\n \n <\/p>\n Tony Reinke<\/a><\/p>\n <\/em>\n <\/p>\n Christians are called to high standards with the words we speak. On the tongue\u2019s use and misuse of words, four general principles guide us.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n \n John Piper makes the case that although questions about the second coming are important, there’s an even more fundamental question that we all must ask ourselves: Am I truly longing for Christ’s return?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n \n
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\n John Piper on Profanity, Crude Joking, and Using the Word \u201cDang\u201d
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\n Podcast: John Piper Answers Common Questions about the Second Coming (John Piper)
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\n John Piper on Gambling, the Lottery, and Fantasy Football
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Is it wrong to seek online fame?<\/h2>\n
Influence is not wrong. Seeking to influence others is very Christian. But many Christians now set out to become social-media \u201cinfluencers.\u201d When does this become fame-seeking? <\/p>\n
The desire to be famous<\/em> is a sin. But the desire to be influential<\/em> isn\u2019t, not inherently. \u201cAnd the problem arises when the pleasure sought in being made much of is greater than the pleasure sought in being of service<\/em>. So, there is the rub. It is not a sin to desire that those who know us think well of us, provided that our hope and our prayer and our effort is that they will see the grace of God in us and give glory to God and, in that sense, make much of us or think rightly or well of us.\u201d This goes back to our calling. We exist to make much of Christ, to find God to be all-satisfying, to find his promises completely trustworthy, and overall to be a person \u201cwhose joy is overflowing, even in suffering, in the pursuit of other people\u2019s joy in God.\u201d That\u2019s why we exist. <\/p>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n Tony Reinke<\/a><\/p>\n <\/em> Distilled from the popular podcast Ask Pastor John<\/em>, this comprehensive book compiles pastor-theologian and bestselling author John Piper\u2019s answers to life\u2019s perplexing questions about situational ethics, spiritual disciplines, theology, and more.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n But religious acts done in the pursuit of self-glorification are insidiously wicked, and Jesus gives us all sorts of warnings to check our vainglory (Matt. 5:16; 6:1\u20136, 16\u201318; 23:5). \u201cSo all those warnings, it seems to me, are meant to give us tests to see if God is our true reward. All of them say, \u2018If you seek satisfaction in man\u2019s praise, you will not have your Father\u2019s reward.\u2019 The whole focus is on: Where is your heart? Where is your treasure? Is it in fame, or is it in God?\u201d <\/p>\n Our motive for influence reveals what we treasure. It\u2019s not a sin to seek to become an influencer. In fact, \u201cit may be a sin not to want to be influential. We should want to win more and more people to Christ. It is a sin not to want our lives to count for winning more and more people to Christ. We should want to do more and more good, to relieve suffering, especially eternal suffering.\u201d This is influence in service of others. <\/p>\n In the end, \u201clet\u2019s all admit how deadly difficult this distinction is\u201d\u2014the desire to bless others and not self-glorify. It\u2019s the ongoing battle inside us, between the Spirit and the flesh (Rom. 8:5\u20137).1<\/sup><\/p>\n Paul tells us that in the end times we can expect to see a spike in \u201clovers of self \u201d (2 Tim. 3:1\u20132). So are vlogs, selfies, and self-focused social media proof of this end-time self-love? <\/p>\n Yes<\/em> (and no<\/em>).<\/p>\n \u201cYes<\/em>, vlogs, selfies, and self-focused social media are often (not always) an expression of the self-exaltation, self-preoccupation, and self-fascination of these last days. But no<\/em>, these new technologies are not the emerging of such final experiences of sin. They\u2019ve always been there. The new technologies are giving new ways to express old sins.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes<\/em>, these are the last days, and we should be looking keenly and expectantly and hopefully and joyfully for the coming of our precious, longed-for, all-satisfying Lord Jesus. But no, these are not yet the very last days. But they are very much like the last days that began two thousand years ago in the first century.\u201d Paul says that \u201cin the last days\u201d there will come people who are selflovers, and we ought to \u201cavoid such people\u201d right now (2 Tim. 3:1\u20135). Because they were already here. <\/p>\n But the larger question is about why we have \u201cselves\u201d to begin with. \u201cGod gave us a self, not so that we would have something to exalt in<\/em>, but something to exalt with<\/em>. He gave us a self, not to be the object<\/em> of our joy, but the subject<\/em> of joy. That is, not to be the focus of happiness in front of the mirror or the selfie, but the furnace<\/em> of happiness in front of Jesus. He gave us a self not as an instrument of self-worth but as an instrument of worship.\u201d Indeed, God intended for the self to be \u201ca desire factory,\u201d producing \u201cendless desires\u201d that push us to seek after \u201ca joy outside ourselves.\u201d Endless desires are never satisfied by the self. Those desires are given \u201cto lead us outside our self\u2014indeed, outside the world, because nothing in this world finally satisfies.\u201d Our desires are meant to lead us to God, in whose presence is fullness of joy and at whose right hand are pleasures forevermore (Ps. 16:11). \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019d say to the self-absorbed user of social media. The self was never meant to satisfy us. The self was never meant to find satisfaction in the perception or promotion of self. The self was made for God.\u201d2<\/sup><\/p>\n Our social-media posts will be superficial if our feed is full of frivolous voices. \u201cDo not be deceived: \u2018Bad company ruins good morals\u2019\u201d (1 Cor. 15:33). \u201cSuperficiality is a very, very, very contagious disease. If you only hang out with superficial people, you will almost certainly be a superficial person. If you only hang out with superficial social media and TV programs, you will almost certainly be a superficial person.\u201d On the flip side, walking with the wise\u2014following the wise\u2014will make you wise (Ps. 119:63; Prov. 13:20; Heb. 10:24).3<\/sup><\/p>\n Yet on social media, \u201ceverybody talks incessantly. Most of the talking is clever. It\u2019s repartee. It\u2019s banter. All of these together produce a life that results in a superficial, trivial, clever Christian banter, shaped for the Twittersphere and crafted for spreading on Facebook. I don\u2019t think we can do real evangelism on the basis of this kind of ubiquitous levity.\u201d4<\/sup><\/p>\n Our desires are meant to lead us to God, in whose presence is fullness of joy and at whose right hand are pleasures forevermore.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Like the humble brag, social media gives us new opportunities to broadcast our good works to the world. So how do we let our light shine before others so that they may see our good works and give glory to our Father who is in heaven (Jesus\u2019s command in Matthew 5:16) but also not practice our righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them (Jesus\u2019s command in Matthew 6:1)? <\/p>\n Jesus motivates our modesty with future rewards (Matt. 6:1). To desire that our virtue be rewarded now by our peers is evil\u2014because \u201cit signals you are not content with your Father\u2019s reward. You need to add to it. You crave human praise, and so God\u2019s reward is not sufficient for you. You need to supplement it by a little human adulation, and that\u2019s what makes it so evil.\u201d <\/p>\n So don\u2019t blow a trumpet and bring attention to your good works done in private (Matt. 6:2\u20134). When you give to the needy, \u201cdon\u2019t tweet your soup kitchen picture.\u201d Do righteous deeds \u201cso quietly that your right hand is able to make the gift to the needy and your left hand was hanging out on the other side and didn\u2019t even know what happened.\u201d Don\u2019t aim for self-praise. For example, it\u2019s one thing to encourage others to pray for victims of a tragedy. It\u2019s another thing to say that you did pray for a certain situation. Know this difference. Jesus calls us \u201cto make a concerted effort\u201d to keep our prayers, deeds, and generosity to the poor unseen by others (Matt. 6:5\u20136). <\/p>\n But there remains \u201ca real problem.\u201d How do we also allow our deeds to be so seen that others praise God for them (Matt. 5:14\u201316)? We should aim to serve in secret, but often we cannot. Three suggestions. <\/p>\n Many practical deeds of love \u201csimply cannot be hidden, especially from those for whom you\u2019re doing the deeds. You can\u2019t stop and help somebody change a tire without them watching you do it. You can\u2019t risk your life during a public act of terrorism to rescue a child without the crowd seeing what you\u2019re doing.\u201d Many good deeds can\u2019t be hidden. But most can. Imagine going online to donate to a cause and right there you see \u201ca little button that says, \u2018Give anonymously.\u2019 A real test, right?\u201d Will you donate anonymously? Or put your name on it? <\/p>\n<\/li>\n Jesus recalibrates the goal and end of our love. Good works are not for the public theater of self-aggrandizement. We do good deeds so that more and more people will be pulled into worship of the living God. \u201cChristians are never merely public do-gooders. We want people to know God, love God, serve God, glorify God, be saved, and be with God forever. This is the great passion of mercy ministries and justice ministries. If it\u2019s not, we are probably being politically correct in order to win the praise of whatever group we happen to prize at the time.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/li>\n We are all acquainted with the insidious desire to be worshiped. \u201cWe all know that there is a way to act publicly that gives the impression that you crave the approval and the praise of other people. This certainly comes to the fore in Twitter and Instagram and other social-media outlets.\u201d It\u2019s fleshly, not holy. Works of self-aggrandizement are a turnoff. It deters others; it doesn\u2019t win them. <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n Jesus\u2019s profound words in Matthew 5\u20136 tell us that we should be \u201cdeeply content with the reward of God\u2014knowing him, loving him, treasuring him as supremely satisfying and glorious.\u201d We should not crave the praise of man as if the praise of God is insufficient for us, \u201cwhich is what craving signifies.\u201d We should love genuinely, driven by the goal that others \u201cwould come to worship God and give glory to him.\u201d And to that end we pray, \u201cFill us with spiritual desires, not vain, egoistic desires.\u201d5<\/sup><\/p>\n \n Notes:<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n This article is adapted from<\/em> Ask Pastor John: 750 Bible Answers to Life’s Most Important Questions<\/a> by Tony Reinke.<\/em><\/p>\n ![\"Ask](\"https:\/\/static.crossway.org\/studio-files\/media\/41d55d2ac0a423a496d1b2a78e4cffd76d858b1f.jpg\")
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\n <\/h3>\nSelf-absorption and selfie sticks<\/h2>\n
Social-media superficiality<\/h2>\n
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Should I Instagram my good works to magnify Christ?<\/h2>\n
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