TEXT: John 3:16

SUBJECT: The Passion of Jesus Christ #20: Eternal Life

Tonight we come to chapter 19 in our study of John Piper’s little book, The Passion of Jesus Christ. By ‘passion’, Piper does not mean our Lord’s zeal or enthusiasm, but rather, the suffering and death of God’s Son.

Why did Jesus Christ die? In a word, He died to save us. But what does it mean ‘to save us’? It means a great many things, of course. The one we’ll look at this evening is well-known to Christians, but ought to be better known than it is—thought about more often and believed more firmly. If we meditated on it as we should, we’d have fewer worries than we have, and a much greater love for Christ and each other. The title is clear and to-the-point,

The chapter is divided into three parts which correspond to the key words in the title.

The first word is life.

How should we think about life? Hinduism teaches life is an evil thing and the salvation it promises, therefore, is an escape from life. Nirvana is its word for heaven, which in fact is close to the Bible’s doctrine of hell.

Against Hinduism, we affirm the goodness of life, first of all, because God is alive! John 5:26 says The Father has life in Himself. In John 14:6, our Lord calls Himself, the way, the truth, and the life.

If God is the source of life He is also the giver of life. Back in the first chapter of Genesis, God creates life—Then God said, ‘Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament…And God saw that it was good. Then God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures, cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth…And God saw that it was good.

Note the connection: living creatures and good.

In the next chapter, He’s at special pains to create a life higher than the birds, fish, and cattle—And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

If the animals are good, man is better. When Adam and Eve were finished, the Lord looked back on what He had done and pronounced it all very good.

With the creation of life, God isn’t through. He wants life to carry on. He commands Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the world with life. He gives the same orders to the animal kingdom—Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.

To quote Augustine (in another connection) ‘What God commands He also provides’. He gives fertility to animals and humans alike. Psalm 29:9 says, The voice of the lord makes the deer give birth. In several places, children are conceived at the promise of God—think of Isaac, Samuel, John the Baptist, and in a unique way, our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord who brings life into the world sustains it. Sometimes miraculously—think of Israel in the Wilderness, but most of the time without a miracle (which, if you think about it is itself a miracle!). Think of all the accidents that might have killed you today—but didn’t. Think of all the germs that might have infected you today—but didn’t. Most people live far longer than they ‘need to’. And then, think back to the days before the flood when men lived seven, eight, nine hundred years. And more.

All because life is good.

Piper says,

The Lord made us to love life and to hold on to it. This is why we’re so frustrated. Because we sinned against God and brought death into the world. Death is unnatural, abnormal, wrong. We fear it because we weren’t made for it. We were made for life! That’s partly what it means to be created in the image and likeness of God.

The second key word is eternal. We were made, not just for life (as the animals were), but for eternal life. Through the sin of Adam and Eve, we lost eternal life, but we didn’t lose our desire for it. Piper writes,

What makes life ‘eternal’? First of all, eternal life is life without end. At first glance, this seems like a wonderful thing. Until you think about it. In his classic book, Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift introduces us to several strange people, the best known of which are the Lilliputians (who are two or three inches tall). But the ones that interest me most are the Immortals. These are a chosen few who cannot die. When Gulliver hears of them, he fantasizes of all he could do if he were one of them. But the people who know the Immortals are thankful they’re not that way. Because the Immortals age at the same rate as everyone else. They’re old and broken down at sixty or seventy, and then they keep getting older and more broken down…forever.

If eternal life is nothing more than this life multiplied by infinity, then it is the curse of God and not His gift. Eternal life does go on forever, but that’s not only—or mainly—what it is.

Piper says it’s more a matter of quality than of quantity.

Eternal life means, at the bottom, life without sin and its consequences. Therefore, it’s something like the life Adam and Eve had before they fell. But it’s better than their life, far better. Because while they were sinless, they were not above sin. And, therefore, though their world was perfect, it could be ruined (and was).

But, because Jesus Christ suffered and died for us, our life will be more eternal than Adam and Eve’s. Thus, our happiness will be as full as it can be. If David, living in this world, said, My cup runneth over, our cups will be submerged in the strong wine of God’s love! Your happiest day on earth will be infinitely worse than your saddest day in heaven!

Piper says, all happiness will be preserved. He got this from C.S. Lewis (I think). Lewis said, ‘No good thing will be lost’. Everything that’s good about family or friends or work or vacations or eating or drinking or laughing or sleeping or exercising or reading or—I don’t know, playing video games! will be kept forever.

If all happiness will be preserved, it will also be purified. Eating is a good thing, but it has its downside. Eating too much is bad for your health and makes your clothes shrink! But in heaven, all the joys of heaven will be kept, but without the heartburn, the cholesterol or the tight clothes.

Because it will be preserved and purified, all the happiness of life will also be intensified. Your naps will be sweeter in heaven! Your work will be more satisfying. Your friends will be closer. Your singing will be on-key! Eternal life means all the happiness of this life—only better and without end.

I don’t know if I’m making myself clear or not. Perhaps the best way of defining Eternal Life is by saying: it’s the life Christ has. According to our capacities, we will be as happy and fulfilled as the Lord Jesus Christ is!

If He is anointed with the oil of gladness above all His fellows, and if we are in Him, we have the same anointing! If this sounds too good to be true, you ain’t heard nothing yet!

Eternal life sounds so good, you’d think it would be the privilege of a chosen few, a handful of mystics or martyrs might achieve it, but not the rest of us.

If we had to ‘achieve’ it, we wouldn’t have it—and neither would the martyrs or mystics! But that’s the point, we don’t achieve it! We don’t earn it or merit it or make ourselves fit for it. Eternal life is the Gift of God.

Jesus Christ earned eternal life; He merited it; He made Himself fit for it. And, in Him, we have it too. We get into Christ by believing. Go back to the title,

What makes ‘believing’ in Christ so special? Is it a better work than praising Christ? Or witnessing for Christ? Or serving Christ’s People. No, it isn’t a better work than these things.

In fact, it’s no work at all. Believing in Christ is an anti-work, a taking what He offers instead of giving what He commands. Francis Scaheffer spoke of the Empty Hands of Faith. Empty hands are bad for giving, but just the thing for taking.

Eternal life is for all who will take it. It’s not for anyone who wants to earn it or thinks he has already (or soon will). Everyone who believes in Christ has eternal life. And will have it forever.

Piper closes with an appeal: Why would you not embrace Him as your treasure and live?

Long ago, Moses set a choice before the people: Life and death. Choose life, he begged. But most of them didn’t. They chose death over life because they chose themselves over the Lord. The Gospel sets the same choice before you. The Israelites are past choosing. But you’re not. Not now, I mean. What they failed to do, you can do. What they did, you don’t have to. If they chose death, you choose life. By believing in the one who suffered and died to give it to you.