In this final installment of the Essential Piper series we consider John Piper's exhortation, "Don't waste your life!"

It is possible to waste your life. Few things make me tremble more than the possibility of taking this onetime gift of life and wasting it. 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. More and more I smell eternity. And oh, how I want to use my life well. It is so short and so fragile and so final. You get one chance to live your life. And then the judgment. I speak as a father who has children your age, and I am jealous with Jesus that they and you not waste your life. ("Don't Waste Your Life," from December 29, 2003)

Posts in This Series

• Essential Piper: Christian Hedonism
• Essential Piper: The Sovereignty of God
• Essential Piper: The Supremacy of Christ
• Essential Piper: The Centrality of Scripture
• Essential Piper: Let the Nations Be Glad!
• Essential Piper: Expository Exultation
• Essential Piper: Don't Waste Your Life

Three weeks ago I had the privilege to hang out with pro skater Brian Sumner to do some filming for DWYL. I gave him a few copies of A Sweet and Bitter Providence. He gave a copy to a fellow skater and musician, Josh Harmony.

Amazingly, Josh recorded a song inspired by what he read. I thought it was beautiful and he was generous to share the song with us. The song is called "Mara Naomi."

The lyrics are below. Josh has an EP available in iTunes if you are interested in more of his music.

Mara Naomi - listen to audio (right click for download options)

ive thought about you and the way you must have felt.
the bitterness of the hand that you were dealt.
how you're a long ways from your Bethlehem.
and you long for the touch of your husband
Elimelech, you'll never forget.

later on your two sons had taken wives
the bitterness you'd taste again for they lost their lives
then your heart was longing for the reasons why
and painful tears where falling from your eyes
like winters skies, all mothers fear

so all was gone except the wife of one son
then you returned to the land where you were from
where the curse was lifted and the town all came
to see you, a woman in all her pain, you changed your name

mara naomi, the bitter one
mara naomi, oh your beautiful
there is a plan

in harvest time came a man from your husbands line
a noble son, worthy one, generous and kind
how your heart was racing for the widowed girl
and your only hope is that he would change her world
and take the girl, in his arms

at last they've wed and as it's said they have a son
given to you how its true its just begun
for the child you hold leads to the King of Kings
redemption, peace and hope he brings
of who angels sing
you were more than you knew

In chapter 7 of Don’t Waste Your Life, John Piper challenges us to live in a way that proves that Jesus—not money or possessions—is our treasure. He argues that Jesus calls us to a wartime lifestyle and a hazardous liberality (like in Mark 12:42-44). Consequently, one of the core values of Desiring God is Radical Generosity.

Desiring God seeks to partner with ministries that share this value, ministries like Come&Live!. Come&Live! exists to live simply and give generously. Their mission is “to establish the kingdom of God within a community of musicians.” They give away all of their music to display radical generosity. Fans are encouraged to share and copy their music.

There are several ways you can partner with Come&Live! to help them accomplish their mission:

• Become a prayer partner that will lift them up regularly.
• Join them for FastFriday.
• Purchase music and shirts at their online store.
• Give to the general needs of Come&Live! and help them produce more music.

Here is the full video of the "Hip Hop for Haiti" concert (featuring Lecrae, Flame, Json, DJ Essence, and DJ Official) that took place in Minneapolis last month.

(RSS readers may need to click through to see it)

The concert was put on to raise awareness and money for the churches who are still suffering from the tragic 7.0 earthquake in Haiti.

To still help the church in Haiti, visit Churches Helping Churches.

Desiring God produced the music video for LeCrae's new song, "Far Away," over the weekend. It is now available for purchase, along with the mp3, for only $4.99.

If you want to buy just the mp3, it is available in iTunes for $.99. It is ranked 46 in Hip Hop as of now. Let's try to move it into the top 10!

Buy either of these now and all proceeds will go to Haiti relief.

For those who can't make it to Hip Hop for Haiti tonight, we will be streaming the concert live online. Join the crowd in Minneapolis by watching online and by giving to Churches Helping Churches.

You can also join the crowd on Twitter using the #HH4H hashtag.

Chart-topping hip hop artist LeCrae recorded a new single to benefit relief efforts in Haiti. He'll be performing this song live for the first time at Hip Hop for Haiti in downtown Minneapolis tomorrow night.

Come join us! We will be filming the music video during this live performance. You will also be able to purchase an advance copy of the song with 100% of the proceeds going directly to Haiti relief efforts.

I went with the Churches Helping Churches media team to Haiti last week to identify the needs of the churches and help raise money to meet their needs. The things I saw, the things I filmed, and the people I met are still with me. I am haunted by the horror I saw, and yet the palpable hope of homeless and hungry Christians amazed me.

If you live in or near Minnesota, I want to personally invite you to a concert Desiring God is sponsoring called Hip Hop for Haiti on Friday, February 5, 2010. Order your tickets online. 100% of all the money will go directly to churches in Haiti through Churches Helping Churches.

Don't Waste Your Life is partnering with Reach Records, Lamp Mode Records, and Club 3 Degrees to host a benefit concert to help the churches in Haiti rebuild and reach out again. Christian hip hop artists Lecrae, DJ Official, Flame, Json, and DJ Essence will be performing.

This concert will take place at Club 3 Degrees (Downtown Minneapolis, MN) on February 5 at 8pm. Ticket price is $10, and we recommend buying them in advance since it will likely be a sell-out show.

In addition to the ticket price, there will be several opportunities to give throughout the night.

One hundred percent of the money—from the tickets, merchandise, and all other gifts—will go directly to Churches Helping Churches, a ministry "created to address the immediate and long-term needs of churches when disaster befalls a country, region, city, or people."

Mark Driscoll and James MacDonald, the two pastors spearheading this new ministry, have already been on the ground in Haiti and have made several videos to help us see the condition and needs of our brothers and sisters there.

So come, have a great time, enjoy hip hop music to the glory of God, and give sacrificially for the furtherance of Kingdom work in Haiti.

God has used Don’t Waste Your Life to change the course of many lives since 2003. In the Spring of 2006, I had a chance to interview Chad Johnson about how it was impacting him. Little did he know that God would call him to leave his successful position at Tooth & Nail Records and start a non-profit music label called Come & Live! this year.

Come & Live! is an expression of the major themes of Don’t Waste Your Life (radical generosity, risk taking love, making others glad in God, missions, living simply for the sake of giving, etc). The basic idea is that the label is like a missions agency, the musicians are like missionaries, and you do not have to pay for the music. I am encouraged by how God calls men and women in different industries and cultures to find ways to make others glad in God within their context.

You can download for free without registration their first music sampler I Am Living Vol. 01. If you enjoy indie rock, hardcore, and alternative music styles you will find some tracks you will appreciate (there is a great variety). Also included is a sermon excerpt from John Piper.

Edd Blott and I will be at The Legacy Conference this week July 30 to August 1. We will be teaching a workshop entitled "Developing Media Knowing the Gospel Counters Culture," giving away Don't Waste Your Life books, and test screening a new DWYL Documentary.

For those who don't know, The Legacy Conference is a theologically driven, discipleship oriented conference for urban youth. LeCrae, Shai Linne, Trip Lee, Flame, and others will be there teaching and performing.

Walk up registration is still available. Hope to see you there.

Seth Johnson has completed an internship this year with Desiring God's media department and what a blessing to the ministry he's been. His final project is now online.

We partnered with 1031sermonjams and produced a sermon jam video. The Don't Waste Your Life Tour is using it this summer to kick off each concert.

And speaking of the Don't Waste Your Life Tour, LeCrae's music video for the song "Don't Waste Your Life" is now available for purchase in iTunes.

Reach Records and Desiring God are partnering this summer to spread Don't Waste Your Life in urban centers around the country. We would encourage you to check out the upcoming DWYL Tour 09 for details and to see seven satirical promotional videos we produced for them.

Desiring God also produced the music video for LeCrae's single, Don't Waste Your Life, from his latest album, Rebel (Amazon iTunes):

Update: DWYL Song Lyrics

Hook (Cam)

Don't wanna waste my life

Verse 1 (LeCrae)

I know a lot of people out there scared they gone die/
couple of em thinking they'll be livin' in the sky/
but while I'm here livin' man I gotta ask why,
what am here fo I gotta figure out/
waste my life?/ no I gotta make it count/
if Christ is real then what am I gone do about/
everything in Luke 12:15 down to 21/
you really oughta go and check it out/

Paul said if Christ ain't resurrect then we wasted our lives/
well that implies that our life's built around Jesus being alive/
everyday I'm living tryin' show the world why/
Christ is more than everything you'll ever try/
better than pretty women and sinning and living
to get a minute of any women and men that you admire/

ain't no lie/ We created for Him/
outta the dust he made us for Him/
Elects us and he saves us for Him/
Jesus comes and raises for Him/
Magnify the Father why bother with something lesser/
he made us so we could bless Him
and to the world we confess him/
resurrects him/

so I know I got life/
matter fact better man I know I got Christ/
if you don't' see His ways in my days and nights/
you can hit my brakes you can stop my lights/
man I lost my rights/
I lost my life/
forget the money cars and toss that ice/
the cost is Christ/
and they could never offer me anything on the planet that'll cost that price.

Verse 2 (Dwayne Tryumph)
(Note: verse 2 is not part of the music video)

Armed and dangerous
So the devil jus can't handle us
Christian youth them a stand wid us
Livin' n driven/ given a vision/ fullfillin the commission he handed us

London to Los Angeles
Da rap evangelist
Ma daddy wouldn't abandon us
"I gotta back pack fulla tracts plus I keep a Johnny Mac"
So are you ready to jam with us

So lets go, gimme the word an lets go
Persecution lets go
Tribulation lets go
Across the nation lets go
Procrastination bes go

Hung on the cross in the cold
Died for da young and the old
Can't say you never know
Heaven knows
How many souls are going to hell or to heaven so we gotta go in and get em

Verse 3 (LeCrae)

Suffer/ Yeah do it for Christ
if you trying to figure what to do with your life/
if you making a lot money hope you doing it right
because the money is Gods you better steward it right/

stay focused
if you ain't got no ride/
your life ain't wrapped up in what you drive/
the clothes you wear
the job you work/
the color your skin naw you Christian first/

people living life for a job/
make a lil money start living for a car/
get em a house a wife kids and a dog/
when they retire they living high on the hog/
but guess what they didn't ever really live at all/
to live is Christ yeah that's Paul I recall/ to die is gain
so for Christ we give it all/
he's the treasure you'll never find in a mall/

Your money your singleness, marriage, talents, your time/
they were loaned to you to show the world that Christ is Divine/
that's why it's Christ in my rhymes/
That's why it's Christ all the time/
see my whole world is built around him He's the life in my lines/

I refuse to waste my life/
he's too true ta chase that ice/
here's my gifts and time cause I'm constantly trying to be used to praise the Christ/
If he's truly raised to life/
then this news should change your life/
and by his grace you can put your faith in place that rules your days and nights.

Al Mohler's March 27 radio program addressed the issue of retirement, its historical novelty, today's financial pressures, and how we as Christians should think about it. If you'd like to listen to this program, the relevant section begins 11.5 minutes in.

Related resources from John Piper:

• Rethinking Retirement (booklet)
• Getting Old for the Glory of God (conference message)

Watch Josh Harris talk to young men about how to honor God with their sexuality:

The full text of Don't Waste Your Life is now available online for free in a format optimized for the iPhone.

For the rest of us (who perhaps aren't so hip or technologically savvy) the ordinary online version of Don't Waste Your Life can be downloaded free along with about 50 other titles.

27 million people worldwide are victims of modern-day slavery. They are forced into the sex trade or back-breaking labor. Most of the victims lured into this criminal world are innocent children.

A new documentary in theaters this week, Call + Response, explores the injustices that are taking place in this underground society.

These atrocities are not only happening in other parts of the world, but also in the United States.

My good friend, Ben Patterson, who helped produce this documentary, encourages me by his example to move toward need and not comfort.

See this movie if you want to learn more and help support modern-day abolitionists. It is only in theaters for a limited time, so I would encourage you to attend one of the showings around the country this week. Check to see if it is in your city.

In some recent reading I have found C.S. Lewis and John Piper especially illuminating on the necessity of risk and courage.

C.S. Lewis wrote on courage in The Screwtape Letters:

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means, at the point of highest reality.

A chastity or honesty or mercy which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions.

Pilate was merciful till it became risky. (137-8)

And John Piper wrote on risk in Don’t Waste Your Life:

Risk is right. And the reason is not because God promises success to all our ventures in his cause. There is no promise that every effort for the cause of God will succeed, at least not in the short run. John the Baptist risked calling King Herod an adulterer when he divorced his own wife in order to take his brother’s wife. For this John got his head chopped off. And he had done right to risk his life for the cause of God and truth. Jesus had no criticism for him, only the highest praise (Matthew 11:11).

Paul risked going up to Jerusalem to complete his ministry to the poor. He was beaten and thrown in prison for two years and then shipped off to Rome and executed there two years later. And he did right to risk his life for the cause of Christ. How many graves are there in Africa and Asia because thousands of young missionaries were freed by the power of the Holy Spirit from the enchantment of security and then risked their lives to make much of Christ among the unreached peoples of the world!

And now what about you? Are you caught in the enchantment of security, paralyzed from taking any risks for the cause of God? Or have you been freed by the power of the Holy Spirit from the mirage of Egyptian safety and comfort? Do you men ever say with Joab, “For the sake of the name, I’ll try it! And may the Lord do what seems good to him”? Do you women ever say with Esther, “For the sake of Christ, I’ll try it! And if I perish, I perish”? (89-90)

We also do not have to go far to know the mind of God on risk and courage. One example of many is Hebrews 11:35-39:

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For,

Yet a little while,
and the coming one will come and will not delay;
but my righteous one shall live by faith,
and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Would you join me in praying for those in your family, friends, church, and brothers and sisters around the world who have need of courage today in the face of much risk?

For 12 months, the Resource Strategies department at DG has been testing whether our Don’t Waste Your Life T-shirts (charcoal, blue, pink) can be used as effective gospel-spreading tools. After receiving numerous unsolicited testimonies from people around the world about the T-shirt opening doors for gospel conversations at airports, coffee shops, etc., we've decided to begin offering them online.

They're specifically designed to be a tool for spreading. When I went for a walk through downtown Minneapolis a couple weeks ago wearing a DWYL T-shirt, I was approached by three very different people about it.

An African American man in his 30s asked where I bought the shirt. Later a white lady in her 50s walked up and said she loved it. And then a transient man in a park suggested we trade shirts right on the spot. (I really wanted to, but he had a sweaty Harley Davidson shirt so I passed on the offer.)

The shirt design is an effective tool to provoke conversations because it taps into a universal desire within us all. But be warned! If you wear the shirt be ready to speak the truth in love. For those of you who decide to take the challenge, we have a special message for you inside the shirt.

Our friends at Covenant Life Church are preaching a series of “Don’t Waste Your…Life” sermons this summer. The whole series looks great!

Joshua Harris, Gregg Harris, Dave Harvey, C. J. Mahaney, Robin Boisvert, Mark Mitchell, Jeff Purswell, and Jon Smith will all contribute.

If you know anything about C. J., you won’t be surprised that his sermon assignments are “Don’t Waste Your Humor” (which he preached yesterday) and “Don’t Waste Your Sports.”

Seth Godin, one of today’s best marketing minds, wrote a blog post last week entitled “Is it worthy?”

Godin reflects on whether any of his efforts are worth the investments and sacrifices of others, or whether someone else could have done better with the resources that he has been given.

Godin concludes his reflection:

The object isn’t to be perfect. The goal isn’t to hold back until you’ve created something beyond reproach. I believe the opposite is true. Our birthright is to fail and to fail often, but to fail in search of something bigger than we can imagine. To do anything else is to waste it all.

There is much to affirm here. Yes, we fail and fail often. Yes, we should participate in something unimaginably big. And, no, the fear of failure should not keep us from continuing in this pursuit.

Godin’s remarks also raise two questions for me:

1. Is searching for “something bigger than we can imagine” enough, or do we need to find something, too?

The seeking is essential, but only because what we find is so wonderful. The asking is important and valuable because of the answers.

I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed….
The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. (Psalm 34:4-6, 10)

2. Can we be set free from the fear of failure by telling ourselves that it is in our nature to fail?

In part, yes, but for the Christian there is far more. The fear of failure is ultimately conquered through Christ. We need to…

• …own up to our sin—the real failure. We fall short of and belittle the glory of God by pursuing our own greatness. (Romans 1:18-23;3:23)
• …change our goal. In faith, we should pursue the glory of Christ, the perfect one, rather than our own perfection. (Galatians 5:1-5)
• …trust in Christ for our perfection, because we are judged according to his righteousness as he intercedes on our behalf continually before God, the Father. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

Recently Desiring God has been working with ReachLife Ministries. I've asked Trip Lee of Reach Records to tell us some of what God is doing through their work and our partnership.

*               *               *

Too many youth today are wasting their lives. Our culture promotes it: "Buy this, wear that, drive this." Some cultures pride themselves on that very message. This is particularly true in the hip hop culture.

Unfortunately, many today believe the hip hop culture is unredeemable, better left to itself. Hip-hop is rarely thought of as a culture that ought to be invaded with the truth of Jesus Christ. Truth is, there's a desperate need of Christians who are willing to spend their lives in order to reach it and say with Paul, “I am not ashamed of the gospel” (Romans 1:16).

Reach Records and ReachLife Ministries are devoted to doing just that; reaching the hip-hop culture for the glory of God. We embrace the truth that all cultures are wicked and sinful—that is, until people within that culture are confronted with the truth of Jesus Christ. Our goal is to be used by God for this very purpose.

Reach Records creates music that is relevant to the culture and is packed full of biblical truth. This platform has proven to be an incredible tool, both to introduce people to Jesus Christ, as well as help others go deeper in their faith. Through our music, we have the opportunity to reach a culture that otherwise would have no interest in what we have to say.

As a result of the music, it became apparent that many in this culture lacked solid biblical tools and resources to disciple them in the Christian life. Therefore, we created ReachLife ministries, a non-profit organization which produces Christ-centered tools and resources for urban churches and ministries to provide what music is not designed to do, disciple.

This summer, we are very excited about the opportunity to travel the country for our first official concert tour. The “Unashamed Tour” will hit around 25 cities in the US and the UK. It will be an incredible opportunity to encourage young believers all over the globe to not waste their lives and to be unashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Each of us at ReachLife has been deeply impacted by the ministry of Desiring God and we are excited about the recent partnership with them. They have agreed to donate 10,000 copies of the book Don't Waste Your Life, which will be distributed free at our concerts this summer.

These books will be placed in the hands of urban youth across the country who have never been exposed to Desiring God or the teachings of John Piper. I cannot express the excitement I feel when I see young hip-hoppers not only hearing about the glory of Christ through our concert, but also leaving with resources that will help them to continue in that excitement.

Please join us in praying that the Lord will use both the tour and the books to glorify himself as he calls this generation to live unashamed.

Thanks to Jim for bringing this applicable clipping into work:

Last week my wife found our mini-van window shattered and our stereo missing. Honestly, my first reaction was not biblically informed. My thoughts ran to Murphy's Law and the irony that I had just replaced our broken stereo with a new one two weeks earlier.

As with all shallow adages, Murphy's Law did not really help me make sense of my world.

Then my mind fled to Jesus’ words,

…lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,... where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-20)

Now, a week later, I am thankful that God conspires against my sin to keep me from loving things, and I'm contemplating not shelling out more money to replace the stereo.

I think I want to leave that big hole in the middle of my dashboard. What better way to remind myself and my family that our treasure is in heaven where moth and rust cannot destroy and thieves cannot break in and steal?