One of the things I love about reading Paul Tripp is his giftedness for applying Scripture to daily life. In What Did You Expect, Tripp uses this ability to great benefit as he looks at six important commitments that Christian couples need in order to have healthy and God-honoring marriages.
Positives
In many marriage books, the authors somehow manage to ignore the darker parts of our nature. Writers often assume that people are always good and that marital problems are caused merely by miscommunication or by a lack of basic knowledge. Tripp is not so gullible. Taking an honest look at the consequences of two sinners coming together, Tripp makes it plain that we can never stop seeking God’s help and working to see that our marriages survive. We are rebels at heart, and Tripp handles that concept well.
Tripp also never lets go of the spiritual dimension of our marriages. This book is not a mere how-to, self-help, or communication manual. Tripp takes very seriously that our marriages have two dimensions, a vertical and a horizontal. While we might strive to have our horizontal relationship right, if we fail to make our marriages primarily about God, the vertical dimension, we will never see truly glorious married life.
Tripp also avoids two major pitfalls that I see in many marriage books. He does not spend page after page giving husbands date night ideas or telling them that, were they merely as romantic as the men in romantic comedies, their marriages would be picture perfect. Nor does Tripp assume that a how-to manual regarding physical gratification is what Christian married couples need. In both areas, I applaud Tripp for seeing into the real issues.
Negative
I love how Tripp’s years of biblical counseling experience provide him a wealth of illustrations to draw from as he walks us through our need to continually strive for excellence in our marriages. However, I will say that , at times, the rapid-fire stacking of illustration after illustration can make some of the chapters feel a bit long. I realize this is a personal preference and that others might love this feature, but I would have preferred a little less case study in the work.
Recommendation
What Did You Expect is an excellent book for couples to read together. Tripp is honest and fair in his assessment of the work that is before any married couple. This book does not fall into the traps that make so many marriage books sappy or unrealistic. This book is simply a helpful study of vitally important issues.
Audio
I was given a free audio copy of this work to review from ChristianAudio.com As always, the production quality is excellent.
Platt’s Radical – A Review
David Platt is a name that is growing in popularity in the Southern Baptist Convention and all over the evangelical world. Platt’s reputation is growing, not because of a massive church growth strategy or gimmicky program, but because he is being recognized as a pastor who preaches the word passionately, honestly, and boldly, and who calls people to a dramatic kind of obedience to the commands of God. Thus, the book Radical: Taking Back your Faith from the American Dream is a perfect expression of Platt’s ministry.
Simply put, Radical is a challenge to live with genuine, deep, “radical” obedience to the word of God. Our culture often tends to blind us to the eternal life that is beyond all our nice cars, pleasant homes, and fancy toys. Plat has called on his local church (through sermons and changes) and now us (through this book) to radically obey the Lord Jesus, giving up our worldly ambitions to honor Christ and take the gospel to the nations.
The call to radical obedience is one that American Christians of all denominations need to hear. Platt surrounds this bold call with powerful illustrations that remind us of the glorious strength of God to satisfy our souls even as we give up our very lives for his glory.
I recommend this book very strongly. It will make an excellent resource for group reading that might powerfully change your local church. If you will allow it to, this reading will certainly change your outlook on your possessions and your time.
I listened to the audio version of this book from ChristianAudio.com as part of their reviewers program. The recording is excellent with Platt interpreting his own work.
Adopted for Life – A Review
Russell Moore has become the go-to voice for issues related to adoption in the Southern Baptist Convention and in evangelicalism in general. Dr. Moore, who serves as dean of the school of theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, is the proud father of four boys, two of whom are adopted from Russia. Perhaps it is these two roles, theology professor and adoptive father, that make Adopted for Life such a powerful wedding of doctrine and family.
Positives
Dr. Moore uses his experience of adopting children to help believers see just how glorious it is that God has adopted us as his very own. Many adoptive parents are saddened when people label their children as “adopted children,” as if such a label makes the children somehow less legitimately theirs. Dr. Moore has seen how adopting his children truly made them his very own children, and he takes that picture along with solid doctrine to show us that God makes us his very own in Christ—even though we could never deserve such loving treatment from our Heavenly Father.
Another of the myriad positives of this book is simply how it will make a couple truly consider adoption. Children all over the globe are in desperate need of parents. Even more importantly, those children are also in desperate need of the gospel. Dr. Moore’s work helps Christian parents to recognize that, by purposefully taking in children from cultures where there is little gospel witness, parents can both save young lives and bring the gospel to the nations.
Dr. Moore realizes that not all couples are going to be able to adopt. He wisely calls for Christians who cannot themselves adopt to pray for and find ways to support other Christians who are trying to adopt. Some ideas for supporting others considering adoption include financial support, prayer support, and even the simple love of baby showers.
Negatives
I struggle to come up with negatives to consider in this work. Perhaps, if a couple wants to adopt, they will wish that this book gave more practical, “how to” steps to let families know what they must do to start the process, to choose the right agency, etc. However, this book was not intended to be a how-to-adopt manual. Dr. Moore wanted his readers to see the beauty of adoption, and thus this negative is not even a strong negative.
Without question, there are places where this book is hard to read. When Dr. Moore tells us of the deplorable conditions in some international orphanages, it can be tough to hear. When he tells us of the horrible life that awaits some orphans who are not adopted, it can be very painful. It is, however, good for us to look the truth of these things in the face in order to see the genuine need for believers to take a call to adoption seriously.
Recommendation
I highly recommend Adopted for Life for any believer of any age. Because the book paints such a beautiful picture of God adopting us, all believers can benefit from the work. For couples who might consider growing their family, this book is a must-read. Dr. Moore has done a great job touching readers’ hearts and their minds with a glorious, Christ-centered picture of adoption.
Audio
I was graciously given an audio copy of this book to review from ChristianAudio.com. The audio is clear an understandable, though I would prefer the words to come a little quicker. Dr. Moore narrates his own work, and this can often be a difficult task for an author to do—Though in defense of Dr. Moore, he does a far better job narrating his own work than does Mark Driscoll.
Carson, Scandalous – A Review
D.A. Carson’s Scandalous surprised me with how enjoyable it was to read and how encouraging it was to my soul. Carson is a name that is synonymous with scholarship in the world of modern Evangelicalism.
A well-known professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and the author of numerous books and biblical commentaries, Carson is someone that most evangelicals should read.
Positives
As a pastor, I have worked through a few of Carson’s books. Generally, I found them to be lofty in their language and complex in their argumentation. Thus, I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that Scandalous is a very easy-to-read and compelling work. Carson’s language is very accessible in this book. His illustrations are easy to understand, and his humor is surprisingly down-to-earth.
This book is a collection of five looks at five passages relating to Christ’s death and resurrection. In each look, Carson puts forth very helpful thoughts to challenge and encourage Christians. I especially found Carson’s look at the crucifixion and at the resurrection of Lazarus to be the two most interesting and helpful chapters. That said, none of the five chapters left me bored or confused. Each was clear, interesting, and refreshing.
Negative
I have very little negative to say about this work. One small point that did concern me, however, was one of Carson’s choices of illustrations. He made a fine point with an illustration of how a man came to Christ after speaking with Carson about several logical points. However, the illustration also involved a young Christian lady going on dates with the lost man. This is advice that I would not give to any Christian, as the outcome of such relationships is very often not positive. Again, I recognize that Carson was making an entirely different point. I only wish that he had chosen a different illustration there for his point so as not to offer unwilling approval to weak Christians who wish to enter into dating relationships with non-believers.
Recommendation
Without question, I recommend Scandalous very highly. I believe that any Christian can benefit from and be encouraged by Carson’s work. This book would make a fine read for groups who wish to read a chapter per week and meet for discussion and prayer. It would also make a fine springboard for a five-session Bible study. Simply put, this is excellent work by Carson, and I commend it to any believer.
Audio
For this review, I listened to the excellent recording of this work made available to me as part of the reviewers program for ChristianAudio.com. This work is one of the best I have heard for ease of listening from the site. John Haag is my new favorite narrator from ChristianAudio.com.
D.A. Carson. Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus. Wheaton: Crossway, 2010.
Forgotten God – A Review
In Forgotten God, Francis Chan challenges believers to open their hearts to the Holy Spirit of God. Chan, a former pastor and widely-acclaimed Christian speaker, brings his trademark plain speech and passion to this, his second major book—his first being Crazy Love.
Positive
Chan argues that many believers have a basic doctrine of the Holy Spirit as part of the trinity, but the same Christians have no real experience with the Spirit of God. The author challenges Christians to stop settling for head knowledge of God’s Spirit and to pray fervently for God to allow them to experience his presence and love through his indwelling Spirit.
Chan is very open, honest, and personal in this book. There is no doubt that Francis Chan has been truly convicted about his lack of Spirit-focus in his own life. He believes that he has neglected one of the persons of the Godhead, and he recognizes this as sinful. Thus, Chan’s observations are refreshingly real—they do not make one feel as though they are being talked down to by an aloof scholar.
Negative
Perhaps it is the nature of such a writing, but Chan is unable to offer much by way of action steps for Christians who are finding themselves guilty of neglecting the Spirit of God. Chan suggests a change of mind and more prayer, but these steps are probably already things that guilty Christians know they need.
Chan’s work also walks into a more mystical level of Holy-Spirit-encounter than many non-charismatic believers may find comfortable. Unfortunately, Chan mostly has only his own experience to cite as his authority for how one’s encounters with God’s Spirit ought to look or feel. Don’t get me wrong, Chan is not neglecting Scripture in this book, but there is an element of mystical encounter in the writing that is simply personal for him. Thus Chan’s experience may be a little more—though not drastically over-the-top—than some would embrace.
Conclusion and Recommendation
I was blessed by reading Chan’s work. His sincerity was touching. His push to not settle for a bookish experience with the Holy Spirit was challenging. His call to radical living was refreshing. While I do not agree with every conclusion Chan draws, I believe most Christians would benefit from some time with this text.
** Note: For this review, I listened to the audio version of this book. I received my files from www.ChristianAudio.com **
Counterfeit Gods – A Review
Idolatry is at the heart of every evil action or evil inaction of our lives. Tim Keller makes that point very well for us in Counterfeit Gods. As Keller exposes the idols behind the idols of sex, money, power, and all the rest, he also faithfully challenges Christians to not only identify, but to replace their idols with righteous alternatives.
Positives
Keller’s delving into what he calls “deep idols” is an extremely helpful point in this work. What are deep idols? Deep idols are the driving sins behind the surface sins in many of our lives. For example, a person’s financial greed is often driven by something else. A greedy person might be driven by a desire for control. Another greedy person is driven by a desire for the pleasures that the money may bring. Another might be driven by the feeling of superiority that a financial fortune brings. The major point is that addressing the idols on the surface will not change the deep idols, and those deep idols are what we must address to truly repent of sin.
I also very much enjoyed Keller’s insightful handling of many of the biblical stories. Whether dealing with Jonah, Naaman the Syrian, Nebuchadnezzar, or Jacob, Keller brings narrative passages to life for his readers in a way that helps them to find solid application as they grasp the biblical meaning in the story.
Finally, Keller rightly handles the issue of repentance. Far too many authors tell Christians that they need to stop certain activities in their lives without giving them help to do so. Keller is among the few insightful souls who tell people to defeat their idols by replacing them with Christ, the righteous alternative. The replacement concept in repentance is very much refreshing in a modern work.
Negatives
The only negatives that I found myself pondering as I read through this work were generally quibbles. For example, I’m not fond of the frequent references to psychological concepts. I also would also occasionally question some of Keller’s smaller conclusions that he draws from various texts.
Recommendation
Keller’s book is worth the read. He’s insightful, easy-to-read, and helpful for believers of any generation or culture. I’d recommend you give this one a chance. No, don’t expect an earth-shattering paradigm-shift. Just read this for a faithful walk through the concept of idolatry in our lives.
Donald Miller, Father Fiction – a Review
Donald Miller is, without question, a name that his easily recognized in modern Christianity. Some love his works; some, not so much. Father Fiction is my first reading of Miller’s works, and my own response is mixed.
In this work, miller talks to young men about growing up without a dad in his life. The Authors own father was not present in his life, and this led to him struggling through many important developmental issues.
Positives
Many authors Endeavour to adopt a style that is conversational in tone. Sadly, most make the reader feel like they are struggling to manage this feat. Not Miller. Miller’s style is easy-to-read. As a reader, I found myself feeling like I was listening to a guy sitting across my living room or addressing a small group. This makes the pages fly by, and gives a great note of realism to Miller’s work.
This book has some very helpful, down-to-earth, advice to offer. Miller talks with frankness to young men about the need to grow up, to take responsibility for life, and to not let their past determine their future. The author speaks strongly about the need for young men to learn to pay their bills, to study for themselves, and to treat women and sexuality appropriately. There is an undertone of devotion to God that flows through these pages as the thing that will make all this actually able to come right.
Negatives
While there is a sort of God undertone in this book that comes to the forefront, it is not nearly as prominent as would have made me happy with the work. Miller very seldom sites the holy Scriptures, and thus his writing smacks of Dr. Phil’s advice as much as it does Christian writing. Perhaps this is intentionally geared by Miller for a lost audience, but as a believer, it seemed that Miller gave good advice without going to the real source of power for life-change.
In a couple of instances, miller borders on crudeness. Of course, this is not at all uncommon for authors in Millers subgenre. His particular statement about what makes a “real man,” the possession of—shall we say—the proper physical equipment, is very edgy and not something I would particularly like an immature person to be spouting. Don’t get me wrong, I understand Miller’s point, and he is not nearly as edgy as several others in his field. However, this section stands out, and I consider it more negative than positive.
Recommendation
Father Fiction has the potential to speak with piercing clarity to many young men. If you have a young man in your life who is struggling with the lack of a father figure in his life or who is giving himself to too long an adolescence, this book might help. There are certainly points in the book that spoke to me, and I had a dad at home, and I’m glad to have heard them. However, I wish the book had a better use of Scripture and a more developed theology in evidence. Also, it could be used poorly by someone who is too immature to handle earthy language without it doing him harm.
For this review, I read the excellent audio book from www.ChristianAudio.com.
E.M. Bounds: Man of Prayer – a Review
I’ve heard the name of E.M. Bounds many times, though before reading E.M. Bounds: Man of Prayer by Lyle Dorsett, I could not have told you anything about him. Bounds, a moderately influential Methodist minister and author from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s, served God in Missouri, Tennessee, and Georgia while authoring a dozen books, several of which are still in print today. Bounds is most widely-known for his works on prayer.
Positives
Dorsett is concise and to-the-point in his journey through the life of E.M. Bounds. Sadly, there is simply not much factual data for him to have gathered. Happily, Dorsett does not take it upon himself to bring in a great deal of speculation and imagination to make his small book a larger work. He describes Bounds’ life, marriages (once widowed), and ministerial career.
What most interested me was Dorsett’s description of Bounds’ involvement in the Methodist church in the south during the initial rise of theological liberalism in the 1890s. Bounds was unwilling to accept the low view of Scripture that was invading Methodism from Europe.
Negatives
While interesting, I cannot say that this book inspired me. If anything, Dorsett’s work has made me want to pick up one of Bounds’ books on prayer. But, for the most part, the book feels like reading a long and informative magazine article about the life of a name you kind of know, but not very well.
Recommendation
If you have read Bounds and would like to know his life story, I’d guess that this is about the best book you could turn to for that knowledge. If you just like reading biographies, even those without a great deal of drama, this is a fine choice. Otherwise, you might not find this book riveting.
The audio recording of this book from www.christianaudio.com is very well done. I found this narrator one of the easiest to listen to that I’ve heard. And, because the book is short, it only required a download of 2 files—much better than the large number of files in some books.
Randy Alcorn’s "The Treasure Principle" – a Mini Review
Randy Alcorn is no stranger to financial success, financial loss, and sacrificial giving. In The Treasure Principle, Alcorn shares with his readers six important keys to joyful and free Christian giving.
Positives
It is very possible that many Christians do not even recognize the hold that materialism has upon their lives. Alcorn’s work helps us to see just how devastatingly attached we are to our things, and how sadly we miss the joys of giving.
Alcorn challenges us to realize that God is the true owner of everything while we are merely his stewards. We will give more freely and rightly when our mindset on giving changes. Alcorn encourages us to realize that all the money we have is God’s. Instead of thinking, “What does God want me to give,” we should think, “How much would God want me to keep of his money?” This mind-shift is very helpful for believers.
Negatives
Not much is negative in this book. It is possible that Alcorn is too simplistic or sweeping in his statements. This negative is not damaging for most readers, however, only for those who read this book without discernment.
Recommendation
It would be very good for almost any Christian, especially in western cultures, to read through and strongly consider Alcorn’s The Treasure Principle. Perhaps it would open our eyes and hearts to giving for the joy of the eternal reward and the glory of God. Yes, readers should be careful and consider their steps wisely, but this is true of any book. Without question, believers should consider how God would have us worship him through giving in the midst of this difficult financial time.
I am grateful to www.ChristianAudio.com for their excellent downloadable version of this book. They also have a free download of conference audio from Alcorn on this book (I haven’t’ listened to it, but I’d suppose it contains much of the same material for $0 and in a 50-minute lecture).
Mark Driscoll’s Book, Doctrine – A Review
Theology matters, and greatly so. Churches that have lost their hold on the truths of the faith are destined to drift into destructive errors or to simply become social clubs with a religious overtone. This is why books like Mark Driscoll’s Doctrine are so important.
What I Liked
Perhaps the best thing about Doctrine is that Driscoll took the time to write it. It is good for churches to see their leadership caring about the teaching of the Scripture in more than a simplistic or superstitious sense. Driscoll does his best to address important issues of the faith in a serious way—his trademark sarcasm is simply not present in this work.
Many of the chapters of this book are worthy of applause. Driscoll handles some heavy topics such as the trinity (chapter 1), the cross and atonement (chapter 8), and the church (chapter 11) with a great deal of insight. In most of these chapters, Driscoll addresses the issues with a nice balance of complexity on the one hand and explanation, simplicity, and application on the other.
What I Did Not Like
There are a few places where discerning Christians will have some questions for Driscoll as they work their way through Doctrine. In some of these cases, the issues may be quite secondary. In others, however, it appears that Driscoll makes some fairly dangerous statements.
The most serious error in this book comes early, in the chapter on divine Revelation (chapter 2). In explaining that general revelation will not bring a person enough knowledge of God to save their souls, Driscoll asserts that in countries closed to missionaries, God might send dreams, visions, or even angels to the lost to bring them the good news of Jesus Christ. Though I have no doubt that such stories have indeed been told, and perhaps by those whom Driscoll trusts, this is a direct contradiction of Romans 10:13-ff. In that passage of perfectly-inspired holy Scripture, God tells us that people will not be saved without a preacher, and the clear understanding of that passage is that the preacher will be one of God’s children, a human preacher or missionary, not an angelic messenger. Besides coming from outside of the Scripture, this issue matters, because if Christians believe that God might save others without human contact through personal communication or written word (including the Bible), this will do harm to the missionary Endeavour.
There are at least two other areas where I found myself concerned about the content of this work. I found myself uncomfortable with Driscoll’s openness to an old-earth creation story in chapter 3. I believe in a literal six day creation, and while I will not make this a first-level issue, I fear that old earth theories play fast and loose with the interpretation of Scripture. Also, again in chapter 2, Driscoll leans in a more charismatic understanding of revelation than I am comfortable with. I believe that a closed cannon of Scripture does not leave the door open to divine revelation in the form of predictive prophecy; Driscoll disagrees.
Conclusion and Recommendation
Overall, I am grateful to Mark Driscoll for the work that he has done in writing this very accessible systematic theology. Works like this need to be written, and well-known figures in evangelicalism need to show that such things are important. There are certainly areas where I could caution readers to read with discernment and even to reject Driscoll’s conclusions, but such areas are not enough to make me recommend not reading the book as a whole. I have no doubt that my own point-of-view still needs much work before I understand all of what God wants me to grasp doctrinally, and thus I have much grace for a brother in Christ who is doing the work in a far more expansive way than I. So, my recommendation: Read Doctrine, but read it carefully—as you should any book you pick up or download.
Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears. Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe. Wheaton: Crossway, 2010. 464 pp.
[For this review, I read the excellent audio book from ChristianAudio.com.]
Pastor Travis Peterson 