What One Single Life Accomplished — Zac Poonen

Christ’s Humble Beginnings and Ordinary Work

The effect of one single life on this earth. One solitary life. Let me read it to you. He's referring to Christ. Compare that with yourself. He was born in a small, unknown village in a very small country.

He was born the son of a very poor village woman. He grew up in another small village where he worked only as a carpenter until he was 30 years old. And then for the next three years, he was a traveling preacher.

You know, the world doesn't value carpenters or traveling preachers. He never wrote a book. He never held any public office. He never had a family. He never owned a house. He didn't go to college. He never visited any big city in the world.

He never traveled more than 300 kilometers from his hometown at any time in his life. He never did any of the things that people usually associate with great people, the great things. He had no degrees after his name.

Christ’s Rejection, Crucifixion, and Burial

He was only a young man. He was only 33 when people turned against him. All his friends ran away and left him all alone. He was handed over to his enemies and they put him through the mockery of a trial.

He was executed by crucifixion by the government of his day as a criminal. And while he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothes, which were the only property he had on this earth. And when he was dead because of the pity of a friend, they loaned him a grave to be buried in.

Jesus Christ’s Influence on Human History

But since that time, 2 ,000 years have come and gone, but nobody in history has influenced history as that one single man. He's the central figure of the human race, Jesus Christ, the leader of all the progress that mankind has seen in any field.

All the armies that ever marched on this earth and all the navies that ever sailed the seas and all the governments and parliaments that ever sat anywhere in the world have all put together, have not influenced the life of man on this earth as that one single life.

Following Jesus Beyond Worldly Achievement

And he says to us, follow me. You don't have to be famous, brothers, sisters. You don't have to write a book. You don't have to own a house. You don't have to have a family. If you have these things, thank God for it.

I'm not saying anything wrong with these things. I've written books, I've got a house, I've got a family. But what I say is if I think these things mean anything, it's a question of how you live your life before God.

The Influence of One Life Lived Before God

One life can influence millions if you live before God. That's so important. So when you look at the values with which Jesus lived his life, we learn something. What is the secret of his life? There we can learn how I can build a superstructure of my own life.