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Ask Pastor John

The Sick Love of Controversy

Ask Pastor John

Desiring God

John Piper, Unknown, 163859, Pastor, Ask, Theology, Desiring God, Religion & Spirituality/christianity, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Questions

4.83.8K Ratings

🗓️ 12 June 2023

⏱️ 15 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How can we recognize what Paul calls “an unhealthy craving for controversy” in ourselves and others? Pastor John identifies six traits of a controversy-loving spirit.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Good Monday. It's a big week for us in the podcast with two hot topics on the table. I'll

0:09.7

put them back to back because they're related to one another. Both are very relevant for

0:14.0

this season in church life where social media plays a large role in our culture, or at

0:20.3

least it seems like it plays a large role in our culture. Thursday, we're going to

0:25.0

look at how to best speak of cultural sins or how to not speak of cultural sins. Paul

0:30.9

tells us some things are so wicked. They're too shameful even to speak of. He says that

0:37.2

in Ephesians 512. So what cultural sins should we not even talk about? And what does Paul

0:43.1

mean here in this text? And why does it matter for us today? That's next time on Thursday.

0:47.2

But today we look at the sick love of controversy or the unhealthy craving for controversy.

0:53.4

As Paul calls it in 1st Timothy 6, 4. The question is from a podcast listener named Brett,

0:58.6

Pastor John Hello, we live in an age of controversy and that controversy loving spirit has come into

1:05.9

the church. The possible clearly warns us against people in the church who have a diseased or unhealthy

1:13.8

craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander,

1:22.6

evil suspicions and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the

1:28.2

truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. That's 1st Timothy 6, verses 4 to 5. I'm

1:36.6

wondering if you can lay out principles for what this diseased craving for controversy looks like

1:42.8

in the church today. I'll try to do that in just a moment. I need to lay out some principles to

1:50.5

try to avoid what Paul's denouncing in these verses. But first, let me say word about what Brett calls

1:59.6

our age of controversy. He's right, of course, but we probably shouldn't forget that even in our own

2:10.9

country, the bygone centuries have been just as if not more given to vitriolic language in

2:23.6

controversy. And the reason I say that is just because it's on my front burner because I'm reading

2:29.9

biographies in the last say six months. I've read biographies of John Marshall, first Supreme

...

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