The Barna Group has published some fascinating research into the book buying habits of pastors. Highlights include:

• There are about 300,000 Protestant pastors in the USA.
• These pastors buy an average of 3.8 books per month per person.
• 92% of them buy at least one book per month (compared with 29% of general population).
• They buy between 8-13 million books a year.
• Younger pastors buy more books than older pastors.
• Most books are bought with a particular ministry topic in mind.
• The other main factors in a purchase decision are author or recommendation.
• Spirituality, theology, and leadership are the most popular topics.
• 50% of pastors are reading biographies and 33% are consuming business books.
• Christian retail stores and online are the two primary channels of purchase.
• Although 50% of pastors use an e-reader, most pastors still prefer a hard copy.
• More than 90% of pastors make book recommendations to their congregations.

You can read the whole report here.

HT: Joel Miller

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Anthony Carter. Blood Work: How the Blood of Christ Accomplishes our Salvation. Orlando: Reformation Trust, 2013. 139 pp. $15.00.

The gospel-centered movement has helped innumerable churches and Christians to aim at the right target. Turning away from the easier targets of moralism, legalism, and activism, many are now taking aim at the more difficult—though more rewarding—target of the gospel.

Multiple books, conferences, sermons, blog posts, and songs have rained a shower of arrows towards this newly popular target. However, not so many hit the gospel bulls-eye of the blood of Christ. To be sure, there are vast quantities of arrows in the second ring, justification, and that’s wonderful. As we move outward, we also find many arrows in the election ring, the adoption ring, the regeneration ring, the sanctification ring, the discipleship ring, and the worship ring.

But for all our hitting the gospel target in general, we’re not hitting the red bulls-eye as often as we ought. The bulls-eye is the atonement, the blood of Christ, which is too often simply assumed, spoken of in shallow clichés, or left largely undeveloped. Perhaps it’s even a bit embarrassing? Yes, there are a few days around Easter when the doctrine of the atonement is brushed off and the suffering and dying of Jesus is mentioned more often. But even then, we often speak in hackneyed terms, repeating mantras and stock phrases without really plunging into its depths.

Double Quiver

Enter Anthony Carter with a double quiver full of arrows, laser-targeted on the blood of Christ and all that it means. I don’t think he mentions “gospel-centered” in the book and yet he perhaps gets us closer to the center of the good news than some other books in that genre.

Yes, Carter discusses election, justification, redemption, and sanctification, but always in connection with Christ’s blood. In fact, I was surprised by how many Scripture references there are to this precious blood—nearly three times as many as Christ’s “cross” and five times as many as his “death.” But I was doubly surprised by how Carter highlighted the way every major doctrine in Scripture is connected to Christ’s blood: propitiation, justification, redemption, reconciliation, sanctification, election, and so forth.

Moreover, I appreciated Carter’s clarity when it came to the typological role of the sacrificial system in helping Old Testament believers look “through” the animal sacrifices to the ultimate Sacrifice: “When Abel came with the offering of blood he was believing God and was looking forward to the provision of a deliverer” (8). Again, in connection with the Passover: “Israel always longed for an unblemished male lamb who would take away sin once and for all” (12). No mixture of law, grace, and general theism here, but simply saving faith in the coming Christ.

Blood Work brims with memorable facts, illustrations, and quotations that bring out one or more dimensions of the blood of Jesus and all it accomplishes for us. Carter calls the book “a celebration of the life-giving, soul-blessing, power-enduing blood of Jesus.” That’s certainly the tone, as it beautifully interweaves theology with doxology. I was amazed by the number of songs that, he points out, celebrate Christ’s blood.

This is also a practical book, demonstrating how the Bible presents the blood of Jesus not just as our source of pardon but also our source of purity. It cleanses not just our consciences but also our hearts, shaping our relationship with God and with others.

And the practical power of Christ’s blood isn’t just in the removal of sin and guilt, but in the positive realities of peace, freedom, and spiritual growth. It doesn’t simply take away death, it imparts and maintains life. We need the atonement not just to save our souls initially but also to nourish and grow them in the long run.

The Big Question

As I read and reread the book, one question kept challenging me: Why is the blood-red center of the gospel so often on the periphery of our thoughts, words, and ministries?

Is it a fear of being associated with crude and superstitious uses of “blood” terminology? I’ve certainly been in some circles where “the blood of Christ” was employed more like a magic spell, with little theological content. Carter helps us avoid this pitfall, as he observes: “It’s not the red liquid so much as what it represents—the last act in the tragedy of Christ life.”

Is it fear or shame? We live in sophisticated and cultured times. Do we really want to be talking about a blood-bought salvation among such educated and refined people? Has the Devil blinded us to the centrality and vitality of Christ’s atonement? At times I’ve realized many months have passed since I preached on the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Is it a failure to connect doctrine to the person of Christ? It’s easy to preach a series on justification, sanctification, or election and hardly mention the bruised and bloodied Christ that makes the doctrines possible.

Is our neglect simply ignorance? We simply don’t realize what width, depth, and length there is to the atonement. We stay in the simple shallows of the usual clichés and stock phrases, failing to explore its undiscovered scriptural depths.

Often we just assume everybody knows and so we move on to “higher” things. But there’s nothing higher and not everybody knows. And as even those who do know need reminding, God instituted a specific sacrament—the Lord’s Supper.

Whatever the reason for our neglect of Jesus’ blood, Carter gives us 13 chapters of reasons to refocus our aim on this gospel bulls-eye. Although a relatively short book, Blood Work opens up many dimensions of Christ’s atonement for further and deeper exploration. This is a center-of-the-gospel book for the gospel-centered.

This review was first published at The Gospel Coalition Book Reviews Website.

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Book review of Building a Pure Life by Dave Coats.

This book was forged in the battlefield of personal sanctification as Pastor and Biblical Counselor, Dave Coats, fought for purity in this muddy world. Also, having worked with people in this area of spiritual struggle for many years, he concluded that the best way to help people who already lacked personal discipline and self-control was to provide a workbook format that “forced” them to study the Word of God daily.

Over an eight week period of manageable daily lessons, Dave systematically dismantles the heart idols that surround the sins of impurity and gradually builds a new and powerful sense of the greatness and goodness of God. The mind is renewed by daily readings, songs, meditations, and questions, hopefully renewing the heart in the process.

Structured Approach
If someone was incredibly self-motivated and determined to break with their sensual sins, then they would find this a good structured resource to work through on their own. However, most people who are losing the battle with lust will likely need someone in their lives – a biblical counselor, pastor, or friend – to help push them through the workbook. If you are losing more than winning, and you really want to win, take this book to someone you can trust and ask them to keep you accountable with the daily readings and exercises.

Pre-emptive strike
This would also be a good workbook for “prevention,” a sort of pre-emptive strike, especially for teenagers. Maybe parents could ask their teenage children to work through it to weaken sin before it gets its roots in too deep, and also to build up defensive walls through raising the twin bulwarks of the goodness and greatness of God.

Four Features
I especially appreciated four features in the book. First, the God-centered focus. There’s no question that delighting in God is the most powerful enemy of sin. Dave’s relentless focus on the greatness and goodness of God will produce deep humilty before God and profound love for God.

Second, throughout and especially in the appendix, it deals honestly, bravely, and plainly with masturbation. No punches pulled. Straight between the eyes. Repent of this sin.

Third, it did what very few other books on this subject do. It called into serious question the reality of conversion if people keep falling into this sin. Through personal testimonies, Dave shows that one of the greatest ways we can love people is not to say, “Oh, well, God forgives, it’s tough, no one’s perfect, etc.” Rather it’s to say, “How can you do this and say you know and love God?” If in the past the church has been too unforgiving of those who fell into sexual sin, we are certainly at risk today of “over-forgiving” in the sense that we rarely question the compatability of repeated offending with real conversion.

Fourth, the weekly focus on the cross, keeps hope alive and points all sinners and saints to the only source of purity for the head, the heart, and the hand.

Building a Pure Life by Dave Coats (262 pp). Available from Amazon.

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Review of some chapters in Brothers, We Are Not Professionals by John Piper.

“Some chapters” because I am only going to refer to the six new chapters in this expanded second edition. Plenty of other reviews have been written about the material in the original book.

Most honest new chapter: Brothers, God does make much of us (4)
When great men (or women) realize they’ve taken a wrong turn, under- or over-emphasized some truth, or become imbalanced through trying to correct imbalance, they correct course and put things right – publicly.

Sadly that’s extremely rare. Some may correct things privately, but never say what needs to be said publicly. Others just stubbornly and proudly continue to teach the same things in the same way, no matter how much evidence to the contrary is presented. Still others dig even deeper to prove their theological muscles and macho spirituality.

Thankfully John Piper has the spiritual guts and the humility to sometimes say, “Hey, I went too far there,” or “I missed something out there.” That’s what he’s doing in chapter 4, which he calls a “mid-course corrective.”

It’s not that he taught major heresy or anything like that; just that he probably over-reacted to a particular evangelical problem, and now, with the benefit of time and thought, he is re-balancing to a more biblical weighting.

Most God-centered new chapter: Brothers, God is the Gospel (6)
Piper is concerned that we do not define the Gospel by its benefits alone. He wants us to go on past all the glorious benefits to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That alone makes the other good things promised in the Gospel good. God is the Gospel because it brings us to Him. If it doesn’t, it’s not the Gospel.

Most courageous new chapter: Brothers, be Bible-oriented – not Entertainment oriented preachers (13)
Here Piper bravely takes on the flippant, funny, feel-good entertainment-type preaching that can be found in so many churches. He says the main problem with this “is that it is out of sync with the subject matter of the Bible, and diminishes our people’s capacities to discern and feel the weight of glorious truth.”

Most original chapter: Brothers, pursue the tone of the text (18)
For me, this was the most thought-provoking chapter, mainly because of my interest in preaching and in teaching students how to preach. Piper asks, “What tone should you aim at in preaching?” and answers, “Pursue the tone of the text.” I’m sure most preachers do this sub-consciously to some degree, but I found the ten areas of reflection in this chapter to be extremely helpful for stimulating a more conscious and intentional exegesis and communication of each text’s tone.

Most controversial chapter: Brothers, help them act the miracle (22)
These statements shouldn’t be controversial:

• The cross of Christ unleashes power that expresses itself though my volitional attack on sin.
• The cross becomes effective in conquering sin by empowering my will to oppose sin in my life.
• The link between the cross and my conquered sin is a Holy Spirit-empowered will.
• God intends that part of our experience of sanctification be the conscious, willed, opposition to specific sins in our lives.

That these statements are now controversial, indicates how confused the present church scene is. I’m hopeful that the clarity, balance, and exegetical accuracy of this chapter will go a long way to advancing the truth and impeding error.

Most practical new chapter: Brothers, bodily training is of some value (27)
A few years ago, I had to learn this chapter the hard way – through various operations and a brush with death. I hope the biblical balance and common sense of this chapter will prevent other pastors suffering similarly and also enable us all to see how God uses bodily health and fitness to open our eyes to His glory and serve Him better.

Concluding question: If you bought the original book, do these six additional chapters make the second edition worth purchasing?

My answer: YES!

Brothers, we are not professionals by John Piper (307 pages). Available at Amazon.com. 

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Book review of Brass Heavens by Paul Tautges

Unanswered prayer. One of the greatest challenges in the Christian life. We pray and pray and pray. Nothing. Why? If God hears my prayers and can answer my prayers, why doesn’t He do it?

Paul begins with a beautiful chapter on the role of each person of the Trinity in prayer, such an essential and encouraging foundation before taking on the BIG question of why this same God sometimes chooses not to answer our prayers.

He then lists six reasons in six chapters for why God does this:

1. Pet Sins: The Care and Feeding of Rebellion
2. Neglected Duties: When Conflicts and Offenses Go Unresolved
3. Religious Sins: The Trap of Self-Worth
4. Inconsiderate Husbands: A Man’s Failure to Understand and Honor His Wife
5. Stubborn Pride: The Insistence on Going it Alone
6. Testing our Faith: God’s Loving Incentives to Spiritual Growth

I found each of these chapters both convicted me and encouraged me. I’d rather know where I was going wrong, even though painful to admit, because at least then I can identify what I’ve got to put right. Sometimes we tend to think that God’s silence has nothing to do with us – leaving us completely at a loss, passive, fatalistic, and despairing. It’s often not so mysterious and inexplicable, says Paul, as he calls us to put right what’s wrong and enjoy new boldness in prayer.

As four of Paul’s ten children have impaired hearing, some of them having had cochlear implants, we are reading about a father who knows all about hearing difficulties! Paul’s connection with the struggles of everyday life is apparent in the illustrations that pepper the book and will encourage you that this is a man who is writing from the furnace, not the classroom.

Every Christian will need this book at some point in their lives. Read it to revive your prayers, to melt the heavens, and to increase answers.

Brass Heavens by Paul Tautges (118 pages). Buy at Cruciform Press or Amazon.

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Book Review of Whomever He Wills (edited by Matthew Barrett and Thomas Nettles)

This is a good book for convinced Calvinists but not for convincing non-Calvinists. That’s not a criticism; there’s a need for books like this that give a full-throated polemical defense of Calvinistic soteriology and demolish Arminian errors and misrepresentations. But its tone is probably too aggressive and its theological content too dense to win over many or any Arminians.

Much of that can be explained by the book’s immediate context, a full-on, all-out attack upon Calvinism by a group of Southern Baptist Arminian theologians in a recent book with a similar title, Whosoever Will.

Whomever He Wills is the response and riposte to that onslaught which explains the punchy tone, detailed exegesis, and theological density.

However you don’t need to be involved in that Southern Baptist controversy to benefit from this book. While the book itself may not persuade many Arminians, it will certainly give a great biblical, theological, and historical grounding for anyone who is involved in similar controversies or who is trying to provide an apologetic for Reformed theology to their friends.

For myself, I found it a welcome and vigorous refresher on the doctrines of grace and some of the quality exegetical work helped me to understand key scriptures better. The book also reminded me of the need to be motivated by a desire for the glory of God in all controversy. Although the book is argumentative, it’s obvious in all the chapters that none of the authors are simply out to win an argument, but rather are motivated by a jealous desire to advance the glory of God and clear away any aspersions upon it resulting from theological error.

Authors take on the common misrepresentations of Calvinism and try to put a number of red herrings in the waste disposal. Highlights for me included:

• David Schrock’s demonstration of how limited atonement is compatible with a universal Gospel offer.
• Andrew Davis’s list of the consequences of limiting election to simply God forseeing faith (see next blog post).
• Matthew Barrett’s marshaling of the evidence for monergistic regeneration in both the Old and New Testaments.
• Tom Schreiner’s explanation of the warnings against apostasy in Hebrews as one of the means God uses to keep his own.
• Stephen Wellum’s brave biblical theodicy.
• Tom Ascol’s convincing proof of Calvinism’s missionary heart and action
• Ben Rogers’ survey of Sovereignty and Evangelism in John Bunyan’s preaching.

I hope you can see that there’s much more here than ammunition for Southern Baptist Calvinists. It’s a book I expect to be referring back to quite frequently in sermon preparation, but I’ll be hiding it from my Arminian friends!

Whomever He Wills by Matthew Barrett and Tom Nettles. Published by Founders.org and available at Amazon. 

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Book review of Meeting Jesus at the Feast: Israel’s Festivals and the Gospel by John Sittema

Old Testament typology has many pitfalls awaiting the intrepid student:

• Assuming that coincidental analogy = divinely ordained typology.
• Assuming that every detail of a type is typological.
• Assuming that the Old Testament believer had the benefit of New Testament light.
• Assuming that the Old Testament believer had no Gospel light.
• Assuming that only explicitly identified types are types.
• Assuming that everything is a type.
• Assuming that the Old Testament believer was saved by the types apart from what they pointed to.

What a minefield! No wonder so few venture in there. And no wonder so few come back out in one piece.

The good news is that in Meeting Jesus at the Feast we have a new and reliable guidebook to the typology of the Old Testament festivals (although the principles and practices of interpretation you will discover in it can be applied to many more Old Testament types).

John Sittema, the Senior Pastor of Christ Church (PCA) in Jacksonville, Florida, covers nine Old Testament feasts in nine chapters of about 15 readable pages each. A sampling of the titles should give you a flavor of what he is serving up:

• Rehearsing the Rest: The Sabbaths
• Behold the Lamb: The Passover
• Cleaning House: The Feast of Unleavened Bread
• Awake the Dawn: The Feast of Firstfruits
• On Earth, as it is in Heaven: The Year of Jubilee

John skilfully mines the Old Testament text and brings these festivals alive on the page – you can see them, smell them, and even taste them – giving wonderful insight into what the original festival-goers understood about what they were doing. He then quickly traces how they developed through the Old Testament and inter-testamental period before introducing us to how the feasts were observed at the time of Christ. You’ll be amazed at how a background knowledge of these feasts opens up new vistas on the life of Christ and the New Testament text. It’s stunning how all the major events in Christ’s ministry revolved around these feasts. As John writes: “You cannot really comprehend what it means that Jesus is the Messiah without knowing something about the feasts.”

But John doesn’t leave us back in 1st century Judaism. He weaves a number of moving stories from his own life into the text, demonstrating how these ancient feasts can still feed the hungry 21st century soul. Lots of edible theology and plenty appetizing application.

The material in this book would form the basis for a fascinating sermon series, or a group Bible study (questions are provided at the end of each chapter). But for myself the book was simply a nourishing and refreshing experience for my own soul. It brought Jesus to me and me to Jesus. As a bonus, I learned a bit more about typology, enough to steer me safely round a few more of the mineholes that put off so many from discovering the beautiful Gospel treasure God has hidden in His older testament.

Meeting Jesus at the Feast by John Sittema. You can read John’s introduction to the book here. You can buy at at Amazon or at RHB.

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Pastoring the Pastor: Emails of a Journey through Ministry by Tim Cooper and Kelvin Gardiner

This is a pastoral theology with a difference. Instead of the usual systematic and logical dissection and examination of the pastor’s office, call, duties, relationships, etc., we have an email dialogue between rookie Pastor Dan and his Uncle Eldon, a mature Christian elder in another congregation. There are a few other email exchanges thrown in, revealing a bit more of the story from different angles, but the vast majority is the varied correspondence that passed between Pastor Dan and Uncle Eldon when Dan went to his first congregation…and started sinking.

Although the email correspondence is novel and entertaining, initially I didn’t think I was learning much from it all, and almost gave up. But as the book progressed, I realized more and more that some fairly fundamental lessons were subtly yet powerfully seeping into my life via the narrative. I like system, logic, bullet points, and summaries as much as the next person, and yet I found this “story” approach surprisingly effective in communicating important and memorable lessons for ministry.

Admittedly, some of the correspondence stretched belief and some of it is simply silly (e.g. the congregational barn dance), but some of the most ridiculous parts of the story are, I’m afraid, all too real, as many pastors will testify.

Uncle Eldon is a wise mentor to his novice nephew and dispenses a wide range of priceless encouragement, rebuke, and direction that will be applicable to most pastors, and especially to those just starting out. It’s like an inside look into ministry, a sort of “ministry reality show,” that should help prepare seminary students for the transition from classroom ideals to the treacherous bogs of pastoral ministry. Read it with a notebook on hand and you’ll be surprised at how frequently you’ll jot down valuable counsel.

But it’s not just for pastors, it would also be a helpful read for every Christian, giving you insight to what ministry is like behind-the-scenes and how your actions and words can impact pastors and their families for good and evil.

Above all it’s an encouraging story of transforming grace as we watch a proud and self-sufficient young guy be shaped and and transformed in the ministry for ministry, and in the process watch his congregation be similarly and beautifully metamorphosed by God’s almighty grace.

Pastoring the Pastor by Tim Cooper and Kelvin Gardiner (Published by Christian Focus). Tim Cooper teaches Church History at the University of Otago, New Zealand, and is a member of the leadership team at Dunedin City Baptist Church. Kelvin Gardiner has pastored churches in New Zealand, the Philippines, and the US.

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Book Review: Glory Veiled and Unveiled by Gerald M. Bilkes

My friend and colleague Dr Jerry Bilkes’ first book was worth waiting for! Those who know him best will find Jerry written all over the book: wise, insightful, discerning, warm, Scriptural, Christ-centered, pastoral, concise, practical, experiential, organized, Church-loving, and inspiring. That’s the book, and that’s Jerry!

Of course, there are other books on the parables, but this book is quite unique in the genre, especially in the way Jerry arranges the parables under four main headings:

1. The Glory of the Kingdom
2. The Glory of Kingdom Grace
3. The Glory of Kingdom Consummation
4. The Glory of Christ the King

Each parable is then set out using four categories

1. The Scenery: How does Christ use the context, setting, background, and culture reflected in the parable to reach within human hearts?
2. The Substance: What is the main message that Christ gives in the parable about His kingdom or aspects of it?
3. The Savior: What does the parable unveil about the glorious Savior, His person and His work, to those who believer?
4. The Searchlight: In what ways does the parable search our hearts and lives and expose what is in them, as well as guide us into the knowledge of Christ as the gracious and glorious king of the kingdom?

Jerry’s also managed to encapsulate each parable in a pithy memorable phrase. Some samples:

• The Glory of Kingdom Mercy: The Parable of the Good Samaritan
• The Glory of Kingdom Fruitfulness: The Parable of the Unfruitful fig tree
• The Glory of Kingdom Wisdom: The Parable of the Rich Fool
• The Glory of Kingdom Provision: The Parable of the Great Supper.

I’ve enjoyed using this book as a daily devotional, reading a chapter a day (25 parables with 8-10 pages on average), but I’ve also found it an indispensable aid to preaching the parables. The only downside is that you’ll find it hard not to preach them as Jerry writes them!

Glory Veiled and Unveiled: A Heart-Searching Look at Christ’s Parables by Dr. Jerry Bilkes. Available from Reformation Heritage Books and Amazon.

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Book Review: Building a Church Counseling Ministry by Sue Nicewander

Problem: How can solo pastors in small-to-medium size churches provide a counseling ministry without killing themselves in the process?

Solution: Collaborate with a number of other similar churches to employ a full-time biblical counselor to service each congregation’s needs.

The main strength of this book is its reality. It is not the result of a doctoral thesis, but rather of hundreds and probably thousands of hours of real-world ministry cooperation among five local churches. As the average church in the US has a congregation numbering between 75-150 members, making it financially impossible for such churches to each employ a Biblical Counselor, the model of 4-5 churches collaborating to hire and share such a counselor between them should be attractive to many local churches.

Another strength is it’s practicality. I wouldn’t read this book if I wanted to learn about the principles of Biblical Counseling; it touches on that only briefly and addresses alternative views even more briefly and rather simplistically.  However it does provide lots of step-by-step practical guides for getting from no counseling ministry in your church to a trained Biblical Counselor working cooperatively with a handful of other churches.

It demonstrates the process to be followed in each local church: how to gain the support of your congregation, how to identify co-laboring churches, how to hire a biblical counselor, how to administer and manage the ministry, accountability, etc. There are almost a hundred pages of appendices.

If you are thinking of starting this kind of ministry, I’d recommend this book, especially if you are in a small-to-medium size church. But first of all, I’d read Bob Kellemen’s Equipping Counselors for Your Church, which, though also practical, contains more theological groundwork.

Buy Building a Church Counseling Ministry by Sue Nicewander (with Pastor Jonathan Jenks and Stephen Steinmetz). 

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Book Review: The Last Enemy by Michael Wittmer

If anyone can make a book on death a bestseller, it’s Mike Wittmer. A lively, original, concise writer who combines solid biblical orthodoxy with a rare ability to communicate truth in an interesting, and yes, even entertaining way.

Maybe “entertaining” is too strong a word, especially considering that the topic is death. I certainly don’t want you to think that Mike is approaching this serious topic in a superficial or trivializing way. Perhaps “enjoyable” is more accurate. If it’s possible to write an enjoyable book about death, then Mike’s done it.

Enjoyable?
It’s enjoyable for two reasons. The first is the wonderful truth that Mike is teaching in the latter part of the book. The first ten chapters, though, are about “Knowing your enemy,” each explaining one word that’s associated with the pain of death (e.g. shock, fear, anger, sorrow, guilt, regret, etc). You won’t laugh reading these pages. It’s real and raw.

But the joy comes as he transitions to thirteen chapters calling us to “Trust Christ’s victory.” These chapters provide beautiful meditations on thirteen biblical words showing how the Gospel of Christ utterly and totally transforms death (e.g. resurrection, triumph, rest, hope, heaven, etc).

For believers and unbelievers
The book is also enjoyable for the way Mike communicates the truth. It’s a fast-paced book with short chapters, and lots of anecdotes, illustrations, quotations, and down-to-earth application. Although written for Christians, it would be an excellent book to put into the hands of unbelievers as well, especially those facing death. It would also be good for the unconverted children of a Christian who has fallen asleep in Jesus.

I think I’ll add it to the books I should read every year as it would not only help me to obey the Augustinian admonition to “Think daily upon thine own death,” but also to “Think daily about thine own glorious future!”

The Last Enemy by Michael Wittmer. Mike blogs here and Twitters here.

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Book Review: The Brokenhearted Evangelist by Jeremy Walker

Thesis: The most urgent and effective evangelists are those who have known and felt the agony of their own sin and the delight of Christ’s salvation.

Proof: Psalm 51.

Many of us grieve over how pathetic we are at evangelism – both at on-to-one evangelism and preaching evangelistically. Some of us have tried to learn strategies and techniques to improve, without much long-term success.

On the basis of David’s experience in Psalm 51, Jeremy Walker argues, persuasively, that what we need is not better methods but deeper knowledge and experience of our sin and of salvation through Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice. It’s that, says Jeremy, that “makes a Christian not only urgent, earnest, and eager to see men and women saved from their sins but also compelling and convicting.”

It’s after David has passed through the deep waters of tearful conviction and joyful (re)conversion that he says: “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners shall be converted to you” (Ps. 51:13).

The five chapters answer five questions:

1. Am I Willing? Our Undeniable Obligation
2. Am I Effective? Our Necessary Equipment
3. Am I Committed? Our Appointed Means
4. Am I Focused? Our Declared Aim
5. Am I Fruitful? Our Great Expectation

Two section of the book stood out. First, in chapter 1, Jeremy provides eight answers to the question: What are some of the holy pressures that carry us from being brokenhearted over our sin to being brokenhearted evangelists?

• The reality of our own experience of salvation (if we’ve received the greatest ever gift, how can we not share it?)
• Our spiritual well-being and joy (God may chastise us for failing to evangelize)
• The sincerity of our prayers (how can we pay “Your kingdom come” and do nothing to bring it?)
• The health of Christ’s Church (we can’t rely on just internal church growth)
• Our obedience to God (whatever our calling, we are called to speak a word for Jesus Christ)
• The souls of the unsaved (what kind of friend does not share good news with his friends?)
• The honor of Jesus Christ 
• The glory of God

Second, in chapter 4, Jeremy pictures the unconverted person as an archery target and asks what circle are we aiming at:

• The white ring of self-referential evangelism: Aiming to make ourselves look  good or feel good.
• The black ring of social acceptability: Aiming to control or restrain a person’s sin.
• The blue ring of good citizenship: Aiming to help someone be a better citizen, father, wife, employee, etc.
• The red ring of good churchmanship: Aiming to get people to become members of our church.
• The bullseye of conversion to Christ: Nothing else will do!

I believe this book will help many Gospel archers aim better, by helping us to aim the arrow first at ourselves.

The Brokenhearted Evangelist by Jeremy Walker. Apart from regularly contributing to Ref21, Jeremy also posts at his own blog, The Wanderer.

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Book Review: Unbelievable Gospel by Jonathan Dodson.

Jonathan Dodson says that the Gospel is often unbelievable because:

• Although the Gospel is good news, many don’t know how the Gospel is good news for them.
• Christians may be good at telling what the Gospel is, but are poor at saying what the Gospel does.
• Five common stereotypes of evangelism – preachy, impersonal, intolerant, know-it-all, and shallow evangelism – make Christians reluctant to share the Gospel.

In this short, lively, and practical book, Jonathan shares from his own experience how he has learned to help people know not only what the Gospel is, but how the Gospel is good news for them; and to do so in a way that avoids being preachy, impersonal, intolerant, etc.

What I especially appreciated was the way that Jonathan demonstrated how these “unbelievable” forms of evangelism result from wrong theology. This is not just about better technique; it’s about better theology; and better technique will be the result. I also liked how Jonathan communicated this theology using five vivid biblical metaphors, making it accessible and memorable.

You don’t need to agree with every detail of Jonathan’s cultural engagement to benefit from this book. It’s certainly helped me to get a little further along the road of the what, why, and how of personal evangelism.

Buy Unbelieveable Gospel by Jonathan Dodson. You can follow Jonathan on Twitter or read his articles at Gospel Centered Discipleship.

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Although Joel Beeke’s Meet the Puritans is the gold standard reference work on the Puritans and their books, if I wanted to introduce someone to the Puritans for the first time, I’d now give them J I Packer’s Puritan Portraits. I would also give it to someone who was wondering where to start reading in the Puritans.

In Puritan Portraits, Christian Focus have taken the seven biographical essays Packer wrote to introduce a number of Puritan classics in the Christian Heritage series, put them together in one slim and readable volume, and bookended them with valuable longer Packer essays on the pastoral work and programs of the Puritans. The short epilogue, A Puritan Pastor’s Program, could transform many modern ministries for the better.

A survey of seven Puritan lives ministries is followed by a summary of at least one of his books, together with choice and appetizing extracts from them. They include:

• Henry Scougal: The Life of God in the Soul of Man
• Stephen Charnock: Christ Crucified
• John Bunyan: The Heavenly Footman
• Matthew Henry: The Pleasantness of a Religious Life
• John Owen: The Mortification of Sin
• John Flavel: Keeping the Heart
• Thomas Boston: The Art of Man Fishing.

William Perkins and Richard Baxter get longer treatments.

What I especially liked about this book was its honesty. Packer recognizes flaws and failings in some of these men’s writings, making them difficult to read at times. However, he also provides practical helps to enable the reader to overlook or overcome these faults, and balance out some of the imbalances.

Having been deeply impacted by the powerful combination of doctrine, devotion, and duty in these Puritan works, Packer is clearly anxious for others to benefit from them too and not to be deterred or discouraged by certain deficiencies in style or content.

The success of his efforts will be measured by the answer to a simple question: “Did it make you want to read one of the highlighted books?” Judged by such a criteria, it was certainly a success for me.

J I Packer, Puritan Portraits (Tain: Christian Focus, 2012), 188 pages, $9.99

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Later today, I’ll be posting a Connected Kingdom podcast in which Tim and I interview Tullian Tchividjian about his new book Glorious Ruin. I have some worries about this book that I put to Tullian in the interview, and which he graciously answered, but in the meantime here’s a fuller explanation of these concerns. 

If you’re looking for a book on suffering that offers simplistic answers, easy solutions, five-step formulas, and “pull up your bootstraps” triumphalism, don’t buy Glorious Ruin.

This is a brutally honest book about suffering: its universal reality and agonizing mystery. It calls us to embrace suffering and sufferers, to walk with them in it, and to encounter and enjoy Christ and His Gospel in the crucible. As such it restores a much-needed emphasis in our theology of suffering.

Tullian is right, too often our focus while suffering is on “Why did this happen to me?” and/or “How can I get good out of this?” Instead, Tullian argues that our question should be “Who is God in this?” turning the focus away from ourselves and towards our Savior.

While definitely agreeing with the need to add that third question, I don’t agree with Tullian’s rather dismissive attitude to the first two questions. He does briefly admit that there is a place for them, but the rest of the book mainly critiques them, resulting in imbalance and even confusion.

I’ll come back to this, but first of all let me agree with Tullian as to his diagnosis. He puts his finger on two sinful and damaging responses to suffering: moralizing and minimizing.

Minimizing and Moralizing
Moralizing is our tendency to say that there must be a moral reason for our suffering. Like Job’s friends we think, or even say, “You’re suffering because you sinned.” Who can deny that this is often our default response to others’ pain? We hear of something bad in someone’s life and we think, “They deserved it!” Especially if we don’t like them.

Minimizing can take the form of blowing off the pain with comments like, “Oh, well, it could be worse.” Or, more common in the church, the agony of the suffering is ignored and the focus is on what good results the suffering will bring about.

Two Theologies
Tullian argues that both moralizing and minimizing flow from a mistaken “theology of glory,” the idea that God is only present in victory, and that suffering must be viewed as a means to the victorious end of personal growth and progress. Instead, he calls us to a “theology of the cross,” which accepts the suffering, and does not try to trace it to a moral cause, change it, or use it.

Tullian is right to emphasize this. In suffering we are all tempted to moralize or minimize, all with the aim of getting out of this pain as soon as possible. Rarely do we seek God and enjoy Him in the midst of our agony. No, as He must only be on the other side of our ache, we’ve got to escape from the trouble as quickly as possible. As Tullian puts it, by asking only “Why?” and “How?” we forget to ask “Who?” and thereby miss God.

Overemphasis
However, while he’s right to include and emphasize the “Who?” question, by virtually ignoring and mainly critiquing the “Why?” and “How?” enquiries, he runs the risk of confusing people, or even limiting the benefit that they can get from suffering.

Although “Why?” and “How?” are sometimes overemphasized to the exclusion of “Who?” the solution is not to overemphasize “Who?” while shrinking “Why?” and “How?” virtually out of sight. Let’s ask all three together. We might get answers to all three. Or God may choose just to answer one, or even none.

Tullian beautifully explains the necessity of asking the “Who?” question and has some wonderful insights into the way we should do this – worth the price of the book in my opinion. Let me, therefore, conclude this review by explaining the necessity of retaining an equal emphasis on the “Why?” and the “How?” questions.

The “Why?” question
Tullian seems anxious to sever any moral link between sin and suffering. While it is definitely wrong to make infallible links between them, God does link them at times and calls us to search for those links as well. That’s the purpose of his Fatherly chastisement – a word and concept that is surprisingly absent from the book.

Tullian does allow for painful consequences to follow from sin (e.g. a drunk gets cirrhosis of the liver), but that mechanistic cause-and-effect analysis is very different to God actively, lovingly, and painfully intervening in our lives to call us away from our sin and to Himself, a practice I’m sure that Tullian himself practices as a loving Father.

The “How?” question”
Again, Tullian is right in saying that an over-hasty run to “How can I get good from this pain?” minimizes the suffering and the potential of learning about God in the suffering.

The Bible, though, does allow and even encourage us to pray, seek, and even work for fruit from our suffering (Heb. 12:10-13, 2 Cor. 3:2-7).

At times Tullian admits that good can come from suffering, but he seems to allow it only if it is not sought for, if it is incidental and almost unconscious; and he seems to limit the fruit to theological knowledge rather than also ethical and moral change in the sufferer.

However, Job used the hope of “coming out of the furnace as gold” to strengthen him and motivate him in his agony (Job 23:10), and Paul expects moral and ethical change to result from our sufferings (Rom. 5:3-5).

Pastoral heart
I know where Tullian is coming from in his desire to get people away from an exclusive focus on “Why?” and “How?” and to put the “Who?” question center stage. It is well-motivated and pastorally helpful in many situations, especially where there is no answer to “Why?” and “How?”

I also understand that in such a short book, no one could do justice to every aspect of the great mystery of suffering. Tullian admits that his book is limited. However, I think he could have accomplished his goal of getting people more focused on the God who answers the “Who?” question without diminishing and in some ways denouncing the “Why?” and the “How” questions. Can we not add without taking away?

Holding all three together is much more likely to set us free from our sin and liberate us to worship and serve God.

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