God is the Gospel by John Piper is a simple book that reminds us of a truth we often forget: "The best and final gift of the gospel is that we gain Christ." (p. 11)
Piper asks a profound question, "Could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?" (p 14) "Propitiation, redemption, forgiveness, imputation, sanctification, liberation, healing, heaven - none of these is good news except for one reason: they bring us to God for our everlasting enjoyment of him. ... The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God." (p 47)
Piper brings out the implications for cherishing God above his gifts. For repentance: "The sorrow of true contrition is sorrow for not having God as our all-satisfying treasure." (p 107) For reconciliation: "The focus must not be merely the removal of enmity, but the arrival of joy in God." (p 120) For faith: "Trust must experience its thirst being satisfied." (p 130) For delight: "For the gospel-liberated mind, all joy in created things is seamless with joy in God. ... We can say to the believer: your delight in your child, rightly experienced, is delight in God." (p 141)
In a society where we are sold on the benefits, we neglect our greatest treasure - Christ.
This is a great book in traditional Piperesque style. This was a gift from a good friend; I'll make sure to treasure it by first treasuring God :)
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God - 1 Peter 3:18 (ESV)
No comments:
Post a Comment