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Book Review | A Christological Must Read

High King of Heaven Ed. John MacArthur

One of the most difficult tasks in theological writing is to bridge the technical with the practical. Pastors are challenged to do this each week, studying and understanding God’s Word in its language and context and then putting that technical knowledge to use by the hearer of the sermon. Greek forms and cross-references are interesting but the task at hand is help the Christian hear God speak through the Bible. This challenge applies to an even greater degree when it comes to theological literature. Numerous are the excellent technical tomes in the pastor’s library as are the numbers of practical books on the shelf. Few offer a bridge between the two worlds, but “High King of Heaven” succeeds in being one of the small number that offer this link.

Edited by John MacArthur, High King of Heaven is a compendium of articles touching on the person, work and the Bible’s witness to Jesus Christ who “after he had provided purification for sins, eh sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” (Heb 1:3) The 23 authors of the individual chapters might cause you hesitate to engage the book, thinking that the potential unevenness might not be worth the effort but let me allay your fears. MacArthur has done a wonderful job as editor (no doubt aided by Phil Johnson) and the book reads smoothly from page to page. Though each author has a unique style, the book as a whole speaks of the magnificence of Jesus Christ with a single voice.

Who should read this book? Though labeled as a contribution to the Systematic Theology library, the chapters are accessible by any Christian familiar with the Bible. There are technical points that are explained well enough that almost anyone can understand them and there are practical points that can be filed for later use if they don’t fit the reader’s immediate context today. “High King of Heaven” is a book that invites you to engage it deeply, marking it up, planning for a second full read. This is not a volume that will be read and then shelved with so many others. This is going to become a standard reference volume, even for those theologians outside of the MacArthur-Calvinist circle.

Book Review: Feels Like Home by Lee Eclove

Let me say this up front, this belongs in every pastor’s library and should be read regularly. Pastor Eclov has given the Church a necessary corrective to the attractive, grow bigger at all costs attitude that can become the dominant outlook in your church. This was not the intent of the Lord when he handed Peter the keys; we were not to adopt the worlds values and methods in the hope that we might be able to ‘share’ the gospel with those who come to the show. The Lord’s plan was to live the gospel, joyful and sacrificially, showing (not telling) what Jesus has brought about in our lives together.

Eclov emphasizes the community of believers over the show. The Church is to be family, celebrating and worshipping and bearing one another’s burdens, all in testimony to what Jesus has done for us. This is the picture of church St. Francis had in mind when gave that famous proclamation to ‘Preach the Gospel at all time times, and if necessary use words.’ Though unsaid in the book, Eclov’s guidance reminds the church that the Gospel is not just for evangelizing, it is for us to give to one another to lift, to calm, to encourage, to love.

Church as home, church as family. Reminders of the sometimes forgotten nature of ministry that Pastor Eclov walks through in encouraging chapter after convicting chapter. Growth for growth’s sake is not a biblical guiding principle, church as family is. Read this excellent book (ignoring the mid 70’s cover art) and then prepare to read it again, little by little. Thank you Lee.

Book Review: The Unsaved Christian by Dean Inserra

A Mission Field Nobody Wants to Engage

The presence of the unsaved thinking of themselves as Christians has been a reality forever. In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus himself warns against putting stock in a false conversion saying, “not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus says it, but the state of the modern church is often resistant to hearing and heeding the admonishment. As author Inserra relates, cultural Christianity has embedded itself deeply in the Church, its comforting lack of accountability enveloping people in a warm embrace of false belief.

Inserra structures is excellent book along the lines of a missionary guide for an unreached people group. The interaction that he shares at the beginning of the book with his seminary classmate sets a challenging tone. While Pastor Inserra looked at his brother’s assignment to Northern California as an incredible challenge (the land of proud unbelief), his brother turned the table to warn him against the assumptions that came with an assignment to the Bible Belt. This bracing moment is when he began to really examine the reality of faith amongst those who proclaimed a belief in Christ as a part of their everyday life. Examination proved that this belief was anecdotal in some cases, cultural in most of them and simply a part of being a citizen of the South for many. The chapters of the book that follow the analysis give the reader excellent study points for ways in which to approach each of these groups and more.

“Unsaved” is a quick read but not shallow. As someone involved in ministry, I can see a face to go along with each of the belief types that he describes. This personalization gives the reader the opportunity to think through the conversation that you want to have in the way that you want to approach that person. It didn’t begin the book with high hopes because I thought it was simply stating the obvious, but Inserra has performed a valuable service for Christ’s church, saying the hard things that need to be said in love.

Book Review: Zealous for Good Works by Todd Wilson

Pastor Wilson turns the Church’s attention to the much quoted but less applied New Testament epistle of Titus and its core message. The Spirit inspired the author of that letter to not only leave his worker Titus on the Greek island of Crete to organize the Christians there, but gave the principles by which he was to do so as well. Using as his objective that the Church be the city on a hill that Jesus describes in the Sermon on the Mount, Wilson leads the reader through the points of Paul’s letter and helps us to understand how his marching orders for Titus apply to the Church today.

For such a brief book the value is immense. Wilson expertly exegetes the equally brief letter and helps the reader to see the big idea in each of the passages. ‘Zealous’ is not a gnostic promise (Jabez et al.) of discovering some new hidden secret, but rather, it is an eminently practical look at the principles that Paul gave to Titus that address many of the shortcomings of the Church in our age. Three that are discussed in the book are the poor level of discipleship, the chasm of credibility (that is, the difference between what we say and what we do) and the effect that these have on how we apprehend the missional opportunity ahead of us.

Read ‘Zealous’ with your bible close by. It is likely you have read Titus multiple times (if you are picking up a books such as this) but much of that reading has been focused in the Eldership requirements. Wilson deftly leads the reader to see that Titus contains so much more practical application for the Church beyond those instructions. For example, Wilson stops us in a passage often seen as preamble, Paul’s greeting in 1:1-4 to point out the importance of preaching and the power of the gospel. The gospel is both the content and the power of preaching something that can be missing in today’s environment of therapeutic deism. A city on hill is not built on the pillars of making people feel better where it teeters and shifts with every new personal demand. It is founded on the unchanging glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The only disappointment I had with the book was that it was over so quickly. The more I think about it though, the length of the book is exactly right given the brevity of the profound instruction in its source. I have a new hunger to dig into Titus and preach it in the future. In the meantime, the study guide included at the back of the book is a bonus for church leaders seeking to present their people as salt and light in the world. Buy this, read this and read it again.

Chicken soup for the Giver’s Soul

I Like Giving by Brad Formsma

The subtitle of the book is ‘Practical Ideas, Inspiring Stories’ and Formsma doesn’t disappoint on either count. I Like Giving is 210 pages of encouragement to engage generous giving as a lifestyle rather than viewing it through the lens of ten percent. The illustrative stories that compose the majority of the book do two things; they primarily give us inspirational stories retelling the giving experiences of the author and others but also provide insight into the long-term effects that giving can have as God works through the provision of others. It is the end-end result that we usually never get to see that is often the greatest benefit of a gift.

The book is a breezy read that will inspire you to take action, even it is just to pass the book on to someone else who might likewise be inspired. Formsma emphasizes that an important line needs to be crossed in our lives, transitioning from thought to action. It’s one thing to be inspired and have your heart warmed and yet another to be inspired, lace up your sneakers and go give. The biblical author James makes the same comment, saying “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?”

I’m grateful to WaterBrook Press who provided this book for review.

Time-Tested Principles

How God Makes Men

Patrick Morley

When that moment of crisis arrives and men must make a decision that directs the course of the rest of their lives, will they make that decision on raw emotion or on deep-rooted principles? Men of God are shaped by Him in a variety of ways. Some, or all, of the principles that God uses may apply to you as Patrick Morley writes in How God Makes Men.

As you read the familiar biblical stories of the way in which God has shaped men through history you are sure to see yourself in at least one or two scenarios. Take Job, for example. Casual Bible readers will recognize the story of suffering but might fail to glean the purpose in that suffering. Morley takes men deeper into God’s purpose in Job to show that while it might appear that he suffered for no good reason, there existed a higher purpose to it. Might there be similar purpose in your life.

All of the men that Morley highlights are familiar and their stories well known. He isn’t providing biographical sketches, rather, he is directing our attention to the ways in which God worked in their lives. In doing so, he opens your eyes to the possibility that God might be working in much the same way in yours.

I’m grateful to Multnomah Books who provided this copy for review.

Defining Real Winners

The Real Win by Colt McCoy and Matt Carter

McCoy and Carter save the most important idea for the very last chapter of their book “The Real Win”. In a chapter entitled ‘What You Leave Behind’ the two men’s men finally answer the why question that men will want addressed when called to live as fully devoted followers of Christ. Men will sacrifice and die on a hill far away from home when they have something to believe in and value, but today’s church often fails to give them that reason. When the reader finally turns to the last few pages of the text he reads about the importance of thinking about the end, about the legacy that a man will leave with those he has led and influenced.

“The Real Win” is a call to Christian men to rethink their manhood in light of the word of God. The priorities of God for men of faith differ significantly from the messages that are received from the culture. Winning, for example, is often defined in the world in terms of money, power, authority and accumulation. The Bible, on the other hand, speaks of success in terms of obedience, servanthood and trusting in the providence of an unseen God. Men who follow the biblical proscription will stand out in the world, different as they are.

The authors have balanced the book well, giving the reader an insight into both their successes and failures as men. Rather than showing themselves as supermen who have lived perfectly in the face of the world’s challenges, both Quarterback and Pastor reflect upon the less glorious moments of their lives and what they learned from those experiences. Every page will not resonate with every man and there are some questionable standards espoused. Pastor Carter, as an example, says that he will not hire anyone into a ministry position unless they have wept openly upon reading the Scriptures. This position doesn’t take into account any God-given differences in personality, expression or reception and makes the reader suspect that might be similar legalism buried in the rest of his writing.

The book is a valuable contribution to the efforts to men to live their faith. Reading and talking about their faith is one thing, putting hands and feet and commitment to their stated beliefs is the greater challenge. We pray that men will heed the call.

I’m grateful to Multnomah Books who provided this copy for review.

Plastic Donuts

Back to the Beginning

Insourcing by Randy Pope

“In Him was life, and that life was the light of all men.” John 1:4

Discipleship in recent Christian practice has taken an intellectual bent, focused as it is largely on communicating head-knowledge. This is valuable but rarely results in transformation when not paired with an equal measure of heart-knowledge. When the two disciplines are aligned the exercise becomes the pouring of one life into another. In a secular context, the apprenticeship enables an experienced craftsman to share the process and philosophy of one’s craft with another, coaching and guiding the apprentice to attain to the same level of arts. Jesus modeled the same thing throughout His ministry, pouring His life into a group of men who would one day lead His Church.

Pastor Randy Pope has given us a volume of encouragement entitled INsourcing. Less a manual than it is a memoir, INsourcing details the philosophy underlying the practice of Perimeter Church called Life On Life Missional Discipleship. Pope and his leadership team designed and implemented a way of living the Christian life together that engages both the head and heart to produce disciples prepared to engage the Mission of Christ’s Church.

Pastor Pope doesn’t advocate for his program as though it is the only model to be emulated. Rather, he encourages the reader to examine their own context and to develop a methodical process which fits them best. Emphasizing the tortoise-like pace of true discipleship, Pope’s most valuable contribution is the permission it gives the leader reading the book to take the long view in gaining a vision for what could be.

Readers looking for a plan or a new model should look elsewhere. Leaders seeking an apprenticeship will find INsourcing valuable as God places a vision for their particular context before them. While the vignettes of the small groups are a bit idealized, they provide a powerful parallel to the abstract ideas presented through the surrounding chapters. Closing the book you will be convinced that LOLMD will produce something that no program can do, real disciples of Jesus Christ.

I’m grateful to Zondervan who provided this copy for review.

Tie the Knot Tighter

Bound Together by Chris Brauns

“Our culture idolizes the free-floating, unhindered, and isolated hero cut off from any formal responsibilities. But the Lone Ranger is a lie. Isolated heroes like Jack Reacher do not exist.” Though we may make noises that insist that the culture at large does not affect the Church, this too is a falsehood. This meme of individuality and a disconnection from one another has permeated the pews, and because it has, Christians suffer a great loss. Recovering the idea that we are inextricably bound together for good and bad is the purpose of Pastor Brauns’ excellent book, Bound Together.

Rooting the foundation in the oft-misunderstood recesses of the doctrine of Original Sin, Brauns establishes the nature of our binding, what he names the Principle of the Rope. Though we were not individually responsible for Adam’s failure, we were corporately tainted by his actions, resulting in the same nature and guilt. The positive antidote to the Fall is found in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice benefiting the World, not just you or me.

The book is theologically challenging without descending into seminary speak. The reader will linger in some chapters, especially early on, as the foreign idea of being tied to one another comes set. Building on this baseline, Pastor Brauns’ then applies this corporate notion to our individual lives in a series of chapters that help the reader understand the implications the binding brings to day to day life. Whether it is read all the way through or approached one topic at a time, Bound Together is book [and concept] badly needed in Christ’s people today.

I’m grateful to Zondervan who provided this copy for review.