Audio Transcript

Welcome back to a new week. On this Monday, we return to the topic of AI. We touched on it recently in APJ 1985, “John Piper on ChatGPT.” And there, Pastor John, you explained that Christian Hedonism offers us a unique angle on AI, emphasizing that God is glorified when humans not only understand him but also rejoice in him from the heart — something AI, lacking spiritual affections and a supernatural heart, cannot replicate. AI is fundamentally disconnected from God’s intended purpose for intelligence. Since then, you followed up with more thoughts in your Sing! Conference message, explaining why we never hear about “Artificial Emotion.”

I suppose there’s still a lot to address here. As you build out your thoughts on AI, we revisit the topic with two new angles raised by podcast listeners: a pastor and a college-ministry leader. The first email, from an anonymous pastor, asks this: “Pastor John, do you think it’s okay to use AI platforms — like Gemini or ChatGPT — to help draft a sermon, youth lesson, or Bible study, as long as I review, adjust, and ensure it aligns with God’s word?” The second email comes from a college-ministry leader: “Hello, Pastor John! Thank you for this podcast and the ways it has blessed so many. My question is, Can I use AI to write my newsletter to ministry supporters? I provide real updates and true facts, but I find writing particularly frustrating. While AI would help me write newsletters more quickly and frequently, I worry it could feel misleading to my supporters. What are the potential dangers of pastors using AI for ministry tasks like sermon preparation and newsletter writing?”

Let’s start with a definition. I got this straight off Google. It’s another artificial intelligence defining artificial intelligence. “Artificial intelligence is a technology that enables computers and machines to simulate human learning, comprehension, problem-solving, decision-making, creativity, and autonomy.”

What AI Will Always Lack

What you just referred to, Tony, in the question is my message at Sing! where I drew attention to the fact that missing from that definition, that list of things that it simulates, is emotion. Feelings are not listed there. Why? I made a big deal out of that. Because the ultimate purpose of the universe is that God be glorified, and he is glorified not merely by being rightly thought about, logically comprehended, but by rightly being enjoyed, admired, appreciated, valued. And God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in him, which means no artificial intelligence will ever be able to worship.

Worship is not simply right thinking, which computers can do. Worship is right feeling about God. That’s really crucial, unless we begin to think that artificial intelligence can take the place of human beings in accomplishing the divine purpose in the universe. It can’t. The affections of the human heart are fundamentally of another nature than the logical thinking process of the human mind. We are not bothered — I’m not bothered anyway — that a computer can simulate human logical reasoning, but we consider it ludicrous when a machine attempts to rejoice or delight or be glad or stand in awe or be amazed or feel grief or fear. We know that these are the making of the human soul so uniquely that they will not be replaced by machines. The very phrase “artificial emotion” is an oxymoron.

So, that was the point of the message at Sing! And I think that distinction between artificial intelligence and artificial emotion frees us from an overly fearful reaction to what AI can do and can’t do.

What’s New About AI

What we have, essentially, in the form of artificial intelligence — called ChatGPT or others, but I’m focusing on ChatGPT since that’s the one I’m most familiar with and have worked with most — what we have here is a powerful online assistant designed by its own definition. If you type into ChatGPT, “What are you?” it will tell you, “[I am an assistant] to understand and generate human-like text based on the input it receives. Users can ask questions, seek information, or engage in conversation, and ChatGPT responds with relevant and coherent text.” That’s crucial.

Now, that’s new. Google doesn’t write essays or poems. ChatGPT does. So, you can get a lot of information from Google — ask it all kinds of questions, and get the answers you want. It won’t write a poem for you, and ChatGPT will. Which means that ChatGPT has at least these two distinct functions: information and composition. You can ask ChatGPT to give you the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, for example. You can say, “Write me a one-hundred-word paragraph describing the symptoms,” and it would just write a beautiful one-hundred-word paragraph describing the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and give you a list.

In that sense, ChatGPT is simply a very sophisticated addition to other sources we regularly use to help us know what we need to know and understand what we need to understand: dictionaries, encyclopedias, articles, books, Google searches, and so on. We’ve been doing this for a thousand years — getting help from other people to help us know what we need to know, understand what we need to understand. That’s just relatively old school if you use ChatGPT that way.

“Use ChatGPT for information and inspiration. But don’t use it for composition unless you’re going to give credit.”

What’s new is that you can ask ChatGPT to write a two-thousand-word sermon on the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. In fact, you can type in, “Please write me a two-thousand-word sermon on the prodigal son from Luke 15 in the style and language of theologian John Piper or John Calvin or R.C. Sproul.” And you will get an astonishingly well-written sermon in the style and language of the theologian that you ask about. Or you can ask GPT to write your monthly newsletter. Just give him a few facts and tell him to write it in X-number of words, and he’ll do it as well as you can do it, probably.

AI Doing APJ

Now, here’s something for you to think about. When I saw what, Tony, you wanted me to talk about here with AI, I went to ChatGPT, and here’s what I typed in: “Please write an eight-hundred-word answer, in the theology and style of theologian John Piper, to the question, What are the dangers of a pastor using AI?” That was what I asked. It took him five seconds, and he produced an 857-word essay that was so good that if I were reading it right now, I don’t think you, Tony, or your listeners would know that I’m reading from ChatGPT. It was amazing.

There was an introduction, and then there was point 1 (the danger of disconnection from the divine and a quote from 1 Corinthians 2), point 2 (the risk of impersonal ministry and a quote from John 10) — they’re quoting Scripture because John Piper does that sort of thing, right? — point 3 (the challenge of theological integrity and a quote from Hebrews 4), point 4 (the peril of ethical compromise), point 5 (the threat of idolatry in efficiency and a quote from Psalm 127), and a conclusion called “A Call for Discernment.” I mean, it is excellent, unbelievable.

And if I had read that to you as my own, it would have been wicked. This is what I want the folks to hear. Wicked — I’m using a strong word because I feel strongly about this. This goes to the heart of God and the meaning of Christianity and the integrity of the church and her ministers. Neither God nor his people speak in a way so as to bring about in the minds of other people thoughts that are not true about us or what we say, or feelings in them that are not appropriate about us. That is, we do not deceive. We are people of truth and transparency and honesty through and through, or we are nothing.

Appalling Shortcut

So, my answer: No, don’t have ChatGPT write your newsletter. Don’t do it, unless you’re going to put in clear letters at the top, “This newsletter was created by ChatGPT.” That’s honest, and your supporters won’t like it. Even the secular world, without any of our Christian commitments — namely, The Chicago Manual of Style. You know what that is? It tells you how to do footnotes and everything. The Chicago Manual of Style already has guidelines for how to cite ChatGPT sources. When you’re quoting from something that was created by ChatGPT, The Chicago Manual of Style tells you how to give it credit. And if the world does that, oh my goodness, how much more should we be concerned to be honest through and through?

And second, no, don’t have ChatGPT write the first draft of your sermon, which you then check, adjust, and customize. Frankly, I’m appalled at the thought — appalled. I know that resources and websites have existed forever to help pastors cut corners: create your outlines, provide illustrations, tell you how to do research, and so on. There’s nothing new about this, and it’s been appalling to me all the way along, for this reason: one of the qualifications for being an elder-pastor-preacher in the Bible is the gift or the ability to teach, didaktikos (1 Timothy 3:2). That means you must have the ability, the gift, to read a passage of Scripture, understand the reality it deals with, feel the emotions it is meant to elicit, be able to explain it to others clearly, illustrate and apply it for their edification. That’s a gift you must have. It’s your number-one job. If you don’t have it, you should not be a pastor.

Let’s use ChatGPT and other sources that are coming along for information, even for inspiration, just like you use commentaries and articles and books and songs and poetry. But don’t use it for composition unless you’re going to give credit for it. So, if you’re going to have ChatGPT write your first draft and you’re going to tweak it, then you better say to your people, “ChatGPT, artificial intelligence, has composed the word of God for you this morning.”

Audio Transcript

Welcome back to the Ask Pastor John podcast. About a month ago, we looked at how to apply Old Testament stories to our lives — some helpful Bible reading tools there for how to move from ancient Old Testament narratives to our own lives now. That was APJ 2118.

Today, we look at sermon application more specifically. How important is life application to a sermon? Can you even have a sermon without application? Or is application optional and unnecessary? It’s a great question from a young woman from Washington state: “Hello, Pastor John, and thank you for the Ask Pastor John podcast. I’m writing to say that my pastor does a great job teaching us the details of the Bible. But Sundays are also very much academic lectures. While I leave church with a head full of knowledge and history and facts, I don’t often come away with a message I can apply to my life that helps me grow as a Christian. I’ve asked him to consider adding some application to his sermons, but the suggestion has led to no changes that I can perceive.

“You’ve heard this exact same criticism yourself. I remember you saying in APJ episode 1968, titled ‘Ten Criticisms of John Piper’s Preaching,’ that the number nine criticism was ‘You don’t give enough application, Piper. You focus mainly on exposition, and not enough on application to real-life situations.’ And then you suggested that a decade of ten-minute applications in Ask Pastor John episodes is your way of ‘doing penance for all those years without ten minutes of application at the end of the sermon.’ Quite funny. But seriously, how much life application should a preacher seek to offer in a Sunday sermon?”

I doubt that it is possible to give a quantitative answer to the question “How much life application should a preacher give in a sermon?” But I think we will get at it by analyzing what application is in preaching. It’s not a simple thing. How does application relate to exposition (or another word for exposition would be explanation)?

Expositing by Applying

I want to make the case that all good application is further exposition. That is, it’s part of the explanation of the meaning of the text. It’s not something merely added on to the exposition or explanation. Good application more deeply explains — makes the original meaning clearer, sharper, more compelling. And I want to make the case that the other way around is also true — namely, no exposition or explanation of the text is complete as exposition without application to real contemporary living.

Now, that may sound like I’m just contradicting my pattern in life, but hear me out. God’s communication to us is never without implications for the living of our lives. Those implications are part of what he is trying to communicate in the Bible. They’re not a separate thing. It’s part of what he’s trying to communicate — the implications for our lives of what he teaches. Therefore, the exposition of that communication is not complete if those implications do not touch the lives of the people in the pew. And that touching we often call application.

So, you can see I’m not happy with the hard dividing line between explanation and application. Good and full explanation includes application, and good and helpful application deepens explanation. There is no hard-and-fast line between them.

Example of Simple Exposition

I think I can show this by taking a sample text and describing three stages or kinds of exposition merging with application. So, let’s take Romans 8:13. Paul says, “If you live according to the flesh you will die.” Let’s just take that phrase. The rest of it says, “but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live,” but I don’t have time to deal with both halves.

“Good and full explanation includes application, and good and helpful application deepens explanation.”

“If you live according to the flesh you will die.” Now, the preacher’s first job is to explain what that means. What is God trying to communicate to his people? To do that, we need to explain what “flesh” is, we need to explain what “dying” is, and we need to explain what “live according to the flesh” is. So, flesh, dying, living — that has to be explained. At least those three things have to be exposited or opened or explained — not with ideas coming out of our own head, but with Paul’s ideas, so that we’re thinking his thoughts after him, not just making up our own thoughts and putting them in his mouth.

So, to explain the meaning of “flesh,” the preacher might back up a few verses and see how the word “flesh” was used in verses 7 and 8. Or he might go to Galatians 5:19 and show from “the works of the flesh” what the flesh is. With regard to the meaning of “death,” he might observe that everybody dies of physical death, whether they live according to the flesh or not. And so, death in this verse must be more than physical death, because only those who live according to the flesh will die this death. He might argue that way and go to Romans 6:23 to flesh it out. Thirdly, he might observe that “living according to the flesh” would mean that the impulses of the flesh that he has now defined get the upper hand and control the life.

Now, the pastor may take five or ten or fifteen minutes to do that. I just took two. And he unpacks the three explanatory ideas of flesh, death, living, and he may do so with zero reference to the people sitting in front of him. That, I think, is what gives preaching a lecture feel and makes a person think that his mind is being taught, but his life is not being shaped.

Applicatory Exposition

So, what I think is better than that is for the preacher, at every point in the exposition, the explanation, to look the people in the eye over and over again in the exposition using the pronoun you — they’re in the third pew — and asking them, “Do you see these realities? Do you see them right now in your own life? Do you know what your flesh is? Do you know what living is and what dying and heaven and hell are? I’m talking to you.” And he’s doing that as he does exposition. He’s not abstracted, like he’s outside the room during exposition and inside the room during application.

No. Every explanation is not an explanation in the abstract, but an explanation, as it were, of some dynamic in our lives. I would call this “applicatory exposition” or “applicatory explanation.” The preacher’s not waiting until the explanation is done to press these realities on the hearers. You look at them in the eye and you say, “Do you know what your flesh is?” And he’s saying that during his exposition on what is the flesh. If you don’t know what your flesh is, how will you obey this text?

In other words, you’re creating an existential problem for these people as you’re doing the exposition to show them how the exposition itself is very relevant for their lives right now in this moment. “Do you want to know what your flesh is? Or are you just sitting there indifferent to whether you live or die, according to this text?” Those kinds of questions are eyeball-to-eyeball connections. They don’t have to wait for application.

That’s the way you talk as you do explanation. If “living according to the flesh” means daily life without reference to God, say, you call attention to the fact that this is your life we’re dealing with right now. “As I do this explanation, I’m dealing with your life. You’re going to die if you live according to the flesh. Pay attention to what I’m doing here. This is for you. This exposition has enormous immediate applicatory significance for your life. Is your life lived without reference to God most of the time?” If “dying” means permanently and in hell, ask them, “When was the last time you pondered the possibility of hell? Does it have a functioning place in your life? This verse sure calls you to have that place in your life.”

Another name you might give to this kind of exposition or explanation is “urgency of exposition.” Exposition itself can be done academically or existentially with a sense of urgency, because everything in this text matters ultimately. You don’t have to wait until the last ten minutes of the sermon to urgently press these realities that you’re expositing onto the hearts of the hearers.

Illustrative Exposition

Now, here’s the second stage of exposition after this kind of urgent applicatory exposition. I might call it “illustrative exposition,” and I think this is what many people think of when they think of application. You look at your people and you ask, “What would be an example this afternoon at three o’clock of living according to the flesh?” And you pause and you wait. Let them think.

And he might say, “You will be living according to the flesh this afternoon at three o’clock, husband, if your wife says something that feels demeaning or dismissive, and you sink into a sequence of emotions like self-pity, anger, sullenness, pouting, withdrawal. That is not the way of Christ. That is not the way of the Spirit, men. That is the way of the flesh. And if you live in that way without repentance, you will go to hell. It’s that practical, guys.” That’s what I’d call “illustrative exposition.” And I say it’s exposition. Yes, I say it’s exposition, not just illustration. Because at that moment, this text just might open up with its proper meaning to those husbands who have been daydreaming until I nailed them.

Soul-Penetrating Exposition

Let me mention one more stage of the exposition, which we might call “soul-penetrating exposition.” At this point, the preacher might pose the question, “How does this verse motivate you, congregation, not to live according to the flesh? How does it motivate you?” Pause. Wait. Let them look down at their text. The answer is, “It threatens you with death and hell if you do live according to the flesh. That’s how it motivates you.”

Now, that’s going to make people really uncomfortable, right? You’ve just created a big problem, because everybody knows that’s not a good enough motivation. But then you ask the more penetrating question, “Is the fear of hell, which this verse creates — it ought to — an adequate motivation for putting the flesh to death?” And you pause and you wait. See what they would answer in their head. All of this is application with urgency. And then you take another ten minutes in your sermon to unpack how it is that you put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit — and not just by fear — and what that means.

So, what I’m saying is that there is a way to do exposition that is applicatory and illustrative and penetrating. And we’re not to insist that pastors carve up their sermons between exposition and application. I want to encourage pastors to have a flavor and a spirit of penetrating, urgent, applicatory exposition at every moment in the sermon.

The title of this message is Everyone Is Everlasting — But Where? Where will everyone be beyond death, forever? I would like us to think together for a few minutes about your everlasting future — your future beyond this earthly life — including how your life now relates to the everlasting future of other people, especially those groups of people who, as we speak, have no access to the knowledge of Jesus Christ and the good news of everlasting life through him.

Everlasting God

God is everlasting in both directions, past and future.

Before the mountains were brought forth,     or ever you had formed the earth and the world,     from everlasting to everlasting you are God. (Psalm 90:2)

That’s where we start. We start with God. Because everything starts with God. Little children will always ask, “Daddy, who made God?” And their eyes get wide when you say, “Johnny, nobody made God. He was there before everything. He was always there. He never had a beginning.” Glen Scrivener recently said, “Christians believe in the virgin birth of Jesus. Materialists believe in the virgin birth of the cosmos. Choose your miracle.”

I remember at a critical point in my life pondering the mystery of the existence of absolute reality and thinking, Something has existed forever in eternity past; otherwise, we wouldn’t be here, because nothingness produces nothing. So is the eternal reality some kind of gas, or is it a Person? It struck me with tremendous force that there is nothing before that reality to make it more or less likely that it is a person or a gas. In other words, there’s no reason to think that it’s unlikely that ultimate reality is a person.

Since we can’t think forward from causes to the nature of ultimate reality, because there are no causes of ultimate reality (nothing existed before ultimate reality), therefore we must think backward to the nature of ultimate reality from what we see now. And what do we see? We see the order and design and beauty of the creation declaring the glory of God (Psalm 19:1). And our own human personhood bears witness that the image of God is stamped on the human soul. And we look at the witness of Scripture as Jesus Christ stands forth compellingly from its pages and wins our confidence, and we know that he, and his Father, and the Holy Spirit are one God — ultimate reality. That’s what is everlasting — in both directions.

Before the mountains were brought forth . . .     from everlasting to everlasting you are God. (Psalm 90:2)

Everlasting People

But we are not everlasting the way God is everlasting. We are everlasting only in one direction — namely, toward the future. We came into existence; God didn’t. But like God, you will never go out of existence. That’s breathtaking. In Acts 24:15, Paul said, “There will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust.” That’s everybody, the good and the evil. And Jesus said,

An hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. (John 5:28–29)

Nobody stays in the grave — nobody. Everyone is everlasting. But where? In the resurrection of life or in the resurrection of judgment? Cut off from God in everlasting misery or with God in everlasting ecstasy? Will you be in the new world of everlasting happiness or in the hell of everlasting torment?

Path of Eternal Misery

Why do people use the word hell the way they do? “Hell no, I won’t go.” “What the hell is going on?” Hell has become a linguistic intensifier. Why? It’s not because modern people don’t believe in it, but because we once did.

Jesus uses the word hell more than anyone else in the Bible. It wasn’t made up by the church to scare people. It was given to the church by Jesus. And he uses it to refer to everlasting misery. He refers to it as fire, outer darkness, wrath, and eternal punishment.

Jesus says, “If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire” (Matthew 18:9).
In the parable of the wedding feast, Jesus said about the man without the proper garment, “Cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 22:13).
In John 3, he shows that this fire and darkness is God’s wrath: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36).
And in describing the final judgment, Jesus says of the disobedient, “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matthew 25:46).

He speaks of the hell of fire, outer darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth, divine wrath, and eternal punishment.

And the apostle John adds in Revelation 14:9–10 that this everlasting punishment is conscious torment. It’s not the punishment of annihilation. Annihilation wouldn’t be punishment; it would be relief.

If anyone worships the beast . . . he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. (Revelation 14:9–10)

That’s one path of everlasting existence, the path of misery. That’s one answer to the question “Where?” The other path is everlasting ecstasy.

Path of Eternal Ecstasy

The ultimate purpose of God for his people is the exaltation of his glory in the everlasting happiness of his people. God’s glory and our happiness climax together, because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. God created the universe for the happiness of his people in him, because nothing shows the greatness and the beauty and the worth of God more than a people who are completely satisfied forever in him.

Jesus said in the middle of his ministry, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11). And at the last day, when we stand before him, he will say to all his faithful followers, “Well done, good and faithful servant. . . . Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:21).

Jesus Christ, our Savior, died for this — for your joy in the presence of your Creator. The apostle Peter said, “Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). And what do we find when we enter the presence of God clothed in the righteousness of Christ? We find this: “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11). There is no greater joy than full joy. And there is no longer pleasure than forevermore. The presence of God, with Jesus Christ, is the place and the source of happiness beyond imagination. It cannot be otherwise for the children of God, if God is infinitely glorious.

The Bible itself reaches for the best possible language to help us to feel that our everlasting life with God is the greatest and everlasting happiness. Psalm 36:7–8 says, “How precious is your steadfast love, O God! . . . You give us drink from the river of your delights.” Why a river? Because great rivers have been flowing for thousands of years, and they never stop. I live within walking distance of the Mississippi River. I stand there and watch this mighty river flow. There are ninety thousand gallons per second flowing at St. Anthony Falls near my house. And I ask, How can this be? Century after century, and it never runs dry. That’s amazing. That’s what we are to feel when we read, “You give us drink from the river of your delights.” God’s resources of happiness are inexhaustible. And the result?

The ransomed of the Lord shall return     and come to Zion with singing;everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;     they shall obtain gladness and joy,     and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (Isaiah 35:10)

Everyone is everlasting. But where? It’s either everlasting misery apart from God or everlasting ecstasy with God.

Life in the Son

You have heard in all these messages what makes the difference between those two outcomes of your life.

The Creator of the universe — no beginning, no ending — sent his eternal Son into the world so that “whoever believes in him should not perish [not experience everlasting misery] but have eternal life [experience everlasting ecstasy]” (John 3:16). How did he do that? “He bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). “All of us like sheep have gone astray; we have turned — every one — to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13).

“The ultimate purpose of God for his people is the exaltation of his glory in the everlasting happiness of his people.”

So, he will deliver us from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10). You do not have to perish. I offer you, in the name of Jesus, everlasting happiness in God. Jesus said (and I say to you), “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24). “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36). Everlasting happiness.

And the connection with world missions, world evangelization, is Romans 10:13–15:

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

You have the best news in all the world. Virtually all of you have it in your heads because you’ve heard it. And many of you have it in your hearts and are saved by it from everlasting misery. You are destined for everlasting happiness no matter how much you suffer in this world. You have the news that saves from eternal destruction. And there are thousands of peoples, tribes, and languages where the church has not yet been planted and the news has not been spread.

And the Bible says, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). There is one God over all, one mediator for the world, one message for salvation, and one plan for the nations: You. Us. Missions.

Here’s what Jesus said to Paul, the Christian killer. Perhaps you will hear it as a call to you:

I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. (Acts 26:17–18)

Implications of Existing Forever

As we move toward a close of this message and this conference, let me draw out five implications of this truth that everyone is everlasting, in misery or in ecstasy.

1. No Ordinary People

Everyone you know and everyone you will ever meet will one day either shine so brightly that, if you saw them now with your natural eyes, you would be blinded, or they will be so deformed that, if you saw them now, you would shrink back with loathing. Jesus said, “The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43). And he said of those who are thrown into hell, “Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48). That’s a picture of maggots feeding on flesh.

Someone will surely say, “You don’t take that literally, do you?” To which I respond, “What difference do you think that makes?” If it’s literal, it’s horrible. And if it’s metaphorical, it’s horrible. Because that’s why you use horrible metaphors. You grope for words to describe a horrible reality. Jesus chose the words. We didn’t. You are sitting right now beside future kings and queens or future devils. C.S. Lewis put it like this:

It is a serious thing . . . to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. . . . There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization —these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit — immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. (The Weight of Glory, 46–47)

If you believe that, it changes everything.

2. Life as a Vapor

This life is very short, a vapor. James 4:14 says, “You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” Psalm 103:15–16 says,

As for man, his days are like grass;     he flourishes like a flower of the field;for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,     and its place knows it no more.

If you devote your entire life to making your life on earth more comfortable and more secure, and to helping others do the same, without any vision for how your life counts for eternity and how your life helps other lives count for eternity, you’re not only a fool — you’re a loveless fool. Love seeks its happiness in what is the greatest and longest happiness of others, and God has shown where that is: “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

3. Future Dominion

Your life after this earthly life is infinitely long and, therefore, infinitely significant. You may feel very insignificant now. You may think presidents of countries and CEOs of big corporations are significant — that people with power and influence, like kings and rulers, are significant. Here’s what John said about ordinary Christians in the everlasting age to come:

They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. (Revelation 22:4–5)

You think ruling now on earth, like a vapor, is significant? Actually, reigning with God forever is significant. And as if we could add anything to that, Jesus promises to those who conquer the evil one and keep the faith in this life, “I will make [you] a pillar in the temple of my God” (Revelation 3:11). I don’t know all that that means. But this I know: if you remove a pillar, the temple collapses. That’s not going to happen. And that is significant.

4. Eternal Significance

This short life on earth determines how we spend our everlasting future. Therefore, this life is infinitely significant. You can waste it by following blind, famous people who make millions of dollars and don’t know their right hand from their left. Or you can lay up treasures in heaven by pouring out your life for the temporal and eternal good of others. The apostle Paul said,

We do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. (2 Corinthians 4:16–17)

How you spend this life, with all its possibilities for love and afflictions, prepares an eternal weight of glory. Your life now really matters. It’s a gift. Don’t waste it.

5. Sending and Going

One of the most significant ways not to waste your vapor-like life is for the next sixty years to seek your happiness in helping others be eternally happy in God, even if it costs you your life. You enlarge your own happiness in God by drawing others into it. The apostle Peter said to the early Christians, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). This is our life. We say to everyone who will listen, “Here are the excellencies of my Savior, my God, and my Friend. There is no happier place than to be in his forgiveness, his fellowship, and his everlasting joy.”

Don’t misunderstand. This is a missions conference, but none of us who speak here believe that all of you should be missionaries. You shouldn’t. You are not walking in disobedience if you become a God-centered, Christ-exalting, people-loving sender. There are three kinds of Christians: goers, senders, and the disobedient. The vast majority of you are not called to cross a culture, learn a language, and plant the church where it doesn’t exist. You are called, rather, to display the excellencies of Christ in all you do — to magnify his worth in the way you study, marry, raise a family, run a business, do your job, build relationships, enjoy your food and God’s other good gifts, love your neighbors, and serve your church.

The Bible says, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17). “Let all that you do be done in love” (1 Corinthians 16:14). Every Christian centers on the glory of God, exalts Jesus Christ, and loves people. That is our pathway to everlasting happiness with God.

But this is a missions conference, and God has been at work in hundreds of you to loosen the roots of your tree so that it could be pulled up and planted in a place, and among a people, where there’s no gospel. That’s the main reason why this conference exists. That’s why many of you are here. He brought you here. These messages have been awakening in you, or solidifying for you, a sense that God’s call on your life is to be a missionary. When you hear the Bible describe a missionary by saying, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Romans 10:15), your heart says, “God, I want feet like that.”

Discerning God’s Leading

Here’s how we are going to close. We’re going to pray for a couple of minutes in quietness so that you can deal with the Lord about these things. And then I’m going to have some of you stand up so that we can focus our prayers on you and so that you can drive a stake in the ground, saying, “Lord, I mean this.” What you would be saying by standing is this:

I am not infallible, but to the best of my knowledge, I believe God is leading me toward a life devoted to him in cross-cultural missions. And by my standing, I simply indicate that when I go home or back to my campus, one of my next steps will be to seek out the leadership of my church and ask them to help me discern God’s leading and, if they see God’s hand on my life, to help me forward in my sense of God calling to be a missionary.

Simply put, it’s two parts: I believe God is at work in my life to lead me toward vocational missions, and I will seek the counsel and help of my church.

Some of you find yourself in the situation where you are not tied into a healthy church where you could do that. We don’t think that’s a healthy situation for you. But if you sense God leading to vocational missions, and you commit to finding a church where that kind of counsel and help can be given, I want you to stand also after we pray.

All of us have serious things to talk to God about at the end of a conference like this: your own salvation, your own holiness, your own compassion for lost people, and the glory of God.

Audio Transcript

What makes someone spiritually dirty? This is an important question, and one born out of our Bible reading together, specifically in three Bible texts that a female listener to the podcast named Ivy is trying to put together and understand, texts coming up for us in the reading. Ivy writes this: “Pastor John, I never saw this connection until it was put together in the span of one week in the Navigators Bible Reading Plan. In Leviticus 5:2 and Leviticus 7:19–21, we read that touching unclean things makes one unclean. But Jesus completely changes this. He later says it is what comes out of us that makes us unclean. He says this in Matthew 15:18–20.

“I’m trying to put myself in a first-century Jewish mindset that was conditioned to think about clean and unclean things, what to touch and what not to touch. This seems like a radical change. Uncleanness is born inside of us! What caused such a major turnaround here, in what seems to me to be a fundamental redefinition of evil?”

I think this question is an example of making right observations from the Bible but drawing from them a wrong conclusion. Sorry about that. Let me see if I could gently nudge a correction.

It is right to observe that in the Old Testament there are laws against touching or eating certain things because they are ceremonially unclean. For example, if you touch a carcass, then you become unclean until the evening (Leviticus 11:24–25). Or, “Every animal that parts the hoof but is not cloven-footed or does not chew the cud is unclean to you. Everyone who touches them shall be unclean” (Leviticus 11:26).

So, there is such a thing in the Old Testament as external ceremonial contamination through the touching of something that is declared in the law to be unclean. That’s a true observation. These laws were one of God’s ways at that time of separating his people from the nations around them and emphasizing his distinctness, his holiness.

It is also true that Jesus spoke about becoming impure because of what the heart produces from within — for example, Matthew 15:18: “What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person [makes them unclean].” So, that too is a true observation. So far, so good.

Purity Across the Covenants

But the mistake is in drawing the conclusion that in the Old Testament impurity was only external, while in the New Testament impurity is internal. That’s a mistake for two reasons.

In the first place, it contrasts the wrong things. Instead of contrasting Old Testament ceremonial uncleanness with New Testament moral uncleanness, the contrast is between Old Testament ceremonial uncleanness and the declaration by Jesus that there is no ceremonial uncleanness anymore: “He declared all foods clean” (Mark 7:19). In other words, Jesus does away with the Old Testament ceremonial cleanness and uncleanness. It’s not replaced by internal moral cleanness and uncleanness, but rather by the removal of ceremonial defilement entirely. It doesn’t exist in the church anymore.

“There was a real faith, a real obedience of faith, a real holiness in the saints of the Old Testament.”

The other reason it’s a mistake to say that the Old Testament impurity was external while the New Testament impurity is internal is that already in the Old Testament there was internal purity and impurity. It was already there. In both the New and the Old Testaments, there is internal moral purity or impurity. That’s not a contrast between the Old and New Testaments. So, in the Old Testament, there was both ceremonial external uncleanness and moral internal uncleanness, whereas in the New Testament, the ceremonial aspect of uncleanness is done away with, and the moral dimension is what’s left.

Now, that may seem like not a big deal, but it is a big deal because of the implications of it. Let me try to draw them out.

Spirit of Old Testament Saints

This is a bigger deal than we might think, because what it implies is that, already in the Old Testament, before Christ had died for our sins and before the unique outpouring of the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the forgiving work of the cross and the transforming work of the Spirit were already active in the saints of the Old Testament.

That’s huge for the way we read our Bibles, the way we appropriate patterns and commands and illustrations and so on. Let me say it again: the forgiving effect of Christ’s death and the transforming effect of God’s Spirit were already at work in the saints of the Old Testament. In other words, the reality of internal purity or impurity was known, and the purity was required in the Old Testament — internal purity, not just external ceremonial purity.

The Old Testament knew about the deep internal reality of original sin, for example. David says, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5). In other words, the saints of the Old Testament knew that their bad behavior came from inside, not outside. So, Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” That’s just like what Jesus said.

And David prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). He expected that to happen. It did happen. And Psalm 24:3–4 says, “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart.” Now, that did not mean nobody. It was possible through prayer, through repentance, through forgiveness, through sacrifice to get a pure heart before God.

Born Again Then and Now

God was at work in the Old Testament among the faithful remnant of Israel, transforming their hearts and leading them in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake (Psalm 23:3). For example, in 1 Chronicles 29:17–18, David says, “Now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you. O Lord . . . keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you.” That’s amazing. That’s exactly what he does today for the saints and what he did then for the saints.

So, here it is again in 2 Chronicles 30:12. It says, “The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the Lord.” In other words, God was at work in the hearts of his people to give them the kind of disposition and heart to be trusting and obedient toward him.

This is why Jesus — at least, this is my interpretation of Jesus in John 3 — was amazed in speaking to Nicodemus that he didn’t understand that you must be born again to see the kingdom of God. Well, people saw the kingdom of God in the Old Testament. They saw God; they knew the reign of God; they walked in holiness before God — the saints did. That was true in the Old Testament (“You must be born again”) and in the New Testament.

Nobody can overcome their unbelief, hardness of heart without the sovereign work of the Spirit, whenever they live — four thousand years ago or twenty minutes ago. So, Jesus said, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’” (John 3:7). Nicodemus says to him, “How can these things be?” (John 3:9). And Jesus — I can see him rolling his eyes or throwing up his hands and saying, “Are you a teacher in Israel, and you don’t understand what I’m talking about when I talk about the new birth? What have you been reading?” (see John 3:10).

That’s my paraphrase of Jesus. In other words, “Surely you see that this is how spiritual deadness was overcome among the saints in Israel.” They can’t do it themselves. It had to be done for them, just like today.

Old Patterns for Today

We can see, then, that there’s more riding on this question than it seemed at first. There was a real faith, a real obedience of faith, a real holiness in the saints of the Old Testament. And that is not possible (Romans 8:7) except that Jesus died for their sins in the future, counted backward, and the Holy Spirit was at work overcoming their sinful bent.

So, when we read the beautiful statements — for example, in the Psalms — of genuine love for God, obedience to God, delight in God’s word, we don’t have to deny any of that, as though such things were not possible in the Old Testament. We can take these saints as wonderful patterns for our lives and be stirred up by them to love God the way they did.

Audio Transcript

Welcome back to the Ask Pastor John podcast. We’re reading the Navigators Bible Reading Plan together. And tomorrow we read Acts 22, a chapter where Paul recounts for us his dramatic conversion experience — his blindingly dramatic conversion experience. In the story, we’re introduced to a devout and godly Christian man named Ananias, who approached the recently blinded Saul (now named Paul) and restored his sight to him, or told him it would be restored soon. Then Ananias told Paul in verse 16, “And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.” Water baptism and sin-washing are connected.

Likewise, we have forty questions in the inbox about Acts 2:38. There in the text, a bunch of seekers have gathered to hear Peter say to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” And three thousand people repent and are baptized. An amazing sight — and yet another text that appears to put water baptism in the moment of forgiveness or conversion. So, dozens of listeners have written in to basically ask, based on Acts 2:38 and Acts 22:12–16, this same essential question: Pastor John, are we saved after water baptism, before water baptism, or in water baptism?

I would first answer by making the question more precise. Are we justified before, in, or after baptism? Are we united to Christ, do we become one with Christ and God becomes 100 percent for us, before, in, or after baptism? Because in the New Testament, the word saved is used for what happens before, in, and after baptism:

Ephesians 2:8: “[We] have been saved.”
1 Corinthians 1:18: “[We] are being saved.”
Romans 13:11: “Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.”

So, being saved happened before, is happening now, and will happen finally in the future.

The word salvation in the New Testament is broad and includes pieces of salvation. And what’s really being asked is, “When did it all start — the first moment of union with Christ, the moment of justification (which is not a process like sanctification is but decisive)?” “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). When did that start? At what point does God count us a child — not a child of wrath, which we all are by nature (Ephesians 2:3), but a child of God, so that from that point on, he is 100 percent for us with no wrath? When did that happen? What was the decisive means that brought it about, that united us to Christ, that justified us?

By Faith Apart from Water

Let me give my answer from texts and then show how that point relates to baptism.

Romans 3:28: “We hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”
Romans 5:1: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God.”
Romans 4:5: “To the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.”
John 3:16: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Acts 13:38–39: “Through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed [or justified] from everything from which you could not be [justified] by the law of Moses.”

And on and on and on I could go. I had a bunch of others, and I thought for time’s sake I’d just leave them out.

“Baptism is the outward expression of calling on the name of the Lord in faith.”

So, here’s my inference from those texts (and many others like them): justification — being put right with God by union with Christ in the divine miracle of conversion and new birth — that point is by faith, and faith alone, on our part. God uses faith as the sole instrument of union with Christ and thus counts us righteous and becomes 100 percent for us in the instant that we have faith in Jesus.

That’s my answer. And now the question is, “Okay, how do you talk about baptism? And how do you understand those texts that were quoted that seemed to connect baptism to that act, that beginning?” So, let me give some answers to that.

Sign of Righteousness

The first thing I would say is that the thief on the cross was told by Jesus that that very day he would be with him in paradise. He was not baptized. I know he’s a special case — I don’t think you build a theology of baptism on the thief on the cross. But one thing it says is that baptism is not an absolute necessity, because it wasn’t in his case.

Here’s the second thing I would say. Paul treats baptism as an expression of faith so that the decisive act that unites us to Christ is the faith, and it is expressed outwardly in baptism. Here’s a very key text for me. When I went to Germany, I was a lone Baptist in a den of Lutheran lions. They were loving lions — they just licked me; they didn’t eat me. But they did not approve of what I believed. And I remember taking a retreat with twelve little cubs and one big doctor father named Leonhard Goppelt. And we were talking about baptism the whole weekend. And this was my text; this was my text that I put up. This is Colossians 2:11–12:

In him [in Christ] also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

So, the burial with Christ in the water and the rising with Christ out of the water, it seems to me (from that text), are not what unites you to Christ. That is, the going under the water, the coming up out of the water — that’s not what unites you to Christ. It is “through faith” that you are decisively united to Christ.

And here’s an interesting analogy, since circumcision was brought into the picture there, and there’s kind of an image of circumcision in Colossians 2. If you go to Romans 4:11, Paul says,

[Abraham] received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well.

So, if you just take the analogy — and that’s all it is; it’s just an analogy between baptism and circumcision — then this text would say that baptism is a sign of a righteousness that we have before we are baptized, because we have it through faith and through union with Christ.

Calling and Washing

Then we go to the relevant texts in Acts that the questioner raised, like Acts 22:16: “Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins.” Now, if you stopped right there, you’d say, “Well, there it is: the water is the forgiving agent.” But that’s not where you stop. It says, “Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.” So, the sense (I think) is the same: baptism is the outward expression of calling on the name of the Lord in faith. It’s not the water that effects our justification or union with Christ. The water is a picture of the cleansing, but the faith in the heart, the call on the Lord from faith, is what unites us and forgives us.

And now, that’s the meaning that 1 Peter 3:21 actually picks up on when it says, in relationship to the flood and Noah’s rescue through the ark, through the water, “Baptism, which corresponds to this” — that is, the salvation of Noah’s family in the ark and the flood — “now saves you.” That’s probably the clearest text for those who want to say that baptism is salvific, that it actually does the saving. It says, “Baptism . . . saves you.”

And then immediately, as though he knows he said something almost heretical, because it would so compromise justification by faith, he says, “. . . not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal” — so now we’re back to this call issue: “Wash away your sins, calling on his name” — “as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” In other words, it’s the call of faith from the heart, not the water. And he explicitly says, “not [the] removal of dirt from the body.” In other words, “It’s not the actual functioning of the water that does the saving, even though I just said, ‘Baptism saves you.’ What I mean is that this outward act signifies an appeal to God that’s coming from the heart, and it’s that faith that saves.”

“God uses faith as the sole instrument of union with Christ.”

So, when John the Baptist (or Mark) calls his baptism “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4), it probably means “a baptism signifying repentance, which brings forgiveness.” Because repentance is simply the way of describing the change of mind that gives rise to faith.

‘Repent and Be Baptized’

Now, here’s one last important text they’re raising. In fact, this is where you begin. Acts 2:38: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” So, it looks like this: repent (condition number one), be baptized (condition number two), and forgiveness will be given to you. And I’ve been arguing (because I think so many texts teach it) that, no, repentance and faith as one piece are what obtains forgiveness, not the baptism.

So, what, you disagree with this text, Piper? Who do you think you are? And I think that text should be read something like this (and I remember seeing this years ago and then finding it other places). Suppose, Tony, you want to go from Phoenix to LA on the train, and it’s about to leave, and I say, “Grab your hat and run or you’ll miss the train.” Now, I just gave you two commands like Peter gave two commands: “Repent and be baptized.” But only one of them is a cause of getting to the train on time — namely, running. But I said, “Grab your hat.” Grabbing your hat is an accompanying act, not a causative one. It may be very important. There may be all kinds of reasons why you should have a hat. Why did you tell him to grab a hat? Well, I’ve got my reasons. But grabbing the hat does not help you in the least to get on the train on time.

Now, that’s the way I think we should hear Peter when he says, “Repent and be baptized every one of you, and make the train of forgiveness.” You get on the train of forgiveness if you repent and are baptized. And the repentance, the change of mind that includes faith, gets you to the train. And baptism is important — important for all kinds of reasons — but it’s not causative in the same way that repentance is.

So, here’s my bottom-line answer to the question: Faith precedes baptism (that’s why I’m a Baptist) and is operative in baptism. So, we are justified at the very first act of genuine saving faith in Christ, and then baptism follows (and preferably would follow soon) as an outward expression of that inward reality.

Audio Transcript

Welcome back to the podcast. Tomorrow, we come to a text in our Bible reading that should compel all of us to be driven by gospel-sized ambition in this life. The text is Acts 20:24. We’ve already looked at it — and this huge aspiration — from a couple different angles, as you can see in the APJ book on pages 69–70, in episodes looking specifically at following our heart and chasing after ambitious careers in this world. How do we do big ambition well, to glorify God in our aspirations?

This glorious text comes in Paul’s final, parting words to the beloved Ephesian elders in Acts 20:17–38, a deeply moving account that we read together tomorrow, and a text on the mind of a listener named Derek. “Pastor John, hello! I graduate from seminary this spring, and as I prepare for full-time ministry, I want to better understand Paul’s claims in Acts 20:24 when he says, ‘I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.’ For your life as a pastor, what do you take from this text? What did this Pauline conviction for the gospel over life look like — and feel like — for you?”

I love this text, Acts 20:24. And it’s one of the reasons that I love the apostle Paul. So, I’m happy to meditate on it again, as I have so often over the years.

Life Is Better Lost Than Wasted

Way back when I wrote the book Don’t Waste Your Life, over twenty years ago, this text, among others, had taken hold of me and was driving my thinking, my feeling. In fact, when I preached on this text at a university some years ago, my summary statement of the text was “better to lose your life than to waste it.” I think that’s exactly what Paul is saying in this verse: better to lose your life than to waste it.

So, let me quote the text with the two preceding verses (Acts 20:22–23) and then try to answer the question more specifically about its impact on my ministry. “And now, behold,” Paul says — and he’s speaking to the Ephesian elders as he says farewell to them, never to see them again. “And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life” — this is Acts 20:24 now — “of any value nor as precious to myself, if only” — this is the one sense in which he does value his life — “I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” Which I paraphrase, “Better to lose your life than to waste it.”

The Power of a Precious Passage

Now, Derek is asking what I take from this text for pastoral ministry. Or, more specifically, what did it look like or feel like for me to embrace this text in my ministry?

1. Return to the Point

I felt the poignancy of this text because it is among the last words Paul speaks to his friends that he’ll never see again in this life, as far as he knows. At the end of the passage, Acts 20:37–38, it says, “There was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again.”

“Better to lose your life than to waste it.”

So, when I see a Christian pastor or missionary or a father taking leave of his family or taking leave of a church or a people for the last time, knowing they’ll never see each other again in this life, I listen. I listen because I expect something profound and moving, something that tries to sum up what’s been the point of it all. And I want to know what the point of it all is. I want to know what the point of life is, the point of ministry, the point of the universe, which is exactly what we get in this verse. That’s the first thing.

2. Escape Comfort

I have felt, as I have returned to this text again and again, an urgent desire to renounce every distraction and follow Jesus and escape the materialistic forces of the American dream, and the dangers of being rich, and the temptations of comfort and security, and the deadening effects of worldliness that strip a pastor of his power. “I do not count my life of any value nor as precious to myself,” he says, “except for one thing.” And it isn’t prosperity or comfort or ease or security in this world. “I have been given a race to run and a ministry to perform.”

It’s like a marathon. I’m on it. This is why I live. This is what my life means. Finish the race. Fulfill the ministry. Don’t stop. Don’t leave the course. Don’t get sidetracked. Don’t go backward. If you do, your life will be wasted. Paul really believed Psalm 63:3: the steadfast love of the Lord “is better than life.” There is a path of life that leads to the everlasting enjoyment of the steadfast love of God. Better to lose your life than to go off that path. That’s Acts 20:24.

3. Lean on the Spirit

This text has always felt like a miraculous work of the Spirit, not an accomplishment. Acts 20:22 says, “I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit.” Paul wasn’t a self-reliant hero. He was a walking miracle. If Acts 20:24 happens in your life, that’s what it’s like. It’s the work of the Spirit. It’s a miracle.

4. Embrace Uncertainty

This verse felt in my ministry like the thrill and the test of not knowing what the future would bring. Acts 20:22: “I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there.” If you have to know enough about tomorrow to feel safe in this world, you’re going to waste your life.

5. Expect Suffering

Acts 20:24 felt like it was a call to suffer. Acts 20:23: “. . . except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.” God has said that to all of us, not just Paul. He says to all of us, “Through many afflictions you must enter the kingdom” (see Acts 14:22). And, “If you would live a godly life in Christ Jesus, you will be persecuted” (see 2 Timothy 3:12). And, “He who would follow me,” Jesus said in Matthew 16:24, “must deny himself and take up his cross,” the instrument of death. The single-minded devotion to the call of Jesus is an expectation of suffering.

6. Run to the End

Finally, I’ll mention that now, at age 79, this verse burns in my heart with the desire not to waste my final years — not to waste them with the worldly notion that the last years of our lives on earth are for leisure and not ministry. “Come on, Paul. You’re getting old. How about a little cottage on the Aegean Sea? You’ve already done more in your ministry, Paul, than most people do in five lifetimes. It’s time to rest, Paul. Let the last twenty years of your life be for travel and golf and shuffleboard and pickleball and putzing around in the garage and digging in the garden, Paul. Let Timothy have a chance, for goodness’ sake. He’s young. You don’t have to go to Jerusalem. They’re going to bind your hands and feet and hand you over to the Gentiles. You’re an old man. Get out of your head that crazy notion of going to Spain at your age. You’re going to get yourself killed. It isn’t American. It’s not what you’re supposed to do.”

So, I love this verse. I love it. “I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24).