When he says, if there's no resurrection, let us eat and drink, he doesn't mean let's over eat and over drink.

He means let's live the normal American life.

If there's no resurrection, be normal.

Maximize your pleasures.

When Paul says, let us eat and drink, he's not picturing a wild party.

He's picturing something like suburbia, where we enjoy routine and and safety and a life arranged around ease.

And Piper just lets that land.

I'm Dan Kruver.

In this episode of Light and Truth, John Piper explains why the resurrection frees us from living small, careful, comfort-first

lives.

This message was originally delivered at Columbia International University on Tuesday, February 23,

1999.

I don't think the Great Commission is going to be completed without suffering.

Suffering in really probably unprecedented proportions in our generation and beyond.

We begin with a story to try to illustrate this. Richard Vermbrandt, I hope you know of Richard Vermbrandt, the Romanian pastor who suffered much under communism

and who's written many books about those who suffer for Christ, told a story about an interview

that an Italian newscaster had with a Catholic Cistercian monk or abbot, the head of a monastery.

And he asked him this question, what if you were to realize at the end of your life that atheism is true, that there is no God. Tell me, what if it were true?

And the abbot replied, holiness, silence, and sacrifice are beautiful in themselves, even without the promise of

reward.

I still will have used my life well.

I remember reading that for the first time,

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