Wake Me Up, Lord! A Review of Jared Wilson’s "Gospel Wakefulness"

Jared Wilson’s new book Gospel Wakefulness made me think. In a good way. In the “thinking that leads to worship” kind of way. That’s why, despite a couple of concerns, I endorsed Gospel Wakefulness and I commend it to you.

In the book, Jared makes the case that Christians need not only to believe the gospel but to delight in it to the point that sin becomes increasingly bitter and Christ becomes our supreme treasure. He defines gospel wakefulness as “treasuring Christ more greatly and savoring His power more sweetly than before” (24).

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But Gospel Wakefulness goes against the grain of many current evangelical books for a number of reasons. First off, it doesn’t offer church leaders any ideas for increasing excitement among church people. You won’t find anything about making the church more hip, more contemporary, more “razzle-dazzle” in the attempt to keep people’s interest. Instead, this is a book about things “of first importance.” Jared believes that church ministry isn’t about “creating experiences” but centering our teaching, our worship, and our service on the gospel. The goal is that Christians would “find themselves utterly captivated by the gospel” so that they can hardly be entertained by anything else (18).

Second, Jared doesn’t offer a checklist for “how to live in gospel wakefulness.” One of the main points of Gospel Wakefulness is that we can’t wake ourselves up. The kind of affection-filled delight that Jared writes about is something that only God in His grace can give. He writes:

Really, there are only two steps to gospel wakefulness: be utterly broken and be utterly awed. But neither of these things are things you can really do. They are things only God can do for you. (35)

Third, Jared’s prescription for gospel wakefulness begins with profound brokenness. Asking God to break you is generally not the type of prayer request suggested by many evangelical books. Jared isn’t encouraging Christians to go looking for suffering (one hardly has to search for it!). He merely wants us to see how God uses the pain of life, the punishment of sinful consequences, and persecution for one’s faith to expose our deepest longings in a way that leads us to the joys of gospel wakefulness.

Brokenness leads to renewed affections. In Piper-like fashion, Jared maintains that our problem is not that we have desires and longings but that we seek to satisfy these desires in ultimately unsatisfying things. The problem with the American church is not that we want to be entertained; it’s that too often we’re satisfied with being entertained by something less spectacular than the gospel. “The Christian who knows gospel wakefulness is entertained consistently by the unsearchable wonders of Christ,” he writes (63).

One of the most helpful sections of the book concerns freedom from the chains of “hyperspirituality.” Jared’s warnings against turning gospel freedom into zealous duty are timely. Gospel Wakefulness also explores the effects of gospel wakefulness in a local congregation, particularly how it should lead to worship-fueled evangelism in which the overflow of our hearts leads naturally to fulfilling the Great Commission. This is not evangelism done for the sake of adding a notch on the belt. It’s evangelism that flows naturally from one’s gospel-soaked heart.

Despite the wise counsel offered by Jared in this book, I have a couple of misgivings. My hesitation didn’t preclude me from endorsing and recommending the book, but I would like to register my concerns here, in hopes that they will further the conversation this book will begin.

First, Jared recounts how his passion for the gospel resulted in a decreased passion for politics. He writes:

“What was happening? I couldn’t stop talking about the holiday at the sea, and I couldn’t figure out why I should be inordinately enamored with mud pies.” (65)

On one level, I agree wholeheartedly that many Christian political activists could use a strong dose of gospel wakefulness. We need to reorient our activism around our ultimate hope and set our sights on the unshakeable kingdom that will never fade.

But Gospel Wakefulness leaves little room for the reality that for some people gospel wakefulness will be best expressed through increased political action. It was gospel wakefulness that propelled the political activism of William Wilberforce and the heroic resistance of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It was gospel wakefulness that led John Wesley to speak against slavery and Charles Spurgeon to do something about the orphans in his city. Church history is full of examples of gospel wakefulness resulting in political involvement, not retreat.

I worry that the results of Jared’s personal experience of gospel wakefulness might be seen as normative and thus lead people to think he is advocating a quietist gospel of retreat. Misunderstanding Jared’s intentions might lead us to think that gospel wakefulness results in Christians just sitting at the table of the Lord, savoring His goodness, while never getting up and moving outdoors into society, energized by the gospel to do good works, change laws, challenge injustice, and promote peace.

My other reservation concerns the possibility of turning gospel wakefulness into a pseudo-Wesleyan version of the “second-blessing” experience. Jared explicitly writes against setting up tiers of Christian sanctification. There is no first-class discipleship and then a second-class, etc (31). Still, his emphasis on the sudden experience of gospel wakefulness could give the impression that there are Christians and then there are Christians. There are sleeping Christians and awakened Christians. At its best, Gospel Wakefulness is a simple proposal about sanctification and growing in grace. But a misunderstanding of the book’s intentions could easily lead to unhelpful division and categorization.

Overall, I repeat what I said in my endorsement. Anyone hungry and thirsty for righteousness will be refreshed by the invigorating streams of truth that flow from Gospel Wakefulness. Jared Wilson wants Christians to delight in the gospel to the point that sin becomes bitter and Christ becomes our supreme treasure. May this book awaken your affections toward the Savior who deserves all praise.

This review was first published in Credo Magazine.

Update: Jared has responded to my two concerns in a thoughtful blog post that helps us think carefully about these things and keep the gospel central. I recommend you read his full response.