10 Best John Piper Books (2024) - Are They Worth Reading?

Bio

John Stephen Piper was born on the 11^th of January, in the year of 1946, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States of America. He is a famed theologian and a famous pastor.

Desiring God

Piper is also the founder and senior teacher on desiring God dot org, where one can find Piper’s sermon series, including the Easter Sermon series, Piper’s lectures – perhaps the best sermons by Piper. Accordingly, he works as the chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Best John Piper Books

Life

As noted, John was born In Chattanooga, Tennessee, to parents Bill and Ruth Piper. Bill Piper was an itinerant evangelist and a church planter. While still fairly young, Bill, Ruth, and John, along with John’s elder sister Beverly, all moved to Greenville, South Carolina. It is here that Piper led the greatest portion of his youth years. He attended and graduated from Wade Hampton High School.

In 1968, he married Noel Henry and the two have since had five children, namely a daughter and four sons, and a total of twelve children. From 1964 and 1968, he went to Wheaton College, with a major in literature and a minor in philosophy. With that said, we can now take a look at our picks for the best John Piper books.

Desiring God

Two Aspects of Life

Desiring God is a wonderful non-fiction book. As it stands, Desiring God is also one of the most popular John Piper books. This is one of the best John Piper novels that was published in the year of 1986. Piper, a devout Christian, is a man that firmly believes in the words of the Scripture.

Scripture is what reveals and what uncovers the meaning or occupation of life ought to be: namely, to glorify God by enjoying Him perpetually, infinitely, and forever. In this John Piper’s best book, we see the sincerest and most acerbic thoughts that Piper has on the topic of whether duty and delight should be two distinct and opposing things.

Different Interpretation

In Piper’s most genuine opinion, there should be no battle between duty and delight as our very duty has to do with delight. The faith that one has surely heard throughout one’s life is surely quite different to the one that Piper describes in his seminal work, but this is where one can see the uniqueness and honesty of Piper’s position. Without a doubt, one of the top John Piper books.

Don’t Waste Your Life

Faculty of Tragedy

Another great book from John Stephen Piper is Don’t Waste Your Life. Don’t Waste Your Life was published in the year of 2003 and it is a hair under two-hundred pages, all in all. The book ranks as one of the best-selling John Piper books, as well. Piper’s own views on the very faculty of tragedy are very much ones that ought to occupy our thoughts at least for the nonce.

Throwing It All Away

Piper brings up a couple that retired early, while still in their 50s, and which then spent their retirement on cruises, collecting seashells, playing softball, living in Punta Gorda, Florida, and such. Piper notes that we can conceive how it is that these people would stand in front of God on Judgment Day. What is it that they could say to God? Would they bring up the seashells?

A Life Spent Without Passion

In the opinion of Piper, God made us with the power of life and the purpose of gleefully showcasing the ultimate brilliance of Him in each and every outlook of life. The life that is wasted is the life that is not lived in some passion or another.

We are to pray and to dream and to plan and to think and to work not with the purpose of making something for us, but for the reason of making something of what God has set up for us.

The Passion of Jesus Christ

Light Read

The Passion of Jesus Christ is and will be, when it is all said and done, one of the best books by John Piper. The Passion of Jesus Christ is a novel that was published in the year of 2004 and it is a light read, only a little over a hundred pages.

The Questions That Linger

There are many questions that one will ask over the course of one’s lifetime. They might implore as to the meaning of life, as to why one is doing what one is currently doing, and even to do with the many joys and gluts of life.

However, as Piper would have us believe, the most important ones have to do with why Jesus Christ was crucified. Why is it that Christ was forced to suffer so much at the hands of the people, what such a thing has bearing on the everyday Joe, and who it is that sent Jesus to death’s doors?

The Meaning of Our Savior

A straightforward answer to the final question we noted is that God was the one that sent Jesus Christ to death. God was Jesus’ Father. The pain that Jesus felt is something that no one else has before nor after.

But why is it that Jesus suffered? The answer ought not to have to do with how it is that such a thing happened, but what the meaning of such an act is and this act is to show the meaning of God. Perhaps the best John Piper novel.

Coronavirus and Christ

Timeless

Coronavirus and Christ is one of the most recent works of John Stephen Piper and as such, it is also one of the timeliest works that the man has published so far. As such, it also ranks as one of the best-rated John Piper books, too. Coronavirus and Christ was published in the year of 2020.

A Timely Volume

It is no secret that the world is facing a threat that has happened before, meaning that similar plagues, epidemics, and pandemics, have ravaged the world, but one that so swiftly found its footing and crossed the world’s barriers has rarely, if ever been present.

The COVID-19 crisis we are currently battling with is, at least in our time, something unmatched and something that will leave a lasting imprint on us not just as individuals, but as a larger society.

An Unshakable Rock

In the book Coronavirus and Christ, Piper offers an invitation to his readers, not just from the US, but from the whole world. This invitation is extended with the intention of having everyone stand on and to weather the storm that is troubling us so.

What is it that God Almighty is doing with the Coronavirus that appeared in Hubei, China? Piper has a total of six answers, all out of the bible, which aim to enlighten us on the topic.

The Pleasures of God

Marvelous Message

Of all our John Piper’s book reviews, the one extended for The Pleasures of God: Meditations on God’s Delight in Being God is perhaps our favorite. For one, this is one of the best John Piper books we’ve come across, but the message herein is also something marvelous.

Being Close to the One Above All

There are many ways to meet someone and to know and comprehend them. We can familiarize with their tastes, inclinations, and appetites, we can spend time with them, we can give them a present, and some such things.

However, Piper believes that the way to know and understand someone, we must first find out what it is that this person finds fulfilling, what brings glee and delight, what brings happiness to this person’s life.

A Book for God, From Man

Well, such a thing can be easily extended to God. We can never really know God or about God until we are aware of what his elation consists of. Piper believes that only when we become aware of what brings a smile to God’s face will we finally and be witnesses to the brilliance of the supremacy of His power and His glory. A book that we cannot recommend quite enough.

The Swans Are Not Silent Book Series

Loved Series

The Swans Are Not Silent series by Piper is rightfully on our list of John Piper’s best books. It is the most well-known and most-loved series of Piper and, in our opinion, his most mature. The seven books comprising the series are the following:

The Legacy of Sovereign Joy: God’s Triumphant Grace in the Lives of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin
The Hidden Smile of God: The Fruit of Affliction in the Lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd
The Roots of Endurance: Invincible Perseverance in the Lives of John Newton, Charles Simeon, and William Wilberforce
Contending for Our All: Defending Truth and Treasuring Christ in the Lives of Athanasius, John Owen, and J. Gresham Machen
Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ: The Cost of Bringing the Gospel to the Nations in the Lives of William Tyndale, Adoniram Judson, and John Paton
Seeing Beauty and Saying Beautifully: The Power of Poetic Effort in the Work of George Herbert, George Whitefield, and C. S. Lewis
A Camaraderie of Confidence: The Fruit of Unfailing Faith in the Lives of Charles Spurgeon, George Muller, and Hudson Taylor

The Artistry of the Belief

There are scarcely any words to describe the true majesty and the sincerest brilliance present in this seven-book series. All seven of the books are brimming with the terrific insight, genuine knowledge, and the enthusiasm of Piper. The revelatory character of The Swans Are Not Silent series is something commendable and that is why we love it so much. One of the best John Piper book series.

Let the Nations Be Glad!

What to Ponder

Let the Nations Be Glad! is a fantastic book from this awesome Christian writer and one that we often find ourselves quoting. Let the Nations Be Glad!: The Supremacy of God in Missions was published in the year of 1993. Why is it that we occupy ourselves with the act of doing missions?

Jesus Christ was the one that informed us that preaching and spreading the gospel along with making disciples in all of the nations is something that all Christian believers ought to concern themselves with. However, this oughtn’t come up as a duty or a thing one must do, but something that should be regarded with a sincere interest, even a worship.

The Glory of God and Missions

As we busy ourselves with worshipping God, we come by the glory of Him. The experience of God’s glory is what ought to set off in us a sense and a need to share such a thing with others the things that we feel.

Worship and a desire to spread the beautiful feeling that arises from worshipping God is wherefrom the acts of missions ought to stem from and no place other. A worthwhile and insightful read that we recommend.

Future Grace

What to Expect?

Future Grace is, to put it bluntly, perhaps the best John Piper book that we have encountered. At the very least, the volume is the most satisfying on a spiritual level and a highly readable volume at that. It was published in the year of 2005.

Future Grace is a book that is subdivided into a total of thirty-one chapters, most if not all of which are concentrated on the thesis of Piper which has to do with sanctifying. The truest and most honest way to sanctify oneself is by having complete and firm belief in the future grace of God. A number of chapters also encourage the reader to stand against and not just be consumed by certain vices, by certain troubles, and certain sins.

Firm Belief in What Is to Come

Why is it that we follow and obey Jesus? The foremost intention here is not just to express the gratitude we feel for the doings of Christ, but to showcase the faith that we have for the future grace of God.

The belief which sanctifies is also that which justifies. We are not to be obedient and obsequious by a necessity, but by the very faith which we have in ourselves. And a sincere love can only come out of a heart that has faith inside of it.

When I Don’t Desire God

One of the Best

If we were to give our picks for John Piper’s books ranked in a descending order, then When I Don’t Desire God would find its place among the topmost ones. When I Don’t Desire God: How to Fight for Joy was published in the year of 2004 and it spans a bit over two-hundred-and-sixty or so pages.

Move Away to Become Closer

There exists inside of us a freeing, a love-bringing, and a somewhat risky satisfaction that we always yearn to feel once more and once more, but this is only possible when it is experienced in God.

Glee and true happiness are something that we cannot hold on to, at least usually, not because they are slippery, but because they are transient things. Even when one has accepted the grace of God, such a thing can feel like it’s already gone before we’ve felt it. So, what can one do when one doesn’t, in a word, desire God?

The Most Crucial Question

This is the primary and martial question that Piper tries to and successfully answers inside of this great volume. A bliss in Christ is what we need to find, one that is deeply-woven and sturdy and one that throws away the chains of safety and comfort, and sends us on the trajectory of lives both merciful and missional.

With all the enthusiasm and earnestness that one could ever want from Piper, When I Don’t Desire God is the best John Piper book for many.

God Is the Gospel

Just Wonderful

God Is the Gospel is a wonderful and even wondrous book. It shows the epitome of what the writing of Piper can achieve all the while offering a very enjoyable and light read. The nigh-two-hundred-page book was published in the year of 2005.

Forgiveness and Measure

The book in hand is one that deals with the things that Piper feels in the very depths of his mighty heart. Piper, at his most revelatory and open, pleads that it is God by his lonesome is the supreme and most brilliant gift given to us by the gospel.

Of all the gospel deeds that Jesus penetrated and spoke of, none are good news except in the sense of enjoying and experiencing the glory of God. Being forgiving is good news because it is a way to enjoy God.

The Truth of God’s Love

The gifts of God are pleasurable and ones based in love so long as we use them as means to journey towards God, not stray further away from Him. The commitment and the willingness to do whatever is put in front of us is what the honest love of God is about.

Featuring both carefully picked out Scripture examples along with words of wisdom from his lengthy career, Piper offers us a great book. The four books in the Missions Biography series are ones that we would suggest our readers pick up next.

Alissa Wynn

Alissa is an avid reader, blogger, and wannabe writer. (She's a much better cook than a writer actually). Alissa is married, has one human, one feline, and two canine kids. She always looks a mess and never meets a deadline.