Let the Nations Be Glad!: The Supremacy of God in Missions by John Piper

Let the Nations Be Glad!: The Supremacy of God in Missions Reviews

• 
  Darla

  An amazing reminder of the supremacy of God in missions. Here are two of my favorite quotes from the book: "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." and "the missionary task of the church is to press on to all the I reached people's until the Lord comes. Jesus commands it, and he assures us that it will be done before he comes again. He can make that promise because he himself is building his church from all the peoples."
• 
  Aaron Clark

  Incredible book by a Spirit-empowered man that taught me to understand the purpose of missions. Many important truths regarding missions, such as this fact: "Worship is the goal and fuel of missions."
  
  Perhaps my biggest takeaway from this book was actually some of its more periphereal ideas. Such as the idea that God is not seeking to be glorified by saving "as many people as possible" (speaking quantitatively) but "as many peoples as possible." This actually comes much later in the book, after Piper has laid much foundation for the goal and fuel of missions (worship), but it struck me as something I haven't heard people speak of.
  
  By "peoples," Piper is pointing out that the Scriptures in their entirety point toward a missions that has its scope in reaching as many "people groups" as possible. "...in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." (Genesis 22:18) And more specifically, Genesis 12:3 - "in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." The amazing truth that Piper unfolds is that God has more in mind, not simply geopolitical unities, but people groups, and more especially "families" (the Hebrew of which clearly refers to clan-like tribe subcultures). How specific is the mission! To bring before the throne of God in worship people out of every family of the earth!
  
  Very encouraging to me to consider this: "In what families (or subcultures or "clans"), near and far, is there no Gospel witness? Are there subcultures in my own state that don't have a Gospel witness?" May the Lord send us and empower us for the work of bringing people to worship His great Name! Amen.
• 
  Christian Barrett

  I love John Piper and his passion to focus solely on the glory of God. This book brings the glory of God to the forefront of missions. Essentially what he does here is take “Desiring God” and turn it into a missions book, and honestly it works. The goal of the book is to have people be so zealous for God and satisfied in God that they live a life devoted to proclaiming the beauty of God to others. This is an incredibly convicting book as it calls Christians to live a life that points people to worship God. I believe this is a must read for pastors, and they should be ready to hand it out to young people considering the missionfield.
• 
  Lewis

  Warning! Contains powerful emotional and scriptural truth. If you want your view of missions to remain unaltered, do not read this book.
• 
  Leah Batchelor

  Great explanation of the basis and goal of missions. I was particularly challenged by the chapter on prayer.
• 
  Ryan Hawkins

  Wow. As anyone who knows me knows, I of course love John Piper’s writing, preaching, and ministry. However, I hadn’t read this book since I was in college (I think 7 years ago). I remembered it being great, but it was even better this time than expected.
  
  Piper’s esteem for God among the nations is so unique and contagious. And not only that, his ability to piece together biblical texts and ideas is incredible. I could write a praise for each of the chapters.
  
  But I just want to point out one chapter that I thought was ministry-changing and so exceptional: Chapter 5, “The Supremacy of God among ‘All the Nations’”.
  
  In this 50-page chapter (the longest in the book), Piper argues and proves biblically that God’s heart and call in missions is *not* to cross cultures so that the maximum number of individuals be saved, rather “God’s will for missions is that every people group be reached with the testimony of Christ and that a people be called out for his name from all the nations” (179).
  
  In other words, God’s call to the church isn’t to save as many individuals as possible per se, it’s to gather his elect from every people group. “Jesus did not send his apostles out with a general mission merely to win as many individuals as they could but rather to reach all the peoples of the world” (211).
  
  And just to be clear, Piper isn’t just saying this. He proves it robustly from the Bible. It’s fascinating.
  
  This seriously is so revolutionary to ministry. The goal of God in missions in the Bible is not mainly to evangelize as many individuals, but the people groups. Perhaps we’ve missed this in modern American evangelicalism?
  
  More could be said, but I recommend the book to anyone, especially chapter 5.
  
  It’s not the easiest to read at times (because Piper is thorough and wants to prove his points are from the Bible!), but definitely worth reading. It’ll stir your heart for God’s global purpose of missions: reaching the people groups of the world with the glorious gospel of Christ.
• 
  Beck

  This is a book I’ll be referencing and recommending for a long time. Piper is unrelenting and detailed in his arguments and I’ve come away with a healthier and God glorifying view of God. Read this book!
• 
  Dwight Davis

  It's hard for me to rate this book. On the one hand, it's a great entry level book on missions. I would gladly hand it to someone who had no theological background and tell them to read it and learn about the importance of worship and missions.
  
  On the other hand, it's far from "the best book on missions I've ever read." I'm actually astonished to see that blurb from Dr. Ortlund on the back of this book. This is very basic stuff. To call this book "dense" is insulting to theologians who really wrestle with some of the issues Piper addresses here. For instance, instead of engaging with annihilationists, Piper just throws proof texts at them (this isn't surprising for anyone who has read Piper, he is incapable of arguing and engaging those he disagrees with. He just throws a few texts out of context at his opponent and calls it a day). I profoundly disagree with Piper's emphasis on worship being only an inner thing and having no outward expressions and his complete de-emphasis on discipleship. Not to mention he is an awful writer, and his written this same book at least 15 times now.
  
  2 stars seems right. Great for beginners, but should not be a stopping point at all.
• 
  Paul

  Al Mohler says, "'Let the Nations Be Glad!' is the most important book on missions for this generation, and I hope it will be the most influential as well." My thoughts on this book would echo Dr. Mohler's opinion. This book is certainly vintage Piper. Every chapter is God-centered, Scripture-saturated, and Christ-exalting. Unlike most modern books on missions, it is more theological treatise than missiological strategy. Don't let that scare you away, however. While I have had my struggles muddling through some of Piper's work, this was a very easy read. The chapters are very logical, and he breaks almost every thought up with section heads. I spilled a great deal of yellow ink highlighting the 259 pages of this book, and I will certainly be keeping it close at hand as a resource for all of my life and ministry.
  
  
• 
  Carter Galloway

  John Piper lays out from start to finish that the goal and hope of all Christians, biblically, should be to see the glory of God known among all the nations (people groups). The fuel for this mission is the worship of God. Piper leaves the individual Christian with no excuse, but to play a significant role in seeing this come to fruition. As Piper points out, we know how it ends; “And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every TRIBE, and LANGUAGE, and PEOPLE, and NATION, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God. And they shall reign on earth.’” (Revelation 5:9-10)
• 
  Bruce Garner

  As a missionary's son who'd first encountered theology of missions as a teenanger, I didn't think this book would add much to my Biblical thinking about missions. Boy, was I wrong! It's doctrinally meaty, but thoroughly seasoned with vivid language and stories told with Piper's characteristic "I'll set myself ablaze and let 'em watch me burn" passion. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the work of Jesus in the world, and particularly for those struggling with those asking, "Do you need to trust Jesus to be saved?" and "What about those who have never heard?"
  
• 
  Philip Mcduffie

  "Moreover, there is something about God that is so universally praiseworthy and so profoundly beautiful and so comprehensively worthy and so deeply satisfying that God will find passionate admirers in every diverse people group in the world. His true greatness will be manifest in the breadth of the diversity of those who perceive and cherish His beauty. The more diverse the people groups who forsake their gods to follow the true God, the more visible God's superiority over all His competitors." Piper
• 
  Rodrigo D'Cristo

  Excelente livro! Piper realinha a visão bíblica de se fazer Missões. Sua tese é muito boa, muito bem defendida, e com dezenas de passagens bíblicas. Em suma, em minha opinião, essa frase resume bem o fundamento que ele defende: “As missões não são o alvo fundamental da igreja. A adoração é”.
• 
  Michael Bering Smith

  John Piper’s volume Let The Nations Be Glad presents a cogent, clear, and commendable case for making world missions a celebrated means, rather than a mere necessary end. Missions books often promote a view that the end goal of missions is to make missionaries, train them, and get them “into the field.” As long as we have gotten them there, we have achieved our goal. Piper does not move so fast. Missions, he says, is not the end. It is the means. “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t.” What is the glorious goal of missions? It is nothing less than the collective peoples of the earth, together treasuring the glory of God in the face of Christ. That is the end for which the means of mission was purposed, and worship, prayer, and suffering—the book’s three-pronged first part—are integral in getting us there.
  
  THE CONTENTS
  
  Space allows only a brief survey of the books contents, so we will glimpse them in short. In the first chapter, Piper introduces the supremacy of God in missions through worship. Here Piper establishes his foundation, that worship is ultimate because God is ultimate, and the grateful acknowledgement of his supremacy (worship) is what we are seeking when we involve ourselves in missions. Chapter two issues a call to prayer. We the church have received our marching orders. “Go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.” (Matthew 6:6) We are to “pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) For missions to succeed, we must plead prayerfully, putting the fruitful outcome of missions under the sovereign mercy of God. In chapter three, Piper richly portrays how the inevitable life of suffering brought by the pursuit of missions is a life most worthy of living. “Whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:35) Jim Elliot, a missionary martyr among the Auca natives of Ecuador would agree. “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Chapter four preaches Christ as the only means to salvation from the horrors of hell, as the object of conscious, saving faith. Piper here does nothing less than radically draw our eyes to the depths and trepidations of the biblical doctrine of hell and the heights and rising peaks of God’s love for us in Christ as the only Savior from it. This is perhaps one of the greatest contributions of this book. Piper closes in the final chapters by in chapter five defining missions not according to love, but by God. It is God and his acknowledged glory which must be the foundation for our understanding of missions, not love for the souls of nations. Chapter six and seven end the volume with a survey of the life of Jonathan Edwards and an elaboration on Piper’s purpose for writing the book.
  
  THE AUDIENCE
  
  For whom is the book written? Let The Nations Be Glad is written with the Christian lay-believer and the Christian pastor in mind. With some careful attention, a non-believer will likely be able to follow along. Yet I do not see it likely they will be interested in what is here. The volume is no-holds-bar, black-coffee Christianity—the real stuff. Piper does not cut corners. He opens the Bible with lucidity and without apology. Yet in doing so, he is sure to assume nothing of his reader. That is a good thing. He is plain in speech, thorough in explanations, and (sometimes tediously) clear in his arguments; so clear that sometimes (a rarity) the broader scope is clouded in the slow belaboring of excessive detail. I experienced this in chapter 5 where Piper sets forth an extended argumentation on what he sees as the correct way to interpret panta ta ethne (“all nations” in Matthew 28:20). Piper may be justified in his laborious defense, for how we interpret “all nations” will determine in large part our view of the extent of the great commission, one of Christ’s final commands and a battle cry for Christian missions. (Is Christ telling us to go to all nations, all ethnic groups, all individual unsaved Gentiles, or something else entirely?) Yet the point could have been received with more immediateness were there a more succinct presentation. Overall, Piper approaches and touches on many strong, complex theological arguments, while keeping his prose at a simple level of reading. He brings the reader along with him.
  
  MEDITATION: A LOVE OF THINGS
  
  Every now and again as one reads a book, uncovering some distant theological landscape or familiarizing oneself with a new spiritual topic, a sentence will suddenly leap from the page, gripping the reader and making so forceful an impression as to change them in their seat. The mind stops. The book falls into the lap. A deeper reflection is prompted. This did not happen for me in my reading of Let The Nations Be Glad. Yet there were two times that came close.
  
  One statement I found worthy of meditation was in the third chapter. Piper wrote: “It will be difficult to bring the nations to love God from a lifestyle that communicates a love of things.” It is a statement innocuous enough, yet it deeply struck me, first because of the overwhelming consensus today that material things are of all things most dear. Things hold an inordinate sway on us all. We are blind men; materialists, consumed by the physical and averse to the spiritual. Yet this is not how it ought to be, and we believers who share Piper’s passion for the supremacy of God must feel this incongruency more deeply. How unseeing are we of our stinginess? Are we giving sacrificially to the labor of the gospel in our local church? Are we demonstrating love for things of God by taking responsibility for our church, pursuing membership, and involving ourselves financially in its well-being and continued sustenance? Supporting its missionaries? Its pastors? We are told: “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:15) We may well do this, leaving our homes to evangelize the greater world. Yet what of it, if we come with the wealth of Westerners? It would be delusional to think we can preach a gospel of grace with our mouths and not preach the prosperity gospel with our lives. We can, and we do.
  
  Piper’s statement jarred me into wondering how readily my own lifestyle communicates the love of things, and what damage that could do to my commendation of Christ. In his sermon “The Weight of Glory” delivered at St. Mary The Virgin Church at Oxford in 1942, C.S. Lewis commented on the worldliness of Christians. “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” Does this not describe the people with whom we pray, sing hymns, hear sermons, enjoy fellowship? Too easily pleased by earthly delights? Taken by the allure of the latest iPhone? In our culture, materialism reigns. Have we unwittingly imbibed the toxin? This I believe is a point that requires more emphasis in the local church—radical generosity, counter-cultural living, in our finances, our things, our time. The theme of Lewis’ sermon was not self-indulgence but self-denial. We must see that it is only in the giving up of ourselves that the infinite joy will be found.
  
  MEDITATION: A VIEW FOR ETERNITY
  
  A second phrase that seized me was: “I know of no one who has overstated the terrors of hell.” The reality of hell and eternity is a dogma taught infrequently in our churches today. We (especially in the secular west, but increasingly in the global scene) live in “the now,” a me-focused, present-oriented mode of being where the latest is greatest, forward progress dominates our thoughts and industries, and anything remotely old is deemed eternally out of date; the future is worth thinking about, only as much as it pertains to our days here, now, on this earth. Heaven is no longer on our minds. That is old fashioned. Many of us, Christians included, pass our days unaware that our moment on earth is a mortal one, that our first breath is one of our last, and that we, like a seed, will one day be planted. Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor identifies this as the “immanent frame,” that is, the unconsciously inhabited view of the universe as a place entirely absent of the supernatural; all there is to reckon with is the “immanent” or immediate context, that which is before us, the natural world disenchanted of the numinous, metaphysical, or eternal.
  
  With the rest of the secular West, evangelical Christians have drawn this air largely unawares. As a result, we think on the here and now (finances, marriage, parenting—all important realms no doubt) and neglect the deep soul work of preparing for eternity. It is a long labor and a haunting on, facing death. It intimidates. Yet we must face it. We must turn, and allow ourselves to approach the endless hall of eternity. We need to open back up our perspective, and work ourselves to accommodate the eternal into our very temporally bound state of living. Where will we be spending our days, the real length of them? In the place where moth and rust do not destroy, where thieves do not break in and steal (Matthew 6:19). It is of vital import. May we, as Piper encourages us to do in Let The Nations Be Glad (chapter 5, but the beam shines across the whole thing), store up our treasure not here, in the immanent and the temporary, but there, in the transcendent and the eternal, as have many great missionaries who precede us. They counted the cost. They numbered their days (Psalm 90:12). They knew they were but breath, their days a passing shadow (Psalm 144:4). And their kingdom work was better for it.
  
  CONCLUSION
  
  In close, there is much to be gained by the believer in studying these pages. John Piper is a pastor, and a good one. He wants to point his readers to Christ. This book does that with remarkable immediacy and effectiveness; I found my affections for Christ and my gratitude for his work being consistently stirred and my limited view for international missions being opened to the biblical view. That does not happen every time one reads a book. Therefore I would recommend it heartily. I have not cited too much in this review. Yet on such an ending note, perhaps one ought to close with an appropriate citation from the work itself. In some ways, the following quote on the love of God summarizes exactly the entire message of the book’s 288 pages. Read it slowly. “The love of God for perishing sinners moved him to provide at great cost a way to rescue them from everlasting destruction, and missions is the extension of that love to the unreached peoples of the world.”
  
  It is indeed.
  
  BIBLIOGRAPHY
  
  Charles Taylor, A Secular Age. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, Belknap Press, 2007).
  
  Elizabeth Elliot, Shadow of the Almighty - The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot (Hodder and Stoughton, 1958).
  
  John Piper, Let The Nations Be Glad: The Supremacy of God in Missions, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1993, 2003, 2010), Kindle Edition.
• 
  Dayton Rumbold

  I apologize for this really long review. Going into this book I had a lot of questions on missions such as:
  Is there a need for western missionaries?
  In the great commission, is the emphasis on all nations?
  What is the chief end of missions?
  What is a healthy sending church like?
  
  These may sound silly but I have heard of how God is already at work among the nations through the native people. So many times, I come from a critical world-view. I wanted to be an obedient Christian and so I figured that this book would be a good start. I have to admit, I had a lot of incorrect notions on missions that I'm thankful for the corrections this book offered.
  
  The good, the bad, and the ugly.
  
  The good
  --------
  - John Piper's flow of writing follows questions. Every question you can think of about missions is probably answered.
  - Piper makes it clear to exalt missions and not missionaries
  - It is so God-centered. This book revolves around worship
  - There is a long discourse and in-depth study on every time the word "nations" are mentioned in the Bible.
  - John Piper differentiates between Pauline-type work and Timothy-type work. The work of both were important but it is good to mention the differences between planting and establishing and equipping.
  - There is a healthy dose of understanding that what drives missions is not only compassion for people who are headed to hell but a zeal for the glory of God.
  
  The bad
  --------
  - The book is more of a textbook. John is involved in many missions across the world but he doesn't write as a practitioner. I don't think this deserves to be labeled as "the bad" but I wanted to stick to the format haha
  - In my opinion, I think the book spends too long in the word studies and convincing us that God desires for all people groups to know him. I think most people reading this, would agree that the Bible says this. Instead, I was hoping to hear more a little about the state of missions today, the balance between missions and discipleship, and the importance of healthy sending churches. I think these all play a role in missions as well and are worth mentioning. The book spends a little long in the academic side of things and what the writers of the Bible meant when they wrote certain passages pertaining missions. But I can't blame John Piper that much because he is an academic person after all.
  
  The ugly
  -------
  - A (possible) unhealthy byproduct of this book is for there to be little discernment of what it means to be serving in missions. For example, many people may read this and decide that God is calling them to missions. I am not arguing that is bad. In fact, it is good. But for this example, imagine that person has rarely shared their faith or maybe never even discipled someone else or had a consistent prayer life. I think there should be a healthy dose (which should be a part of the pastoral burden to mention) of raising up Christians that have deep understanding of how to live the Christian life already, prior to leaving. Going on a plane ride will not make you magically obedient. Calling can be discerned by the people in your life and your desire. What do the people in your Church see in you when they see you serving? Where has your gifts and experience been of service? Then go out in serve. Having many people surrounded in the sending is important.
  
  
  Those are most of the things I thought when I read this book. Overall, this book was for my good in seeing that God does want people from every tribe, tongue, and nation standing before him in worship and that is my responsibility to live my life in a way that reaches towards that goal in however God sees fit.
  
  Acts 20:24 sums it up well: "However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace."
• 
  Glen

  This modern classic on missions is more of a theological treaty instead of a methodological one. It is imminently quoted due to its strong theological polemic for missions and the writer formidable skills of articulation.
  
  Focusing on a Theo-centric understanding of the mission mandate, Piper demonstrates how God’s glorious revelation is the starting and ending point in the plan of redemption. In this way, the book serves as a welcomed response to the current missiological trends that de-emphasize proclamation and often elevate humanitarian needs as the paramount concern. This book offers a balance perspective that fully endorses compassionate work under the larger spectrum of helping people groups to hear the Good News of God’s invitation to eternal life.
  
  The chapters on God’s supremacy and Christ as the Supreme manifestation of God’s glory on earth are filled with strong exegetical content. There are times when the reader will have to follow some technical analsis of Greek and Hebrew words but you are rewarded by eloquent summarizations of how these impact the global work.
  
  Jonathan Edwards and other Puritan luminaries take their customary elevated status in Piper’s thinking. Yet, this is not a larger theological treatment of Calvinistic views on election and predestination. Furthermore, there is a more limited focus on key subjects that articulate the scope of missions and how it differs from evangelism. This gives the book a wider audience without compromising the writer’s strong convictions.
  
  Aside from these observations on the book’s contents, there is the sheer joy of ready the work of a capable author who combines acumen with artistic skill to produce a passionate polemic for the church to fulfill her mission mandate. For this I am deeply grateful.
• 
  Sydney Wilson

  Let the people praise you, O God;
  let all the peoples praise you!
  Let the nations be glad and sing for joy.
  Psalm 67:3-4
  
  “The infinite, all-glorious Creator of the universe, by whom and for whom all things exist—who holds every person’s life in being at every moment (Acts 17:25)—is disregarded, disbelieved, disobeyed, and dishonored among the people of the world. That is the ultimate reason for missions.”
  
  God will be all in all.
• 
  Jeremy

  Spent the last year reading this book aloud to my 11 (now 12) year-old son, Elijah, as he prepared to go (and has now returned) to/from Africa. Saturated in Scripture and the glory of God. A must read for any disciple serious about the furtherance of the worship of God in their community, to the ends of the earth.
• 
  Caleb Rolling

  This is a good introduction to missions. Some chapters are better than others, and often times it can feel like Piper is beating a dead horse (boy, some of these are long chapters). But I believe (most of the time) Piper is beating the correct dead horse, and he does so to combat widespread and popular opposing views.
• 
  Emma Scott

  it’s very theological/philosophical and definitely felt like a textbook but I learned a ton. about 1/3 of it probably went over my head but provides so much scripture for the why of missions! a ton on worship, prayer, suffering, diversity of cultures w a focus on the glory of God! long and deep but gooooood!!!!
• 
  Felipe Bezerra

  Excelente livro sobre missões, a missão de Deus, a missão da igreja e uma base bíblica para pensar de forma missional, não só pensar, mas viver.
• 
  Jeremy

  Several central concepts in this book have proved foundational to the direction of my life. My wife and I found it a great refresher.
• 
  Cole Cunningham

  Best book I have ever read
• 
  Riley Hambrick

  As a nation, I was glad. Thank u
• 
  Hannah

  This book was an amazingly in depth look at missions, answering many questions I wasn’t even aware I had. Piper laid out the fundamentals using an abundance of scripture and logical language. All in all, a wonderful read.