Well, today marks the birthday of Augustine, the church father was born on this date.

November 13, back in the year 354, he was of course the bishop of hippo in North Africa.

And his story of conversion and spiritual awakening is laid out in a book under the title

The Confessions.

A classic memoir enjoyed today in over a dozen available English translations.

That book and all of his books have left a permanent impact on the Reformation tradition

and specifically on John Piper, and this movement we call Christian hedonism.

When Augustine was in his 70s, he went toe-to-toe with a nemesis named Pelagius, a free

wealth theologian in Britain.

Here's the backstory in why it matters today from John Piper's 1998 biographic message

on Augustine.

My assumption is that too much reform thinking and preaching and worship in our day has

not penetrated to the root of how grace actually triumphs through joy in believers' lives.

And therefore our reformed thinking and writing and preaching and worshiping is only

half Augustinean and half biblical and half beautiful.

It isn't beautiful to people.

Let me try to unpack that.

Pelagius was a British monk who lived in Rome.

He was there when it was sacked, he had to leave.

He taught though grace may facilitate the achieving of righteousness, it is not necessary

to that end.

Grace is not necessary to making right choices.

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