12/29/2023 0 Comments A wasted life john piper![]() The way we display the supreme worth of Jesus in our lives is by treasuring Christ above all things, and then making life choices that show that our joy is not finally in things or even in other people, but in Christ.Īnd the same is true in the second half of what Paul said in Philippians 1:20, namely, his honoring Christ by the way he dies. Family and friends and your own life are a place to show that Christ is more valuable than any of them. Houses and lands and cars and computers are used to show that Christ is more valuable than they are. Food is used to show that Christ is more valuable than food is. Money is used to show that Christ is more valuable than money. “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of Christ.” Which means that the life that displays the worth of Christ-the unwasted life-is the life that uses everything to show that Christ is more valuable that it is. In other words, Paul displays the worth of Christ by counting everything else as loss for Christ’s sake. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. The answer is given in Philippians 3:7-8: How does Paul show that Christ is his treasure by life? There is the life half of the verse, and the death half. He says that his passion is that Christ be honored (or magnified, or made to look great) whether by life or by death. You can see this in the way Paul talks about the two halves of his statement in verse 20. There is one central criterion that should govern all the decisions you make in life and in death: Will this help make Jesus Christ look like the treasure he is? The reason you have life is to make Jesus Christ look great. Paul’s all-consuming passion was that in his life and in his death Jesus Christ be honored, that is, that Jesus Christ be made to look like the infinite treasure that he is. Paul says, “It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.” Here is the text that, perhaps more than any other, governs what life is really about: Philippians 1:20-21. The great passion of the unwasted life is to magnify Christ. Money is given to us so that we will use it in a way that shows money is not treasure, but Christ is our treasure. Possessions are given to us so that by the way we use them, we can show that they are not our treasure, but Christ is our treasure. Life is given to us so that we can use it to make much of Christ. The passion of the unwasted life is to joyfully display the supreme excellence of Christ by the way we live. “What is the unwasted life? What does it look like? What is the essence of the unwasted life? A life that puts the infinite value of Christ on display for the world to see. I speak as a father who has children your age, and I am jealous with Jesus that they and you not waste your life. It is so short and so fragile and so final. Every morning when I walked into the kitchen as a boy I saw hanging on the wall the plaque that now hangs in my living room: “Only one life, twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” And now I am almost 58, and the river of life is spilling over the falls of my days with tremendous speed. Few things make me tremble more than the possibility of taking this onetime gift of life and wasting it. This 20th anniversary edition of MacArthur's provocative, Scripture-based book contains one new chapter and is further revised to provide Christians in the 21st century a fresh perspective on the intrinsic relationship between faith and works, clearly revealing Why Jesus is both Savior and Lord to all who believe.“ It is possible to waste your life. ![]() MacArthur asks, 'What does it really mean to be saved?' He urges readers to understand that their conversion was more than a mere point in time, that, by definition, it includes a lifetime of obediently walking with Jesus as Lord. In The Gospel According to Jesus, MacArthur tackles the idea of 'easy believism,' challenging Christians to re-evaluate their commitment to Christ by examining their fruits. John MacArthur's The Gospel According to Jesus is one of those books. ![]() These extraordinary books are read, re-read, and discussed in churches, Bible study groups, and homes everywhere. Over the past 50 years, a handful of books have become true classics, revered world-wide for their crystal-clear presentation of the Gospel and lauded for their contribution to the Christian faith. The first edition of The Gospel According to Jesus won wide acclaim in confronting the 'easy-believism' that has characterized some aspects of evangelical Christianity.
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