Audio Transcript
Welcome back to the Ask Pastor John podcast with John Piper as we wrap up week number 675 of the podcast — 675 consecutive weeks of podcasting now. That’s almost thirteen years, over a quarter of my entire life. I hope this feed helps point you to the all-satisfying joy found alone in Jesus Christ; that’s what we give our lives to at DG, to this work of pointing you to Jesus Christ. It is our mission, every day at Desiring God, to make and share resources that help people find that joy in Jesus. If we have done this in your life, consider partnering with us in the mission. I know your life is busy, but as we come to the end of the year, if you have been blessed by free access to our resources, and you want to offset for others “the cost of free,” as we’re calling it, consider a one-time gift or monthly gift to help support everything we do. You can make that gift now or set up monthly giving right now at give.desiringGod.org.
Life is busy. Does it feel like God sometimes fades into the background of your days? Today on Ask Pastor John, Pastor John sounds a wake-up call against a silent killer.
We get there from our Bible reading. If you are reading along with us in the Navigators Bible Reading Plan, you know that we just started reading Zephaniah, leading to this question from a nineteen-year-old college student: “Hello, Pastor John, and thank you for Ask Pastor John, which I listen to every week, and love it! I write because Zephaniah 1:12 has been weighing on my heart. It says this: ‘At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, “The Lord will not do good, nor will he do ill.”’ Obviously, a strong warning against complacency, one I want to fully grasp and apply to my life, especially in terms of my goals and aspirations.
“As a very busy college student, it’s easy to get caught up in focusing on my own plans, sometimes feeling like God isn’t actively involved in the day to day of my life. Is that the warning here? If so, how can I avoid becoming complacent in my faith and ambitions, especially when it feels like things are just ‘going along’ without much change or excitement? What does this verse teach about living with purpose and faith, trusting that God is at work in everything — even when it seems quiet?”
An Adversary to All Ages
Here’s the key thing that our young friend says. She says, “As a college student, it’s easy to get caught up in focusing on my own plans” — and here’s the key part — “sometimes feeling like God isn’t actively involved in the day to day of my life. Is that the warning here?”
Well, the answer is yes — a resounding yes. That’s the warning. And not just for college students — oh my goodness. I’m learning how to be an old man. I’ve been studying this for a few years, and oh, goodness, if complacency can threaten the life of a 19-year-old, how can it threaten the life of a 79-year-old! “I’ve earned it!” That’s what retirement is: complacency.
Well, no, that’s not the way it’s supposed to be. God is not supposed to disappear into the background as we get consumed in the routines of this world. He’s not supposed to fade from our consciousness as we move through the ordinary exercises of life and daily reality. And that’s not just a problem for students; it’s a problem with human beings of all ages. It’s been a problem since the days of Zephaniah and the days of Jesus and Paul and Peter and Hebrews — all of whom address this dreadful reality, this dreadful threat of complacency.
Settling on the Dregs
Here’s the verse she was referring to:
At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
and I will punish the men
who are complacent,
those who say in their hearts,
“The Lord will not do good,
nor will he do ill.” (Zephaniah 1:12)
In other words, God’s not a factor anymore. He’s just not a factor in our lives. He is of no consequence. Things go on without him just fine, at 19 or 79. That’s the meaning of complacent.
The word complacent here translates an image which the old version, King James, translated literally. It translates the picture of wine settling on the dregs. The old word was lees, settling on the lees — the dregs. So, the picture is of a large jug of wine just poured from where the grapes are being pressed, and if the jug just sits there day after day — inactive, unused — things just settle to the bottom, undisturbed. That’s the picture. It’s a picture of people in Jerusalem totally unaware of the looming day of the Lord — virtually inactive, as far as spiritual reality is concerned. They are happily embedded in the routines of this world, and God has fallen so far into the background that he is of no practical consequence at all.
“Purchase the time; buy it up. Every minute is going by. You don’t ever get to live it again.”
And what Zephaniah does is sound a clear warning to such people today, and then, from God: “I will punish the men who are complacent.” In other words, they are going to be taken off guard. They are going to wake up when it’s too late and realize God is always and everywhere not only active but the main actor. And they have treated him with contempt as a nonfactor. So many people think treating God as a nonfactor is not an offense because they didn’t say anything. They didn’t call him names. They just ignored him, as if that’s not blasphemy.
More Warnings Against Complacency
Amos 6:1 says the same warning: “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria.” And when we turn to the New Testament, we find even more urgent warnings about complacency, especially in view of the second coming. Because God is not only always working in every detail of our lives, according to James 4:15 (“If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that”), but there will also be a sudden, climactic intervention of God we know not when, and we will suffer if we are complacent as it approaches, treating God as a nonfactor in our lives because we can’t see him.
So it is in Luke 21:34. Jesus says, “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.” Over and over, Jesus warned of spiritual life sinking into the complacency of routines as this world chokes out the spiritual reality in us. The word is choked — by what? “The cares and riches and pleasures of life” (Luke 8:14) — just ordinary life choking spiritual life to death as we fit complacently into the world.
Oh, how many times does Jesus say, “Stay awake; be alert.” The great danger for a college student — or anyone living in this fallen world — is not mainly some terrible, life-destroying sin, but the insidious, gradual fitting into this world system and losing any real sense that we are exiles and sojourners whose citizenship is not of this world. And the warnings are just continuous and resounding to help us keep that from happening.
And then there’s Paul: “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). “While people are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them . . . and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief . . . . So then let us not sleep, as others do” — that means to be spiritually indifferent — “but let us keep awake and be sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:3–6). Not complacent, in other words.
And then listen to these last words of Ephesians 5:15–16: “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” What a clear, resounding word to students and 79-year-olds and everybody in between. Purchase the time, folks; buy it up. Every minute is going by. You don’t ever get to live it again. It’s given to you as a free gift to multiply its significance for Christ and his kingdom. Don’t waste your life. That’s the exact opposite of complacency.
Or consider Hebrews 12:12–14:
Lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet. . . . Strive . . . for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
And then there’s Peter, blessed apostle: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
Restful but Alert
What shall we say? The Christian life is a life lived on a restful, high alert. We’re restful because Christ loved us, gave himself for us, so that by faith in him our sins are forgiven and we have peace with God and the hope for eternal life and joy — and it is sure. But we’re on high alert because we have a great enemy who wants to destroy our faith, make us useless in this world, diminish our capacities for the enjoyment of Christ, and ruin our effectiveness in Christ’s service.
When Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:27 that he pummels his body lest he prove to be a castaway, I picture a person driving a car on an important mission for Christ and about to fall asleep at the wheel — and smacking his own cheek. This is Paul. Paul said, “Wake up, Paul — come on, wake up! Don’t sleep through the revolution. Put your left elbow out into the freezing cold window in Minnesota. Stay awake. You’re on a mission. Your life counts for something.”
So, thank God for Zephaniah’s warning that God will punish the complacent who drift into treating God as a nonfactor in life. He is the number one factor in every situation, all the time.
