Daily evangelical ministry requires courage. Whether it’s the courage to continue when you’re insulted or to sincerely repent when you make a mistake, or not hide when you’re physically threatened, does Christian processing require various kinds of courage?Whether society is becoming more post-Christian or not. .
Aren’t they just death threats? what John Piper received, but the daily friction against the gospel that requires courage, but in this five-minute clip, Piper tells the story of a death threat he received at the beginning of his pastoral ministry and explains how to have the necessary spiritual resources. to respond in a courageous way that honors God.
- David Mathis: John.
- There is a kind of courage that it may take to be a spokesperson for the gospel.
- A pastor in a local church.
- A Christian writer.
- At the beginning of his pastorate in Bethlehem.
- He received a death threat at some point.
- Do you want to tell us about this and some principle of courage for active pastors?.
John Piper: Yes, before we tell this story, courage is needed every day, because I think the dangers in the department don’t come mainly when we’re under threat of death. I believe that most shepherds will not be threatened with death, they will be criticized by a good old man. So the value needed for a stable ministry is value in relationships, where almost everyone around you seems to want you to change your belief because of something that looks good, and you don’t think you should. that, and you have to have courage. So I don’t want to give the impression that the only time you need courage is when there’s some kind of extraordinary danger to your family or your body.
But I will say that more and more these days, with the kind of positions we are called to take, not belligerently or stridently, but firmly, regarding certain socially acceptable sins, we will be increasingly perversely criticized, and perhaps physically threatened. Because people will see us as a threat to democratic order, or whatever. When that happens, we will have to remember some very clear texts of the New Testament.
But for me, there have been several times. The one you’re talking about, which I mentioned earlier, goes back to my first three years, I still lived in my old house. And I think it was Easter, Sunday morning. It was an important Sunday morning. I got an anonymous phone call that said, “I’m going to end your life. “I don’t remember the exact words, but “I’m going to kill you. “I turned it off. I said at Christmas, I called the police, it was early in the morning. The police came and I just said what I heard. And they said, “I think we know what’s going on. “As if they’d already seen this happen to others.
But then I prayed and walked to church, and I thought, “Well, he can pick me up on the way to church. “So, what are you doing in those moments, I think? Well, I can hide, I can stop serving, or anything else, but I didn’t think it would be good for the church, certainly not that Sunday. Can you imagine someone calling all the local shepherds and saying they’ll be killed like that?that not all Easter services are carried out!No way.
You see, a text like Matthew 10, where Jesus says, “Fear not those who can kill the body, and after that they cannot do anything, they fear the one who can throw body and soul into hell, that’s what I say you should be afraid of. And he goes on and says, “Don’t you sell two sparrows to roast?”And none of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s consent. Aren’t the hairs on your head counted by your Father?Now pay attention to both parts of the story, sparrow and hair. Sparrows are incorrigible without consequences and God has total control, no sparrow is irrelevant, and he does not die without planning it. And no hair turns black or white without God’s will, which means, “I protect you!You’re my son, I love you, I’m in charge of your life, I’ve got everything under control, stay on the roofs,?same context, stay on the roofs, and say what needs to be said. Because everything will be revealed in the end, and all these criticisms will come to light t, and you will be justified, they will be judged, so keep serving me.
It’s just a little text, and there’s so much more. If you need a standard text, Romans 8 is always standard. Where he says, “They kill us all day! We were counted as sheep for the slaughterhouse. Ah, things, we’re more than winners, through whom he loved us. Meaning: Yes, he can kill you. But if he kills you, you and your church are more than winners. God will bring incredible good through this.