John Piper, founder and teacher of DesiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary, took the stage at the Together For The Gospel conference to warn that some pastors avoid preaching about the importance of holy living because they live secret, sin-filled lives.
"Some pastors avoid preaching on the urgency and necessity of holiness because their own secret lives are morally compromised," the 76-year-old pastor contended. "They are wasting time on trifles. They are watching movies that fill their minds with worldliness and ungodliness. They are dabbling in pornography or worse."
"They are dishonest in their financial dealings. They continually overeat in bondage to food. They neglect the teaching of their children in things of the Lord and they don't pray with their wives. They are starting to medicate with wine at night, which they once called 'freedom.' Their casual mouth has become crude. ... And they are becoming second-handers [by] using other people's sermons."
...During his sermon, Piper said some pastors only preach about how Jesus' sacrificial shedding of blood means that there is grace for forgiveness. He said many of the pastors in such scenarios often avoid sharing sermons about how grace is also supposed to conquer sin and should lead to holier living.
"[Some pastors] have grown weary of fruitful Bible study. ... Is it any wonder that these pastors preach grace to forgive and not grace to conquer anyone? There's no mystery there," Piper preached.
"They lift high the cross covering all their sins and never make the biblical connection with the crucified One. ... He was crucified to conquer your pornography. He was crucified to conquer your laziness. He was crucified to conquer our gluttony. He was crucified to conquer our dishonesty. He was crucified to bring back the joy of creating your own sermons."
Piper warned about pastors who tend to "avoid anything approaching the kind of preaching that would confront people with their sin and would risk making them unhappy."
"There are pastors that are so deeply infected with the coddling culture that we live in [within] contemporary America. They're not only hypersensitive to being offended, but in the pulpit, they're fearful of stirring up anybody's displeasure," he emphasized. ..
John Piper on why some pastors have 'morally compromised' lives | Church & Ministries News