John Piper concluded this year's national conference with his message, "Getting Old for the Glory of God." Listen to or watch this message, read the full manuscript, or see summary notes taken from it below.

Getting Old to the Glory of God Means Making God Look Glorious

Psalm 71:7-18. Getting old to the glory of God means getting old in ways that make God look glorious, not the treasures of this world. It means resolutely resisting the typical American dream of retirement, being set free by a superior satisfaction in Jesus and our heavenly inheritance.

John 21:19. Jesus told Peter by what kind of death he was to glorify God. There are, evidently, different ways to die. But for Christians all of them are to be performed in a way that makes God look like our treasure, heaven our home, and the world worthless in comparison. We must treasure Christ, which is the essence of believing in him. If you don't want him to come back, then you don't believe in him (2 Timothy 4:7-8). And treasuring Christ manifests itself when we pour out our lives in love towards others.

Two Fearful Mistakes

However, one great obstacle stands in the way of finishing well: the fear that it won't actually happen. And there are two deadly ways that people attempt to overcome this fear:

1) People mistakenly believe that perseverance is not necessary for final salvation. This is mistaken because the Bible is crystal clear that we must endure in faith and love until the end (Mark 13:13; Hebrews 12:14; Galatians 6:8; 2 Thessalonians 2:13). If you want to be in heaven then you must persevere to the end. It is a tragic mistake to believe that perseverance is optional.

2) People mistakenly believe that God's favor towards us is only secured if, by our own efforts, we persevere. But consider what the Bible teaches when God becomes, irrevocably, totally, forever, for us. It's when we receive Jesus Christ—by faith alone, as the substitute sacrifice for our sins and as our substitute perfection—and are justified (Romans 3:28, 5:1, 8:1). And when God has sealed his love for us in this way, no one can separate us from that love (Romans 8:38-39). Therefore we do not have to wait to the end of our lives to ensure that God is for us.

Perseverance is not the means by which we earn God's favor. Perseverance is the fruit of God favoring us already, because we are in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:10; Colossians 1:29; Romans 15:18). And we cannot improve upon the perfections of Christ. If Christ is the foundation of God being for us, then he now favors us to the fullest extent that he ever will or will be able to. To think otherwise is to rob Christ of all his glory.

The key to getting old to the glory of God, to persevering, is to keep finding Christ as your highest treasure. Keep seeing him, valuing him, and treasuring him. It is not mainly a fight to do. It is mainly a fight to delight.

Overcoming the Fear

By Believing the Promises

So how do we get rid of the fear of not persevering? Receive the promises of God (Philippians 1:6; Jude 1:24; Romans 8:30). Scripture teaches that perseverance is necessary and that it is certain for all who have been justified in Christ. The key to growing old to the glory of God is to believe him.

The good works that flow from our perseverance will cause people either to praise God (Matthew 5:16) or persecute us. When we are so satisfied with Christ that we are willing to die for him, then he will be shown as glorious through us.

By Breaking the Trend

What does it mean to show Christ as glorious as we grow old in America? It means making a radical break with the rest of our generation, a generation that is dying from retirement. Retirement is the world's substitute for heaven, but we have a different Sabbath rest. Don't waste your last chapter. Plead with God to spare you from the curse of retirement.

Leave with a passion and a promise: Psalm 71:18 and Isaiah 46:4. You are as secure in Christ as Christ is righteous and God is just. Don't settle for anything less than the joyful sorrows of magnifying Christ in the sacrifices of love. And in the last day you will stand and hear the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant."