In My Place Condemned He Stood

This book was really a love/hate relationship. I also knew that this would probably be the case heading into me reading it though as well. It is really 4 essays about the atonement of Christ. I found 3 of 4 to be very good and the one I figured I would find lacking is exactly the one that was lacking.

Here are the four different essays:

The Heart of the Gospel (J.I. Packer; taken from chapter 18 of Knowing God; 1973)

This is really a longer intro to the book as a whole. It speaks of the different aspects of the cross, such as propitiation, God's love, expiation, substitution and God's glory.

What Did the Cross Achieve? The Logic of Penal Substitution (J.I. Packer; first appeared in Tyndale Bulletin; 1974)

This is really a defense of understanding both words used here, penal and substitution. Packer does a very good job in rendering that logic can only take someone so far before they have to bow the knee to the omnipotent and omniscient God. He does a good job in the defense of the use of the term, "Penal Substitution." I very much liked this chapter even though it was a very tough read to get through.

Nothing But the Blood (Mark Dever; Reprint from Christianity Today; 2006)

This was very short and really marked a way for the modern reader to try and understand why we still need to make sure we speak of the bloody atonement. Why it was necessary and why it still is necessary as far as our focus within God's love. I liked this short article, although I found some of it to be repetitive to Packer's What did the Cross Achieve.

Saved by His Precious Blood: An Introduction to John Owen's The Death of Death in the Death of Christ. (J.I. Packer; 1958)

This chapter I really didn't like. I found that the work of Owen was really put up on a pedestal and said many times that there was no way for it to be refuted. This seems like words that should only be held up to the light of Scripture, not to a man's work with no inspiration of the Holy Spirit. J.I. Packer defends the understanding of a strict view of limited atonement in this article and says that those who don't believe in this view are not preaching the gospel. He says that preaching limited atonement is the biblical gospel, that if you preach otherwise you are preaching self esteem, that those who don't preach a strict view of the atonement are just trying to helpful to man and not concerned with the glory of God.

I still can't believe that he says some of this stuff. So, if I don't hold to a strict view of the atonement I don't preach the biblical gospel, I preach self esteem and are little concerned with the glory of God?

What I find interesting is that this comes after a quote in this very book by Martin Luther where Luther preaches an atonement that is more than limited, or particular. This is found on page 85 in the footnotes:

All the prophets did foresee in spirit, that Christ should become the greatest transgressor, murderer, adulterer, thief, rebel, blasphemer, etc. that ever was....for he being made a sacrifice, for the sins of the whole world, is not now an innocent person and without sins....Our most merciful Father...sent his only Son into the world and laid upon him the sins of all men, saying: Be thou Peter that denier; Paul that persecutor, blashphemer and cruel oppressor; David that adulterer; that sinner which did eat the apple in Paradise; that thief which hanged on the cross; and, briefly, be thou person which hath committed the sins of all men; see therefore that thou pay and satisfy for them. Here now cometh the law and saith: I find him a sinner...therefore let him die upon the cross.

Martin Luther(found at Galatians, ed. Philip S. Watson (London: James Clarke, 1953), 269-271; on Gal 3:13)

Notice there is not the particular in view here. But the understanding of the sins being laid on the Messiah and not of just some, but of the whole world. And Luther continues and says that Christ be thou person which hath committed the sins of all men.

I just really found this work to be lacking and very over the top with such arrogance in the understanding of the atonement. Although, I do believe that Christ did die for the whole world, he also died specifically, or especially, for the elect. So, it is a both/and statement in regard to the atonement, not an either/or.

I just find it funny that Packer has his arrogant statements in this book right after he quotes Luther saying just the opposite of what Packer would like him to say.

So, this book is a quandary for me. The first three-fourths of the book was very well done, but the last chapter on the Death of Death by Owen was just terrible. So, I am not sure what I would do with this book besides tell others to read it with caution, but shouldn't we do that with every book we read? Recommended (with caution)

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Simple Church

When I started to read this book, I had absolutely no grounds for either thinking I would love the book or hate the book. I just wanted to read it. I actually had never heard of it as I am not a Senior Pastor, but what caught my attention is the desire to see our church focus on what God has the church here for. Not our programs, events, etc. but just literally..."Why did God leave the church here on this earth?" I thought this book would aid in this understanding.

What is interesting is a lot more study and data went into this book than I had really thought. From the sounds of it they had over 400 churches do surveys, they went and spoke to different church leaders in both person and over the phone (from what I can gather). This truly was a big deal. The whole basis of this book is to see what "kind" of churches are surviving our post Christian era. The reason this thought came to mind is that Eric Geiger had started to take a simpler model for his own church that he is the Executive Pastor at and see if they had "caught on to something."

This book is very well written on how to get your church from a busy program oriented church to a more simple focused church on what the church feels as though Christ has called them to be. Here is what I mean. It is a top down approach instead of a bottom up approach. You are to start with the process that new converts/new members are to start at in the church and bring them through to maturing believers in Christ. Whatever you believe this looks like in steps you need to start there first. So, an example might be that you believe everyone should "Know Jesus, then start maturing in their faith, serving God and then seeking the lost" then you should design everything you do to correspond with each one of those steps. If one of your programs doesn't fit, then throw it out. It might be hard at first, but this is to really keep the church on mission. Also, if you have too many programs for one of the steps, it needs to be thrown out as well. This is meant to stop churches from doing a lot of things mediocre to doing a smaller amount of things very well. This is the very basic idea of this book. But I just hit on the tip of the ice berg.

While I believe the book is well written and well documented I believe that they would like their stats to be better than they actually are. When they sent out the surveys they had statements and had the church leader respond with, "Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Mildly Disagree, Mildly Agree, Agree, Strongly Agree." They then took the stats and wrote a book based on each finding.

Here is my issue with some of the stats. They aren't constant and not very overwhelming at places. They aren't constant because when the leaders responded weakly to a question they might include, "We found that vibrant churches agreed to some degree to the following 'X' amount of the time." When the leaders responded strongly then they would say something like, "We found that vibrant churches agreed or strongly agreed to following 'X' amount of time." So, the findings were all over the board in some instances. This didn't happen much, but enough to catch my attention.

The other thing that I found odd, was that they were overly impressed with a statement even if only a minority of the vibrant church leaders agreed with a statement. Let me give you an example:

We asked church leaders if they have a system in place to evaluate if people are progressing through their process. Of the vibrant churches 27% strongly agreed or agreed with this compared to 9% of the comparison churches. Vibrant church leaders agreed or strongly agreed three times that of comparison church leaders that they measure the effectiveness of their process.

This means that 73% of the vibrant churches weren't "sold" that this was important but this is supposed to wow me because it is three times that of comparison churches? Not really. This was discouraging that this was thought to be overwhelming evidence on some of these questions.

With all that said. This book is still very very good. I really enjoyed the practicality of the book and the effort that Eric and Thom put into to find what is being put into place in churches across America. I actually fully believe in what they are talking about, I just don't believe what they have to say about every single question asked is as overwhelming as they would like us to believe. This happened a lot in the book, but it wasn't the focus of the book, so I can look past it.

I would really recommend this to any church that feels as though they are doing a lot, but accomplishing nothing. Lots of programs, but few converts and few people being changed for the glory of God. Very easy read, very practical and something that you won't look to and say, "impossible." Highly Recommended

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Jesus: Made In America

I have become a huge fan of Stephen Nichols. He is very good at writing about history without making it terribly boring. I have read three of his books so far and every one of them was very well done. This is one that I didn’t really know what to expect but was excited to read it.

What Nichols does is spends the first half or so of the book walking the reader through how particular cultures and people in the past have really shaped our thinking and their thinking of Christ. He starts with the Puritans, then to our founding fathers, the Victorians and the modernists of the early 20th century.

After Nichols goes through these with precision he then gives the reader insight on how we have specifically been affected, or infected, depends on how you see it, through Contemporary Christian Music, Hollywood, Consumerism and Politics.

This part of the book was very informative as Nichols shows how the history of each one of these has led us to where we are currently with Jesus and culture and he doesn’t leave any stone unturned. He questions things such as Thomas Kinkade, Precious Moments, The Passion of the Christ, CCM Music Festivals, WWJD bracelets, Christian T-Shirts, Dobson and the extreme politics pulling on Jesus from both sides.

I believe that Nichols unpacks some things that are very worrisome in our day in age where Madonna actually has become a prophetess, even though she falls into the same trap:

Christianity is becoming more of a currency than a belief

Sadly, I think she is right.

This book is extremely well done and I would recommend this to any reader to show what is happening in front of our own eyes and the danger of falling into consumerism Christianity.

This might have been Nichols best book to date. Highly Recommended. Link to Buy

A Tale of Two Sons

John MacArthur’s book/sermon series on the Prodigal Son called, “A Tale of Two Sons” was very well done. MacArthur, from what I know, does not actually write any of his books for the purpose of being a book, but they are all taken from his sermons and study notes on the subject. Which most pastors do these days as they really don’t have time to actually write books since they are studying all week for their sermons and doing other pastoral duties. Not a bad thing, just some insight.

I wasn’t sure how I would like this book as I figured that I knew “what there was to know” about this parable found in the book of Luke. Let’s just say that I was overwhelmingly humbled in my knowledge.

MacArthur masterfully goes through the parable to give you insights to the culture, history and textual criticism to give the reader the understanding of exactly what was going on throughout this parable.

He breaks down the parable in three parts because that is how the parable is focused in on as Christ told it. The three parts are: The prodigal son, the father and the eldest son.

At points throughout this book I believe that MacArthur does look to much into things and takes them as fact, when in actuality the text is silent on the issue so there is no way of knowing. But, this is overshadowed of his brilliant look to the Scripture and the culture to give you a taste of what it must have been like to be standing there as a hearer of Christ.

He teaches you as though you were standing there as either a mere onlooker or a Pharisee and gives you the responses that must have been going through each one's head. I actually think this is the main reason that this makes this book truly well worth the read.

Overall, MacArthur does a great job handling the text and culture to make sure that you really glean as much as you can with this parable, with the focus being on the joy in heaven when even one man repents.

The shocker comes in the end, when MacArthur gives you the last part of the parable that was left out of the Bible for “us to decide.” MacArthur gives it straight on how the parable actually ended and it is an ending that truly made this book stand alone as a great understanding of the parable and what it meant for prophecy and the Pharisees. But, I will let you read that for yourself. Recommended. Link to Buy

What is a Healthy Church Member?

This book put out by Thabiti Anyabwile called, "What is a Healthy Church Member?" is a very short book and not terribly "deep" in theology. Neither one of these is a hindrance to this book, but actually very accomadoting. The reason I say this is because you can literally give this to anyone in your congregation and they will have no reason to say no. It isn't gonig to be over their head, as it is very practical and straight forward, and it won't take up much of their time, as it is only 114 pages and the pages are only 5" x 4".

The book is part of 9 Marks Ministries and is an extension of Dever's "9 Marks of a Healthy Church."

The topics in this book are as follows (every chapter starts with, "A Healthy Church Member is...):

An Expositional Listener

A Biblical Theologian

Gospel Saturated

Genuinely Converted

A Biblical Evangelist

A Committed Member

Seeks Discipline
A Growing Disciple

A Humble Follower

A Prayer Warrior

If you are good at math or you can count like a horse, you will notice that there are ten marks and not nine. Anyabwile says that he gives the last as an "extra" for us readers, and I was thankful.

This book is very practical and the chapter titles might look overwhelming at first, but they really are put forth in a very well balanced manner and are very challenging for everyone from the Pastor, layman or congregant.

Anyabwile states the following:

This little book is written in the hope that you might discover or rediscover what it means to be a healthy church member of a local church, and what it means to contribute to the overall health of the church

I think that Anyabwile did just that as it really is a challenge to all who set foot in church each Lord's Day.

I would highly recommend this to read and then to hand out afterwards to any member in your church. Link to Buy

The Truth of the Cross

This little book by R.C. Sproul is a book that looks to be a beginner's guide to the cross. It is very short, as it is only 168 pages and the book is only about 5 inches by 3 inches. As I opened the book I expected that this would be something that I would give to someone who is just learning about what the cross did and why it had to happen, or a refresher for those who needed to get "grounded" again. This is exactly what it was. Dr. Sproul does a very good job of quickly yet precisely taking the reader through the necessity of the cross, the cause of the cross, the implications of the cross, and even a little prophetic note of the cross through passages like Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22.

This book doesn't get too deep but just glances across a wide variety of topics to get the reader acquainted with the reason behind the cross. I believe this is exactly what Dr. Sproul was trying to accomplish, and so he fulfilled his desire with this book. The reader should not expect a deep theological discussion on each topic, but merely an introduction for further study after this book.

The only thing that I feel should have been left out or at least written with more fluidity is the last chapter on limited atonement. It was odd that Dr. Sproul wrote the entire book, focusing primarily on what the Scriptures said about the atonement and it's cause, really drawing no line in the sand on historic theologies. Then, in the last chapter he tries to quickly go through limited atonement and reformed doctrine. It just didn't seem to fit in this book. I believe he could have definitely made it fit if he wanted to give a defense of limited atonement, but he then tried to give a quick history of the TULIP and the like, and it just seemed like too short of a book and the wrong "stage" to try and draw up these arguments. It really stuck out like a sore thumb. Before the last chapter I believe I could have handed the book to any new Christian with no "primer" beforehand. Now, if I give it to a new believer I will have a lot of explaining to do because of the last chapter as it really opens a can of worms that could have been avoided.

Besides that, the book is concise and makes good arguments on the cross in a God honoring way. I would recommend the book to any who need a refresher or just don't understand the meaning or the reason behind the cross. Of course, with a disclaimer on the last chapter. Recommended

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Why We're Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be

This book was written by two guys who couldn't be more different in their background and writing styles. Kevin DeYoung is the young, Reformed pastor, that takes this subject on a very subjective theological level, exposing carefully the doctrinal errors found in the Emergent church. Ted Kluck is just the opposite. Also, young, but a former athlete (he would love to hear that I said former), former semi professional football player, current sportswriter, and unapologetically sarcastic and whimsical. He takes on the subject much like I would, exposing the errors with witty banter and "low hanging fruit."

The book layout was great. Each author took a subject and then the chapters went back and forth throughout. So, you would get hit with the longer, theological, linear chapters of DeYoung, and then read the shorter stories and witty rebuttals from Kluck. I really enjoyed this as you really got the feel from two totally different perspectives of what is going on in the Emergent church.

The book's purpose is to really help people just better understand what the Emergent church is and what it does, or maybe better put, doesn't stand for. The main people that are refuted would be the same if you looked on any blog, namely, Brian McLaren, Rob Bell and Tony Jones. What seemed to be the main focus of the entirety of the book would be the Emergent's focus on Kingdom living, instead of the totality of the work of Christ. In other words, more focused on morality, than understanding what is the first importance: the gospel.

DeYoung and Kluck came to the same conclusion that I have with the Emergent church and others that think just like them, which would be the fact that they are reacting to the more fundamental, legalistic churches, but doing so in the wrong manner. DeYoung and Kluck show that some of the questions that the Emergents bring to light are true and helpful to/against the mainstream church in America, but the way that they answer those questions are not only wrong, but actually harmful, and in some cases, flat out heretical.

The authors did much research for the material, so much so that they went to the different churches and events of this movement to "get their hands dirty". I found this book very helpful and know that those who are in the Emergent church will just see this as another "conversation" not worth having. But, for those who are on the fence or are starting to understand the Emergent problems, will find this a very helpful book on understanding the things that are going on with the Emergent leaders.

Actually, the best part of the book was in the epilogue, when DeYoung went through the churches in Revelation with special focus on Ephesus, Pergamum and Thyratira. This part was very balanced and showed how every church should try to take the good out of each of these churches and learn from them and also learn from the admonishment that Christ gives each as well. Of course, in the end, the idea was for the Emergent church to take a look at what is missing in their movement, which would be the very strongest part in the Ephesian church: defense of doctrine.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to understand the Emergent church in more detail. I just hope that people are able to learn from this book from within the movement and it isn't just used as ammunition to debate with. Link to Buy

Death by Suburb: How to Keep the Suburbs From Killing Your Soul

I picked up this book after Matt Chandler made mention of it in one of his sermons and quoted it when Mr. Goetz tells of a story and then cites, "Soccer is stupid when your wife is dying with cancer." After that quote, I had to pick up the book.

This book is a very enjoyable read, especially if you live in the suburbs. I really don't think you can get the full meaning of some of the jokes or even the nagging life that awaits in the suburbs, unless you live there, or have lived there for a period of years. What David Goetz wanted to get across in this book, I believe he did very well. The 8 chapters are titled very well and it really hurts when the chapter headings are what is going on in your head when you read them. He lists for the chapters a "toxin" and then "the practice." Or the "issue" and "the solution." They are:

Chapter 1:

The Toxin: I am in Control of My Life

The Practice: The Prayer of Silence

Chapter 2:

The Toxin: I am what I do and what I own

The Practice: The Journey through the self

Chapter 3:

The Toxin: I want my neighbor's life

The Practice: Friendship with the poor

Chapter 4:

The Toxin: My life should be easier than this

The Practice: Accepting my cross with grace and patience

Chapter 5:

The Toxin: I need to make a difference with my life

The Practice: Pursuing action, not results

Chapter 6:
The Toxin: My church is the problem

The Practice: Staying put in your church

Chapter 7:

The Toxin: What will this relationship do for me?

The Practice: Building deep friendships

Chapter 8:

The Toxin: I need to get more done in less time

The Practice: Falling in love with a day

My favorites were definitely at the point when Mr. Goetz pointed out why we have certain relationships and why we help out certain people. The reason is because I fall in love with the thought of, "if this person isn't going to accomplish something in my life, why should I befriend them?" Mr. Goetz speaks poignantly through this to understand that relationships shouldn't be about what you are going to get out of them, but they should be for continual development for the kingdom. In conjunction with this, he asks why we help out those that are less fortunate than us? Do we do it for self gratification if they turn to Jesus, or they "fix their life?" Or, do we do it out of the mere love for our Saviour and respond to his love with the love of our neighbors? This was a very challenging chapter.

I enjoyed the entirety of the book and felt as though it was well thought out, although not terribly theologically deep. Theologically is exactly where I found myself scratching my head a couple of times as I felt as though he left it out of the discussion at points that would have been helpful. I felt as though his convictions should have more clearly put forth in some of the areas of his life and how he lived it. But these were minor at points and not enough to deter the overall theme of the book.

I really found it to be helpful and was filled with great reminders in ways that made me laugh at times and cringe at others as they cut me deep, which was good.

One of my favorite quotes in the book, after the one mentioned at the first of this post, was:

Speed and efficiency rank high in suburban values. Garbage cans with properly colored tags are set out on the curb weekly on designated days. Dogs must be licensed before February 1. Dog waste is a hazard to our children, says our community publication on new ordinances. There are always new ordinances. Near our home, a gentleman walks his aging, bloated Labrador most evenings, dog leash in one hand and pooper-scooper in the other. By day, the man is an executive with an MBA from a worldclass university; by night, he scrapes up dog stools.

Now imagine this clever banter when dealing with spiritual issues while letting life escape us and you have a very enjoyable read along some very good insights into our everyday lives as we try and walk with Christ.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is a Christian and looking for a nudge to get them out of the ordinary drudge that can be the suburbs.

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Culture Shift: Engaging Current Issues with Timeless Truth

This is the first solo effort by Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. and it was pretty good. First, Dr. Mohler is way more intelligent than I ever will be, so to even attempt to "review" his work seems pretty futile. I was caught off guard by the structure of the book, as I guess I didn't believe Dr. Mohler in the preface that these were essays put into book form. Because of this, there wasn't much flow to the book overall and so it read more like a bunch of essays or blog posts, than a book.

Putting that a side.

The material presented was very well done. The book consists of 20 essays that shows the depth and breadth at which Dr. Mohler represents and defends Christianity. He does it in such a way that is pretty amazing as well. Most say that it is better to be an expert at one thing instead of novice at a lot of things. Dr. Mohler is rare, in that he is an expert at a bunch of today's topics and he shows this in his essays in this book. The essays cover topics such as public policy and the Christian worldview to what Christians should do about public education and their children. Each essay is given from a Christian perspective and one that is balanced and fair. Some of my favorites in the book are:

The Culture of Offendedness (speaking on people being offended in everything and how the Christian should challenge this assertion)

Are We Raising a Nation of Wimps? (parents coddling their child, or young adult, so much that they cannot make their own decisions or present their own thoughts)

Hard America, Soft America (taking away competition all the way into college (soft America), to the business world where it is cut throat (hard America))

Is Abortion a Moral Issue? (Shows the issues that face the arguments being brought forth on the Left wing alone)

Who's Afraid of the Fetus? (This is the best essay out of all as it shows the harsh realities of what happens when women that want abortions are shown their baby through ultrasounds and the reactions from the left wing...i.e. 90% of women change their mind)

Once I figured out that this was a bunch of essays instead of a book, it made the reading easier. What I will tell the reader is that this is more of a ivory tower look at the culture as it deals a lot with public policy and what is happening among congress and the overall picture of all of America. It is a lot different than a blue collar look at culture like you would expect from someone like Mark Driscoll and his book, Radical Reformission. But, if you know anything about the two authors this should be no surprise.

I would definitely recommend the book as it will give you an interesting perspective of what is happening nationwide with policy making and some of the major issues that we deal with overall. Recommended

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Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die

This is a small book that is really a good "cliff notes" version of why Christ came to die. It is only 120 pages long and so the descriptions of each are no longer than a normal page each. Because of this, the material that Dr. Piper presents is not to get into a deep theological discussion on each topic, but merely to give a quick synopsis and then to move on. I think this would be a great small group study to have with people. It would give the basic understanding and then would lead to some discussion on each topic how this should impact our lives.

The way that this is set up is that Dr. Piper gives the verse and then shows quickly how that verse plays into more specifically of what Christ's death accomplished through that verse.

So, for instance, number 6 is that Christ died "To Show His Own Love for Us." Dr. Piper then gives three verses for reference (Eph 5:2,25; Galatians 2:20) and unpacks them using other verses for reference and with quick, but pointed, exegesis of each. The reason I like this little book is because it is able to give a lot of understanding of all that Christ accomplished through the cross without having to write a novel for each of the reasons. Although, novels could be written for each one, and either have been written or will be written about each reason, this is simply for a "fly by" so that those unacquainted the vastness of Christ's death will get some fuller understanding of all that Christ accomplished on the cross. Also note though that Piper lets the reader know that even though these are fifty reasons, there are still more.

In the beginning of the book Dr. Piper gives this as what he hopes to accomplish with this small treatise:

When all is said and done, the most crucial question is: Why? Why did Jesus come to die? Not why in the sense of cause, but why in the sense of purpose. What did Christ achieve by his death? Why did he have to suffer so much? What great thing was happening on Calvary for the world?

That’s what the rest of this book is about. I have gathered from the New Testament fifty reasons why Jesus came to die. Not fifty causes, but fifty purposes. Infinitely more important than who killed Jesus is the question: What did God achieve for sinners like us in sending his Son to die?
Piper, J. (2006). Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die (16). Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books.

I would recommend the book as reference material but it won't satisfy someone wanting a deep theological understanding of each and every reason. But, this wasn't the point of this book either ,as anyone would guess when the fifty reasons occupy only 120 pages.

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