is book five of John Piper’s series “The Swans Are Not Silent.” Each of the books in this series is a set of three short, introductory Christian biographies tied to a certain theme. In this installment the theme is Colossians 1:24, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.”Piper contends that, “Afflictions are not merely the result of missionary fruitfulness, but also the means,” and that, “Paul’s sufferings fill up Christ’s afflictions not by adding anything to their worth, but by extending them to the people they were meant to save…So the afflictions of Christ are ‘lacking’ in the sense that they are not seen and known and loved among the nations.”
He goes on to introduce the reader to William Tyndale, John Paton and Adoniram Judson, three men whose afflictions God used to make know the afflictions of Christ to many. His telling of their stories is by no means in-depth biographical work, and is not intended to be. Rather each is a brief sketch of the sorts of trials faced by these men in their lives as missionaries for the cause of Christ.
Piper concludes the book by calling us all to examine God’s calling on our lives. For most of us, he states, our calling is “radical obedience for the glory of Christ right where (we) are.” For others though, he suggests, perhaps God is calling us to fill up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, the church.
All in all, this short book is worth the read, especially for someone unfamiliar with its three subjects.
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