- Home
- Speakers
- John Piper
- Don't Waste Your Life Part 6
Don't Waste Your Life - Part 6
John Piper

John Stephen Piper (1946 - ). American pastor, author, and theologian born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Converted at six, he grew up in South Carolina and earned a B.A. from Wheaton College, a B.D. from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a D.Theol. from the University of Munich. Ordained in 1975, he taught biblical studies at Bethel University before pastoring Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis from 1980 to 2013, growing it to over 4,500 members. Founder of Desiring God ministries in 1994, he championed “Christian Hedonism,” teaching that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” Piper authored over 50 books, including Desiring God (1986) and Don’t Waste Your Life, with millions sold worldwide. A leading voice in Reformed theology, he spoke at Passion Conferences and influenced evangelicals globally. Married to Noël Henry since 1968, they have five children. His sermons and writings, widely shared online, emphasize God’s sovereignty and missions.
Download
Topic
Sermon Summary
This sermon emphasizes the importance of embracing suffering, pain, and shame for the joy of knowing Jesus, calling on the audience to display Christ's worth above all else. It challenges individuals to be a generation that treasures Christ, takes risks, and sacrifices for the sake of spreading His supreme value to the nations, believing that through such commitment, many will come to know and believe in Jesus Christ.
Sermon Transcription
Then maybe 1 Peter 3.15 would come true for us. I believe with all my heart that if God raises up a generation like that who doesn't waste their lives, the Great Commission will come to pass. Because if you are not the generation, if this generation does not embrace suffering, does not embrace pain, does not embrace shame for the surpassing value and joy of knowing Jesus, you will simply be passed over and God will get His work done another way, perhaps by the New Christendom, as Philip Jenkins calls it, in the South and in the East. So, I call you to embrace Christ and embrace suffering and embrace the reward of knowing Him. If your passion is to display Christ, if your passion is to treasure Christ above all things, if your passion is to take risks and sacrifice whatever it takes in order to display His worth, then the Middle East that you're committed to, East Asia that you're committed to, Sao Paulo, Brazil that you're committed to, then Toulouse, France that you're committed to, then these commitments will be filled and thousands of people will see the supreme value of Jesus Christ in your life and they will believe and written over their life and your life and I pray my life will be the words, this life was not wasted. This life gladly displayed the supreme worth of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Oh God, no words of mine, but only the power of the Holy Spirit can raise up a generation in which 200,000 young people will say, I'm going, I'm laying it down, I will count Jesus Christ as precious above all things, I will risk my life, I will indeed, if you call, sacrifice my life in order to display among the unreached peoples of the world the sweet beauty and infinitely satisfying glory of Jesus Christ. Oh God, come, I pray, and perform in the lives of these young people whatever it takes so that they can say at the end, I didn't waste it and hear the words, well done. Good and faithful servant, in Christ I pray.
Don't Waste Your Life - Part 6
- Bio
- Summary
- Transcript
- Download

John Stephen Piper (1946 - ). American pastor, author, and theologian born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Converted at six, he grew up in South Carolina and earned a B.A. from Wheaton College, a B.D. from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a D.Theol. from the University of Munich. Ordained in 1975, he taught biblical studies at Bethel University before pastoring Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis from 1980 to 2013, growing it to over 4,500 members. Founder of Desiring God ministries in 1994, he championed “Christian Hedonism,” teaching that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” Piper authored over 50 books, including Desiring God (1986) and Don’t Waste Your Life, with millions sold worldwide. A leading voice in Reformed theology, he spoke at Passion Conferences and influenced evangelicals globally. Married to Noël Henry since 1968, they have five children. His sermons and writings, widely shared online, emphasize God’s sovereignty and missions.