Book of the Month: The Legacy of Sovereign Joy

The word grace can have multiple meanings. As we grow in maturity as believers we see it as withholding punishment from those who deserve it. We see it in Christ's command to forgive our brothers who sin against us. We see it in God's mercy towards all sinners who deserve to have been blotted out already. And we see it in the active saving grace given by God to those who are saved. This month's Fighter Verse, Eph. 2:8, 9 (ESV) says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Grace is not just a withholding of justice, but it is an actual active gift bestowed on us by which God provides us with a real change of heart, making us born again, causing us to see him as glorious and worthy of our all, and resulting in faith which is the first cry of the newborn soul.

The Westminster Catechism says, "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever." This is a concise summary of the doctrines of grace, and those who understand this recognize that being a Christian is not about meeting a list of demands or living by a set of principles. The idea of "enjoying God" sets us apart from works-based religions, because we can only enjoy what we have a taste for, and this is not something we can control ourselves.

The necessity of enjoying God demands new birth.

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. (Ezekiel 36:26-27, ESV)

This was certainly Augustine's experience of conversion; he was only able to give up his hedonistic lifestyle because God became infinitely more satisfying and pleasurable to him.

...during all those years, where was my free will? What was the hidden, secret place from which it was summoned in a moment, so that I might bend my neck to your easy yoke and take your light burden on my shoulders, Christ Jesus, my Helper and my Redeemer? How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose and was now glad to reject! You drove them from me, you who are the true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasure, though not to flesh and blood, you who outshine all light yet are hidden deeper than any secret in our hearts... (Augustine, Confessions, IX)

Every year at his church's pastors conferences, John Piper prepares and gives a biographical lecture on an important figure in church history. These lectures are often published in his The Swans Are not Silent series. This month's book of the month is The Legacy of Sovereign Joy, which is about Augustine, Luther, and Calvin.

In the spring of 2007, when we were working towards planting our church (and did not yet have a name), Pastor Patrick and I both listened to the mp3 from John Piper's 1998 lecture on Augustine and were deeply impacted. I listened to it while hiking at Upper Park and as soon as I was finished I called him from the top of the North Rim (they weren't home, so I left a message with my now wife Christina). When Pat called me back he said he wanted us to call our church Sovereign Joy Christian Fellowship.

The content of this book is very closely linked with our vision for our church. Pages 54-74 provide a summary of the doctrines of sovereign joy in Augustinianism: how God changes our hearts so that we delight in him above all that the world and sin have to offer. This is where John Piper gets his concept of Christian pleasure-seeking in God, though it seems so scandalous and new. Personally, I find it very encouraging to be able to trace our doctrines not only to sacred Scipture, but also to the fifth century in church history. Christians have been teaching these truths for thousands of years!

Here is the blurb from Desiring God:

What freed Aurelius Augustine from bondage to sexual immorality? What gave Martin Luther lion-like boldness in defending the supremacy of Scripture? What fueled John Calvin's God-entranced preaching and writing ministry? A stoic, disinterested obligation to do what is right? No! It was white-hot passion for their Sovereign Joy: God. They were radically converted as they encountered the real, risen Jesus and his liberating gospel in the written Word of God. And for the joy of having found the Pearl of great price, they sold everything to obtain it.

This book is highly recommended.

• Buy the book from Monergism.
• Download it free from Desiring God.
• You can also download the audio for Piper's 1998 lecture from Desiring God. Listen to it over and over again.