A Holy Ambition: To Preach Where Christ Has Not Been Named

by John Piper

This vision of, and invitation to, the work of global missions challenges Christians everywhere to cultivate a holy ambition to preach Christ where he has not yet been named. DO YOU HAVE A HOLY AMBITION? The apostle Paul had a holy ambition: to preach the gospel to peoples who had never heard. He ached to proclaim Jesus where he had not yet been named. So today, missionaries cross cultures, learn languages, and pour out their lives in word and deed to break through thousands of years of darkness and the reign of Satan over a people who do not know the King of kings and the Savior of the world. Missionaries go to, and minister among, peoples who otherwise have little to no access to the saving news of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. And since Jesus’s Great Commission to make disciples of all nations is still in effect—and since there are thousands of peoples today who have never heard of him—every church should pray that God would not only make all of us evangelists among our own people, but also that he would raise up from among us missionaries to take the gospel where it has never gone before. Note to the Second Revised Edition: This book was first released in 2011. Since then, John Piper has continued to preach and write about missions. So, to prepare this Second Revised Edition, we added four chapters of new material, removed about a third of the original, and freshly edited and organized the remainder.

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction, Christianity, Evangelism, Christian Living, Theology, Christian Non Fiction

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as senior pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

He grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and studied at Wheaton College, Fuller Theological Seminary (B.D.), and the University of Munich (D.theol.). For six years, he taught Biblical Studies at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and in 1980 accepted the call to serve as pastor at Bethlehem.

John is the author of more than 50 books and more than 30 years of his preaching and teaching is available free at desiringGod.org. John and his wife, Noel, have four sons, one daughter, and twelve grandchildren.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Annalise Kraines · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was better than I expected, but it also didn't say anything new. The tone of the book led me to believe that it was mostly directed towards men. It's scripturally sound and made me excited about missions, and I was glad that Piper legitimized not only frontier missions but also cross cultural missions in your own country. Both are important. However it was very repetitive and I don't feel like I learned much from it.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book, and I love John Piper. One of the most challenging, heart-stirring, and encouraging books that concisely casts a vision for engaging in God's global mission. Explains the need, God's heart, the motivation for going, the sacrifice required, and the worthiness of Christ who is our reward. Highly recommend for everyone, especially those desiring to learn more about God's global mission and those who feel God might be stirring them to go.

[Nate Bate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on this book's title, I was hoping for more on a biblical view of ambition. John Piper does include this, but the majority of the book is on Great Commission living. The content is excellent, and the concept of ambition is tacitly dealt with throughout the book (directly in the beginning). I hope to revisit this book in the future and absorb it some more.

[Bec R · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are a lot of other missions books I would recommend before this one.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Coronavirus crisis cannot stop Jesus’ Great Commission to make disciples of all nations. In A Holy Ambition, John Piper powerfully calls us to preach where Christ has not been named.

A Second Edition

Published by Cruciform Press with DesiringGod, this book is Piper’s vision of and invitation to the work of global missions. In less than 200 pages, he makes his case for Christians to be courageous in their proclamation of Christ.

This book is a second edition printing, and four chapters of new material have been added. About a third of the original content has been removed, and they freshly edited and organized the remainder to better reflect the end of Piper’s 33-year pastorate at Bethlehem Baptist Church and mark his full-time work for Desiring God and Bethlehem College & Seminary as well as his work in starting the CROSS missions conference for students.

The Apostle Paul

The Apostle Paul is Piper’s kindred spirit, and each chapter reads like a sermon outline or blog entry to explain a prominent passage of Scripture. Romans 15:18-24 is the first, and Piper makes it clear that he hopes to make his readers into frontier missionaries.

Those familiar with Piper’s teachings will find familiar Biblical themes. In Chapter 2, he explains how “doing missions when death is gain is the greatest life in the world.” In chapter 4, he helps us see that divine glory and human gladness are not at odds. Indeed, “when Christ becomes the satisfaction of the nations, and God becomes their delight, then he is honored and they are saved.”

For the Glory of God

Interestingly, Piper makes the connection in Galatians 2:1-10 between spreading the gospel to the nations and giving generously to the poor. I was challenged because this does not just mean to give to the Christian poor. Rather, globally speaking, the most unreached peoples and the poorest peoples are almost the same.

As a worship leader, I was most impacted by Chapter 11: Music and Missions for the Glory of God. Piper examines Psalm 96 and calls us to write new songs with a strong global and missionary flavor because of what God is doing around the world. This book has caused me to open my eyes as well as my heart to what God is doing in global missions. Read this book and join the missionary choir that aims to bring praise to God from all peoples.

I received a media copy of A Holy Ambition, and this is my honest review.

[Eric Dye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some highlights

Pg 48 we’re strong at 65 and we’re strong at 70. …. he was working harder in his 70s for the nations than ever before.

53 doing missions when death is gain is the greatest life in the world

62- John 10 verse 16. Jesus says I have other sheep. Don’t be content with the gospel just in your area go and spread it everywhere.

75 - for all we know America may be a footnote in the history of the world someday and every president virtually forgotten, just like the Caesars of Rome. How many Caesars can you name? there were 80.

98- according to Psalm 67 God‘s purpose is to be known and praised and enjoyed and feared among all the peoples of the Earth

108- he gives us more money than we need so that we can meet the world‘s greatest. Need the need to know God through Jesus Christ.

125 - the people we went to bless with passion for the supremacy of Christ our people who love their sin they are strong, and in many cases, ruthless cities, your mission will be opposed, not only with natural hostility of human heart, but with supernatural demonic power

144 - globally speaking the most unreached peoples, and the poorest peoples are almost the same therefore, a call to the unreached peoples is almost the same as a call to the poorest of the poor 95% of the least reach people’s live in the 1040 window

185 - thoughts from age 22 one thing is memorize Psalm 25 another is find your satisfaction in Jesus read your Bible every day for the rest of your life. Go to seminary go to church every day and marry a radical risktaking go anywhere for Jesus, world Christian woman.

[Stone Pinckney · Rating 5 out of 5]

WORLD CHANGING

This is gold. Buy it. Read it. Listen to it. Do whatever you must to have these life shaping, Christ exalting, heart breaking and heart stirring truths about the goodness of God, necessity of frontier missions, and the reality that those who are truly redeemed in Christ Jesus are either going, sending or disobeying. No Jesus means no chance of salvation. Zero hope of eternal life. Billions are in this situation. Billions with a B. God has saved you to do something about that. Start today with prayer and this book, then open your Bible, open your map and make your life count.

Only God-glorifying acts will matter when you stand face to face before God. We make Jesus shine most bright, when he alone is our greatest delight. Be ambitious about eternity.

[Cole Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Piper’s best work, in my opinion, is on missions. This is a good collection, but although this is his best area, Piper often neglects balance. For example, he expresses frustration with parents who are concerned with their child’s safety as they pursue God’s call for their lives. Perhaps these parents are not consumed with American priorities (pg 113), perhaps they love their children (Psalm 127:3). And when your son has his bike stolen, of course use it as an opportunity to teach about missions (pg 120) but you can also call the police and sympathize with your son’s loss (Matthew 10:42).

[Tim Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book on the urgency of world missions is a smaller, more parochial expression of Piper‘s Let the Nations Be Glad.

As with virtually all his books, he aims to establish the biblical imperative of leveraging one’s life for the display of the manifold glory of God—in this case, as a going or sending gospel-laborer among the unreached people groups of the world.

It’s a cogent and accessible call for us Christians to give our lives, at home and abroad, in the worthy cause of the nations making much of the One, True God in Christ.

[Marc Sims · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic Piper. A collection of his most popular sermons on missions, lumped together. Piper (and Platt) make you want to loosen your hold on what you think your future should look like and be more open to God moving you anywhere for his Kingdom.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are called to either be goers to the nations or senders of others that go to the nations with the gospel. John Piper makes this truth clear and uses Scripture in appropriate ways to back it up throughout the text. This book is structured well and is inspiring, compelling, and convicting.

[Moriah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book challenged me to keep missions a priority - whether it be now as a sender or someday perhaps as a goer. God will be glorified and honored among all the nations, and we can be a part of that.

[María · Rating 5 out of 5]

Missions is about worshipping God. It opens your eyes to see How God's calling always is in His purpose for the Glory of His Name.

[Alec Brunson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Piper at his best. Namely, transcripts from sermons about frontier missions!

[Dwain Minor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good collection of sermons on missions by John Piper.

[Ai Lin]

This book was a very important resource for me when I prepared presentation materials to my friends to explain about God's work with the Unreached People in Indonesia.

[Richard Klueg · Rating 4 out of 5]

"There are only three kinds of people: goers, senders, and the disobedient." (page 155-6).
A collection of sermons by Pastor Piper calling the church to go to unreached people groups with the gospel.

[Josh Bauder · Rating 4 out of 5]

These sermons are really terrific.

[Susan in · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of messages by Piper that he gave at his church’s annual missions conference. It’s kind of a “best of” since they come from various years. It was very good – I especially liked the message where he used the Psalms to talk about the relation between missions and singing. 🙂 Due to the nature of the collection, there was some repetition of illustrations in a couple of the messages – but had you sat through them live, they would’ve probably been about 12 years apart. Could recommend to anyone wanting to read sermons on frontier missions. [Note: this is the 2011 edition of the book – I’ve learned that a second, revised edition came out in 2019, which removes 3 of these chapters and adds 4 new ones.]

[Katerina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Holy Ambition is a collection of sermons given over the years by John Piper on missions. Piper distinguishes between evangelism in areas where Christian witnesses are already present and frontier missionary work that reaches unreached people groups. His primary focus is in building frontier missionaries and support for them.

In most of the sermons Piper does an excellent job of explaining God's word in a clear and inspiring way but a couple were truly excellent. "The Story of His Glory" gives an excellent overview showing how God works everything for His glory throughout the Bible. "If You Are Christ's, You Are Heirs of the Promise" explains the purpose of the Old Testament law in a clear way that answered some questions I had floating around in the back of my mind.

This is a good book for explaining why mission work is still important and the sermon format makes it easy to read as devotionals.

[librarian4Him02 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few years ago our church gave this book away to its members during the annual missions focus Sunday. I finally got around to reading it. This is a collection of sermons preached by John Piper about Jesus' Great Commission, what missions is, and what it involves. I came away from the collection with a renewed passion for missions and for praying for those who have been sent.

[Steven Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a compelling biblical call for all Christians to consider how to give their lives for the sake of the worship of Jesus Christ.

Piper does not use romanticized ideas to falsely fuel the affections for missions. Instead, he stands on the promises of Scripture and exposits the glorious outcomes of those promises for the Christian and for Christ.

[Blaise Nicoletti · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first John Piper book that came to me by way of an awesome young man whose name is Garret Lawrence. I am certainly challenged to consider John's view points on the Christian life especially in the area of prayer.
Liked it a LOT.

[Jeff Boettcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great devotional book exploring God's passion for his mission and our joy in joining him in that mission.

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful!!

[Austin Clow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book about missions and taking the gospel to all peoples. Chapters 1,6,&7 were really really good.

[Mike Wenzel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow great book.

[Jonathan Ginn · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a collection of famous sermons Piper has preached. Better to listen to the sermons than read them in a book.

[Ryan Hawkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love everything Piper writes and says, but this wasn't the best. I've heard a few of these sermons, and they were much better spoken than in this manuscript form. Moreover, while his Let the Nations Be Glad book was revolutionary, and although this book was hoped to be a follow up to that book, this more so seemed just like a semi-random collection of sermons pertaining to missions.

That being said, it still had gold in it--of course it did, as Piper thinks so clearly and passionately about this subject. So I wouldn't say it was a bad book. It more just seemed chaotic and random as a whole. The appendices were very helpful and clear too.