendingly. Let me say it again.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: The meaning of life is to know God, and to
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: enjoy God and reflect some of the beauty of God
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: as we know him in Christ and one day see
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: him perfectly and unendingly enjoy him. The meaning of life now,
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: the purpose of life in this age is not comfort.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: in this world now nor escape from suffering now nor
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: the avoidance of loss now nor the maximizing of physical
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: pleasures now nor the amassing of riches now nor the
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: achievement of any fame now nor the right to any
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: health now nor that we would be treated with respect
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: and justice now Those are not the meaning of life
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: in this age for God's people. Once sin entered the
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: world and everything was corrupted, and once God's saving purposes
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: began to rescue people from sin, The glorious and beautiful
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: purposes of this creation were thrust forward into the time
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: when Christ would come again and set everything right, a
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: time of perfect righteousness, a time of perfect peace, a
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: new creation with no crying or pain anymore, so that
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: over and over again in the Scriptures we are told
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: to rejoice in hope. like Romans 5, to rejoice in
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: hope of the glory of God. This present world is
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: primarily a season of testing and a refiner's fire. If
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: this world is all there is, then life is surely meaningless.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: The Bible says, let's eat, drink, and be merry, for
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: tomorrow we die if there's no resurrection from the dead.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: 1 Corinthians 15, 32. So the Apostle Paul said, I
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: consider that the sufferings of this present time are not
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: to us in Romans 8, 18. And again, he said,
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: this light momentary affliction, I'm thinking of your loss, Abijah,
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: for example. This light momentary affliction is preparing for us
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: an eternal wait. of glory beyond all comparison, 2 Corinthians 4, 17.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: And the apostle Peter put it most fully and clearly.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: He said in chapter 1, verse 5, by God's power,
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: you are being guarded by through faith, for a salvation
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: ready to be revealed in the last time, in this,
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: this coming sure remedy for all ills, this salvation, in
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: this you rejoice, though now For a little while, if necessary,
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: you have been grieved by various trials. Oh, Abijah, that's
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: your life, right? That word various trials means all kinds
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: of trials, literally many colors of trials and tests. so
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold,
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: which though perishable is tested by fire, may result in
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: What an amazing interpretation of this world and our place
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: in it. The meaning of suffering in this life is
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: the refinement of faith by the fires of various trials
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: that we might know God, love God, show God as
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: more precious than everything that the fires consume. Jesus Christ
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: suffered precisely to bring us through these fiery trials refined
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: and purified into the very presence of God for our
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: eternal joy, 1 Peter 3.18. So I close by just
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: with an illustration. When COVID-19 shut up my wife and me,
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: someone gave us a puzzle with a thousand pieces. They
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: thought we would need something to do. I spread it
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: out on two card tables, and in the interludes between
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: my work, I would just pause there and try to
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: find a piece or two to put together. I began
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: with the confidence these thousand chaotic pieces piled in the
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: middle of the table would one day be that beautiful
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: picture on the box. From bedlam to beauty, from chaos
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: to order. Yes, that's going to come. I saw the
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: picture on the box. It was a kind of promise.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: But one day, I had the border almost entirely completed.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: That's the way I start. Do the board. Almost entirely completed.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: Everything fitting together. But it wouldn't fit. It was just
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: one or two pieces that wouldn't fit. And I was
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: sure a piece was missing. I looked all over the floor.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: Or maybe they'd made the puzzle wrong.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: It's defective.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: And I went through time after time, systematically looking at
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: all the pieces. I put them in rows so I
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: could see. I became fixated on the fact this puzzle
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: is not going to work. This puzzle is defective. Then
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: my wife came over. And she sat down and she
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: looked at all the edge pieces that I had put together.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: And she said, I don't think these two pieces go together,
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: that you have fastened here. They almost go together. I
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: don't think they go together. I look at it. They're perfect.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: They go together. And she said, no, I don't think so.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: And she took my puzzle apart and she uncoupled the
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: pieces that I had spent hours finding. And she rearranged
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: the pieces. And she put them back together and it fit. Perfect.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: There was no lost piece. There was no defect. It
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: was just fallible me. So my prayer about you is
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: that this Ask Pastor John would perhaps come to you
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: the way my wife came to me and showed me, Johnny,
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: your fixation on the imperfection of this puzzle and that
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: the makers blew it. That's out of place. They really
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: do fit. This is going to be a beautiful picture.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: Just keep at it. Trust the promise that's on the
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: box there. It's true. The sufferings of this life are
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Yet the meaning of life is to know and enjoy
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: God and reflect some of the beauty of God as
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: we know him in Christ and one day see him
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: perfectly and unendingly enjoy him. Amen. There's a bigger picture
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: at play here, a bigger story than our lives, a
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: story that our lives are pulled into. Even when the
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: darkness seems hopeless and the shattered life that we have
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: seems meaningless, it is not. Suffering lies to us. Our
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: pain is not permanent. Our pain is not defective. Our
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: pain is not pointless. None of that. Why not? For
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: weight of glory beyond all comparison. 2 Corinthians 4.17 an
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: amazing promise for our darkest days. And yet it seems
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: a little odd, like why would God want us to
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: experience dark seasons where his felt presence is withdrawn from us?
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: That seems like an odd way to help us when
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: life feels most meaningless. If that question is on your mind,
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: we've covered that in the past as well on the podcast.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: See that section on deadness, depression, and desertion on pages
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: 395 and following in the Asbestos John book for more
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: on that topic. Well, does God use the pain in
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: our lives to kill the sin still in us? 1
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: Peter 4.1 seems to say yes, but it's a debated text.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: Next time, we'll ask Pastor John to walk us through
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: the text and the controversy when he rejoins us in
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: the recording studio. I'm Tony Reinke, Pastor John, and I
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: will see you back here on Monday.