Book Review: Let The Nations Be Glad
A short Book Review: Let the Nations be Glad by John Piper
If you’ve been in any evangelical church for a length of time you’ve heard about missions. The context may have been attending a few missions conferences, hearing the report of a missionary or a team freshly back from a short term trip, hearing the Pastor pray for the advance of the gospel from the front-or perhaps a request for more funding in order to support more missionaries. All of these things are good, however sometimes, lost in all of these specific entreaties is a philosophy that ties them call together and leaves us fully engaged and excited about our role in the proclamation of the gospel the world over. In Let the Nations be Glad John Piper gives us a compelling vision directly from the scriptures for the necessity of missions in the life of the church which will leave the reader hungry to see the gospel go everywhere! If you’re going to read one book on missions, my hope is that you will make it this one.
Should every church have a missions committee or support a missionary? Do churches need to have missions at their forefront? Missions has often become a program in the church, and this has I think, created a problem. Programs can easily be seen as optional. As long as there are some people managing it, it’s easy for others to ignore it. Piper reminds us that “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t.” (17) Piper strives to demonstrate that Missions is a means to and end; an end to which we should all be concerned about. Missions is not the kind of thing that is optional for Christians.
Piper centers his understanding of missions around the conviction that God desires His glory to be increased, providing a multitude of pages filled solely with scriptures quotations wherein God makes a promise, completes an action, forgives, saves, heals, etc…all for His glory. Ex. “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:13)
Piper examines predestination, prayer, suffering, and the whether or not people can be saved apart from believing in Christ. Through this study he shows how God’s glory is increased through every step of the missionary enterprise. God glorifies himself through being Sovereign over all things, including the determination of those who will be saved. In praying for the gospel to take root and bear good fruit the believer is humbled and God is exalted. “Prayer gives us the significance of frontline forces and gives God the glory of limitless provider. The one who gives the power gets the glory. Thus, prayer safeguards the supremacy of God in missions while linking us with endless grace for every need.” (45) Through a willingness to suffer for the sake of the Gospel we tangibly affirm to the world around us that which is most important in the universe; not our riches, houses, careers, even families-God alone. “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. And the supremacy of that glory shines most brightly when the satisfaction that we have in him endures in spite of suffering and pain in the mission of love.” (107) Finally, he examines the doctrine of the exclusivity of Christ, arguing that God is glorified because Jesus name is the only name under heaven by which people may be saved.
The book is saturated with scripture. It amazed me how man verses in scripture argued for the importance of world missions! The book inspires you with examples from church history as Piper liberally weaves in the stories of men and women who took the gospel around the world and how God used them.
Many would agree that missions is important, but successfully Piper ties together all of the doctrines and issues involved to show you not just that it is important, but how very important it is, and why. We have the book available in our bookcase in Fellowship Hall. Please buy it!! As I said at the beginning, I you only read one book on missions, this would be a good one!
God Bless,
Pastor Chris
