Through the month of October, Leslie Wiggins of Lux Venit and I will be posting daily reflections on John Piper's book The Purifying Power of Living By Faith in Future Grace, better known simply as Future Grace. Piper has set up his book to be consumed in 31 days, in the hopes that the reader's faith in the promises of Christ will be stirred up, for the dual ends of heaven and holiness. Please join us!
"Faith" and "Grace" - two weighty, theological words that often seem to get thrown around at church as if on the level of "milk" and "hug." In a sense they are that basic; they are fundamental to the Christian life. So fundamental that being born again cannot occur without them: "By grace you have been saved through faith" (Eph. 2:8). Yet the fact remains that many Christians cannot define the two terms, let alone live them out in daily life.
To redress this problem, John Piper wrote the third volume in his essential trilogy, which includes Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist, The Pleasures of God: God's Delight in Being God, and Future Grace. As in all his work, whether sermons, books, or articles, Piper's aim is to show how "God is most glorified is us when we are most satisfied in him." To spread this message, Piper oversees Desiring God, a not-for-profit foundation and ministry dedicated to showing the supremacy of Christ in all things, for all peoples, to the glory of God.
Not surprisingly, the seeds of this message were inculcated in Piper at a young age. In the preface to Future Grace, he explains how his mother first taught him to "live between two lines of 'Amazing Grace,' " namely "'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far," followed by "And grace will lead me home." The first line represents faith, and the second, future grace.
Piper also sees faith and future grace bookended in his mother's favourite verses, Proverbs 3:5-6:
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
But the aim of the book is not simply to exegete these verses. The overarching goal is "to emancipate human hearts from servitude to the fleeting pleasures of sin." Piper is trying to help Christians to keep "going and growing." This is so vital, as he explains, for while gratitude for bygone grace is the starting point of faith, "gratitude was never designed as the primary motive for radical Christian obedience." Having come to understand the implications of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the church I currently call home, I am very intrigued to see how Piper builds a scriptural case for setting "faith in future grace" over against "gratitude for bygone grace" as the motivation for obedience and holiness.
In his second introduction, written specifically for theologians, Piper highlights passages from various Reformed confessions that seem to provide support for his thesis. As in all his writing, he seeks to show that these ideas didn't originate with him, even if his terminology is fresh, and sometimes seemingly dangerous, such as the term "Christian Hedonism."
Thus, my appetite has been whet. Or whetted, if you prefer. Since I am by nature a nighthawk and do my best thinking at night, I will post my reflections on Chapter 1, "The Debtor's Ethic: Should We Try to Pay God Back?" this evening. If you would like to delve straight into Chapter 1, visit Leslie Wiggins' post at Lux Venit.
