Monday, November 17, 2008

BOOK REVIEW!!

When I Don’t Desire Christ: How To Fight For Joy! John Piper
(Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2004),
Reviewed by Casey Kirkman


The topic, How to Fight For Joy, is, or should be, one of the most pursued blessings in the Christian life. This book is a book about fighting, or more precisely, fighting in a Christian way. This book is not for the fainthearted per say but, in the end, it is the fainthearted whom Piper is trying to encourage. How to Fight For Joy is hard hitting, because at the end of the day this will prove to be the hardest work in our Christian experience - the work of sustaining and pursuing real biblical joy in Christ. Piper tries to engage the readers to ask the question, what is my greatest treasure? John Piper’s book is a marvelous stimulant to all who seek to make Jesus Christ preeminent. We could say it is the same as having Jesus Christ the most breathtakingly precious object of our hope!

The book consists of twelve chapters. Each chapter is designed to promote heartfelt adoration for Christ. This would facilitate a real cordial response to God and generate genuine gospel joy, or in Piper’s words “superior pleasure in God”. John Piper relies heavily upon the verse found in 2 Corinthians 4.
“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (vv. 3-4)


The reader’s attention will be drawn throughout the book to this wonderful phrase which is the essence of the gospel message - “The light of the gospel of the glory of Christ”. Piper’s burden is that we may truly begin to recognize, more than we ever have before, what is the light of the gospel, that glorious hope, which is to be seen in the glory of Christ who is the image of God. This is unbelievably important for Piper. He notes that evangelicalism at large is dumfounded when it comes to what it truly means to born again, to have real joy in the Living God of the scriptures.

Piper notes,
“The last two hundred years has seen an almost incredible devaluation of the fight for joy. We have moved a hundred miles from Pilgrim’s Progress where Christian labors and struggles and fights all his life “for the joy that was set before him” (Heb. 12:2) in the Celestial City. Oh, how different is the biblical view of the Christian life than the one prevalent in the Western church. It is an earnest warfare from beginning to end, and the war is to defend and strengthen the fruit-bearing fields of joy in God.” (How to Fight For Joy: p.37)

Overall this book is well written and convicting. The subject matter is not a John Piper anomaly. Throughout the book there is a conspicuous amount of quotes from our forefathers concerning gospel joy and how to fight for joy. Piper quotes’ the well known John Calvin.
“If human happiness, whose perfection it is to be united with God, were hidden from man, he would in fact be bereft of the principal use of his understanding. Thus, also the chief activity of the soul is to aspire thither. Hence the more anyone endeavors to approach to God, the more he proves himself endowed with reason.” (How to Fight For Joy: p.16)

John Piper unashamedly promotes God’s Word. He devotes two chapters on the Word. One is entitled, “The Worth of God’s Word in the Fight For Joy” and another chapter is titled, “How to Yield the Word in the Fight For Joy.” This book is saturated with scripture. All the way through the book Piper wields the word of God from Genesis to Revelation to encourage God’s children to fight for joy. Piper remarks on this solid foundation,

“The fundamental reason that the Word of God is essential to joy in God is that God reveals himself mainly by his Word. And seeing this revelation of God is the foundation of our joy.” (How to Fight For Joy: p. 95)

Dr. Piper has brought before us a great book that will be used by many Christians in their fight for joy until the true joy of all our hearts descends from God’s right hand. At a time when so-called Christian joy is based upon our material wealth and a plethora of worldly ambitions and gratifications, Piper brings us back to face the truth of God’s Word concerning biblical Joy! Piper lays out this definition:
“To be a Christian means: I aim to pursue joy in God so that the infinitely valuable objective reality of the universe, God, will get all the glory possible from my life. “I want to be happy” may be Christian shorthand for “I want to know the One, and the only One, who is in himself all I have ever longed for in all my desires to be happy”. (How to Fight For Joy: p. 29)

I delightfully recommend this book to not only pastors but to every one who has pledged allegiance to the Lord of Glory. The exegetical arguments are waterlogged with a tremendous amount of practical application to apply in every aspect of our joyous walk with the King of Glory.

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