Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper
Week 3: Chapter 3 — Magnifying Christ Through Pain and Death
Read Chapter 3 of Don't Waste Your Life. Key passages: Philippians 1:20–21; 2 Corinthians 4:17; Romans 8:18.
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Piper turns to the hardest place to test his thesis — suffering and death — and argues that these, far from being waste, can become some of the most powerful displays of God's glory in a human life. Come to these questions ready to be honest about your own relationship with pain.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Piper's goal, drawn directly from Philippians 1:20, is to magnify Christ 'whether by life or by death.' Why is death the supreme test of whether God is truly our treasure? What would it reveal about a person's true values if they faced death without peace?
2.He argues that Paul's willingness to die was not rooted in stoic detachment or fatalism, but in confident expectation — 'to die is gain' (Philippians 1:21). What exactly would be gained at death for the person who is truly satisfied in God? Why doesn't this logic work for someone whose treasure is in this world?
3.Piper examines how Paul responds to his own imprisonments and suffering in Philippians — not with bitterness but with joy, because the circumstances advanced the gospel (Phil. 1:12). Have you ever experienced a situation where what felt like a setback became an unexpected avenue for Gospel witness? What happened?
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