Book Review: Let the Nations Be Glad by John Piper

I just finished John Piper's book Let the Nations Be Glad: the Supremacy of God in Missions.  I tackled it in 2 days.

First, I highly recommend this book to any Christian.  It's not just for those who are on the mission field or who are considering missions.  The first and the last paragraphs of the book explains why:

Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church.  Worship is.  Missions exists because worship doesn't.  Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man.  When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more.  It is a temporary necessity.  But worship abides forever (35).

Not every Christian is called to be a missionary, but every follower of Christ is called to be a world Christian.  A world Christian is someone who is so gripped by the glory of God and the glory of his global purpose that he chooses to align himself with God's mission to fill the earth with the knowledge of his glory as the waters cover the sea (Hab. 2:14).  Everything a world Christian does is with a view to the hallowing of God's name and the coming of God's kingdom among all the peoples of the earth.  The burning prayer of the world Christian is, "Let the people's praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!" (Ps. 67:3).  So whether we are those who send or those who go, let us glory in the supremacy of God in missions, and let us link arms together as we join in the refrain of old, "Let the nations be glad!" (264).

This book covers worship (What is worship anyway?  Is it something that happens during a weekly church gathering or is it something deeper?), prayer (What is the purpose of prayer?  Is it the way we get our "3 wishes from a magic genie"? Or did God ordain prayer for something bigger?), suffering (Why is there suffering in a Christian's life?  Jesus said, "A servant is not greater than his master.   If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you" John 15:20, but what is God's purpose in allowing our suffering?), the supremacy of Christ and the supremacy of God. 

While Piper makes it clear that he views missions as taking the gospel to the unreached peoples, not Gentile individuals, (see chapter 5 for this discussion), I believe that this book is also valuable in evangelism and discipleship at home and abroad for those people groups who are already "reached".

Second, I recommend that you not try to tackle this book in one weekend.  Piper packs in a lot of information in every section of every chapter. There were several times when my brain was spinning (but I insisted on highlighting and pushing through).  My next time through (and yes, there will be a next time), I plan on taking more brain breaks and possibly even journaling.  The good news is, each chapter has several sections so you can take several breaks to ponder what you just read.

So what are you waiting for?  Go, buy the book, or check it out from your local library (or share with your e-reader), and read it.