Future Grace

Rating:
Summary: Vitamins or Placebo?
Review: Deeply concerned by the diagnosis that "American Evangelicalism is failing the church," Dr. John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, encourages his readers to expect "an approach to living that will keep believers going and growing." His Future Grace aims to cure "the error that says, 'Faith in God is one thing and the fight for holiness is another thing.'"

A key ingredient for spiritual health is understanding that, "Faith produces all that God requires and does it through love." HOW? the reader wonders, eagerly awaiting the specifics of Dr. Piper's approach. But an endnote, "how this works out in real life," points to a chapter containing only one real life example: "being lavished with delights [of a sunny morning] in the very moment of my sin" induced loving behavior.

Desperate searching for clarification and every-day illustrations of how faith works through love only yielded poetic ambiguity: "It is the embracing of spiritual beauty that is the essential core of saving faith;" "By faith we should put the seeds of our energy in the furrows where we know the Spirit is at work to bear fruit - the furrows of love."

How does this insemination work? Even if I begin my day by being satisfied with Jesus, I fear my ego will be quick to gloat over how expending my energy in sacrificial acts has glorified God. How can this boasting be avoided? As I face the daunting array of needs surrounding me today, how should I determine where to sow my sparse time and energy? How can I know where the Spirit is at work? Which benevolent acts will lead to the "fullest experience of God's grace?"

Some chapters helpful in dealing with attitudes of unbelief make an important contribution to the medicine needed for failing Protestantism. But without practical answers to the above questions about actions of belief, this layperson views Dr. Piper's remedy as a placebo and the patient still terminal.

Rating:
Summary: The promises of God in Christ
Review: I loved this book. Piper vividly talks about the importance of living by faith in future grace that God provides daily on the behalf of His children. When you live by faith in that kind of grace the reality of God becomes close to you and it purifies you from inside. All the promises of God has been fulfilled in Christ. It is a resounding yes in Christ. It is a winner. Piper is my favourite author and preacher. You should hear his sermons. They are power packed!

Rating:
Summary: Sanctification - the Power of a Superior Pleasure
Review: In what I would consider to be the essential John Piper "trilogy", this one should come third in reading order (with Desiring God and The Pleasures of God preceding), but the message is certainly not inferior to the other two! This God-saturated pastor delivers one of the most helpful and hopeful books on the power of sanctification that I have ever come across. He commends what Chalmers called "the expulsive power of a new affection" as the key to holiness. He shows from Scripture that gratitude is NOT to be the primary motive for the believer's pursuit of God, but rather "faith in future grace" (or "trusting in the promises of God," to use a less original phrase!). This theology is defended from Scripture, illustrated through countless anecdotes and quotes from the likes of C. H. Spurgeon, John Flavel, and Jonathan Edwards, and is applied to various sin struggles (anxiety, bitterness, coveteousness, pride, lust, etc.) - which Piper shows to be rooted in unbelief. The underlying theme of this book is that the faith that justifies also sanctifies. As you might imagine, this book is an aggressive (and needed) attack on the false concept that Jesus can be one's Saviour without also being one's Lord. I commend this book very highly - but I do warn you - it is a thinker. Read it twice. Once for familiarity and then again for saturation and meditation.

Rating:
Summary: A fresh treatment of the doctrine of sanctification
Review: John Piper continues to impress me with his God-centered books. Future Grace is a Biblically- loaded defense of the thesis that faith looks forward, not just backward, and that this foward- looking faith is the heart and soul of sanctification. Piper's thorough work covers the topics of divine sovereignty in salvation, the nature and purpose of the Mosaic law, the conditions of salvation, and the rebirth of creation and the end of the age. The book's central strength is its treatment of the many relevant Biblical passages - Future Grace is saturated with Scripture. It manages to be a masterful work of theology while at the same time remaining infinitely practical. Piper's Biblically-sound suggestions on how to battle specific sins (anxiety, pride, misplaced shame, impatience, covetousness, bitterness, despondency, and lust) are of immeasurable help to the struggling saint. I have but one complaint: Piper's treatment of the Mosaic law follows closely that of his teacher, Dan Fuller, and is Biblically unconvincing. But this is a small complaint - I recommend all evangelicals to read this book as soon as possible

Rating:
Summary: Piper shows that faith looks forward, not backward
Review: John Piper sets aside the notion that faith looks back on what God has done in the past. Faith looks toward the future at what God is going to do, not just at what He has done. This dispells fear, anxiety, shame, and all other emotions that pop psychology embraces and shows us where our hope lies. This is a rich, liberating book on how a sovereign God works through His Son, Jesus Christ. It is "faith in future grace" that gives us hope.

Rating:
Summary: Gospel Power
Review: To use a quote from another Piper classic "The more we trust in future grace, the more we give God the opportunity in our lives to show the glory of his inexhaustible grace. So take a promise of future grace and do some radical act of obedience on it. God will be mightily honored." Piper continues to impress me with his discertations on the benefits of glorifying God and enjoying Him forever. This book is one of a few on my shelf that I use to regularly remind me of where my hope and trust comes from!

Rating:
Summary: A MUST READ FOR ALL CHRISTIANS!
Review: Without a doubt John Piper is one of the strongest expositors of God's Word to come along within the last 15 years. I have read 10 of his works and let me tell you, he is doctrinally sound. But this book is the best. Period. I could not put it down. Along with Jerry Bridges "Discipline of Grace" , nothing else has made the Christian life so clear. This is where the rubber meets the road kind of stuff. If you love Jesus Christ and long to obey God but cant figure out how to stay spiritually on track...then let Piper show you the purifying power of living by faith in future grace!!