Give Your Life for Lasting Gain

0:00Do you believe in the Word of God? Become a Christian hedonist. Whether you call it that or not doesn't matter. Don't aim at the pleasures of fame. Don't aim at the pleasures of sexual gratification. Don't aim at the pleasures of wealth. Don't aim at the pleasure and contentment and comfort of safety. Aim at all satisfying joy. In God, which will empower you for humility and chastity and simplicity and risk taking. If you could go back and speak to your younger self, what would you say? I think most of us would have some kind of list. Piper had one too, and one thing he said is, don't give your life to pleasures that cannot last. I'm your host, Dan Cruver. In this episode of Light and Truth, John Piper points us to the kind of joy that frees us from sin and makes our lives fruitful for the glory of God.

1:11This talk was originally given at the Cross Preconference in Louisville, Kentucky on April 11, 2018. Six things that I would do if I were 22 again. Number one, if I were 22 again, I would marry a radical risk taking, go anywhere for Jesus, World Christian woman. In fact, I would marry Noel Henry. Not long after we met when I was 20, I was head over heels and love. I already talked about marriage through this relationship and said, if God called me to be a missionary to Africa, would you go? She said, yes, I would see myself called to be by your side wherever. We married when I was 22, and my first job was teaching in college. When I was 33, I felt the irresistible call to be a pastor.

2:12I asked her the morning after that meeting with God if she would support me in that, and she said, yes. One year into that ministry, I was so discouraged, I put my face in my hands at the dining room table, she was in the bedroom, and I said out loud, pretty serious. I think I'm going to Africa. And she didn't miss a beat from the other room and said, tell me when to pack. This is really significant that you marry the right woman. Four years into that ministry, we weathered that discouragement. I said to her one day when God had met us in World Missions, powerfully as a church, I said, what if we invited everybody from the church who was interested in missions to come over on Friday night? I was put on the living room, dining room, and see if we can inspire them. And she said, sure, let's do that. And a hundred people showed up, and twice a year, for 20 years, we had a hundred people in our living room,

3:13and took all the furniture and put it upstairs in the bedroom. That's a lot of work. And women don't like their houses intruded upon like that usually. So, lesson for you. Pray, unless you're called a singleness, pray that your future or present spouse be a radical risk taking, go anywhere for Jesus' world Christians. That's number one. Number two, if I were 22 again, I would take that young wife of mine and join a Bible believing, Bible preaching, Bible structured, Bible obedient church. And I would take her to church every Sunday morning without fail. And we would throw ourselves into the ministry of that local church in the hope that that community of believers would care for us and guard us and help us discover our gifts at age 22, 34, and then catapult us into a lifetime of ministry.

4:14So, we joined Lake Avenue Carregational Church in Pasadena, California when we were, I was 22, she was 21, and she discovered a gift for working with mentally disabled adults. And I discovered a gift teaching by teaching seventh grade boys the first year and ninth grade boys the second year. And the young Galilee and Marriedson School Class III year, and that decan group took hold on me, and Glenn Dawson laid hold of me, and watched over me for three years, sent me to Germany for three years, watched me at Bethlehem for a year, brought me out, and they ordained me seven years later. That's a relationship you cannot overestimate. So, lesson for you. Find a Bible believing, Bible preaching, Bible structured, Bible obedient church, join it, serve it, discover your gifts there, be accountable to that community as they help you discover and follow God's call on your life.

5:16Number three, if I were 22 again, I would go to seminary, and I would spend three or four years totally immersed in the most rigorous study of the Greek and Hebrew that I could possibly find for a lifetime of fruitful discovery of the glories of Christ in the Word of God in such a way that I would never waver no matter what in my commitment to believe and speak whatever the Bible teaches wherever God puts me. I would not prioritize in seminary practical courses, as valuable as those are, but every chance I got, I would prioritize taking exogetical courses. Because of my conviction at age 72, and I would put it back on that 22 year old, that in general practical skills are learned better on the job, in the church, and deepening and sharpening of exogetical skills for a lifetime of fruitful reading are best accomplished in a rigorous, give and take classroom setting with the watchful eye of a skilled teacher.

6:32Lesson for you, whether you're a 10 seminary or not, become as Bible saturated as you can, putting yourself under the influence of the most insightful Bible teachers, both dead and alive. Number four, if I were 22 again, I would resolve to read my Bible every day for the rest of my life as more important than eating or getting exercise or kissing my wife. There have been about 18,340 days since I turned 22, and I think I have read my Bible on more of those days than I have eaten. I have certainly read my Bible on more of those days than I have watched television or videos, and I am also certain that I have read my Bible on more of those days than I have kissed my wife, because she doesn't go with me on the road, usually, like here, and my Bible does, always does, never leave my Bible, leave my wife, not my Bible.

7:45But I have learned a few things about reading the Bible that I didn't know when I was 22, and I would form my resolve at any to like this. I resolve every day to read my Bible and not to settle for a hazy vague awareness of it, but push through the haze to the wording itself, and I would push into and through the wording of the text itself to the intention of the authors, human and divine, and I would push through the intention to the reality behind me. I would push into the wording of the words and the grammar and the logic, and I would push into that reality until it was an emotionally experienced reality, and I would push into and through that emotionally proportional reality until it became a word and a deed on my life, and I would push through that deed and that word until other people saw the reality and joined me in my encounter with God in the Bible.

8:59I would formulate my resolution to read the Bible every day. Nothing is revealed more quickly on the mission field than a superficial encounter with the living God and the glorious realities He has revealed in Scripture. A superficial Bible reading that does not penetrate through the words and intentions and reality and experience to deed and life and encounter with the living God will be of little use on the mission field in the face of massive demonic forces among the unreached peoples. Because you won't survive. Lesson for you, read your Bible every day. Every day of your life, no exceptions. Never say, I'll read it if I have time if you have time for breakfast. If you have time for breakfast, you have time for your Bible. Skip breakfast.

10:05Don't get your Bible reading pleasure from the fact that your conscience is clear because you check the Bible box. Get your pleasure from reading the Bible because of an encounter, a meeting, a fellowship with the living supernatural reality that you meet in the Scriptures. Number five. If I were 22 again, I would become a Christian hedonist, which I did and would do again. That is, I would seek to find more joy in God than anything else in the world for the sake of personal holiness, perseverance through pain and promotion of the glory of God. That's why I would become a Christian hedonist. That is, I would get clarity and certainty around the sentence, God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him. I would nail that sentence and I would either believe it or not believe it and if I believed it, I would go for broke in being a satisfied in God as I could possibly be 24, 7 over everything else.

11:17Which means that by means of savoring the sweetness of the promises of God in this precious book, I would put to death every rising quiver of pride and self-reliance and lust and greed and fear and by the power of the Holy Spirit seek to kill all those sins by the superior pleasure that we have in God. Because unless those sins die, I will be dogged from 22 to 72 by fruitlessness of life and damned in the next. I would recognize at age 22 that the fight for joy in God through the bright and dismal circumstances of life is the essential key in my mission in life for authenticating holiness, fruitful perseverance so that God gets the glory.

12:21Being happy in God more than you are happy in anything else is the key to holiness and fruitfulness to the glory of God. So lesson for you, become a Christian hedonist. Whether you call it that or not doesn't matter. Don't aim at the pleasures of fame, don't aim at the pleasures of sexual gratification, don't aim at the pleasures of wealth, don't aim at the pleasure and contentment and comfort of safety. Aim at all satisfying joy in God which will empower you for humility and chastity and simplicity and risk-taking sacrificial love for other people. Lastly, number six. If I were 22 again, I would recognize that I am not my own, that I have been bought with a price and that I belong body and soul to Jesus Christ for His use and His glory in this world any way He please.

13:37And I would offer myself up to God at age 22 and tell Him, helps to say it out loud to Him repeatedly, tell Him that He may do with me anything He pleases. He may kill me, He may torture me, He may send me anywhere, He can do me no wrong, He owes me nothing. And I would tell Him that anytime He please, anywhere He please, I am His at His disposal. And I would memorize Psalm 25. It's had a very crucial role for me in seminary. I would memorize Psalm 25 and trust the amazing promises of guidance that are in those precious verses. Good and upright is the Lord.

14:37Therefore, He instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humble His way. You don't have to be left to your own wisdom as to what you spend your life doing if you believe those verses in Psalm 25. He's going to teach you His way for you. Lesson for you, memorize Psalm 25. Pray it as your own and give yourself wholly up to God and His mission and trust Him. I would do a lot more things at age 22, but that's what I would do if I had 20 minutes to tell you. Thank you for listening to this episode of Light and Truth where we are committed to providing God-centered preaching to help you see Christ clearly and treasure Him truly. I'm your host, Dan Cruver.

15:43On our next episode, John Piper begins a six-part series titled The Author of Their Stories, glimpses of God in ancient lives. I hope you'll join us. For more resources, visit desiringgod.org.